Medieval Mud and Games

Yesterday, Sunday, I went with a group of DIS students to Esrum Abbey. Called Spears, Arrows, and Abbey Ale, there was plenty of all three, and mud aplenty to go around. At Esrum Abbey we were divided into teams for playing medieval fighting games. From a lettuce throwing Trebuchet, to throwing spears at scarecrows, lifting rocks, balancing on a log over a ditch, fighting a knight, and shooting a medieval long bow, none of the challenges ever seemed the least bit easier. Add it the rain and you have a new level of Medieval challenges. Instead of balancing on the log for fear of falling in the dirt, you have to balance on the log or fall into the creek which suddenly appeared in the rain. I actually think that the rain made the games more authentic. Particularly since I am sure medieval knights could not balance an umbrella while swinging a sword, though the image would be quite amusing.


Out of all the activities, my two favorite were probably the trebuchet (who doesn’t want to see lettuce launched across a field) and the sword fighting.

When we walked up to the sword fighting activities, we quickly realized that this was going to be an embarrassing experience for all of us. None the less, we all took our turn in facing the “Sword Master” at the abbey. By the time it was my turn the ground was extremely muddy. Being so slippery extremely quick footwork was a definite no go. Shortly I was done with my turn in the square of competition, and left to watch the sword matches morph into wrestling in the mud.

At the end of the day outside playing in the rain, we were all wet, and tired. We were led back inside the Abbey where there was Ale, and Snacks available for us. Overall it was a fun day, a great experience, and another thing that shall stand in my head as unique to Denmark. There are not too many abbeys made in 1150!