Archery Question

[Doc]

Actually, Pete, and a couple of other folks are missing the point. Fire arrows were not intended to deal with well armored targets. Most of the time, they are never intended to pierce anything at all. Well, some are, like xbow bolts, but those are an exception rather than the standard. I can finally get to talk shop... This is my field. This is my love.

Dumdum rounds, with flaming abilities, were used to mop up common infantry. Most infantry back then was peasant militia. They wore little to no armor. Quilted armor, batting, rags, scraps of leather. This might sound stupid to us, but many of them stuffed their armor (If one could call it that) with straw. It cushioned the blow. All these peasants, because of their rags, and because of piecemeal armor, and straw, were highly flamable. Drop a spot of buring pitch on them, and watch them go. As they run around in panic, they ignite others around them. Add to the fact that there were pitch ditches hidden underfoot, or oil splashed down below, boiling or not, you had one very flamable battlefield, and burning arrows were a means to an end. Dumdum arrows with pitch or tar knobs didn't need a metal head to pierce a siege engine, the burning tar or pitch was more than sticky enough to stick and burn a bit. Sooner or later, something would do more than smoulder, it would ignite. There was also a strong psychological factor to flaming arrows, as they enemy would know they were facing a well prepared foe. They were a means to end. By themselves, only so useful, but as part of a whole defense engine, with pitch ditches, trenches, and oil in whatever form, they were formidable.

Against somewhat armored foes, you could break down the armored ranks a bit. Wooden shields can be ignited and rendered useless. And dropping flaming dumdums down from above, a soldier is bound to raise his shield to defend himself. Seems like a good idea at the time. Tougher armor, like leather jacks, jerkins, studded leathers, quilted leathers, etc, especially ones that were just manufactured, could be ignited. They boiled leather in wax to make it hard. Depending on how long ago that armor was made, and the type of tallow wax that was used, that leather could be quite combustable. Men that insisted on decorative helms, helms with tassles, horsehair fringe, etc, all the things that gave them rank and station, could, with a lucky hit, be ignited, causing quite a panic.

Against heavily armored foes, like knights, they were not much good. But the horses... Nothing spooks a horse like fire, and the horses themselves were flamable, all the various bits of cloth and armor. The tabards, while pretty to look at, and bearing a knight's coat of arms, would often be the horse's doom in a battle. A heavily armored knight, so heavily armored that he could barely move with out his horse, was a sitting duck. A dead duck.

For an attacking force, flaming arrows allowed much destruction to a fortress or castle. Internal structures could be ignited, and burned down. Mills, stables, barracks, etc, all the wooden structures inside could be burninated.

In short, flaming arrows, while highly unpredictable and dangerous for archers to use, were a deciding factor in the course of a battle. And while the risks were high, many decided it was worth it.