2023

Claire Collier-Jones

Hello everyone! It’s been a year in the making and I have to say I am very proud of the new Chronicle. Malcolm Butler has done a sterling job putting up with my editing queries and helping me put this whole thing together. I am sure you will all agree that the new logo, produced by Alison Offer and digitalised by Myles Stevens, is absolutely beautiful. In case you were wondering, it has been written in 10th century Winchester style. Thank you to everyone who has contributed items for this edition. Please keep the newsletter in mind over the next season and get in touch with any ideas you might have.

I hope you all enjoy reading the first edition.

Military
Tom Robinson

Hear now you, pirate, what this people say?
They desire to you a tribute of spears to pay,
poisoned spears and old swords,
the war-gear which you in battle will not profit from.

The Battle of Maldon

Few Viking Age reenactors pay the spear tribute as well as Regia. From behind the many-coloured shieldwall, our spears do their grim yet effective work. The spear has long been the weapon of Regia.

For my first Chronicle entry as Military Training Officer, I wanted to reflect on some of the major changes that I have seen over my many years on the Regia battlefield. When I joined as a knobby kneed wisp of a lad, it was a battlefield dominated (somewhat inauthentically) by large numbers of super effective two handed spears. They were the weapon of every new member and viciously effective, particularly in large numbers and facing over confident armies of short arms. Since then, we have seen a remarkable transformation. The battlefield is now dominated by single handed spears, the true weapon of the Viking Age, with the occasional two handed spear working its magic, and followed up by short arms for the moment when the line breaks down and chaos reigns.

For my time in Regia, this has been the single biggest change to our battlefield. It has immediately improved our authenticity, presenting a radically different and far more authentic image for the public. Alongside changes to the old hit system which had previously placed new members at a disadvantage with one fewer hits than their more experienced comrades, it has also meant that our newer warriors can survive longer, shields firm in their fists.

I’m interested now in what changes will similarly transform the Regia battlefields of the future. The training team has no particular plans for large scale change, but I’m constantly curious about the ways we can improve. Perhaps a renewed focus on the dramatic elements of the battlefield can improve our show fights for audience and participants alike? Or will an increase in warriors taking the field with a couple of javelins bring a new clash with the mass exchange of missiles to enliven the battlefield? Or is there a change we have not even considered?

If you have ideas, let us hear them! The battlefield is constantly changing and evolving, as we experiment and benefit from the experiments of other societies. New approaches to excite the younger members and give us old hands something to grumble over.

And until the next great leap forward, there is always something new and fresh to try. After sixteen years fighting with spear and sword and axe, I took up combat archery for the first time this year and found a whole new angle to the battlefield. If you ever find yourself comfortable and confident in your place on the battlefield, then I’d urge you to try the next thing. Learn that new weapon, test your abilities as a commander, experience the entirely different approaches you can learn from knights combat or mask fighting. 

The Regia battlefield remains an exiting and thrilling experience. Constantly changing, constantly improving. I cannot wait to see what future generations of fighters will bring to the field.

Missiles
Tony Peel

Different people do archery in Regia for different reasons and we do what we can to help.

Younger members can engage with the hobby while they are too young to participate in combat and it lets them compete with (and beat!) the adults. Please do remember though that the team cannot provide childcare so we encourage parents to take part as well. It can be as rewarding for you as it is for your kids.

Civilians don’t often get the chance to be competitive and the range is a place where they can. The intensive sessions are open to anyone with a certain amount of experience and tends to be fun for all involved. It also gives the opportunity to collect stamps and undertake tests which gives that sense of progression which is often missed by not being involved in military matters.

Newer members find visiting the range useful; typically all equipment is provided to let them try archery in a safe environment with no outlay of cash required. It also acts as something of a social melting pot giving them the opportunity to meet people outside their immediate circle in a relaxed atmosphere. The basics of archery are fairly straightforward so people coming to the range for the first time tend to leave it feeling like the time there was well spent.

Experienced combatants also seem to find that doing archery, particularly the later stages of the combat archery training programme, benefits them on the battlefield by improving awareness and tactics. Being able to read the battlefield and identify opportunities is a skill particularly useful to those commanding a line or section. It also provides something new to do and collect stamps for and provides understanding about how to use or react to missiles on the battlefield.

Regia has a fair few old broken warriors whose bodies aren’t able to run around the way they used to and archery provides an outlet for those people too. It’s a way take part in a competition or in combat without having to strain their bodies.

Ultimately archery has the potential to provide something for the vast majority of the society so the question should not be ‘why archery?’ and rather ‘why not archery?’.

Living History
Helen Mallalieu

There have been some really great LHE displays this year at various national and local shows. York had the mini, but busy, LHE in the churchyard of Holy Trinity and at Craigtoun we got to see the Scots wide range of crafts on show with great interactivity for the public.

At Detling my deputies Steph and Catherine organised a total of 35 structures with 17 different activities on display. ‘Craft sharing’ was a success and something we will hopefully be able to repeat at other nationals. At Grimsby, despite the heat, the standard of displays was of great quality. A huge thanks to Mike for providing ice and crisps to get us through the event.

It would be great to continue and develop on craft sharing at events. If you would like to run any craft training at any weekends please do get in touch.

MaA
Simon Kent

It was a pretty good year for the MaA. We’ve had no major changes in the regs, and nothing really exciting/alarming has come up. Please continue to look after your war gear and don’t forget to use the off season to give your gear a good going over. Re-stitch that loose shield rim and give it a lick of paint, re-shaft that spear that’s passed its prime, dress the edge of that sword, you know the drill!

The days of the ‘spitty bucket’ are behind us, so if you have any ideas to help us present our modern water containers and cups around the public please get in touch.

The ‘muster at the banner’ system has proved successful and we are on the look our for a new eye-catching banner. We also have a designated deputy responsible for checking all missiles. Any arrows and javelins must be presented to the MaA deputy at muster.

There are some changes coming up and full details can be found within the MaA regs:

• 1st July: any maille without an integrated hood must be riveted
• 16th August: rules regarding minimum spear-head sizes will come into effect.

Maritime
Greg Collier-Jones

The official account of the year is in my officers report, but I would like to give you a bit more flavour here. What are boat weekends actually like, why come on one, and why do you, yes you, want to be maritime officer (up next year – just saying).

The year began with a couple of weekends of too many people to name putting in a lot of effort to work on the Heron’s refurbishment. In the end the client decided they only needed two boats so again the funding to really drive this forward sadly was not there.

Sailing wise we had two well attended training weekends. The weather was not so kind to us at either but on both we did get a few good trips in. Plus, a show in the middle.

Kielder (May)
What a wet weekend with the wind coming from entirely the wrong direction. Tents were flooded, some sessions were blown off, and others had no wind whatsoever. Then it rained some more. Our planned barbecue was abandoned and we decamped to the sailing club. One thing that sticks in my head is the poor stranded sailing club members trapped by a flat tyre in a room full of wet grumpy Regia. We found a jack, helped remove a tyre and gave them a lift to Hexham (thanks Jimmy). We also had some fun with launching off Chris Illes’ camper with George (of the Scots) being useful as he always is. The last sail was also incredible to see an Osprey less than 100m from the boat trying to take a fish. Also, Claire made it past the headland.

Grimsby (Early September)
The launch went well and the boats were left tied up Thursday night. As is the tradition they promptly sunk. This year, however, they sunk in an entirely different way. The docks let a load of water out and Salmon capsized and did not properly self-right. What we achieved over the next few hours was truly heroic from all involved. I cannot thank you all enough. The evening show was a ballet of boats and pyrotechnics and I think we really impressed.

Llangorse (Late September)
So much weed. Not that kind. Sadly, the lake was filled with a thick weed that made constant clearing of the steering oar the order of the weekend. The boats behaviour this weekend was deeply frustrating but feedback was good and we had the opportunity to do a lot of drills, much to Roger’s delight.

Finally, I want to thank Steve for continuing to be… well, Steve. And Malcolm Leyland who has progressed through the archaic maritime system to be a skipper under oars.    

Equestrian
Claire Collier-Jones

I am very impressed with the hard work that members who want to ride put in. Although there have been no Regia organised equestrian events recently we have continued to train with the Welch Horse and take part in battles.

Plans for this coming season include a training weekend and displays at shows and I would like to look into getting horses more involved with the rest of the society.

A very brief introduction to Jewish history in England
Jen Cresswell

How does one approach a topic as vast, nuanced and well-documented yet sadly under-represented as the history of the Jewish people in England? I will be breaking it down into smaller articles which will appear over the next few issues. This will allow me to hopefully guide you on a crash course into one of the most interesting areas of our past and one that is central to our period (well, those of us doing Norman history) but is rarely explored.

First a disclaimer; yes I do mean just England, especially for the eleventh century. Debate does rage over whether there was a Jewish presence in the other nations that make up the British isles, but current solid evidence only points to Jewish settlement in England. We know of some Jews working in Ireland and Wales (none yet in Scotland, although this was likely) on errands for nobility, but only England had establish Jewish communities.

Second, who do I mean by the Jewish people? It is important to note that the current Jewish community of the United Kingdom is distinct from this Jewish community. Edward I expelled the Jews in 1290, and they were only allowed back (officially, individuals did come and go) in 1655 under Oliver Cromwell. This is also before the divide we have between Ashkenazi/Sephardic/Misrahi etc. These unique distinctions appear later. However, Jewish people did adopt the dress, customs and language of their country of residence so an English Jew would be different from an Egyptian Jew, but the separate cultural variations seen today had not developed.

With that cleared up, now for a brief overview. The Jewish people officially came to England under the invitation of William the Conqueror in 1070. There is no concrete evidence of Jews beforehand, but this does not mean some came. These Jews were largely from Rouen, and the Jewish population seems to have been primarily French drawn, referring back to French rabbis if clarification was needed on religious or legal disputes. This means they were French speaking, but did use Hebrew for religious services and likely in the home as we have examples of Hebrew being written for personal items. Men tended to have Hebrew names, yet women seemed to have had French names, again pointing to the French origin. The community was never large, only 3000 were left when they were expelled, although this number would be smaller as many had left earlier due to increasing persecution and financial burden. It was likely never over a few thousand. It was, however, widespread. Focused in the south, with York being the most northern, most major settlements had a Jewish community. They were not in established ghettos as seen in Europe later on, but did congregate together so as to be near the synagogues, mikvahs and butchers and tailors who could produce meat and fabric according to the Mosaic laws.

This leads to an interesting aspect of the Jews in England; they were outside the feudal system. Jewish people instead of answering to a local Lord, and being subject to his justice, instead were the direct responsibility of the King, and as such any legal proceedings against a Jewish person was heard by the King or his representative. As a result a lot of legal documents have survived, making the English Jewish community the best documented in mediaeval Europe.

Day to day they were not distinct from the general population. They wore the same clothes and fashions; the only difference is clothing could only be made of one material to follow Leviticus 19:19 which banned the mixing of linen and wool. Due to the wealth of many in the community, the clothing was of high status, with one Jewish woman wearing red dresses trimmed with rabbit fur and blue silk. Court documents also report cases of theft of rings and brooches; pendants are not mentioned. The concept of a Jewish marker on clothing, in England this was the tabula meant to signify the tablets of Moses, does not come until the thirteenth century. The fact that this was needed shows that clothing styles were the same. While laws were also later introduced to ban Jews and Christians from mingling and working for each other, court documents show that they were often neighbours and employers/employees.

I hope to explore the topic of the Jewish people in England more; the archaeological evidence, the unique role of women, key figures in the community like Aaron of Lincoln, interactions with the Kings, and much more. It really is a wonderful area to explore. Let me know too if there is a topic you wish me to write about.