Saxon and Viking armies clash at York

Jorvik Viking festival 2010 is already underway in York. This weekend, we will be there as Regia Anglorum turns out in force to stage displays including two large battles.

York is the first major event of the year, and always one of the biggest. It is often a first taste of reenactment for spectators and new members alike. 2010 marks the 25th anniversary of the festival and this year should be particularly spectacular

You can find information about the festival on the Jorvik Viking Centre website. Don't forget to check the Saturday schedule when we'll be in action!

Also, you can get an idea of what to expect with our galleries of Regia at York in recent years:

York 2007

Eadgyth and Otto - Image from Wikipedia

It was widely reported last week that remains, thought to be those of Eadgyth of Wessex, were undergoing analysis at the University of Bristol. If the identity is confirmed then they would be the oldest identified remains of a member of the English royal family.

Eadgyth and her family were key figures during the early part of Cestrescire's period of interest. She was the granddaughter of Alfred the Great and niece to Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians. Her half-brother was King Athelstan. At the age of 19 she was married to Otto, Duke of Saxony. It is thought that on her death, she was buried in Magdeburg where she lay until the recent discovery (although her coffin was moved in the later middle ages).

Eadgyth's story highlights a crucial period in the formation of Britain and Europe. She lived more than a century before Hastings and the Norman conquest. Many of the nations we know today were yet to be unified, and Viking attacks still ravaged Europe. Despite this, both Eadgyth and her sister became Queens in mainland Europe, suggesting that even then, Saxon royalty were prominent figures on the continent. Her husband, Otto, went on to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor and is now known as Otto the Great. Athelstan, Eadgyth's half-brother was the victor at the battle of Brunanburh. Little known today, it is considered to be the battle that unified England, and went a long way to determining the shape of Britain as we know it to day.

Image by portable antiquities

Thought to date from around the 7th century, the Staffordshire hoard is the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found. Now an appeal has been launched to raise £3.3million, in order to keep the collection from being sold and potentially broken up

In terms of what will be learned from the hoard, through careful study over many years to come, it's value is incalculable. But it has another value, which is perhaps even greater: this is one of those very few, special finds which captures the imagination of the general public.

As re-enactors, we know well how challenging it can be to get people interested in Anglo-Saxon England. There is no Pyramid or Parthenon to visit. Many of our most remarkable artefacts are hard to appreciate at first glance. Swords and armour are often corroded or broken. Books and tapestries have to be studied and understood. In the period still known as the dark ages, people too often imagine brutes wrapped in a bearskins. Now we can picture warriors richly adorned in gold and jewels, shaped by master craftsmen at the pinacle of their art.

There are a few new interactive features on cestrescire.org.uk. Here's a quick summary of the main ones:

comments

Adding a comment

You can add comments to our news posts, and calendar events. It is not necessary to register before you post. Just enter a name, email and what you have to say. If you have registered, there are a few advantages: your name is reserved, your comments will go straight up without a delay for checking, and you can keep track of them from the user menu.

updates

If you want to get our updates directly, you can subscribe to our RSS feed.

Our new front page

Cestrescire's website has needed a revamp for some time, and here it is.

We have been a group now for close to a decade. In that time our members have progressed immeasurably, getting involved in all sorts of interesting things along the way. It's all worthy of note and cestrescire.org.uk needs to keep up. The new site is designed to be easy for members to update, especially with news, photos and calendar events - and for discussion and feedback, anyone can post comments.

The site has a few handy features which I'll write about in another post. As well as news updates, we'll be looking to add to the history, and group info sections with more information about what we do, and the history of our area.