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The first period is sometimes called the Migration Period or Dark Ages by Western European historians, and as Völkerwanderung ("wandering of the peoples") by German historians. This term is usually reserved for the 5th and 6th centuries. Re-enactors who re-create the next period of history - 7th to 11th Century - often refer to this as Early medieval. The 12th to 14th Centuries fall under the term High medieval, while the 15th century is often termed Late medieval. With such a wide range of eras most medieval reenactment groups focus on a smaller time period, sometimes restricting their interest to a particular century, or even a specific decade or monarch, depending on how authentic the reenactment and encampment is intended to be. LIVING HISTORY Living History reenactors usually focus on recreating the civilian, or non-military, life during the Middle Ages. Authentic camping, cooking, practicing historical skills and trades, and even playing historical board games by a campfire are all examples of activities related to living history. COMBAT REENACTMENT There are many variations on the idea of reenacting medieval combat, ranging from training of historical Dueling Practices (usually with an appropriate period sword such as an arming sword or Rapier or more rarely a Dussack as a variation of Fencing ), and Wrestling as a Martial Art , to reenactment of historical or legendary battles of the Middle Ages. Some groups training historical combat as a martial art do not fit the traditional definition of a reenactment group and are more similar to fencing clubs, but some of them combine the sport with more traditional forms of reenactment, such as Living History . Battlefield Reenactment Battlefield reenactment groups usually meet for training on a regular basis (ranging from twice a week to once a month, depending on the size of the group, the season, and personal preferences) and participate in reenactment events with other groups from the region (although some more popular events have an international audience). A typical public reenactment event will last two to four days, with one or more battles per day (sometimes there are different battles for reenactors of different periods), a campsite for reenactors (often with a public campsite for living history and a restricted campsite for modern or non-authentic tenting) and a market, usually focussing medieval equipment and clothing, and depending upon the event organiser, some less authentic reenactment events feature more modern goods such as plastic toys for children among the public audience. Apart from markets, living history, and the actual battles, reenactment events often allow for parades in authentic (or authentic looking) kit and attire, Archery displays, shield displays (demonstrating a shield formation against archery) and, in some cases, artillery displays (usually featuring cannons and muskets firing blanks). Display Fighting Many living history groups who also train swordfighting do not train battlefield tactics or free combat. Instead, they usually focus on display fighting. Display combat is different in that it aims toward providing a fight that looks dramatic for the audience, whilst often combining a contest of skills for the combatants. It is rarely a truly 'choreographed' fight as the movements are not a practised set of moves. Display Combat can have a faster overall pace than real combat as it aims towards action and noise, rather than killing blows. Sometimes, the combatants will aim for each other's weapon or shield rather than the body because body hits, especially ''lethal'' hits, would lead to a quicker end of the combat and weapon hits produce more noise if the combatants are not wearing Plate Armour or similar ''noisy'' armour. Later Medieval armour allows for greater protection allowing armoured locations to be hit with a forceful blow. Another typical characteristic of choreographed fighting is slowness of the actual blows since the normal, faster, ''strike to kill'' moves of combat reenactment tend to happen too fast for an untrained audience to follow. This is not always the case, as often a longer than usual blow (started further back from the target) will be delivered to allow the participants to follow the action rather than delivering a slower blow. Display fighting is also often featured in combination with Jousting at Medieval Fayres or Renaissance Faires . REENACTMENT IN EUROPE Medieval reenactment has been popular in the United Kingdom , with groups from all over England , Scotland , Ireland and Wales participating in events. Many UK battles are reenacted at their original battle sites by enthusiasts with a high degree of authenticity, together with Medieval traders, musicians, caterers. UK reenactors are friendly and can be seen throughout the UK during the summer months at battles, fairs, carnivals, fetes, pubs and schools. Almost entirely throughout the UK, reenactors use blunted steel weapons for reenactments and rubber tipped arrows (blunts) for archers, or steel heads when target shooting. In Germany medieval reenactment is usually associated with living history and renaissance faires, but in the past few years combat reenactment has gained some ground as well. A few groups are training historical combat such as longsword dueling and dussack fighting at universities, but the majority of combat reenactment groups are battlefield reenactment groups, some of which have become isolated to some degree because of a strong focus on authenticity (some groups refuse to fight groups representing different or wider periods, even if the combat practices would be entirely compatible otherwise). Among many battlefield reenactors in Germany, the Codex Belli has become a de-facto standard. Groups from Eastern Europe , especially Hungary , are rumored to practice much more dangerous forms of battlefield reenactment, sometimes with sharp edges and points as well as metal arrow heads and an overall higher acceptance of the risk of injury posed by these dangers. This more risky, although more realistic, form of reenactment is apparently also practiced in East Germany. The SCA is present in Europe just as it is in North America , but it is less known and often regarded as ''strange'' or even perceived as a variation of LARP by many reenactors because of its very loose rules and low standards that allow for too many fantasy elements to be included into the ''reenactment''. In Sweden there are many different "medieval markets". The largest is the one in Gotland . {Link without Title} SEE ALSO
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