Medieval soldiers battle it out at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre April 22.
Hub Staff
Travellers from across the realm arrived at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton on Saturday, April 22 to experience life in the medieval times.
The local branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), an international living history group which studies and recreates medieval European cultures and their history, provided the day's entertainment and education with demonstrations and crafts to weaving and knights in combat.
Raven and Kelly Ridley had travelled from the Chatham-Kent area as Cesare and Laura Battista, wealthy Venetian merchants from the 1560s. “As a woman I would spend a lot of the time indoors,” explained Kelly who went on to say that when she did go out she would wear large shoes with Venice being so wet. “You were kind of hobbled as a woman when you went outside because these shoes were 6 to 9 inches tall.”
Raven said that being male, his role was very different. “I could basically do what I want because I'm rich enough to do nothing all day.” Raven explained that his money would have come from imports, exports and shipping.
Kelly said that the group tries to reflect the pattern of the middle ages. “We have a king and a queen and barons and baronesses and they get the respect that they're due,” he said, explaining that they cover the whole time frame of the Middle Ages or medieval period. “It's generally around 600AD to 1600AD that could have contact with Europe. It encompasses a really wide range of what you can be and who you can be,” added Raven.
Lady Christiana, a.k.a. Heather Burger from the Kitchener area, said that the reenacting was like a really rounded hobby. “You can do anything and you can plan from now until your retirement,” she said. “The fighting is kind of the exciting part for people to watch but the wonderful thing about this too is we do archery, we do axe throwing, we have arts and sciences and we do everything from weaving to making materials.”
Baroness Sibylla of Ramshaven, a seventh century Anglo-Saxon, a.k.a Tamara Pasley, sits with Fraye Blackwood from the Tudor period, a.k.a Elisha Weirmeir, with children Evelyn (3) and Dyson (2) as they do some tablet weaving, a form of weaving that spanned the medieval era.
Left to right, Rayner of Blackwoods stands with Terri Veen and children Evan (5), Olivia (7) and Mika (9) from Wiarton who were trying out some of the medieval combat gear on display.
On the left, Cesare and Laura Battista, a.k.a Raven and Kelly Ridley, were playing the roles of wealthy Venetian merchants from the 1560s. On the right, Lady Christiana and Tristan of Galbraith, a.k.a. Heather Burger and Corey Bott from Kitchener, were ready to go into battle against each other.
A variety of mock fighting techniques were a popular attraction at the museum's Medieval Day, from sword and shield (left) to two weapon fighting (right).
Various scenes set up inside the museum offered visitors a chance to learn about medieval life from members of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
