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Herzogin Katharina von Lothringen of Kaiserreich

Gambargin

Published: Aug 22, 2015

11.1K Views

femalewarrior german historical holyromanempire medieval femaleknight middleages womenwarrior gambargin historicallywrongsketch

Description

A Concept Drawing of a Western German (Lotharingia) Woman Warrior in the Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited, which is roughly based on the Middle ages covering 800s AD to 1400s AD. She represents the Western German People of the Holy Roman Empire, whose history includes the Kingdom of Lotharingia and various duchies as well as counties along the Rhine river in the middle ages.

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Inspired by the music: Lacrimosa & Preliator - Prelude to Calamity

INTRODUCTION

The history of the Holy Roman Empire in the middle ages is as diverse as the varity of people contained within the kaiser's realm. However, the idea of feudalism wasn't widely adopted by the German nobility, especially in the early days after the split of Carolingian Empire. The German Lords of Northern and Eastern Marches still held their militaristic tradition, albeit with much more conviction after their conversion to Christianity, something which helped them to raise impressive military force against external and internal foes. The situation was much different in the case of Western Germany, especially along the Rhine, where feudalism took a strong root. Feudal Lords, Free Cities and Bishopric existed alongside one another, creating a mix but prosperous region that contributed not only to the economy of the Holy Roman Empire, but also to it's culture, art and literature. Unfortunately, it all came to a steep decline in the 14th century with the arrival of black death, and since then, the land had seen numerous battles fought over the region.

DRAWING COMMENTARIES

I must admit, it's been quite a long time since I started this drawing. Unfortunately, the roller-coaster events in my life as well as lack of inspiration have prevented me from completing this piece....that is, until I receive a suggestion from another talented deviant Pelycosaur24 who suggested to include the Mongols in the series, based on the Battle of Legnica/Liegnitz in the 13th century. I find it rather relieving to see that, sometimes, the things you need to inspire you the most, lies under your nose

. Nevertheless, after much review of my previous works, I wanted to break from the usual style of my work and decided to include an element which I have little skills at, an element called mounted cavalry. Horses have always been a challenge for me to depict, so Hopefully i did the horse justice

In this drawing, Duchess Katharina is depicted in the stylistic mail & surcoat with a decorated great helm with bull crest; This depiction is perhaps common amongst the western european knights of 13th century. The horse is covered in mail armor to compensate my lack of skills in horses anatomy, while the bull crest and the swastika christian cross are purely for stylization (debating about these are just a waste of your time).

As for her adversaries, the Mongol behind her is depicted in mongol heavy cavalrymen lamellar armor, complete with metal helmet and metal shield. He would either be an elite warrior or an officer within the mongol army. The rest of the scene are drawn roughly as I ran out of strenght to create more detailed scene