Author: David Chandler

Orders of the day, Volume 32, Issue 2, 2000

This article, in a longer form, was originally written in the 1980s, but is still of interest as a record of the background and (then) current status of re-enactment societies. A follow-up article would be most welcome! Ed.

Although on a smaller scale than in the United States, an interesting British phenomenon of the 1960s-80s was the growth of a number of groups whose aim was to recreate in dramatic and relatively bloodless form the martial activities of various colourful periods of this island’s past. What the British movement lacked in numbers over the Americans it more than made up for in variety. Two millennia of well-recorded history offers more scope than a little over 200 years of independent existence. Of course much of Britain’s earlier period was a common heritage for many citizens of the United States, as witnessed by the interest in the French and Indian Wars which gathered momentum following the great Bicentennial of the War of the American Revolution in 1981. There were also small groups in the U.S. dedicated to the periods of Elizabethan colonists and of the early Stuarts. Nevertheless, the British enthusiast had some twenty different societies to choose from - and sometimes belonged to several.

Pageantry and tradition had long held an honoured place on the British and European scene, usually associated with great festivals, religious occasions or historical anniversaries. London, of course, had its unsurpassable royal, state and civic occasions which often figured the Gentleman Pensioners, the Yeoman of the Guard and the Honourable Artillery Company (last direct link with the capital’s Trained Bands of the 17th Century), and the impeccable parades mounted by the Brigade of Guards and the mounted squadrons of the Household Cavalry. The city of York regularly re-staged its ancient Mystery Plays. A love of pomp, pageantry and show is built into the British character; we glory in it in a discreet fashion and secretly believe we do it rather better than anybody else - at least at the official level of coronations, royal weddings and the Trooping of the Colour.

A similar tradition holds true of many countries on the Continent. For example the annual Palio at Siena with its hell-for-leather 16th century horse race held round the city square, or the Calcio at Florence - a no-holds-barred mediaeval football match. Each of these is preceded by processions of gorgeously-clad noblemen, guildsmen, pikemen and gonfalonieri (whose deft flourishing of their silken banners earns much deserved admiration from citizens and visitors alike). Spain, besides its vast, solemn processions sees numerous historical festivals and fairs at such centres as Seville (with its famous ‘Ride of the Nobles’), Granada and Toledo. Many a West German city and town, large and small, includes historical contingents in the parades associated with wine and beer festivals. Rothenburg-ab-der-Tauber is one of many with a 16th Century Citizen Guard; others like Remagen on the Rhine have detachments of Grenadiers dressed in the uniforms of the period of Frederick the Great. The Belgians have their ‘Marching Societies’ of latter-day Napoleonic soldiery, and so on.

It was only in the 1960s, however, that societies came into existence in Britain so that, in addition to parading in the costumes and uniforms of the past, they also set out to recreate the weaponry and other martial equipment of earlier periods, and with it to re-enact the gorier moments of our turbulent history with much din, perspiration and powder smoke - and sometimes (it must be admitted) with rather more enthusiasm than sense.

Of course the history of ritualised combat replacing the real thing is an old story, while the needs of stage, film and television for dramatic but bloodless portrayals of military violence and mayhem had been long established. Nevertheless, the desire for grown men (and not a few women) to take part in battle re-enactments - and of large numbers of the general public to pay good money to observe these strange rituals - was a development of the long post-war period of relative peace (Europe had not enjoyed 40 years free from major wars for many centuries). It was closely associated, in the case of Great Britain, with a sense of growing nostalgia for the dimly-understood but sorely-missed splendours of great power status of the past, linked to an often-subconscious revolt against the all-too-often gaudy, tasteless and raucous features of so-called ‘modern western civilisation’.

Whatever the true motivation, on many a summer weekend up and down the country military displays were mounted for the entertainment and instruction of large crowds of spectators, and for the financial support of many charitable ‘good causes’, both national and local. Most frequently into the field were the three not-so-sisterly societies which portrayed the battles of the English Civil Wars - the Sealed Knot (with its almost 5,000-strong membership the largest single organisation), the Roundhead Association and the King’s Army. These last two were originally parts of the Sealed Knot, but another often-observed feature of re-enactment societies - that of divisiveness, linked to an unwillingness to accept the same ideas of safety and leadership - caused them to strike out on their own. These three groups tended to dominate the British scene, but by no means monopolised it.

Seventeenth Century politics had raised its head in the Sealed Knot from time to time. In the early days of the society, as in 1642, there was little to distinguish Royalist from Parliamentarian in terms of feeling competence or ethos. However as the years passed the laissez-faire and brotherly regard between the two parties began to diminish - just as happened by 1644 - with the Parliamentary adherents beginning to demand election of officers, whilst in reaction the Cavaliers became even more ‘devil-may-care’ in attitude. In other words faction began to spread, and finally split the 17th Century societies into their present persuasions, although at base it was disagreements about safety procedures and certain hassles over senior leadership philosophies that caused the rifts to take place. Similar problems also affected the Napoleonic and American Civil War societies at different times.

Re-enactment in Britain began in the early 1960s, and the broad re-enactment concept caught on with a vengeance.

From about 1965 there was a remarkable development and proliferation of societies dedicated to periods both earlier and later than the mid-17th century. The initial impetus came from the United States Civil War Centennial, a group of American Civil War enthusiasts - calling themselves the Confederate High Command (UK), which began to operate in the Thames valley area in 1962. They are probably to be credited with being the first re-enactment society on this side of the Atlantic, to be closely followed by the creation of the Sealed Knot by Brigadier Peter Young in 1968. At first a Royalist-only organisation, soon a Roundhead wing was added. By mid-1969 there were some 350 members throughout the country, mostly centred around London, Reading and York, and two years later there were over 1,200. Meanwhile the Roundhead Asso-ciation and the King’s Army had formed a loose federation, the English Civil War Society, and despite the schisms and withdrawals already referred to the two societies went from strength to strength.

By the 1980s there were also the Roman Legionaries of the Ermine Street Guard, a very elite organisation; Vikings and Norsemen of the Norse Film and Pageantry Society, who allegedly used sharpened weapons; Mediaeval Jousting teams, re-enactment members of the Richard III Society, the American Eagle Society (1770s), the Sabre Society and the Napoleonic Association. In addition the Victorian Military Society, although mainly a study group, developed a limited re-enactment capability. Besides the Confederate High Command there were three other groups devoted to the American Civil War: the Southern Skirmisher Association, the American Civil War Society North-West and the Iron Brigade. The wars of the 20th Century were represented by the Great War Society (1914-18), the Battle Re-enactment Associate and the Northern Allied/Axis Association (both 1939-45), whilst a large and highly specialised group ran the Military Vehicles Preservation Society, which jointly owned a wide selection of mainly Second World War vehicles - including a tank or two. A number of these groups maintained links with sister societies in the United States, and at least two - the Sealed Knot and the Napoleonic Association - mounted major displays in West Germany and Belgium.

Not all of these societies were equally well-uniformed or effective. There was a growing insistence in a number of groups on authenticity and accuracy of dress and manoeuvre, but few measured up to the standards attained by the forces that attended the great Yorktown Bi-centennial re-enactment of 1981. The British philosophy was somewhat different from the American search for perfection - accuracy of dress being regarded as secondary to authenticity of battle atmosphere.

In 1981 at the Yorktown National Park there was a need to remove all gunpowder from the area in advance of the arrival of Presidents Reagan and Mitterand; the Sealed Knot found itself faced with a similar demand in 1977, when a major display was mounted at Windsor Castle for the Silver Jubilee of the accession to the throne of Queen Elizabeth II. There the ruling was not by the Secret Service, but by an Act of Parliament dating back to 1605, decreeing that gunpowder was not to be stored in bulk within a mile of the monarch. As the Queen was in residence at the time the law had to be obeyed, but it was interesting how the ‘Gunpowder Treason and Plot’ of the early 17th Century still had effects in the late 20th Century.

Enthusiasm for the preservation of the memory of our military heritage, a passion for historical research and a desire to entertain (and instruct) the general public in a worthwhile fashion - linked to charitable fund-raising activities - were features that these many organisations had in common, together with a determination to provide their subscribing members with an enjoyable and constructive time in pursuit of their hobby.

More attention has been paid to the Sealed Knot because it is the society the author knows best, having been a member of it ab origine. But what is true of our mid-17th Century devotees is in large measure true of the sister societies of whatever period. During these decades, as now, each organisation jealously preserved and cherished its own special mystique, and naturally considered itself nullus secundus or just that little bit better than its rivals, but the broad motivations, aims and intentions remained common to all. Perhaps there was a slight tendency to romanticise the grim business of warfare (although surgeon teams simulated the grislier effects of combat, and the commentator - if he was worth his salt - stressed the less pleasant aspects of reality). Perhaps there was also a tendency to escape from the mundane realities of late 20th Century everyday life. But it was always a case of being, in Sir William Waller’s 17th century phrase, “a warre without an enemy” - and much of value was forthcoming.

Throughout this period on the Continent there were similar developments in the re-enactment field. The increased awareness of these groups led to a meeting in March 1990 in Switzerland when it was decided to set up a combined re-enactment group, the European Union of Re-Enactment Societies. I was honoured to be elected the Founder-President of the E.U.R.S. for five years, and General Guido Amoretti (Italy) took over from me in 1995. There are currently some 40,000 international members.

The E.U.R.S. member countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany (North), Germany (South), Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Slovakia, Sweden and the Ukraine. Unfortunately neither France nor Great Britain have joined the E.U.R.S. France perhaps because they would only do so provided they could be in charge, while we in the UK still seem to have a separatist attitude. The other countries not surprisingly have a much more ‘European’ outlook. You might think this would lead to a ‘Tower of Babel’, but it works surprisingly well. The official languages for meetings are English and German, but at the present time the only English-speaking unit in E.U.R.S. is an Australian Scottish Regiment of 1815!

There are no USA formations, but many Americans are honorary members of ‘European’ regiments and are very welcome to share the events (of which there are 64 listed for 2000). We do not accept WW1 or WW2 units, these being still considered too ‘delicate’. But who knows? Perhaps Great Britain will join E.U.R.S. soon. I certainly hope so.

David Chandler was the head of the military history department at Sandhurst, the Royal Military Academy, from 1980-94. He has written many military works and is the acknowledged leading author on the campaigns of Napoleon. He is well known and experienced in the European re-enactment scene, and appears in “Who’s Who”. He is a Yeoman of the Sealed Knot.