This channel is such a gem. I love the anecdotes, theories, and educated assumptions. Those bits you can't get in a book make it so much more personal. I didn't even know what pottage was until now. The passion in this channel is tangible. 10/10

I’m glad that you’re whipping covid’s butt. Rest and be well storyteller!

The pottage story reminded me of an American friend who said that her grandmother in Kentucky had always kept a stock pan of soup on the back burner of the kitchen stove, and that it had never been completely emptied since the house was first built in the final decade or two of the nineteenth century. Day after day, it would have all the vegetable and meat trimmings thrown into it as meals were prepared, then be topped up with stock or water and left to simmer gently so that nothing went to waste. Until the house was connected to the electricity grid in the 1980s the stove would almost always be burning, constantly in winter to keep the kitchen warm and push warm air into the rest of the house, or at other times of the year fed as needed to boil the kettle, to bake breakfast biscuits and bread, and to cook the other daily meals.

Can we all appreciate the amount of work that goes into making these amazing models? Models who are then brought to life by a great, dedicated (and always appropriately dressed) storyteller. What a nice change from the many (often good) videos, that feel "cheap" because of generally mediocre animations and, too often, lackluster voiceover narration (or worse: text to speech, emotionless commentary). Thank you for infusing every one of your presentations with your genuine enthusiasm.

The potage bowl that was left heated for ages…I came across this in Italy a few years ago, when visiting an Italian friend who lived in a mediaeval fortified farm in Tuscany. We had a fantastic ‘stew’ from a huge pan left on the fire all the time. Veg and beans and meat were just added and the whole thing kept going. Fantastically tasty and no ill effects whatsoever!

The reason you could keep pottage or other stews going for months on end is because you’re keeping it hot enough to prevent bacteria growth. Bacteria multiplies most between 40°F and 140°F, so if you keep it well over 140°, such as a simmering stew, it’ll stay relatively safe to eat.

Sorry to hear you were sick, glad to hear you're getting better. I would think that the personalities of camp life back then would not be much different than now aside from the technology. They were mostly young men, mostly not well off and looking to go home at their earliest convenience. I think camp life would look similar going back to the earliest military campaigns and forward until the end of civilization.

There is a small village near Crawley in East Sussex called Peas Pottge supposedly they served Pease pottage continuously from the 1950s until 2000, the village itself has existed since the 15th century and get its name from the pottage it served to travellers between London and Brighton 😎🏹🙏

This channel is a blessing to people trying to write a realistic fantasy setting. Or just people fascinated by the medieval period

Camp life had to be sort of "ordinary", especially during the down time. A soldier, or archer had to be healthy to be ready to fight. Not coddled for sure, but comfortable as conditions would allow. I'm sorry you were ill, but glad to know you are well on recovery. Thanks, and Cheers from Texas.

Love British history. My grandfather was called Percy Hawkett. He showed me a Roman pilum spear that he found. I train in sword and recurve bow. I love that stuff.

This is exactly the type of topic I love to see on this channel... Other ones, like discussions of battles or whatever, are good too, but videos on topics like this that get into the nitty gritty everyday details you don't usually hear about are my favourites.

You are an invaluable wealth of knowledge, Mr. Hicks. The camp model is truly a wonder. I imagine it to be a super fun time putting one of those together.

Regarding the neverending stewpot, I did something like that a few years ago over the course of a winter with a slow cooker. I never turned it off, and every other morning or so, I would toss something new into it before I left for work. Potatoes here, a squash there, different meats, etc. It went from beef to pork, to chicken, to seafood, back to pork again, and was just generally a glorious pot of hodgepodge stew. I kept it going for about five month, and only ended it because I'd forgotten to add more liquid to it during a particularly bad week when the riots had gotten bad enough that I couldn't get home for four days. It had already been low before that, so when I came home, it was to find a layer of baked on carbon at the bottom of the pot. If it hadn't been for that, I very well could have kept it going indefinitely, so the two hundred year old pottage story is actually plausible; you'd just need to keep a very close eye on it.

The pottage pot your talking about is often referred to as a community pot. Common all over Europe during the middle ages from Bohemia to France to England. I don't know specifically about the 200 year pot. but it was a point of pride for how long an inn, tavern, or pub could keep one going. Locals could pay for a bowl by bringing scraps to throw in the pots.

Just in time for morning coffee!

Four or five times a year I make myself a batch of sweet Frumenty which I then eat as a desert until it’s gone. It’s mediaeval and it’s lovely. Good little film, thank you.

So glad you are recovering! I got covid before I could get the shot. Took me out for 2 solid months. Hospitalized for a few hours at one point. Not fun. This is a serious sickness, people need to take it seriously.

Kevin glad you did well with COVID. Military encampment and life really hasn't changed much. Thanks for another wonderful episode. May GOD bless

Sorry to hear you got sick, but happy to see you recovering. Good to hear. And offering us another lovely video. A week after I went to a Revolutionary War camp. (Amazing how little changes over time) Really neat to see the figures for burial and all the little details.

Great video, Mr. Hicks! This camp set-up surely evolved quickly over time for high efficiency. Choosing a camp site would be the first consideration, and the good camps had to have a lot in common. Any practices that cost excess time, money or lives would rapidly fall out of use. The book you mention Vegetius's "De Re Militari" -- I have a copy. I was interested to find that it was in King Richard III's personal library. I'm glad you are feeling better! 🐗👑

Hope you get better soon once again love how you tell the story and make it come to life.

Delightful segment, thank you! The logistical needs of ancient armies while campaigning, and soldier life off the battlefield are criminally overlooked facets of war.

7:35 "It had been going for 200 years." That seems unlikely to say the least, just the fact that a pot won't last that long, let alone the fact that it's guaranteed that somebody will let it boil dry or just burn the contents. Anyway, boiling the food doesn't keep it safe, the ingredients will still degrade to a point where it's probably not a good idea to eat it anymore so they'd have to replace the entire contents of the pot every few days. (the entire pot has to be above 80 degrees to kill most bacteria and some simply don't die from boiling at all) Anyway, it's a cool legend and it would be interesting to know more about that.

Love just how vividly and clearly you’ve related us back into history

Hope you get well soon This was very interesting. I was for example unaware of the origin of the word harbinger. And yes, I am fairly confident that medieval life in general and medieval camp-life in particular would have been far more pleasant and clean than it often is portrayed. That said diseases where unfortunately a major threat so I suspect that it often would have been balancing upon a particular fine edge.

"Kevin made a model!" Glad you're feeling better.

That was a beautiful story. Well done. Reminds me of camp life today!

I love my country's history, and this channel brings it to life. Thank you.😀

I love the very detailed and accurate model camp there!

Well I'm glad I missed that lifestyle by some hundreds of years. I'm also glad I saw this very interesting video. I'll watch it again soon. Thanks.

Horrid to hear you were sick, all my well-wishes to you! Your keep amazing me with the models you provide for your videos, they're so intricate and such an amazing visual tool to help imagine these historic scenes!

Wish a quick recovery! Glad to hear you’re doing well/better. I’d love to see a video on medieval food one day. An average soldier to commanders (or commonfolk)

Greetings once again from nova Scotia, thanks again, very informative, fun and interesting. I have to say, I never really thought about the reality of medieval camp life, but you have shown it was better than most of us thought. Thanks for that, I can almost hear the ruckus. As always best regards, Arthur

Hello Mr Hicks, great video as always, I love your passion and knowledge and wisdom on the past events. I think I believe I'm from the Celtic times but the number of years ago when this would've happened and you can document it is great . You are an in aspiration to every level of the generations, I'm a bowman and think what you say is spot on. Great content.

Perry miniatures, I see Kevin is a man of culture!

Ive been watching your videos non stop for days. I dunno how your channel isn't 10x bigger, youre an amazing storyteller and the models/dioramas and outfits are awesome touches

"The Perpetual Soup" is something that's actually a legend in various places; my favourite is the "forever gumbo" I heard about in the Southern US, but googling it, I find next to nothing. I've heard similar stories in the Nordics, in Germany and now from England, and amusingly enough the American one also has the government stepping in.

I stayed at a B&B on Islay. On each table was a bottle of Laphroaig. The hostess encouraged us to add a wee dram to our outmeal. Best oatmeal ever.

Glad your recovering and feeling better! And glad you're well enough to give us another interesting video.

A fascinating look into camp life. Thank you Kevin.

Wow, sir, you took these figurines to the next level!

Well described.I should imagine that it was h huge thing to move not only the bowmen,but the whole army.The amount of food they went through must have been enormous.I guess they stocked up by getting meat from farms and hunting on the way,and the grain and flour from mills. They must have found certain areas they went through a lot harder to get supplies from too as well.But I bet it was a sight to see when the armies were marching .I hope you get better soon.Don’t rush too much ,get rest too..Love n Light 🥰

Well done Kevin, well done.

Get well soon Kevin!

This is awesome answering so many questions I have had!

Another great job. Glad to see you are up and about!

Thank you Mr Hicks!

Great visuals and knowledge thank you

My 21st great grandfather, John Savile, gathered and sent 30 archers to serve in John of Gaunt’s 1373 campaign during the Hundred Years War. To know what those 30 archers may have lived like on campaign is awesome

Glad you’re getting back on track. All the very best. Great video as always

Excellent Mr Hicks. More information stored in my head. Thank you very much. Great little model too.

This is a great subject for a video! I love it!

Good to see you back!

Wonderful!

Great job

Another great one. I've got my daughter watching you now also. She is the other curious critter in my family. At 70yrs old I love to see her as curious as I am. I had a couple of courses in this time period way back in the 70s at UNC, but I think I never had it taught as spellbinding as from you.

Fantastic Vid Mr Hicks sir.

amazing content!

Thank you for this interesting presentation. 👍🏹✔

What an education, thank you again.👍

Great stuff. Keep it up

Thank you for such an envolving facinating look at history...

As always, a great video!

Hi Kevin, I can't remember where I read about this, but it has stuck in my mind for a long time. You mentioned Pottage, and being a Scot, I have been fascinated with the first wars of Independence and how the Scots improvised in order to negate their inferior army numbers against the better equipped English armies. Obviously when fighting with guerrilla tactics mobility is crucial. The Scots would make an oatmeal paste and place it underneath the saddle blanket as they were riding allowing the sweat from the horses flank to flavour the mixture which then hardened into what we call 'bannocks' or oat biscuits. A genius way to provide food whilst on the move. Like I say I wish I could reference the source of this knowledge . I'm sure I didn't dream it. Love your channel content, you're enthusiasm shines through. Well done.👍

breaking the camp followers arms is enough for me. my parents had a cottage at rice lake. our neighbor bert matley had a big groove on his chin and neck. he laughed and told me he was ordered to dig a latrine and while doing it germans shelled and he was wounded digging the toilet. he jumped in the hole but got hit. he laughed it off. pension for life. his father matt had a huge groove on his back having been shelled in ww1. they were great guys. cruelty in the past was so common.it is hard to accept gouging out eyes. cutting off noses and ears, as common practice. thumbs up. thank you for the show kevin.

The miniature dioramas are fantastic! Thank you for sharing your passion and knowledge.

Sorry to hear that you came down with the dreaded C19, Kevin. Glad you're feeling a bit better now and testing negative again. Another excellent video - When working, I've often described how many people were involved in the transportation, setting up of camps and the general day-to-day life of the camps to people, and folks are usually very surprised at the amount. I think we are used to military units being small groups of men, not the almost-towns that went with medieval armies! You mentioned about the inn with the pottage bowl. I don't know about that, but I do know that in the 18th C Coaching inns, the innkeeps used to time the giving of such a hot bowl of pottage so that, although they had paid, the customers didn't have time to eat it all before they had to be on the road again. They then used to pour the leftover pottage back in the cauldron. More profit and less cost to them...good scam if you could time it right!

Love your history lessons, and love your models with such amazing attention to detail! Thank you for sharing them with us. :)

I Find all your videos very informative and entertaining, interesting to say the least. Thank you

Absolutely wonderful video!

Man this channel is just great.

Loved the vid. Cheers and much health to you, sir.

Medieval Covid, glad your on the mend mucker, great video to add to the series.

Love these vids they are full of the sort of micro details that bring history to life....

Brilliant!!!!! Subscribed

Loved your story! And all the models, wow!

A great visual from your narrative. Thanks for sharing Kevin!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery Kevin, hope you are back to 100% soon, Thanks for another fascinating insight into medieval life.

Just randomly stumbled upon this, great video and insight! Subbed!

Your a very good story teller,thank you, god bless

Thanks for the outstanding content!! Hope you feel better soon. 🙂

Awesome in every way!

I have recently discovered your awesome history channel, but watching your guide to raising an English army and you mention North Staffordshire. I am from Ipstones originally, worked in Leek, later lived in Cheadle, last 23 years in Burton on Trent where my children have grown up. I love family history, my ancestors were the Whelocks of Whelock hall in Cheshire ( Wheelock by Sandbach), a connection with the Staffordshireoorlands from the time of Henry II. They were Harbingers for Richard II, but sadly part of the rebellion against Henry IV and the last John Whelock had the Manor taken from him after the Battle, however,any were forgiven by Henry and his son Richard got the land back, and then married the widow of Sir Richard Vernon, who the Whelocks served, (who was hung drawn and quartered at Shrewsbury) without Henry IVs permission, a real love story for which he was fined heavily. You are helping to fill in some of the gaps, thank you. Kevin Whilock

Glad to see you up and about. Hope you have a full and quick recovery. God bless

very interesting and very creative.

Thanks for the video

Great video has always! And have quick recovery from covid .

Nice to hear your making a full recovery there Kevin, love your videos, love your knowledge, it is very inspiring. Hope you have a merry christmas.

Glad to see you're feeling better. Also "i've done my Kevin thing" is something you should say more often lol

Thanks Kevin! From Perth, Australia

Great video Kevin, hope you're feeling better soon.

I’ve done medieval encampments, and camps whilst out hunting. The sounds and smells you described pulled me back there. I had a knack for campfire cooking (even did lobster tails several times, but we won’t go there). My specialty was bacon, eggs any way, and garlic bread. When I cooked that, campers came from all over just to see what was going on, and a usually forlorn hope of getting a hand out from le Chef, moi. Thanks for the presentation and the memories. Cheers!

I am also recovering from Covid and your videos have been such a welcome entertainment during this time!! Thank you! Wishing you a speedy recovery! ☺️

thanks, this was brilliant. such a nice insight! i never tire of those "tidbits"... wouldn't mind a playlist for just those, if you fancy it! :)

Love your channel, the way you tell your stories makes you feel you're living the situation. ❤️

Hello Kevin! Good to hear you’re doing well, thank you for making this great content! As someone who likes to write and getting into traditional archery it’s all very helpful! Thank you.

Another great model and story, stay safe....cheers, Peter from Denmark

Thank you, sir. I have taken such pleasure watching your subscription base grow. Much deserved! Glad to hear you are recovering. Excellent video as always. Look forward to the next!

So sorry to hear you had COVID Kevin! I hope your little campers don't get any more sick!