Marching Through Time 2014

[Ian]

For anyone interested, La Belle Compagnie will be at the Marietta Manor historical site April 26 and 27 as part of Marching Through Time 2014.  It's in Glenn Dale, MD (just outside of DC sandwiched between College Park and Bowie).  It's a timeline event similar to MTA, but I'm not sure what all the dates are that will be covered on this one.   We'll have a similar encampment to what we had at MTA.  If you're free, come check it out!

[Ian]

Photos from MTT 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68089438@N05/sets/72157644387359792/

[Sir Brian]

Huzzah! Awesome stuff! The encampment looked great as well as all the participants!
You all had some excellent weather as well since we were enjoying the same not to far away from your event.

[Ian]

You all had some excellent weather as well since we were enjoying the same not to far away from your event.

Except at night!  A microburst took down Will McLean's tent, but luckily there was no damage.  His is the particularly round one.  I believe Mac designed what was eventually realized as a bent-wood hoop system around the valance of the tent to appropriately match the visuals in the contemporary manuscript illuminations.

It actually wound up being a cool accidental experiment in living history.  Part of the reason the tent was designed the way it was, is because the manuscript images show many round pavilions that are perfectly round.  They don't have corners around the circle that indicate rope tension or spokes forming the shape.  One occurrence that shows up in several images is that when these tents fall down, the canopies stayed perfectly round as they fell.  That won't really happen with perimeter poles, tension, or spoke type round pavilions, they would just collapse.  Well, when Will's tent actually fell down, it matched the manuscripts!  It was cool, because it lent credence to the design!

Here you can see what I'm talking about -

Manuscript, note how it's perfectly round, not paneled like a tent that just uses tension or spokes to form a round canopy -


Will's Tent -


Here, not how the front and center tent maintains it's shape while falling.  This is common throughout medieval manuscripts:

[Sir Wolf]

i miss mtt

[Ian]

i miss mtt

Oh please... you have every opportunity to go to MTA or MTT or anything medieval, you just prefer to serve the Kaiser... you can admit it 

[Sir Wolf]

well no not really. we had spring camp for cub scouts during mtt. and i couldn't afford the 6 hour drive one way this year for mta

[Sir Edward]

well no not really. we had spring camp for cub scouts during mtt. and i couldn't afford the 6 hour drive one way this year for mta

Excuses.

[Sir Martyn]

Very cool.

[Sir William]

well no not really. we had spring camp for cub scouts during mtt. and i couldn't afford the 6 hour drive one way this year for mta

Excuses.

Well, at least we know he's been there before; I met him and James B there in 2011.

[Sir James A]

Excellent, Sir Ian!

well no not really. we had spring camp for cub scouts during mtt. and i couldn't afford the 6 hour drive one way this year for mta

"Honey, saddle up the goats, we've got a long ride ahead of us..."

[Sir William]

Looks like a good time was had by all; digging the new bearded James B.  You guys were right in my backyard and I wasn't even in town when it occurred.  Well, maybe next year.

[Aiden of Oreland]

You all had some excellent weather as well since we were enjoying the same not to far away from your event.

Except at night!  A microburst took down Will McLean's tent, but luckily there was no damage.  His is the particularly round one.  I believe Mac designed what was eventually realized as a bent-wood hoop system around the valance of the tent to appropriately match the visuals in the contemporary manuscript illuminations.

It actually wound up being a cool accidental experiment in living history.  Part of the reason the tent was designed the way it was, is because the manuscript images show many round pavilions that are perfectly round.  They don't have corners around the circle that indicate rope tension or spokes forming the shape.  One occurrence that shows up in several images is that when these tents fall down, the canopies stayed perfectly round as they fell.  That won't really happen with perimeter poles, tension, or spoke type round pavilions, they would just collapse.  Well, when Will's tent actually fell down, it matched the manuscripts!  It was cool, because it lent credence to the design!

Here you can see what I'm talking about -

Manuscript, note how it's perfectly round, not paneled like a tent that just uses tension or spokes to form a round canopy -


Will's Tent -


Here, not how the front and center tent maintains it's shape while falling.  This is common throughout medieval manuscripts:

I was looking at the last picture, and I noticed a dog among the soldiers, a terrier? Would anyone know why it is there? Did they use them frequently in wars and if so why?

[Ian]

I was looking at the last picture, and I noticed a dog among the soldiers, a terrier? Would anyone know why it is there? Did they use them frequently in wars and if so why?

Animals of all sorts would routinely collect in camps just because they could eat there.  They weren't necessarily 'part' of the army.  It's just like overseas today.  Cats and dogs always wind up hanging out at forward operating bases in Afghanistan and Iraq because the soldiers show them attention and feed them. 

Locals from the nearby towns would also come out and sell wares and 'services' to the army.

[Aiden of Oreland]

I was looking at the last picture, and I noticed a dog among the soldiers, a terrier? Would anyone know why it is there? Did they use them frequently in wars and if so why?

Animals of all sorts would routinely collect in camps just because they could eat there.  They weren't necessarily 'part' of the army.  It's just like overseas today.  Cats and dogs always wind up hanging out at forward operating bases in Afghanistan and Iraq because the soldiers show them attention and feed them. 

Locals from the nearby towns would also come out and sell wares and 'services' to the army.

Learning something new everyday