Sunday, May 18, 2014

The Second Battle of St Albans - 2014 style

In camp before the fighting
This afternoon the 2nd Battle of St Albans was re-enacted on Bernards Heath, which is where most of the fighting took place in 1461.  The re-enactment was by the Medieval Siege Society and the day was organised by Sandridge900 - as Bernards Heath was part of the parish of Sandridge until about 100 years ago. My wife and I really enjoyed the event which is of special interest as the part of Bernards Heath used was surrounded by my great grandfather Jacob Reynolds' farm before St Albans houses sprawled all over it.  An earlier re-enactment, in 1907, was not held on the Heath.

I was interested to see that my booklet,  A Short History of Bernards Heath, had been reprinted by the Friends of Bernards Heath and was selling like hot cakes.

Read on for photographs of the fighting...

The last meal before the battle
Marching into battle
The archers take aim
Hand to hand fighting
Knights in Armour battle it out
The Fighting is over
The Prince of Wales & the Queen leave the field, followed by the King (in Green)
Battle-weary soldiers leave the battlefield

4 comments:

  1. Elizabeth (Henry VI)May 20, 2014 at 7:13 PM

    I wish to point out that the King (Henry VI) is the one in green. The young man in blue with the crown is the Prince of Wales. That is a prince's crown, with crosses and strawberry leaves. The King does not look splendid, as he has been the Yorkists' captive for several months, and is not in the best of mental health.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks - caption corrected. I was a long way from the action at the end - and the speaker was very difficult to hear - I I obviously failed to correctly identify who was who!

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    2. I admit I don't look very kingly, and this was intentional. I think the day before there was more pathos, as no one fetched the Queen, so the commentator had to tell the crowd to kneel and behold their King, who was cutting a really pathetic figure, bedraggled, confused, and wandering back into the trees.

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  2. Lovely photos ~I wish I had been there!

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