Links

 

Please note that there is a lot of overlap between the categories as some sites probably have a little bit of everything.  We have not included links to everything on the internet having to do with our period, but rather to those we feel have something valuable to offer.

 

Other Groups

 

An Mil – A French group focusing on 11th century Normans.  Good kit and great pictures.  The site is in French.  Imagine that, Frenchmen portraying Frenchmen!

 

Conquest – A UK group who not only have great kit, but are a bunch of really good guys.  They hosted several of us at the 2002 Hastings reenactment. They portray several periods of Norman history, but most appropriate to our purposes is their 1066-1086 time frame. 

 

Deux Aie! – A Canadian group who look to have great kit and some really cool pictures on their website. Their portrayal is conquest-era Normans.

 

Equites Normanorum – A German group who’s time frame is slightly after ours, 1150-1200

 

Geforðian Strand – The North American chapter of Regia Anglorum. 

 

Huscarls – An good Australian group of Saxon dogs… er, sorry, elite warriors from the time of the Conquest.

 

Midgard – don’t let the LARP in the URL address fool you; Matthew Amt and company are of The Enlightened, and they have the best set of clothing standards for our period available online.  Their primary focus is Normans, Saxons, and Vikings of the Conquest period.

 

NADARA – The North American Dark Ages Reenactment Association.  A just-forming group meant to serve as an unifying, but not legislating, umbrella organization for Dark Age Reenactment.  A worthy cause, even if the words “Dark Age” and “reenactment” perhaps aren’t the best choices….

 

New Varangian Guard – An international group portraying the highly-touted elite guard of the Byzantine Emperors.  Be sure to check out the individual chapter websites; together they have a lot of information out available.

 

Norðhere – A new group out of Canada dedicated to authenticity and portraying soldiers from Northern England from 1050-1070.  Their website is also chock-full of information. 

 

Novanormas – Northern Virginia Normans, a like-minded sister group.  A pretty cool-sounding name for a smashed together acronym.

 

Regia Anglorum – “Kingdom of the English”.  A UK group, among the best for dedication to authenticity,  they portray all folk that would have been in England between 950-1066.  Their website is an incredible wealth of information, well researched and documented.  These people are even working on constructing their own pre-conquest village.  At some point they’ll certainly need authentic Normans to burn and pillage it….

 

The Longship Company – They’ve got boats! Real boats!  And a great bunch of folks too.

 

The Vikings – Another large (the largest?) early medieval reenactment/living history group in the UK.  Among other activities, they sponsor the annual reenactment of the Battle of Hastings.  I’ll give you three guesses as to what type of portrayal “The Vikings” focus on.

 

The Vikings NA - The North American branch of the UK Vikings group. 

 

Viking Age Steel Fighters - A North American group that focuses on rebated steel fighting as well as authentic kit. 

 

 

Information and Research

 

1066 Information – This site is pop-up and frame hell, but there is some good general information about the Conquest period by Geoff Boxell. 

 

Battle Abbey – An odd little page about… well, a variety of things, mostly about the town of Battle.

 

Battle of Fulford – A great site about the forgotten battle of 1066: Fulford Gate, arguably the most important battle to take place that year, all things considered…

 

Battle of Hastings – A page with great information about the events of 1066, including the entire Bayeux Tapestry online.  You just have to get past the odd navigation and the annoying graphics.

 

Chepstow Castle - The castle build by FitzOsbern on the Welsh border, one of the first stone keeps in England.

 

Colletiere Archaeology - Another fascinating site, in French and English, showing some archaeological finds in northern France from around the year 1000 including, interestingly enough, tons o' wooden spoons.....  

 

De Re Militari -  The Society for Medieval Military History.  This website is incredible:  tons of articles, book reviews, online primary sources…. Be prepared to spend some time here. 

 

Domesday Book Online – A great site for information on the Domesday book, both its contents and its history.

 

Egfroth’s Home Page – The Emperor of Byzantium, Steven Lowe, has a nice site with some good information.  Be sure to especially check out his Arms and Armour page for lots of tasty tidbits.

 

Internet Medieval Sourcebook – A general source for medieval information, much of it primary.

 

Military Timeline – 1000-1100, from a geneology site. 

 

Norman Heritage Site – A French site, but available in English.  I’m surprised no one has linked to this before as it contains a wealth of information, most importantly archeological finds from the Norman period. 

 

Secrets of the Norman Invasion – A well-researched site by Nick Austin with some interesting points to argue. 

 

Sven Skildbiter’s Page –  Stephen Wyley’s well-known storehouse of information.  Good articles and links here.

 

 

 

kit research

 

Marc Carlson’s Page – Mr. Carlson has done a great deal of research into particular topics of the medieval era.  Be sure and check out his sections on shoes and archaeological clothing finds. 

 

Midgard Clothing Standards – As previously stated, the best online clothing standards for our period.  Good enough to warrant being included twice. 

 

Shoe Construction – A site giving very simple instructions for a very simple medieval turnshoe.

 

 

 

Suppliers

 

Albion Armorers – Extremely good source for weapons; they also have some good helmets and other accessories.

 

Birka Traders – Another excellent source for period footwear.

 

Dru Shoemaker – An excellent source for period shoes. 

 

Erik D. Schmid – The absolute best possible mail currently available. 

 

Forth Armoury – Another good source for mail.

 

Grunal Moneta – Want to exchange your $US for silver Norman pennies?  This is the place. 

 

Historic Enterprises – A good source for basic clothing and a few other odds and ends, though mostly 15^th century goods.

 

Manning Imperial – An Australian company that has a wide variety of objects, including armour, weapons, and many of those hard-to-find items that really add depth to an impression.

 

Pacific Yew – Top o’ the line bows, but be prepared to pay. 

 

Paul Binns Swords – Excellent supplier of pattern welded blades, reenactment blunts, and other quality edged weapons. 

 

Plantagenet Shoes – A good source for period shoes. 

 

Saxon Fox Archery – Another supplier of bows, available in ash and yew.  A good middle-of-the-road bow manufacturer. 

 

Thaden Armoury – A very accomplished armourer and metalworker, Mr. Thaden can raise a helmet, do fine detail work in iron or precious metals, and make high-quality and authentic bits of metal.  If it’s ferrous, he can do it.

 

The Old-Fashioned Milk Paint Company – period paint in period colors for period stuff.

 

Wessex County Wares – (email only) An excellent source for a variety of reproduction items, including clothing, gambesons, sword scabbards,  and their unique speciality, medieval horse equipment. 

 

Weyland Reproductions – A good (the only???) source for Norman buckles, strap ends, and other cast pieces. 

 

Woodbows – reasonably priced hardwood bows. While not entirely correct in design and materials, this company provides a (for now) acceptable alternative to expensive yew bows. 

 

 

 

 

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