Our Mission:
Members of the Guild of St. Matthias portray 16th century English soldiers and their support staff at faire.
At faires, where appropriate, we seek to play members of the Garrison of Dublin, a real regiment of soldiers that came into being in the 1530’s. They did not leave Ireland until the formation of the Irish Free State in 1921.
In the case of an early Tudor faire, prior to the foundation of the Garrison of Dublin in 1534, we shall portray the Garrison of Calais, an English holding until the 1550’s.
We are semi-fictional as we are not actually organized in the same manner as they were and we do not play specific real life members of the garrison. Members of the Guild not portraying soldiers either are members of the Lord Deputy/Garrison commander’s household, or represent the various merchants that sold day to day items to the soldiers, or the support staff required to run a garrison.
At certain faires we may be required to portray the Lord Deputy of Ireland or even an English ambassador in the case of a Scottish faire. This is perfectly acceptable and does not stray too far from our primary goals.