Fabulous Furious Framlingham

Well what a brilliant weekend that was! A proper English summer weekend in one of the best venues Eastern England has to offer, Framlingham Castle, Suffolk.

The Duchess of Suffolk, Lady Elizabeth De La Pole played host to our knights from North, East, South and West as she searched for a champion to protect her family whilst her husband commands the King's armies in France.

We filled the available space, with the arenas, Living History encampment and over 1200 visitors on both Saturday and Sunday.

After no archery at Battle we were back in the swing of things on both days with our squires shooting in the archery tourney. We got identical results on both days. Squire Francis won both competitions, with Innis, then Miles and lastly Peter LeHazard. Squire Peter's Lord, Sir Adrian was most unamused and had his squire crawl back to his tents upon his knees on Saturday and his belly on Sunday.

The Crest Melees are getting better and better, as each knight develops his own style. Sir Robert usually excels in this event. He is fast, nimble and deadly. He even copes well with the towering opponent that is Sir Adrian (Who is really tall:0) Sir Robert won all of his bouts. Sir Edward (Me) did beat Sir Robert 2-nil on Sunday but apparently clouting the fellow after dislodging his crest is not approved of by the Marshal and the points were awarded to the Sir Robert, HARSH methinks!

Sir Henry has gained in confidence and now moves very quickly for an old man. He dislodged Sir Edward's crest on more than one occasion although Sir Edward suggested that not always fairly. A disagreement then followed which was sorted out by the Knight Marshal Sir Erasmus.

Sir Adrian favours the Hawk guard, and by raising his gloves high it is nigh on impossible to see his crest, however he came a cropper to both Sir Edward and Sir Robert over the weekend.

Sir Edward strikes and Sir Robert is crestfallen.

The Club melees on both days provided some interesting results. On Saturday; Young Sir Robert had problems with his gauntlets which prevented him from fighting well and was subsequently the first out in both bouts. The other knights fought it out in both bouts with Sir Edward eventually gaining the most points. 

The day looked like it would go to the Blue knight of the North, but the Duchess awarded 1 point to SIr Adrian which made the result a draw. The crowd's turn to have their say. It is safe to say they went mental! The noise made for both knights was loud, I mean loud. But the noise especially for Sir Edward of the North was deafening and the day was clearly his (mine:0)

Sunday finished quite differently. No extra points needed awarding. Sir Robert had had a a good day, his swordmanship and his squire's excellent archery had put him in a good position before the club melee, however the young and slight fellow found it hard to stay in the combats against the more experienced knights and his points gained did not allow him to develop a clear lead. The last club melee eventually came down to Sir Adrian or Sir Edward. EIther man could draw with Sir Robert if they won. Sir Edward's squire Innis had been taken out by Sir Henry and his squire. so Sir Edward was left facing Sir Adrian without his squire. Sir Edward attacked Squire Peter who after much beating ordered to retire to his corner by Sir Adrian. Who then  set about the exhausted Sir Edward. 

So the day was  a tie. The Duchess again asked her people to indicate who should win. This day went to the local knight. Although not as loud as yesterday the crowd clearly wanted the knight of the East to win in the East. So the favour of the Duchess was awarded by her daughter Lady Margaret De La Pole to Sir Robert, indicating the Gold Knight's first win of the series.

We next move on to Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight. The tourney series is currently a tie between Blue and Green. Blue has won the most individual days but Green has been most consistent. ALl is poised as we head towards the finale at Kenilworth.

The whole team would like to extend a huge thank you to the EH staff and the public at Fram, it is going to be hard to beat this weekend.