Reenactors and the UK scene - weblinks

[Imperial Dave]

I've often mentioned historical reenacting and reenactors in some of the discussions I have been party to on these forums and so I thought it might be useful to point out a few of the better weblinks on this thread....

http://livinghistory.co.uk/forums/
http://www.durolitum.co.uk/ironage.html
http://www.vikingsonline.org.uk/events/index.php
http://www.vicus.org.uk/kitguide/index.htm
http://comitatus.net/
http://www.plantagenet.org.uk/
http://www.herlid.org.uk/friends-and-rivals.html
http://www.re-enactmentsupplies.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=49

Alas the group I used to fight with no longer exists although we were affiliated to the Plantagenets  (as listed above)

And yes it IS fun

[Patrick Waterson]

Nice to know: thanks, Dave.

[Imperial Dave]

Its not everyone's cup of tea but I found it both fun and instructive. Some guys went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that they were authentic for the period they represented. In fact we used to have 2 campsites when on "tour". The general reenactors in what was refered to as the "plastic" camp and the top guys in the "authenti" camp. There were conversations/discussions (arguments!) about fine details of kit such as styles of quillons on swords being correct or not for the time period.

Dont get me started on kit mind..... I had a sword commissioned and had a pair of hand made shoes too and reenactors "fayres" were a nightmare for getting rid of lots of cash!

[Mark G]

We had some Germans stay with us last year who had walked across the highlands of Scotland in full costume, a pict (who picked the route) and two Vikings.

They even had restricted themselves to authentic food and food containers.

Naturally, they all had archeology degrees.  And they concluded Scotland is too settled, as even trying to avoid them, they went through two pairs of shoes crossing metaled roads in a week.

[Imperial Dave]

We had some Germans stay with us last year who had walked across the highlands of Scotland in full costume, a pict (who picked the route) and two Vikings.

They even had restricted themselves to authentic food and food containers.

Naturally, they all had archeology degrees.  And they concluded Scotland is too settled, as even trying to avoid them, they went through two pairs of shoes crossing metaled roads in a week.

Thats interesting re the shoes. I had a pair of authentic hand made leather shoes and the soles were as tough as....erm.....old boots! Lasted me well although wet grass was a nightmare. I know some of our lads went for the soft "doeskin" mocassins for comfort and surprisingly good grip but I opted for leather soled shoes

[Chuck the Grey]

Speaking of footwear, I remember reading that a group of Imperial Roman army reenactrors found that their carefully crafted reproductions of caligae had straps break in the same location as authentic caligae found by archaeologists in the garbage dumps at Roman military sites under excavation. I thought it was an interesting bit of information that pointed out the knowledge that could be gained by using proper reproductions of ancient military equipment.

[Jim Webster]

The question I'd ask is "If this was such an obvious fault, why on earth didn't the Romans fix it?" 

Jim

[Imperial Dave]

good points re the Roman footwear. Maybe the massed production of the shoes is a clue in this. ie the state fabricae knocked out hundreds of thousands of these shoes to a standard pattern and perhaps it was easier to just replace broken shoes with new ones that do "bespoke" footwear for individuals. I guess the other question is whether richer legionaries bought shoes "privately" if they didnt get on with the state issued ones?

[Jim Webster]

I remember somewhere that the shoes belonged to the legion but the legionary put his own nails in, which explains why there is no standard pattern of nails on the bottom.
This is from memory and should not be confused with a face 

Jim

[Imperial Dave]

well, if true, maybe some legionaries were less hamfisted than others or at least knew how to strengthen the exisiting shoes...? ie here's your basic shoe....and then they "blinged" it up according to affluence and/or experience

[Erpingham]

The question I'd ask is "If this was such an obvious fault, why on earth didn't the Romans fix it?" 

Jim

I recall reading something on SBS in the falklands War where they had all re-equipped themselves with hiking boots from an outdoor pursuits store because the issue ones were known to be less than waterproof (and, indeed, there were cases of trench foot in the Falklands).  If a modern, hi tech army was issued with rubbish boots, with all he possibilities it had for feedback from the front, perhaps this was the problem the Romans had too - the troops knew the weakness but couldn't feed that back up the supply chain to influence the design?

Either that, or we are basing our reconstruction on a load of boots that were defective

[Patrick Waterson]

Which is indeed possible, although I would by preference go with the 'official inertia' explanation: if the footwear was generally good enough then the occasional failure after x hundred miles would be expected, tolerated and allowed for.

One may remember Iphicrates repatterning Greek military footwear, even though the latter had been in use for centuries, and the change being universally approved.  Rome perhaps lacked an Iphicrates.

[Imperial Dave]

Agreed, we are talking mass production versus bespoke ideals. Any vast military organisation suffers from poor equipment spec and production from time to time. If the fabricae were using a standard pattern maybe it did take forever to authorise (officially) a new version?

[Chuck the Grey]

The question I'd ask is "If this was such an obvious fault, why on earth didn't the Romans fix it?" 

Jim

Government contract awarded to a senator's brother-in-law?

[Imperial Dave]

You never know Chuck  Like today, things get built with budgets that spiral out of control and money gets skimmed off by all and sundry. Maybe the same with Roman shoe manufacture....stranger things have happened