Share your knowledge!

[Dangermouse]

Hi All,

I'm a researcher looking into living history reenactment with an eye on future television shows, but I’m not all that sharp on History so I’ve hopefully come to the place where people do and am reaching out for assistance!

I will be posting a message in all of the other age specific groups so if you know your Romans and Vikings better please help me out there too!

I am interested in Big Living History events and trying to work out what sort of things go on at these events. Also if you know of the biggest events in each time period please let me know!

I guess I’m looking for the top 10 events/ actions/ or practices of each time period especially those which are different from other periods for example are the Romans and Greeks remarkably similar when it comes to reenactment if not why not?


Please spare me a moment of your time and share your knowledge to help me out I will look forwards to reading your replies, moderators come on you guys know this stuff inside out right?!

p

[lidimy]

6 wives, that covers most of that

lol, well its going to be down to personal opinion a lot of it, but if i had to refine it down to 10 i would say:

-henry VII as king, joining of york and lancastrian (so it seems...) 1485
-Arthur dies, catherine virgin or not?
-marriage of henry 8 to cat, and his coronation as king of england.
-anne/cat fisco, henry as head of church of england, break away from the pope etc etc.
-(insert wives here) principle ones, IMO, being Jane (howard/seymour rivalry) and kat parr (joining of family; mary, lizzy, eddy)
-jane grey nobled by mary.
-mary takes throne. lots of protestants die due to strict religious rulings.
-lizzy takes throne, woooo!
-Spanish armarda, tension between spain and england throughout her reign, etc etc.
-lizzy dies, 1603.

thats how i would summarise it. i probably missed a lot out of lizzy's reign, but henrican is my thing so i dont know much about her.
as for practices, gosh... where do i start? looking into '16th century birds and bees', a thread on the general history boards, may give you a start.

lidi

[lidimy]

oh, and silly me, KENTWELL!!

www.kentwell.co.uk

(home to tudor re-enactors)

[Dangermouse]

Thankyou lidimy, very informative but not quite what i was after!

Please see the share your knowledge- explained thread!

I'm more interested in what i might see at various living history events

[Tamsin Lewis]

Kentwell still applies as one of the best Tudor re-enactments

[Dangermouse]

Thats for replying guys

I'm interested in all events, they don't have to be near Bristol as long as they are in the British Isles

The event at Kentdale sounds interesting.

These are the sort of questions i would be interested in finding out the answers to:

What sort of things would i see there? what sort of authentic technology/ rituals/food would they have? might they have any particularly interesting weaponry/ technology? Do some people live strictly to that period at the event?

P

[lidimy]

oh ok, sorry, read this thread before the other

um, well, ask a kentwellie but kentwell pretty well covers EVERY aspect of tudor life, from the poor hovel dwellers to the posh people (see tamsin lewis!!)
and everyone contributes their skills of course, you've got bakeries, breweries, dairies, a farm with blacksmith etc, its everything that i *think* you are looking for.

lidi

[MedicKitten]

Yes, Kentwell is AMAAAAAAZING! Everything from the lowest of the low to Tamsin and Bess in Very Shiny Silk Things...and me in the middle. I cook things for the Baliff
Think of any aspect of normal life, its done.

[lidimy]

medickitten, do you mind giving me your kentwell name and where i can find you at kentwell? i am trying to compile a list of people to meet so that im not wandering around like a complete idiot when i visit it

thankoo

lidi

[Annis]

Do some people live strictly to that period at the event?

During the event openinghours yes, even down to the tiniest deatil like speach.
Once the gates are shut on the public, its up to the parts to decide whether they stay in character.

Annis

[MedicKitten]

Sure, Lidimy, but I will most probably NOT be at Kentwell until the next main event, as I live in the US (until I can run away to England) and University will not let me out!

My Kentwell name is Dorate, and I will probably be located in the Cottage... hope that helps! Where were you thinking of working?

[Tuppence]

Dangermouse - (cool log in btw) - to be completely honest, I don't think you can find out what goes on at living histories, or re-enactments of any sort, unless you actually go to one.

And I don't think you can actually find out what it's really like unless you go as a re-enactor.

Going as a member of the public may give you an idea, but a very, very unrealistic one. (Don't forget, it's the public that the shows being put on for, and the illusion maintained.)

[lidimy]

(thanks dorate!! i have to say, this list im making is probably the most obscure address book one could hope to find anywhere!)

[guthrie]

And I don't think you can actually find out what it's really like unless you go as a re-enactor.

Going as a member of the public may give you an idea, but a very, very unrealistic one. (Don't forget, it's the public that the shows being put on for, and the illusion maintained.)

Recruiting? I like that idea...

[frances]

Dear Dangermouse, Every event is different, in my experience.

However, they all have traders, demonstrations of something within period, most have non-authentic food vans - where did the authentic ones go?? Many have animals such as horses and bird flying. There are usually loads of peasants and a few households from the upper classes. Most have an authentic camping area where you can wander around and see inside tents and look at people demonstrating skills of the past. Some also have lovely back-drops with deer parks and castles; others are in the streets or a public park.

World War II events are noisy and have lots of machinary, whereas medieval ones have archers wandering around, and people putting on armour in odd corners. They vary so much in levels of authenticity and size too.

As people have said, you really need to sample a few. Get in touch with Lord High Everything Else and buy one of his events guides. Then get in touch with Lord Henry Plantagenete, who will sell you a copy of Call to Arms, which is a listing of groups and their specialisms.

Have fun.

[Tuppence]

Recruiting? I like that idea...

conquest are always recruiting

although that's not why I wrote what i did.

I just think that you could explain re-enactment till you're blue in the face, but if you haven't been to a few (either as a member of the public or a participant), you still won't have a clue what tehy're all about!