I'm glad to be able to talk about bows here -- that's the nice thing about this forum, it's not limited to just one specialty, and you may find things to read about that you didn't know about beforehand. Bowmaking is new for me,too, and I'm just trying to explain what I've recently learned. It's hard to get some of this info because it's scattered in different sources, and uses an unfamiliar jargon. So I'm explaining just what I've learned -- practically as I've learned it! I'm glad it appeals to you guys.
The English longbow kinda intimidates me -- it needs very special wood to reproduce and the draw weights are tremendous. I'm comfortable around 40 lbs, and as you point out, it was common to exceed 100 lbs for military purposes. Those were the artillery of the day, intended to shoot long distance and through armor. I guess that would make the armored horseman the tank of the day, as well. Today they are often used in flight shooting -- long distance archery, highly specialized.
I probably won't make a longbow because it is so specialized. I'm not a hunter, either, so some of the specialized hunting bows, very short and relatively higher draw weight have less appeal for me. Nor a horsemaan, in need of a short lower limb bow wigh exaggerated recurve. What I shoot for is sort of personal development and concentration, as well as a connection with ancient life, people and arts. So perhaps my bows will become specialized for my particular purpose as well. I very much Identify with Kyudo the Japanese art of archery, but i am not of that culture, and don't have the materials to mimic their highly developed bamboo bows. I like to use indigenous materials. So I guess what will develop will mimic my true interest.
There is an ancient English bow, btw, that I am truly fascinated by, quite different from the longbow (except in length). It is the neolithic Meare Heath bow named for where it was discovered in the peat. I will surely build one of those soon except with local materials from my woods. I have a theory about the original design intent for that one, though I haven't seen anything in print about it. I'll probably talk about that more when I actually do start building one -- we'll see if my guesses are true in how it performs.