Magna Carta in 20 Places by Derek J Taylor

Author:Derek J Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750964579
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2015-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

12

BOUVINES, NORTHERN FRANCE

A BATTLE FOR THREE EMPIRES

I nearly didn’t make it to Bouvines.

I’d seen on the internet that hundreds of men were going to dress up in armour, helmets and mail, and wield all manner of medieval weaponry from axes to crossbows in a re-enactment of the battle that took place just outside the village in 1214. Women were invited too, so long as they donned smocks à la mode du treizième siècle and brought along plenty of cooking pots and flagons for the pre- and post-match refreshments. Very thirteenth century. It was all going to happen on 27 July, the battle’s 800th anniversary.

Perfect, I thought.

But whenever I went online to check out the arrangements, I got confused. There seemed to be no mention of start time, parking, or any of the usual hows, wheres or whens you get in the ‘Visit Information’ page of websites. It might be my inadequate French. So on the re-enactors’ internet forum, I tracked down the organiser, who revealed to me – in more or less plain English – the puzzling truth. The re-enactment would not be held at Bouvines at all, but at a place called Argy, which, it turns out, is 300 miles south. Apparently the re-enactors hadn’t been able to reach an agreement with the upstanding burghers of Bouvines which would permit what the organiser called ‘a good historical level’ to the re-enactment. So they had decided to take their show elsewhere, though it was not immediately clear how a ‘good historical level’ could be achieved somewhere five hours’ drive from where the fighting had actually taken place. But that wasn’t all. My contact added something else. Come the day when he and his fellow combatants would rush at each other, rattling their swords on their shields and uttering foul and terrifying cries, no spectators would be allowed! ‘This is not our policy,’ he explained. The event would be staged purely for the amusement of the participants.

For a day or so, I considered buying some fancy dress, paying the €15 registration fee, turning up at Argy on 27 July, then feigning immediate, though not life-threatening injury, so I could spectate (illicitly) from the sidelines. But that would hardly be in keeping with a book about places where important things in history actually happened. Argy is not Bouvines.

Further research indicated that the big day in Bouvines itself would be marked by speeches from various elected officials. Now, I’ve never met the Mayor of Bouvines, and he or she may well be an inspiring orator, but this did not seem to me like the stuff of living history. However, all was not lost. I discovered that on the weekend three weeks ahead of the anniversary, the village would be staging its own dramatic presentation of the great battle. With son et lumière. And fireworks too. Now that sounded more like it.

It would indeed have been unthinkable that the event should go uncelebrated in Bouvines itself. The name ‘Bouvines’ may be unheard of on the English side of the Channel other than among a few medieval historians.

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