The common weapon of the yeomen, or foot soldiers, was the long bow.
It was made of yew-tree wood, and was the height of the user. Armed
with this weapon, the English soldiers proved themselves irresistable
in the French wars, the French having no native archers of any
account.
Roger Bacon is supposed to have known the properties of gunpowder as
early as 1250, but no practical use was made of the discovery until
the battle of Cre'cy, 1346, when a few very small cannon are said to
have been employed by the English against the enemy's cavalry. Later,
cannon were used to throw heavy stones in besieging castles. Still
later, rude handguns came slowly into use. From this period kings
gradually began to realize the full meaning of the harmless-looking
black grains, with whose flash and noise the Oxford monk had amused
himself.
The chief wars of the time were the contests between the kings and the
barons, Richard I's Crusade, John's war with France, resulting in the
loss of Normandy, Edward I's conquest of Wales and temporary
subjugation of Scotland, and the beginning of the Hundred Years' War
with France under Edward III.
The navy of this period was made up of small, one-masted vessels,
seldom carrying more than a hundred and fifty fighting men. As the
mariner's compass had now come into general use, these vessels could,
if occasion required, make voyages of considerable length.