The development of the longbow in late medieval England and ‘technological determinism’

Traditional understandings of the development of the medieval English longbow and its role in the fourteenth-century ‘infantry revolution’ have recently been challenged by historians. This article responds to the revisionists, arguing based on archaeological, iconographic and textual evidence that the proper longbow was a weapon of extraordinary power, and was qualitatively different from – and more effective than – the shorter self-bows that were the norm in England (and western Europe generally) before the fourteenth century. It is further argued that acknowledging the importance of the weapon as a necessary element of any credible explanation of English military successes in the era of the Hundred Years War does not constitute ‘technological determinism’.     

THE PROVENANCE OF DONKEY MILLS FROM ROMAN BRITAIN

Pompeiian-style (hourglass) grain mills are common at many Roman sites within the circum-Mediterranean countries. Three examples are known from Corfe Mullen, London and Hamworthy in southern Britain. Petrographic examination, chemical and microprobe analyses indicate that the Corfe Mullen millstone and the London donkey mill were imported from central France into southern Britain. The Hamworthy mill should be designated a ‘flat donkey mill’, and represents a recent (post-Roman) import from a volcanic source in Sardinia. There is no evidence of importation of Roman donkey mills from Germany or for transportation of such mills (or stylistic derivatives) north of London.