bow or crossbow?

6 posts2009live thread

ginniSun Aug 09, 2009 8:44 pm

I found this picture in a book written in 1938.
Is an image of a german engraving made at 1594 and represent a vlach archer and a noble from the same date.

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Is a bow or a crossbow?

Stephen SelbyMon Aug 10, 2009 2:31 am

Either a crossbow or a bow with an arrow-guide (Majra).

S

redhawkMon Aug 10, 2009 7:45 am

What means the term "vlach"?
Michael

redhawkMon Aug 10, 2009 7:47 am

Is it an asymmetrical design?
Michael

Lord RuthvenMon Aug 10, 2009 9:05 am

The Vlach is ethnonim used for the people living in parts of modern day Rumania and northern Bulgaria from the 12 th c. onwards. Since mid 14th C (I may be mistaken) they have their own Voevods and state(s) in modern day Rumania. It is interesting, that in the 13th c they were so mixed with the bulgarians, that different chronicles describing one event used the two different ethnonimes for the same Bulgarian tzar or even the state (Latin sources used mainly Vlachia, while Byzantine - Bulgaria or Schytia)

jsachersMon Aug 10, 2009 12:05 pm

Vlach = "Walachen" in German:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walachen

(@Michael: Jetzt wei?t Du, wo die Walachei liegt ? ;-))

General information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlach

Could the item in question be some kind of "siper"?