Schützenfest records

This is the invitation to a Schützenfest from Landshut in 1549. A friend translated the section on the shooting distances for me:

“Screwed” [rifled] firarms are not allowed. Crossbowmen have 24 shots at the distance of 96 Landshuter cubits, riflemen 18 shots at 260 cubits (the measurement given below is 1/4 Landshuter cubit).

A cubit is usually about 1.5 feet, though this varied town for town (which is why the length is shown on the invitation, this one shows a quarter cubit as a black line on the bottom of the invitation, but we can’t tell the exact size of the invitation from the digital scan)

So tentatively, this is showing us a 10″ target which must be hit multiple times at 144′ (43 meters) with a crossbow to even qualify to enter the tournament, or 390′ (118 meters) with a smoothbore black powder arquebus or musket.

• This topic was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Hans Hellinger.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Hans Hellinger.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Hans Hellinger.