# Were double crossbows used? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987 "2006-11-18T23:35:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/1 "2006-11-18T23:35:04Z")
So I just watched _Ladyhawke_, where Rutger Hauer’s character uses a crossbow that has two bows, one on top of the other, ensuring that he can fire two shots without reloading. Did these weapons actually exist? If so, did they have two triggers? If not, how did you fire one bow at a time? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/2 "2006-11-19T05:04:44Z")
They must have existed 'cause [these people](http://www.hollowearthswordworks.com/crossbows.htm) are busily making and selling replicas. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/3 "2006-11-19T07:55:34Z")
I’m sure they were made - the 14th century must have had “crossbow-nuts” who would buy anything, and I could see some aristocrat commisioning one as a hunting weapon. I doubt they were used by any military force, though. Loading a crossbow takes long enough as it is, so a double rig would basically only have an advantage in the first volley of combat, which is hardly worth the extra weight, complexity and cost. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/4 "2006-11-19T19:56:04Z")
I think I’d prefer to have a [Chinese repeating crossbow.](http://www.atarn.org/chinese/rept_xbow.htm) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/5 "2006-11-19T20:14:50Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose] They must have existed 'cause [these people](http://www.hollowearthswordworks.com/crossbows.htm) are busily making and selling replicas. [/QUOTE] Why does this mean that they “must have existed”? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/6 "2006-11-20T04:42:48Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] Why does this mean that they “must have existed”? [/QUOTE] ??? Um…because the very first line on the website says, “_Our crossbows are fully-functioning, 13th to 16th century all-wood replicas_”, and not, “Our crossbows are replicas of the double crossbow they used in Ladyhawke”, thus I infer that the answer must be, “Yes, there really were double crossbows and it wasn’t just something Richard Donner and the props department came up with.” ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/7 "2006-11-20T16:41:30Z")
Good point. Some company in Arkansas with a 1998 style web site said so. No doubt they have a few PhD historians on staff. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/8 "2006-11-20T17:21:46Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] Good point. Some company in Arkansas with a 1998 style web site said so. No doubt they have a few PhD historians on staff. [/QUOTE] Do you have a PhD historian on staff who says otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/9 "2006-11-20T18:12:54Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] Do you have a PhD historian on staff who says otherwise? [/QUOTE] Oh for fuck sake, I have no idea. I think it should be plainly obvious that a company that sells novelty items isn’t a worthy site that proves that such things existed in history. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/10 "2006-11-20T18:32:33Z")
I realize that **Diceman** wants me to prove a negative which of course I can’t do but it’s a slow day at work so I did some checking. [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossbow) is the Wikipedia entry on crossbows and there is no mention of a double cross bow. You’d think that those guys would have mentioned it. I know that many people don’t like Wiki as a source but it might be better than a toy company. Wiki does have one interesting bit: > [@](#): > > Crossbowmen among the Flemish citizens, in the army of Richard Lionheart, and others, had two servants, two crossbows and a pavise shield to protect the men. One of the servants had the task of reloading the weapons, while the second subordinate would carry and hold the pavise (the archer himself also wore protective armor). Such a three-man team could fire 8 shots per minute, compared to a single crossbowman’s 3 shots per minute. It would appear that historically this was how they solved the problem of slow rate of fire on crossbows and that, if the claimed statistics are correct, this is more efficient method than a double crossbow would be with out the extra complication of a second mechanism. A search for “double cross bow” on Google does give a lot of hits but the first few pages are all for companies that make them now, discussing scenes from fantasy movies and RPGs. To be clear, I am not even close to a historian, so I will believe that double cross bows were prevalent if I can be shown a _proper_ cite. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/11 "2006-11-20T18:36:16Z")
I’ve emailed the website selling the double crossbows. We’ll see if they can provide a source or some kind of expertise on the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/12 "2006-11-20T18:39:14Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] To be clear, I am not even close to a historian, so I will believe that double cross bows were prevalent if I can be shown a _proper_ cite. [/QUOTE] There’s got to be a historian on here somewhere whose cleaned a crossbow or two. Hopefully one will be by to give us some answers. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/13 "2006-11-20T18:50:03Z")
I came in to second the repeating crossbow. Double Crossbow : Double barrel shot gun :: Repeating crossbow : Machine gun. I think we have a clear winner. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/14 "2006-11-20T19:04:24Z")
I don’t know if they existed, but it seems a distinct possibility. Aside from that, the _idea_ of them has been around in pop culture longer ago than **Ladyhawke**. One shows up in Robert E. Howard’s Conan story “The God in the Bowl”, written before 1936 and published in 1952: > **[The God in the Bowl](https://conan.fandom.com/wiki/The_God_in_the_Bowl)** > > "The God in the Bowl" is a short story by Robert E. Howard, first published in Space Science Fiction September 1952, in a version edited by L. Sprague de Camp. Howard's original version was first published in The Tower of the Elephant (Donald M.... (I suppose it’s possible that L. Sprague de Camp added that detail, but I doubt it. It would probably make it more likely – de Camp was a stickler for authenticity.) It appeared in the Conan comic book in the early 1970s, double crossbow and all. ---
**Author:** ![sumpitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@sumpitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sumpitan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-double-crossbows-used/380987/15 "2006-11-21T03:17:28Z")
None of the milestones in historical crossbow literature (_Payne-Gallwey, R. : The Crossbow, Alm, J. : European Crossbows; Harmuth, E. Die Armbrust & Paterson, W.F. : A Guide to the Crossbow_) mention or depict double crossbows, nor have I ever seen a non-modern one in my 20 years of bowyery (period crossbows and handbows). There are extant examples of crossbows that shot two arrows at once, by means of two bolt grooves side by side but only one bow for propulsion.