Since I couldn't do a proper photo shoot of the medieval castle in Hämeenlinna, I decided to share a post about the medieval festival at the castle I made a little over a
year ago.
Here's a link to the original:
@markkujantunen/haeme-medieval-festival-2019
We visited Häme Medieval Festival 2019 in Hämeenlinna today. It is an annual four-day festival. We spent four hours at the festival. A little longer would've been better. Perhaps next year. On Saturday evening, there was a feast offered, or actually two versions: one for "nobility" and one for "commoners". They were both sold out by the time we got to buying tickets yesterday. But I got some nice photos.
We approached the castle from the north where we parked our car. The vicinity of the castle was full cars except for the parking area of the military museum. Live and learn. We left our car almost a kilometer away from the entrance to the festival area which was on south side of the part on the other side of the castle. The building on the right side of the castle is the prison that operated until the 1950's. There is still a prison in Hämeenlinna but its units are in different locations in the town.
There were re-enactments everywhere and you could rent medieval clothes yourself.
A tournament was scheduled to begin shortly and we went to the castle to see it. The tournament was by the Rohan stable.
The knight's task was to collect the rings with his sword. I'm sure that's not an easy feat.
Next, they squeezed in a number that was apparently love-themed as was the entire festival this time.
The end of the dance.
Each possible pairing of adversaries jousted three times.
That's a great looking set of armor even from behind.
Archers re-enacting the garrison of the castle.
My daughter's helmet selfie. :)
In a room where the soldiers were passing the time, I found this. The board is of hnefatafl (Viking chess). They did not have the pieces but the stones are set like the pieces should be set. One player is the defender and his king is set at the center. The other is the attacker whose aim is to capture the king.
Medieval music.
The lady in the center right is actually wearing an Renaissance era dress (according to herself).
The chairman of the archery club is explaining the difference between the type of arrow used in shooting with crossbows and the type of arrow used with a long bow.
There is no recoil to speak of when shooting with a crossbow, which is why it can be placed on top of the shoulder which makes aiming easy. Spanning a crossbow is much more difficult than spanning a longbow and thus slower but anyone can learn to shoot with a crossbow. To become a competent user of a longbow takes years or even decades of practice.
Here comes the longbowman.
This is a contest between three crossbowmen and a single longbowman. Whoever is capable of putting all his arrows into a sack downrange is the winner. The longbowman was finished long before the crossbowmen.
In the 100-year war against the French, the English were capable of occupying the north of France for a long time because the English had trained thousands of longbowmen. There was even a law that mandated that every man or boy above a certain age train shooting with a longbow after church for two hours. This is how England mass-produced competent longbowmen to a devastating effect.