History of Archery

If you wish a detailed and long old English history try George Agar Hansard for an afternoon of pleasure. Thompson does a bit in his Witchery, but his boosting is a bit much for me. There are quite a few short bits of history in wikipedia.
  
There is much that could be said about the history of traditional archery, but this class is not about history. I will endeavor to keep the history relevant to the function being discussed, however, bits and piece will creep in. Terminology may require a historical jump off, and many archery terms and phrases have crept into English literature.

Keep this under your hat: The Europeans used linen or hemp for strings. These strings stretch when they become wet and are useless and dangerous. The strings were waxed with bee's wax to protect them. But going into battle, the English kept a spare string under this hat just in case.

The English strings were made of a continuous loop waxed fiber of hemp, linen, or later silk, and covered with a serving to protect the strings, much as we make them today. Now we use gore, Kevlar, or Rayon, Dacron. Servings were originally cotton, or silk, but now nylon braided is often perfected for traditional, although other materials are offered.

Keeping your nose out for where it does not belong: is a phrase that remind us that we can turn our head a bit too far and get our nose brushed with the string.

Underhanded: maneuver is a practice that is sometimes employed when shooting a large distance. The hand is raised to where the sight line is below the hand. Accuracy is not to good, but it can be effective.

Brace height is the gap between the hand grip at a thumb socket and the string when the bow is strung. It is also the old name of the arm guard, which was often marked for the proper gap and used as a ruler. The brace should be centered on your arm at the brace height. If your bow loses brace height, the string will slap you below the brace.