What seems to be the most popular reenactment period? What seems to be the least researched or popular period? Why?

I would rather not include SCA or martial arts systems, eastern or western.

I admit to not knowing anything about reenactment, so take it for what it is worth but it SEEMS to me that the early Crusader period, the age of mail is quite popular.

Mail like Bryan said and Roman Empire seem to be most popular.

And i get the impression this forums little pet favorite is the 15th century.

Yeah I don't know much about reenactment either and there are no opportunities nearby. But living history and historical reenactment are interesting to me, though maybe less so than sword arts.

Just a question to pass the time on a snowy day. I know there are many very committed members and groups that I have learned about here on the forums and the research and education involved (as well as the presumed fun!) have been helpful in my own meager studies of various times that interest me.

To give a good answer to this..you really need to specify what COUNTRY you're in. If you are in the USA, I'd say the American Civil War or the American Revolutionary War. If you're in UK, it could be anything from the Romans up to the English Civil war. Elsewhere in Europe, results could depend on country.

Good point. I guess I meant among myArmoury denizens which certainly seem to skew European late medieval. Here, I added a poll. I don't think it has an option for multiple answers though, so I guess people choose whatever they want.

But I was also interested in the "why?" as well as the "what?"

What: 1350 to 1375 southern England, northern France.

Why: After 20 years of bouncing from 10th century Viking to 13th century English to 12th century Norman, I finally settled on the mid to late 14th century. This period appealed to me due to the rapid advancement of both arms and armour, as well as distinct regional variations.

That's perfect Scott, thank you.

I am sorry if my poll entries are not that specific; I am interested in what people like about their periods though of course I may not know the best way to express it.

For me, it's hard to choose: I like landsknechts, gallowglass, English/French wars, War of the Roses, Vikings, Bronze age but maybe most of all dark ages groups. Perhaps the Picts or Avars or Cheruskers, since they are underdogs and mysterious and interesting. A challenge to research and very interesting, with unique weapons and armor. All ages have something interesting about them. It's nice to know what grabs somebody else because then I learn some good research avenues. And I am unsettled enough to wander from period to period for now; you have clearly passed through this stage to settle on something.

Tho if it's pointy or armor I can probably appreciate it no matter what it is. Of course english language sources help me; there's a strong bias of information. I wish I knew french and german to take advantage of more resources.

I have to say, if people are part of a group that does reenactment, they are very very lucky to have a community to share knowledge and fun. I hope they realize their fortune. Those of us on the outskirts have to go it our own way. I am a bit of a Outremer knight like that, I would like to think. myArmoury is as close as I can get I'm afraid. But it is better than ten years ago! 15 years ago I didn't even know where to start looking around.

Migration Period was the closest I could get, but it's actually early Early Medieval, 6th/7th century (so post Migration Period but pre Viking Age).

Why- Because the early Anglo Saxon Period sees the first development of England, the English and the beginnings of a period which will account for 25% of the last 2000 years of English history. Despite this, it is barely taught in English schools so being able to talk to and educate the public about it, allowing them to see examples of the skill and artistry of the craftsmen of the period and dispelling the myth and misnomer of the 'Dark Ages' allows me to redress the balance slightly.
Hopefully, by doing what I do and being enthusiastic about it, the same love of history will be kindled in the hearts of some of the children I talk to that I had as a child.


The fact that, in my opinion, the equipment, particularly the swords, of the period are at the pinnacle of design, aesthetically speaking, is just a bonus.

As an aside, I think that, in England, English Civil War reenactment has the most participants but you can find people doing everything from Mesolithic to post World War II Modern Conflict.

I haven't seen much chariot reenactment to be honest.

Second half of the XV. century, from 1450.-1490. Central Europe and Italian lands

Matthew Bunker:

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Migration Period was the closest I could get, but it's actually early Early Medieval, 6th/7th century (so post Migration Period but pre Viking Age).

arg. Snow storm had me addled. I am ashamed. Now I can't seem to add a category: Vendel/Langobard/Anglo-Saxon/Franks/?

Sorry about that.

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Why- Because the early Anglo Saxon Period sees the first development of England, the English and the beginnings of a period which will account for 25% of the last 2000 years of English history. Despite this, it is barely taught in English schools so being able to talk to and educate the public about it, allowing them to see examples of the skill and artistry of the craftsmen of the period and dispelling the myth and misnomer of the 'Dark Ages' allows me to redress the balance slightly. Hopefully, by doing what I do and being enthusiastic about it, the same love of history will be kindled in the hearts of some of the children I talk to that I had as a child.

Very nice. I certainly have begun learning a lot about the period and enjoy it very much thanks to your efforts and others'.

Pieter B.

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I haven't seen much chariot reenactment to be honest.

:lol: :lol:
Surely if people can reenact jousting, we can do this too.

Boris R.

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Second half of the XV. century, from 1450.-1490. Central Europe and Italian lands

How did you narrow your focus so well?

i wasnt sure what to put, viking age europe technically fits however my kit sint quite that...

although i was at first trying out a 10th century rus kit i quickly abandoned it...

i am reenacting the middle byzantine armies of around the reigns of nikophorous phokas and basilII in the 10th-11th centuries

why, part of it is because i tend to strongly identify with cultures that i am related to genetically, since my grandparents are from greece.

(i am also hoping to trace my lineage back as far as i can to try and determine what rung of society my gfamily was drawn from which will influence the social class of my kit)

but also because the byzantine empire, being a continuation of the roman empire had within it a level of sophistication and learning unparralelled by most of europe at that time


their armies are also some of the most complex and well equpped, wearing gambesons and using pikes without a doubt well before latin armies adopted them. , and the presence of numerous military manuels helps in reconstructions, if only archaeological evidence was not so frustratingly scarce at times...

noit only that but the fact the empire is so scarcely reenacted actually makes me even more keen

by the same token i am curious about reconstructing steppe rus cava;lry flails and byzantine hand flamethrowers. if it's obscure i might be interested in it.


conversely i am also planning on reenacting new kingdom egyptian, the reason for that is that a footsoldier is a very minimalistic kit, not much clothing, not too many pieces of armour. the new kingdom in addition to featuring ranses II my favorite pharoh of all which wad the hight of egyptian influence

round the new kingdom also occurs the numerous tomb finds most notably king tuts, that and a huge wealth of sources make it a convenient little side project that wont divert too much attention from my byzantine impression

"and yet it is also not a very commonly reconstructed period compared to homers myceneans and the etruscans celts and sea peop[les.

Hoo, yeah, not nearly enough choices! What I currently do (or at least CAN do, given an event to wear the stuff to!):

Ancient Greek, including Macedonian and Thracian (6 kits?)
Roman 1st century
Romulus Founder of Rome (c. 750 BC), with almost enough gear for Remus, too!

American Revolution (either side) (seriously need new trousers...)
13th century
Norman/Saxon/Viking era (various stuff)

Kits that don't get much use these days, unfortunately:

Bronze Age: Mycenaean (2 kits, basically), "Sea People"/Shardana, Urnfield, Wessex culture
1607 Jamestown, plus English Civil War
16th century Highlander (Flodden, etc.)
Had clothes for 15th and 16th century English but most of them don't fit any more...

"Why?" WHY??? It's kind of like, If you have to ask, I can't explain it! Why would anyone NOT do this stuff?? It's cool! It's fun and educational and people will pay to you run around without trousers in front of school kids. These days I just let my mood swings push me around, guided somewhat by materials on hand and (lack of) funds. Last fall I got handed a lovely wicker base for a 5th century BC Thracian shield, so this winter I just HAD to make the spiffy boots and cap and cloak to go with it! How could I not? Seriously want a couple nice javelin heads to round that all out.

Focus is always an issue. For the 13th century, I had a stroke of luck when I found a full-size brass rubbing of Sir John D'Aubernon in a thrift shop. So I based my kit on him (not too strictly), and learned a little about what was happening when he was alive in the 1270s. My Romulus kit started with lusting after the "poncho" cuirass from Narce in the UPA Museum in Philadelphia. Supplemented that with artifacts from graves of the same period in Rome, a bronze antenna-hilt sword from Neil Burridge, and whatever meager evidence I could scrape up on clothing. With my Greek stuff I don't seem to have a real focus--I can cover c. 650 BC to 300 by mixing and matching what I have. REALLY into the Greek stuff at the moment. But got no one to play with!

Mood swings! Make cool stuff, have fun and stay sane. (Well, okay, "sane" within the relative framework of historical reenacting!) What other Hobby is there?

Matthew

PS: Oh, I forgot Steampunk, pirate, orc, and dalek, but they aren't really historical...

In the Midwest where I am, American Civil war and 1700s "backwoods" personas seem to be popular. Fur trappers, craftsmen, village life, etc.

My personal favorite is central Europe from 1250 - 1300. I find knightly armor of this time period to be the most visually interesting. Full mail coverage with elements of plate armor starting to appear. Coats of plates and splinted limb armor make appearances too. And ailettes are just cool. It's also the heyday of the great helm and the my personal favorite, the shovel-faced bascinet. When I think "knight in shining armor" I don't think of the full suit of 16th century gothic plate, I think of the mid 13th century mailed knight instead.

My group is based in the last decade of the fourteenth century, 1392 to be precise.

I also want to do British Bronze age, have been making bits and pieces for a 10th century Baltic kit which may or may not come into being one day and I have a fascination with 14th/15th century Germany, the Hanseatic league being my 14th century favourite and Southern Germany being the focus of my 15th century interest, and of course there's the other random kits that I think I'd look good in....

14th century doesn't appear to be particularly popular in the UK. Students tend to go for Viking/Saxon, There's a load of WOTR groups, the ECWS is very popular, Napoleonic is the same and WWII tends to be expensive, keeping younger people out.

Your choices of "Crusades" covers 100 years from the 12 through the 13th centuries, so you're actually missing the 12th Century as one of your choices.

And therein is your anwer. The 12th Century (not Crusades) is the least popular.

Not a whole lot of data on the 12th C.
Not a whole lot of extant items from the 12th C.
Go to a medieval history website and it will cover everything except the 12th C.
The 12th C seems to be ignored by everyone, including you sir!

Well if I were able to edit the poll I would definetly change the options based on everyone's comments here. Consider it a nice educational lesson, to inform the feeble-minded about your passions! :D

I was looking through our PM correspondence on scabbards earlier, Harry, and I read again the lack of knowledge about 12th century.

It's too bad, its an interesting time period as the Plantagenet monarchy struggled to transition from vassals of France to Kings of England without losing their ground. I recently read http://www.amazon.com/Plantagenets-Warrior-Kings-Queens-England and also got a book on the Normans. Should be interesting to see how far it goes.

Meanwhile France is also trying to solidify their holdings and develop the Capetian dynasty into a stronger power.

And I don't really know what's going on elsewhere besides the calls to the crusades and a minor bit of Japanese history.

It's an interesting century, for sure. Have you had any luck at all developing a kit? Do you think the turmoil in all these countries hampered artistic sources? There are wonderful architecture and philosophical advances during this time, but yes a frustrating lack of other resources.