Swordsman gets crowned in Coronado

It was all hack and slash in Spreckels Park over the 4th of July long weekend.

Sir Clevwen Bardic and Sir Callon Bryn Corey saluted, then they started hacking away at each other with, well, not broadswords, but pretty hefty chunks of steel. Sir Awren, the guy in the long Viking robes was judging who was worthy to be presented to the king.

The king? His Majesty Johan Von Hohenstaufen sat in his pavilion with his consort, Queen Kendra McFadyen, and a bunch of long-robed retainers.

"I was in the First Crusade,” the king explains. “Fighting with Frederick Barbarossa.”

These people are serious. They’re a national group who go to any lengths to re-create the world of Western Europe from 1066 (year of the Battle of Hastings, when the Normans conquered England) to 1603 (when Queen Elizabeth I died). They belong to the Kingdom of Terre Neuve, “a sovereign entity of the Adrian Empire.”

Uh, okay.

Meanwhile the fight heats up.

Sir Clevwen takes a swing at Sir Callon.

“Ow!”

That’s Sir Callon yelping. If combatants get touched with the sword in areas that would be mortal, Sir Awren considers that a “kill.” But this is just a thrust at Sir Callon's generous belly, so the fight goes on.

The guys must be sweating a storm inside all their medieval protective gear.

Sir Cleuven's got the chain mail. He just looks more deadly. But after lots of clangs and grunts, the Viking declares Sir Callon the winner.

“I deserve to win,” says Sir Callon (“mundane” name, Jeffrey Kout). "Here, see this?"

He pulls up his smock and exposes two sword-shaped red marks on his midriff.

“We don’t kill each other and our swords have blunted tips, but the fights are for real,” he says.

Queen Kendra was full well pleased with her subjects.

Likewise, King Johan.

The Terre Neuve group meets every 3rd Saturday at Allied Gardens Community Park.