Crossbow History in the Islamic World

This video showcases my reproductions of military Muslim crossbows, which are rarely discussed today. History of crossbows in the Middle East are also explored prior to the Arab Islamic Conquests, such as Greek Crossbows in Pergamon and Chinese crossbows in Battle of Talas and Bactria. There are few references to crossbows earlier than the 13th century AD in the Muslim world however. Medieval texts indicate that the crossbow is considered it a foreign weapon. They called it qaus al-rijl (foot-drawn bow), qaus al-zanbūrak (bolt bow) and qaus al-faranjīyah (Frankish bow). Although Muslims did have crossbows, there seems to be a split between eastern and western types. Muslims in Spain used the typical European trigger while eastern Muslim crossbows had a more complex trigger mechanism with a long powerstroke of the Timurids, Mongols Ilkhanate, and Mughals.