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The Myth of European Reenactment Perfection
Sir Rodney:
This is a great discussion with Ian acting as the “myth buster”. The Europeans are involved in living history level reenactments as well as the SCA and LARPs. While no one is perfect, I’ve always been impressed with their level of historical detail overall.
The argument regarding historical accuracy is a hot topic in the SCA currently. At a recent event, I fought a range individuals from those who had period correct kits down to their hand sewn braies, to individuals in exposed plastic armour with undisguised tennis shoes. The range of representations stretched from 11th century Mongols to 15th century Italians, and everyone in between. Motivation, context and budget all play their parts.
Generally speaking, many individuals start in an SCA-like group and migrate to like-minded groups as their knowledge and desires mature. Some straddle the divide and continue to participate in multiple groups.
Personally, I desire a more accurate representation of near-living history quality and continue my slow migration to that goal. This desire is balanced with the fact that I really enjoy hitting people with rattan, a lot!
I don’t believe it’s too farfetched to think the same factors influence our European counterparts. To each their own.
However, I do believe that an event being publicized as “living history” or an actual reenactment of a specific battle requires a higher level of research and representation to leave a proper picture in the mind of the general public. Anything less is a disservice.
Sir James A:
I didn't watch the full 15 minute video, but, question on the two, that I think is relevant to the topic at hand. Is the first video commemorating the anniversary of the battle meant to actually re-enact the battle, or was it a bunch of people with medieval-ish gear getting together to celebrate something medieval without any particular representation of historical accuracy?
And a bit more abstract, is the question of do they assume an event at a medieval location with medieval theme is automatically living history? How do they differentiate that gray area between living history and renn fest, when they are just having a medieval themed event, without dragons / pirates / fairies? Would the public walk away from that kind of thing, with the impression they learned something historical?
Days of Knights is marketed as a historically accurate re-creation. I wonder how they "market" some of their events over there. Certainly things like the Laurin tournament bring immense levels of accuracy, but how about the others? Is "open house at Caernaphon castle" with staged combat meant to be an accurate event, or a chance for the public to see the castle and some sword fighting.
Sir Gerard's experiences with this would be fantastic, as it's his domain. :)
Ian:
--- Quote from: Sir James A on 2014-07-01, 18:02:31 ---I didn't watch the full 15 minute video, but, question on the two, that I think is relevant to the topic at hand. Is the first video commemorating the anniversary of the battle meant to actually re-enact the battle, or was it a bunch of people with medieval-ish gear getting together to celebrate something medieval without any particular representation of historical accuracy?
And a bit more abstract, is the question of do they assume an event at a medieval location with medieval theme is automatically living history? How do they differentiate that gray area between living history and renn fest, when they are just having a medieval themed event, without dragons / pirates / fairies? Would the public walk away from that kind of thing, with the impression they learned something historical?
--- End quote ---
The first video is commemorating the actual battle and was put on by a historical group called Sankt Regina. I became aware of the video as it was shared in a reenactment group. Their website is in German, but the translation does bill them as a historical group.
As for the distinction between ren faire and LH, I imagine it wouldn't be very different than how we do it in the US. We call something a Ren Faire, or an LH event... but that is just speculation on how it's handled in Europe. I can't imagine it's drastically different though.
--- Quote from: Lord Rodney on 2014-07-01, 04:44:33 ---However, I do believe that an event being publicized as “living history” or an actual reenactment of a specific battle requires a higher level of research and representation to leave a proper picture in the mind of the general public. Anything less is a disservice.
--- End quote ---
That's the important distinction in my mind as well.
For people who don't enjoy that level of accuracy and detail, there are tons of more inclusive groups out there that allow a wider range of accuracy. The SCA is probably the best example. The SCA is about as inclusive as you can get. Some people have museum-quality LH kits as SCAdians, and others wear plastic pickle barrels and tennis shoes as medieval armor. But that's just part of the SCA. By its very nature it's supposed to be inclusive of all that. And that's great!
LH on the other hand is not designed to be all inclusive and is certainly not for everyone. That's why I don't understand people who rag on the exclusivity of LH. That's the game they've chosen, much like the inclusive game of the SCA.
LH is also not nearly as 'exclusive' as people make it out to be. I went to the first DoK with little to no experience, armed only with knowledge and a terrible soft kit. DoK is a very inclusive LH event. That being said, DoK has a set of standards, and if a person is unwilling to comply with those standards or thinks they're too strict, then LH may not be your game. And that's fine! Don't water down someone else's game because you want to play by a different set of rules. Find the game that best works for you!
Sir Matthew:
I have found a direct correlation between safety standards and authenticity, and these two videos reinforce that. The first video shows a number of things I consider unsafe, especially with the black powder. One glaring thing is the artillery piece is way too close to the crowd. I would never serve on a crew operating a piece that close and at that angle to a crowd. The second video shows a number of "behind the scenes" safety proceedures in place. The most obvious is clearing the field of the wounded after the initial skirmish, since there is cavalry involved, no one takes a hit and dies in the area the horses will run through, rather several people fain injuries and comrades come out to help them back to their lines (the safe area). Admitedly I only watched half of each video as my computer was being uncooperative, but this mirrors first accounts of events from other reenactors and what I have observed or experienced in person.
Sir Rodney:
Interesting, I have no real experience with cannon or black powder and thus hadn’t considered it!
Off topic cannon story:
Recently, I was giving a local SCA guy a hard time for missing a spring fighting event last year. His response was “Well, if you could either run around in armour being hit with rattan all day; or spend the day firing cannons at Fort Snelling to qualify for a cannon crew, what would you have done?”
Fire cannons of course! :)
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