"Is There a Period Term for Medieval Missile Troops?" Topic

A blanket term, whether they be armed with bows, crossbows, or whatever. Not skirmishers, but formed bodies.

I think the term you are looking for is – 'shot'.

Was 'shot' used in relation to non-gunpowder weapons, and prior to their use in any kind of formed bodies?

Villeins? Peasants? Scum?

(This,if you were a knight).

"Marksmen"?

I don't believe that such a blanket term for missile troops has ever existed.

Archers

Yea, archers.

unless they are slingers

I haven't come across slingers that fought in formed bodies, ditto javelin throwers. These fought as skirmishers (or Bidowers in Lion Rampant).

I agree with bsrlee. I think using 'shot' is okay. It is derived from words that meant to throw or hurl missiles and doesn't only refer to firing guns: link
link

Having said that, I have no idea whether 'shot' was historically used to denote missile troops before the 'pike and shot' period.

Having said that, I have no idea whether 'shot' was historically used to denote missile troops before the 'pike and shot' period.

Exactly!

OK, it is as I figured. Many "almost" terms imply a station/class more than an actual battlefield role, so that is also an issue.

The term would be regional and period specific. "Yeomen" automatically refers to longbowmen in the English army. Bidet or Almogavar refer to Spanish javelineers. "Sagittarii" was a term meaning "archers". Ballistari is Italian for "arbalester" or crossbowman. And so forth. The general term would cover the known social and military class referred to, and would vary by region and period.

Yeomen really did n't automatically mean archers, or even soldiers. It really does n't mean anything more than a modest-scale farmer who was not a serf. Before the HYW English conscripts (for want of a better term) were oftentimes just issued with a spear or a bow at random with no regard to training or preference. Serfs and villeins seldom featured at all in medieval armies in England or Scotland, but scum were readily available.
Any term you encounter – such as 'archers'- is likely to specific to one country (as in England and Scotland) or shared across two countries that share very similar languages.
Sagittarii generally means 'archers' – as it clearly should, but occasionally in Latin texts of (say) post-1600 it is used to denote infantry of any type.

"Scum" it is,then.

Yeomen really didn't automatically mean archers, or even soldiers.

Yes, that was the first option I eliminated.

Would "auxiliaries" work at all?

I didn't think bowmen 'shot', I thought they 'loosed'?

I didn't think bowmen 'shot', I thought they 'loosed'?

You are correct that the appropriate term for the word of command is "loose!".

A bowman can shoot a bow. Hence the term bowshot. However he cannot fire it.

A cover all term, no.
Just period and country/region specific.
Bowmen, archers, crossbowmen, slingers and what ever the specfic countries name was for that type of troops.
Low ranking would be the most appropriate term.

@ugly: Of course, the "yeomen" class in peacetime, or civilian application, includes everything else too.

The discussion is military-specific, this is wargaming after all. So yes, "Yeomen" means archers when talking about an English HYW army. Later, even during the WotR, "yeomen" could be listed as "archers" on a muster roll and not have a bow at all. So a transition was taking place over a long time, where armed yeomen were showing up sans bow and arrows but with their melee weapons and any armor.

shooters

Not possible to find a common historial term. Game troop type is possible.

HOTT used Shooters. DBX uses Bow.

I use MF w/Bow (Longbow, Crossbow etc.). Where MF = Medium Foot.

TomT

Tom, you had me going there for one second. :)

"Gens de traict" – link