© Companions of the Longbow

Bracers and Shooting Gloves

To left is a picture showing the “full” and “skeletal” shooting glove, various bracers, the one on its own with the brown leather strap is the one found on the Mary Rose.

Although there has been at least one period shooting tab found (a child’s simple three fingered shooting tab found during an excavation in Coventry, Warwickshire), it’s probably unlikely that these would have been used during a battle.  Why?  Well if you’ve ever used one and then tried to do anything else without taking it off you’d find your fingers severely restricted.  Far more likely the archers would have either used a glove or gone without any additional protection and had seriously calloused fingers.

Based on the surviving examples, bracers were small, made of leather and were fixed with a buckle.  No plastic, elastic, clips, Velcro or any other modern fixing devices will do!

Illustration by Gerry Embleton.

Two fingered leather shooting tab

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