Medieval Living

Now this is something that I find very interesting and appealing – the Medieval village. Camlann Medieval Village is a non-profit educational organization which provides a wide variety of activities, from Medieval artisans to dinner theatres and banquets. They also have a library and research center that houses a nice collection of texts, both primary and secondary. Schools are invited to do field trips to the site.

One of their web pages gives a very concise statement of why it is important to learn about Medieval history:
“Not only colorful and fascinating, the accomplishments of the middle ages are the bedrock foundations of western society. Our language, values, customs, religions, governments, legal systems, calendars, astronomy, mathematics, tools, music, literature, art, fashions, architecture, even our personalities, are deeply rooted in European and Middle Eastern traditions in those formative times.”

From their site, I gather that although historical accuracy is of concern, Camlann Medieval Village is also entertaining, as witnessed by the many plays and dramatizations performed there. Having fun while learning – what a novel idea!!! I think some of my students will be reminding me of that statement later this year . . . like right before I give them an exam! At any rate, visit the Camlann Medieval Village site . . . and if you find yourself in Washington state, stop by their facilities there and pay them a visit. (And send me a report of what you did there – would love to hear about it!!!)

I admit I had not heard of this group before. I happened upon their website while researching for living history groups. This particular group, Regia Anglorum, is a serious Medieval history organization – emphasis on authenticity! With a focus on the period from 950AD to 1066AD, Regia Anglorum takes a hard-nose approach to Medieval reenactment. If it isn’t documentable, it isn’t allowed. Period.

Now while I enjoy the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), I realized that the “anachronism” part allows for drifts from historical accuracy. An encampment item might look like a wooden chest, but inside one will find a Coleman ice chest. Practical, yes; authentic, no! Such a contrivance would not be allowed with Regia Anglorum.

One of the items of interest was the construction of a late Anglo-Saxon period manor house. Within a one acre ditch-and-bank enclosure is a historically accurate longhall. Measuring some 20 meters by 10 meters by 10 meters high, this construction project spanned 6 to 7 years in site develpment and erection of the timbers and trusses. Using primarily dovetail joinery to hold it together, the structure is made from locally grown oak trees. I am going to borrow a picture from their site – I hope they don’t mind.

Anyway – a very cool site – lots of pictures and informative articles and links.

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This is one of the sites I really have enjoyed, and I wanted to put it back on here. Company of Artisans is a group out of the United Kingdom who make Medieval Tiles, among other things. They do demonstrations at school, fayres, and other events. The style of tiles they make are Encaustic Tiles, like so many of the ones you will see in castles, cathedrals and manor homes. It was quite the industry between the 13th and 16th centuries.

This is one project I might look at doing for my world history classes this next year – if anyone has any experience doing this sort of thing, please leave a comment so I can get in touch with you.

One of my newest contacts on here has a wonderful blog – dealling with a multitude of topics, Steven Till has put together a very nice series of discussions regarding Medieval History. The one that first caught my attention was a discussion of Hedingham Castle. I visited that site almost 20 years ago when I was stationed in England in the US Air Force as a military historian. All that is remaining is a rather austere keep. Steven’s blog gives a very nice history of the site and of those who lived there. I don’t see a reason to recite all of it here, so please, go visit Steven at StevenHill.com.

Rather then just stumble blindly around the internet, I think it would be interesting to find out what other people are interested in reading about. I’d be glad to dig around here and see what I can find that is intersting to me . . . but maybe that’s not so interesting to others. So . . . what do you think? I will do the research . . . tell me what you want to learn about.