The Last Full Measure by Michael Stephenson

chivalric code that dictated that use all came together. The samurai, however, unlike the knight, saw no disgrace in using standoff weaponry such as the bow. A principal weapon, though, was the
naginata
, used both mounted and on foot. Some evidence suggests that when engaged against a similarly armed mounted samurai it was wielded rather like theknight’s lance during the tourney, that is, couched under the right arm and angled across the horse’s neck, but more often it would be employed as a slashing weapon with the mounted warrior standing in the stirrups. 28
    Although the poleax and the war hammer were often favored by knights, the sword was the trademark weapon of the noble warrior. The swords of the early medieval period were ancestors of the Roman
spatha
, a parallel-edged slashing sword that, with the spread of plate armor in the mid-thirteenth century, developed into a more pointed weapon, adapted as much to thrusting (for penetrating chain mail or piercing the joints of plate armor) as cutting. Even if armor were not pierced (and some modern tests suggest that piercing mail armor with a sword thrust is problematic), a blow from a heavy blade could cause bone fractures and internal injuries. 29 A mounted knight might have a large “war” sword weighing about 5 pounds hung from the front of the saddle, while in his sword belt he would carry a smaller, “arming” sword, weighing about 3 pounds. 30
    The transition to plate armor during the thirteenth century was not only a defensive response to pikes but also an attempt to counter the lethality of the very class of weapon the knight held in contempt: the bow and crossbow. Crossbows are known to have been used by Chinese infantry in the fourth century BCE and were used as hunting weapons by the Romans. Their reemergence in Europe during the tenth century seems to have been linked to an upsurge in siege warfare (the Roman siege ballista were essentially huge crossbows), but the Normans took to the crossbow with enthusiasm as an infantry weapon. The advantages to the user were enormous. A knight in whom years of training and a huge amount of money had been invested could be killed by a dolt with a bolt at about 200 yards or less.
    The crossbow is a forerunner of machinelike weapons such asthe rifle in that although it was relatively easy to use it was of fairly complex construction, and like all machines, it had its own specialized vocabulary. The bowlike crosspiece (“span” or “lathe”), made of a hardwood such as yew, oak, or maple (though in the Islamic world it might have been made of an amalgam of horn, sinew, and wood), was lashed with whipcord to a stock (“tiller”). The bowstring (“bridle”) was made of whipcord or sinew. To “span” the bow (prepare it for firing), the operator put his foot into the stirrup at the bow end of the tiller and drew back the bridle with muscle power—a hook attached to the crossbowman’s belt and snagged under the bridle pulled it back when the crossbowman straightened up. It might also be pulled back with the aid of a mechanical crank. Once pulled back, the bridle was secured by a catch made of horn. Dartlike bolts (“quarrels”), made most commonly of yew, ash, witch hazel, or poplar and tipped with wicked little heads of a variety of designs depending on the grief they were meant to inflict, were placed in a groove running down the top face of the tiller, engaging with the bridle by a notch (“knock”) at the rear of the bolt. A triggerlike mechanism released the catch, and off flew the bolt—not fired, but “cast,” as though its victim was an unsuspecting fish.
    The power of the crossbow, in one way, was considerably more than the longbow’s. It could “draw” about 750 pounds, compared with the longbow’s 70–150 pounds, but its released energy was comparatively inefficient because the span was short and its tips, whose whiplash movement turned stored energy into bolt speed and range, moved