Crossbow Timeline

Events

341BCE--Earliest reliable record of the use of the crossbow in Ancient China

341 BCE

947CE--Attack on Senlis driven off by crossbowmen.

947 CE

'Lock bows' used in the battle of Hjorungsvag.

986 CE

Crossbows reintroduced into England by the Normans.

1066 CE

1139 CE -- Pope Innocent II condemns and forbids the use of the crossbow by Christians against Christians by saying they are "deathly and hateful to God and unfit to be used among Christians."

1139 CE

1199 CE --- Richard I, a major advocate of the crossbow who found a loophole in Pope Innocent's decree against the crossbow, is killed by a crossbow.

1199 CE

1277 CE -- 200,000 bolts ordered by English for use in campaigns in Wales.

1277 CE

1346 CE -- The Battle of Crecy, in which English longbowmen defeated a force of 6000 Genoese crossbowmen

1346 CE

1381 CE --- Foundation of le Grant Serment Royal des Archers de Saint-Sebastien in Belgium

1381 CE