The famous English longbow belongs to a later war than this one. Its legend was made at Crécy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415, during the Hundred Years' War — a century and more after the great Crusades. In the crusading age the West's rising missile weapon was the crossbow, which became central to European armies through the 1100s and helped a badly outnumbered Crusader force win at Montgisard in 1177. The Church even tried to ban it at the Second Lateran Council in 1139 — but only against fellow Christians; loosed at Muslims it was apparently fine. A crusading foot archer like this one more likely drew a plainer self-bow, one skilled man among the shooters who screened the knights.

King & Country show him taking a knee to shoot — hood pushed back, in a green tunic and blue sleeves with a quiver of spare shafts at his hip, the bow bent to full draw. Archers and crossbowmen were the screen and the sting of a medieval army, thinning an enemy before the knights struck home; Richard the Lionheart owed his wins at Arsuf and Jaffa as much to his crossbowmen as to his cavalry. Post this archer behind the Crusader Sergeant-at-Arms in an infantry line, or set him loosing across a diorama at the Army of Islam — whose own horse-archers, with their composite bows, were the deadliest shooters on any Crusade battlefield. Kneeling to steady his aim, he is the quiet specialist who decided more fights than the chronicles admit.

Model: MK216 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set