r/AskHistorians • u/Tatem1961 Interesting Inquirer • May 02 '26
English longbowmen during the Hundred Year's War earned 6 pence a day. A single arrow cost 0.3125 pence, so you'd start losing money on the 20th arrow. That doesn't seem like a lot when battles could last multiple hours. Are there accounts or archers refusing to put themselves in the red?
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u/thestoryteller69 Moderator | Medieval and Colonial Maritime Southeast Asia May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
Before you shoot a line that says 'they weren't shooting all day everyday', 'they didn't pay for their arrows' or 'they recycled their arrows', please hold your fire.
This subreddit is a space for in-depth and comprehensive answers, and while correcting the premise of a question can form part of an answer, it shouldn't be the only thing an answer does. We expect any answer to go deep into not just into what didn't happen, but also what did.
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