Ken Collucci has asked what I, as a re-enactor doing living history take to such events in the way of gear. I will explain for myself, but I would be very interested what any other re-enactors might have in the way of gear kit. My kit varies for whichever character and the era that I am portraying. I have two basic characters, one very restricted in time and the other character is much more temporally mobile.
The first, Caius Varus, is a late Romano-Briton, a decurion of Venta Belgarum. Decurion was a Roman cavalry rank that, in the later Empire, came also to be a name for a town council member and Venta Belgarum was the Latin name for Winchester in southern England. His time is around 400CE, just before Rome withdrew the last of its troops from Britannia, although he can also carry on until mid 5th Century, after the Roman troops had left. One of the major parts of his life is dealing with the damned Saxon pirates invading his land. My kit includes a tunica with the shoulder stripes called clavi and the patterns on the arms and skirt called orbiculi. This is all very much in the Late Roman style, but made of linen as wool is entirely too hot for most events in my area which happen in the late Spring, Summer, or early Fall. With it, I wear linen trousers and laced-up closed Roman boots. These are true boots as opposed to the heavy sandal-like caligae seen on legionaries of the Early Empire. Around my waist, I have a wide Germanic style belt with bronze fixtures and it carries a large pouch. When I carry my sword, it is my TEMPL Roman Riding Sword, really a spatha, based upon one pulled from the Nydam Bog in Denmark. It is quite handsome and I wear it on a shoulder belt or baldric. Among other things that I carry is a small Roman clasp knife that I have shown before and a pouch of reproduction Roman coins of various types. I also wear a pendant that is a Christogram in silver on a bronze disk.
My second character is named Ealdred, or Elder Wise One based on the theory that anybody who had lived as long as I, 60+ years, had acquired some wisdom.
Ealdred has a pair of tunics, a white linen one with blue trim and a madder red woolen one with woven trim. I also use the linen trousers and I have a pair of chocolate brown woolen ones. I quickly found the woolens to be too hot for most uses, but they are just right for the Jamestown Military Through the Ages event in mid-March (March 18-19 this year) where it always seems to get either very cold or very wet or both. With these, I have a pair of Jorvik boots, reproductions of a pattern found in archaeological digs in York, England. I wear them with nalbind socks. Nalbinding is a form of proto-knitting that is actually more like crocheting. For different periods, I wear different kinds of jewelry. If I am a pagan, I wear a Thors Hammer on a thong around my neck. If I am a Christian, I have some small crosses that I wear. I also wear bracelets of copper or pewter, especially if I am a Viking. My sword is a fairly typical Viking style sword that I picked up second hand. It has a tri-lobe pommel and a downwardly curved guard. The blade has a wide fuller on each side and the sword is, as with all re-enactment weapons, rebated. I also have a spear that a friend made for me, a belt knife of Norse style, an antler tine folder of timeless style, and I am about to receive a seax knife. These latter two are made by Michael Tinker Pearce.
For wear by either character and in all eras, I have a variety of cloaks from light to medium to damned heavy. The damned heavy one has kept me dry and warm in driving downpours as you wear it folded in half and the outer layer absorbs the water and swells to the point where no water can get through to the inner layer. Of course, it took about a week for it to dry the last time that I did that. I pin them closed with either a penannular or a crossbow type brooch. I have ordered a disc brooch for this year as that is what the later Saxons wore.
Other swords that I have collected along the way are a Roman Gladius Hispaniensis or Spanish Sword that I designed, based upon the blade of one found in Mouries, France, with a hilt based upon the one depicted on the tombstone of Centurion Minucius from Padova, Italy. It is quite sharp and very quick and deadly in your hand. It is the forerunner of the famous Roman short swords of later years. I also have a Depeeka reproduction of a falcate, the brutally effective chopper that the Spanish warriors used to great effect. Think of a large Ghurka kukri. Finally, I have an old British saber that my Dad was given by a Canadian cavalry officer in the 1930s.
The first, Caius Varus, is a late Romano-Briton, a decurion of Venta Belgarum. Decurion was a Roman cavalry rank that, in the later Empire, came also to be a name for a town council member and Venta Belgarum was the Latin name for Winchester in southern England. His time is around 400CE, just before Rome withdrew the last of its troops from Britannia, although he can also carry on until mid 5th Century, after the Roman troops had left. One of the major parts of his life is dealing with the damned Saxon pirates invading his land. My kit includes a tunica with the shoulder stripes called clavi and the patterns on the arms and skirt called orbiculi. This is all very much in the Late Roman style, but made of linen as wool is entirely too hot for most events in my area which happen in the late Spring, Summer, or early Fall. With it, I wear linen trousers and laced-up closed Roman boots. These are true boots as opposed to the heavy sandal-like caligae seen on legionaries of the Early Empire. Around my waist, I have a wide Germanic style belt with bronze fixtures and it carries a large pouch. When I carry my sword, it is my TEMPL Roman Riding Sword, really a spatha, based upon one pulled from the Nydam Bog in Denmark. It is quite handsome and I wear it on a shoulder belt or baldric. Among other things that I carry is a small Roman clasp knife that I have shown before and a pouch of reproduction Roman coins of various types. I also wear a pendant that is a Christogram in silver on a bronze disk.
My second character is named Ealdred, or Elder Wise One based on the theory that anybody who had lived as long as I, 60+ years, had acquired some wisdom.
Ealdred has a pair of tunics, a white linen one with blue trim and a madder red woolen one with woven trim. I also use the linen trousers and I have a pair of chocolate brown woolen ones. I quickly found the woolens to be too hot for most uses, but they are just right for the Jamestown Military Through the Ages event in mid-March (March 18-19 this year) where it always seems to get either very cold or very wet or both. With these, I have a pair of Jorvik boots, reproductions of a pattern found in archaeological digs in York, England. I wear them with nalbind socks. Nalbinding is a form of proto-knitting that is actually more like crocheting. For different periods, I wear different kinds of jewelry. If I am a pagan, I wear a Thors Hammer on a thong around my neck. If I am a Christian, I have some small crosses that I wear. I also wear bracelets of copper or pewter, especially if I am a Viking. My sword is a fairly typical Viking style sword that I picked up second hand. It has a tri-lobe pommel and a downwardly curved guard. The blade has a wide fuller on each side and the sword is, as with all re-enactment weapons, rebated. I also have a spear that a friend made for me, a belt knife of Norse style, an antler tine folder of timeless style, and I am about to receive a seax knife. These latter two are made by Michael Tinker Pearce. For wear by either character and in all eras, I have a variety of cloaks from light to medium to damned heavy. The damned heavy one has kept me dry and warm in driving downpours as you wear it folded in half and the outer layer absorbs the water and swells to the point where no water can get through to the inner layer. Of course, it took about a week for it to dry the last time that I did that. I pin them closed with either a penannular or a crossbow type brooch. I have ordered a disc brooch for this year as that is what the later Saxons wore.
Other swords that I have collected along the way are a Roman Gladius Hispaniensis or Spanish Sword that I designed, based upon the blade of one found in Mouries, France, with a hilt based upon the one depicted on the tombstone of Centurion Minucius from Padova, Italy. It is quite sharp and very quick and deadly in your hand. It is the forerunner of the famous Roman short swords of later years. I also have a Depeeka reproduction of a falcate, the brutally effective chopper that the Spanish warriors used to great effect. Think of a large Ghurka kukri. Finally, I have an old British saber that my Dad was given by a Canadian cavalry officer in the 1930s.
Yeah you nailed it on the handle. I've never seen nor heard of a seax with a handle construction like that. It doesn't mean it never happened just that I'm not aware of any historical precedent. Some societies would have kittens about something that doesn't have a documented historical precedent. Some wouldn't. 