In their competitive bouts, Knights didn’t battle to the death.  Why not?  Because who would the kings have sent to battle if their best fighters took each other out?  That and many other tidbits of Middle Ages lore were shared with La Mesa Middle School history students late Wednesday afternoon on the upper soccer fields west of campus.

Organized by eighth-grade history teacher Eileen LaVine and seventh-grade history teachers Jennifer Schroeder and Heather Filippelli, the Renaissance Faire exposed kids to food, fashion and even dances of that time. The married Santee couple April and Scott Farrell showed off armor (even if the replicas were only 20 years old, they looked ancient). And Asa Keefe engaged Scott in some swordplay, stressing that killing your opponent was a sign of lack of control.