A Matter of National Security, by King Edward III of England

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We willing to apply a seasonable Remedy to this, command you, that in Places in the foresaid City, as well within the Liberties as without,* where you shall see it expedient, you cause publick Proclamation to be made, that every one of the said City, strong in Body, at leisure Times on Holydays, use, in their Recreations, Bows and Arrows, or Pellets* or Bolts,* and learn and exercise the Art of Shooting; forbidding all and singular on our behalf, that they do not after any manner apply themselves to the Throwing of Stones,* Wood, Iron, Hand-Ball, Foot-Ball, Bandy-Ball, Cambuck or Cock-fighting, or such other like vain Plays, which have no profit in them; or concern themselves therein, under pain of Imprisonment.

Witness the King at Westminster, the 12 Day of June.

by King Edward III of England r. 1327-1377

Translated by John Strype (1720), original spelling

From ‘De Arte Sagittandi’ (1363) as translated by John Strype in his edition of John Stow’s ‘Survey of London and Westminster’ Book I Chapter XV (1720, 1734). Original spelling has been preserved, but corrected with reference to the text given by the ‘Digital Humanities Institute’, part of Sheffield University. ‘Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae &c.’ Volume III Part 2 (1739) edited by Thomas Rymer (1641-1713), has a similar letter, in the original Latin. Additional information from ‘Memorials of London and London life (1276-1419)’ (1868) by the City of London Corporation.

* In mediaeval England, ‘liberties’ were small enclaves with special local government rights, distinct from the Hundreds and Boroughs which made up the patchwork of local government around the country. They were found all over the realm — from Dublin to Ipswich, from Fordington in Dorset to the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, from Oxford to Durham — but especially in London, where they included the Inner and Middle Temples, the Tower of London, Blackfriars, Southwark, the Clink, Minories, and several others. Edward reminded such Liberties that they had no right to exempt themselves from his proclamation.

* A pellet is a projectile fired from a gun. An inventory of weapons dating from 1339 mentioned four and half hundredweight of them in ‘La Bretaske’, an armoury near the Tower of London, and said they were for firing from ‘gonnes’ using explosive powder. These ‘gonnes’ were hand-cannon made of latten (an alloy of copper and zinc that resembles brass), at that time a military novelty in Europe. In 1346, the English deployed them in battle at Calais.

* A bolt is an arrow fired from a cross-bow or catapult. The City of London inventory for 1339 included seven ‘springalds’, large cross-bows mounted in wooden cages.

* Records of munitions at Windsor from 1330/31 mention a large stone-throwing balista (catapult) there called Lady Gunhild. An Englishman discovered in the ‘throwing of stones’ with such a machine would presumably have escaped the wrath of the Sheriff.

* In the King’s letter to the Sheriff of Kent, preserved by Rymer, the King does mention cambuck (canibucam) at this point, but not bandy-ball.

Précis

To prevent any further loss of skilled archers, Edward gave clear orders that everyone in the country, without exception, must at once stop playing any ball games, throwing games, or degrading sports as cockfighting, and go back to archery, or else they would find a spell in gaol waiting for them.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Précis

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