They're painted as Kingdom of Antioch Norman mercs/troops; I'm thinking between the 1st and 2nd Crusades, notwithstanding the fact that their fashions are probably a good couple of centuries later than that! I'm not too bothered about such wild historical inaccuracies on the peasants and may even be caught using them as Wars of the Roses archers too, without so much as a blush of shame.
They're just really lovely old models and I'm gonna use them for something, even if I have to shoe-horn them into an inappropriate period. The terrain on the bases has been painted to be intentionally ambiguous, given that they might have to fulfill a variety of roles. The bowstrings are plastic bristles from a cheapo dustpan and brush set.
