AR'BALEST (Lat. areas, bow ballista, a military engine, from 17k, pici.XXetv, ballein, to throw ) , .ARBALI ST, ARCUBALIST, ARBLAST. A weapon of indefinite antiquity, known also as cross-bow or bow-gun. Sonic Roman forms are depicted on extant monuments, and it was from the Romans, possibly indirectly, that the arba lest in use in the Middle Ages was derived. was employed chiefly in the Twelfth Century and later, although it was not unknown in the Tenth and Eleventh centuries. There were at least eight distinct forms, varying in size and construction. Some were carried by foot-soldiers, others were permanently fixed on fortifications like modern cannons: sonic hurled short, thick arrows (called 'quarrels' or bolts) : others shot stones, leaden balls, or other projectiles. The larger ones were worked by placing the foot in a loop, drawing the cords up with the hands. while the gun was maintained in an inverted position. When the
weapon became so improved that the bow was made of steel, it required, in order to bend it, a separate machine called a `moulinet.' In the crude formations of mediaeval tactics the arbales tiers or •ross-ho•men were an important branch, and were usually advanced to the first line of bat tle. They were divided into two branches, the mounted and dismounted, and their supplies of arrow ammunition were carried in carts. The use of the arbalest against Christians was pro hibited by the Lateran Council of 1139 on the ground that it was "a thoroughly diabolical weapon." But this prohibition was ineffective. Richard the Lion-Hearted was noted for his skill with the arbalest. One clause of the Magna ('harts prohibited King John from employing foreign cross-bowmen. In the Fourteenth Cen tury the arbalest was superseded in England by the long-bow. See ARCHERY.