A report on the Pentecost Meeting 2004 29th May - 1st June 2004, Hinterweidenthal, Germany By Christian Folini For the third time in a row European 15th century reenactment groups formed the imperial levy in defense of Neuss, under attack by Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy. At Pentecost 1475, the imperial levy was first spotted from the walls of Neuss. The modern Pentecost event is meant as a place for different groups to meet and exchange themselves in a historical setting, aiming to form a single coherent military unit. The event has been hosted formally by the Company of St. George, present with 45 members. Between ten and twenty other groups met in the camp, which resulted in an armed force of 140 men and totally 280 people in the camp. There have been fewer Germans then last year and hardly any Dutch people. However, the Frenchs made a strong impression - not the least thanks to the efforts of Mathieu. The program has been very similar to the years before: Setup of the camp during the week, arrival of most groups on Friday. Forming of the units on Saturday morning, first drills in the units. Larger manoevre on Saturday afternoon and another one Sunday afternoon. Sunday morning saw the mass and the market in the camp where everyone sold or purchased historical equipment of sometimes amazing quality. On Sunday there was an archery contest with twentyfive participants (that is twice as much as last year). Music was mostly lacking - as there has been a single bagpipe player within the camp and he felt a bit lonely in the end. The camp looked a lot more compact then the years before. Quartermaster Lutz made a single middle road with all fireplaces next to this road - sometimes groups shared a fireplace. That proofed to be a good idea and a way to mix the people. The Company set up a dense camp next to the tent of Dietrich. We shared the fireplace and the kitchen crew with 1476 - Städtisches Aufgebot. The latter deserve a lot of credit for their display. A dozen of handgunners all equipped with powder horns and bags of similar style - the best being eight identical guns on a stick. The tents all equipped with wooden top points turned by Kai after pictures in the Housbook and a red/white flag made of metal. A very coherent view. The Company made a good impression acting as the special guard of field Captain Dietrich - they all came with red-white livery made for the occasion and a special badge. Setting up the camp was very straight forward thanks to the help of Alain-Gilles, Mick and Joanna who arrived quite early (Sorry for not mentioning all the other helping hands). All the male non-German speaking members went into the guard, the rest formed a gun crew under Ullrich Brand, who returned to a company event after years of absence. Unfortunately some Company members we had expected did not turn up and we were a bit short on the gun in the end and reinforced the crew with two guest girls. Unlike the years before the dizaines were not formed Saturday morning at a general muster, but before the event or on Friday night. Therefore the event started quickly on Saturday morning with unit drills. Dietrich and Harry learned a lesson from last year and made the first drill a short one. When the units formed into the big formations Saturday afternoon it turned out to be a complete bore for 90% of the men and nobody quite understood what was going on. It's a bit like being the pawn on the chessboard with no knowledge about the game being played. A talk among the officers and "Rottmeisters" later in the evening underlined that big manoevres are only of modest interest to you when you are one of 100 halberdiers. This improved when Dietrich positioned everyone in battle formation on Sunday afternoon and explained the purpose of the setup. Then a quick lineup out of the march and suddenly an ambush by a lone Burgundian gun nest and time to test the trained formation. Still it took a long time to get it going but it was merely a third of the time it had taken on Saturday. Then the Halberdiers marched forward - truely an amazing sight. The formation and the manoevres are based on the works of Philipp von Seldeneck. This led Dietrich to advance with the Canons and the Halberdiers in parallel. Of course this was a good exercise, but from a tactical viewpoint it was not very effective as the halberdiers stood under enemy fire for twenty minutes until they reached the enemy's position who fled to the woods. A single warrior was captured and killed on spot (and stripped to the bones first by the Rottmeister, then by the men and finally by the cantineers.) The enemy gunnest has been set up with much care to the detail. Thus attacking the gunners in the defended position was a welcome change of pace after the not so amusing manoevring. The caltrops made by Mike of 1476 haven been particularly nice (and nasty right before the guns). I saw the attack from the back where i defended the water reserve of the unit. I liked the way the guard around Dietrich followed his steps and shielded him from every possible attacker. That looked very convincing and a whole lot better than the years before. Comparing the ambush of 2003 and 2004 i would say that it was another try to do the same thing, but unlike last year when it evolved in misunderstandings, arguments and much aggression, this time it worked out as planned - thanks to Kai for the excellent lead of the Burgundian ambushers. I have the impression the fractions within the camps - the ones who want manoevres only and the ones who favour a real attack with battle cries and drums and whistles - found a compromise with the manoevre and the ambush on Sunday. There was no direct contact between the battle lines, yet it felt like a real victory. Later Dietrich asked if we did not meet a dead end with this manoevre, as repeating it would spoil the surprise and simple manoevring is such a bore for most people. I personally think there is still a lot to explore in the concept and there is still a lot you can get out of it. I had the impression the camp guard was better organised then the years before. Maybe this was thanks to the new way the guard duties were scheduled. This time, the halberdier dizaines would take over the guard for half a day. This is a bit a different concept of dizaines then we have in the Company but it was quite successful for the purpose. Like last year, i lead the cantineer unit into the field. Unlike last year we lacked the tough girls who wanted to be as militaristic as the men. Therefore we primarly concentrated on the logistic problem to bring water for 120 men 20 minutes away from the camp. There was no way around using every kind of vessel available if we did not want to risk people suffering from heat exhaustion like last year, when about ten guys collapsed in the sun. While it was a bit colder then last year - maybe 28 degrees during the day (and 0-4 degrees in the night; i am not kidding!) - we were aware of the problem and pumped them full with water until they could take no more. Noone collapsed and we felt like having fulfilled the mission. But from a historical viewpoint i was disappointed: We used two alluminium jugs with had a great medieval shape - but oviously the wrong color - a semi-modern barrel with metal rings and a 19th century hay chart to transport it all. So i took a compromise in favour of solving a medical problem which is okay but should be solved differently by someone dedicating more time to the problem than me. Emma Wieslander considered the cantineer duty quite annoying. As we worked as a joint unit, there was no assignment of a cantineer to a single dizaine, but rather me as a cantineer commander sending the girls to the subunits where i thought water was needed. This approach helped to solve the logistic problem when you have to get more water from the well, but the unit turned out to be kind of pure service unit, as Emma pointed out quite correctly. With the armed cantineers of last year we had more variety in our duty, but this time it was really reduced to bringing water to the men. The modern vessels used by the cantineers were among those items which should be expelled from the camp if there is a next Pentecost. Mathieu thinks there were less people with bad costume and i have only three individuals in my mind when i think about it. Otherwise there were these semiauthentic items which you do not spot right from the start but you reveal them when taking a closer look: Four or five barrels with metal rings, two typical 19th century hay charts (with lots of metal, screws and everything around) and many lids on the cooking cauldrons and finally men with ear rings. I might be wrong with one or two of these items, but i consider them as unhistorical and think they should be avoided in the camp. We tried to have less cameras and less glasses in the camp. While the Company managed to leave the cameras out we did not make a difference when it came to glasses. Overall impression: Too many glasses everywhere, too many cameras outside of the Company: mission not accomplished. When Dietrich, Kai and i had tried to convince the other groups from a total ban of cameras at the preparation meeting in March we faced heavy opposition by those helping the event with their support. We agreed everyone should be reminded of the rules. To be reminded to put in lenses early in the morning and to hide the cameras. I for one have been photographed by people laying in front of their tents and i do not think that was discreet. Therefore reminding did not work - i favour strictest rules in the future: The simple rule which is most likely to work: No modern item enters the camp visibly, no modern item is to be seen in the camp at any time outside of a tent - lenses are put in while being in the tent in the morning. This is simple, this is clear and i do not care about those individuals who want to take photographs during the event. They can enter the camp as visitors on Sunday afternoon like the tourists and Jacques Marechal should be assigned as the official photographer again (therefore making a formal exception, but maybe even this exception is avoidable). I went up to the hill above the camp on Sunday afternoon to oversee the camp. I had done the same thing in 2002 and it made a huge difference in the two years since then. The overall look of the camp improved - mainly the quality of the tents. Fighting modern items in the camp is more and more a struggle with details - still it deserves full attention. The archery contest took a lot of time again. We had shortened it substantially but still we had to stop it after two and a half hours and two thirds of the program. In the final shootout Hartmut Kaufmann succeeded over last years winner Jakob. Congratulations. The shooting has been much fun again and with twenty five participants it really looked like a true contest. On Saturday night, the foreign guards (consisting of Company members) arrested Kai and accused him of heresy (well we did not really understand what they said, but they sure sounded very strict and aggressive). Kai tried to get free by citating the Ave Maria but it was only the quick reaction of his hand gunners that rescued him in the end. This was a fine intermezzo of active roleplay in a camp and good fun to see. There was the third priest in the third year performing a mass on Sunday. Everyone agreed the priest of 2003 was not really a good example of his profession, the opinions have been more controversal this time. I guess Dietrich is quite right regarding his good knowledge of medieval mass and liturgy. I did not like the theological level he had choosen for the service - i expect far less in a military camp, but maybe my view is too simplistic. Actually we have been playing dice during the mass... What conclusion would i draw after the event? We really enjoyed ourselves, we had a great time and we would love to come back next year - at least that is what all the Company members attending have told me. But those who say the event starts to be the same every year and it needs a change of pace are also right somehow. I think the Company made a good impression. We did exactly what we wanted to achieve. When we went home with bad blood last year, then we went home happy and content with the rest of the Company this year. In a certain sense i feel free of any debt - free to leave or to come back depending on what the Company decides to do. Finally a special thank you to Sylvian and Jan Fantys who helped to load and unload the Company transporter although they did not have the time to attend the event themselves. That's real comradeship.