Re-enactment and the joy of research

via Wikimedia Commons

This story, about Viking re-enactors on Lindisfarne Island, reminded me that my favorite historical fiction author, Elizabeth Chadwick, is also a re-enactor. The page about this on her website surprised me. It seems natural for someone like Chadwick to view historical re-enactment as a quirky hobby that goes well with her other interests.

Instead, she considers it a form of research:

Once you have been thoroughly kippered cooking a cauldron of pottage over an open fire, you know exactly what it's like and you know darned well that no-one with hanging sleeves ever got cooking pot duty! I have stood on a battle field and viewed it through the eye slits of a jousting helm. I have felt the weight of a mail hauberk on my shoulders and gripped a sword in my hand.

I have had some students who did medieval re-enactment who I considered, well, a little odd. But Chadwick's description really go to me. When was the last time I felt that kind of connection to the ancient world?

Belonging to a beleaguered academic discipline takes a lot out of you. You feel like you constantly have to apologize, to your students for making them learn all the principal parts of the verb (it's a 'dead language' after all), to your parents for having to move far away to chase that one good job. This blog is my way of getting some of the joy back.

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