A Report on the Company of Saynt George in Gruyères
                           21-23 June 2002

From the late afternoon on June 21st to June 23rd, the Company of Saynt George
gathered in the medieval city of Gruyères in Switzerland, 50km southwest of 
Berne.  Gruyères is a major tourist place, famous for its medieval look. The
small city lies on top of a hill, has something around fifty houses and a 
large castle on the upper end of the city from where you have a terrific view 
on the Alps.  In the 1470 the counts of Gruyères reoriented themselves anew. 
Being close to the Savoyards before they entered the Burgundian wars on 
the Swiss side, helping them to defeat Charles the Bold in Morat with 800 
armed men.

The Company of St. George went to Gruyères as a Burgundian Company thus
portraying the situation before that political shift.  The problem about 
Gruyères is, that there is absolutely no flat space.  As a consequence, we 
would have our people camp on every corner of the city, the the Captain's
tent and the forge towards the castle, some people sleeping in the old 
greenhouse, some on the terrace, some tents on a playground (where we put the 
kitchen as well) and some 30 people in a tower near the gate of the city.  
That tower, named Chupya-Barba, dates from the 12th century. Although they 
blighted the ground floor terribly, the upper levels look a lot better and 
are quite nice.

We have had eighty people present with about fifty being Company members 
and some thirty guests.  As a surprise to some of us there was an elderly
archer with the name of Gerry Embleton and Harvey Bowen who has not joined
in for long years. From Sweden more than a dozen people made their way
and our new Polish friends undertook the 18 hours drive from the city of
Wroclaw.

When we mustered the men on Saturnday morning, we had five complete 
Dizaines, which was quite amazing.  We tried to portray a garrison in
stationed in Gruyères.  Our activities where mostly based around this
scenario. We had Wayne Cooper with his improved forge, two full
guncrews on the cannons Katharine and Barbara, a scribe in the castle and 
one in the camp when needed.  The hungry people where fed in the kitchen
and it was reported that the air in the Alps somehow makes people
eat a lot more than usually expected.

On Saturday afternoon we would be part of a long procession through the
town up to the castle. Being a part of the festivities in Gruyères during
the weeking we were expected to take part.  It has to be admitted that
we did not particularly like the job, but tried to do it right among
dozens or merely hundreds of town-people in strange garments.
The bigger problem was the heat and jams all the way up. This was very 
exhaustive for the men in armour and if nobody collapsed that was
only due to the restless Cantinieres which deserve our uttermost gratitude.

No procession was scheduled for Sunday so we could concentrate on
ourselves.  First the focus rested on the women.  Our captain feared an
assault on the camp and insisted on training the women on the halberds.
It looked as if they did a good job and when they competed with a male-crew
on the canon and actually won the competition it was obvious the men
should better keep up their form.

Although we had a bit more wind on Sunday, temperatures must still have been
over 30 degrees. So we stayed in the camp during the early afternoon.
We put the tables in the shade and everyone was invited to sell stuff
for medieval coins. As we had payed everyone their weekly share before,
everyone had medieval coins available and it seems, with eigthy people,
a market actually works very well.

When the temperatures dropped or the wind got stronger later on, more
cannon shooting was done in the castle, the archers met in the backyard 
garden and the Captain sent out some halberdiers as patrol through the town. 
He organised a skirmishing training for the rest of the men, which was
great fun to see and loved by the public.  The Swedes had some wooden swords
with them which gave it a true training feeling. The fact that a sword was
ruined during the fight makes clear, this was taken as more than training 
by some of the men...

Unfortunately i had to leave on Sunday evening and missed the end of the
event.  David told me, the night to Monday was quite eventful, but luckly
the heavy storm that followed the heat of the weekend has not destroyed 
anything. 

I served as a prevot and quartermaster in Gruyères.  We think our garrison
is too small for an actual prevot, but should have some kind of person
who is in charge.  Furthermore a quartermaster is a must, so this looked
like a good combination.  As everyone would play along with me, I quite 
liked the job. It is clear that i had no true power to insist on someone
doing a job in the camp. But i had the impression morale was high any
everyone would give a helping hand when asked.

Thank you all for an event, which i enjoyed enourmously.

Christian Folini, Company of Saynt George