[MR] English Heritage: Full Metal Joust at Bolsover Castle

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

It's another slow newsday thanks to the virus lockdown. My Lady Sarah
Sinclair went on a search this week and came up with a whole mess of really
neat on-line videos to share with you. Today I selected a really nice
re-enactment joust and encampment at Bolsover Castle sponsored by English
Heritage. The film is copyright 2016, and was produced by "History Needs
You".

Is it authentic? I'm not so sure about some of their cooking gear, but the
costumes, weapons, armor and tactics seem right. The sugarloaf hats and
sallets suggest this represents mid-to-late 15th century. There is
something to interest almost every Scadian here. Many of the encompment
scenes are brief, but remember you can freeze the action if there is
something you want to study.

There is an interesting sequence here showing the arming of a knight
(actually it is woman, for whom I was rooting in the jousts--you go girl!).
This reminded me of our first visit to the Tower of London many years ago.
"Arming the Knight" was one of their demonstration shows. We arrived too
late, just as everybody was leaving. The docents asked us to stay, and we
were treated to a private show of "Unarming the Knight". They provided us
cotton gloves and we were allowed to handle his sword (only about a kilo in
weight, but a knight had to swing it all day long in battle). So cool!

Enjoy the show at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK3F8V2nHNw .

More to come soon.

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
(and) Sarah Sinclair, Lady of Mallard Lodge  🏰