Historical Re-enactment: New Kid on the Chopping Block!
February 22, 2008
by Branwen
A lot of my time and effort has been put into researching medieval re-enactment and deciding which group I should join. I kept many things in mind as there were a variety of areas to choose from; certain groups focused more on daily life than warfare, others got really involved with the handicraft side of things. Despite all these differences, the one thing they all shared in common was a unique approach to training and educating their members.
Age restrictions prevented me from being able to join any clubs straight away. All I could do was wait and educate myself as much as possible before I was eligible. Relocation of country rendered all my gathered information useless. I made some inquiries prior to the move as to what groups would be near my new home.
I called an Australian living history organization to find out, but the fellow on the phone was unfamiliar with the region and he couldn’t think of any groups that would be close to home. He suggested a few that I should get in contact with, but had no idea how close they were to me.
To my misfortune, I knew less than the man on the phone. The groups he recommended to me were over an hour and a half drive away from where I was living. Without any familiarity with my new surroundings to help me find the other places he referred to, there was nothing I could do. So, there I was left to dangle like a loose thread, contemplating what I would do next.
It wasn’t until my family and I took a trip to a local tourist attraction, Sunshine Castle, unaware of its resident re-enactment group that I was able to find my place in the tapestry of Living History.
Getting Started
For the first day of medieval re-enactment there wasn’t much to be done in the way of preparation. I had spoken to Robert, the man in charge of the group, a few weeks earlier and hadn’t received any specific instruction. Well, apart from: “Just turn up at three.”
Knight’s Merchants and Traders in Outremer, the re-enactment group, gathers on the green in front of Sunshine Castle at around three on Sunday afternoons.
My family and I drove in under the porticullis , a hour early, and I was stuck contemplating whether I may have forgotten some other detail Robert had told me.
All my nervousness and excitement was making me anxious. A good part of it was fear, and the other portion a suspicion I was about to make a complete fool of myself. This was churned together with euphoria. I was about to partake in something that I had been longing to do for years!
The castle stood against the azure sky—the great edifice casting its shadow over the grounds below. The sun sat just above the towers of the castle bearing down upon its thick stone walls. Aided by a sweet smelling breeze, clouds scudded across the sky providing enough cover to prevent anyone getting too badly burnt by the sun’s relentless rays.
I imagined a horse clattering up the drive way with a cart loaded with weapons and other medieval equipment, accompanied by an escort of noble knights. It would have been hysterical but of course everyone arrived by modern transport, the loud and raucous bucket of bolts we call cars. Their arrival was pretty exciting anyway, despite the missing horses.
After everyone had unloaded their weapons and various other bits and pieces, training commenced. Some warmed up by going through drills, others got straight into sparring. I scuffled around watching; trying to take in everything they were doing.
Most training is not done in armor or authentic garb. Using your good equipment and clothing all the time would cause unnecessary damage to it. There is the odd occasion where members might bring helmets or wear padding called gambeson so that they can be carefree during swordplay. Hand protection is always worn, either metal plated gauntlets or chainmail mittens. In this group you are expected to make these yourself.
Robert caught sight of me and gestured for me to come closer. He was busy watching the group training as I sidled up beside him. Without looking at me he said ‘we’ll make sure you have some fun today.‘
Robert’s policy is if you’re not having fun or learning while doing or participating in something, then there’s not much point to you doing it.
Within a few moments my hands donned thick leather gloves laden with metal plating and a sword placed in my hand.
Everything seemed to stop for several moments. The same awe and power surged through me as it had done all those years before when I first held a sword. This time, however, it was accompanied by a surreal sense of satisfaction. I was doing something that I had waited to do for what seemed eons.
The Basics of Combat
For my first instruction I was handed over to Ben. Ben is one of the younger members of the group and has been a part of Knight’s Merchants and Traders for over two years. He took me through the basic set of attacks and explained the essential rules. The target area is between your opponent’s nipples and hip. Any higher or lower is illegal and more importantly, unsafe.
When using the term illegal, it means ‘illegal under supervised combat.’ When fighting against other clubs, combat is overseen by a marshal who has the authority to take anyone off the battlefield if there is any foul play or breach of regulations. You will find most public displays are marshaled, though spectacles that have been rehearsed may not be.
The first basic attack set is across you opponent’s body from armpit to hip.
The second set of movements are straight across the middle of your foe’s body, remembering not to strike too high.
The last set of attacks are, by far, the hardest. It is the reverse of the first attack set. The problem with this attack is that it often forms into an upper chop. This occurs if you bring your blade straight up and under the chin. The result is that the blade leaves its targeted area and becomes an illegal move.
The particular sword I was using for practice was a homemade training sword. It is two-handed but is the same weight as your normal single-handed short sword, weighing about three and a half pounds. This training sword is perfect for beginners.
Sparring and practice drills are done at a slow and consistent pace. This allows you to keep an eye out for any mistakes and helps you create a feel for where the sword should be going. If you’re so busy chopping and slashing away at your enemy and taking no notice of where your sword is going then your technique isn’t going to improve, on the contrary, it will suffer.
Using a sword is quite an unusual experience. When you first hold it, it doesn’t seem all that heavy. Soon enough, swinging it around starts to become cumbersome. As with any physical pursuit, your endurance increases with practice and training. If you start to get tired it is best to stop and take a break, or your technique becomes sloppy and you are prone to make careless mistakes.
Sword fighting is not something that you can pick up and become a professional at straight away. Like anything else, it requires time and practice to develop your skills.
After going through the attack sets a few times my arms felt as though they were about to fall off. That called for a bit of collapse time.
The stamina that would have been required to survive a lengthy battle is nothing to be sniffed at. Not only would these men have been swinging swords, they would have had armor dragging them down and keeping them warm too. One upside to re-enactment is if you decide to collapse it doesn’t mean you’re going to die.
Sparring
After a quick break, I was thrown straight into a battle with a fellow group member named Luke. It was hard to believe that I was about to have a real spar.
I was given a single-handed short sword, which was about the same weight as the trainee two-hander I had been using before.
The pair of gauntlets I had been given were too big for me and the sword kept slipping out of my grasp. Robert found another pair to put on me. The new pair wasn’t that great of a fit either and, after no one could find a pair small enough to fit me, it was aptly noted I had ‘girlish’ fingers. Go figure…
The first tip I was given that is to be kept in mind during combat: If you are fighting with a single-handed weapon and don’t have anything in your spare hand, whatever you do, do not block with it! In particular if it is not armored.
Stabbing comes with its own set of rules. At no point when stabbing are you to have your blade pointing upwards. If you have aimed too high, it can slip off the body and strike the head. Stabs have a tendency to hook into helmets which can be dangerous. Also, should your opponent somehow fall onto the blade it could cause a serious injury. All stabs are aimed downwards in the legal target area, between the nipples and hips.
Head hits must come straight down onto the head and only make contact if your opponent is wearing a helmet. In sparring the blade should be stopped about a foot over the head - this makes sure you have control of your weapon and keeps your speed in check.
Even though spars are slow paced they are exciting. Before either of us got to ‘kill’ each other, Robert stopped us to point out some of our technique flaws.
I kept stopping mid-movement or falling short of my target. When you start an attack you shouldn’t stop midway through it, and you should not fall short. This gives your opponent too much time to react and also ruins the flow of battle. In real battle a simple mistake like that would have been the end of me!
Robert demonstrated the basic blocks and parries. Blows that come down at you are pushed up and away. Blows coming across you are pushed out of the way. When you have a shield, defense becomes easier to handle, but practicing defense with a single weapon improves the way you maneuver.
All blocks are done with the flat of your blade. In re-enactment you don’t use blades with sharpened edges, therefore they don’t have the ability to cut through skin or flesh. However, with poor maintenance after consistent clashing of blades, the slightest burrs that form along the sword are able to draw blood.
After thoroughly going through the drills and defenses numerous times, the afternoon came to a close. I couldn’t believe how much I had learned in a single afternoon, but it would take a while for any of those things to become second nature.
My first time at re-enactment is a memory I shall always carry with me.
Next: the first armor construction project - Hand Protection!
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Great article. I can see how this would really help a writer in the fantasy genre to come to grips with the realities of training sessions, the type and feel of weapons and the sort of safety measures and things one would have to watch out for.
So often you read novels that have the young knight, or page, engaging in training sessions and you end up having no sense of reality, and that’s because the storyteller never picked up a sword, donned armor or stood in sweltering heat. It makes for empty fantasy writing, that has always seemed ‘too clean’ to me.
Thanks for the insight into your experience. I’m sure this is going to help you write some excellent stories, and I for one will be placing advance orders as soon as I know they’re coming out.
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