HWS Anglo-Saxon Medieval Woman Warrior Concept

Frua Aelfwynn Eadgarsdohtor of Dornwaracester, Albion Rice

Medieval Anglo-Saxon (Norman Conquest) Woman Warrior Concept -  A part of Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited which aims to portray fictional Women Warriors of various cultures in a historical settings based on AD 800s - AD 1400s era of warfare

Inspired by: youtu.be/HYMA7ld6hRQ

==rawing Commentaries===

This drawing is my attempt at portraying the Anglo-Saxons during the time of Norman Conquest, as part of the "Throne of Britannia" chapter in the coming HWS artbook, illustrating women warriors based on the historical English arms and armor from 9th CE - 15th CE. Here, Lady Aelfwyn is depicted based on the elite huskarl/housecarl of the Anglo-Saxon kings taken from the Bayeux Tapestry. Her weapons are standard for a well of warrior, with the additional Great Dane Axe that tells much about Aelfwyn strenght and martial ability. The sword is pretty small though, perhaps due to my own error.

By the time of the Norman Invasion in the 11th CE, most of the Anglo-saxon warrior elites would have worn the same or similar equipments like what was worn in continental france, featuring mail hauberk, aventail and conical helmet. On the other hand, the rest of the Anglo-saxon retinues and freemen still fought in traditional manner with spears, seax, swords, axe as well as large shields to create defensive shieldwalls. The men in the background represents her household troops who are armed and equipped in similar manner. As for additional artistic immersion, I have added a wyvern on the banner as well as some short of battle clash against the Normans.

While there are still plenty of errors and imperfections in this drawing, hope you guys like it 😅.

===Historical Commentaries===

Before the Normans landed in the shores of England in 1066, the land was ruled by ferocious and proud Germanic people called the Anglo-Saxons. These Anglo-saxons themselves were not native to the land, rather, they originated from the migration of some of the powerful continental germanic tribes during the Migration era. These included the Saxons of northern Germany & Holland, Angles from the land of Angeln located south of Danish peninsula and Jutes from Jutland.While the migration process of these germanic people to britain was still under scholarly studies, the first migration may have takne place just before the fall of Roman Britannia during the 5th century AD. Centuries of intercultural interactions with the remnants of Roman Briton, as well as the neighboring celts, lead to the foundation of several Anglo-saxon kingdoms that fought for the supremacy of England, some of which included Northumbria, Mercia and finally Wessex. The Viking invasion in the 9-10th century eventually paved a way for the consolidation of power under the Wessex hegemony, giving birth to the Kingdom of England that stood until it was conquered in 1066 by another invader from the European continent, the Norman

Just like their Scandinavian and other Germanic brethren, the Anglo-saxon society were more or less similar, though unlike their pagan cousin from Scandinavia, the Anglo-saxon converted to christiany much earlier. In the case of Women Warriors, the Anglo-saxons had quite a few women who held position of power, leading their men to battle and possibly taking part in the combat themselves. One example would be the sister of Edward the Elder of Wessex, Aethelflaed of Mercia. What's interest‌ing is that, history rarely mentioned Aethelflaed contribution towards helping her brother in defeating the danes and uniting the Anglo-saxons, as opposed to say, the more famous viking shieldmaidens in their scandinavian sagas. The reason was pretty simple, the chroniclers wanted to assert political dominance of Wessex rather than mercia, so Aethelflaed was only briefly mentioned