Why was the long bow at Agincort such a technologic innovation when they were shooting arrows around for millenia?
It wasn't just the bow.
There exist enormous differences between bows.
The English Longbow shot heavy arrow to long distances. Archers were trained for decades to develop skill and muscles.
English archers were recognized as superior to most others.
Power: the English longbows were among the most powerful bows ever made. They had a long range and would go through poorly made armor if they had a good steel, penetrating head.
It wasn’t an innovation. It just happen to be the right weapon, at the right place, at the right time.
The French are just slow learners. The longbow had helped defeat the French at Crecy in 1346, and Poitiers in 1356.
Thanks all, good q and a.
Also, due to the Sabbath, one of the only activities permitted and then required was archery. Eventually the Black Death broke down the feudal order, and wage labor led to more activity, more stuff to buy, and archery got replaced by market day. [James Burke, in one of his “connections” “day the universe changed” episodes]