by Lisa Schauer
Joseph Hancock, Jr. Primitive Park was the site of Hancock’s annual Medieval Days celebration last Saturday, September 24.
Local families and visitors stopped to look and listen as living historians reenacted European life during the Medieval period, also known as the Middle Ages, from about 500 to 1500 A.D.
The O’Neill clan of “Wilde Irish” set up camp on the far end of the park to depict their semi-nomadic life that was considered “beyond the pale,” or outside the British-controlled area around Dublin known as the pale.
The fearsome Irish engaged in a series of pitched battles against English forces throughout the Middle Ages until Britain conquered Ireland at the end of the 16th Century.
A group of Nordic Wanderers was also at Hancock’s Medieval Days, demonstrating medieval bow hunting and garment making in their living history village. English lords and ladies leapt about, fencing in lavish courtly attire, playing trumpets and horns for royalty, and interacting with bemused visitors from the 21st century as they wandered through the park.
photos by Lisa Schauer
