Demo For History Club

[Aiden of Oreland]

So recently my history teacher asked if my brother and I would be willing to do a demo on the medieval Knight for a history club meeting. Of course we accepted this offer. It will be for next school years club, but it is best to plan ahead!

 I was curious if anyone would mind giving a few tips on what I should do for this demo. A few ideas I had was to explain the main ideas and categories of chivalry and to also show how to equipped a suit of armor, say around the 13th century. Another idea was too explain the evolution of the knight, giving one example from each century and the evolution of warfare and it's weapons.

As many of you are experienced with these things, I need some help figuring out what to include in my demonstration. I want to make this interesting and memorable for high schoolers. No weapon demonstrations either lol.

For the Order of the Marshal members, would you like me to include a Make-A-Wish jar to try and make a couple of bucks under the Orders name?

[Sir James A]

Depends on what they (or you) want to present on. Purpose of knights? Combat? Weapons and armor? Chivalry? Evolution of knights and their purpose over time? How to become a knight? Those questions will determine what to present.

[Sir Nate]

Could make a powerpoint

[Aiden of Oreland]

Well, everything that embodies a knight, and his qualities. I want to make it short and sweet, but I don't want them to think the knight looked one way.

[Sir Brian]

Here is a link I believe Sir Ian originally posted concerning an excellent presentation of 'How a Man Shall be Armed". It has a lot of great information you can consider.

http://www.medievalists.net/2013/10/13/how-shall-a-man-be-armed-evolution-of-armor-during-the-hundred-years-war/

For the Order of the Marshal members, would you like me to include a Make-A-Wish jar to try and make a couple of bucks under the Orders name?

No that would not be appropriate. Our basic philosophy is if the event or presentation a non-profit or educational organization then the demonstration is our charitable contribution to that endeavor. We didn't take up a collection or request a payment from the Catholic University of America because it was an educational themed event. We were going to offer the same consideration for the College of Southern Maryland until they assured me that their event was not established as a fund raising or charitable endeavor. The Maryland Faerie Festival we did not charge a fee but negotiated free food, lodging and permission to 'pass the offering helm'.

[Sir William]

I'd forego bringing in any weapons, especially sharp ones.  If that was something you wanted to do, you'll want to make sure that the Principal, VP and teacher(s) are on board with that otherwise it could cause a problem.  I'd go with the video that Sir Ian did on How a Man Shall be Armed (its on Youtube iirc), maybe bring in a few bits of armor, a shield if you have one, your helm- and be prepared to answer questions about the video.

[Aiden of Oreland]

You know I saw that video awhile back, I had no idea who it was until he put on the jupon lol. But ya, its an after school event, even then, I dont think I would be allowed. Then again, my teacher did bring in an SA knife. No, I will just wear armor and dosomething like Sir Ian did, except with 13th century or just show a the video. MAYBE I can bring in a 1340 kit too. I may also purchase a sheet of mail to pass around, anything but butted because this is a historical demo.

[Sir Wolf]

ya schools are a bad idea anymore

[Sir Edward]

I think it goes beyond the "weapons in a school" thing though. What we've found at our other demos, is that the sharps tend to stay hidden away, just because everyone (kids particularly) can get grabby with the display items. People respect maces and hammers, but swords are thought of more like toys, and it's easy to accidentally cut yourself even if you're careful.

So I'll usually put a couple of maces on the table, but for swords, I usually only put out the wasters, synthetics, or steel trainers.

[Aiden of Oreland]

I think it goes beyond the "weapons in a school" thing though. What we've found at our other demos, is that the sharps tend to stay hidden away, just because everyone (kids particularly) can get grabby with the display items. People respect maces and hammers, but swords are thought of more like toys, and it's easy to accidentally cut yourself even if you're careful.

So I'll usually put a couple of maces on the table, but for swords, I usually only put out the wasters, synthetics, or steel trainers.

I plan to get a River Thames Mace this summer, so I'll try and get permission. My teacher would probably be totally fine if I did, but I may have to let him sneak it in lol.

I may put together a power point, do you think I should stick to warfare aspect of a knight, or also include their duties at home and their lifestyle.

[Sir William]

Might also want to iterate, then reiterate that armor did not make one invincible, it only gave the wearer a better chance at surviving the battle or fight ahead.  Explain each piece, what its purpose was, how it was made or whatever (seeing as these are your contemporaries, they may or may not want that much data) - but above all, make it fun.

You might even show some clips from some YT videos, or select scenes from movies like Arn, or Kingdom of Heaven...something or someone they may recognize (at least for KoH) that will help make the correlation between what they see in their hands and how it was used.  Just a thought.

[Aiden of Oreland]

Might also want to iterate, then reiterate that armor did not make one invincible, it only gave the wearer a better chance at surviving the battle or fight ahead.  Explain each piece, what its purpose was, how it was made or whatever (seeing as these are your contemporaries, they may or may not want that much data) - but above all, make it fun.

You might even show some clips from some YT videos, or select scenes from movies like Arn, or Kingdom of Heaven...something or someone they may recognize (at least for KoH) that will help make the correlation between what they see in their hands and how it was used.  Just a thought.

Hmm... That's not a bad idea actually. I'm going to have to figure out the time I have, or even ask for extended time. Maybe even have it broken up into a 2 day presentation.
 It would be cool if I could do a part of it outside, that would allow me to possibly demonstrate on water melons the effectiveness of some weapon. But, I don't want to over do the presentation. Unless it gets me to come back next year.

[Sir Brian]

IMO you should find out the timeframe they want to allocate for your demonstration/presentation then decide how best to fill that time. Oh and DO NOT reiterate any of the fanciful BS that has been heavily disseminated by some semi-modern, quasi-historians and ignorantly propagated with a plethora of Hollywood films or computer games. I would stick with reputable source information and ask for some others with solid subject knowledge to review your data before incorporating it into your presentation.

Depending upon your allotted time, instead of focusing so much upon the armor and weapons of knights, you could expand upon the simple origins of a knight up to the social and economical role knights fulfilled in the later middle ages.

[Sir Edward]

Oh and DO NOT reiterate any of the fanciful BS that has been heavily disseminated by some semi-modern, quasi-historians and ignorantly propagated with a plethora of Hollywood films or computer games. I would stick with reputable source information and ask for some others with solid subject knowledge to review your data before incorporating it into your presentation.

This is a really good point. We see a lot of this "bad data" even at modern renaissance festivals. Sometimes from actual reenactors, who technically should know better.

[Ian]

Oh and DO NOT reiterate any of the fanciful BS that has been heavily disseminated by some semi-modern, quasi-historians and ignorantly propagated with a plethora of Hollywood films or computer games. I would stick with reputable source information and ask for some others with solid subject knowledge to review your data before incorporating it into your presentation.

This is a really good point. We see a lot of this "bad data" even especially at modern renaissance festivals. Sometimes from actual reenactors, who technically should know better.

/fixed

But yes, they are 100% right on the money here Aiden.  Always seek to be part of the solution, not the problem.  I would say that Sir Brian is particularly wise in suggesting that you bounce your data off of someone else who is learned on the subject before finalizing anything in your presentation.

He is also giving you excellent advice when he suggests you get the guidelines for your presentation regarding time allotted and space allotted from your teachers before trying to plan it out.  Then you will have a specific framework to build upon.