© A.J. Stevens Jr. 2000

Who are We?

Blackshire's Company of the Sword is a non-profit California corporation dedicated to recreating history for the purpose of educating, while entertaining ourselves and others. By bringing the past to life, we strive to make history fun and interesting. Our main focus in our historical reenactment is in the depiction of "Stoddard's Company of Foot", an English Military Unit of the 1590's called a "London Trained Band" (The English Renaissance equivalent of the U.S. National Guard).

To this end we work to recreate the speech, clothing, weaponry, and lifestyles of the people of the times we represent. Some of the characters we portray are historical figures (Such as Captain Nicholas Stoddard) and some are fictitious. In all cases, however, each character depiction closely represents a typical soldier of the time. Unlike some reenactment organizations, we do not enforce absolutely perfect historical accuracy in all of our activities. While some groups have been described as "painfully period", we prefer a slightly more relaxed approach that allows us to better reach our audience, incorporate new members, and have fun doing what we do. The deviations from perfect accuracy that we do allow for, however, have been carefully chosen and regulated in an effort to keep our depiction of history more "historical" than "hysterical".

What is a Company of Foot?

The English divided their military companies up by their various functions. The Cavalry units were called, "Companies of Horse", and the infantry were known as "Companies of Foot". The foot soldiers of the late 1500's mainly fought with pikes, but also carried swords as backup weapons. If, however, the company was comprised of men with muskets instead of pikes, they were called a "Company of Shot".

What is a Trained Band?

Renaissance England did not have a standing army of full-time soldiers. Instead, most soldiers of the time were conscripted (drafted) in times of need, but some units were made up of volunteers who practiced marching and fighting techniques on a regular basis, usually a few days (up to a week) a month. These were called "Trained Bands" and were maintained in the event that hostile forces should ever invade England. In the weeks when these men were not preparing for war, they returned to their homes and held down businesses as merchants and tradesmen.

Activities and Events

Blackshire's participates at various faires and reenactment events throughout the southwest United States. We also hold our own reenactment events throughout the year. We welcome the opportunity to audition other events into our yearly schedule. For a complete listing of our schedule for the current calendar year, or for more information about booking Blackshire's Company of the Sword at your event, please visit our Event Calendar section.

Our Own History

We have expanded and updated our website to include new sections. In our Group History section contains a year by year history of Blackshire's with stories by its members. We have also added a Photo Gallery to our site.