What: Medieval yuletide feast
When: 6-9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12
Where: Lisbon High School
Tickets: $20
Benefit: The Moxie Festival
E-mail: [email protected] for ticket information.
Getting medieval
A group of re-enactors portrays 15th Century scenes in period costume
“You create a persona of someone who might have lived about that time.
You create their own story and learn about their lives.”
LISBON – Sir John Ramsden doubts there will be much room for a yuletide sword fight in Lisbon High School this month.
He and his company will have to settle for making merry with mead, music and magic.
“We’ll have to see how much room there is in the place,” said Ramsden, who’s the head of the Neville Companye, a small retinue of medieval re-enactors based in Bath and Brunswick.
The company will be featured players at a yuletide feast Dec. 12 at Lisbon High School to benefit the Moxie Festival.
Ramsden and his older members put on a dazzling display at last summer’s festival in Lisbon, battling in swords and full armour. That’s why the group is returning for Christmas, according to event planner Paula Reno.
“They were there and interacting with the crowd, in character and all,” Reno said. “They had knights and beggars and all sorts of people, and it was a real hit with the crowd. People really loved that kind of thing.”
The yuletide feast will feature dinner, dancing and entertainment with a medieval theme, said Moxie Festival coordinator Sue Conroy. All proceeds from ticket sales, $20 apiece, will benefit the Moxie Festival. There will be actors portraying King Henry VI and Queen Margaret, wizards and court musicians.
The Neville Companye is more than a group of actors, Ramsden says. Members of the company assume the names, roles and dress of people who might have lived during the War of the Roses, about 1454 to 1485. They create their own clothes – from tights and cloaks to steel armour – and study the lives and history of the time.
“You create a persona of someone who might have lived about that time,” Ramsden said. “You create their own story and learn about their lives.”
The Bath group is built around the history of Sir Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, who lived from 1428 to 1471.
“He was a key player in the War of the Roses, so we try to re-create a part of his military,” Ramsden said. Back then, he said, there was no national army. Instead, powerful lords with private armies would pledge their support to the king.
Neville had his feet firmly planted on both sides of the War of the Roses, first as a Yorkist leading decisive victories against the Lancasters, and later fighting for Lancaster King Henry VI and Queen Margaret of Anjou.
Armour and mail
Ramsden became a fan of period re-enacting about 15 years ago in Boston, as a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. That group boasts some 28,000 members worldwide who attempt to re-enact life during the Middle Ages.
When Ramsden moved to Maine about 10 years ago, he didn’t find any medieval action. So he started some.
“I did some demonstrations, like talking at schools about medieval arms and things, and I began meeting people. We decided to put together a group of our own.”
That group joined the British Plate Armour Society, which focuses on the more narrow time period of 1300 to 1485.
He has a core of about six “diehards” and several less involved people. The group meets to trade tips about period clothing and history. Some vendors sell period clothing, such as wool and cotton leggings – not glossy tights like you might see in movies but looser fitting and warmer – and cloaks, hats, belts and bags. But most of the group make their own gear.
“One of the things we try and keep in mind is that these are not costumes,” he said. “These are actually clothes that are going to be worn extensively. There are places to buy some of the pieces, but we really encourage people to make their own, by hand.”
That includes armour. Ramsden has hand made all of his pieces out of sheet metal.
“I’ve learned a few little tricks and basically worked it all by hand,” he said. “It’s not a show armour, but what would be considered a good field armour. It’s been used, and it’s beat up and dented.”
Ramsden and a couple of his older members actually stage fights with dull steel blades and full armour. The younger members, many Bath-area high school students, can only practice with foam swords, he said.
“But we take it pretty seriously when we do live steel,” he said. “We wear it all – armour, mail. There’s a lot of training that goes into it.”
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