Today in History: European leaders outlaw the crossbow

This is a particularly humorous part of history and one that I only recently became aware of.

The year was 1146

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The first relics of crossbows can be traced back to Ancient China. These were far more expensive than traditional bows, but required significantly less training and practice to fire with a level of accuracy. If you have ever shot a traditional bow or even one of the souped up modern compound bow, you know that it is not anywhere near as easy as the pros make it look. With a crossbow, the accuracy was all in the design: The user just had to point and click.

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_{A wonderfully preserved crossbow that is about 2,200 years old}

The ruling in Europe in 1146 was a particularly stupid one and was filled with a level of arrogance that just boggles the mind. The idea was that without the crossbow, all warfare would cease globally forevermore. They were also dumb enough to believe that foreign countries that they had zero jurisdiction over were for some reason going to comply.

OR......

There is a lot of talk that the European leaders had no intention of banning their own use, but simply wished to outlaw this sort of weapon to be in the hands of the common folk or peasantry, presumably because crossbows were extremely effective in the hands of a non-soldier. That would certainly seem the case when the document is translated and is says...

We prohibit under anathema that murderous art of crossbowmen, which is hateful to God, to be employed against Christians and Catholics from now on

Methinks it is more likely the second option of disarming the public to allow a more tyrannical governance. Does this sound at all familiar?

Despite the ban the crossbow ended up being a ranged weapon of choice until the early 1500's when gunpowder's superior destructive power was put into use.

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_{This is my favorite crossbow, because in one historical sea battle it could be reloaded immediately, had near unlimited range, and the accuracy was impeccable}