The Medieval People
Scott & Kirsten Vaughan, Historical Re-enactors
Teaching medieval history through culture, costume, music and everyday life.
If you can even remember history class at all, you probably just remember a boring list of names, dates, and events that have no bearing on your everyday life. Imagine history as seen through the eyes of everyday people. Imagine learning about everyday things – fashion, music, culture, and the way everyday people lived their lives, not the way historians categorize them. Now imagine experiencing this first hand – clothing, songs, dances, and real artifacts of the day.
“Edutainment”
Combining music, dance, and hands-on experience makes learning more fun for K-12 students than any textbook, movie or website can. We call this combination of education and entertainment “edutainment”.
We can tailor a program to any size group for up to 90 minutes in duration. We can speak at length on a variety of topics concerning medieval culture. A few suggested activities are outlined below:
Clothing/Fashion – We bring an assortment of medieval clothing and accessories and dress up a girl and/or boy. With each layer of clothing we explain the garment, its purpose, contstruciton, etc.
Music – We bring an assortment of medieval instruments such as recorders, krumhorns, percussion, etc. and play songs on each. We also perform a few popular songs of the day to give students a better idea of the music than they can get from a recording.
Dance – We teach 10-20 volunteers a few dances from the later medieval/renaissance period and perform them to pre-recorded music.
Show and Tell – We bring a variety of medieval artifacts and reproductions to present and discuss. Depending on the size of the group we can pass these around for students to examine more closely.
Armour & Weapons – We will bring a suit of chainmail and armaments as worn by a 12th century Norman Knight. Depending on the size of the group, students may handle certain pieces.
Encampment – For more elaborate programs, we can set up a medieval style pavilion out doors and outfit it with banners, furniture and other trappings of a medieval household.
Games - demonstrations of games, toys, and other merriments in the days before Nintendo.
Calligraphy and Illumination - every book in the middle ages was created by hand. Many of them are amazing works of art. We have a collection of manuscripts and reproduction books we can show off and talk about. For small groups we can give some basic demonstration on techniques used in making these.
Heraldy/Flags/Banners - This is how knights recognized each other on the field of battle. Heraldry was also used for everything from marking one's property to demonstrating noble lineage. We can teach about basic field divisions, charges, etc and help students design their own medieval-looking coat of arms.
Rates
We work on a sliding scale depending on the type of program and any travel involved. We usually ask for $200-$300 for a typical 60-90 minute classroom program.
Weddings
We also perform as part of the Merry Minstrels Medieval consort. For more information about booking us for a wedding or party visit http://www.deerhollow.com/bookings.php#merry_minstrels
