Réglements généraux du noble jeu de l’arc

Charles Arnaud de Pomponne 1733

a brief snapshot of french archery tradition

through time

how a thousand year old game is still alive today

Archery has been practiced in france from prehistoric times

the rules we use today are very old, maybe a thousand years

it was mostly oral traditionthen came the need to write it down

this has two effects:

the «us et coutume»,spirit and tradition can now passed from generation to generation

but now archery evolves very slowly

what you can find in the book is a translation from the 1733’ Réglements généraux

written by Charles Arnaud de Pomponne

mostly these are the rules of modern «compagnie d’arc» follows

the only change is from the 1905 split between the state and the church

As a result we almost took away everything religious from the rules and regulations

what is still alive ?

the «beursault» shoot

two targets 40cm wide at 50 meters facing each otherone arrow in one way , one in the other way

the arrow is in the target : «honneurs»

outside is miss, the most «honneurs», the winner

the militarian hierarchy of a compagnieone captain on topone first lieutnant

one «censeur»one «porte drapeau» flag barier

in old times every archer was a knightnow we have the knights and the regular archers

le tir du Roy

on a beursault target a wooden birdapproximatly 52x26 mm at 50 meters

everybody shoots one arrow only,the first one who shoots the bird is sacred king

of the compagnie for one year

the Saint Sebastien

on the 20th of january

this is a saint sebastien, the protector of archers

in a compagnie , we celebrate this day by a shooting and a meal

the bouquet provincial

once a year, there is a parade in a french city

this is a gathering of every compagnie of france

2000 to 3000 archers every year to participate in the french beursault championship ,the attendance of the

compagnie at the bouquet is mandatory

in 2010the bouquet was in Ermont

my compagnie

let me talk about knighthood

knight of archery , is somehow a secret society, like freemasson for example,

now only the initiation remains secretto be or not to be a knight is not secret

anymore

this is the pin of knight of archery

in conclusion , let me share some thoughts about french beursault and kyudo practice

the beursault target

the kyudo target

the beursault range

one kyudo range I found in Matsuo’s last book

Maybe this subjet needs some investigation

kyudo versus beursault

thanks to:Raphael Rambur for the original paper you can

found in this yearbookMatsuo Makinori

Richard Hornsby for the translation from frenglish to summerset’s english

Hilary Greenland

see you next yearEmmanuel KIM