I can never resist putting in two penneth when longbows come up.

IIRC weren't the neolithic bows of of a flat D crossection which makes them more powerful than the more standard type but more complex to make and therefore the sort of specialist kit a hunter would use.

I agree with "shadeswolf" in that the French etc were unwilling to arm a large section of the lower orders with a lethal weapon, when it gets to firearms this changes because the weapon and it's ammunition become so much more complex and expensive that only the state can provide and resupply them in significant numbers.

And finally before everything dissolves in to pull weights and penetration I believe the English victories of the 14th 15th century are not due to the longbow as a weapon itself but the whole army being a weapon sytem in itself a fine balance of the logbowmen and men at arms, the real killers being the semi-professional, war hardened dismounted men at arms who for a century had no peers in Europe. It would be quite interesting, if the figures exsisted, to see who inflicted the most fatalities at Crecy, Poitiers etc, my money is on the men at arms.