The Vikings is the largest, and most experienced Dark Age Re- enactment organisation in the United Kingdom - and probably the world - with a current membership well in excess of 550. It is also the longest established. This year it will celebrate its 25th Birthday .
Originally founded in 1971 (as The Norse Film & Pageant Society) The Vikings now boasts member groups throughout the length and breadth of the UK and beyond, in addition to which we have about 80 provincial members existing outside the group organisation.
The aims of The Vikings are to bring tenth century Britain to life so as to present audiences with a living slice of history. Each item of gear is carefully researched and based on a historical example from our period, not only the clothing, footwear, armour and weapons, but also the cooking utensils, tents and craft tools used in living history displays. Whenever possible, shows are based upon historical events which occurred in the local area.
The type of presentation varies with the needs of the organisation for which we are working, from hour-long battle re-enactments to full days spent in museums demonstrating the crafts of the Viking Age. Some of the most effective shows combine the two, with a story unfolding gradually over several hours - or days - and culminating in a final clash of arms.
Performing shows for the public has two advantages to us as a society. Firstly, the fees we receive are a useful source of revenue which we invest back into the Society by using it both to build or purchase large pieces of equipment and to help members of the Society attend events in different places in the country by subsidising their travel expenses. Secondly, it provides the necessary impetus to continually improve standards of authenticity and historical accuracy as our audiences become better informed and more critical.
The Society sees action at a large number of events each year, ranging from school visits involving two or three people to large scale re-enactments such as the Battle of Hastings at which, together with invited guests, we provided well over two thirds of the 580 infantry taking part. The Vikings have featured prominently in the English Heritage Special Events Calendar for a number of years, and have four major shows booked with them for 1996. English Heritage are the organisation responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the majority of English ancient monuments and castles. The Special Events Unit help to raise both money towards this and educate the public about their past by organising displays ranging from a one man falconry exhibition to large events involving a number of re-enactment societies and pulling in crowds by the tens of thousands.
In addition to work for Heritage organisations, we also stage events for Borough and County Councils, privately run heritage sites, Millennium Committees and the like. Millennium Commemorations which we have staged over the years include The Isle of Man (1979), Dublin (1988), and The Battle of Maldon (1991), the next one on our agenda being planned for Lydford and Tavistock in August 1997.
As the old society name suggests, The Vikings has also featured in a number of film projects over the years. Probably the most memorable venture from the early days was Magnus Magnusson's Vikings! series in the late `70s. More recent projects include two videos Cromwell Productions (The Viking Wars, filmed at the Lindisfarne 1200 which we staged in 1993, and Alfred the Great filmed the following year). The Society waived a proportion of its fee for the latter in return for free run of Cromwell's footage of the Society, an editing suite and the service of a professional actor to compile a 5- minute promotional video. Thanks to the promo, 1995 was the busiest year we've ever had in terms of TV work, with two programmes for the Learning Channel (on The Normans and The Irish in a series entitled Ancient Warriors), BBC productions including a Timewatch programme entitled Evidence of Vikings, an episode of The Detectives with Robert Powell and Jasper Carrott, appearances on Disney Adventures and a cookery programme (!), and a short film for the Royal Armouries to our credit. This year looks equally promising.
The membership of the Society covers an incredibly wide spectrum, as do the reasons for joining. Some are drawn by an interest in history in general, and the Dark Ages in particular, some to the craft activities, some to the acting opportunities and others to the idea of fighting with weapons of the Viking Age. All are equally welcome, though potential warriors must be prepared to conform to our rigorous safety standards. As well as groups spread throughout the UK, we now have an increasing number of members both in Europe and the U.S. Whilst the number of events these overseas members can attend in the UK is obviously limited, The Vikings are always looking for opportunities to travel overseas and our gear guides and handbooks, supplying information and authentic patterns and designs, written by the re-enactor for the re- enactor have been in big demand. Articles on combat, living history and authenticity also appear regularly in our in house journal, The Runestaff, which is published several times a year and is sent to every full member.
On the combat side, the aim is to make battles look exciting and realistic whilst at the same time minimising the risk of injuries - most of us have jobs to go back to on Monday morning! The key to this is the use of control with the authentic (but blunted!) metal weapons we use - cutting the power of a blow just before contact with your opponent's body. A high standard of control is demanded from all members before they are allowed into combat and members must train regularly and maintain high standards if they wish to continue taking part. The combat system has been developed and refined over the 25 years of the Society's existence and is now flexible enough that it can be used equally successfully in a battle involving several hundred warriors or by 5 people skirmishing through a wood. Battles are choreographed only to the extent that unit commanders know when to lead there warriors forward and when to retreat (and of course, when re-enacting an actual historical battle, the correct side must eventually win) however individual conflicts within this framework are completely free-style and even conflicts with a pre-determined outcome are often refought again afterwards to discover who would have won if we had been present on the day.
Fighting with the steel weapons used by the Society is about the closest you can get to the `real thing' without actually risking your life. It's also very exciting and a lot of fun! For those who wish to be involved in the battles without committing themselves to the rough and tumble of hand-to-hand combat, however, the Society boasts a sizeable company of archers (shooting blunts, of course!).
The living history side of our re-enactments is equally as important as the combat. The Society now has people who can demonstrate virtually any dark-age craft you care to name - shoemaking, spinning, warp-weighted loom and tablet weaving, leather-working, armouring, woodworking, brooch-casting, swordsmithing, bronze-working... all as they would have been done in the Viking Age. This both provides an interesting display which the public can watch, ask questions on and even take part in and provides us with may authentically made artefacts which can be incorporated into people's costume and kit.
At most major shows, the living history encampment is up and running from about noon, whilst the archery and single-combat competitions are taking place in the main arena. From 2pm onwards the dramatic presentations detailing the events leading up to the battle begin. The exact nature of these depends upon the historical events being portrayed, but a cast of characters including Kings, Queens, Bishops, Monks, unscrupulous traders and treacherous nobles is not uncommon.
An ongoing narration and excerpts from the atmospheric soundtrack recently commissioned by the Society help to bring these dramatic tableaux to life, so that audiences find out why a battle was fought in their area and learn something of Dark Age life and culture in the process.
Although people are drawn to the Society for a variety of reasons, the reason they stay is generally the same - the rich and varied social life which the Society has to offer. The apparent homicidal hatred on the battlefield is belied by the camaraderie at the pub or around the campfire afterwards, where the `slaughtered' villagers and `slain' warriors of both sides can always be found sharing a joke or joining in a sing- song. In addition to the two Society banquets, which are held annually each Summer and Winter and attended by about 200 members, most groups host a smaller banquet of their own at some point in the year. The saying that a drinking horn is the most vital piece of Society equipment isn't far from the truth on these occasions! Training and "play" sessions where the combat is organised purely for our entertainment are organised throughout the year as are craft workshops and gear making sessions.
Although the minimum age for full membership of the Vikings is 18, a junior section has been instituted for the younger relatives of members. These junior members (of any age) have a useful role to play in the living history displays - well away from the fighting. Those who are 16 and 17 may also be trained in weapons combat with a view to taking part in the battle displays once their 18th birthday comes around. Though the ranks of the warriors are open to males and females alike, participation in combat displays is not mandatory and interested non-combatants wishing to act as Villagers, Crafts people, Dignitaries and Denizens are equally valued.
The social structure of the period which The Vikings aims to recreate was rigidly stratified, and the ranks of the Society loosely reflect this. At the lowest rung were the unfree thralls, which is the term applied to beginners undergoing a three-month probationary, kitting-out and training period before being accepted as a Fri-hals or full member (by successfully completing an appropriate assessment). A Fri-hals is expected to provide him or herself with two basic but authentic costumes - tunics and trousers or dresses of wool or linen plus leather shoes based on a historical pattern - and the necessary implements to fulfill the roles which the Fri- hals has chosen. Where combat activities are concerned this consists of an axe or sword and basic sidearm (a Saxon short sword called a seax or a single-handed viking axe termed a skeggox), shield, helmet, protective gloves and arm guards.
Village activities require the means to practice a credible occupation in living history displays - drop spindles, leather- working or carpentry tools and so on.
After attending a certain number of shows, equipping themselves to a sufficient standard and successfully completing assessments in a number of areas (either living history and/or combat), Fri-hals are made up to the next Society rank - Drengr. The Drengr are the backbone of The Vikings, and their gear is expected to reflect this. An important element is a richer mode of dress, adorned with hand- crafted tablet-woven braid. Warrior Drengr are also expected to equip themselves with better quality battle gear - hip- length chainmail shirts, swords, two-handed Danish axes and so on.
Although we are primarily a Viking Society, we also have room within our ranks for those wishing to portray the peoples with whom the vikings came into contact. Consequently, rather than improving on their viking gear, many Drengr prefer to re-equip themselves as Dark Age Saxons, Normans, Scots, Irish or Welsh. Our time frame is a little more flexible with secondary sets of gear too, with the result that we are able to field virtually everything from the Britons of `King Arthur' to the Normans of William the Conqueror.
Within each group are a number of officers (chosen according to the differing constitutions of the groups themselves) who are termed Thegns and usually chosen from amongst the Drengrship. In a similarly way Society Thegns handle various functions on the behalf of the Society as a whole. A group leader in The Vikings is termed a Jarl - a Norse word from which the English `earl' derives. Jarls are expected to lead from the front in every field, as evidenced by their more ornate (and costly!) equipment.
Society policy is formulated at each year's two Althings (which all Drengr may address) and two Jarls' Meetings (attended by group leaders). The day-to-day administration of the Society, however, is handled by a High Council made up of five Society Jarls with the Konungr, or Society Chieftain, at its head.
The system we have now gives members four opportunities each year (2 Althings and 2 Jarls' Meetings) to propose changes in policy and/or call Society Officers to task - either personally or through their group leaders. Any Drengr or above wishing to suggest changes to the current system at any of the above is perfectly at liberty to do so and, should a majority opinion think that the suggestions are workable (which is what democracy is all about), they will be acted upon. No-one has a monopoly on good ideas and without continued healthy (and often heated!) debate at Althings and Jarls' Meetings the Society would find itself on a downward slide to stagnation.
Since its foundation almost twenty-five years ago the Society has been through many changes, and the rate of change over the past six years or so has been tremendous. Standards of authenticity, living history displays and show presentation have improved to such an extent that it seems a completely different Society from that of several years ago. The change of style, from the Norse Film & Pageant Society (or NFPS) to The Vikings is the most obvious manifestation of this. The old style was a bit of a mouthful, didn't really convey what the Society did, and was extremely prone to journalistic corruption - I once read of us as being `The Nurse Film & Pageant Society', which wasn't really the image we were looking for... The Vikings, on the other hand, is immediately accessible, difficult to misspell and gives a very clear picture of what we do. As the first Society in the field of Dark Age Re-enactment it was felt that if anyone had a right to the name - we did!.
Anyone wishing for further information about the Vikings with a view to possible membership should contact the Membership Officer/Treasurer: Sandra Orchard, 2 Stanford Road, Shefford, BEDS, SG17 5DS; Tel :01462 812208; [e-mail address: sandra.orchard@roche.com].
Those wishing to engage the Society for re-enactments, filming or illustrative photography work should contact Paul Vernon Lydiate, Special Events Co-ordinator, 119 Market Street, Broadley, Whitworth, Rochdale, OL12 8SE; Tel: (O1706) 344773; Fax:- (01706) 879343. [e-mail address: p.lydiate@zenmail.co.uk]
Web sites:
http://www.biochem.ucl.ac.uk/~davis/vikings.html -- Show dates and local info for the UK members.
http://blah.bsuvc.bsu.edu/nfps -- General info for the world-wide Dark Age re-enactor.
This article was originally written by Paul Vernon Lydiate for Military Illustrated, a wargaming magazine in the UK. It was adapted by Sandra Orchard for publication in Living History Chronicles in the US. At the time of its adaptation for the Web, the article was still in the pre-publication stages in both magazines.