The Crossbow: Weapon for Killers and Freedom Heroes

Friedrich Schiller’s final drama makes the crossbow the pinnacle of Swiss defensive posture. It is, as it were, the assault rifle of the Middle Ages and as a logo it also stands for Swiss reliability and precision. The crossbow is by no means a Swiss invention, but has a Latin name and comes from ancient China.

The word “crossbow” has nothing to do with the shooter’s body, although when firing he uses his arm to press the device against his shoulder. On the contrary, “crossbow” comes from the Latin “arcuballista” (from “arcus”, bow and “ballista”, catapult). Remains of crossbows, locks and bolts from the 7th, 6th and 5th centuries BC. BC, have been found in Chinese tombs in Qufu in Shandong Province and in Yutaishan in Hubei Province. Technological advances in bronze casting soon enabled the mass production of crossbow locks in ancient China, individual specimens of which are excellently preserved despite their age of over 2,000 years.

The main feature of a crossbow is its transverse, powerful bow, the string of which is pulled by hand or with a winding device, and then held by a retention device, the so-called “nut”. In hunting and on the battlefield, the crossbow prevailed because, unlike other weapons, it was very compact and because, unlike conventional bows, the archer does not have to stop the stretched string with muscle strength, but can completely concentrate on the shot can fire. Due to the relatively short stroke, no arrows are shot with the crossbow, but short metal bolts, the manufacture of which is relatively cheap.

The crossbow was clearly superior to the longbow in range and penetration power, not only for hunting, but also in war, for example when besieging cities or in naval battles. Because no armor could withstand their shot and their use contradicted the ethos of chivalrous duels, Pope Innocent II banned them in 1139 on the occasion of the Second Lateran Council under threat of excommunication: Canon 29 forbade the use of the “deadly and God-hated art of crossbow and archery”. – a ban that, however, received little attention on the battlefields of Europe. Here the deadly ends justified the means.

The Byzantine princess Anna Komnene (1083-1154) describes the crossbow as a downright diabolical mechanism at the time of the first crusade in 1096: the arrows “pierce through the thickest armor and knock people down so suddenly that they are shot ». Three attacks on British kings gave the crossbow a reputation as a murderer’s weapon: William II (1056–1100) was said to have been fatally ambushed while hunting in the New Forest in southern England, his son Henry I (1068–1135) was nearly shot by his illegitimate daughter Juliana in 1119, and Richard I the Lionheart (1157-1199) died of gangrene caused by a bolt that struck the king in the shoulder during the siege of Châlus-Chabrol Castle.

The crossbow was a masterpiece of weapons technology, and the great designers of history could not escape its fascination. A detailed depiction of a crossbow called «Gastraphetes» (literally «belly stretcher») can be found in the first century AD copy of the work «Belopoeica» by the Greek mathematician and engineer Heron of Alexandria. It shows a crossbow with double reflex bow, bowstring, elongated firing channel, a semicircular abdominal support and above all the construction of the technical core, the lock with the holding device for the stretched tendon.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) preserved the construction drawing of a giant crossbow on six wheels, whose arc length of 25 meters suggests that crossbows, like catapults, were intended to instill fear and terror on medieval battlefields or during sieges.

The crossbow only appeared on the battlefields of Europe towards the end of the 10th century, and as a widely feared long-range weapon, the crossbow gradually made its way to Switzerland. In the 14th and 15th centuries, in order to be prepared for military conflicts, the cities started to set up crossbow camps, or they forced the able-bodied men to buy a crossbow themselves. The name “Armbruster” still bears witness to the fact that archers in medieval formations were respected specialists and enjoyed official status in cities. Crossbowmen’s units had their own flags and ensigns, with which they took part in target shooting and went into battle.

Meanwhile, the crossbow was also technically further developed. The previous composite bow of horn or wood was replaced by a much more powerful steel bow, which could only be strung with a lyre embedded in the crossbow. Today’s crossbows are true high-tech weapons. They are light at less than four kilograms, their metal or carbon bolts can reach speeds of up to 150 meters per second — nearly half the speed of a pistol bullet — and telescopic sights are used for sighting.

But while quiet, precise and compact, there was no particular fondness for the crossbow in Switzerland before the 19th century. That would change abruptly in 1804 with the premiere of Friedrich Schiller’s “William Tell” at the Weimar Court Theater: the story of the indomitable Uri freedom fighter became a Swiss national myth and the crossbow the pinnacle of Swiss reliability and precision. The crossbow has been internationally protected as a trademark since 2009 and the symbol of the “Swiss Label” association is, how could it be otherwise, Tell’s white crossbow on a red background.

Tell is in a terrible fight, trembling with both hands, and rolling his eyes, now to the bailiff, then to the sky – suddenly he reaches into his quiver, takes out an arrow and puts it into his goller.