Editing Medieval warfare (section)

===Welsh and English longbowmen===
{{Main|English longbow}}

The Welsh and English longbowmen used a single-piece longbow (but some bows later developed a composite design) to deliver arrows that could penetrate contemporary [[Mail (armour)|mail]] and damage/dent [[plate armour]]. The longbow was a difficult weapon to master, requiring long years of use and constant practice. A skilled longbowman could shoot about 12 shots per minute.  This rate of fire was far superior to competing weapons like the [[crossbow]] or early gunpowder weapons. The nearest competitor to the longbow was the much more expensive crossbow, used often by urban militias and [[mercenary]] forces. The crossbow had greater penetrating power and did not require the extended years of training. However, it lacked the rate of fire of the longbow.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thebeckoning.com/medieval/crossbow/cross_l_v_c.html|title=The Crossbow vs the Longbow in the Medieval Period – on 'The Beckoning'|website=www.thebeckoning.com|access-date=2020-01-30}}</ref>

At [[Battle of Crécy|Crécy]] and [[Battle of Agincourt|Agincourt]] bowmen unleashed clouds of arrows into the ranks of knights. At Crécy, even 5,000 Genoese crossbowmen could not dislodge them from their hill. At Agincourt, thousands of French knights were brought down by armour-piercing [[bodkin point]] arrows and horse-maiming [[Arrowhead#Variants|broadheads]]. Longbowmen decimated an entire generation of the French nobility.