Conroi De Vey

Armed forces weekend

2011-07-11T17:47:00.020+01:00

Phew! What is it about the armed forces weekend that makes the weather so hot! Last year was a serious scorcher, & this year wasn't much cooler. However, I decided to brace myself & still run the woad vat this year. I'd pre-dyed some skeins in various yellows & had some plain white skeins. This gave me a range of greens & blues. I also re-over dyed some cloth that had been through weld & then woad before, to try & achieve a more even, darker green. The results of the latter can be seen hanging on the wic ropes in the last picture.

The woad vat can be seen, hanging over the fire in the photograph below, with Jane in attendance.

We decided to start the military display with the 'arming of the thegn'. Stephen volunteered to be the thegn, with Kristyan helping to don his war gear. Once he'd put on the leather tunic over his normal clothing, he was helped on with his mail shirt. We were depicting a dateline from the early 900s, so the mail is relatively short & known as a byrnie.

Then he added further protection in the form of a helmet, and started to arm himself.

Stephen wore a scramseax, in a decorated scabbard, lying horizontally from his waist, as well os a sword at his left hip.

He then picked up his shield which can be used offensively as well as for defense. Gloves offer protection for the hands. His final weapon is a single handed spear. These are shorter and lighter than the usual 2 handed spears, seen in the following picture.

Alot of the warriors would be far less well protected and armed, as you can see above. However, they all have shields & most would wear helmets. A short line fight was demonstrated, to show the standard fighting technique used.

However, later on we showed some different fighting techniques, where they act as individuals. These we call 'circles', which can be fought with or without honour. In the former, an opponent must be acknowledged before a fight commences, which is purely one-on-one. When honour is dispensed with, they are allowed to gang up on each other, back stab, & generally do whatever is necessary to remain as the last man standing. The 'photo on the right shows Kristyan defending himself from an attack from behind, whilst 2 others try to rush him from the front. He fought them off valiently, but fell eventually to Gary's sword- who was then stabbed in the back by Jen, who held sway in that bout.

Once all the fighting was over, they returned, hot & sweaty, to the wic, where refreshments were on hand. Cooling off was the main requirement. We had already decided not to cook our meal that day, so a cold spread was provided by Jane, which was most welcome.

Despite it being rather warm to wear layers of wool & linen , and to run around in hand to hand combat, we had a most enjoyable weekend at Nottingham Castle, helping to support the armed forces weekend. There were lots of other military stands and events for the public to peruse, making for an interesting event.

Thornton Hall show.

2011-06-07T09:48:00.015+01:00

The Whit bank holiday weekend found us at Thornton-in-Craven, near Skipton in Yorkshire. Surrounded by some beautiful countryside, our show was in the grounds of Thornton hall, adjacent to the farm animals & children's play area. Being in an elevated position, we certainly noticed the windy conditions, & we also managed some showers & sunny spells. The tents coped very well with the weather, on the whole, which is always a relief. On our wic, we had the usual cooking activities, as well as sewing, spinning, naalbinding, etc. Other wic have similar occupations, as well as other crafts & occasionally some traders, giving us the opportunity to find some much desired pieces of kit.

In the arena our military displays were based on the meeting of Eric Bloodaxe, the local Viking leader, with the Saxons, where he was betrayed and killed. In the picture below Stephen & Debbie depict a spearmans. This was the ubiquitous weapon of the time, used in conjunction with a shield whilst fighting 'in a line' to form an impenetrable barrier. Thornton church is in the background.

After the battle, where the warriors show their skills, fighting as a team, they then get to show off their prowess, fighting as individuals. This is often done, fighting in 'circles'. This can be done 'with honour' or without. The warriors enter the field & fight, aiming to be the last man standing. Obviously it is beneficial to gang up in small groups to help defeat opponents. When honour is in play, folk acknowledge their adversary before fighting. When the is no honour, backstabbing & turning on your former comrades without warning is the norm.

On the left, Jamie & Mike have joined forces to defeat Tom, although they later fought against each other.

Mike survived to face Guthrum in the final fight, which he won.

However, the consequence of this is 'death by children', where the Regia youngsters get to rush onto the field with their wooden swords & 'kill' the champion- usually with great glee!

Our national group, Regia Anglorum, celebrates 25 years since its foundation this year. It was decided to have a party after the show closed on the Sunday. We had cake, music, good company & lots of banter to make the evening one to remember.

In a few days time we will have a much smaller show, in the village where we train, as part of their annual village event.

April social events

2011-04-20T20:35:00.005+01:00

This year we have a slow start to the season, so no shows to go to as yet. We did, however, have a couple of social events. The first of these was our annual meal. We chose a turkish/mediterranean style restaurant, where twenty one of us sat down to a tasty selection of dishes. A large party group shared our room, who were very jolly, but the level of noise hampered conversation. It was good to see folk after the winter lull, especially those we don't see at training.

A much quieter affair was the wedding of Sooz (Conroi de Vey member) & Paul (former member). On a lovely spring day, they married in Nottingham council house. A short ride on the tram to the nearby arboretum allowed us to take some 'photos outside before walking back to the reception in town. They opted to have a Regency style wedding, as you can see...

We wish them all the best for their future together.

Spring training weekend

2011-03-22T09:25:00.017Z

Our national group has a training weekend in the spring at a scout camp near Ashby-de-la-Zouch. It gives us chance to blow away some of the winter cobwebs, try out some new tactics, hone older skills & do some weapon tests.

Spear work is fundamental since this is the common weapon of the period we portray. The warriors tended to fight in lines, forming a shield wall. However, once this was broken down during the fight, more random tactics would be brought into play, with smaller groups fighting together.

We also have archers on the field (space permitting), so they have to train to receive arrows. The normal line formation is used when the arrows are loosed at body height. When lob shots are used, the shields are raised to protect their heads.

More tactical fighting is also practiced. Below shows one side, lining up between 2 rows of shields. These represent a bridge, with men at either side trying to gain the bridge & cross.

We also have a ship boarding 'game' where spears are laid on the ground to form the prow of a ship, which has rammed into the side of another ship, whose side is delineated by a row of shields. The attackers form up in the prow & try to board the defending ship, without 'walking on water'. It was interesting to see how ineffective a slow but steady attack was, whereas a mad rush ( in the form of a boar snout) was much more productive ( as seen in the 'photo above) . Once the defensive line had been broken, the outcome was still open.

All in all it was an excellent weekend, preparing the military for action during the summer.

Late summer 2010

2011-02-17T17:49:00.014Z

After a rather busy beginning at the start of the season, things quietened down & we didn't have another show until one at Newark castle at the end of July. Billed as 'Trent Time Travel', there were various groups there, but it was only for one day.

We had our annual barbeque at the beginning of August. The weather was very kind to us this year & we could all sit outside in the sun & enjoy the food & conversation.
The next show was the first weekend in September in Sherwood forest. Eventplan organise the large range of re-enactment groups, to depict ‘Sherwood through the Ages’. Visitors walk round a circular route, starting with a bronze age man, past the Romans, us, various later medieval groups, the Major’s oak, then on through the C17th English Civil war, and following centuries, right up to C20th with 2^nd world war troops (who used Sherwood as an ammunitions dump).

We had good weather on the Saturday, enabling us to perform our military displays underneath the Major’s oak. However, there was heavy & persistent rain overnight, which led to the ground being too soggy to be safe for fighting on the Sunday. Some groups in lower lying areas had to pack up early before they got bogged down. We were more fortunate, & could shelter in our tents until the rain eased off. We had a quiet day, with few of the public risking the poor weather, but it enabled us to sit, playing some musical instruments, & doing some craftwork. At least it wasn’t raining when it came to taking the tents down.

Our year finished, as usual, with the Robin Hood Pageant at Nottingham Castle. Being at the very end of October, it is always a cold, damp show, but we still had a bit of sunshine to lift our spirits & bring the visitors in. We provided an encampment in the area that would have been the inner bailey, as well as military displays in the arena adjacent to the castle.

Having being joined by a number of friends from another group on the Saturday, we performed a depiction of some of the events that occurred during the siege of Nottingham in 1194. King Richard’s troops arrived to retake the castle from prince John’s garrison very shortly after Richard had returned to England after his release from imprisonment. As well as the ensuing battles as the garrison sallied forth to try to repel the besieging forces, we showed the spat between the archbishops of York and Canterbury, who argued over ecclesiastical precedence.

Our numbers were fewer on the Sunday, so we had a spat between the Norman tax collectors & the oppressed Saxons. It was all done in the spirit of Robin Hood, with the tax collector being thrown through a table by a disgruntled monk. It was an enjoyable show to round off the season.

We all departed, ready to settle down to our winter chores of readying kit for next year (of which, more anon!)

Tollerton village event 2010

2010-07-29T11:25:00.003+01:00

Our local show came rund again in June. We opted for an earlier dateline this year, and went for 937AD. This was the year of the battle of Brunanburh, a pivotal battle. The English are lead by Aethelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, with his half brother, Edmund. His troops are all from England, basically south of the Trent. This is effectively Wessex & Mercia fighting side by side to form a national English army) Against them is the great Northern army, comprised of Vikings, Britons & Celts. The site of the battle is unknown, with loads of suggested places being named. One of the possible sites is in the East Midlands. This battle is a key moment in the emergence of an English nation-state. It is a great victory for Aethelstan, but there are heavy casulties on both sides.

Bearing in mind that Tollerton lies within the area known as the Danelaw, and the Vikings were only pushed out of Nottingham some 20 years earlier, we envisaged men from the local fyrd loyal to Aethelstan mustering & marching off to join him, but having to pass through an area whose population still had a significant Viking bias.

Our first arena display showed the arms & armour of the time, with some single combat and fighting in 'circles' ( a kind of melee) to show how the weapons were used. The local ATC sent some volunteers into the ring to be drilled Anglo-Saxon style.

In our second display we had a young nobleman dropping behind his warband to sample the local ale. The local ladies kidnapped him & held him to ransom. A botched rescue led to a standoff, and a fight ensued....

After this we settled down to relax on the wic, having eaten earlier. We passed the mead horn round & enjoyed the sunshine before packing up.

Nottingham Castle show

2010-07-28T17:33:00.014+01:00

Due to the launch of the new Robin Hood film (starring Russell Crowe), Nottingham city council decided to make May their Robin Hood month. Subsequently we were quite busy at various events throughout the month, culminating in a national Regia show at the castle. To fit in with Robin Hood, our dateline was much later than usual, being 1190s. This enabled our norman ladies to wear their fashionable droopy sleeved dresses.

It also meant that we were joined by some friends depicting a Knight Templar & a Knight

Hospitaler (the green cross depicting that he works with lepers).

He is holding a turkish style mace/club, which Trevor turned on his pole lathe at the beginning of the show.

In the morning, a series of one on one tourneys were held. This was a new type of competitive fight for us as they were marshalled, with points being awarded.

The winners then fighting against each other in an elimination contest.

As usual we had the wic set up, cooking on some days, with

pre-cooked meat pies & other cold dishes on others. When not cooking, folk kept busy with craft work, or catching up on gossip (or even discussing things of great portent!). An exhibition of items from the film was on display in the castle, as you can see from the poster in the background.

In the afternoon we had a Robin Hood themed display in the arena, with Will Scarlet & Guy of Gisborne verbally & then physically abusing each other.

A masses fight was then staged. Debs & Jamie valiantly helped block a boar snout attack by the opposition.

In the aftermath there will always be a few bodies & Sarah played the part of the grieving widow to good effect.

At the end of the day we gathered together for a Regia group photograph, before packing up & heading off home, tired but happy.

St Ives

2010-06-30T17:24:00.000+01:00

We had a lovely setting for the St Ives show, alongside the river in a pleasant meadow. Sadly the weather wasn't of the same caliber, and the Saturday was particularly wet & cold. However, it improved after that & by the May bank holiday Monday, we had a bit of sunshine, even if still chilly in the shade.

The proximity of the river meant that we could row one of our new ships down to the

site, giving Regia members chance to examine its sleek lines & construction.

There was sufficient space for the horses to be deployed. After showing the development of the mounted knight over a couple of centuries, some

horseback skills were demonstrated before mounted combat ensued.

The warriors of Regia then had their chance to display their skills in the arena, with some line fighting. The mounted knights continued their own battle.

Trevor donned his ecclesiastical robes to bless the men and give absolution to the dying.

We had the chance to do some more woad dyeing on the Sunday. Hanging round the fire was a popular pastime!

Doing a 3 day show is always good as it enables the group to settle into the lifestyle more. After all, we're there to try & feel what it was like to live in that way, a thousand years ago.

Robin Hood Pageant

2009-11-11T18:01:00.000Z

We spent the week running up to the Robin Hood Pageant avidly watching the weather forecast. In the end, the weather was about as good as it gets for the end of October. It was a bit blustery, but not too cold & only a few light showers on the Saturday.

The show is run by the council at Nottingham castle to coincide with half term. There are all sorts of traders, musicians, storytellers, craftworkers and folk like us making up the 'village' as well as displays in the arena from jesters, jousters, men at arms & the like. Our dateline is around 1193 to coincide with Richard the Lionheart's return from captivity after going on crusade.

We pitched the tents on the Friday afternoon, ready for an early start on the Saturday. We soon got a fire lit & were cooking the usual bacon & sausages for breakfast. Once that was all done, our cook could start her work. She researches food from the period & then proceeds to produce wonderfully authentic fare from over the fire. (We had meatballs one day then lamb with apricots the next, as well as lots of accompaniments).

We were joined by some friends in other groups of Regia Anglorum, who helped with the tasks needed to put on a show. We were allocated two slots in the arena each day. This year we decided to have a tussle between the earl of Leicester (loyal to King Richard) & the earl of Nottingham (one of Prince John's men). After some heated discussion as to whose men were best, they decided to decide the matter by combat. However, the earl of Leicester's men were rather off colour & didn't fight particularly well. Leicester's men then spotted a woman in Nottingham's camp (referred to as 'the old hag'), who had been seen in their kitchens. She was accused of poisoning their men to ensure defeat. Needless to say the Nottingham camp refuted this & defended her. More fighting! Gary did a fine job with the commentary & got the crowd shouting for Nottingham, Leicester, &, at one point, even the old hag! On the Sunday we had a shire reeve trying to see fair play, but only just succeeding.

Josh brought his film crew up from his university & they were around all weekend, filming various aspects of the event. We await the end result with anticipation!

All too soon, the weekend drew to a close & we were packing up again. Due to the clocks going back overnight, it was dark by the time we'd finished, so the last check round was done by torchlight!

2009-10-06T11:39:00.000+01:00

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2009

We had the most fantastic weather for our autumn weekend in Sherwood forest. The show is organised by EventPlan, who gather various groups together to provide a timeline of displays. The living history encampments were arranged so that as you walked from the visitor centre, to the Major Oak & back to the centre, you pass through time from the iron age to world war two.

Also lurking in the woods are the highwaymen, who can appear out of the trees & demand your wordly goods whilst brandishing pistols.

Our camp was near the beginning of the timeline, as we were working to a dateline of 1068, when the Normans started building Nottingham castle.

Cooking is always a regular feature of the wic, & the warmth from the fire was appreciated, especially early in the morning & later in the day! The smoke however manages to plague everybody. On the Saturday we had an onion & carrot pottage, but on the Sunday we were treated to a beef stew with a pearl barley vegetable pottage.

We had various crafts going on at the wic, including spinning,

wood carving, wood turning, and more work on the embroidery for the Wychurst longhall.

Stephen & Trevor also started splitting the willow logs, as the first stage in the process of making a shield authentically.

This year we were assigned the arena around the Major Oak for our displays. This entailed a walk of a few minutes through the trees.

The displays included a display of weapons & their use, individual fighting, group fights &, just for a change, a wedding.

The bride & groom exchanged vows, with the agreed exchange of goods & surety being provided by the named relatives. The groom was holding on to his riches until having to hand them over to his brides relatives.

The happy couple could relax after all the legalities had been observed.

We enjoyed the usual banter back at the wic, before packing up at the end of Sunday afternoon with the autumnal sunshine slanting through the trees.

Tollerton Village Event 2009

2009-08-23T09:44:00.000+01:00

Every year the villagers of Tollerton get together for the annual village event on their open space. As the parish council kindly let us train there, we put on a display at the event by way of

thanks. This year we decided to put on a later period event, based on the revolt of Henry II's sons 1173-74. This gave the chaps to get their surcoats out & full face helms.

The weather was very kind to us, giving us a sunny, pleasant day. Perhaps it was a bit too warm to be fighting in full mail, but it suited the audience.

Conroi de Vey were joined by their friends from other groups of Regia Anglorum, and Conquest.

We set up our wic & got breakfast sorted, so that the real cooking of the day could begin.

As usual Sue did us proud with a tasty menu, and interesting things to try, including a pearl barley 'risotto' style dish.

Our panel for the Wychurst wall hanging got an airing & some more work done on it.

There were also various other crafts being practiced on the wic, including spinning & leatherwork.

We had a couple of sessions in the arena. As Nottingham was loyal to Henry II & Leicester was for the rebels, we envisaged some aggravation between the two forces. An announcement of some of Leicester's men being spotted nearby caused the Nottingham men to rally, giving us a chance to explain the clothing & armour as the men dressed for battle.

A clash between the forces followed.

In the later session, the warriors showed their skills with different weaponry, and different styles of fighting, in groups and as individuals.

Mike demonstrated that the reach of a spear & the speed of a lightly armoured man can prevail over the heavily armoured knight (just not very often). Being a seasoned, sneaky, back stabbing fighter helps!

Even after their exertions in the displays, Conroi de Vey was still ready to give their all in the

tug-of-war competition. We entered a couple of teams, but the slippy turn shoes didn't help our efforts any & we came 2nd.

This event always gives us a friendly, relaxed show. We always enjoy ourselves & the local folk are most appreciative of our displays.

Sutton Courtenay Show

2009-05-19T09:59:00.000+01:00

On 17th May 2009, the Vikings returned to Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire, 1,000 years since their last visit. Well, sort of. Regia Anglorum, our national group, had been asked to put on a display as part of the village show on the Sunday. However, on the Saturday, one of the replica viking longships was rowed 12 miles up the Thames from Oxford to Sutton Courtenay. They docked in the grounds of a house, part of which is a 12th century hall. Our campsite was within these gardens, giving us a lovely view of the old building. On the Sunday, we set up an arena for the warriors to do battle in, whilst I got on with the business of setting up a woad vat. The group had had some cloth woven to an authentic spec for our period, & Steve wanted to dye his in woad. We have a fair sized cauldron which we use for this, but even so it was a bit like fitting a quart into a pint pot. This meant that we had to keep turning & moving the cloth to minimise any blotchiness. Once we had achieved a good blue, we continued dyeing various linen caps, wimples,a piece of silk, skeins of yarn & even a bone whistle (just to see what happened). We even over-dyed a old brown tunic, and got an interesting sea green colour. Once the bath was exhausted, we allowed it to cool, ready for packing up at the end of the show. It was a pleasant, relaxed show in a lovely setting where we were made to feel most welcome.

Rufford April 2009

2009-05-11T19:10:00.000+01:00

Rufford abbey is situated in northern Nottinghamshire, close to Sherwood forest. It provides a lovely venue for us. This event was organised by Eventplan as a multiperiod bring & buy. Conroi de Vey decided to use the weekend for training & chilling out, as well as booking some table space to sell some re-enactment items. We set up our wic alongside some friends from Regia Anglorum (our umbrella organisation), got the fire going to have hot food later in the day & then got settled down to some craft work. Stephen showed us how to work bone, displaying his skills with strap ends & buckles he’d made. Trevor took folk under his wing with some wood working, the weather being kind enough to get the pole lathe out as well as the shave horse. On the Sunday we did a bit of textile working. Susan progressed further with her tablet weaving, and there was the ubiquitous spinning going on throughout the day.

The guys had a break from these activities by marching off to the arena for a couple of bouts of fighting. After the face offs between lines of combatans they went on to single combat. Trevor fought valiantly (for an ‘old un’) but at the end of the Sunday session, Jamie was ultimately victorious.

All in all we had a relaxed weekend, sharing some good conversations with friends, & furthered our craft skills. We’re now looking forward to our next show in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire.