# "Archer" vs. "Bowman" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751 "2014-09-28T01:26:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/1 "2014-09-28T01:26:03Z")
While perusing the Wikipedia entry on the subject of “castle”, I came upon this bit: “A garrison was usually commanded by a constable whose peace-time role would have been looking after the castle in the owner’s absence. Under him would have been knights who by benefit of their military training would have acted as a type of officer class. Below them were **archers and bowmen** , whose role was to prevent the enemy reaching the walls as can be seen by the positioning of arrowslits.” (bolding mine) What, exactly, is the difference between an “archer” and a “bowman”? Bows vs. crossbows? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/2 "2014-09-28T01:37:15Z")
There may be a real difference, I don’t know, but I would not put to much evidential weight on what might be indirectly inferred from a turn of phrase in Wikipedia. Maybe some editor wrote “archers”, another “corrected” it to “bowmen”, that was reverted (and so on), until, eventually, in order to end an edit war, both words were allowed to stand. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/3 "2014-09-28T02:05:32Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Bows vs. crossbows? It may have just been a lazy edit of “archers and crossbowmen” which work in context. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/4 "2014-09-28T02:50:25Z")
I’m not sure there really is a strictly defined semantic distinction, but I’d guess the contextual difference would be something like: an archer is any dude who may be called upon to pick up a bow to defend his town/castle (and may or may not have prior experience as a hunter); whereas a bowman would be a professional war archer (i.e. has a bow meant to punch through some armour rather than the pelt of a wolf, may have armour of his own, has prior experience etc.) I shouldn’t think it’s a bow/crossbow difference, since a crossbowman is called… yes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/5 "2014-09-28T04:14:10Z")
Anyone can build archers, but only the Babylonians can build bowmen, who have a slightly better defense stat. ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/6 "2014-09-28T07:08:00Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > It may have just been a lazy edit of “archers and crossbowmen” which work in context. This. The passage in the Wiki article references [this book](http://books.google.com.au/books?id=vkdoV44211EC&q=archers+and+bowman#v=snippet&q=%22archers%20and%20crossbowmen%22&f=false), which doesn’t use ‘bowman’ at all but uses the phrase ‘archers and crossbowmen’ a few times. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/7 "2014-09-28T07:46:21Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I’m not sure there really is a strictly defined semantic distinction, but I’d guess the contextual difference would be something like: an archer is any dude who may be called upon to pick up a bow to defend his town/castle (and may or may not have prior experience as a hunter); whereas a bowman would be a professional war archer (i.e. has a bow meant to punch through some armour rather than the pelt of a wolf, may have armour of his own, has prior experience etc.) > > I shouldn’t think it’s a bow/crossbow difference, since a crossbowman is called… yes. Every man was an archer in medieval England. > [@](#): > > In the 15th Century it would have been almost impossible to have found a young male who wouldn’t have been taught to shoot a bow. From the age of 7 it was a father’s legal duty to provide his son with a bow and two arrows. From the age of 17 it became a young man’s own duty to provide his own bow and four arrows. [http://www.medievalfreeco.org.uk/archery.html](http://www.medievalfreeco.org.uk/archery.html) ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/8 "2014-09-28T13:17:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Anyone can build archers, but only the Babylonians can build bowmen, who have a slightly better defense stat. I knew someone was gonna say that. Now, if only I could predict football scores… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/9 "2014-09-28T14:56:11Z")
Anyone else read the thread title and think “There’s a TV series called Bowman?” Just me, then? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/10 "2014-09-28T16:02:57Z")
Thank you for the helpful answers. That clears things up! ---
**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:** [September 28, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/11 "2014-09-28T17:48:57Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Every man was an archer in medieval England. > > [http://www.medievalfreeco.org.uk/archery.html](http://www.medievalfreeco.org.uk/archery.html) That’s only really true from the late 13th century onwards (formally mandated Sunday practice was introduced in ~1360 or so), or put it simply the Hundred Years War - but “medieval England” started either in 476 or 1066 depending on who you ask :), and castles started springing up around the 10th. And even then, I expect there still existed a non-negligible skill (and equipment) difference between a yeoman who did his weekly 3 hours from Mass to lunch and an honest-to-goodness man-at-arms who did nothing \*but \*train whenever there wasn’t a war going on (there was always a war going on :o). ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/12 "2014-09-29T19:58:20Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > There may be a real difference, I don’t know, but I would not put to much evidential weight on what might be indirectly inferred from a turn of phrase in Wikipedia. Maybe some editor wrote “archers”, another “corrected” it to “bowmen”, that was reverted (and so on), until, eventually, in order to end an edit war, both words were allowed to stand. So…phrasing? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/13 "2014-09-29T21:26:37Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Every man was an archer in medieval England. > "In the 15th Century it would have been almost impossible to have found a young male who wouldn’t have been taught to shoot a bow. From the age of 7 it was a father’s legal duty to provide his son with a bow and two arrows. From the age of 17 it became a young man’s own duty to provide his own bow and four arrows. " > > [http://www.medievalfreeco.org.uk/archery.html](http://www.medievalfreeco.org.uk/archery.html) Two arrows? Even in medieval times, were arrows that hard to make? With two (or even four) arrows, you’d never get very good. Shoot your two arrows 200 yards. Trudge 200 yards down range and spend 20 minutes looking for them. Trudge 200 yards back. Rinse, repeat. Seems like it would be like going to a driving range and being given a bucket with four balls in it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/14 "2014-09-29T21:34:16Z")
IIRC, practice ranges had butts at both ends. So it would be fire arrows, trudge to other end, fire arrows, trudge back, repeat until tired. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/15 "2014-10-01T03:20:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Anyone else read the thread title and think “There’s a TV series called Bowman?” > > Just me, then? No - but Tony Hancock did do a soap-opera parody episode in his show called ['The Bowmans](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_X6Y4q3vwQ)’. Interesting, he did it in his TV series, but ‘The Bowmans’ was played as a radio show (as The Archers was, and still is). ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/16 "2014-10-01T03:42:03Z")
Simple. Archers are Norman\* and bowmen are Saxon. - I accidentally typed “Mormon” initially, which would have confused the issue no end. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mr.Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Me)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-vs-bowman/699751/17 "2014-10-01T12:45:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Anyone else read the thread title and think “There’s a TV series called Bowman?” I thought it was Sterling Archer vs. Dave Bowman. :smack: