Regarding medieval longbows, we actually have four that are dated to the Middle Ages: the Altdorf bow (7th century, Switzerland), the Aalsum bow (8th-9th century, Netherlands), the Hedeby bow (9th-11th century, Denmark) and the Ballinderry bow (10th century, Ireland). I've classified these as "longbows" on the basis that they're at least 168cm long and have a form that is recognisable as a traditional bow. As such, the Oberflacht bows (7th century, Germany) aren't included in this list because they're unique and a little bit weird as well. A 14th century all-yew recurve bow from Poland could also be included, but I've yet to find a copy of the original publication and can't speak about it beyond the fact that it looks really cool.

In addition to these, we have the Wassenaar bow (9th-10th century, Netherlands), the Mikulčice bow (10th century, Czechoslovakia), the Pineuilh Bow (10th-11th century, France), the Burg Elmendorf bow (12th century, German) and the Waterford bow (13th century, Ireland). These are all complete, or sufficiently complete to estimate the length, bows under 160cm. A recent replica of the Wassenaar bow drew 106lbs@26", while the Waterford bow was found alongside an appropriately sized arrow with a bodkin head, so at least two of these were probably military bows. There are also some fragments from Charavines that, while initially interpreted as belonging to a crossbow, likely came from a hand bow and if so were most likely similar to the shorter bows already listed.

Finally, leaving aside the instances of medieval texts that specify the lengths of bows but not any other dimension, we have a description of the bow used to murder Simon de Skeffington in 1298. It was one and a half ells - in the period this meant one and a half yards - long and the centre of the bow was 6" in circumference. The arrow, of ash, was 3/4 of an ell long and 1" in circumference while the bowstring was a fathom long and 1/2 an inch in circumference. Exactly how or why the bowstring is described as 108"/247cm long has never been explained, but the diameter of the arrow (8mm) and the bowstring (4mm) is appropriate according to arrowhead socket diameters, the bowstring from Altdorf and the nocks on some medieval arrows.

This doesn't mean we have the complete picture, though. We still don't know to what extent short bows replaced the longer bows used in Late Antiquity, and to what extent that longbows actually moved from Northern Europe down to Western Europe in the first place. We don't know why shortbows sudden become popular in the High Middle Ages, as arrowshafts recovered from Scandinavian glaciers indicate that even in there, where we have the most surviving examples from Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, bows became shorter at this time, or to what extent this was a military vs civilian divide. We also don't know for sure where or when longer, more powerful bows came back into use; it's often suggested that this happened under Edward I who adopted the from Wales, but we have no way of knowing if that's true (the Scots might, for example, have retained Early Medieval styles of bows, while the 14th century example from Poland indicates a completely different archery tradition involving "long" bows). Similarly we don't know what kind of wood was used for military arrows in the 13th and 14th centuries - it was aspen/willow in the 15th and 16th centuries, but I've not yet found any report of 13th or 14th century arrowheads with enough preserved wood for the shaft material to be determined.

This is where the real knowledge gap is. Unfortunately, while we might eventually know about what materials were used for 13th and 14th century arrowshafts and we might even one day find enough bows from the 12th-15th century to create a timeline of evolution, we're never going to know why these changes occurred. There's no 1272 issue of Soldier of Fortune that compares and tests bows or 1127 interview with Benkin the archer on his favourite type of bow. All we can do is speculate and scratch our heads at the change/

In the early Middle Ages of Spain there is quite a phenomenal gap, known as the Dark Period of the Suebi Kingdom.

In Late Antiquity, the last spasms of the Western Roman Empire, three "barbarian" peoples invaded the Iberian Peninsula: the Visigoths, the Alans, and the Vandals. The Suebi had also invaded Hispania some years earlier, settling around the year 409 in the territory of Gallaecia (more or less today's Galicia, the part of Portugal North of the Douro, and parts of Asturias, and Castilla y León).

During the first half of the 5th century, the Suebi Kingdom thrived under the rule of kings such as Hermeric, Rekhila, and Rekhiarius, to the point of conquering nearly half of the Iberian Peninsula. When the conquering efforts eventually failed, the Suebi kings reteated to Gallaecia and ruled over it undisturbed.

However, for the period between 480 and 550 we know absolutely nothing of the Suebi kingdom. And I mean it very literally. There are no sources of any kind about what was going on in Gallaecia between 480 and 550: no chronicles, no references in foreign chronicles, no mention in texts, not even a single numismatic piece of evidence that may contribute to know the names of any rulers for that period of time. That is why that period is known as Dark Period, for we are completely in the dark about it.