Will, one of the leaders of the Medieval Re-enactment Society, has just arrived in Fusion. He is casually dressed, and has brought a large bag with him, which he places down on one of the sofas with a clanking thump. One of the group reaches inside and pulls out a small axe. “Why do we never do axes?” he asks.
“Because I don’t have the correct insurance,” says Will. “The University only cover me for swords and bills.”
Clearly, the modern world has intruded on the battles of the Medieval Re-enactment Society, one of the 300 societies students can join at the University of Sheffield. The society was founded around 1994, and currently between eight to 25 people meet each Sunday to train with different weapons, and create costumes and chainmail.
Will leads us to his car, reaches inside the boot and pulls out a heavy canvas bag with swords rattling around inside and six long wooden poles with an array of fiendish metal implements on the top- they are the glave, partisan, traditional English bill, Italian bill, pitchfork and halberd. The group take the weapons and march across the Union concourse with them. Aaron Kulakiewicz, an Archaology student, shouldering the partisan, glave, and halberd, tells me: “People don’t double-take at us. They triple- or quadruple- take.”
The boys have trouble getting the weapons back in through the doors of Fusion: they’re not designed for halberds and swords. Will leads them in a warm-up and the six of them run in circles, their trainers sticking to the floor. His wrist flashes silver occasionally as his gauntlet catches the fluorescent lights. Soon, sweaty and red, they go outside to begin training. I soon discover the cause of the strange scratches over the patio. They start fighting, and occasionally there are shouts of “Trap!” as one of the fighters wedges the head of their opponent’s weapon between their own weapon, scraping the blade along the patio tiles and leaving a fresh white scar. After a period of battling, they stop and switch sides, before starting again. Eventually Chris is declared the winner.
Many of the society’s members are freshers, attracted by the displays of armour and weaponry at Freshers’ Fair. First year Computer Science student Chris Hunt was one of them: “I wasn’t intending to join, it was just seeing all the costumes and medieval things at the fair. I have always been interested in medieval history, and it’s something I get to do that I could not do at home. It was slightly daunting at first, but now after a while you just think ‘Oh well, they’re holding a sword.’”
Lin McGroary, a first-year economics student, is sewing herself a long plain green linen dress. “I’m making a very plain dress,” she says. “It’s because when you start out you’re a commoner and then you move up the ranks, so to speak.”
Will and Rachel Earl, the society’s President, are inside discussing a request from a stately home to have the society come over and run a medieval day. This is a complicated affair to set up, as they have to follow medieval dress codes approved by “The Fed”, the Wars of the Roses Federation, who oversee medieval reenactment groups. Men must be clad in hose, ladies in long dresses, and you can only have glasses if you’re a member of the nobility, and can afford to have them handmade. “You can wear modern underpants though,” Rachel informs me.
Rachel joined the Medieval Re-enactment society in her first year: “What initially attracted me was the violence, and that was really good in first year when I was living in halls, so turning up once a week and beating people with big sticks really helped. Now I turn up and knit- but we haven’t worked out whether knitting is an appropriately medieval craft!”
The group then embark on full-scale kitmaking- some of the boys are sewing the plain linen undershirts that will form the basis of their costumes, while Lin hems her dress and Chris embarks on the ambitious task of some hose and his very own codpiece. It’s certainly been an interesting afternoon.
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