(me at Stoudtburg, PA, 1998)(click for a larger image)
One of my more strange hobbies is my reenactment. I love making things and learning about past cultures. I am currently learning to work leather and sew so that both sleeves/legs are the same length! Some day I hope to know more about wood working and maybe even cooking (don't tell Susan!)
I am a member of Warwick's Men, a Wars of the Roses reenactment camp centered in Maryland, USA. This group is a really fun group of people that have not lost sight of having fun, even though there is a high level of authenticity. I have learned alot about history from this group, but more importantly, I now have an interest for history that I never had before. I originally was interested in hanging out, camping, making neat crafts, and just enjoying my friends company. Somehow along the way, I am now extremely interested in learning more and have even started doing some independent research!
A group that I have been a part of since I started college is Markland. Markland is a non-profit organization originally dedicated to the reenactment of the medieval time era. Markland has been reenacting the battle of Hastings for the last thirty years and this is where my involvement in reenacting began. I have a complete Norman kit and I am steel qualified to fight with a steel sword (more the fools that they are!) I also dress up as a woman too, so I actually have two kits, one female and one male. I love fighting with a sword, but I also like dressing up and feeling skirts swish around my ankles (although I trip alot)
Markland has two faces, reenactment fighting (rec) and fratricidal fighting (frat). Frat fighting is a mock combat where the weapons are made of rattan and people wear whatever works for armor. This is a really fun sport, with both single combat and team fighting. I kind of think of it as football with duct tape and rattan swords mixed in. Rec fighting uses real steel weapons and strives to recreate for the public a sense of what "real" combat would look like. Although things are choreographered, if done well, it will appear real to the public.
DeCondotta is a Markland group that is absolutely the best around! I have been a member of this unit since 1997 and I love it (I also am in love with the Captain, but that is irrelevant). DeCondotta pushes its members to be active in both reenactment and frat fighting. People don't have to fight, just have an interest and participate. Most of the members of DeCondotta are also members of Warwick's Men (15th century reenactment) and they also do the early medieval fighting, like Hastings.
DeCondotta at Fall War, which is a frat event.
I am in the front row all the way on the left.
I take pictures with my digital camera some times, so I have attempted to collect them here for reference. There are also pictures at the DeCondotta web site, and the Warwick's Men web site. (some of which were taken by me!)
Attilla the Hun's Birthday Bash is a fun event that Maryland hosts during the winter. It is just an event intended to give everyone a chance to bang steel swords together, drink alot, and eat alot. Click here for pictures.
Every Tuesday, DeCondotta and the University of Maryland Markland students meet at the Armory on campus in College Park. There is usually a frat practicing going on, people working on reenactment equipment, and lots of socializing.
Old frat practice pictures from:
July 7, 1997
September 9, 1997
September 16, 1997
Some individual pictures of DeCondotta members
Fall War 1999
Pirate's Feast 2000
Harvest War Sept 30, 2000
11th Century Scabbard Pictures
Hastings 2003
Hastings 2003, Second day