I must agree with Michael on this one, I don’t like it.
And I didn’t like it when I first saw it at Hermann-Historica either. Then it turned up in Holger Richters, Die Hornbogenarmbrust: Geschichte und Technik (Gebundene Ausgabe - Oktober 2006), where it still was said that it was a Scandinavian crossbow. I tried to convince Richter that the Scandinavian Saami crossbows had tillers somewhat similar to this but not until the 18th c, and there was certainly no people that could make horn bows left at that time, but he still thought that it was a Scandinavian crossbow.
“Both crossbows had identical (really identical, not only similar) elements:
The strongly reflex horn-bow, the stirrup, the cord binding and the trigger lever. Therefore both crossbows must have been made by the same maker or in the same workshop.”
Is it possible that you could show us the other crossbow that you say is identical to this one?
Do you know the dimensions of this crossbow?
Is it a wall-crossbow or a big handheld crossbow?
Here I must say that I have never seen a horn bow of this size with this much reflex, of course I know of the early crossbows like W1109 in Köln, but they are of another time and type.
Can you show me a similar reflexed bow?
The yellow-greenish cord binding looks suspect to me and most probably not original. The stirrup should be lashed to the bow with leather and not the cord binding that holds the bow. The stirrup doesn’t look like anything I have seen before, it’s very thin and the outside ridge looks like it’s pressed from the inside, it looks very suspect.
This is the first old (?) crossbow that I have seen with a tiller of oak.
“There can be no doubt that this is a gothic crossbow. As mentioned before all elements of this crossbow, except of the stock, are identical to a known typical central european crossbow. The iron side plates are nearly identical to the side plates on the Wall-crossbow you posted in thread #40.”
I’m sorry but I can’t see anything on this one that I would say is typical of a central European medieval crossbow. If it had had a bow shaped more like the one in thread #40, and of similar size, I would have it easier to accept it.
Mikael Dahlström,
Stockholm Lockbow Society,
Sweden
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