25/06/2026
Love is... a heavy crossbow! 💘
..at least in the imagination of Guillaume le Clerc, who wrote the romance of Fergus in 1225-1250.
He even defends his comparison with crossbow instead of bow! So curious. Middle Ages were quite a time. The winch crossbow had become firmly established as a standard weapon in sieges and on ships in ca. 1175-1225, and le Clerc might well have been inspired by this relatively recent development.
Quoting "Fergus":
"Behold, two squires came running to take his arms, for they had seen the knight dismount from the bridge. They removed the shield from his neck and, without delay, the rest of his armour. Fergus remained stripped down, clad only in a bliaut of fine cendal silk. He had a noble body and flanks, broad shoulders, handsome hands, long arms, and slender fists. He was proud and showed no cowardly countenance.
The maiden gazed intently upon him, and it pleased her greatly to behold his handsome face, his bright complexion, and his bearing as well. Everything about him seemed more beautiful to her than anything she had ever seen in the world.
Love perceived this and prepared itself in earnest. It placed a bolt in its crossbow—a crossbow, I say, that's loaded with a winch—and struck the maiden through the eye with a bolt whose head was of gold, so forcefully that it drove it through her eye and went deep into her heart.
And if anyone reproaches me and says that I have spoken wrongly or erred because I say that Love shoots with a crossbow rather than wielding a bow, I shall produce evidence which I think must be accepted. Love sends its bolt straight wherever it wishes. No armour avails against it. Love shoots from a very great distance."
