How much pay did the longbowmen in King Henry the fifths army receive daily?
In the era of Agincourt – Henry V a longbowman would have earned about 6d (six pennies) a day while on service, plus a share of reward money for capturing notable prisoners who would then be ransomed back. This doesn’t sound much and it wasn’t, but it was a reliable income for the archers and back home they would have been subsistence farmers rarely allowed off their land. So it was a worthwhile risk to take – a successful campaign could be a good earner. During a time of war the King would call upon his landowners to supply a certain number of men who would either be “Men at Arms” – generally knights/those who had horses and armour, longbowmen and at the bottom of the heap foot soldiers. the archers were skilled artisans, to pull a longbow you needed to be physically fit and incredibly strong and therefore not malnourished, plus you had to practise regularly to get the muscles in shape. The draw on a longbow was typically around 140 pounds – that takes serious practice and muscle memo
