Today we attended a medieval festival at Hovdala Slott (Hovdala Castle).
It was pretty awesome to see a medieval festival held at a castle that dated back to the 16th century.
Hovdala was first mentioned in 1130, but the current castle was built in the 16th century (some facades say 1511). This was prior to the Roskilde Treaty, so Hovdala Castle was a Danish stronghold.
The Medieval festival consisted of many medieval markets as well as archery, axe throwing and a knight tournament.
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| Heading into the castle |
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| Hovdala Slott |
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| Hovdala Slott and the first few tents |
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| Weapons Training |
The weapons training section cost extra, but it allowed people to fire crossbows, longbows, a mini ballista (all with blunted arrows) and throwing axes. There was also a pole with a target on a rope that could be hit with swords, axes or polearms.
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| Throwing axe training |
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| The markets |
The markets sold replica weapons, armour and bows and arrows. There was also furs, skins and crafts, such as metal work, glasswork and weavings.
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| Markets |
Next came the knight tournament. There were several knights who competed in several events. Due to the risks involved with actual jousting, there were some modifications.
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| Knights lined up ready to ride |
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| Knight ready to run the sword challenge |
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| Competing in the sword challenge |
The first challenge we saw involved knights with swords striking items from posts - apples and carrots.
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| Receiving the sword |
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| Striking the carrot |
Next came the jousting:
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| Receiving the lance |
The joust involved three posts with rings hanging from them. The knights had to spear all three rings in order to succeed.
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| Preparing the rings |
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| Charge! |
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| Going for the last ring |
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| Victory! |
After the jousting, the knights did a ride by and took up position in the middle of the arena.
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| Ride by |
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| Ride by |
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| Formation |
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| Riding in |
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| Final Formation |
When the knights left the arena, the next event was a mock battle between knights.
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| Battle! |
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| The battle |
Tomas was pretty excited that the winner was Captain Tomas.
After we finished at the tournament, we found a way to keep the kids quiet:
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| Prisoner Cameron |
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| Prisoner Tomas (he's looking down as he wasnt tall enough to comfortably raise his head) |
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| Prisoner Alana |
On the way out, we bought the kids a bow and arrows and we found a quiet spot where I could show them how to shoot:
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| Learning to shoot |
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| Alana takes a shot |
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| Showing Tom how to do it |
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| Cameron's Turn |
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| Even Kris had a shot |
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| And I got the last shot... |
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