Ohhh... and it's particularly relevant to one case I know...
 

I was approached recently (before we'd seen the survey questions) by a Laurel who is also a squire and wanted to fight for her girlfriend in Crown Tourney. She was working on strategy, and then the survey comes out and hands it to her! Pretty handy!

fwiw,
Mir

Just wanted to say this thread is awesome! My minor was Medieval Studies, and I still go to Congress at my alma mater every year.

re-enactment vs re-creation vs renaissance faire (*real* brief definitions)
 

I really don't want to make this totally SCA - there are amazing groups in Europe, Russia, and across North America that do different slants on exploring the middle ages.

First off, medieval, middle ages, etc. are European terms for a European era, so first of all the groups may have folks who represent visitors from other places but we have a commonality so us visitors have a story - I'm a Novgorodian (Russian) merchant with a "factory" (think warehouse and trans-shipment point) in England.

Next, we have the level of seriousness, the area of focus, and the purpose.

Re-enactors generally have a specific group, time, and place - even to a specific battle or town - that they represent. Some of these are museum organizations, some are hobby groups who really go for authenticity. They provide a really good picture and generally do really well with that time/place. Their focus is to teach, and they want very much to "get it right" and normally have people in charge of helping and enforcing authenticity, requiring you to have gear together before you can really get into it. Faithful medievalism.

Re-creators generally want to have an accurate feel, have varying levels of authenticity, and want to explore more than explain the middle ages. Groups like the SCA may have a hodgepodge of cultures and times at one event, and people whose accuracy level varies widely - and arguments about how authentic they should be vs how accessible they should be. They're still about teaching and learning what really happened, but feel they may pick and choose more - let's not have another inquisition, after all! Selective medievalism.

Renaissance (Medieval, Tudor and whatever) Faires are entertainment with a strong common theme. They use historic elements to put on their show, and it can be edutainment of a fairly high level - it depends on what the faire focuses on. These are for-profit, normally, and have the freedom to include fairies and trolls and such, if they want to. They want you to step into their 3D stage, and join the play. Medieval fantasy.

Hope this helps start for a clarification...
Mir

Chivalry-Now
 

Greetings,
Not exactly reenacting, but I have been reading from this site and it's forums lately. If anyone else is interested in the subject of chivalry, it's not perfect, but some great discussions on chivalry both historic and contemporary.

http://www.chivalrynow.net/imagine.htm