HUNTINGTON BEACH : When Knighthood Was in Flower

Dressed like a squire, Jackie Whitlinger, 13, armed herself with a three-foot-long foam lance and climbed aboard her faithful steed: a tricycle. Her opponent did the same.

Cheered on by hundreds of other students in medieval garb, the combatants pedaled toward each other and flailed away until Jackie won the mock joust by knocking away a balloon fastened to her foe’s arm.

“It was pretty scary, but I knew I could win,” she declared.

The combat was part of a medieval fair Thursday at Stacey Intermediate School, where 350 seventh-graders adopted the identities, clothing and customs of a bygone age.

“It’s fun. I’m a queen, so I get to order people around and do whatever I want,” said Ryel Weaver, 13. “I’ve already executed 17 people,” she said with a grin. The fair, which capped eight weeks of study and historical research, included catapult demonstrations, fortunetelling and crafts.

Students eagerly researched the Middle Ages because they wanted to learn what life was like for those they chose to portray, said history teacher Sue Nettleton, who coordinated the event.

Among other things, she said, students learned that “they probably wouldn’t be thrilled to live in that time. . . . It was inconvenient, and there were no baths.”

Shawna Jones, 12, said dressing in costume and re-enacting portions of history help students retain what they learn.

“When you do something like this,” she said as fellow students strolled by in crowns, robes and cardboard armor, “it tends to make an impression.”