History of crossbows

It is not clear when the crossbow was invented, but it is believed to have appeared in China first by 7th century BC and Greece around the 5th or 4th century BC.

In China, the crossbow was one of the primary military weapons from the Warring States period until the end of the Han dynasty, when armies were composed of up to 30 to 50 percent crossbowmen. The crossbow lost much of its popularity after the fall of the Han dynasty, likely because of the rise of the more resilient heavy cavalry during the Six Dynasties. One Tang dynasty source recommends a bow-to-crossbow ratio of five to one as well as the utilization of the countermarch to make up for the crossbow archer's lack of speed. The crossbow countermarch technique was further refined in the Song dynasty, but crossbow usage in the military continued to decline after the Mongol conquest of China. Although the crossbow never regained the prominence it once had under the Han, it was never completely phased out either. Even as late as the 17th century AD, military theorists were still recommending it for wider military adoption, but production had already shifted in favour of firearms and traditional composite bows.

In the Western world, a crossbow known as the gastraphetes was described by the Greco-Roman scientist Heron of Alexandria in the 1st century AD. He believed it was the forerunner of the catapult, which places its appearance sometime prior to the 4th century BC during the Classical period. Further evidence of crossbows in ancient Europe are two stone relief carvings from a Roman grave in Gaul and some vague references by Vegetius. A mounted crossbow machine, the oxybeles was used in the 4th century BC. Pictish imagery from medieval Scotland dated between the 6th and 9th centuries AD do show what appear to be crossbows, but only for hunting, and not military usage. It is unclear how widespread crossbows were in Europe prior to the medieval period or if they were even used for warfare. The small body of evidence and the context they provide suggest that the ancient European crossbow was primarily a hunting tool or minor siege weapon, such as the ballista, but these are torsion engines and are not considered crossbows. Crossbows are not mentioned in European sources again until 947 AD, as a French weapon during the siege of Senlis. From the 11th century AD onward, crossbows and crossbowmen occupied a position of high status in medieval European militaries, with the exception of the English and their continued use of the longbow. During the 16th century AD, military crossbows in Europe were superseded by gunpowder weaponry such as cannons and muskets. Hunters, however, continued to carry the crossbow for another 150 years, favoring it for its silence.

It is speculated that medieval European crossbows originate from China, but some differences exist between the two trigger mechanisms used in European and Chinese crossbows.

A crossbowman or crossbow-maker is sometimes called an arbalist or arbalest.

Arrow, bolt and quarrel are all suitable terms for crossbow projectiles.

The lath, also called the prod, is the bow of the crossbow. According to W.F. Peterson, the prod came into usage in the 19th century AD, as a result of mistranslating rodd in a 16th-century AD list of crossbow effects.

The stock is the wooden body on which the bow is mounted, although the medieval tiller is also used.