In 1209 , the Count of Provence donated the village of Biot and some of the surrounding land to the local Knights Templar. Biot became the most important and rich Templar stronghold in the area for almost one hundred years , until various Papal and Royal decress excommunicated the Templars and confiscated their lands.
Biot village celebrates the Templars every year with a mediaeval fair and re-enactments of the donation of Biot and other events in local Templar history.
There are classical music and choral music concerts, lectures and discussions, and religious services as well as the usual craftsfolk, living history troupes, acrobats and street perfomers, etc
These are some modern Templars marching off the field of combat at the fair.The costuming and attention to detail is amazing.
One drummer drumming out the pace for the marching Templars.
The standrard bearer marching in the procession.
Some other knights-I can't remember their exact allegiance but they were the opponents of the Templars in the combat displays so intended to represent the King at the time of the consfication of land in 1308.
The chainmail and helmets must have been swelteringly hot to wear in the sunshine while walking, never mind when running about with a big sword and shield.
The smith hard at work at his portable forge.
This was one of the beggar and leper troupe. They had an encampment in the village and at time wandered around announcing their presence with clappers, wooden rattles [like old fashioned footbal rattles] and bells and begging for alms.
This guy was wandering around begging kisses from people.
The makeup was excellent and even though we all knew the sores etc were fake, there was still an automatic reflex to recoil away from the affiction. It was very odd to react like that as I am not a squeamish person at all.
A very colourful character with a tame crow and a tiny terrier peeking out of the bag.
Maybe its meant to be a mediaeval version of the portable miniature chihuahua.
The crow was really amazing -raised from very young but this one wasn't able to mimic human sp[eech.
Several members of the crow family [ crows, magpies, jackdaws etc] are better talkers/mimics than the more exotic 'talking' birds and they used to be kept as pets by poorer people -right back to the middle ages.
Some of the female camp followers in the Templar procession.
On the right -the open sides of the pinafore type dress [surcot] were initially called 'Hell's windows' because it was thought that men would tempted by the daring cut away sides , which revealed the womans shape and potentially lead to men's hands wandering. Side lacing makes the surcot slightly more chaste.
On rare occasions, an elf is seen in the crowd. I've noticed one or two turning up at medieval fairs here in recent years.
The singer here was an incredibly jolly Italian chap with a very infectious grin. He was singing Mediaeval and renaissance songs and encouraging audience participation with the choruses.
The musicians in the background were trying hard to keep their faces straight.
This guy was one of several who had birds of prey for hawking. Its an American hawk of some kind, rather than a European species.
A sundial , sunny coloured house and sun dried washing on the line.
Close-up you can see the gnomen is an arrow shot into the sun. The Provençal motto translates as 'the sun shines for everyone'.
This arrow piercing a heart was on the roof of a different house.
One of the cobbled streets -fairly typical for mediaeval villages in this area.
I liked this carving of a lion or cat embedded in one of the village walls. It looked like it had been firedamaged at some point in its history but it had presumably been rescued and re-used.
I like the different shapes, colours and spiny arangements on the cacti.
This huge cactus had a hefty asking price. I wouldn't fancy lugging something like that home on the bus.
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