 |
Crossbows & Archery
The Club is in the course of forming a section dedicated
to Crossbows & Archery and will initially shoot at 25m although we
are exploring the possibility of additional dedicated facilities.
The most famous crossbowman of them all……………
William Tell From Burglen, Switzerland, was known as an expert marksmen
with the crossbow. During the 14th Century the Hapsburg emperors were
seeking to dominate the region of Uri. Herman Gessler the newly
appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf raised a pole in the village square
with his hat on top and demanded that all townsfolk bow before it.
William Tell passed without bowing and was arrested. He received the
punishment of being forced to shoot an apple off the head of his young
son, Walter, or else both would be executed. William had been promised
freedom if he succeeded, which Gessler doubted.
On 18th November 1307 William split the apple with a single bolt from
his crossbow. When the Vogt asked why William had a second bolt in his
belt, William told him it was to kill Gessler had he shot his son.
Gessler was angry and banished the patriot. But the ship William was on
foundered in a storm on Lake Lucerne and he escaped. Later he went to
Kussnacht, and when Gessler arrived, he shot him with the crossbow
bolt he had had in his belt. This defiance of the Austrian reeve
sparked a rebellion. and this led to the formation of the Old Swiss
Confederacy.
|
