HWS Migration Era (Old) Saxon Shieldmaiden Concept

Scildmæg Suanhilde Sigwardsdohtor of Sahsonland

A concept drawing of Late Antiquity/Migration Era Saxon Woman Warrior for the Late Antiquity HWS Project: Rise of Kings and Queens which aims to portray Women Warriors of various cultures in a fictitious anachronistic historical settings based on the Migration Era. As described, the project deals with the late antiquity era which covers the fall of the Roman Empire, Germanic Migration, Sassanids Juggernaut and the Hunnic Invasion. Technically speaking, she represents the Saxons, one of the forefather of Anglo-Saxons.

Inspired by the music: Thor by Andreas Waldentoft




The Saxons has always been something that took my interest ever since I started the Historically Wrong Sketch series, mainly from the fact that the Anglo-Saxons had some pretty cool helmet at their disposals, whose elite warriors knew how to fight in style and deal some serious damage equally. The introduction of Mount & Blade warband: Viking Conquest also made things alot more interesting; I was fortunate to expand the series into migration era as it allowed me to experiment with another portrayal of the Saxons, the forefathers of the Anglo-Saxons.

Technically speaking, the Saxons in the later stage of the migration era were divided into two main groups. Those that migrated to the british isles alongside with the Angles and Jutes, intermixed with the local briton and romano-britons, giving birth to Anglo-Saxons. On the other hand, the Saxons who stayed behind in their homeland, later known as Old Saxony, continued to raid their neighbors, until they were subjugated by the Carolingian Franks in the early 9th century. As such, while artifacts belonging to the Saxons in the early migration era is somewhat rare, the burial finds in England which corresponds to the 6th-7th century provided wealth of inspiration and references for this drawing

Here, shieldmaiden Suanhilde (Swanhild) is depicted in a rather stylized but very heavy attires, consisting of benty-grange helmet boar spangenhelm-like helmet, which was excavated from an Anglo-Saxon tumulus (or barrow) at the Benty Grange Farm in Derbyshire, as well as gambeson over mail. The pouch, shield and belt accessories are derived from Sutton Hoo burials, though I did add some personal artistic touch. A quick observation on her attires gives an impression of very expensive equipment, something that was reserved only to the lords, their close retainers and the richest of elite warriors at that time.  Unfortunately, this portrayal isn't your typical lovely shieldmaiden, but rather, one who is happy to remove her opponents head from their shoulders .

On the other hand, the background of this drawing is one where i tried to draw in a faster manner, hence the lack of detail as compared to other drawings. The Saxon lords on the right hand side are depicted in the Pioneer Helmet and Sutton Hoo helmet respectively. The Pioneer Helmet, or the  Wollaston Helmet, is a 7th century Anglo-Saxon helmet similar to the Coppergate helmet, though it bears a boar crest and much larger in size. The Sutton Hoo helmet is perhaps the most famous of Anglo-Saxon helmet, a highly decorated helmet of the early 7th century that was probably developed in paralel to the ones found at Vendel. Nevertheless, for some added details, I've included some dead roman soldiers, which may or may not make this drawing anachronistic.