I think this has been discused on the lute list in the past, as I recall, Henry 8 required all men of england to practice at the butts so that England would have lots of archers; Yew bow staves were stocked at all the armories, along with the makings of arrows. Much of this yew was imported, if I recall corectly, from italy.
Hand-held firearms gradually supplanted the bow and the crossbow, rendering the stockpiled Yew less useful as a strategic reserve. Mind you, this is all off the top of my head, best as I remember. -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
