Jorvik Festival - De Bec Takes York
For this weekend's adventure I was picked up straight after class and swept off the Wychurst where everyone was loading up the minibus to head to York. Tim and I watched the first episode of the new season of Vikings, for which the rest of the bus resented us, and then I think I fell asleep for a good chunk of the 6 hr drive. We pulled up to the school where Regia was staying, where we were met by a bearded silhouette of an Irishman and shown the hall. It looked a bit like a disaster relief centre, cots and people lining the hall chatting despite it being 1am. I finally met Kyle, after whom I am named "new Kyle," the proto-Canadian member of de Bec. He'd flown out just for the show and it was lovely to finally talk to the guy.
Training started the next morning and I did manage to pass my battle safety test - not quite sure how considering my spear definitely came up and caught the guy testing me on the head at one point. At Wychurst I normally train with a spare sword so I guess I'm not as exspearienced as I could be. As I was in kit, I wasn't allowed to take photos, so most of these I'll have stolen off other people and stalked the internet and twitterverse. So it's a bit like a game of Where's Waldo, keep an eye out for a light blue tunic and a blue shield with a red cross.
We walked down to the York Cathedral to meet up with all the other groups. There were about 200 people in kit. There were a bunch of civvys around taking pictures and a lot of back and forth of where people were supposed to be standing. Things got sorted and we started our march through York, shouting our "Vivat Regia Anglorum."
New hairstyle: Battlefield dishevelment. In the video I'm at about the 2:50ish mark.
We marched up to the Eye of York, a circular field in the centre of a bunch of buildings and their castle, and faced off for our competitive fights. How it works is that if you are just in soft kit, no armour, you're a 'squishy' and have 1 hit point, leather or padded armour, 2 and any metal armour (typically chainmail and a helmet) you have 3 hits. Once you've been hit that many times you lie down, put your shield over your head and hope that no one steps/ falls on you. Before that happens you try and listen to everything being yelled at you, land some hits on the other side and do your best to not die. For my first fight it was pretty intense. I do prefer fighting with a sword but when you're across from a 6'2 Hagrid type with dreadlocks and an axe having 7 ft of spear between you is almost comforting. Also there were some human monoliths covered in black fur who were just ferocious. There were definitely some not-ok hits; Ellie took a shield to the face, which awarded her a smokey eye bruise, and Adrian had his leg cut up by a cheap spear shot. However, despite the nasty Vikings we did come out victorious 3/3 times; I survived the first exchange and fell with honour in the other two.
We're in the News! You can see me for like a second at 16s. Also there was some French tv program filming so gonna try to find that somewhere.
http://m.yorkpress.co.uk/news/14291538.Vikings_battle_it_out_as_festival_draws_to_a_close/?ref=rss
We had a bit of a break between the competitive fights and the historical one (that one we actually have to lose) so we talked to the audience and then went to look at the traders. The traders were set up in a medieval guild hall - very pretty building, which I almost looked at more than the wares. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed back to the field for the night battle. Kyle let me wear his mail and helmet (found out later it was so he didn't have to wear it on the walk back to the school - sneaky) but that meant that I got to stay alive for a glorious last stand. This fight was the battle between Cnut of the Vikings, King of Denmark, Norway and parts of Sweden and the English King Edmund 'Ironside' in 1016 which ends in Edmund more or less surrendering the English throne. Because you're told when to actually die, and you have to listen to the cues being read by the narrator the fighting is a bit more subdued and organized. To back the battle I'm pretty sure someone just Googled an 'epic movie soundtrack' playlist. The Vikings did execute a 'boar snout,' basically a human battering ram tactic so Townie yelled at me to get out of the way so I went over to die by the stage. Great fight, but I bet the real battle didn't end with fireworks.
As with all good battles, it ended in food and a trip to the pub, after getting out of our very muddy kit of course. This is such a unique community and I'm so thankful I've found a place in it. The hardest conversation is when people say 'you're coming the _______ reenactment show in the summer, right?' and I figure I'll be home then. The trouble with travel is you're always missing something and someone. Still going to see if it's possible for me to come back for the 950th of Hastings. Sunday was pretty much spent in the minibus heading back to Canterbury, I managed to write a bit of my history essay because, yes, I am still in school.
