'Twere a beautiful day for a battle

It's strange how things pop up from your memory, but I couldn't help of thinking of this phrase today, which turns out to come from the poem The Battle of Hastings as told by Stanley Holloway. There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day.

Yes, today was the East Anglian Mediaeval Fair and Battle at Rougham Airfield, just East of Bury St Edmunds, and it lived up to all our expectations.

We went early so as to watch the Full Contact Sword Fighting Tourney. This was pretty impressive stuff. 16 knights (not all male) in a knockout tournament of 3-minute duels in armour that could, we were told, weigh 7 stone. Firstly, they were all introduced and we were invited to pick a favourite to cheer on. Naturally, the girls chose Matilda de Montfichet, but little W was supporting Sir William of Ely and I picked Sir John of Lancaster. No "Conan the Librarian" to support this year, unfortunately - he was our favourite last year.

The fights were judged by a panel of 4 with 2 marshals to intervene in the case of illegal blows or injury. The wacks were pretty ferocious at times - the armour had plenty more dents afterwards and the blows elicited plenty of Oohs and Ows from the crowd, who shouted encouragment like: "Come on, the bumblebee" or "Cut his legs off".



Matilda beat Sir John of Lancaster and made it through to the semi-final, where, I think she took too many 'bops on the head' from the black knight, Sir Julian of Bouffant (no not Bad Sir Brian Botany). He himself lost in the final to the quick and terrier-like Sir Edward of Norton.

After that, the raucous Schelmish gave the first of their sets.

They have acquired a third percussionist since last year, so are louder than ever. The shoes are pretty impressive too. (Not to mention the pink frilly underwear and codpiece revealed in the second set later).

Destrier then gave us a competition of hunting games on horseback. The two teams each had a foreigner on. Sir Wolfgang was the nasty german and Sir Guy the nice frenchman, and we were encouraged to cheer to determine who won. Naturally, the Schelmish fans were cheering for the german, but they were outcheered.

The Paladins of Chivalry...
gave a dancing display while we sat in the food tent. The girls had each got something from a trade stall, so eventually we had to relent and buy little W the new sword he had been clamouring for. The little ones were then taken home and I was allowed to enjoy the delights of the beer tent, with its fine selection of local ales.

My camera battery was running low, so I didn't get any pictures of the jousting, which was done in full armour...
Plenty of broken lances ensued.

Then, after the artillery demonstration, came the Battle of the Flags re-enactment. Like most battles it was rather confusing, but looked like a good melee to finish the day. Great fun! And so I walked on home mediaevalled out for another year.

If you would like to see more of my photos of the event, you can find them here on Flickr.

And, finally, one thing we noticed in the programme is an event coming up at the same venue on October 21/22 - The feast of Samhain - the original Harvest Festival.

A fun filled fantastic event for the whole family to enjoy, with Fireworks, Bonfires lit by Flaming Arrows, Games, Traditional Fun Fair, Competitions, Dragons, Falconry, Story Telling, Theatre, Have a Go Archery, Face Painting, Spectacular Displays including Fire Performers, Sword Fighting, Kite Stunts, Model Aeroplane Aerobatics, Dancing, Punch & Judy, Music, Sword Fighting, Burning the Wicker Man, and a Medieval Witch Trial! Plus Trade stands, Crafts, Fine Food and Drink marquee, Quality Caterers, and a Beer Tent featuring local beers and real ales.

We can't wait!