Archery

By Christopher Lambert, Ynglinga-Ve.

The Hafskold's archery tradition has been passed down to Ivar through his father who made his own longbows whilst also being a keen maker of crossbows (although no one in contemporary Stav has thus far been training with them). The use of simple principles and some runic stances, combined a calm mindset is the basic approach, although there can be deeper esoteric links bound up within this system they do not get in the way of the actual practice. Indeed, there is very little actual archery that you can teach people as most of the knowledge comes through experience and actual the 'shooting' of a bow. On a practical level, this article will hopefully cover some basic pointers and show some of the differences between modern archery and the archery of the Hafskjold family tradition.

For those who have never seen an 'English' or European longbow I had better give a short description and the differences between them and the Duryee or 'American longbow. Generally there is little difference in construction between the U.S. bow and the European one. They both use the classic oval or 'D' shape belly and the same principles of height, length and draw weight except the U.S. version has a more definite stocky hand grip. Sporting longbows can be divided into two basic types, namely self or laminated bows. The former is composed of one solid piece of wood with horn or bone at each end to hold the string and give the wood some protection in wet weather. The Longbows that the Hafskjold family used were tipped with "blades" of sharpened antler which could also be used as a spear. This is not uncommon in Scandinavia as early bows, from the fourth century, have been found which were actually tipped with metal spikes. The bow generally shot today stems from the English Victorian period rather than the earlier periods of European archery. Traditionally the woods to use are Yew (of course), Ash and Elm but as too other woods I don't know 100% although if it was made by some one who new what they were doing I don't see why not. Yew is rare, if not impossible to find, of the right quality in England so most of ours comes over from the West coast of America, Hickory from the Eastern side and Lemonwood from Brazil. I have a picture of a tri-part laminated longbow made from Dagame, Purpleheart and Hickory which looks beautiful and I covert it very much. I suppose finding a good bowyer would be the best bet before you pick up a longbow to shoot as you have them for life (the bow that is).

Their are some general rules of thumb that a bowyer will use in making your bow and apart from a few personal traits these seem to be universal in European longbow making. The chap who made my bow has had 40 years of experience and has a good eye as to the weight of bow that I needed. It still depends on the type of shooting and what you want to do with the bow. If you want to practice short range, quite quick arrow release then a 'lighter' bow (say 25-30lbs) is accurate and ideal. If you want to 'clout' shoot e.g. firing in to the sky to land on a target half a mile away (plus) then there is no reason why, with a full body draw you can not have some of the heaviest e.g. the Mary Rose bows (80- 120lbs). Second hand bows and pre-made bows can be quite affordable but be cautious about these, it is generally acknowledged that a bow should fit your body and not the body to fit the bow.

The bow I have is made of Lemon Wood and Hickory and it is a Victorian styled laminated longbow rather than a self-bow. I chose this for several reasons the first is that it was well within my price range, secondly that if shooting didn't suit me then I have not wasted anything, more importantly, it is a good bow for a beginner as it slips into your body's way of shooting quite easily. It is 6 foot 2 inches when strung, the draw length is 28 inches and that relates to the shaft when drawn starting at the chin/corner of the mouth etc., ending at the knuckle of my left hand . This is the shaft length including the nock but excluding the head. There is a simple test that you can do to find your draw length, close the hands as in praying, extend the out parallel to the centre of the chest and the distance from the tip of your middle fingers to the chest is your draw length. Wib, who made my bow suggested that I get a 55lb draw weight unlike Ivar who suggested that I get something around 35-45lbs. I chose to ignore Ivar's advice opting for the bowyers and although it takes me one or two braces to get into shooting 'well' it is fine. I think that Ivar would probably say that it is still a little heavy for me but Ivar, I believe, shoots a 25lb bow and I'm a big chap so I think that I can compensate quite well. Although time will tell.

Karen (my wife) and I bought Shaun Brassfield-Thorpe a bow of the same specification for one of his birthdays and he seems happy with it. I do intend getting a 35(ish)lb bow for quick firing and also an Anglo-Saxon/Norse bow style, of the classical oval shaped variety some time in the future as the style of bow and shooting is slightly different from the 'modern' Victorian bows. So what is it you want, shooting targets or hunting? The bow will be stiff at first until you work it in to your pull so don't judge it too harshly at first, that is if you plan on getting one. Also bows are a personal thing and should really only be drawn by the owner, I have let one or two friends shoot mine so they can get a feel of it but not for long and only after the bow had 'made it's shape'.

Something's are best judged by the bowyer and if he suggests a bow which is too heavy for an individual then he should give you your money back, or he is not 'that good'. One thing to bear in mind is that the care of the bow which is important if you want it to last a life time especially if you live some where hot like Texas. Wood, as you may already know lives and breathes and as such changes shape expanding and contracting quite naturally but it has problems with extremes of temperature or more correctly the sharp change in temperature. So If you go out to the desert for some shooting in 90 degree heat be careful not to walk straight into an air conditioned building etc. As a bow has been worked with its grain it will hold its shape but as wood gets older the molecules try to relax and go back to their original position so some warping may occur if it is not looked after with care especially if glues are involved in laminates. These resins are also just as sensitive to 'Relative Humidity' levels and heat fluctuations. Oh an don't lean it against a wall, you will see what happens if you leave a staff against a wall for any length of time. Normally they pretty much look after themselves, I've got mine hanging up in my shed. It is unstrung and slipped into an old Japanese Bo bag which is tied at the top and it is from this knot that I hang it (nothing more fancy than a 3 inch nail driven into a post). Just as long a it has some clearance from the ground. I only string my bow before I shoot and if I stop for a short time I unstring it to take the tension off.

Apart from the general woodworking which I did in my teens and early twenties part of my studies last year were based around conservation skills within Museums Collections and how to control environments etc. Personally I find curators a bit anal about storage conditions but they do use a very simple premises. If it ain't broke don' fix it. Where wood is the issue if there is a recommended temperature and humidity to keep the object at, and if it is not stored at these levels but seems otherwise stable and okay then leave it alone.  When you live in a place of drastic fluctuations in temperature then wood is prone to warp and twist and this can be pretty destructive to something like a bow which more often than not, will be a laminate. It is hard to judge exactly how individual woods react in the different climates of the world so I guess that the local wood merchants rather than archers are the people to speak to for advice on storage. Wood can normally manage fine if kept in a cool area and no such drastic precautions are needed and if you have a good place to store a bow, if you look after it then it should be fine. Prevention being better than cure. I have to admit that I am a bit of a softie when it comes to the weather, being English and all, I like small shifts in heat which makes having a longbow a pleasure until it starts to rain. Still, after the last bad winter I clean my bow and arrows once a year with a raw linseed oil, just to aid the protection a little.

Personally I shoot various targets from different positions in and out of cover changing, the angle as often as possible and at sort of a close range say 15-20m tops rather than your standard practise target ranges in archery clubs. Although static shooting is good I take the rational that bows were used for hunting or warfare so I train either to kill game (I am a vegetarian however) or people, though the traditions from England to Scandinavia are slightly different. In England we have the history of massed ranks of men 'clout' shooting into the ranks of the enemy (normally the French) while we hunted at home. In Scandinavia however, shooting the bow was a one on one thing viz hunting (Ullr/Scatha) or in combat (Ullr) as more of a sniper indicating a possible explanation why some of the Hafskjold traditions Jarl deities and there weapons are set slightly outside the other 'classes'. I find that the bow is a, if not the, most martial weapon one could use for a Jarl. The combination of breath, body, focus and an ice(Is) mindset place this weapon in the Hafskjold system perfectly. Although there would be a slightly different mindset used in a mass rank of men I suppose but I doubt weather I will ever be able to recreate that as we saw the French off with bows a good few hundred years ago. Another use of the strung bow was as a musical instrument as it could be "strummed" and used for the Vardlokkur or seething trance. It is in  these trances, practised by seidr practitioners, which brings them into other 'spiritual' realms where they can bring back information, rather like the Sammi or Eastern European shaman. To be fair, it is not generally used to induce trances as the collective chanting is more widely used by contemporary Stav practitioners.

Traditional Yr; There are several stances which I tend to use when shooting. These generally stem from 'The Stav Stances' but seem to be pretty universal. The first is the traditional way of shooting using the Yr stance. Note the 'snow plough' position of the legs, for use on skis, with the bow (or spear) also aiding as a ski pole. This is the stance that the Jarls amongst us would stand in when performing their runic breathing and galdr. Personally I find it a little uncomfortable and I think that a variation on the Is rune suits me better but I have not tried it on snow yet.

Modern Yr; Next we have a more contemporary Yr stance. Those martial artists amongst us would easily recognise it as a 'Horseriding Stance' or a similar derivative. It is an excellent stance to be able to draw back into which means that you can pull, either, more weight or your bow easier and with a fluid motion. It is also very stable which means that you can hold your aim for a few micro seconds longer if needs be. Here I am using a contemporary draw, to the corner or the mouth, although the Hafskjolds have generally drawn the string back to the ear. Also, occasionally it was not uncommon to use thumb-rings to aid release, the use of which is generally associated with oriental styles of archery. The thumb ring not only aids release, giving it a more fluid 'loose' but could have been quite practical in the winter when your hands have been slightly numbed by the cold.

Long stance Hagl; In this photo we can see the clearly the use of the Hagl branch top left to bottom right. This enables you to be able to see more of the target rather than the plain vertical way of holding the bow. This does not mean that shooting with the bow in a vertical position is inferior it just gives you a large field of vision when in bad terrain rather than a clear static target. The use of this long (often seen as an oriental 'walking stance') enables me to be able to shoot from behind an obstacle whilst rationalising on the available firm ground or in field trials to keep my foot against the peg.  

Sol Hagl; And finally here is one of my favourites as it can be both effective and sneaky. Using Hagl again but in the Sol stance. Not only can you pull down in to this position but it is quite easy to pull whilst you are there. Along with this it is also very stable and good for shooting small game without the obvious large movements used when standing. It can also, I believe, be used on skis if you are 'Tellemarking' but I would have to ask Ivar about that.