# 14th century defense industry **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477 "2014-03-11T22:12:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/1 "2014-03-11T22:12:15Z")
How much is known about the defense industry say prior to 1600AD? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/2 "2014-03-11T23:24:17Z")
We know that planting of yew trees in England was officially encouraged, while the manufacture and sale of self bows was monitored/regulated. Able-bodied men were “required” to practice their archery at least once a week but often did not because of an emerging national pastime: football. That practice thingy I got from “Weapons that Made Britain” hosted by Mike Loades. According to the Gibbon book, the Roman pillum was considered the depleted uranium slug of ancient times. Only the Roman army bothered the employ it and the ability to was considered a strategic asset. Non-soldiers were not permitted to practice or hunt with them. Very likely though, this rule wasn’t enforced very much. I mean, why are wild pigs now called “javelina?” ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/3 "2014-03-11T23:31:29Z")
I am more curious as to how the weapons were made. Was each village or township responsible for supplying their own weapons in war or did the English have a well organized defense indusrty in place? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/4 "2014-03-12T00:04:11Z")
Bow making was down to individual crafting. But large manors and garrisons had full-time smiths and bowyers. To answer your question better, you should look up standardization of weapons and equipment per campaign, like in the Hundred Years war leading to Crecy or Verneuil. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/5 "2014-03-12T00:09:25Z")
English, organized ? As far as I remember, everyone was responsible for supplying himself or his own followers if they had none. Some towns were more armament production orientated than most others. Charles le Téméraire disliked Liège, where the arms industry basically started, for many reasons, but the fact they supplied arms to people not Charles le Téméraire helped. In Armour, beyond simple stuff, the best suits were made in Italy, especially Milan; Germany produced nearly as good, and if less prettified, as functional. English monarchs every now and then induced Italian ( for armour ) and German ( for armour, firearms and mining etc. ) craftsmen to settle here and hopefully teach their mystery. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/6 "2014-03-12T00:47:58Z")
The group online bowyers group where I hang out has been discussing how war bows were made No one seems to really know how the manufacturing process worked or if it even existed. It is not a particulary difficult trade to learn but it does require some coaching. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/7 "2014-03-12T01:03:58Z")
I seem to remember that English war bows did not have a uniform draw weight and construction. That already tells you a lack of centralized control (which goes against what I first posted. :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/8 "2014-03-12T01:20:23Z")
The [Board of Ordnance](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mike.comerford/ORDNANCE/01.htm)seems to be what you’re looking for (for England at least) > [@](#): > > The Ordnance Board can trace its history back to 1414 when Henry V appointed Nicholas Merbury as the Master of Ordnance and John Louth as his Clerk of Works. The former was present at the Battle of Agincourt to provide expert advise on the engines of was used in that conflict. In 1518 the “Board of Ordnance” was constituted, with the addition of a Lieutenant as second-in-command, a Surveyor and a Storekeeper. It is evident that the traditional functions exercised by the Board until the middle of the 19th Century, that is, assessment of design, procurement, inspection to maintain standards, storage, stock-taking and accounting, were already being carried out. The offices of the Board were in the Tower of London, where they remained for many years. The Select Committee, part of the Board of Ordnance and progenitor of the present day Ordnance Board, was formed in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich in 1805. The title of “Master General of the Ordnance” appears to have been first used in 1603 and is used to this day, the present holder of the office still being responsible for the administration of the Board. So by 1414 there was a person in charge of the armoury and by 1518 a centralised system of assessing design and production of weapons was in place. Actual production was probably sub contracted out to private manufacturers. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/9 "2014-03-12T01:47:49Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > The [Board of Ordnance](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mike.comerford/ORDNANCE/01.htm)seems to be what you’re looking for (for England at least) > > So by 1414 there was a person in charge of the armoury and by 1518 a centralised system of assessing design and production of weapons was in place. Actual production was probably sub contracted out to private manufacturers. Thats good information, I am kind of surprised at how little is known about this period. I have a feeling we might have some good history just buried in the archives. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/10 "2014-03-12T02:00:55Z")
I read a fascinating [book](http://www.amazon.com/Saltpeter-Mother-Gunpowder-David-Cressy/dp/019969575X) last year on the politics of saltpeter in the gunpowder age. The main theme was that this was A Big Deal in the defence industry from about the fifteenth century onwards, becoming more and more so as firearms became a greater component of an army’s weaponry. Saltpeter was an essential component of gunpowder and its chemistry was not fully understood (obviously, since chemistry was an infant science in those days) - the major thing that was known about it was that it was able to be produced from urine and dung. So the government (ie, king) would employ “saltpetermen” to travel the country searching for this valuable substance in barns, stables and pigeon lofts everywhere, digging up any productive bit of dirt they happened to find (and not generally fixing any property damage afterward, which obviously caused considerable angst among everyone who wasn’t the king. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14th-century-defense-industry/683477/11 "2014-03-12T02:50:54Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > I mean, why are wild pigs now called “javelina?” Pila were a special refinement over the regular kind, but plenty of cultures used javelins both for war and for hunting, on foot or horseback or chariot. Presumably the Spaniards did enough of it to impact their lexicon ? I know the \*Medieval \*games always give early/high Middle Age Spain really awesome mounted javelin skirmishers, the _jinetes_.