Who are Regia Anglorum?

A thousand years ago, people like you and me lived, loved and died here in the Islands of Britain. Their lives are far away in time, separated from us by thirty generations. Yet they were very like us, just as cheerful, just as sad, just as generous, just as mean- spirited, just as skilled and just as fumble-fingered as we are today.


It is a mistake to think that because they had no television or computers that they were one whit less intelligent than we who live where they lived. Their names have come down to us in the tell of the years and from the time of Alfred the Great to the reign of Richard the Lionheart, we do our best to present a living image of the Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Welsh and Norman people in our period of interest. We are anglers, aristocrats and archers; riders, sailors, and tanners; warriors, weavers and woodcarvers. You can live like a Lord or Peasant, fight in the shield wall with your shoulder companion - you can do all of these things and so much more beside.

For nearly a quarter of a century, Regia Anglorum has been re-creating history for audiences around the world. We can offer skilled, properly equipped and highly motivated men and women of all ages. We have horses and riders. We have four full-scale ship replicas and are planning another. We have a secluded permanent site. The best re-enactmen society in the world - probably.

Regia Anglorum was a term used by early English writers to describe the English state. It means 'The Kingdoms of the English'. In a twentieth century context Regia Anglorum is a nationwide society with many independent local groups, from Scotland to the south coast, who all work within a tight set of common sense rules.

Regia Anglorum attempts to recreate a cross section of English life around the turn of the first millennium. Our actual self imposed brief is AD950 - 1066, although our events may sometimes be set a few decades either side of these dates.

It was a time of great flux and change and, as all our public shows are 'datelined', we can demonstrate the changing fashions of the times. It was a time when Britain was host to many peoples - Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Danes, Norse, Cymry, Viking raiders and even a number of Norman mercenaries - which often led to some misunderstandings amongst their leaders who jockeyed for control and power in this country.

We are not purely a combat society and have come a long way from the old hack and bash image associated with many re-enactment societies. There is always a certain glory to be found in recreating and reliving famous and the not-so-famous battles of times past - but they are not the sum total of history. They are specific points in time which were interspersed by long periods where the people living then, got on with their normal existence which is equally fascinating. In this way, we are not in fact just a 're-enactment' group, but a 'living history society'.

Our basic tenet is Authenticity. To this end we will not portray any image, support any ideal, or make any item of kit which we cannot provenance from contemporary sources. This sometimes requires us to re-evaluate how we look and why we make or wear certain items, and to alter them or our habits to hone the image we depict.

Our members invest large sums of money and thousands of man hours capturing the detail. From our experiences over the years in the field of re-enactment, we are certain that no other society from our period of interest takes this matter so seriously. http://www.regia.org/