arbalest
Arbalest • Illustration — Crossbowman cocking an arbalest using a cranequin The arbalest (also arblast), a variation of the crossbow, came into use in Europe around the 12th century. The arbalest was a large weapon with a steel prod, or bow assembly. Since the arbalest was much larger than earlier crossbows, and because of the greater tensile strength of steel, it had a greater force.
arbalest
Pearson Scott Foresman · This image has been extracted from another file · Public domain
- Field
- crossbow
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Nomenclature
The greater draw weight was offset by a shorter draw length, which limited the total potential energy that could be transferred into the crossbow bolt. A skilled arbalestier (arbalester) could loose two bolts per minute.
The term "arbalest" is sometimes used interchangeably with "crossbow". Arbalest is a Medieval French word originating from the Roman name arcuballista (from la 'bow' + ballista 'missile-throwing engine'), which was then used for crossbows, although originally used for types of artillery. Modern French uses the word arbalète, which is linguistically one step further from the stem, due to the disappearance of the s phoneme in the last syllable. This form of the word applies to both crossbows and arbalests (the latter may be referred to as a heavy crossbow, but an actual heavy crossbow may not be the same as an arbalest).
Literature
Literature
Arbalest | arbalist | arblast, n
Oxford English Dictionary, 2023
Dynamic Detection of Data Mapping Issues in Heterogeneous OpenMP Applications, 2021 IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS), 2021
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The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Arbalest, revision 1341845396 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Ramsey, Syed. Tools of War: History of Weapons in Ancient Times. Vij Books India Pvt. September 2016. 978-93-86834-12-6.
- 2.Heavy Medieval 1250lbs Windlass Crossbow - TESTED in Slo-Mo. YouTube.
- 3.(arbalist, arblast)
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- Tanner, Norman P. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. Sheed & Ward. Georgetown University Press. 1. 1990. 0-87840-490-2.
- Bellamy, Alex J. Just Wars: From Cicero to Iraq. Wiley. 32. 2006. 0-7456-3282-3.
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