Castleton Cup trophy kicks off Historic Medieval Battle UK League

Date published: 21 April 2022

Hard-hitting medieval combat fighting returned to Castleton with the Castleton Cup trophy over the Easter weekend (16 and 17 April).

Organised by the Honour & Arms Club, Whitworth, competitors from across the country gathered at Castleton Primary School’s playing fields to fight it out in both group and singles categories over two days.

Saturday saw both male and female teams take to the list to compete in 5v5 action as well as the male teams also joining forces to fight in 12v12.

The Castleton Cup marks the official start of the Historic Medieval Battle UK League.

What is full contact medieval combat?

Full contact medieval combat is a relatively new – old? – sport which sees competitors don authentic medieval armour and blunted steel weapons before combat. It originated in Russia around 20 years ago as medieval re-enactors wanted something more realistic.

Specifically the armour and weapons must be of the style from the dates 1200 to 1699, with location irrelevant.

Also known as Historical Medieval Battles or Buhurt, fighters are dressed in full armour, which, like the weapons, is made according to historical standards. One person's full set of armour must originate from the same place and within a fifty-year time span. Blows may be aimed at any parts of the body (with the limitations set in the regulations); both wrestling and percussive techniques are permitted.

Like many traditional contact sports, bouts take place over three 3-minute rounds with officiating marshals. A round can last a maximum of five minutes with each fight lasting no more than 10 minutes. The arena is a large wooden pen known as a ‘list’ and fights can be divided into several categories.
 

Starting off the day saw the ladies from Swords of Cygnus and Armoured Combat Gloucester Hellions fight over three rounds for the Castleton Cup trophy. After a back and forth affair, fighting tooth and nail, Swords of Cygnus prevailed taking home the trophy.

The ladies then spilt off into three teams and fought each other again in a round-robin format which saw them really go to town and get some solid fighting done.

The male teams of White Company, The Northern Wolves, Armoured Combat Gloucester, Primus, Invicta and ISCA fought through the heat of the afternoon in a round-robin format to crown the 5v5 Castleton Cup trophy winners.

In the end, White Company took home first place with Primus in second and Invicta in third.

The 12v12 nominations came next, and after three fights saw White Company victorious over Primus/Northern Wolves/ACG in joint second, with Invicta and ISCA in joint third.

Sunday saw the remaining fighters competing in singles disciplines which included longsword, sword & shield, sword & buckler and polearm. Fighters fought hard over the course of six hours to find out who was on top in each discipline.