My Heroines: Katarina Örnfot

A union of the Nordic countries called the Kalmar union, was established by Queen Margareta in 1397 and in 1997 there was therefore a big jubliee in the Swedish town Kalmar (which gave its name to the union.
Swedish Television (SVT) has usually a special show for children in the mornings during the summer holidays. In 1997 the plot of that show told the story about Nils Svensson who has a great interest in knights and travels to Kalmar in 1997 to take part of the jubilee and through his mobile phone ends up in Kalmar 1397. There he befriends Erik of Pomerania who was crowned king in the last episode and the rather clumsy knight Riddare Rosenstråle. His best friend, however, is Katarina Örnfot (Anna Rydgren).

Katarina is the daughter of the knight Bengt Örnfot and most of her other family died from the plague. She has had a brother named Karl too. He was a squire. Bengt was injured in the war against the, so called, mecklenburgarna* and cannot fulfil his duties as a knight. Because of this Karl is given the task of representing him so the family can keep their position in the nobility. The big problem is that Karl died in battle with mecklenburgarna. This is kept a secret between Katarina and her father to not jeopardise their social position. Also because of this, Katarina takes on the role as squire and becomes the best rider in all of Kalmar. The reason why it has to be kept a secret is because women were not allowed to become knights, something they also clearify many times in the show. However Katarina's story might not have been so fictive as you might have thought.

The general picture of the woman in the Middle Ages have changed a lot in recent years and Katarina seems to reflect this. The portrayal of the woman in the Middle Ages was actually one of the main problems I had with SVT:s julkalender (christmas calender) Tusen år till julafton (1000 years to christmas eve) last year (2015).

Tusen år till julafton depicted the medieval woman as precluded from society, trapped in some castle all the time and boring in general. A picture that has been questioned a lot by researcher of the last decades. Katarina is a strong contrast to this picture. She is actually quite the opposite: colourful and independent. She takes an active role in her society and she is never overshadowed by her male companions in the show.

I like the plotpoint of her being a squire and later dubbed as a knight in her own name. I can also oversee with the anachronism of this because they explained that women were not allowed to become knights so much. It is a perfect example of how you, inside the frame of a fictive historical narrative can problematize an issue from the time period in which the story takes place. It legitimize the liberties taken by the people behind the story. This is one of the biggest issues (besides showing an outdated picture of the medieval woman) that I have with Tusen år till julafton as well. In the episode that portrayed the noble classes of the Middle Ages, they had both a woman being a knight and also a girl training to become one and they never revealed anything about the fact that women could not become knights! (In fact they were often rather hard on real historic girls in that calender, but that is a topic for another entry.)

In recent years a lot of research has shown that Katarina might not have been alone. There are quite a lot of female warriors and not least female defenders throughout the Middle Ages (There is actually a Swedish website called Kvinnliga krigare about them.). In fact Erik of Pomerania was surrounded by them. Margareta's way to all the Nordic thrones did not come easy and Erik's wife Philippa/Filippa (daughter of Henry IV of England) is known to have defended Copenhagen during an attack from the Hanseatic league in 1428. The medieval, European society seems to have required a man even during times when they were not present. A fact that Katarina depicts beautifully.

Unlike, for example, the character Brienne in Game of Thrones, Katarina is not reduced to being "just one other tomboyish female who gets to play knight" either. She also has a side to her that would probably be seen as traditionally female. She is caring and from time to time also quite motherly towards the boys in the show. She is allowed to show a much better and varied picture of a female character and I love characters like that! They are not reduced to stereotypes, which I think makes them seem more real. I also love how much research really seems to have gone into the show. Nils meets people that did really live in Kalmar during the late 14th century! They also seemed to have a plan on what they wanted to tell and how. It was more than just entertainment. Like with Horrible Histories, they wanted to educate children and managed to do so very well. It is a shame that there was not so much follow up to the interest the show got from the audience.

The theme of the show was the 14th century ballad Douce Dame Jolie by Guillaume de Machaut.

The autograph I got from the actress Anna Rydgren who
played Katarina.

I know I kind of bashed Tusen år till julafton a lot in this entry, but I was kind of disappointed even though they managed pretty good we a lot of things (e.g. with explaining the estates of the realm during the 17th century). My measurements for good educational shows about history are Salve and Horrible Histories and Katarina and the medieval women Horrible Histories portrays (for example Jeanne d'Arc and Black Agnes) are really so much better representations of what a woman of that time period was like. This is really why I have so much problem with the calendar's portrayal of them which I felt was prejudiced and also somewhat condescending.


*Mecklenburgare is the term used for the supporter of  Albrekt of Mechlenburg who ruled over Sweden before Margareta seized also the Swedish throne. They are depicted as the antagonists of the show.