Medieval week in Visby

I got home after Närcon, made a viking costume, set out to visit a lot of castles in Sörmland, and then I headed off to Medieval week in Visby. The Medieval week takes place in the beautiful walled town of Visby on the island of Gotland. It had it's heyday in the 13th and 14th centuries, was besieged by Danes, Swedes and pirates in the 15th and 16th centuries, and has a lot of the medieval city centre still intact. It is a world heritage site as well. Every week in August they host the Medieval week, which is the biggest Medieval event in the historical costumers calender. I had never been there though, but when I got offered a bed in a house within the walls I never hesitated.

The view from the house, with one of the church ruins just beside it

The part outside the wall where most unofficial events took place

Just like NärCon this is basically a festival, with loads of concerts, courses, lectures, a big market, and a lot of official and unofficial event organized by different groups. It was not a very historically accurate event, the majority of people were dressed in different kind of LARP-clothes or fantasy inspired gowns. Of the historical fashions present you mostly saw the vikings and the German landknechts, with a bit of 14th century thrown in.

A typical scene at Medieval week are a group of people sitting down drinking and eating and just hanging out.

A lot of my clothing choices were depending on the temperature, it was just as warm as at NärCon.

 I mostly wore my shortsleeved teal 1490's gown, but on Tuesday, when it was just 24 degrees, I started out in my full green 1520's gown. I did knechtify it a bit with the wulsthaube, hat and hiking up the skirt, to blend in with all the other knechts and trossfrauen.

 I spent Tuesday and most of Wednesday with Anna and Henrik, and Anna had chosen to go as a pirate during the week. She ended up in the stock though.

 On the hottest days I wore y 1520's undergown, with my big sleeved shift. Together with a wet linen scarf it made the temperatures bearable, the ice cream helped too. The breeze from the sea also helped if you sat down along the waterfront.

 The only photo of me in my viking is from the the Gotland Museum. I'm thinking that I'm going to shorten it. It is a correct length, but the length traps the air under the skirts and if I want to use it as a hot weather alternative a shorter skirt would be better. I also added some beads that I had picked up on the market.

 On Wednesday it was the day of Knecht march, and it was impressive to see almost 150 people marching by in full costume.

A lot of the events that go on aren't on the official program, but I managed to find a link to an unoffcial program.

 On Wednesday evening there was a nerd quiz at a bridge.

 On Thursday I managed to see a group representing the Roman Senate trying to conquer the Scots, the Scots had even built a wall around their picknick area.

 Just after the Romans had tried to conquer Scotland there was a kind of football gae between "barbarians" and "saracens". This has of course nothing to do with historical accuracy, but it was really fun to watch.

On Friday I felt quite full though, and I spent most of both Friday and Saturday days at the house, mending things and just reading book. I didn't feel that I "had" to go any specific event. In that way it was the most relaxing days of my holidays this year.

A rose in the evening on the way home through Visby.