Sometime ago I came across a peculiar, and dare I say comical, tid-bit of archery lore. When reading 1411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways, there came an entry that excited me greatly as it was archery related.
In the year of our Lord, 1552, a Tudor archer named Henry Pert managed to kill himself with his own arrow. To go into more detail, he managed this by shooting himself in the face [1].
Immediately my mind began to look into the logic behind this. This was a mistake because there could not have been any logic to what Henry Pert did. Naturally the most obvious solution I could come up with was that he loosed the arrow straight up, and it came back down to embed itself in his face. Second to this was the notion that the arrow ricocheted off of a wall or tree.
Neither was the case.
I once tried to nock an arrow by the pile during an icy Valentine Shoot, and that is, I think, the silliest thing I have ever done in archery. I know people have turned up to field rounds without their bows, or arrows. And we all know a few archers who like to turn up late to events and leave early to avoid pulling their weight.
In this modern era shooting the incorrect column on a 5m bunny is perhaps the most absurd thing that could go wrong for an archer. Imagine the agony for a moment. A 5, 5, 5 perhaps?
Often during times of self-reproach, I like to remind myself that somewhere in the world there is a person who is the reason that microwave user manuals tell us not to use the device to dry our pets.
Well, later on, by accident, I did discover that Henry Pert managed to draw the bow in such a way that the pile of the arrow caught, and bit into the grip of his longbow. At this point, Henry’s longbow was held at full draw, with all of the built-up energy in the string, pouring into the arrow and warring against the solidity of the stave of the bow’s body. Henry then decided to do, what in contemporary terms could be phrased as, ‘looking down the barrel of a loaded gun’ [2].
Worse for the poor archer, he had to suffer his wound for some time, as he did not die until the next day [3].
In looking further into this, I did come across another peculiar fact. In England it was mandatory for all persons to practice archery on Sundays, a law put in place by King Edward III in 1363 [4]. However, those practising archery had a special insurance, in that, should they accidentally kill someone, they would not be held to account for either manslaughter or murder [5]. This particular law was created by King Henry I, during is thirty-five-year reign, between 1100 and 1135 [6]. I’m serious when it comes to safety in archery. If anyone asks me, is archery dangerous, I tell them no, because everyone follows the rules. But I don’t think Henry I’s decree here was solving anything in terms of health and safety.
[1] – 1411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways, John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin, and the QI Elves.
[2], [3] – 10 strange ways Tudors died – BBC News
[4] – Archery in Tudor England – Janet Wertman
[5], [6] – Archery used to be required by law for English men. — History Facts
