As you guys might know, I'm part of a reenactment group over here in Romania. The group currently has sections reenacting the two World Wars and a section which reenacts our War of Independence with the Ottomans in 1877 (long muskets with those spike-like bayonets and cool uniforms) yet I joined because we plan to expand and include a medieval section for any medieval enthusiasts (like myself).
This medieval section shall focus on the Fifteenth Century and we shall reenact the Voivode's Guard, namely Vlad the Impaler's guard. The guard followed in the ruler's retinue wherever he went, and was a seasoned part of Wallachian hosts whenever we went to war. The men in its ranks were mainly the sons of boyars, eager for adventure and increasing favour with the Voivode, and free men who had proven their worth in battle and who had upgraded their social standing, as it were. Many of these free men often became boyars themselves, since being a noble in Wallachia and Moldavia was not something hereditary like in the West. So our range of equipment is rather large when it comes to things like weapons and armour.
Since it is the Fifteenth Century we're talking about, we shall also have access to our favourite of armours: plate. Now, we plan on being able to join events abroad and at home and most medieval reenactment events abroad involve fighting and lots of it. For this, we have to be both physically fit and to have good protection. Now, the fit part can be solved easily enough, but the good protection part is something of an issue since there are no armourers I or any of my colleagues know of in Romania. And when I say none I mean none.
Now, we shall either make our own or find some abroad and I'm not very confident about the protective quality of something we make ourselves. Well, mail maybe but still. We will also need a source to train after, since we won't be able to just run around the yard with our weapons in hand just to get used to them. We need something like a fechtbuch.
I've looked at ARMA and I've seen the links to one of Talhoffer's codexes, namely the one from 1459 which is wonderfully translated in both German and English and I've also seen the useful link to Jeu de la Hache. The thing is, the 1459 codex is Talhoffer's second one and as such is not meant for beginners since I believe he does not mention the basics of combat or the names of some of the stances and such.
If any of you can provide me with the first Talhoffer codex with an English translation, I and my colleagues would greatly appreciate it. And if not, you could at least tell me what you use as a source for your training sessions.
Also, do you happen to know some armourers in Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary etc.) whit reasonable prices and some reliability?
