Rufford Abbey, 2013

Last weekend saw De Vey at Rufford for EventPlan's Grand Historical and Vintage Bazaar, our first local show of the year.

Sadly the weather wasn't entirely in our favour the whole weekend; hopefully this doesn't augur badly for the rest of the season.

Our warriors bravely fending off the hail. Photo by Jane H Smith.

The warriors put on a great show though, despite getting hailed on torrentially.

Anlaf Swerkirsson did a good job of terrorising the local children:

Photo by Jane H Smith.

He also got into a dispute with Tancred the Tall:

Photo by Jane H Smith.

I think Tancred regretted getting into the dispute, especially since the local children took Anlaf's side and started mocking him as Tancred the Small.  Interestingly it was primarily men who were named by contraries. A man named the Tall was likely to be short; a woman known as the Beautiful was likely to be stunning.

Photo by Jane H Smith.

Tancred subsequently attempted to salve his ego by defeating somebody smaller than him in combat:

Photo by Jane H Smith.

Note that Tancred is carrying a sword. This is the mark of a wealthy man, since the sword is a weapon with no other purpose than combat. Swords are very expensive, and owning one is a marker of social status.

Photo by Jane H Smith.

Tancred also tried his luck against Toki the archer. You would think he would know better really, since his betrothed is also handy with a bow. 

Roswyn showing that men were not the only ones to wield bows. Photo by Jane H Smith.

 There was plenty of activity on the wic as well, with mutton stew for lunch on Saturday and onion soup for lunch on Sunday. We are currently in the hungry gap, so called because it's the time of year when the winter stores have run out but the summer's food isn't ready to harvest yet. In choosing these meals we therefore went for foods which we think would likely be available at this time of year.

Photo by Jane H Smith.

Anlaf is less blood-thirsty on the wic. Here you can see him chopping wood for the fire. This photo is also a rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of early medieval underwear. Anlaf has hoist up his tunic so it doesn't get in the way while he works, so you can see his red hose tied over his braies. Behind him is Brother Tigwald, ramming in stakes. We unfortunately have to rope off our displays since we have things like fire and sharp edges, but with the weather we had I think some of the public would have given anything to be on the other side, huddled next to the fire.

 Another post to follow, looking at life out of hours...