Having greeted Emperor Gavin, unpacked the axes, supped strawberry mead and listened to laments on the hurdy-gurdy - songs of cold nights and warm wine and the love of a monk for a choir boy - we settle in for the evening.

The morning brings rain and bull horns trumpeting in the gloom at the Rowany Festival, Australia's largest gathering of pre-17th century "re-creationists", set amid the eucalypts and scrub near Mittagong.

History buffs at the Rowany Festival, Australia's largest gathering of pre-17th century "recreationists", near Mittagong. Credit:Steven Siewert

Novice fighters with swords and shields study the rules of combat on the "village green". "Every time you die, figure out why it happened," instructs Sir Gabriel de Beaumont (aka Alex West, bureaucrat).

Beside a stall marked Medieval Fight Club, a dead 70-kilogram pig is tied to a pole, and dressed in chain mail and a steel helmet. Men take turns stabbing it with swords and spears to study the impact of their blows on the flesh. Alfar of Household Attica (Tony Podolsak, high school history teacher) sticks a sword into the beast's midsection. "Whoever pulls this out can be king," he says, smiling.