In the minds of the council members, there was little difference between getting shot by a crossbow and getting shot by a bow.
Because in the end, it was the same thing, being shot by arrows.
And since bows had been around for literally thousands of years, in their minds, it was like- 'A man got shot to death by an arrow. Tragic but let's move on."
But crossbows though similar in principle to bows, were also quite different in many parts.
Parts which made them a very lethal threat in some cases.
The key difference that a crossbow had was that it could be scarily accurate even in the hands of an untrained peasant and that its first shot could be launched without any warning, unlike a bow which needed to be drawn.
And it was these qualities that made it such a great weapon, both for untrained militia and for inexperienced cavalry.
But these qualities also made it a great weapon for assassins.
