Ermine Street Guard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ermine Street Guard is a British classical reenactment and living history society, founded in 1972 by Chris Haines.[1] Its main objective is to study and display weapons, tactics and equipment of the Roman army of the first Century AD.[2][3][4] It was named after Ermine Street,[5] a major Roman road from London to Lincoln and York.
In 1972, a reenactment group was formed under the name Ermine Street Ghosts, to help fund the restoration of the Witcombe and Bentham village hall.[5] Initially, clothing and armour was manufactured for an eight men contubernium and the troop marched and performed for a crowd of 2500.[6] After the fundraiser requests came in for attendances at other events. A society was formed, more people joined and additional equipment was manufactured. Presently the society numbers some 50-60 members,[5] from all over England and Wales.[6] Nearly all of those are men, because no women are allowed to perform male roles for reasons of historical accuracy.[6] In 2012 the society raised some £25,000 for the refurbishing of the village hall it was founded to help.[5]
Authenticity
From the onset it was decided that clothes, weapons and equipment would have to look as historically accurate as possible, though at first the materials used were hardly that.[6] Over the years the Guardsmen became more passionate about authenticity and nowadays the Ermine Street Guard is known for a certain perfectionism in this.[7][8] Weapons and equipment are nearly all made by hand, using much the same tools and methods the Romans did, when possible.[8][9] Over the years the society has remade much of its armour and equipment because research had proven the old ones not quite authentic.[8] Consequently the society is frequently asked to pose for, or take part in more serious activities, like research and publications.[10]
