HOME | DD
SteveLeCouilliard — Viking and Arab
Published: 2013-08-04 05:32:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 7407; Favourites: 173; Downloads: 37
Redirect to original
Description
My friend Leia Weathington, award-winning author of Bold Riley, tweeted an idea for an adventure story about "a Swedish Viking lady and an Islamic bean-counter lady tearing ass across the continents in the 12th Century". Well I happened to know that Vikings frequently hired themselves out to the Byzantines in Constantinople, which would have put them in direct contact with the Islamic world, and yes Viking women were known to fight, and there is at least one historical account of women fighting with the Varangians (Vikings, Saxons, Danes and Rus in the employ of Byzantium).The Viking woman is wearing Varangian costume and the Muslim woman is wearing what may be totally inaccurate period costume, but decipherable reference of 12th Century Muslim women is really hard to find.
Related content
Comments: 28
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is nought but awesomeness! Oooh! Idea! The Arab lady hired the Swede as a bodyguard while she goes tramping about Europe, for some reason. . . Maybe she's being chased? Opportunities to show all sorts of cool medieval cultures. Or it could be some kind of mystery intrigue plot set in constantinople with the two working together! So many cool ideas to use! Might have to write my own story You could even throw in a romantic subplot between the two. Great art!
👍: 1 ⏩: 0
I don't know what they'll do to the Enemy, but they certainly Intimidate me!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Ohhhh!!!! THIS IS SO COOL! I really love the idea!! Not to mention the skillful rendering of it in your beautiful art style!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I can imagine the Viking Varangian being played by Jeri Ryan and the mysterious Arab traveller played by Gina Bellman (if this was live action).
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
from a historic point of view it would be interesting to see the contrast in the
Varangian Guard itself during the 12th century were it was a mix of different ethinc groups from the north, also around this time you have the aftermath of the first crusade and the slow build up to the second in mid 12th century so that mite play into things.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
kinda reminds me of the book "Eaters of the dead: the Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating his Experiences with the Nirthmen in A.D. 922" a fictional story about a real a Muslim delegate to the Russian vikings.
but i think the 12th Century is a little to late for a viking and a Muslim to meet. i think it's to deep into the Crusades and the viking are long ago 'civilized' and adopted Christianity.
I advice you to choose an earlier date, Islamic city society was far more open then it is today up until the 10th century, when the Islamic world when began a cultural social decline, leaving you much more liberty to dress your Arab woman with something other then this rag.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Eaters of the Dead (or the film version: The 13th Warrior) was Leia's inspiration, I think.
Viking society definitely changed after the first millenium, but the Varangians continued to serve Constantinople well into the 15th Century. From Wikipedia:
"The kings of Norway continued to assert power in parts of northern Britain and Ireland, and raids continued into the 12th century, but the military ambitions of Scandinavian rulers were now directed toward new paths. In 1107, Sigurd I of Norway sailed for the eastern Mediterranean with a host of Norwegian crusaders to fight for the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem , and the Danes and Swedes participated energetically in the Baltic Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries.[56] "
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
So, Viking Christians leaned more towards Eastern Orthodoxy at this time?
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
awesome!
so why not dress an Arab male, like you did with the viking girl?
any way i live in the middle east, in Israel but i have Arab friends in Palestine, and been to Palestinian cities, you rarely see woman dress like that today and I doubt they dressed like it in the 12th century, it's more of a stereotype really.
seems more something you'd see among desert old school bedouins, but even their cloth is more decorated. just wrote on Google the term 'Bedouin woman' and got some interesting more colorful clothing, wonder how fashion changed since then.
here i found a picture what is supposed to be medieval Arab dresses www.riley-smith.com/crispian/d… . all very colorful.
good luck. I'm fascinated by the era, and really interested in seeing how it goes for you.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks for the input. I was at a loss for the Muslim woman's costume, so I went for contrast instead. I don't know exactly what Leia has in mind, but I picture these two a bit like Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin from Master and Commander. The Viking is a boastful, carousing roughneck and the Muslim is a fastidious introvert. That's just my take though.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Hmm. Where is the Muslim lady from, exactly? That would determine her costume.
The first nationality that jumps out at me would be the Sultanate of Rum, in Anatolia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ana…
In which case she might look like this: www.levantia.com.au/clothing/t… , or this www.turkishculture.org/pages.p… (which is from the Ottoman period, but is at least a step in the right direction).
An interesting wrinkle on your scenario would be interaction with Christian "ghulam" soldiers, taken as children from Greeks-speaking communities to be trained. The Viking might actually find it convenient to BE a ghulam while in Rum, for legal reasons, but in any case she will certainly meet the real ones.
Another possibility would be an actual Arabic-speaking woman, perhaps a subject of the Ayyubid Dynasty. And indeed, there is a famous Ayyabid woman: Shajar al-Durr, of whom there are some (who knows how accurate) pictures 1.bp.blogspot.com/-sgQg1KUmTDM… , and www.freeegypt.info/Data/HTMLEd…
This one's from the right time, although Persian rather than Arab (upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia…
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Hey Daniel,
This is all speculation based on a tweet, so I don't know where the Muslim woman is meant to be from exactly. There are obviously loads of places to choose from. Andalusia is tempting. I just went with something that contrasts well with the big colorful Swede.
The "ghulam" idea is interesting. I guess those were precursors to the Janissaries?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Hm. I suppose it's possible an Andalusian Berber ended up in the Levant, or a Varangian Viking ended up in Iberia. Maybe they both met halfway in North Africa?
Dark robes do make good style...but it looks like women at the time wore bright, light colors to show how rich they were (which a Varangian's employer would be). What if your Muslim merchant is dressing as a man, or as a desert nomad, in order to keep a low profile?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
There was so much commerce between Islamic states and Europe in the Middle Ages that anyone could end up anywhere. I think the crux of the problem is "why?". What occupation would a Muslim woman have that would require her to travel around? Historian? Mathematician? Astronomer? Spy? It would make sense for her to hire a bodyguard, especially another woman for the sake of propriety, and since most Medieval cultures were pretty strict about gender roles, a Viking shield maiden would be a rare exception.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
Astronomer/spy would be cool, especially since she could legitimately say "I need to travel north to get a better look at a constellation you can't see from my latitude." Merchant or banker would also work. You'll probably have to explain why she isn't traveling with a male relative, though. Perhaps her family died, or she's a wealthy widow? Perhaps she's a widow and her brothers are trying to take her fortune, and she's escaping from them? As far as I know, the Seljuks at least let women inherit, but I don't know about the Moors or the Ayybusids.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Also "low profile" and "Viking"... Haha.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
looks interesting; as an archaeologist and all around medieval nut I've been looking forward to such a work, if you need any help or just want to talk about the period let me know
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Cool. I'll keep that in mind!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Dude, I can't get enough of this pic. It kicks so much ass.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks! It's such a great story idea that it's amazing I haven't seen it before.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Wonderful job! I love how different the two women are. And great job on the Varagnian outfit. Looks really good!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you! I wanted to play up the contrast between the characters. Bright colors against dark.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Byzantium and Islam had a complicated relationship. It isn't hard to think of a scenario where citizens of either side might want to cooperate.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0