Hey folks,
Here's some pics from back in October when I got the opportunity to participate in a Medieval Village and volunteer, helping out where I could but really mostly just enjoying the novelty of it all!
At the entrance to the Medieval Village, all dressed up and ready to get medieval!
This lovely view of some of the village's thoroughfare from my sleeping quarters is strictly a perk of volunteering and is not at all historically accurate, as far as I know. For somebody of my medieval economic status, my worldly possessions would constitute; the clothes on my back, a "pretty crappy knife" to paraphrase the member of the centre who helped find me a costume, and an empty purse!
We didn't have a full house in the inn, but I did have some roommates, at least at night.
My highly anachronistic sleeping stuff schlumped into a pile next to my bed. Naturally, I had to get everything squared away out of the village every morning, lest some hapless tourist discover very peculiarly modern looking socks lying underneath the bed for example.
For those of you whom have never slept in a straw bed, I recommend the experience, if only so that I can share in the pain of the bizarre aches and tender spots I woke up with most every morning. I can only imagine that the lord could afford something luxurious like a featherbed, though in all likelihood probably padded with straw too. The stuff is better than nothing after all.
When the centre closed down and it started to get dark, one cool thing I got to witness was the preparations for the NIGHT TOURNAMENT! A very big and much looked forward to event by everybody at the centre, it required getting the horses used to the open flames everywhere, as well as the decreased vision, and the loud crowds who inevitably pack the centre for the Night Tournament every year. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the Night Tourney itself, since the centre was still open and I was in costume, but I'll include a link to their site below, where I'm pretty certain you can see much better quality pictures than my own.
Middelaldercentret becomes a home for many amazingly talented and hard-working people, and one of those is my new friend Mats! A Norwegian artist of great skill and style, I humbly requested that he capture mine own graven image! And thusly did he portray my venerable visage in what I consider his finest work! (Because it's of me, naturally!)
The night of the Night Tourney, we also had the opportunity to dine on a medieval meal completely prepared from scratch, that had been prepared the whole of the week I was there! It was delicious, and really atmospheric to eat in the village with the implements and dishes of the time period, given that the rest of the week, there actually is a modern cafeteria for members and volunteers. Once our meal was finished and it had grown sufficiently dark, the Tourney and the BOMBARDMENTS were had! You see, Middelaldercentret is also host to Europe's largest operational trebuchet! It's famous enough already, but at the Night Tourney, they light its munitions ON FIRE! After such a delightful evening of festivities, there was much drinking and singing to be done, and so it was!
More views of the medieval village, along with several visitors taking in the event which took place the last day that Middelaldercentret was open for 2017, and the last day I was there; The Laying Up of Middelaldercentret's Trading Ship!
Here you can see yours truly working hard at the capstan we used to aid in pulling the ship on shore.
My friend Hanna who's from Germany but who has spent literal years of her life at Middelaldercentret. She knows all of the members and volunteers, and since she was a lot closer in age to me, being only a year my senior, we hung out a bunch.
Me and the ever multi-talented Mats as he strums on a lute to entertain the spectators of the tourney.
And lastly, I have this awesome gentleman to thank for this wonderful opportunity in the first place! Knud, I've already thanked you in person a bunch, but it bears repeating here. I'm so grateful for having had this wonderful week to make friends, be medieval, and forge a lifelong collection of memories in Nykøbing Falster at Middelaldercentret with you and everybody else! Rest assured, I fully intend to return, perhaps even to literally forge new experiences here! After all, there are blacksmithing lessons, in addition to The Guild of St. Lukas, a functioning guild of scribes and artists!
In closing I simply must say that Middelaldercentret and my week there were truly magical. It's indescribable and though I can show you pictures, you absolutely have to go there yourself to really experience it. A highlight of my exchange? Absolutely. Quite possibly my favourite experience in Denmark in 2017. And a world of possibility still awaits the rest of my exchange in 2018! That al being said, I hope that you've enjoyed hearing about some of my experiences at the Middle Ages Center, and that you look forward to my next blog post!
-Callum
