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2007

The Historic Events Guide

2006/7

Welcome to the first edition of the Historic Events Guide. This guide has been compiled because so many visitors to re-enactment and Living History Events have asked the authors, “Are there any more events like this?”, or “How do we become involved in something like this?”.

This guide has several sections:

•  How to use this guide

•  The website www.historicevents.org

                     •  How to become involved in Historic Events

•  How do I advertise in the guide?

•  How do I buy more guides?

•  Publisher's details

•  Dates of Historic Events

•  What are Historic Events? Terms Explained.

•  Rulers of England and Scotland

How to use this guide

The events listed in the guide all have some Living History content. That is they are Battle Re-enactments, Sieges, Jousts, Combat Displays, Falconry, Music & Dance, Historic Activities, Living History, Historic Markets and/or Experimental Archaeology.

The A5 size of this guide makes it handy to keep in the car glove compartment, a handbag or a pocket for quick reference on days out.

There are in fact two guides. The first you will see is this printed booklet and the second is our website www.historicevents.org . Some of the details printed here will inevitably change. There will be new events added, some will be cancelled and others will have changes to their details. Before you set out to an event check the website which will hold the most up to date information and more details of each event.

The guide includes adverts from event organisers and historic traders and demonstrators. Please support our advertisers who have kindly helped to keep costs down – it's only £1!

There are two categories of events shown in the Dates section. There are those events whose organisers have paid for an entry which show greater details – the dates, times, name, description, location, web site for the event, email and phone number of the organiser. Other events have also been included to try and give you as comprehensive a list as possible.

You may know of events that are not included or details may be wrong. Please let us know about them by email ( event@historicevents.org ) and let the event organisers know about this guide. Our telephone number is 01943-608306 . get then to fill in the form:

http://www.historicevents.org/eventform.htm

Encourage the event organisers to advertise. In this way they will all be helping each other. Their event will be advertised at over 100 others. It will give them the advertising power of larger heritage organisations like the National Trust and English Heritage.

The Website

www.historicevents.org

The website is the most up to date reference that we can provide. It is organised in two sections at the moment but we hope to add the latter two when time allows. The sections are:

•  Dates ( left column)

•  Region ( right column)

•  Period – not yet available

•  Organiser – not yet available

Each section gives basic details of each event – Date, times and name. There is then a link from each section entry to a more detailed page for the paid adverts.

•  Dates

The events are listed in date order. Click on your choice in the month list in the left hand column to be taken to the month page.

•  Region

The events are listed by region. On the title page there is a map of the regions of the UK . At a later stage we hope to make the map clickable. Click on your choice in the region list in the right hand column to be taken to the region page.

How to become Involved

in Historic Events

The best way is either to talk to some of the groups at this event OR if you want to find out about other groups who might be in your area and other periods of history that are re-enacted you should buy a copy of Call to Arms. Details can be found in their advert in this publication or from their website: www.calltoarms.com. This is a listing of all the re-enactment societies and traders and historic demonstrators in the UK and some beyond.

How do I advertise in the guide?

You will find all the details in the advertising prospectus at:

http://www.historicevents.org/salesproposal.htm

Please ring David Hewitt on 01943-608306 to discuss details

or email event@historicevents.org

The guide in an ongoing project so no matter when you wish to advertise you will get full value for money. 10,000 copies of your advert will be printed and distributed. The events will be listed for the years 2006 and 2007 just as soon as organisers let us know the dates. The guide will be published at up to 2000 copies per month so there is opportunity to upgrade old, and add new, events. And don't forget advertisers can earn their investment back by selling the guide . For every £1 spent you get a £1 guide. Sell them and your advertising has cost you nothing!

How do I buy more guides?

We will sell guides in multiples of 20, with a minimum quantity of 20, at 55p each including postage. 1-19 copies are £1 each, postage free. See Publishers details below for contact details.

Publisher's details

Published by History Alive

19 Sedbergh Park , Ilkley, W Yorks. , LS29 8SZ , UK

Tel: ( 0)+44 1943-608306

Email: enquiries@ historicevents.org

Web: www historicevents.org

Make cheques payable to History Alive

© David Hewitt

Dates of Historic Events 2006

Historic Events? Terms explained

So what are historic events? Our definition of the events in this guide is the portrayal of history by Living History demonstrators. The “re-enactors” come equipped with accurate representations of the clothing and artefacts of the period. This is a re-creation of history that is both educational AND entertaining

They or their group has done extensive research into the activity that they will present to you. It is an absorbing activity, encompassing many crafts and skills.

For example, my wife and I now have many hobbies which serve our interest in Living History:

Experimental Archaeology;

Last year we made a bow drill for the manufacture of rosary beads from a picture first drawn in the Middle Ages.

Pastimes

Dancing; Drama & Role-playing; Musical Instruments; Visiting Shakespeare's Globe in London ; Games and Pastimes;

Research

Reading & Collecting Books; Research in Libraries, Record Offices, Museums and on the Web; Visits to Stately Homes including life membership of English Heritage and the National Trust;

Craft Skills

Bookbinding; Cooking; Medicine; Textiles; Dressmaking; Silversmithing;

Collecting

Collection of Antiques and Artefacts;

Travel

In the UK and Europe and maybe some day the USA.

You may see different periods of history represented maybe: flint knapping from the stone age; a Roman Tribune; a Viking warrior; a Saxon merchant; a Norman Bow and arrow; a Medieval Court; an artefact from the Mary Rose; Sir Walter Raleigh; an English Civil War cannon; a Georgian Jeweller; a Napoleonic Soldier, an American Civil War musket; Queen Victoria; a first world war medical dressing station; a second world war tank. A representation of life through the ages.

There are several different types of events. Firstly those which involve arms and armour which many people will have come across before – How People Died. Secondly, a re-creation of the lives of people from the past, the Kings and Queens, Prelates and Priests, the Lords and Gentles, the Craftsmen and Merchants, the Husbandmen and Huswives, the Cunning folk and Pirates, the Beggars and Lepers - How People Lived.

Below is an explanation of the range of terms:

How People Died

                                             •  Battle Re-enactments,

                                             •  Sieges,

                                             •  Jousts,

                                             •  Combat displays,

                                             •  Falconry & Hunting.

                                             •  Battle Encampments

How People Lived

•  Music & Dance,

•  Battle Re-enactments,

Battle Re-enactments are re-creations of a particular historical battle that took place in the UK in earlier periods of history or a large skirmish demonstration in later wars. Before guns came to predominate warfare you will be a considerable number of knights, men-at-arms, archers and hangers on led by their Lords. They are usually on or near to the historic battlefield itself. There will usually be an “authentic” encampment where some or all of the other activities listed here will be on display. Battles may have lasted for only a few hours or days but may have involved. By the end of the 16thC the gun had replaced the bow and arrow in large scale warfare:

•  Sieges,

A siege will take place at a particular castle or fortification. These were longer and thus the accommodation in the camps outside may have been more sumptuous. The Lords would be living in splendour in their pavilions waiting for the inhabitants of the Castle to surrender or die. They would involve the large weapons of war such as siege towers,

trebuchets, mangonels and battering rams. By the 17thC, castles were no longer impregnable due to the large scale use of cannon. Many castles were destroyed by the parliamentarian forces of the English Civil War. Now that the rich were less safe in their castles they dispensed with them and we get the flowering of the, far more comfortable, Stately home.

•  Jousts,

These were chivalric tournaments of the 16thC and earlier. A Joust is a competition between two knights on horse -back, wherein each knight tries to knock the other off his mount. The knights were equipped with three weapons; a lance , a one handed sword , and a rondel . When one knight knocked the other off of his mount, he was declared the winner of the round. If both knights were knocked off their mounts at the same time, it was considered a tie; they would then engage in sword combat, and the last standing was victorious. They were part of the training for warfare in the medieval and renaissance periods.

•  Combat displays,

Here we have a much smaller scale event which might consist just of one group of re-enactors showing off the combat techniques of their period. This is often combined with an encampment where some of the more day to day historic activities might be viewed.

•  Falconry and Hunting,

Whilst not necessarily involving death of the human participants, hunting could involve extreme danger from wild boar, bears and big cats. They were chivalric pursuits and engaged in only by the upper strata of society. The lower orders were not allowed to carry bows and arrows in the hunting forests just in case they should be tempted to kill some of the landowner's game!

•  Battle Encampments,

As you might imagine the organising of an army was a major problem. How much transport would you need for: the guns and ammunition, the bows and arrows, the cannon, the soldiers, the food, the tents. Would you need ships to get you there? How long would it take? What medical provision would you need? If you were a poor soldier all you would have you would carry with you apart from extra ammunition and/or arrows. You would sleep in the shelter of a hedge by the road. However, if you a Lord you would expect your home comforts, your tent, bed table, chair, your hawks for hunting during the quiet moments of a siege. In the encampment you will be able to see how they lived on campaign. What they ate. How they amused themselves. The care of wounds and

•  Music & Dance,

Music and Dance and other pastimes were and important part of entertaining in the past. When nobody had radio or TV or Music centres, everyone had to make their own entertainment. All strata of society would have their own particular brand of games, music and dance. Music was also important in war when drums and pipes were used to convey orders to the troops or intimidate the enemy (bagpipes!).

•  Historic Activities,

These are activities that members of the public can participate in. They might include games and pastimes or making activities such as tiles, soap, posies, casting, candles, bangles etc.

•  Living History,

This includes just about every other activity of how people got on with their lives in the past. What they ate and drank; consulted medics such as physicians, surgeon and the cunning folk; crafts such as pottery, glassmaking or wood carving; husbandry (farming, animals and crops); gardening; merchants such as clothiers and pepperers. The re-enactors may have made their own clothing and many of the artefacts they use.

•  Historic Markets

Many of the events that you attend will have an historic market attached to them. Here you will find the craftsmen who make much of the clothing and equipment that you will have seen at the displays – armour, swords, clothing and textiles, metalware, woodenware, pots, jewellery etc. There will also be other traders and resellers who may not have made the items.

•  Experimental Archaeology

Many of the demonstrators who you will see may be engaged in experimental archeology – the re-creation of objects from the past. They use the techniques, tools and materials that the original craftsman might have used. Their product will be of museum quality, unique in this age and very expensive!!