In those days it was considered unmanly, sneeky, unfair, cowardly and - if only they'd had the words then - the action of terrorists to fight like that! Even the submarine was considered rather bad form when it was first introduced into the theatre of war. The European martial arts fell somwhat into disrepute since WW2 when eastern arts became trendy. However I am pleased to see a revivial in some of them. After all, if you practice the bo you should be interested in the quarterstaff, or the bokken with the sword/claymore etc. Far from being considered weak, the French had a healthy respect for the English longbowmen and their range and power were legendary. It is told that the British insult of the V-sign originally came from one of the many wars between Great Britain and France, as any longbowmen captured by the French had their bow-drawing fingers cut off. The two fingers were then presented by the English in the traditional insult towards the French, as in I still have my two fingers and I know how to use them! (I believe Americans use a rather cruder one-fingered version of this) (story might well be untrue but it's still good!!)