CK:
Yeah, they are impressive. But there's a simple physical answer for the flatter trajectory (not to mention the sound of the arrows). The arrows go about three times as fast as arrows from a more modern bow.
The long bow is just that -- long. It could also be called a strongbow. Modern bows are short and have a lighter pull. 50 to 75 pounds of pull is in the ballpark. The longbow could require 150 pounds of pull. The end result is far higher acceleration for the arrow, so for a given trajectory the arrow from the longbow will go much much farther.
Here's an example: If I have two shooters standing side by side, one with a longbow and the other with a rifle, and at the same moment they both release a projectile from the same height and on a path horizontal to the ground, which one will hit the ground first? At first it seems counterintuitive, but both the arrow and the bullet will hit the ground at exactly the same time (discounting any lift derived from the projectile's physical attributes.)
Why? Because there are only two vectors operating on the projectile: forward motion and the downward pull of gravity. The pull of gravity is exactly the same. But since the bullet is going a lot faster than the arrow it will travel a lot further before hitting the ground. Believe it or not, if you drop a bullet at the same time as you fire the rifle, both bullets will hit the ground at the same time.
As to the battles between the French and English, somewhere I have read a book about the economics of the two opposing armies. The French fielded a small force of knights and their retainers, while the English fielded huge levees of freemen armed with bows. The French guys had to be supported full time by taxes levied on the masses, so there was an economic limit on how big their standing armies could be. The masses in England were the standing armies, so to speak. The training of an archer takes many years, for example just to build up the strength needed to pluck that yew. But the training could be conducted part-time, just as the US Reserve forces do today. These masses still did their main jobs, but were made available for duty by their higher-ups in the feudal system.
TEd
