On Saturday, October 7, the Plymouth State Medieval Society members gathered bright and early in front of Rounds Hall clad in medieval dresses, corsets, chain mail and cloaks. They jumped in the vans and begun the three-hour pilgrimage to the King Richard’s Faire Grounds in Carver, Massachusetts. This year, there were 26 participants including 21 student members, one advisor and four guests.
At the fair grounds they saw peasants, gypsies, maidens, knights, and noblemen. While everyone did not arrive in costume, many left with one. When the group entered the gates, they were taken back to a simpler time. Minstrels played cheerful tunes, brightly colored decorations hung from trees, and men greeted women by nodding their heads and saying, “Good day my lady.”
When asked what members liked best, many of them said the shops, others like the shows and some of them could not decide.
“Do I have to pick one thing?” asked Corey Booth. He later said that the jousting and the axe throwing were his favorite parts.
“I loved the general atmosphere,” said Diane Saunders, president of the group. “It’s like it’s in a forbidden forest; the ruckus, the taboos, the sexually charged atmosphere.”
The fair keeps with the ambiance of medieval times when people were divided about many issues such as religion vs. magic and sexual purity vs. desire. The conflict between religion, magic, and other taboos can be seen in both obvious and subtle ways. A magician asked the audience, “Who here believes in magic? Raise your hands.” He then quickly told the audience to lower their hands because he claimed to have spotted a member of the Spanish Inquisition. The costumes also showed a wide range of perspectives. Some women wore corsets or very colorful gypsy outfits while others dressed as nuns.
The fair does indeed have a sexually charged atmosphere. Men who attend carrying large swords or other weapons are often charged in the Sheriff’s Court for “over-compensating for lack of manhood.” At the very popular “Mud Show,” the crowd divided into two sides, the Spartans and the Trojans. The Trojans are told to chant, “Trojans, Trojans, we will never break.”
There were also juggling performances, jousting matches, gypsy dances, an exhibit on medieval torture, a falconry show, and a cat show that featured a liger, a cross between a male lion and a female tiger. Some of the stages were surrounded by trees and people had to shift and move so they could see the performance better. No one complained though, the trees gave it a more authentic medieval feel.
Shops sold clothing like cloaks and dresses, some sold swords, others featured hand-crafted chain mail necklaces and hair pieces. Everywhere a person looked there was something new and exotic, from the people selling cloaks to the knights wearing chain mail, armed with swords. The people that attended the fair were often just as interesting as those worked at it.
“I work here! I love it all!” said Kelley Osborne, treasurer of the Medieval Society said.
At the end of the day, the medieval society met to watch the “Joust to the Death.” The crowd was encouraged to cheer for a knight by squires, based on where they are standing. Before the joust, the Medieval Society and the crowd surrounding them was encouraged to cheer for Sir Joseph and to boo the evil knight from Spain. King Richard sat on his throne overlooking the field, his Queen and noblemen beside him.
Each knight rode out clad in chain mail and armed with sword and shields. Their horses were draped in colorful cloth representing their countries. The knights charged each other and one by one fell off their horses, then started attacking on foot.
Some members of the group cheered emphatically while others were dissatisfied with the fighting. “It was nice,” said sophomore Greg Johnson about the match. “The acting could have been better.”
The crowd watched as Sir Joseph was brutally attacked by the evil knight but made a triumphant recovery, sending fake blood flying. After the match, people filtered out of the jousting field and headed home.