Editing English longbow (section)

== Tactics ==

=== Battle formations ===

The idea that there was a standard formation for English longbow armies was argued by Alfred Byrne in his influential work on the battles of the Hundred Years' War, ''The Crecy War''.{{sfn|Burne|1991|pp=37–39}} This view was challenged by Jim Bradbury in his book ''The Medieval Archer''{{sfn|Bradbury|1985|pp=95–98}} and more modern works are more ready to accept a variety of formations.{{sfn|Bennett|1994|p=1–20}}

In summary, however, the usual English deployment in the 14th and 15th centuries was as follows:

* Infantry (usually dismounted knights and armoured soldiers employed by the nobles and often armed with [[polearm]]s such as [[Pollaxe (Polearm)|pollaxes]] and [[bill (weapon)|bills]]) in the centre.
* Longbowmen were usually deployed primarily on the flanks, sometimes to the front.
* Cavalry was rarely used but, where deployed, either on the flanks (to make or protect against flank attacks), or in the centre in reserve, to be deployed as needed (for example, to counter any breakthroughs).

In the 16th century, these formations evolved in line with new technologies and techniques from the continent. Formations with a central core of pikes and bills were flanked by companies of "shot" made up of a mixture of archers and [[arquebusiers]], sometimes with a skirmish screen of archers and arquebusiers in front.{{sfn|Strickland|Hardy|2005|p=403}}