>Second Lateran Council banned use of crossbow against Christians. Not sure if this is actually true. The council (specifically Canon 29) refers to ballistarii

>Second Lateran Council banned use of crossbow against Christians. Not sure if this is actually true. The council (specifically Canon 29) refers to ballistarii and sagittarii. Ballistarii may mean either crossbowmen or slingers, while sagittarii means archers. So there is no way of reading this as referring to crossbowmen alone- the ban is either against both crossbowmen and archers, or it's against slingers and archers and doesn't mention crossbows at all. Some commentators suggest that this canon is intending to prohibit archery contests- similarly, Canon 14 of the council condemns tournaments. Others point out that at the time of the council, the Pope was at war with King Roger of Sicily, whose armies employed large numbers of Muslim archers (not crossbowmen). The canon means that the Papal armies could shoot at Roger's Muslim soldiers, but Roger's Christian officers would be excommunicated if they ordered their men to shoot back... Text in Latin: http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/es/index3.htm http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/es/index3.htm And in English: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/lateran2.asp https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/lateran2.asp