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What We Do

The Danelaw, as a living history society, presents many different facets of life in 11th century England. This is accomplished through a living history display.

What is Re-enactment?:

Re-enactment is not dressing up in funny clothes, hitting people and looking silly, it is, rather, a serious attempt to re-create and learn more about our period of interest. Obviously we cannot re-create exactly the fatal nature of early medieval combat as we all have somewhere to go after the display. However, re-enactment combat is a careful balance between safety, authenticity, showmanship and sport. For those of a more peaceful nature, we have the living history exhibit. This aspect of the hobby involves demonstrating the range of crafts and activities from the day-to-day tasks of survival through to the skills of the craftsmen and artisans, using authentic tools and materials.

Daily Life:

Like a village of 1000 years ago, our members conduct themselves as it would have happened. In our living history display will be seen all the aspects that composed the daily life then. You might could see our members cooking, weaving, smithing metals, and woodworking, just to name some of the crafts of the period. There will also be all the property of the time, such as tools, utensils, clothing, furniture, toys, musical instruments, and more.

At times we set up a temporary display of period tents that might represent people on the move, attending a local assembly, or an army on the move.

Meet some of the members of The Danelaw...

Authenticity:

Our basic tenet is Authenticity. To this end we will not portray any image, support any ideal, or make any item of equipment which we cannot provenance from contemporary sources. From our experiences, we are certain that no other society from our period of interest takes this matter as seriously. From the newly joined peasant in his (or her) rough woollen tunic, to the top-class, mail-clad warrior, we are proud of our ability to get it right.

Warfare:

Regia Anglorum's period of history was at times violent. One of our displays is combat re-enactment. Almost all our combats are open-ended and we do very little scripted fighting. This enables our field commanders to use real tactics in real-life situations, adding a tremendously to the life or death feel of our military re-creation. The structure of public performances is deliberately arranged so as to inform while entertaining.

The same stringent rules regarding authenticity being supplemented by on-going weapons training and inspections. Obviously we cannot re-create exactly the fatal nature of early medieval combat as we all have somewhere to go after the display. However, re-enactment combat is a careful balance between safety, authenticity, showmanship and sport. All warriors are trained before taking the field and Regia Anglorum has one of the best safety records in re-enactment. It is far safer than playing many contact sports. Our awareness of safety is high and it is the only matter which takes precedence over authenticity in our work.

A final word:

Regia, unlike some other re-enactment societies does not interact with the public in the 1st person. In other words, we do not pretend to be Anglo-Saxons who have 'never heard of chocolate'. This is because many of us do not speak Old English, and the majority of the public would not understand us if we did! Also, it makes it difficult to give a sensible answer to a sensible question.

Sound like a fun and interesting hobby? Join us...

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