content_output-033_5 (Q5964)

In some cases a windlass with ropes and pulleys was used; it was fixed to the stock of the cross-bow after each discharge, but at the time of shooting or marching it was removed, and hung from the soldier's girdle. This type is shown in the illustration of bow-men of the fifteenth century from Froissart. Others were cocked by means of a lever, and some had a pulley fastened in the stock, with a rope passing over it, to which a stirrup was attached.