Armed forces weekend

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.