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Sir Marc d’Aubigny slips into his armor, puts on his helmet, grabs his sword and marches into battle for the defense of Middlegate.

The battlefield: Lake Daniel Park in Greensboro.

Middlegate is Guilford, Rockingham, Randolph, Davidson and Stokes counties.

And Sir Marc is actually Mark Green, a 54-year-old landscape professional and former paratrooper who now fights in the guise of a medieval knight.

Green is a member of the local chapter of the Society of Creative Anachronism, an organization of swashbucklers, artisans and history buffs that re-creates the dress, arts and fighting style of Europe in the Middle Ages, a time period featured in the new film “Robin Hood,” which opens today.

The SCA doesn’t steal from the rich to give to the poor, nor does it in engage in anything else outside the law. But its members do hope that the new film will spark renewed interest in their organization.

“A lot of our people, they found out about our organization after seeing 'A Knight’s Tale’ 10 years ago,” said Nikole Petersen, aka Murienne L’aloiere, seneschal or leader of the Barony of Sacred Stone, the SCA’s regional branch. “And I think everybody grows up with an image in their mind of King Arthur and the Round Table and the chivalry and the honor. That really draws people in.”

Robin Reid , aka Robyn A’Dearg , seneschal of the Canton of Crois Brigte (the Winston-Salem chapter of the SCA) said the biggest misconception about his organization is “that we are just a bunch of geeks playing silly games.”

“We can laugh at ourselves,” said 44-year-old Reid, who works in retail management. He was attending an archery event in Boonville. “But we have a variety of professionals and nonprofessionals out here, trying to re-create a few things without just living in front of a television.”

They also are not LARPers (people involved in live-action role-playing), who act out Dungeons & Dragons-type scenarios, nor do they host renaissance fairs (though many people who take part in those activities also take part in SCA).

Like those groups, however, they put on archery competitions, arts workshops and combat tournaments. And many participants make their own costumes, and some even fashion their own weapons.

“That’s one of the great things about it, that we can actually go in and give people a hands-on history lesson,” said Petersen, 32, who works as a church secretary. “Because there’s nothing more that really sticks in your mind than being able to touch and feel things as they would have been.”

Founded in 1966 by a group of amateur historians and fantasy enthusiasts, the organization consists of 30,000 members spread out across 19 “kingdoms” around the world. North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as three other Southern states and the District of Columbia, fall into the Kingdom of Atlantia.

The kingdoms are divided into shires and baronies, which are divided in cantons. Crois Brigte and the Greensboro-based Canton of Middlegate are part of the Barony of Sacred Stone.

The organization, Petersen says, attracts people interested in genealogy, heraldry and chivalry, as well as artisans who want to dabble in medieval crafts and those who just like the adventure.
Locally, the SCA’s ranks include lawyers, computer programmers and teachers.

Some liken themselves to Civil War re-enactors but with more hand-to-hand combat.

On the field at Lake Daniel Park, the combatants swing at each other, their swords hitting fiberglass shields with loud thwacks.

Green, who has been in the SCA for 11 years, shows off his gear: a 12-gauge steel helmet that weighs 10 pounds and is padded on the inside, “armor” made of buffalo rawhide and hard plastic and a “sword” made from rattan.

“It’s a fibrous material,” he says. “It has the weight of a real weapon but doesn’t splinter. When it starts breaking down, it basically becomes like a broom.”

Unlike real knights, the fighters of SCA try not to hurt their opponents — not too badly, anyway.

“If someone does get hurt, it usually means they fell in a hole or twisted an ankle,” Petersen says. “Basically, the same type of thing as would happen on a camping trip.”

As Green explained, “it’s also a good cardiovascular exercise.”

And unlike the kingdoms of medieval Europe, the SCA steers clear of religious disputes and elects its leaders democratically.

“We re-create the fun and stay away from the politics,” Reid says. “We try to re-create the more positive aspects of the Middle Ages. The whole idea is a bit of escapism. Come out and get away from your regular life.”

In Boonville, at the site of the archery event, someone has built a miniature castle. Vendors are peddling medieval-style jewelry, mugs made of leather and beeswax, and wooden bows.

Wayne Remes, aka Axel of Taavastia, presides over the scene in his robes and baronial coronet.

The 53-year-old computer programmer has been in SCA since 1982 and said the appeal for him can be summed by the fact that “knights are just cool.”

“It was a heroic age,” he said. “And Americans are very much into that loner mystique. And visually it’s like comparing medieval and samurai movies to westerns. Visually, you can’t do with a pistol what you can with a sword. You get to watch these guys use swords and come out here and kick butt.”

Contact Robert C. Lopez at 691-5091 or robert.lopez@news-record.com