Medieval Battle Of Barnet Reenactment 2023

[@General_Confusion]

Why don't you guys just calm down and sort it out with a cup of tea and some custard creams. This reminds me of the trouble we had in my village at last years harvest festival when Barfi Smith lost the Marrow competition.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Well this is exactly what happens when the biscuits go missing. You do know that the War of the Roses started when someone ate the last Roses chocolate without asking permission first. How very unbritish of them!

[@General_Confusion]

@@AlexTheHistoryGuyWell that happened at the last WI coffee morning, but i wasn't going to mention that. Far too bloody.

[@dmr6640]

That looked like a lot of fun.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

It was great fun. Unfortunately I didn't take part as I was one of the photographers at the event however I did take part in the Battle of Tewkesbury event in July which had over a thousand medieval reenactors take part. It was much bigger!

[@dmr6640]

@@AlexTheHistoryGuy I will search through and see if I can find that video.

[@staceygallard7999]

I didn’t realize they had guns in the this battle.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

They certainly did! I believe the earliest recorded use of cannons in a pitched battle was Crecy 1346. Handcannons had also been in use over 100 years before the battle of Barnet. In fact, the English Beaufort mercenaries used gunners when fighting against the famous Hussites in Germany in the 1410s - 1430s

[@NCC_74656]

More accurate than a lot pf movies out there

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Haha yes that is true - that's because all these people are personally passionate about historical reenactment so (most of them) put a lot of effort and research into their kit.

[@Jim58223]

Were purple feathers a thing? First time I've seen them. Are they dyed or is that from an actual purple feathered bird?

[@mikebass3721]

The American fiddle & banjo blue grass music spoils it in my opinion

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

:c

[@willgibbons1733]

Does anyone know which song in the links or what is the title of the song that starts playing about 0:23

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Hi there :) the song is called 'Leaning on the everlasting arms' by Zachariah Hickman. It's a copyright free song from KZbin library :)

[@willgibbons1733]

@@AlexTheHistoryGuy thank you

[@ewokuk]

What year was this? It doesn't look like last year.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

It was 2023, has to be since that's the only time I've been to Barnet haha. The thumbnail is of Tewkesbury a few years ago though, courtesy of Cheltenham Media. I didn't have any photos of Barnet as I was just taking video the whole time.

[@ewokuk]

@@AlexTheHistoryGuy And you missed all the archers???😀

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

I have footage of the archers but I decided to leave them out because they were on the far side of the field the entire time and there was only like 5 or 6 of them shooting at any one time so it didn't look particularly impressive on camera. I have video from Shrewsbury and the archers were much more impressive there!

[@conncork]

Great video but why American civil war music. Lots of medieval music out there. Like the Heavy Metal

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Just looking for any atmospheric music that I felt fitted in nicely. Decent Copyright free music is quite hard to come by so I have compiled my own library of copyright music which can be used for my videos. Trust me if I had it my way I'd be putting all sorts of Sabaton, Abigail Williams and Infant Annihilator on my medieval battle reenactment videos haha

[@k0na801]

Some constructive feedback if I may - love your footage Alex, but the music is always disjointed. I often watch them on mute, which is a shame. I know licensing restrictions can be difficult, but it's really just the wrong vibe for your content! ATB

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Hi there - yes you're quite right, I do have a somewhat restricted library when it comes to free music... Setting the scene and the general vibe is very important when I make my videos. The majority of my footage consists of slow panning shots and I often film places out in the countryside so a relaxing peaceful vibe is my go-to choice. For my Barnet video, I made the conscious choice to attempt romanticizing "soldiers on campaign, band of brothers" etc as they socialized with each other, marched, and generally went about their day mulling around. Since there was a lot of action at Barnet regarding the engagement and fighting section, I wanted to set up a clear change in atmosphere - something full of energy. Personally, I am a big fan of death metal and the heaviest metal music possible so I felt that a metal song would suit but I do appreciate that may have been a swing and a miss haha.

[@Polo12348]

Not very historically accurate, in a real medieval battle not all warriors were armed with expensive and heavy equipment. Like heavy helmets that limit visibility or heavy armor that limits movement beyond that most of the soldiers were peasants so it was expensive for them to buy full armor set, in addition most of the soldiers had shields and others were archers and horsemen.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

In UK reenactment events like this, many small groups of 5-20 reenactors come together from all over the UK to take part in the battle - that means it's not possible to control the percentage of billmen, levys, archers, cannoneers, men-at-arms, hobelars, knights, and crossbowmen to ensure the best representation of the historic event as possible. I'm just proud that so many people are passionate enough to invest in the hobby and turn up to these events in order to help bring history alive and respect our ancestors.