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Arbalest
Form of medieval crossbow / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the medieval European crossbow. For a crossbowman, see Arbalist (crossbowman).
The arbalest (also arblast), a variation of the crossbow, came into use in Europe around the 12th century.[1] The arbalest was a large weapon with a steel prod, or bow assembly. Since the arbalest was much larger than earlier crossbows, and because of the greater tensile strength of steel, it had a greater force. The greater draw weight was offset by a shorter draw length, which limited the total potential energy that could be transferred into the crossbow bolt. A skilled arbalestier (arbalester) could loose two bolts per minute.[2]
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