origin of welsh archery?

[absinthia]

well, when and from where did the welsh use of archery originate?
i am of the impression that, until after the norman conquest, archery was rather uncommon in the british isles. at least as a gear of war.
then all of a sudden the anglo-norman campaign in wales is dealt a heavy toll by welsh archers, which led to the incorporation of welsh mercenary archers in english armies and later the development of the famous english longbow.

[Ahlerich]

we germans showed them how it works

[Starlightman]

http://www.archerylibrary.com/books/.../chapter4.html

[MaximiIian]

well, when and from where did the welsh use of archery originate?

Well, I'd say it started with Welshmen using bows.
But don't hold me to that.

[Blarni]

There have been longbow-length bows dating from the Neolithic onwards all over Britain, not necessarily weapons of war, though some bronze age skeletons show signs of arrow wounds. Archaeologists give the impression western Britons were slingers rather than bowmen in the Iron Age (but I would imagine that's because slingstones survive, wooden bows don't). It's only when the Anglo-Normans started messing with the Welsh in the 12th century that records really start talking about Welsh bowmen.

Some even question now if longbows were necessarily Welsh in origin, saying the early medieval descriptions of Welsh archery describe a short bow. The other group who could have influenced archery in Britain were the Viking settlers, who were bowmen, some with extremely 'long' bows. Archery doesn't get associated so much with the Germanic tribes like the Saxons, Angles etc, but there is a Roman record of a defeat at the hands of the Franks, who apparently won due to their bowmen (can't remember what century).

[absinthia]

@ starlightman & blarni
thank you very much.
i am aware that the bow has been around for quite some time, even in the british isles. what i am looking for is of course its use as a weapon of war, more precise its use as a tactical weapon in an offensive fieldarmy.
it seems to me now that the bow was an everyday object in the british isles, mainly as a hunting tool. war was waged by the middle to high social classes, at least among irish and anglo-saxons, a professional warrior class or land owning farmers. that archery was considered low status, thus it was not worthy of a warrior.
the vikings, how ever, did not have the same scruples about which weapon to use.
but that it was even after the norman invasion considered a weapon for the lower classes.

what i am looking for is if it in a mod, covering britain and ireland between 620 and 1050, is historical basis for archer units. and if so, when and for whom.

any one care to correct me or elaborate some more?