The Knight is probably the most easily recognisable ‘character’ of the Middle Ages, filtering down through our subconscious to the present day. The image of a man in shiny armour on a proud warhorse wielding a sword or lance has inspired generations of artists, authors, film-makers, and now re-enactors.
A Siege is the use of offensive operations carried out to capture a fortified place by surrounding it and deploying weapons, machines and devices against it. The term derives from ‘sedere’, Latin for ‘to sit’. A siege is in effect, one of the most arduous undertakings in which an army may be employed, one in which the greatest fatigue, hardship and personal risk are encountered. Where the prize can only be won by complete victory, it is obvious that the success or failure of such an enterprise may determine the fate of a campaign, an army or perhaps the very existence of a state or nation.
On 8 August 1356, Edward, the Black Prince began a great chevauchée (raid) north from the English base in Aquitaine, in an effort to relieve allied garrisons in central France, as well as to raid and ravage the countryside.
NANMA have recently developed a new Living History portrayal based around the View of Arms in the City of Norwich, dated to 1355. This 'View of Arms' document, written in latin, dating to the 27th July 1355, in the 29th year of Kind Edward III’s reign, shows men of Norwich assembling in armour and with weapons, before the Justices of the lord King, headed by Sir John Bardolf of Wermegeie.
MAJOR EVENTS OF THE PERIOD TO GIVE A FLAVOUR OF THE TIMES!
1307 :The death of Edward I
Early 14th C. The “Great Wheel” appears – the first spinning wheel
1312: The Knights Templar are outlawed and their property confiscated and given to the Knights Hospitaller. Scotland remained a safe haven : Birth of Edward III
1314: The Scots under Robert the Brice (1274 – 1329) defeat the English at Bannockburn.
1315 – 1317:European famine from the Atlantic to the Baltic, as the result of the bad harvest of 1314, followed by two years of heavy flooding.