Blacktown Medieval Fayre
Armour, Blacktown, Blacktown Advocate, Blacktown Medieval Fayre, costume, fair, jousting, knights, Ben McClellan, New South Wales, newspaper, NSW, re-creation, re-enactment, Sydney
This online newspaper article by Ben McClellan appeared in the Blacktown Advocate on May 21, 2012. It reports on the recent Blacktown (western Sydney) Medieval Fayre. According to the article, the Fayre featured medieval-themed stalls, demonstrations of medieval blacksmithing and cooking, people in costumes including Lords and Ladies, jousting demonstrations, and ended with a battle of people dressed as medieval knights in full armour. The article includes links to photographs taken at the Fayre.
McLellan, Ben
Blacktown Advocate
Blacktown Advocate
21 May 2012
Blacktown Advocate, Ben McClellan
Online Newspaper Article
English
‘Soldier at a Medieval Faire’
Arms, armor, armour, aventail, Blacktown, Blacktown Medieval Fayre, camail, chain mail, chainmail, combat, entertainment, helmet, honour, medieval costume, medieval fair, New South Wales, Norman style helmet, NSW, Nurragingy Reserve, re-enactment, reenactment, Richard Taylor, Sydney, war, warfare, Western Sydney
This is a ‘frozen’ combat image taken at the Blacktown Medieval Fayre by photographer Richard Taylor in 2011. It depicts a participant dressed in a Norman style helmet complete with a chainmail collar known as an avential or camal, and engaged in combat. The participants and combatants in medieval re-enactment groups generally pay considerable attention to detail. Their clothing and war gear is researched and often handcrafted, and when it comes to re-enacting ‘combat’ all bouts are marshalled. However, the combat is also based on an honour system, in which “every fighter must decide which blows hit hard enough for him to yield or fall dead†(For more on this, see Patrick O’Donnell, The Knights Next Door: Everyday People Living Middle Ages Dreams, Lincoln, iUniverse Inc., 2004). Re-enacted combat combines medieval fighting techniques and entertainment. In Medieval Fantasy as Performance: The Society for Creative Anachronism and the Current Middle Ages (Lanham, The Scarecrow Press, 2010), Michael Cramer observes that participation in creative anachronistic events is largely performance-driven (p.xii). That is to say, historical re-enactment is essentially theatre, and this is a significant part of the appeal.
The Blacktown Medieval Fayre is billed as “a world of medieval magic,†and is part of the annual Blacktown Fiesta, an eight day extravaganza hosted by Blacktown City Council. It is just one of several interesting medieval events held throughout the country at different times of the year.
Taylor, Richard
21 May 2011
© Richard Taylor. Some rights reserved dicktay2000
Hyperlink
‘The Black Knight’
armor, armour, Blacktown, Blacktown Medieval Fayre, chivalric, chivalry, gallantry, horse, jousting, knight, lance, medieval fair, New South Wales, NSW, Nurragingy Reserve, plate armour, re-enactment, reenactment, Richard Taylor, Sir Walter Scott, Sydney, tournaments, Western Sydney
This detailed action photograph of two knights jousting was taken at the Blacktown Medieval Fayre by Richard Taylor in 2011. Considerable attention to detail is evidenced by quality gear and trappings. Note the blunt headed lance and knightly accoutrements. The combatants shown here are members of Full Tilt, “a world renowned quality jousting outfit,†that could have been extracted from the pages of a novel by Sir Walter Scott. The knights in this photograph wear plate armour, which fits with the rising popularity of jousting tournaments in the fifteenth century. By this time plate armour had largely replaced chain mail as the protective garment of choice for knights. The black colouring of the armour adds to the theatricality of the event.
The Blacktown Medieval Fayre is billed as “a world of medieval magic,†and is part of the annual Blacktown Fiesta, an eight day extravaganza hosted by Blacktown City Council. It is just one of several interesting medieval events held throughout the country at different times of the year.
Taylor, Richard
21 May 2011
© Richard Taylor. Some rights reserved dicktay2000
Hyperlink