John Nesfields Retinue Blog

Beeston Castle - 20th-21st August 2011

2011-12-30T10:52:00.001Z

The time was August 1480; John & Margaret Nesfield had invited their friends & fellows also in the service of The Duke of Gloucester to celebrate Lammas with them. There was Music, Dancing, Games & Competitions together with displays of Horsemanship, Martial Prowess & Feasting.

The weather was kind to us, and we enjoyed camping in the splendid setting of Beeston Castle. Our friends the Gloucester Household provided a splendid living history encampment, with a variety of activities and weapons displays throughout the day. A feast of spit roasted duck with strawberry sauce, fine cheeses, and a whole raft of medieval dishes was prepared (and quickly devoured).

The Nesfield fighting men gave a fine display of swordsmanship showing how to win a swordfight (by fair means or foul).

The highlight of the show was the slaying of a fiery dragon by St. George himself, and the rescue of a damsel in distress.

Music and dancing was provided throughout by Medieval Musicians Richard and Elizabeth York, on a vast array of medieval instruments.

With thanks to John Rowbotham for the photographs in this post.

Bromham Charity Medieval Day, 22nd May 2011.

2011-05-27T17:39:00.000+01:00

John Nesfields Retinue and friends gathered at Bromham Village Green for a fund raising afternoon of medieval activities in aid of Elisabeth Curtis Riding for the Disabled.

The afternoon began with a demonstration of bill drill from the foot Soldiers of the Gloucester Household, followed by a chance for the local youngsters to join up and become foot soldiers.

The visitors were then served lunch in the village hall, during which they were entertained with medieval music.

Next came mounted skill at arms - with new horse Coco making her debut appearance alongside old hands Boreas, Contessa and Sahara.

"Have a go Archery" proved very popular with the visitors, who also sampled medieval pastries and sweets, watched beeswax candles being made and handled various weapons and armour.

The highlight of the afternoon was the joust, fought between Dominic Sewell and Martyn Smith, who both made some spectacular breaks, riding in extremely difficult conditions due to the high winds.

Many thanks to all who participated in this worthwhile and enjoyable afternoon:

Tina, Mark and Zahara,
Dominic and Nicola, Briar and Hawthorn,
The foot soldiers and ladies of the Gloucester Household,
The ladies, gentlemen and horses of John Nesfield's Retinue.

Thanks go to Louis Richardson for the photographs in this post.

Warwick Castle - Easter 2011

2011-05-27T12:09:00.000+01:00

Arriving At Warwick Castle on a beautiful thursday evening we set up camp, along with the rest of the households from Livery and Maintenance.

Each of the four days was packed with activities both on camp and inside the Castle; bill drill, archery, fire power demonstrations and battles.

In the Nesfield camp Paul ran hands on weaponry displays, Kevin demonstrated his artistic abilities, Julie and Eve spent time repairing garments and producing all manner of points, pouches and lucet cords. Gary completed the leatherwork on his long-awaited maille standard. Claire spent time between candle dipping as well as cooking, which was much appreciated by all.

During the battle each day Martyn riding Contessa seemed to take a dislike to Captain Ben and ran him down each day, at the gallop, with a Lance. Whilst Ben was being skewered, Kevin, Will and Gary took part in the battle as archers. Miranda did a grand job of keeping all the beasts (two and four legged) under control all weekend.

Horses Boreas and Contessa (shown here posing with Martyn and Leslie in front of Warwick's magnificent trebuchet) were delighted to be taken on their first "holiday" of the year. The rest of the group, likewise, were happy to meet up for the first event of the season and spent the evenings socialising over curry and beer.

The event was well attended by the public, who enjoyed the re-enactment alongside some new attractions offered by Warwick Castle.

With thanks to Mark Tarver from the Clarence Household for the photographs in this post.

Kenilworth Castle August Bank Holiday 2010

2010-09-01T09:10:00.000+01:00

What an event. We could not have hoped for a more pleasant close to the season. We set up camp on a glorious friday evening, and enjoyed a spectacular sunset over the beautiful grounds of Kenilworth Castle. Horses Boreas and Contessa were overjoyed to find that their holiday home for the weekend provided an abundance of lush green grass - something which has been in short supply due to the dry weather this year. Saturday was spent in the final planning and rehearsing of Sunday and Monday's events.

This was a multi period event, and we (with our fellow member groups from Livery and Maintenance) were accompanied by Normans, Tudors and English Civil War Soldiers. Despite limited access to the venue, setting up, packing down, and the coordination of arena events ran like a well oiled machine, thanks to the efforts of English Heritage event organisers Charlie Fear and Helen Budd.

Our arena displays consisted of a display of mounted hunting skills, and training young horses for joust and battle. A fierce contest at hunting skills was fought between Ladies Margaret and Cicely on the second day, with Lady Cicely victorious.

Frank the boar, now fully recovered from his exploits in Scarborough ventured into the arena only to be speared with a javelin, knocked down with a lance, and then attacked by a visiting dog! The use of the warhammer and mace was demonstrated on an unfortunate watermelon, with spectacular consequences (Much to the delight of the grooms - who got to sample an unusual delicacy for 15th Century Englishmen).

On camp we provided "show and tell" demonstrations of crossbow and polearms, our smaller visitors tried our armour, sallets and padded jacks for size which gave their Mums and Dads some nice photo opportunities. The various stages of construction of a maille standard (a protective neck piece worn by archers and billmen) were shown.

The visitors enjoyed listening to and learning about medieval music and instruments, including hurdy gurdy, gemshorn, recorders and psaltery.

Boreas and contessa, when not taking part in the arena displays, stayed on camp to lap up all the attention lavished on them by their grooms and the visitors.

So until next season, it's goodbye from John Nesfield's Retinue, Boreas Contessa and poor old Frank. We hope you have enjoyed following our adventures this year. We'll be adding new photographs to the galleries soon, and listing our events for next year - so do keep checking the website regularly.

Please keep in touch:

Thanks to Maddy and Anthony Gunn for the photographs in this post.

Battle of Bosworth 21st-22nd August 2010

2010-08-22T21:02:00.000+01:00

Boreas and Contessa took a well earned rest this weekend, staying at home whilst their riders forsook the saddle in order to enjoy a weekend of living history, crafts and socialising.

We devoured superb meals cooked from period recipes, including beef cooked with wine and dried fruits, buttered vegetables seasoned generously with fennel seeds, pot roasted pork, and rice pudding. Yum.

We spent a productive weekend producing fingerloop braids, heddle woven braid made into garters, leatherwork, maille making and basketry.

We enjoyed visiting the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, to see the latest archeological finds. This exhibition seems to get better every year, thanks to the dedicated staff and enthusiastic local metal detectorists. Access to such information as this really brings the past alive for us and spurs our enthusiasm for reenactment.

Looking forward to meeting up again next weekend at Kenilworth Castle, where Boreas and Contessa will compete in the Skill at Arms contest.

Scarborough Castle, 24th-25th July 2010

2010-08-22T20:45:00.000+01:00

John Nesfield's Retinue attended a fantastic event at Scarborough Castle, where we played the role of a noble household, set in the early Fifteenth Century, so a slight diversion from our normal period. Much frenzied dressmaking thus preceded the event to ensure that our clothing was appropriate.

Lord and Lady Nesfield enjoyed being waited on hand and foot by the servants.

Ladies Margaret and Jane once again excelled in skill at arms.

Boreas and Contessa, as always, enjoyed their holiday, and especially their spot in the limelight where they played the role of young horses being trained to hunt, joust and battle.

Thanks to Louis Richardson for the photos in this post.

Lincoln Castle - May 22nd-23rd 2010

2010-05-24T10:41:00.000+01:00

We said we would have sunshine - and we did!

An excellent weekend was had by all in a lovely location. The castle grounds housed a large living history encampment with the member households of Livery and Maintenance, with a wide variety of activities and items to be seen.

Horses Contessa and Boreas were not with us this weekend, but they did contribute generously to the building of a medieval kiln, built by Sir William Gascoigne's Fellowship, made of a willow frame surrounded by clay mixed with straw and horse dung.

Nesfield's activities were cleaner and sweeter smelling - including painting, embroidery, leather work, rush hat making, making lucet cord and candle dipping as well as a weaponry display, archery and participation in arena displays.

An excellent social weekend as well, catching up with old friends, reminiscing on our exploits in Archeon historical theme park in Holland, and enjoying a trip to the local Mexican restaurant on Saturday evening.

Thanks to Louis Richardson for the pictures in this post.

Website update - 15th Century Kit guide added

2010-04-13T01:00:00.000+01:00

New content added to website - see "Kit Guide" links from "Join us" page.
Thanks to Martyn & Miranda for their hard work in sourcing the references and compiling the guide.

Warwick Castle - Easter 2010

2010-04-13T00:19:00.000+01:00

Great to be back at Warwick again after a whole year. Despite unkind weather, we had a busy weekend and were pleased to welcome new members Paul, Eve, Carl and Steve, as well as welcoming back old friends Will, Lu and Kelly.

Thanks to Louis for the photographs. Never seen the camp from this angle before!

Horses Boreas and Contessa were as excited as we were to be at their first event of the year, and once again proved very popular with the visitors.

Now looking forward to the next event at Lincoln - WHERE WE WILL HAVE SUNSHINE!!

New website content added

2010-02-25T13:03:00.000Z

Dates for 2010 events now on the events page.

Basic information for anyone interested in joining on the "Join us" link.

Blore Heath 550th Anniversary Event - 19th-20th September 2009

2009-10-25T14:52:00.000Z

The last event of the year was truly a memorable one as the weather was the best it has been all year. Something strange was afoot -From the mystery of the disappearing awning peg to Martyns disappearing Sunday.

We all showed strutted our funky stuff on the Saturday night 70's disco although Ben claimed not to know any of the songs as all the music was before his time!

As for camp activities, truly a general wind down, with cooking and sewing the activities for the ladies and and the final burning of Kev and Gary's off-cuts.

Ben, true to fashion fought heroically on the battle field to a glorious victory!.

Now looking forward to some nice, clean, warm, indoor social events over the winter!

Old Sarum - August 2009

2009-09-11T22:08:00.000+01:00

This was an enjoyable event in a pleasant location. Living history groups from a range of periods were present - Romans, Normans, Medieval, Redcoats, WWII.

Livery and Maintenance staged two short arena displays each day, and the remaining time was spent in camp. The horses were,as always, a popular attraction with the visitors.

There was plenty of time to demonstrate crafts such as leatherwork, rushwork and heddle weaving.

Jousting at the Ponderosa Farm (Battle of Wakefield)

2009-09-11T21:35:00.000+01:00

As promised, pictures of the Joust at Wakefield. This was a contest between John Nesfield and Steve Morris jousting as the Welsh Knight.

In the first leg of the contest on Saturday the Welsh Knight triumphed,
by 6 breaks to 4.

On Sunday, the contest was again hard fought. When John Nesfield was leading at 6 breaks to 5 he sportingly offered the skilful Welsh Knight the chance to equalise.

The final score...........7-5 to John Nesfield.

Speaking after the event John Nesfield said in true medieval style "This was the best buzz I have ever had from Jousting. It made all the hours of training worth while. It was an honour and a privelege to come up against Steve, and I would like to think we will cross lances again."

With thanks to photographer J. Goddard, who holds the copyright for the photographs in this post.

Battle of Wakefield, August 2009

2009-08-03T07:55:00.000+01:00

A busy event for the equestrian contingent. John Nesfield was victorious in the joust on the Sunday - pictures to follow. There was a strong challenge, however, from Captain Ben on the Nesfield patented horse simulator.

The competitive theme continued as the gentlemen of the camp whiled away the day in gambling - here shown playing nine men's morris. Where did they get all that money from?

Various activities were demonstrated in camp including rush plaiting, maille making and fingerloop braiding.

Ickworth Medieval Spectacular

2009-06-05T15:49:00.001+01:00

A most enjoyable event. Ickworth is a beautiful location with an interesting house, gardens and extensive grounds.

The weather was variable, but thanks to our lovely new awning we were able to cook, eat and socialise under cover. Much re-pegging of tents!

The visitors were not deterrred, however, and the camp was well attended. The horses were a particular attraction.

It was good to meet and recruit three new members.

Looking forward to the next event!

A fishy tale

2009-05-19T19:38:00.000+01:00

John Nesfield's Retinue recipe for Salmon in Salt Dough:

First catch your salmon, clean and gut it!

Off with his head! (you can leave it on, but ours wouldn't fit on the fire with his head on).

Stuff with breadcrumbs, a good handful of fennel leaves, parsley & chives. Add a few slices of lemon if available. Add plenty of black pepper. Mix with as much white wine as it takes to bind the stuffing together.

Find a volunteer to drink the leftover wine.

Make a dough with flour, salt and water. 2 parts flour to 1 part salt, enough water to bind.

Roll out the dough and encase the salmon. Seal the joins carefully with water.

Bake over the fire - we think it should have gone directly into the ashes to cook, but as our firewood was big and difficult to burn, (and it kept raining) we put the salmon on the rack over the fire.

Once the dough has hardened, turn over to cook the other side.

This took at least 2 people with fire proof fingers.

(Our salmon took about 2 1/2 hours to cook through, obviously this would depend on the size of the salmon, thickness of the dough and the heat of the fire).

When cooked, the salt dough is removed - DON'T EAT IT. Remove the backbone and enjoy the flesh.

As you can see, the dough gets very burnt, but the salmon inside stays lovely and moist, and all the flavours are sealed in. Sadly it was all eaten before we could get a photo!

Mmmmm.............Highly recommended.

Easter at Warwick Castle

2009-05-01T20:56:00.000+01:00

The first event of Nesfield's year took place at Warwick Castle, over the Easter Bank Holiday. Despite typical English Easter weather a good time was had by all.

Horses Connie and Boris looked splendid, as did their various riders.

A hearty feast was prepared including a whole salmon stuffed with herbs and wine, baked in salt dough over the fire.

Next event:16th-17th May Medieval Ickworth Spectacular Ickworth House, Nr. Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk; where we hope the sun will come out!