ARCHERS and ARCHERY. Archers are soldiers whose weapons are the bow and arrow. Among the ancients specially eminent in this mode of warfare, we may particu larize the Thracians, Cretans, Parthians, and Numidians; among the moderns, the Ara bians, Germans, and Saracens. The emperor Frederick II. employed Saracenic archers with great effect in his Lombard campaign; and to them is the victory at Cor-.
tenuova in 1237. The archers belonged to the light troops, and their province was to open the battle. The emperor Leo especially lauded the dexterity of the Arabian archers. In later ages, the bow came to be employed in England, where the archers wore light armor, a short sword, and a quiver with twenty or more arrows. At first, these arch ers fought in small groups; in later years, in large masses. At the battle of Cressy, they formed in divisions of 4000 men, 200 in line and 400 deep. The archers decided the fate of the day in several battles—such as Cressy and Poitiers (1356), Agincourt (1415), Crevaut (1423), Verneuil (1424), and Hovernay (1429). The French archers never equaled the English, in spite of the pains Charles VI. and Charles VII. took with them. The latter organized in 1448 the Franc-archers, to which corps every parish had to contribute one man ; but this measure was attended with so little success that the king was induced to take Scottish archers into his pay, to make any head against the English. The French archers wore a coat of buffalo-hide lined with strong linen, and were accompanied by shield-bearers. In this manner 2000 bowmen with their shield-bearers fought under the count de Foix at the siege of Bayonne in 1451. The archers universally belonged to the elite of the troops, and received higher pay than the rest. At one period, the arba lest or cross-bow was more in favor than the long-bow. See ARBALEST. Long after the discovery of gunpowder, we find the bow and arrow still used; as, for example, at the siege of Capua in 1500; and the siege of Peineburg in 1502. Nay, even in 1572, queen Elizabeth promised to place at the disposal of Charles IX. 6000 men, of whom the half were archers. The English archers are the subject of frequent mention by our old writers. Chaucer, in his Canterbury Tales, speaks of the archer " Cladde in cote and bode of grene, A sheafe of peacock arwes brighte and kene, Under his belt he bare ful thriftilie.
Wel coude he dresse his takel yewmanlie, His arwes drouped not with fetheres love, And in his hand he bare a mighty bowe." In a treatise on martial discipline, by Ralph Smithe, written in the time of queen Eliza beth, we have a picture of the English archer two centuries after Chaucer's time: " Cap tens mid officers should be skilful of that most noble weapon the long-bow; and to see that their soldiers, according to their draught and strength, have good bowies, well noeked, well strynged, everie strynge whippe in their nocke, and in the middes rubbed with wax braser, and shutting-glove, some spare strynges trymed as aforesaid; every man one slide of arrows, with a case of leather defensible against..the rayne, and in the same four-and-twenty arrowes, whereof eight of them should be lighter than the residue, to gall or astoyne the eneinye with the hailshot of light arrowes before they shall come within the danger of their harquebus shot. Let every man have a brigandine or a little coat of plate, a skull or hufkyn, a maule of leade of five foote in lengthe, and a pike, and the same hanging by his girdle with a hook and a dagger."
Among the Asiatic Turks, the Persians. the Tartars, and other nations of the east, as well as theAmerican Indians, the bow and arrow are still used as weapons of war. In Europe, they are nearly abandoned for military purposes. The chief differences between the two kinds of weapon employed by the archers of the middle ages are noticed under AltBALEST; Bow AND ARROW.
Although archers are still included among the fighting-men of barbarous and semi-bar barous nations; in England, archery is now nothing more than a pastime, encouraged by archery clubs or societies. In this sense, however, archery is experiencing a revival, being healthful as an out-door exercise, even if no further useful. During the reign of Charles II., archery was much patronized by the court, Tothill fields being the chief scene of exercise. After his reign, archery fell into desuetude for about a century. In 1776, a Mr. Aston revived archery in the neighborhood of London; and very shortly there were several toxophilite or archery societies formed. The system survived till 1793, when another period of inactivity supervened, lasting till 1844. In this last-named year, archery was revived in Yorkshire, and has since gone on extending every year. A recommendation to the sport is that ladies Call take part in it—one of the few open air pastimes of which this can be said. In the modern exercise of archery, there are several varieties of contests between the antagonistic parties; but the usual variety is target-shooting. In archery-matches, a number of prizes are generally awarded, the prin cipal being for the greatest number of arrows shot into any part of the target, and for the nearest approach to the exact center. The target has a gold spot in the center, a red ring around this, then a blue ring, then a black, and outside of all a white ring bor dered with green. The merit of the shooting consists in a near approach to the exact center or "gold." Two targets are generally used in a match, on opposite sides of the field, each by one party. The apparatus mostly used at these archery meetings is: 1, the bow, varying in weight according to the strength of the person who is to use it; 2, the arrow; 3, the quiver, a tin case for holding arrows not immediately in use; 4, the pouch; 5, the belt for holding the arrows actually in use. The tassel of the belt serves to clean the arrows when dusty. 6, the brace, buckled round the left arm, to protect it from being hurt by the string when shooting; 7, the shooting-glove, formed to protect the three fingers used in drawing the string. Besides these articles and the target, archers are sometimes provided with a large case called an "rscham," fitted up with the necessary drawers and compartments for the reception of the bow, arrows, string, and other necessary accouterments.
In archery competition, the total number and value of each person's hits are regis tered on a scoring-card. The shots are usually punctured on a card with a pin, as being preferable to pencil or ink marks; and the mode of ascertaining the value of the hits, which is increased in proportion as they reach the center, will be seen by the following