Active History-lovers wanted

valen

I'm part of a Dublin-based historical reenactment group, and we are
currently looking for new members. If you, or someone you know, has an
interest in on or more of the following:

Martial arts
History
Crafts
Teaching
Travelling
Partying

Let me know! We teach spear, sword, axe, polearms, archery, javelins
& hand to hand combat, using slightly safer versions of medieval
techniques (like no stabbing in the face, but the belly is fair
game!). Though there was someone injured with a trebuchet-launched
turnip this year....

To give an idea of what we are about...

Heavy Irish Infantry, as mercenaries in England, taking a fort:
http://www.livinghistory.ie/~doug/temple/web/28.html

Early Christian Irish & Irish Vikings trading in Denmark:
http://livinghistory.ie/~valen/roskilde/web/

A motley crew of irish light infantry, fighting for English:
http://www.livinghistory.ie/~valen/r...ey/web/28.html

Irish Viking Craftspeople in Northern Italy
http://www.livinghistory.ie/~valen/ispra/web/1.html

Headbanging to hardcore scottish pipe & drum bands in Tewksbury, England:
http://www.livinghistory.ie/~valen/tewksbury/web/5.html

We've had Irish, Scots, Polish, Germans, French in our group - as we
are a mercenary group, we encourage people to research & dress like
those of their homelands. When we go abroad, we've fought with mongols
agains germans, with celts against romans. And amongst each other, of
course. Everyone has a trade (I make chainmail, leather boots, and
mead), everyone has a hundred friends. It's the best hobby in the
world.

If you are interested, let me know.

John

Roper

http://www.livinghistory.ie/~valen/tewksbury/web/5.html

Yes.... History.... Interesting......

judomick

valen wrote:

http://www.livinghistory.ie/~valen/tewksbury/web/5.html

where do i sign

Cabelo

Lads watch out, that history has great tits.

RedRaven

valen wrote:

I'm part of a Dublin-based historical reenactment group, and we are
currently looking for new members. If you, or someone you know, has an
interest in on or more of the following:

Martial arts
History
Crafts
Teaching
Travelling
Partying

Let me know! We teach spear, sword, axe, polearms, archery, javelins
& hand to hand combat, using slightly safer versions of medieval
techniques (like no stabbing in the face, but the belly is fair
game!). Though there was someone injured with a trebuchet-launched
turnip this year....

To give an idea of what we are about...

Heavy Irish Infantry, as mercenaries in England, taking a fort:
http://www.livinghistory.ie/~doug/temple/web/28.html

Early Christian Irish & Irish Vikings trading in Denmark:
http://livinghistory.ie/~valen/roskilde/web/

A motley crew of irish light infantry, fighting for English:
http://www.livinghistory.ie/~valen/r...ey/web/28.html

Irish Viking Craftspeople in Northern Italy
http://www.livinghistory.ie/~valen/ispra/web/1.html

Headbanging to hardcore scottish pipe & drum bands in Tewksbury, England:
http://www.livinghistory.ie/~valen/tewksbury/web/5.html

We've had Irish, Scots, Polish, Germans, French in our group - as we
are a mercenary group, we encourage people to research & dress like
those of their homelands. When we go abroad, we've fought with mongols
agains germans, with celts against romans. And amongst each other, of
course. Everyone has a trade (I make chainmail, leather boots, and
mead), everyone has a hundred friends. It's the best hobby in the
world.

If you are interested, let me know.

John

Ah the good old days reminds me of tukesbury when I was 16 and we fought the english, good to see Martin is still at it!!;)

valen

judomick wrote:

where do i sign

Be careful what you wish for. There was a one-on-one combat competition, where the winner got "wenched" by those three. He didn't realise what it meant, till they approached him, like sharks on a swimmer. He bolted, and jumped clean over a traders stall in an attempt to escape. They caught up with him eventually. Then, they unloosed their necklines, and left him black & blue.

Oh, RedRaven, have I met you, or are you out of the scene for a while ?

John

pma-ire

valen wrote:

Be careful what you wish for. There was a one-on-one combat competition, where the winner got "wenched" by those three. He didn't realise what it meant, till they approached him, like sharks on a swimmer. He bolted, and jumped clean over a traders stall in an attempt to escape. They caught up with him eventually. Then, they unloosed their necklines, and left him black & blue.

Sweet!

Any chance I can get a dress like that for the Mrs??

Just for personal research

valen

pma-ire wrote:

Sweet!
Any chance I can get a dress like that for the Mrs??
Just for personal research

Aye. Seeing as you are in Cork, drop down to The Battle of the Flags in UCC next month - http://www.livinghistory.ie/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=419

There will be people there that could make one up for you. Model it, maybe.

John

pearsquasher

Great stuff. I recognise a few folks there from the "King arthur" movie set a few Summers ago - epsecially Martin who no-one could forget - an dthat bag-piper!

If you're into combat then these guys are a lot of fun to hang around with and take it seriously enough but enjoy themselves too. I met quite a few martial artists amongts them who really dedicated themselves to doing porper research on medieval martial arts. I had many interesting conversations about weapons and armour, grappling, in-fighting, pole-arms, group tactics, multiples (:eek: ) and the like. Some didn't have a clue and some knew their stuff. The guys who knew their stuff I gravitated to and shared knowledge with them on those long days in Kildare and Wicklow.

During the fight scenes, when all choreography went out the window and inexperienced people were wildly lashing out with everything they got in the heat to fthe moment, I found my own training became very useful. I started to get an inkling for the adrenilan fueled tunnel-vision chaos of te battlefield and managed to keep my balance, stay safe and fluid, and learned a LOT.

So yep.... I'd be interested in hooking up with you guys again for a look-see. Can you tell me who teaches these things to you and what their crdentials are? I know that the Scottish guys get Bujinkan training of sorts. PM me contact details if you like.

RedRaven

valen wrote:

Be careful what you wish for. There was a one-on-one combat competition, where the winner got "wenched" by those three. He didn't realise what it meant, till they approached him, like sharks on a swimmer. He bolted, and jumped clean over a traders stall in an attempt to escape. They caught up with him eventually. Then, they unloosed their necklines, and left him black & blue.

Oh, RedRaven, have I met you, or are you out of the scene for a while ?

John

Out of it for a while...I got sick of the politics between the Dailquinn and the Clan na Gale..getting caught in the middle...a load of Bollocks!!! How long are you in it I sure we might have met at some stage!!

Musashi

There was a crew doing "Creative Anachronism" a few years back in Waterford Institute of Technology, any relation to ye? Also a mate of my father is into military re-enactment.Like here-

http://www.waterfordmilitary.com/modules.php?set_albumName=Belfast2005&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php&GallerySession=ba368871ce917a92040ecd18c98bdfd7

Also the lads of Schola Gladiatora over on Sword Forums seem to enjoy themselves! Might be a perfect answer for the lads who were asking about native Western Martial Arts a while ago? We don't have the tradition of unarmed combat here cause some Hoor would stick a sword through you if you pulled any shapes on 'em

Good Luck with it and hope to see ye around at one of the recreation events.

valen

SCA is similar enough to reenactment. The main differences would be that SCA has a formal hierarchy - there are knights, lords, freemen etc. It's like Live Action Role Playing, with an historical slant. While some learn blacksmithing so they can make their own swords (for show), others are happy to cut up a blue chemical barrel for armour. Their take on 'authentic combat' is to simulate it's speed and style by requiring everyone to use bamboo weapons (with foam where appropriate) and full-face helmets & complete armour.

Reenactment is supposed to be a little more aimed at education. The combat is more like WWF - where it is semi choreographed, but because it's supposed to look real from a distance, the weapons are all steel. We'ed often put on shows in front of 20,000 people, and wooden swords just look..camp.

With that in mind, the combat has to be changed from the real thing - you can no longer thrust to the face, or concentrate on hands and throat. You have to aim strong shots *at* armour & shields, and if fighting someone unarmoured (like Early Irish infantry) you have to pull your blows & aim for meaty areas, rather than the front of shins.

That said, some of the Irish reenactors go so far as to learn bronze casting, so they can make up the long rapiers, just like the 3000 year old ones they have on display in Kildare st. museum in Dublin. It's a lot easier just to whittle some bamboo...

John

pearsquasher

Hey John,

Thats pretty interesting. I wonder if you can point me in the direction of anyone/websites who are interested in actual medieval fighting methods as gleaned from authentic manuals, lineages of study (like some Italian fencing schools) and things like that. Some folks I met involved in all this mentioned studying old texts, training with family lineages and the like. Some of the technical things they talked about proved similar to things talked about in my own Japanese MA studies so it's all rather facinating. There's one particular chap I met on the movie set that seemed to have an intense interest in these things and had a natural way of moving that reminded me a lot of what we do yet he was quite dismissive Asian MA's t due to the popular view resulting from dodgey movies and McDojoism (and who can blame him). I'll try and fish out a photo i have of him I took on set so you can ID him, with a bit of luck.

Musashi

Medieval Dagger Manual

"Translation of Fiore de Liberi's printed words by Hermes Michelini of Calgary, 2001. Pictures grabbed from original 'Flos Duellatorum' sketches"

Martial Arts Manual

Another Fiore based group

NovaScrimia-another group using old fencing manuals to train

Schola St. George Swordmanship Group

If you want to learn more about European Sword styles try Sword Forums-Historical European Sword Forum
___________

loz

http://www.livinghistory.ie/~valen/tewksbury/web/5.html

Clubbing in Killkenny - great craic !

pearsquasher

Cheers Musashi.. I've seen some of those before.
Got to love those descriptions.

"With your hands on my face you bother me,
As a counter move I bother your eye even more"



"Am I bothered?????" :rolleyes:

pma-ire

pearsquasher wrote:

Cheers Musashi.. I've seen some of those before.
Got to love those descriptions.

"With your hands on my face you bother me,
As a counter move I bother your eye even more"

Read it like spoken by Yoda it did!!