German Trad
A modern scene with some ancient bows
English archery traditions date back to the Middle Ages, to the Welsh and Scottish wars, to the French battlefields of Crécy and Agincourt, and to the mandates of Edward III and later kings, making archery practice compulsory for every able-bodied man throughout the realm.
When the bow became obsolete as a weapon of war in the 16th century, it remained in use for hunting and for recreation in the hands of a number of enthusiasts, from those of royal and noble blood down to the common man. Then popular disciplines like roving the marks, clout, wand shooting, or shooting at the butts still echoed the military practices of old. Change came slowly, though perhaps inevitably, but archery, and in particular the longbow, have always remained part of the English heritage.
In this historical development, however, England stands out among all other European countries. Germany, for example, has no military archery tradition to speak of. In medieval times, the bow was considered an inferior weapon in the hands of the lowly classes, the conscripts, and while there were archers present on probably almost every medieval siege or battlefield, they rarely ever feature in the chronicles, and they left little evidence as to their existence.
The noble classes used the bow for hunting, which was considered a suitable pastime, and a way to prove skill, prowess and courage. But in war, shooting an enemy from afar was regarded as cowardly and unworthy of a knight, who was supposed to fight with lance and sword, and look his opponent in the eye.
Beginning as early as the 13th century, the simple wooden hand-bow was widely superseded by the more ‘modern’ crossbow. While it offered a much slower shooting rate, it required less physical strength and less practice to be shot fairly precisely over considerable distances.
Citizens obliged to play their part in the defence of their towns formed associations or guilds to train themselves collectively in the use of that weapon. Many of these became nuclei for the later ‘Schützengesellschaften’, or shooting societies, some of which date back to the 16th, or even 15th, century.
Later, most such societies abandoned the crossbow in favour of the latest in firearms.
Competitions were held regularly, with fair prizes to be won, in target shooting and different variations of shooting at the bird, or popinjay. The crossbow was also in favour among the nobility as a hunting weapon.
Not only could it be kept and carried strung, it was possible to aim for a long period of time without the shooter or weapon becoming fatigued. The wooden stock also lent itself to artistic decoration in the form of wood or bone carvings, often showing hunting scenes and motifs. Well made and finely decorated crossbows were expensive and prized possessions, becoming family heirlooms, so a great number of them survive to this day in private or public collections, with many to be found in museums, and not only in Germany.
So while Germany can pride itself on a rich and long-standing shooting tradition, archery plays no role in the country’s cultural heritage. Individual enthusiasts have always taken an interest, however, and even tried to kindle the flame, but it remained only a burning match, not a roaring fire. In the foreword to his 1920 booklet Bogenschiessen (Archery), one E Mylius lamented this fact and the apparent lack of interest in this “lovely and extraordinarily healthy sport”.
A German academic, Joachim P Hein, wrote an account of Ottoman archery traditions in the 1920s that is still considered one of best treatises on that subject. During the 1930s and 1950s a German bowyer named Helmut Mebert built Turkish and other composite bows in the ancient manner that were widely regarded as the most accurate and reliable replicas.
Mebert even advertised in the US, and bows built by him can be found in various museums around the world.
But men like Hein or Mebert were solitary figures. Eugen Herrigel, when writing his classic essay on ‘Zen and the Art of Archery’ in 1948 felt a need to apologise and explain the denomination of archery as an ‘art’. No German archers competed in the Olympic Games of the early 20th century, and until 1950 a single archery club existed in Germany, founded in 1930 by a group in Hamburg shooting at straw bales in a quarry.
In order to establish archery as a sport and recreational pastime, an impulse from outside was needed – or, in fact, several of them. In 1953, two years after the foundation of
FITA (now known as World Archery), the international association’s secretary general, Lars Eckegaard from Stockholm, visited the country in order to find an organisation or governing body that would be willing and able to represent
German archery internationally.
He found it in the ‘Deutscher Schützenbund’, or German sports shooters’ association, which duly called for archers to compete in a national league. Three local clubs participated, even though some of them had to find willing and able archers via newspaper ads first. But a seed was sown, and a tiny flower began to grow. (To this day, Olympic shooting and Olympic archery have the same national federation, unlike most other countries in the world.)
The second impulse came in 1972 with the re-establishment of archery at the Olympic Games in Munich. This led to rising interest in the sport, and a boost in archers’ numbers throughout most of Europe, and other countries as well, but perhaps nowhere more so than in Germany.
“Some ‘Shooting societies’ date back to the 16th, or even 15th, century”
Existing shooting clubs or traditional Schützengesellschaften now established archery divisions, and new clubs sprung up in considerable numbers. Young people in particular appear to have been drawn to the ancient sport. More and more local, regional and national competitions were held, and even international success was not long in coming. As early as 1974, Germans won the European Championships for men (single and team), and the ladies’ team came third at the World Championships in Seoul in 1985.
By the 1980s, archery was a properly established sport in Germany, with clubs and associations, a governing body and local, regional and national competitions. This was also a time when bow and arrow technology began to take great leaps forward, with new designs, new materials and, following that, new rules and regulations.
Not everyone was happy with this development, however. Among archers, but also outside the organised sport, some people longed for a more simple, archaic or traditional form of archery, without sights, stabilisers and space-age materials.
Once more, outside impulses helped to set things in motion. The revival of traditional archery in the United States not only made ‘classic’ equipment available, but also information on ‘primitive’ bow-building and adventure stories about Saxton Pope, Art Young, Ishi, Howard Hill and other early Usamerican archers and bow hunters.
The seed fell on fertile ground among certain groups of people with an interest in Native American culture, of those dissatisfied with shooting dozens of arrows from fixed distances at the ever same target, and of those who had always associated archery with adventure, not with white polo shirts, peep sights and coloured rings.
Experimental archaeologists at the same time pointed out that Europe had a millennia
old archery tradition of its own, referring to the Stone Age bows from Holmegaard and other bog finds. So the first 2D and 3D shoots in Germany saw a mix of primitive wooden bows of Stone Age or Native American designs, modern glass-backed recurves and even the odd compound bow, sometimes all shooting within the same class, or in classes divided by arrow materials. They also saw a lot of debate about the true meaning of the term ‘traditional archery’ – a discussion still going on today.
By 1996, the scene had grown big enough for a specialist magazine to be established, aptly named Traditionell Bogenschiessen (Traditional Archery). From the beginning, it aimed to cater for the needs and interests of all traditional archers, from the ‘primitives’ and historical re-enactors to casual Sunday shooters, or the more competitive ‘tuners’ with their aluminium or carbon arrows and plastic vanes.
Fast forward to the present time: traditional archery, whatever it means to individual archers, is now firmly established in Germany. While archery in general is still a small but growing sport, the traditional style is the one that has drawn the most attention in recent years. Surges in interest can be noticed whenever a new Robin Hood film hits the cinemas, while the movie Brave and the Hunger Games franchise as well as the TV show Arrow sparked notable interest in the younger generation, as they did everywhere else.
By far the most popular discipline is
3D, while field archery events draw fewer competitors and traditional target archery is not very popular or common at all. For the past couple of years interest has also grown in exploring other, often historical forms of competition as well. Clout shooting especially is becoming more and more popular, but many events now also feature popinjay, Mongolian targets, splitting-the-wand or speed shots. Even roving-the-marks shoots are held regularly by clubs fortunate enough to have access to suitably vast grounds.
3D courses can be found throughout the country, and the traditional archery calendar offers a huge choice of shoots every weekend from March to October, and even a growing number of events in winter. Participating in one of those shoots you will encounter a competitive but friendly atmosphere. Many German archers speak English – albeit often with a terrible accent – and are usually keen to learn more about traditional archery abroad. There is a sense here now of being part of a huge international family of traditional archers.
So if you feel like visiting some ‘distant relatives’ when travel is possible again without any restrictions, you will be most welcome.