[MR] Youtube: Westminster Medieval Arrow

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble friends, especially fellow archers:

Baroness Dolce dei Bracchi called this story to my attention. It is a very
interesting piece about the famous Westminster Arrow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn-9vxVTka0 .

The Westminster Arrow is a typical tapered medieval flight arrow, now
lacking point or fletching. It was discovered in the 19th century in the
loft above Henry V's chantry in Westminster Abbey. For years it was
speculated that it had been shot there by a surviving Agincourt archer as a
protest against Henry after he failed to deliver rewards and pensions
promised his bowmen (yes, he stiffed them). Sorry to see a "good" myth go
down in flames, but the video notes that Abbey records show arrows being
purchased to eliminate the pigeons that had taken up residence inside the
church.

For around 100 years the Westminster Arrow was the only known English
medieval shaft to survive. But in the 1970s more than 3,000 shafts were
recovered from the Mary Rose shipwreck, vastly increasing our knowledge
base. True, these were Tudor-period arrows, but archery hadn't changed much
since the Hundred Years' Wars. Several years ago I corresponded with
English archery historian Hector Cole. He mentioned to me that another
medieval arrow had recently been found in an old barn. The arrow was in
private hands and to my knowledge has never been publicly displayed.

As a non-period aside, Queen Victoria was annoyed that sparrows had invaded
Prince Albert's Crystal Palace exhibition hall. The little dinos left
"calling cards" all over the exhibits, and sometimes on well-off visitors.
The birds couldn't be shot because of all the glass. She summoned the Duke
of Wellington, her go-to guy whenever she had a vexing problem. His very
practical answer, "Get sparrowhawks, Madam."

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Archer of Mallard Lodge 🦆
Continuing a crusade to keep the original Merry Rose relevant and in
business.