The Battle of Tewkesbury is, to high medieval re-enactors, what the battle of Hastings is to Dark Ages nuts. Our friends Simon and Stella first introduced us to "Tewkers" and the concept of bill fighting over a few beers in a pub in Eynsham. When Ants started working at Warwick castle, our debut at this mass battle for the benefit of the adoring public was only a matter of time...So, think War of the Roses, cousins battling distant cousins for the throne of England (and sometimes, possibly, topping rellies much closer to home to ensure they have the best claim on their side..). The Earl of Warwick, Richard 'The Kingmaker' Neville, can't make up his mind which side he's gonna be on, having backed Lancaster, then York (or was it the other way round), and then gone back again...
Anyway, there were a bunch of key battles in 1471 and this was one of 'em, and I can't even remember who won anymore, but the point is, we all went even though it had pissed with rain for days beforehand, only got a little bit wet, and slept on the floor of a 14th century house right opposite Tewkesbury cathedral (okay, possibly it's just a very large church - but really impressive!). One of our club members lives there - he's an antiques dealer. The floor was slopey as hell and 'orribly hard and I banged my head 3 times on the lintel going in and out of the doorg (Anthony, despite being nearly a foot taller than me, missed every time - bastard!), but the point is, this house WAS THERE when the original battle happened, which is even more cool than the fact that in 2008, thousands of thronging crowds turned out to see us, a thousand or so re-enactors re-enact the battle, shop at the very cool market, and listen to medieval bagpipes (see below).
Cracking weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment