[Michal Plezia]

Hi!

I've just came back after a week in medieval camp and the great staging of the battle of Grunwald-the greatest medieval reenactment festival in Poland(over 1000soldiers,circa 80 000 spectators) Basicaly the battle was staged-however our unit (Choragiew Goncza-the private unit of the king) had quite serious fight with our eastern guests armed mostly with polearms-of course both sides agreed to be more hardcore before charge(result-one man down unconscious after being hit with bill or halberd )

Just a couple of pictures.
Enjoy!


1.me and my friend


2.the battle




3.our choragiew




4.Teutonic Knight



5.artillery


6.archers


7.me(with poleaxe) supervising cooking lunch(it's good to be a captain )

[Jean Thibodeau]

Michal;

Great pics generally but I have one question based on the first: The bascinet's visor fully to the rear ? Was that common or the way they normally work ? Mine won't go more than 60° up and still in front. I haven't tried to force it back like in the pic but it would seem like a good solution to the problem that the visor has a tendency to fall into the closed position as there is no catch to hold the visor in the open position securely.

The bumpiness on horseback would tend to make the visor fall unless it is tight when in the up position or has a locking catch ! But if pushed completely back as in your pic it should stay open until pulled down.

This might vary depending on the fit of the visor but again I wonder if this option was used or common in period based on existing originals ?

Oh, and the event seems like it must have been impressive.

[Michal Plezia]

Well I think that in my friend's basinet visor normally stays in front side while open.As far as I know it was slightly damaged during fight and didn't stay in usual position Nothing that can't be fixed with hammer

[Allen Andrews]

Great pics, it really looks like a lot of fun!

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Mike West]

I wish I was there to watch. What type of effect did the artillery of that time have on the victims? Was it percussive, explosive, of fragmentary?

[Lafayette C Curtis]

[Mike West]

Thanks. That's what I meant.

[Mick Czerep]

Hello gentlemen
Having been to the event a good number of times I would discourage too detailed questions about what you see in the pics in general. I'd say only about 15% of people attending really know what they are wearing in terns of costume and armour, unfortunbately. Still, every year there is some progress. More participants use historically correct (at least in shape and weight) equipment and have proper costume, there are more mounted knights (jousters included) and so forth and so on. Nonetheless you can find some very strange designs and, indeed, very strange people.

All the participants are divided into 'banners' (names and ensigns coming from period sources) for the Teutonic and Polish-Lithuanian sides. Each banner has its own camp and captain.Sucha group can muster betweenb 40 and 100 militants who would actually enter the battlefield.

Most of the 'knights' fight on foot and a small group (20? 30?) fights mounted. Thare are archers, using safe arrows, and artillery, using blanks. All the movements are pre-set and the scenario iss rehearsed a few times, although individual combat is free-ish. There are 'iustitiari' who stop fights if they get too heated. As Michal wrote, though, sometimes things are a little rougher. No serious accidents so far...

For those, who like it rough and real there is a bohourt (name traditionally used here, should be a melee really, I think). Two teams engage in a free, open ended fight. Usually it's The East (Russians, Belarussians, Ukrainians) vs Poles. These usually are about 50 a side. No thrusting, no groundfighting are the basic rules. Blunt steel is employed. You can fight as long as you can stand on your legs.

Apart from those military pastimes there is a general camplife to be enjoyed - meeting friends, eating, singing, dancing, and, not the least, drinking.
Cheers
Mick
P.S. The artillerist is most probably a woman. There were quite a few globulars there, but this looks suspiciously like a pair of...er..mammaries

[Michal Plezia]

[Jean Thibodeau]

[quote="Michal Plezia"]