After 5: Eclectic bunch lives out medieval, Renaissance history

They wear wool socks and leather vests in 88-degree weather, but it is the sword fighting that really makes them sweat.

The scene is a June 20 Renaissance fair in Jefferson City, and the lunging duelists are members of Springfield-based Bartholomew Bramble's Schoole of Defence and the Arts Mylitarie, a group of self-styled "historical interpreters."

One of the group's founders is Dr. Richard Swinney, a CoxHealth emergency-room physician, apiarist and lover of what he calls "real history."

"We are not the medieval WWF," Swinney explains before driving to the capital for the festival. "We provide an educational opportunity, not an entertainment spectacle."

All the Bramble Schoole members are keen to draw that line. They do not pretend to be characters from the past, and they do not put on battles for the sake of being flashy. They meticulously recreate historical fights, right down to wearing period-style shoes, and attempt to correct misconceptions that people have about medieval and Renaissance times.

The latter is done through informal lessons that accompany the fighting demonstrations. In some, Swinney uses his knowledge of modern medicine to dispel myths about health care in the 16th and 17th centuries. People believe that doctors used to be barbaric and ineffective, Swinney says, but the procedures of yore were "much more similar (to modern practices) and humane than people would believe."

Doctors who "bled" patients, he says, followed the same procedure that is used today to draw blood. The same methods of sedation are still used. The amputations that he's performed almost exactly resemble those exemplified in Renaissance surgical manuals, Swinney adds.

Other members also bring expertise from their day jobs to the 10-year-old Bramble Schoole. Co-founder Kirk Sullens, a senior blacksmith for Bass Pro, creates hilts for some of their ornate swords. Steven Roe, a substance-abuse counselor, uses his interpersonal skills to pull in the crowds.

Although their study of antiquated warfare doesn't pay the bills, it is more than an idle hobby. Swinney, for example, estimates that he owns 1,800 books about his periods of study. And he has dedicated time to recreating that history since his childhood, when he made chain mail out of coat hangers and jousted with his father atop mules.

He has lectured for years, trying to explain to high school and college students "what was missed and misunderstood" in historical study, something members of the Bramble Schoole believe can't be learned without literally getting involved.

"You can't just take modern fencing and throw history on top of it," says Scott Crawford, a respiratory therapist and another of the school's founders.

Crawford calls their work "living history." Roe calls it "experimental anthropology."

No matter the titles given, the group grasps history by applying it. As Sullens points out, there can be more learned by using a sword than by reading about it for a lifetime.

The public is always welcome when the Bramble Schoole gets together, which happens more often at libraries, schools and historical re-enactments than at Renaissance fairs. The latter are often more for fun than for learning, Swinney says. After all, they're surrounded at this fair by green-faced fairies and trains of royalty who roam outside their compounds.