Has there ever been a practise of duelling with bows?
score:11
Yes, bows have been used to fight a duel, according to this
...seems to have occurred in 1791 when two gentlemen fought a duel with bows and arrows at Edinburgh shooting three arrows each without damaging each other
from the book Archery. It doesn't mention how much alcohol had been consumed first (brings back images from Highlander)...
Tracing the references ends with Scottish journal of topography, antiquities, traditions, etc. etc. etc., vol. I, 1847, p. 96:
So the event occurred on the 10th of February of 1791, in the Meadows, Edinburgh, with seconds. Hence a proper duel. The report is of an event from half a century earlier -- perhaps the newspapers of the day reveal more details!
Upvote:2
Negativa non sunt probanda. If really bow duelling never occurs, it is very hard to find out an inherent evidence.
In my knowledge of Italian crime law, the more lightly punished "delitti cavallereschi" (crime law offenses related to cavalry customs, and so somehow perceived as less heavy) were possible only if duellers had used specified "cavalry-fair weapons", which surely didn't include bows.
Upvote:2
The point of a duel is to defend one's reputation against an insufferable insult. The duel demonstrates that the individuals in question are gentlemen with courage and conviction and that each values his reputation more than his life.
Swords and pistols serve that purpose very well. Both effectively require that one face one's opponent and demonstrate courage. Each party (and their seconds) can see that the other stands firm and does blink or flinch.
Bows don't provide that; I suppose it is possible to use a bow at a range close enough to see whether the opponent blinks, but if you are at that range, then swords or pistols are a better choice.
In comments above, we got drawn off into a side discussion of whether bows were used by the nobility; while there were cases where nobles used bows, I'd wager the bow was never the weapon of choice for a noble. The defining weapon of the noble class is the sword, and if the goal is to demonstrate one's right to the title of gentleman, then the logical weapon is the sword. [A much longer answer would justify that assertion, and discuss the role of the lance and the pistol; I'm going to leave that to someone else to document]
As @Filipof says, it is impossible to prove a negative, but I'd be very surprised to discover a duel fought with a bow.
More post
- 📝 Timing of Trotsky's Assassination
- 📝 Why is the USA the world's strongest country?
- 📝 How long would it take to sail from New Orleans to Belize in late Summer 1867?
- 📝 Song school vs. Han school of Confucian thought in the Qing dynasty
- 📝 Evolution of United States' world role?
- 📝 Was the Tsar's property separated from state property in Russian Empire in early 19th century (regarding land)?
- 📝 What was the role of the Catholic church with regard to the Holocaust?
- 📝 Were Napoleon's chances of being caught after Waterloo high or low?
- 📝 When Adam Smith discusses "corn" to what crop does he refer?
- 📝 When did McFaul & Sechin first meet?
- 📝 What percentage of relocated Armenians died?
- 📝 What Factors Contributed to the Success of Certain "Long March" Strategies?
- 📝 What was this small state in the south of France in 1789?
- 📝 Is there any research on the (possible) ancient origins of populations in different regions in Cyprus and their movements on the island?
- 📝 Does the Kimmirut find indicate pre-Viking Europeans traveling to Baffin Island?
- 📝 Where are (records of) historic wildfires?
- 📝 Did the US threaten a nuclear strike to defend Israel in 1973?
- 📝 During the Indian removal were native Americans fed rotten food and taken through diseased areas?
- 📝 Did Mithridates VI ever lead 500,000 soldiers?
- 📝 Were the doors kept open for the entire Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention?
- 📝 Was the Kingdom of Nri truly pacifistic?
- 📝 Does anyone know anything about medieval instant pottage?
- 📝 How was body temperature checked before thermometers?
- 📝 What do historians do when there are no sources?
- 📝 Do you recognize this story of prison resistence?
- 📝 Comparing Percentage Of Spanish Nobility Migrating To Latin America To Percentage Of Pan-European Nobility Migrating To USA And Canada
- 📝 Alfred the Great's illness
- 📝 Why did early attempts to transport milk to London by rail meet with 'much criticism'?
- 📝 How long did it take approximately for a person to travel from Basel to Hanover (1753) by any means of transport?
- 📝 How common was travelling before the invention of the steam engine?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Has there ever been a practise of duelling with bows?
- 📝 Has there ever been a battle with only a single survivor?
- 📝 Has there ever been a month with 32 days?
- 📝 Has there ever been a case where a country adopted the currency of another country with a smaller economy?
- 📝 Has there ever been a significant security breach of information from someone with Alzheimer's or dementia divulging classified information?
- 📝 Has there ever been a war where 2 parties who were at war with each other cooperated on a strike against a third party?
- 📝 Has there ever been a society with impartial distribution of privilege and punishment where all members of the society have equal status.
- 📝 Has there ever been a truly multi-sided war?
- 📝 Has there ever been a non-rectangular banknote?
- 📝 Has there ever been a case when a traitorous military commander took command again for the side he betrayed?
- 📝 Has there ever been an instance of an active nuclear power plant within or near a war zone?
- 📝 Has there ever been a cold war other than between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.?
- 📝 Has there ever been a peaceful overthrow of a dictator or monarch?
- 📝 Has there ever been a major migration from the New World to the Old World? If not, why?
- 📝 Has there ever been anything like the oil boom we see today?
- 📝 Has there ever been a true kidnapped princess from anywhere in the world?
- 📝 Has there ever been an archbishop or bishop younger than the 16-year-old James of Nicosia?
- 📝 Has there ever been a serious effort to reform the US Electoral College system?
- 📝 Has there ever been a truly bilingual country prior to the contemporary period?
- 📝 Has there ever been a mass migration of factories comparable to the USSR's in WW2?
- 📝 Has there ever been a successful "Anarchy"?
- 📝 Has there ever been a US election that flipped as many state seats as the 2010 midterm elections?
- 📝 Has there ever been an attempted military takeover of a democracy in the western world?
- 📝 Has there ever been litigation over a salvaged shipwreck between a European country and a former ex-colony?
- 📝 Has there ever been a war between members of a personal union?
- 📝 Has there ever been an election where the two biggest parties form a coalition to govern?
- 📝 Has there ever been a direct clash between NATO and Russia?
- 📝 Has there ever been a situation where the "motherland" treated its colonies well anywhere in the world?
- 📝 Has there ever been a society that viewed prostitution as a prestigious vocation?
- 📝 Has there ever been any assassination so that another assassination could happen during the first one's funeral?