If you have ever wondered (because I know I’m not the only one), “why is medieval spelled so weird? Why isn’t it mid?” Then I’m the gal for you!

Ah, the land of etymology.

A land in which I may, or may not, have spent hours if not months of my life.

We didn’t spend nearly as long as a time in the Medieval Faire, but we had a good long visit, and that was good enough for my vintage soul!

For the record, I may have gone to many (many) Scottish faires, but I have never been to a Rennaissance faire. I don’t like the time period right now. Lately I have been researching Medieval philosophies, royalties, timelines, country borders and who knows what else.

Why?

I don’t know. Don’t ask. It is what it is.

But it is crazy interesting because it is such a misunderstood and misrepresented time period. It has boggled my mind that this period lasted about a thousand years, and very very little modern progress came out of this time. So, what were people doing for a thousand years, really?

Wars, farming, families, the Crusades, the establishment of British feudal society, the creation of Scottish royalty and nobility, trading, the shift from Anglo-Saxon to Normans (officially in 1066 under the first Norman king, William I) and consequently the formation of Middle English which then became Early Modern English in the 1600s (which would have been during the Renaissance, Shakespeare, James I, etc), the printing press in 1470 which changed everything, the progress of primarily theological philosophy through Aquinas, Bacon, Maimonides and Wycliffe, along with the establishment of British universities, such as Eton College, and finally ending with the Protestant revolution.

That may not be the invention of the combustion engine, but it is still a lot to cover!

So when I found a Medieval faire (not a Ren faire, which is a completely different time period), I was all over that.

However, I don’t like being that person who walks around behind her camera all day.

So I gave my phone to the kids and told them to take pictures for me.

This is a tactic I’ve used on many occasions, and I cannot tell you how amazing my pictures are with this method. I get to see what the kids see, and what is important to them…

What is particularly interesting is how many pictures of other kids I find on my phone! They notice where the other kids are, and what accessories they come with. One kid in particular had a pretty rockin’ archery gig going on, and I had many quiver pictures!

 

They also notice people who are in costume, and stick out!

I also loved the picture of the parasol alley. Apparently that caught someone’s eye…

The girls found a dance lesson and engaged immediately.

Conrad was drug along extremely reluctantly, and I allowed him to sit out for most of the lessons. However that left Nova to dance with the instructor’s husband, who was much more light on his feet than all of us, combined.

We also found some woodworking and the kids were able to help build a bucket. I’m not sure that was the most entirely enthralling adventure, but they liked helping.

 

 

 

 

And fortunately we got to see some swordfighting!

It wasn’t exactly Braveheart fighting out there… but, then again, Braveheart wasn’t exactly historically accurate either. So, who’s counting.