Skegness Magazine

Medieval Re-enactment Church Farm Heritage Museum Skegness

The Medieval Re-enactment Weekend at Church Farm Heritage Museum recently, proved to be a great day out for all!

The re-enactment group donned 14th centuary clothing and performed activities like archery and tournaments as they would have been in Medieval Times.

Lady Joan (alias Jane Asquithward) told us that the group consists of members from all over England.
The main aim if the group is to entertain the public, creating the political life of the early 14th century, and trying to get over the factions which were around at the time. The enmity between the people that supported King Edward II and the people who were rebelling against him.
Lady Joan then showed us some of the armour and equipment of the period.
Firstly she showed us the shield which she explained was very slightly rounded to deflect blows.It is also painted with the knight’s heraldry, his unique coat of arms, a unique pattern that only he is allowed to wear.
This means that the knight could be fully identified even when wearing full armour and his face is covered.

This is a very typical sword of the period, a two handed sword. It wouldn’t normally be used in conjunction with a shield.

Lady Joan demonstrated two types of helmets. The first was called a small helm or a basconette. It has a long piece of mail to protect the neck and throat.The small helm would normally have been worn underneath a second, larger helmet called a great helm.

She explained that the great helm gave excellent protection if the knight was on horseback. However it for tournaments, the great helm would be a disadvantage as the eye protection prevents proper vision.

The next photo shows what Lady Joan describes as an interesting piece of armour. They are simply painted pieces of wood which would have been fitted on the knight’s shoulder and no one is certain what they were actually used for.

They would have provided a little protection to the shoulder, and also carried the knight’s heraldry, again as a means of identifying the knight. Lady Joan explained that they would have prevented the surcoat from sliding off the shoulder. This piece of armour was only in use for a period of history, about twenty years, but it was a period which coincided with the fashion of very long, flowing surcoats, she believed that it’s very possible that this was the main reason for them.
The final piece of armour which lady Joan demonstrates is the knight’s gloves or gauntlets.

The gauntlets are very sophisticated, each finger having articulated joints.

Lady Joan told us that these are what is refered to when someone is said to ‘throw down the gauntlet’, and in a challenge, one knight would ‘throw down the gauntlet’ by throwing it in his enemy’s face. “It could well hurt”, said Lady Joan.

Video of Medieval Re-enactment Archery at Church Farm Heritage Museum Skegness

more pictures of medieval archery and living quarters (tents) coming soon!

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