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Arbalesters

Arbalesters.jpg Entry of Queen Isabel of Bavaria into Paris, a.d. 1389ThumbnailsAn Execution in ParisEntry of Queen Isabel of Bavaria into Paris, a.d. 1389ThumbnailsAn Execution in ParisEntry of Queen Isabel of Bavaria into Paris, a.d. 1389ThumbnailsAn Execution in ParisEntry of Queen Isabel of Bavaria into Paris, a.d. 1389ThumbnailsAn Execution in ParisEntry of Queen Isabel of Bavaria into Paris, a.d. 1389ThumbnailsAn Execution in Paris

The illustration, from a fourteenth-century manuscript, represents a siege. A walled town is on the right, and in front of the wall, acting on the part of the town, are the cross-bowmen in the cut, protected by great shields which are kept upright by a rest. The men seem to be preparing to fire, and the uniformity of their attitude, compared with the studied variety of attitude of groups of bowmen in other illustrations, suggests that they are preparing to fire a volley.