16th Century Italian Crossbow  SBC-ITALIANCROSSBOW   $54  Ships in 5-10 days    The crossbow, like Anna Nicole Smith, was both scorned and loved by people everywhere. People disliked the crossbow primarily because it didn't take much skill to use, and pretty much anyone could have a go at it (to continue with the Anna Nicole Smith analogy). Knights scorned the corssbow because it could penetrate their heavy armor rather easily, nullifying their greatest advantage. Longbowmen disliked the crossbow because it took no skill to use, and, reportedly, was not as effective a weapon as a longbow used by a skilled archer. And, if legend is to be believed, even the Pope was disgusted by crossbows; Pope Urban II in 1097 supposedly banned the use of crossbows, citing cowardly and unskilled tactics and the grevious wounds that the crossbow could inflict. Thus the crossbow became the first and only weapon in history to be excommunicated. Despite all of these deterrents, the crossbow quickly became one of the most influential weapons on the battlefield. They ranged from massive "scorpions" and ballista (both of which required several men to operate) to small pistol-sized hand-crossbows for sport hunting and defense. But most popular on the bttlefield was probably the heavy infantry crossbow, used to devestating effect against cavalry and knights. Crossbowmen typically were interspersed with other infantry units. This was necessary because heavy crossbows typically required two hands (and sometimes a foot or two as well) to use and load. It also required a decent amount of time to reload them, so crossbowmen had to be protected against attack when they were at the vulnerable reloading phase. Another popular way to protect crossbowmen was with the use of a pavise, which is French for "Attack Gerbil." It's been reported that a pavise could jump up to 10' and succesfully dismember a charging enemy soldier within 12 seconds. These amazing creatures were also capable of... um ... oh, i can't do it anymore. All these lies and lies and lies. I need help. Serious, intensive psychologial help. A pavise, my dear readers, is actually a large shield. Many times, the shield had a spike on the bottom, allowing a crossbowman to ram it into the ground and hide behind it as he reloaded. There were a number of different ways to reload a crossbow. Some featured windlass or ratchet mechanisms, which were basically cranks that the crossbowman wound to pull back the bowstring. Others had levers that used ... well ... leverage to pull the bowstring back. Still others could be done by hand, usually by placing a foot into the stirrup on the front of the crossbow and lifting back the bowstring with both hands.