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Summer
Knights Newsletter – May/June 2001
Greetings
to all Goode Knights, Squires, Friends and Patrons interested in the
continuing progress of Summer
Knights
and Chivalry
in Action! Lord
Magnus and Lady Branwyn
once again send forth a missive informing the populace of deeds both
great and small and Knightly-News concerning the Summer Knights program.
As usual, we extend an invitation to all whom are interested in
our program to send us their email address and, for those of you who
already receive the newsletter, forward it to others; let others know
about Summer Knights!
Summer
Knights Moving to a New Location After
several years at Belen, Summer Knights is moving to a new location.
As Belen is currently undergoing fairly grand construction for
two new buildings, the Summer Knights thought it prudent to find a place
that would offer a safer environment for its knights; it’s hard to
shoot arrows around bulldozers! Consequently,
the Summer Knights have now moved to their new location at the beautiful
Elks
Lodge (#948) at 10301 Sunset Drive. The
new location has all the amenities of Belen and then some!
We will have a new training room that measures more than double
our previous location and a dedicated painting room as well.
In addition, their adjoining field is perfect for both archery
and the Siege War. We have
contacted all the registered knights and they seem very happy with the
new location. Insofar
as lunch is concerned, the Elks Lodge full service restaurant will be
serving us lunch at a mere $3.50 a day!
However, if you are going to register, make sure you make your
check for the lunch program out to the “Summer Knights” in the
amount of $28, for session one and $24.50, for session two.
This will cover the cost of lunch every day, except the field
trip day, and the cost of Feast on the last day (TBA)! We
are very pleased and proud with our new partnership, and know that the
knights will be as well!
Summer
Knights to hold a session in New Hampshire Not
long ago we were surprised to learn that we had a large following of
Knights in New Hampshire. Due
to the power of the World Wide Web, we have been able to spread the word
of Chivalry around he world; we have even had email about our noble
program from as far as New Zealand!
As a consequence, our fame in New Hampshire provoked several
emails letting us know that there are enough “Knights of the North”
interested in our program to merit a special Northern Campaign to train
the Normans! Although we
are still in negotiations, we have secured a location and are in the
process of negotiating all the little details it will take to get all
the Chivalry and quite a bit of armour and weaponry up north.
Lord
Magnus trains with some of the world's best swordsmen! As
and educator and an teacher of the Arts of Knighthood, Lord Magnus
rarely gets an opportunity to let someone else do the teaching and just
enjoy, but in late April Lord Magnus had a rare opportunity to train in
Atlanta with some of the most knowledgeable swordsmen in the world at
the Atlanta Renaissance and Medieval Sword Seminar. Sponsored
by the Historical Armed Combat Association, John Clements, Director of
the program, was the main speaker and demonstrator.
Although Mr. Clements’ books on swordfighting are a triumph in
and of themselves, his work in person was inspiring and enlightening.
In
addition to Mr. Clements, the seminar had demonstrations and instruction
from the fight interpreters from the Royal Armouries in England.
The group from England consisted of John Waller, his son Jonathan
Waller and senior interpreter Andy Deane.
Although Magnus had never met any of them, he had seen them many
times in books (the ‘Knight’ book in the Eyewitness series and their
own book on sword fighting) and in videos (the History Channel’s Arms
and Armour series and the Masters of Defense video) and it was a
pleasure to have an opportunity to talk and train with them. John
Waller is also the author of a new book on swordsmanship for the stage
entitled "Sword Fighting : A Manual for Actors and Directors". Rounding
out the seminar was none other than Hank Reinhardt, owner of Museum
Replicas. Among his varied
accomplishments, Mr. Reinhardt has a video (The Myth of the Sword) to
his credit and is working on a book on swords as well.
He is considered by many to be America’s preeminent master of
swords; the American version of Ewart Oakeshott.
Mr. Reinhardt lectured on material from his recent video and
conducted a test cutting demonstration that was truly eye opening. To
learn more about seminar and see pictures of the people and events
therein, check out the web site at www.summerknights.com
and search under “Ren Fairs and Demos”, the last link on the page
will get you there!
Ulfkell,
The Italian Viking? Recently,
Ulfkell, our senior Sword Master, was asked to choreograph the intricate
sword fighting scenes for a theater production of “Romeo and
Juliet”. Although “the
prince expressly hath forbidden bandying in Verona streets”, the
director, realizing the level of Ulfkell’s vast knowledge of
swordsmanship, wanted to start the play with a swordfighting spectacle.
Equal to the task Ulfkell produced a two-minute stage fight for
10 actors! For
the incredibly talented Ulfkell, this enterprise was a walk in the park.
The true challenge came the week of the production.
The actor playing Tybalt sprained his ankle and was not able to
fulfill his commitment. True
to form as a great knight, Ulfkell learned the part of Tybalt in one
night! His efforts garnered
him a standing ovation from the audience, and our infinite respect; not
to mention making “worm’s meat” out of Mercutio!
All hail Ulfkell, the Viking from Verona, the Good King of Cats,
the very butcher of a silk button!
Summer
Knights sessions filling up FAST! If
you are interested in registering for Summer Knights, you may want to
act quickly. Sessions one
and two are filling up rapidly, so if you want to be among the Chivalry
this summer, don’t delay! For
registration information, visit the Summer Knights website and check out
“Registration”.
Drivers
needed for Carpools and the Archery Field Trip If you are among those interested in carpooling to Summer Knights, we can help! On the first day of the program we will have a sign-up sheet for those interested in creating a carpool. We will give out the numbers and addresses of these knights so that together you can arrange an equitable program. If you want to arrange this before hand, send us and email at admin@summerknights.com and we will post your information on the website. In
addition, we still need drivers for the Archery Field trip. The
dates for the archery field trips are: Friday, June
22nd for session 1, and Friday, July 6th for
session 2. If you are interested, let us know!
Until next time M’Lords and M’Ladies. Yours in Chivalry, Lord Magnus and Lady Branwyn305-609-6048
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