Well, that doesn't make him any less dead

"Free me so far in your most generous thoughts
That I have shot my arrow o'er the house
And hurt my brother."

                                                     Hamlet    (V,ii)


Hamlet is trying to convince a justifiably hotheaded Laertes that he didn't mean to kill his father Polonius; it was all a mistake. Hamlet neglects to add, for obvious reasons, that he thought it was the king hiding behind that big tapestry. What followed was a moment of impulsiveness on Hamlet's part, and the wrong man lay dead on the floor.

Hamlet did indeed have some explaining to do. The "arrow o'er the house" metaphor touches on Shakespeare's mastery of language: the imagery is natural, even childlike in its simplicity. But Laertes was in no mood for metaphors: he preferred to do his thinking with the poisoned tip of his blade.

Pictured above, in the collection of Agecroft Hall, is a crossbow made in continental Europe and dating to the latter half of the seventeenth century. Yew was one of the preferred woods for making such bows: it was strong and resilient, just what was needed for shooting arrows with a power that could pierce some types of armor at a close enough range in battle. Agecroft's crossbow was most likely made for hunting rather than for fighting: it has decorative inlay that is usually indicative of a purpose other than use in war. By the time of this crossbow's construction, c1675, such weapons were being eclipsed in war by the use of gunpowder.

The English had distinguished themselves as nonpareil in the use of the longbow at the medieval battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt in France. While the crossbow never seemed as close to the patriotic English heart, it did have its advantages: it could be effectively used with less practice than the longbow required, not a small consideration when a yeoman who spent most of his time behind a plow was called upon to help fight a war.

The stirrup-like metal appendage visible at the top of the crossbow was used to help prepare the weapon for shooting: a crossbowman would put his foot in the stirrup and use his leg power to help draw back the bow, not always easy for a sleepless man dead-tired after miles of walking to reach the battlefield. On the other hand, at least the crossbow was easier to span (draw back) than the longbow.  The arrows, called "bolts," that were used with the crossbow were almost invariably shorter than those of the longbow, and were usually cheaper to produce.

Some crossbows had hand cranks on their stocks to facilitate reloading, although it's difficult to imagine that these were not unwieldy in the heat of a fight. In an open-field battle, crossbowmen were known to do their reloading, whenever possible, from behind a large shield often made specifically for the purpose. As a general rule, a longbow could be reloaded more quickly than a crossbow, at the same time having a sort of graceful elegance that the crossbow lacked.

Of course, any appreciation of "graceful elegance" surely falls by the wayside when an arrow shot in anger hits its mark.