Tudor England had no standing army, but this humble hobby kept its people ready for war

Sixteenth-century England was a nation permanently on guard.

Dynastic wars had only recently ended with the rise of Henry VII, and the prospect of foreign invasion loomed large in the minds of Tudor monarchs. Relationships with France and Spain, the two dominant powers of Europe, were sour and unpredictable; Scotland remained a dangerous neighbour to the north; and religious conflict after the Reformation added the threat of internal rebellion and unrest.

Despite these threats, Tudor England maintained no standing army. This wasn’t because the Tudors underestimated the danger, but because the political culture made such a force unthinkable. Professional armies were not only costly to maintain, but they were feared as tools of tyranny. To contemporaries, a king surrounded by professional troops looked less like a protector and more like a tyrant.

Instead, the realm relied on a militia system. Defence was a civic obligation: every able-bodied man was expected to be ready to muster when called. But readiness couldn’t be conjured out of nothing. England needed a way to ensure that its people remained skilled in the art of war and were always on stand-by to defend itself.

The solution lay in a weapon long tied to English identity – and in a pastime that doubled as national defence.

Sport and leisure in Tudor England

Though tough, daily life in Tudor England wasn’t all work. Leisure had a crucial place, and sport was as popular in the 16th century as it is now.

“The Tudors had fun in very similar ways to ourselves,” explains historian Ruth Goodman, speaking in her new HistoryExtra Academy series, Tudor Life.

“Sport, for example, was really important to a lot of people. Henry VIII had loads of sporting outfits for tennis; he liked to do jousting, as well as the obvious hunting, fishing, hawking that you might expect.”

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But while the king and the aristocracy were able to indulge in costly pursuits, ordinary people sought more humble ways to combine competition with sociability. Football matches (barely recognisable from the sport today), wrestling contests and bowls were all common pastimes, and another such activity that was unique to Tudor England was roving: the practice of archers moving through the environment, shooting at natural targets.

The Tudor law of the bow

“By law, all men and boys from the age of six up to 60 were required to have a bow and arrow and to practise on a Sunday afternoon. There was no standing army, so [the Tudor parliamentary monarchy] wanted the average population to be able to [defend themselves],” says Goodman.

This legal obligation reflected a long tradition. From the 13th century onwards, monarchs had repeatedly issued statutes requiring archery practice. The longbow had proven its worth spectacularly in the Hundred Years’ War, when English armies bested French knights at battles such as Crécy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415. Clouds of arrows unleashed by English and Welsh yeomen cut down cavalry and reshaped European warfare.

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By the Tudor period, firearms were spreading across the continent, but they remained unreliable, slow to reload, and expensive. An experienced archer, by contrast, could fire six arrows in a minute, with an effective range beyond 200 yards. The longbow was cheaper to produce, and its supply was local (it could be made by local craftsmen from English yew) rather than dependent on imports of gunpowder and shot.

So, for a realm with shallow coffers and no standing troops, it remained indispensable. By insisting on archery practice, Tudor rulers ensured the country’s military readiness.

Roving: when war practice became a Sunday stroll

How, then, did this weekly duty play out in everyday life?

“Many people saw roving as a bit like a round of golf, frankly,” Goodman explains. “You and your mates would get together with your bows and arrows and wander off onto the common and you’d choose a mark… and everyone would stand and shoot towards the mark. And then everybody would amble up to see who’d got closest, and then you’d pick another target. And people would just wander about, picking out targets, having a very pleasant Sunday afternoon.”

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Roving blurred the boundary between leisure and training: it was competitive and sociable, but it also trained men to aim quickly at shifting marks, to judge distance, and to keep their skills sharp for potential combat.

Defence without an army

Archery practice was only one part of England’s civic defence system, however.

Local musters were held, where men assembled with their weapons and were inspected by officials. Communities were required to provide arms and armour, and when rebellion or invasion loomed, trained bands of militia could be called upon for support.

This reliance on ordinary people reflected wider European anxieties.

Across the continent, rulers hesitated to maintain large standing armies, fearing the financial burden and the threat they posed to liberty. In England, memories of civil strife during the Wars of the Roses remained all-too fresh, making the idea of a king backed by permanent troops especially unsettling.

So while roving may have looked like a cheerful pastime, it also carried a serious edge. Every arrow loosed in a casual contest of aim was, in practise, a rehearsal for war.

Want to step even further into the world of the Tudors? In her brand-new HistoryExtra Academy series, Ruth Goodman takes you inside everyday life in the 16th century — from food and fashion to faith, work, and even love and marriage. The first three episodes are available now on the HistoryExtra app, with more to come soon. Start watching today

Want to ask Ruth a question? Join our live virtual Q&A on 19 November. Find out more here