The arbalest (also arblast), a variation of the

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an Elasticity (physics), elastic launching device consisting of a Bow and arrow, bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar f ...

, came into use in Europe around the 12th century. The arbalest was a large weapon with a steel prod, or bow assembly. Since the arbalest was much larger than earlier crossbows, and because of the greater

tensile strength Ultimate tensile strength (also called UTS, tensile strength, TS, ultimate strength or F_\text in notation) is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials, the ultimate ...

of steel, it had a greater force. The greater draw weight was offset by a shorter draw length, which limited the total potential energy that could be transferred into the

crossbow bolt A bolt or quarrel is a dart-like projectile used by crossbows. The word ''quarrel'' is from the Old French ''quarrel'' (> French ''carreau'') "square thing", specialized use as ''quarrel d'arcbaleste'' (> ''carreau d'arbalète'') "crossbow quar ...

. A skilled arbalestier (arbalester) could loose two bolts per minute.

Nomenclature

The term "arbalest" is sometimes used interchangeably with "crossbow". ''Arbalest'' is a

Medieval French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

word originating from the Roman name ' (from ' 'bow' + ' 'missile-throwing engine'), (arbalist, arblast) which was then used for crossbows, although originally used for types of artillery. French language, Modern French uses the word ', which is linguistically one step further from the stem, due to the disappearance of the ''s'' phoneme, phoneme in the last syllable. This form of the word applies to both crossbows and arbalests (the latter may be referred to as a ''heavy crossbow'', but an actual heavy crossbow may not be the same as an arbalest).

References

Bibliography

* . * {{Authority control Crossbows Medieval archery Weapons of Scotland