[Adam D. Kent-Isaac]

Businessman Bill Cook is sponsoring an Elizabethan-themed tournament here in Bloomington, Indiana, which will include tilting, combat at the barriers, running at the ring, and armorial pageantry and masquerades. The organizers of the event include Cook (a passionate military history enthusiast), several other businessmen, arms and armour collectors from around the country, including Ronald Lauder, as well as faculty members from Indiana University's history department. The tournament's goal is to strive for complete historical accuracy, drawing mostly from Tudor and Jacobean Tournaments by Alan Williams along with various primary sources from literature and art, and to recreate the Accession Day Tilt which was held in honor of Queen Elizabeth I.

Details are still being worked out, but I've been told that a team of master armorers, including restorers and metalworkers from major historical museums in America and Europe, will be re-creating thirty Elizabethan-era Greenwich armours, based directly on surviving harnesses in collections around the world, and drawings from the Jacob Album currently located at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The armours will be functionally and aesthetically identical to the originals, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has granted the tournament organizers permission to allow their armourers to extensively study the Scudamore and Cumberland harnesses to this end.

The armours will be worn by the participants in the tournament, who will be a mix of professional jousters and re-enactors, and amateur Renaissance and armour enthusiasts who will be trained in riding and foot combat by the professionals. Application for the training program will begin in May. Twenty of the thirty participants will be drawn from this group of amateurs, once the training is complete. The rest will be experienced jousters and riders.

Incorporated into the tournament will be elaborate pageantry, including colorful costumes and displays, music, and poetry recited by the knights to the "Queen". It has not yet been decided who will play the role of Queen Elizabeth. All of the costumes, decorations and poetry will be directly drawn from or closely inspired by historical sources.

The cost of admission for viewers has not yet been determined, but the organizers intend to make it affordable enough for mass audiences. All attendees must wear period clothing, which must be pre-approved by the tournament organizers. The goal is to provide "a step back in time" for all participants and spectators; no modern clothing or technology will be visible. The cameras which will film and photograph the event will be concealed, along with all power cords and electrical equipment. Sunglasses and modern eyeglasses will not be allowed - those with corrective lenses must either wear contact lenses or have 16th-century-style spectacles made for them. No photography will be permitted, although prints of professional photographs taken from the hidden cameras will be available to the attendees at no charge.

Along with the combat and pageantry there will also be vendors offering food, drinks (including wine and beer) and handcrafts.

Bill Cook has invested over 10 million dollars in the tournament, and contributions have come from other sources as well. Local philanthropists believe it will stimulate the local economy, as well as drawing national publicity to Bloomington and encouraging interest in history. The tournament will be held in September of 2011.

[Michael Eging]

Can't wait to see more details! Sounds intriguing!!

[Scott Kowalski]

That sounds interesting. Though it means I only have a year and a half to put together approved period clothing and have a sword custom made. Not to mention getting Lasik surgery so I do not have to get either contacts again or period spectacles. If that is what they called them. It better be a really hot summer here in old Chicago!

[Christopher VaughnStrever]

Would a suit of armor count as "period clothing"?

[Peter Lyon]

That is amazing - and an amazing financial commitment to bring it to life. I look forward to more details, and maybe to seeing a History Channel program made about it.

[Dan Rosen]

That's excellent, though I kind of have a thing for the Elizabethan period, so the kit's already good to go.

I just hope they're very careful with their research. False or unfounded information about the Elizabethans is significantly more common and easy to find (thanks to Renaissance Faires, etc.) than the credible sort.

I hate to be a pessimist, but I can't tell you how often I see people flaunting their 16th century stuff as being authentic or representative of the reality, when it is in actuality poorly research or a work of fantasy.

[Joe Fults]

I've just got to ask about the timing of this announcement.

April first you know...

[Christopher VaughnStrever]

If it was.... that is evil!

[Zac Evans]

[Peter Fuller]

This IS an April fools joke. I contacted Mr. Donald LaRocca, curator of arms and armour at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and he said if this event does exist, the Met has no involvement, and has not granted any of the claimed access. Mr. LaRocca also told me he strongly doubts that Mr. Lauder would be involved.

As an aside, since I've already produced an exact copy of the Clifford armour, I think that I would have been consulted by these so-called master armourers, since I examined the original armour in minute detail, but I've also heard nothing.

In my opinion, this is nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of Adam.

[Adam D. Kent-Isaac]

Yes, it was an April Fool's hoax. I apologize to anyone whose hopes I raised. Peter, I have to commend you on your research in the process of disproving it.

I have seen the copy of the Cumberland armour which you made and it is absolutely fantastic. It does make me feel very good that, half a millennium later, people are still crafting armour like that. If I ever hit it big, in the future, expect a very large commission from me. It has been a fantasy of mine to re-create every design in the Jacobe Album whose armour is not currently extant, including the two of them with anime cuirasses.

[T. Hamilton]

At least now I'm not under the gun to get my kit together.