It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. These guys were doing a battle re-enactment in the courtyard of Collins Barracks with the Sea Stallion in the background. The swords and axes were real and they didn’t hold back – all of the participants were really laying into each other. Still, it’s reassuringto see a battler sporting the odd scar or minus a finger – it shows commitment.
In the 8th century, Charlemagne decided to bring Christianity to the Saxon tribes. At the point of a sword¹. Those who resisted, or showed insufficient zeal, were slaughtered.[Charlemagne used to get the monk xxx to read the bible to him who clearly skipped over all the tree-hugging, ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ stuff].
¹ Charlemagne called his sword Joyeuse – an irony that probably wasn’t appreciated by those on the receiving end of it.