The Company commander is Zen Bell.  Zen has 30 years experience in re-enactment and has also worked as a fight co-ordinator in a number of movies.  Zen is based in the Cornwall.

Second in command is Alan Olds.  Alan has 10 years experience in re-enactment and has worked on several historical documentary and film projects.

We  are looking for new members and encourage applications from anyone who’s interested in 15th Century re-enactment as either a combatant or non-combatant.

We are a family friendly group and actively encourage families to join.  We find that the majority of children like to be involved, whether it be helping the fighters to get into armour, learning about the equipment, watching the training, the cannons or just learning about the general history of the period.  Many a happy child has gone home and returned to school telling his teacher what he got up to at a show (although somewhat elaborated) to the chagrin of the other children who perhaps played computer games all weekend.

The Black Company was created some 5 years ago by Zen Bell and John Hughes. The majority of the group are based in the South West (mainly Cornwall), although we have members in other parts of the U.K  including the West Midlands and Norfolk.

Zen Bell,  Mdina Medieval Festival, 2009

Our raison d’etre was to create an authentic representation of a 15th Century Mercenary fighting group.

In the 15th Century the hiring of Mercenary armies was common place, in particular in Italy.    The “Condottieri” as they were called were mercenary soldiers employed by the Italian city-states,  the word means ‘contractor’ and is also used as a synonym for “Mercenary Captain” from the Middle Ages until the 16th century.

They first appeared in the 13th century but had disappeared by 1550.

In Britain mercenary groups were also employed, in fact such a battle occurred at Stoke Field (16th June 1487, which was the last pitched battle of the War of the roses).  Here Martin Swartz captained a retinue of German mercenaries against Irish troops commanded by Thomas Geraldine, the Irish were slaughtered by the more skilled mercenary troops.   

It was often the case that the “hired” men were more skilled than their counter parts and in some cases turned the battle.  As they were paid “contractors”, it could  be argued that they were able to buy better armour and weapons and were in a better position with regard to provisions than their opponents (as we all know an army marches on its stomach).