Book excerpt: Archery in Medieval England is an account of how archery developed amongst ordinary people in England and Wales after the Norman Conquest. In the 300 years after that traumatic event, Englishmen became such skilled archers that they could defeat the most heavily armoured noble knights in battle after battle – feats of arms unequalled by the combatants of any other European country. Here Richard Wadge describes how men used bows and arrows in their everyday lives in the centuries between the arrival of the Normans and the start of the 100 Years War in Edward III's reign. Many contemporary records provide accounts of the illegal use of bows and arrows: unlawful hunting is shown to have been particularly important as a school for the development of battle- winning archery skills. In the process of investigating these accounts, light is shed on the background to the stories of Robin Hood and other outlaws. Evidence from archaeology, manuscript illustrations, church wall paintings and carvings provides an insight into the actual bows and arrows and their use. Richard Wadge shows how the archer came to symbolise the spirit of the ordinary Englishman, how he became a forerunner of John Bull and how he remains part of the national identity even today.