Archery strength exercise

ARCHERY STRENGTH EXERCISE: DRAWING SEVERAL BOWS

Historic anecdote:

''Famous Ottoman Archer: Cullu Feruh 

He was a strong and big archer and one of Veziriazam Albanian Ahmed Pasha's servants (Ahmed Pasha, who was executed by Sultan Suleyman the magnificient (Reign: 1520-1566)). When drawing the bow, he was superior to his peers/fellow archers. 

One day on the meydan (archery field), there was a discussion going on wether or not one could draw a few bows (gez yayi? Target bow?). Some were saying it was possible, some saying impossible. Cullu Feruh took his bow in his hand and the ones of kemankesh Ali Bali captain and Vezir Ali Pasha and famous pehlivan (strong athlete) Sigir Pervane’s bow (One of Vezir Ali Pasa’s servants). And said: ‘if I pull these 3 bows together, will you give me your bows as a prize?’. The owners of the bows said yes. 

Cullu Feruh pulled all 3 bows together. Then he said ‘I forgive and give you these bows back’ and gave the bows back. The others around said ‘wow pehlivan, strength to your arms’.''

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Some thoughts:

• Maybe these were lighter 'target' bows, yet even if the bows were e.g. 50lbs Cullu Feruh would have pulled 150lbs. 
• I tried the same, see pics below from 2008. I 'only' ended up with 105 lbs. 60lbs + 45lbs.

Saladin's army

If the crusades are mentioned people think immediately of the eternal fight of the Arabs and Christians and of course Saladin. Presumably the present map of the Middle East with all the Arab states and of course Hollywood create this thinking.
What fosters this as well is that in all films about Saladin or the Crusades, Saladin and his army are portrayed like Arabs, with turbans, Arabic culture etc.

So was this really an eternal battle between Arabs and the West? Who did the crusaders have to fight? Who were the men in Saladin Ayyubi's armies?
Let's have a look at literature instead of movies.
Anne-Marie Edde has researched the biographies of 122 of the emirs of the time and has written an academic article: ''Kurds and Turks in the army of North Syria''. The first page is below:

I translate freely:
"The ethnic composition of the Ayyubid soldiers is much debated topic. For a long time people have thought the Ayyubid armies had a large number of Kurdes because of the origin of the dynasty. David Ayalon has shown especially starting from the Egyptian examples that the army of Saladin and the successor armies were in fact Turkish. Even more, he confirms that the Kurds made up only a limited power in the army and some were even discriminated under Saladin. So for D Ayalon there is a number of similarities and a continuity between the Ayyubid and Mamluk armies. I found it interesting to analyse the situation of the Ayyoubid army of North Syria which has always recognised the suzerainity of Cairo.[...]"
(David Ayalon was a renowned historian specializing in Middle Eastern dynasties especially the Mamluks)
Another source mentions that the majority of Saladin's army consisted of Turks (Carl F. Petry "The Cambridge History of Egypt" p. 226)

So not only is there no mention of Arabs, but the research shows that Saladin's army was a mixed Turkish / Kurdish army with the majority being of Turkish origin. So why is this important?
By knowing the ethnic composition of the army we will be able to have a better idea of their military equipment, weapons, their fighting style, what language they spoke and even how they looked like (which may surprise many).

The below picture gives us an idea of how the Turks looked like at that time. Some would say "Chinese" or Asian, which will be a big surprise to many to imagine Asian people fight against the crusaders. The Turks of the time spoke a Kipchak dialect of Turkish, the same language as the famous Golden Horde would have spoken. And it is written that Saladin spoke Turkish with his commanders (John France: "The Crusades and their Sources" p.84).

Varqa and Gulshah, 13. century Seljuk / Turkish

The Turks had a totally different fighting style than the Arabs. The latter relied traditionally on lances, straight swords and fought on camels. The Arabs preferred shock tactics with frontal lance attacks. The Turks were horse archers instead. Their main weapon was the Central Asian composite bow which they mastered formidably. They had light and fast sabres instead of a straight swords. They rode strong, tall, fast and enduring horses brought from Central Asia. The Asian Bactrian Camel was merely used to carry supplies. The special horses enabled them to use Central Asian style strategies like e.g. hit and run tactics, feigned retreat. The Turk's armour consisted of light but reliable lamellar armour. Instead of Arabian style clothing, the Turks preferred Asian, Kimono-style outfits. Instead of Arab/Bedouin style turbans, the Turks preferred Central Asian style hats e.g. felt hats called "Börk" or other hats called "Serpus" / "Tarbush".

The main force the Crusaders had to face were the Turkish horse archers. Based on historical accounts, they poured down arrows on the Crusaders for hours and days inflicting heavy casualties. When the Crusaders decided to confront the attackers with a cavalry attack, the Turks retreated with their faster horses, The Crusaders never caught them with their slower horses (only at the end of the 17th century will the West capture some Turkish war horses, breed them and "create" the fast English Thoroughbred horse and use the blood in the breeding of countless other breeds.) The pursuit lasted hours, sometimes days and at the end the retreating exhausted Crusader army was defeated easily. Alternatively the retreating Turkish army lured the pursuers into a trap with a larger Turkish army waiting e.g. behind a hill.

Seljuk bowl, 12.-13. century

Making Ottoman Shalvar Trousers

Ok, not really a Turkish Archery article but many friends reenact Turkish archery or mounted archery and it seems there is a need to clarify ''How to make a shalvar''. Shalvar are the historic trousers of the Ottomans (those baggy pants). I just found out that they are fashion again and called ''Harem Trousers''..
One thing we all did wrong in the past was to make veeery big trousers and put an elastic band around the waist. This was good for Halloween parties at best but not for Hstorical Reenactments

A brief look at the shalvars in the Topkapi Palace collection in Istanbul reveals that shalvars were not just oversized trousers but had a certain cut and shape. The cut is made so intelligently that the waist is not too big but it gets loose around the legs which guarantees a good airconditioning in a hot climate (and a certain room for movement).

Let's have a look at a few museum pieces:

In historic miniatures the colour of Ottoman shalvar trousers is mostly red but other colours can be seen as well. Gold, silver and coloured embroidery may have been used. Also don't forget, the shalvars in the Topkapi Palace museum will have mostly belonged to the Sultans or high officials so they may be more expensive, more embroidered and more golden. Also the fabric will most probably be silk. Ottoman Shalvars were very wide, this can be seen from miniatures but there is also historic accounts from foreigners on how wide the trousers were.

I made a shalvar replica according to approximate shalvar measurements and cuts:

This is the folded version and can be used as a template. You can cut 4 of these and stitch them together. I say 24cm at the waist in the folded version; I recommend a bit wider just in case, but not too wide. You can measure it easily. Measure your waist and add 5cm for the seam and 5cm for the belt. Divide the number by 4 and you will get the measurement which you will have to cut out as above. Once opened the shalvar looks like this:

You can turn over the top, stitch it and make a place inside for the belt (the belt should not be fixed to the shalvar). One thing I noticed in my last visit to the Topkapi Palace, some shalvars have a strip attached at the bottom to go under the foot. I assume this was the Shalvar to prevent from sliding upwards when riding.
Alright this is me wearing my shalvar, compared to the miniatures it looks similar:

Some more museum pieces to give you an idea:

What is Turkish archery?

What is Turkish/Ottoman archery?
Let's think a bit...
Is it using a thumbring? Is it shooting with modern material bows which resemble the Ottoman bow form? Is it shooting off a horse? Is it shooting with shouting 'Ya Hakk'? And the arrows? Is it shooting carbon arrows or European modern style wooden arrows with a thumbring? Or does it count to be Turkish archery if just a Turk does archery?

Turkish/Ottoman archery drew the attention of many European researchers and travellers e.g. Busbeq or Payne Gallwey. It was perceived as superior to the archery of other cultures. The Mughals, Mamluks, Chinese/Manchu etc all can be classified in the Asian archery school, but the Ottomans developed this the furthest. So what is so superior to archery of other cultures? What did the Ottomans succeed with?

Below on the left I listed characteristics of Turkish/Ottoman archery. It is possible to summarize them to 4 factors: thumbdraw, arrow, bow and the archer.

Factors:

1. Thumbdraw
Thumbdraw, Thumbring use

2. Arrow
Tapered shafts, Light arrows, Flat feathers, High spine arrows

3. Bow
Short bow, Composite bow, Light bow arms, 100 lbs+ drawweights

4. Archer
Shooting technique

All these factors have a common characteristic, they increase the arrow speed. The standard measurement for archery is feet per second (FPS). The biggest distinguishment of Turkish archery is that the arrow is propelled with far greater speed.

a) Low trajectory
(=lower=straighter flight path of the arrow). With a lower arrow trajectory you dont need to aim so high for targets that are further away. This also has many advantages. It will be easier to aim at targets at different distances, the elevation of the bow arm to hit a target at 20m and at 50 m will be minimised. This is a big advantage on the battlefield which will increase the hit rate dramatically. The theoretical exaggerated example would be an arrow flying as straight as a laser, then you could hit a target at 20m and at 200 with the same elevation in the bow arm. Also hitting targets from the horse will be easier. Imagine that your opponents might be (most likely) cavalry as well. On the horse when you shoot to the left, usually you would (instinctively) aim a bit to the left of the target considering the speed of the horse. With a high arrow speed and low arrow trajectory, this parallel aiming would be also reduced to a minimum.

b) Greater maximum range
This is especially important for flight shooting. According to Adam Karpowicz's research, the record shot of Tozkoparan Iskender (845 meters) was done with a 140-150 lbs bow and an arrow speed way over 350 fps. On the other hand, the max range in battle should not be disregarded completely. Armour was expensive, not every soldier could afford it and even less people could afford armour for their horse. Increasing the maximum range of war arrows on the battlefield against unarmoured opponents is an important advantage.

c) Greater armour piercing range
This is also an important point, of course it depends on the quality of the armour, but let's assume the max range for piercing a certain quality of armour was 30m, maybe with Ottoman style archery this effective armour piercing range was increased to 50m..

d) Higher armour piercing capability
Higher armour piercing ability means you can pierce thicker and better quality armour. A good example of a miniature showing pierced armour of a European knight:

Lets have a look at Newton's second law:
F=m*a          (F=Force, m=mass, a=acceleration)
That means: force = arrow weight * arrow speed


This model is a very very basic approach disregarding many other factors but still it helps to understand.
To increase the arrows (armour piercing) force you can either increase the mass of the arrow, or the speed of the arrow. The Manchu and English went a different path with their long bows, long drawlength and heavy arrows. Increasing the weight of the arrow is easier. In this way the arrows will have greater armour piercing abilities too. The Ottomans however went a step further, the highest point in the evolution of archery - speed. (For example arrow speeds of Ottoman war, target and flight bows see Adam Karpowicz's tests.)


The Ottomans have increased the arrow speed by optimising and improving the bow and the equipment. Even if we assume as a theoretical example that the armour piercing ability of Manchu/English and Ottoman war archery styles was the same, the Ottomans would have gained important advantages on the battlefield (lower trajectory and greater max range as explained above).


Gokmen Altinkulp

How to string a Turkish bow

How to string a Turkish bow?

The old Turks write that there is 120 ways to string a bow. Ottoman bows are strung the safest with a device called ''kemend''. This is especially important for high poundage, extremely reflex and delicate bows.
Otherwise if these bows are strung normally e.g. with the step through method, the bow arms might turn and twist and might destroy the bow or hurt you. Because with this system the leg muscles are used, every bow can be strung. In this video I string and unstring my 110 lbs Kassai Hungarian bow:

  

Making a kemend

The material for a kemend must be very strong, otherwise it can tear and your bow might be damaged or might get hurt. The kemend in the Topkapi collection is made of 'ibrishim' meaning raw silk thread. According to Taybogha a kemend should be 3 fingers wide. Mustafa Kani writes in his book, less than 3 fingers wide and the length according to the person using it. According to Unsal Yucel there is a kemend in the Topkapi palace museum. It is 4cm wide and 255cm long (see pic. below). The loop on one side is small, the other loop is wider, you can even adjust it with a knot. The second loop is bigger as the string has to go through it while stringing.

I used a band which the bed/couch makers use. For my second kemend (the orange one) I used an industry band to pull heavy loads. The latter is 5cm wide and 240cm long. The reason for the width is firstly durability but secondly so it will not hurt your back.

Another way, if you dont have a sewing machine (nor the patience) you can make a kemend in a very easy way. Just make a know at each end of the band. This method has another advantage, you may not find your optimal length immediately, if there is a knot you can open it and adjust it easily.

Stringing the bow with your kemend
You put the kemend around your back as if a belt and cross the two ends in front of you. You prepare the bow in front of you. You place the string loop in one of the bow nocks. Then you place the small loop of the kemend into the same nock and place the big kemend loop in the other nock. In a sitting position you place both feet on each side next to the bow grip. Now you hold the 'bash' section of the bow with your hands and start pushing gently with your legs. During this movement it is very important to control the bow with your hands/feet so it doesnt turn and twist. After a certain point when you think you pulled enough to string the bow you let your hands go. You guide the string through the big kemend loop and place the string on the nock. The length of the kemend has to fit you exactly. When you stretch your legs you just have to have enough room to string the bow. When you want to unstring the bow you do all the steps again but backwards, so first push the bow with your legs and hold with the kemend so that you can unstring it. Then hold again with your hands and gently go back with your legs.

The loops of my orange kemend are big, of course they dont fit the nocks but it is very handy also with this type. Instead of the nocks, you place the kemend loops between the kasan and the bash sections and string the bow the same way.

A small but important tip: while you are sitting, wrap the kemend low rather than placing it at belt height. This way you can use the forces better and the kemend will not hurt your back.

Gokmen

Gokmen Altinkulp

Tribute to Necmeddin Okyay

Necmeddin Okyay, (1883-1976) was was born in Uskudar/Istanbul died at the age of 93, may he rest in peace. He is a  role model for me and many others not only for his deeds in Turkish archery but also with his character. He earns big respect as a true Ottoman.

He was one of the last famous Turkish bowyers/archers. He took the name 'Okyay'. Ok means arrow, yay means bow in Turkish.  Imagine his devotion to archery. He learned archery from Seyfeddin Efendi, the archery teacher of Sultan Abdul Aziz (reigned 1861-1876). Later he was even allowed to use and repair the archery equipment in the Military Museum Istanbul.

Necmettin Okyay inspecting a Turkish bow

Necmeddin Okyay with a Turkish bow

Famous picture where he demonstrates the full draw with a siper and according grip

He spent much time and effort to teach and promote this wonderful style of archery and our heritage. So today our group is not even the first group to revive Turkish archery. The first was founded in the 1930ies and fostered and encouraged by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and was called 'Okspor'. Necmeddin Okyay had students and taught them a lot of things about Ottoman archery and Turkish bows. Today no student lives anymore and it seems nobody of these passed their knowledge on. So sadly the line was broken and today we can only research books.

Okspor picture (Name of archer: Betul Or)

Necmeddin Okyay with fellow archers

What distinguishes Necmeddin particularly is that he researched, practiced and taught the old Turkish arts like calligraphy, rose cultivating, ebru (Turkish paper marbling), archery and some more. That is why he earned the title 'Hezarfen= person of 1000 sciences. For every art or science he had the best teachers of the Ottomans and he never stopped learning.

Not only was he of utmost importance for the archers but also many other groups e.g. The Ebru makers. He has been an ''ebru'' master (Turkish paper marbling- http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=530). He developed a new style and technique which gained huge popularity.

Floral Ebru by Necmettin Okyay

Necmeddin Okyay showing Ottoman Calligraphy

He grew roses as well. He had about 400 species of roses in his garden of which he knew all the latin names.

Last year archer friends in Turkey tried to find his house in Istanbul/Uskudar in Toygar Street, which is said to contain many many bows and archery treasures. Unfortunately our friends discovered that the original Ottoman house was demolished and a new apartment was build at its place.

You might think what has ebru, calligraphy, rose cultivation, poetry and archery in common. Looking closely at Ottoman museum bows gives us an idea. Such a deadly weapon, but on it you can see floral designs in lively colours with gold applications. Beauty and power goes hand in hand, and both aspects are perfect and complement each other..


Gokmen
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