In the Marvel Universe, one of the most skillful groups of warriors is the Dora Milaje – an all-female unit of special forces from the African-kingdom of Wakanda. While these elite warriors are fictional, there is some evidence of a force of African female archers who existed in the Middle Ages and even fought a battle in Spain.
Their story is found in the Primera Cronica General, also known as Estoria de España. Written in the second half of the thirteenth century, this work begins with Biblical and ancient history before focusing on events in Iberia. According to the Primera Cronica General, in the year 1099 the city of Valencia was under the rule of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid. However, just three days after his death on July 10th, a huge army arrived from Tunis to capture the city. Led by a certain King Bucar, his army included “a black Moorish woman, who had 300 black Moorish women with her.” The text goes on to describe them:
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All of them had their heads shaved, apart from a tuft which each of them had on the top of their head. This was because they came as if on a pilgrimage and to seek pardon. They were well armed with cuirasses and with Turkish bows. According to Abenalfarax, who was the one who transcribed this Historia in Arabic, there were at least 15,000 tents, and King Bucar ordered that black woman to station herself nearest the town with all her company.
The siege of Valencia lasted nine days, but then Alvar Fanez, El Cid’s deputy decided to make a surprise attack on the besiegers camp at sunrise. He had the body of Rodrigo Diaz embalmed and dressed in armour, and put him on a horse. The Christian forces with the dead El Cid then rode out of the city under the cover of darkness before making their attack.
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The Primera Cronica General relates what happens next:
The first charge was against the tents of that black Moorish woman, who was in the van, and so hard was the charge that they killed a good hundred of those Moorish women, before they could take arms and mount. But the History says that that Moorish woman so shrewd a master archer with the Turkish bow, that it was a wonder to behold, and for that reason, it says that the Moors called her in Arabic Nugeymath Turkia, which means ‘Stare of the Archers of Turkey’; and she was the first to ride forth, and the other hundred Moorish women, her companions, with her, and they wrought some harm in the Cid’s company.
With their leader defeated, the other female archers then fled, and this somehow caused the rest of King Bucar’s army to panic and flee to their ships, leaving the Cid with another legendary (and posthumous) victory.
Historians have usually dismissed this story as fiction, noting that after the Cid’s death there was no attempt by the Almoravids to take the city. It was, in fact, abandoned by the Christian forces in 1101 or 1102 before another siege could be started. Some believed that there might be some truth to this story, but not the idea that these could be female archers. As one historian commented, “Who can believe that a Muslim army ever contained a regiment of women, however monstrous?”
Such was the belief until an article by Elena Lourie was published in the year 2000. Lourie believes that the account of these African women warriors is historical but actually describes events from the year 1094, shortly after El Cid had captured Valencia. This action had provoked the Almoravid leader, Yusuf ibn Tashufin, to organize an expedition to retake the city. Armies were sent from all parts of Iberia and Yusif placed it under the command of his nephew. However, in October of that year, the Almoravid force was defeated by El Cid.
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The Historia Roderici, a biography of El Cid which dates from the early twelfth century, offers only a couple of paragraphs about the Siege of Valencia in 1094 – it does mention that during the siege the Almoravid forces would ride around the city, and “often used to fire arrows at the tents and dwellings of Rodrigo and his soldiers, provoking them to immediate combat.” The text then quickly goes over the Cid making a sortie from the city, which led to a major battle where the Almoravids were defeated.
El Cid depicted in a 16th-century book – WIkimedia Commons
Meanwhile, historians from al-Andalus offer a different take on El Cid’s victory, indicating that it was won through a trick. The Cid apparently had part of his men make a sortie out of Valencia, which drew the Almoravid fighters to one spot. As this was happening, Rodrigo and the rest of his troops left the city through a different gate, and then attacked the unprotected Almoravid camp. Those within the camp fled, and in the panic and confusion the other Muslim units retreated as well.
Lourie believes that the account in Primera Cronica General was originally from Abu-l-’Abbas ibn ‘Alqama, who wrote an account of El Cid’s conquest of Valencia before the year 1116. His account only survives in pieces, and that the Abenalfarax who is mentioned as the source for this story could likely be ibn ‘Alqama.
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Women warriors in medieval Ghana
If this story could be true, then where did these women come from? While Lourie notes that women sometimes played roles in warfare among the Berber and Tuareg peoples of northwest Africa (the Almoravids themselves were a Berber dynasty), she believes they actually came from the Kingdom of Ghana, which lies in western Africa. Connected by major trade routes, the Almoravids and Ghana were allies, with the latter even supplying troops to assist in Iberian campaigns. Moreover, some evidence also exists of the use of women in warrior roles in Ghana. “Regiments of women warriors were known in the Western Sudan,” Lourie writes, “and therefore it not inconceivable that a company of female archers might have served with Ghana’s Almoravid allies in Spain in 1094. Indeed the evidence from the Primera Cronica General may be regarded as a precious addition to the meager knowledge of Black African society and sex-roles in the Middle Ages.”
Only one other account of these warrior women exists. It comes from a sixteenth-century Castillian ballad, and presents these women in an even more admirable light, even though they are ultimately defeated and killed:
Alvar Fanez was the first Who charged with fury Upon the great force of Moors Assembled with Bucar. He found before him A beautiful Mooress, Skilled at shooting Arrows from a quiver With a Turkish bow; Star was what they called her Because of her excellence At striking with the javelin. She was the first Who took horse and rode forward With a hundred others like her, Valiant and daring. With fury the Cid’s vassals charged them And left them dead on the ground.
While perhaps these women were not superheroes like the Dora Milaje, they certainly did leave an impression as warriors that commanded respect even among their enemies.
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Elena Lourie’s article, “Black Women Warriors in the Muslim Army Besieging Valencia and the Cid’s Victory: A Problem of Interpretation,” is published in Traditio, Vol.55 (2000). You can access the article through Jstor or Cambridge University Press. Elena Lourie was a Professor at Ben Gurion University, where she focused on medieval Iberia.
In the Marvel Universe, one of the most skillful groups of warriors is the Dora Milaje – an all-female unit of special forces from the African-kingdom of Wakanda. While these elite warriors are fictional, there is some evidence of a force of African female archers who existed in the Middle Ages and even fought a battle in Spain.
Their story is found in the Primera Cronica General, also known as Estoria de España. Written in the second half of the thirteenth century, this work begins with Biblical and ancient history before focusing on events in Iberia. According to the Primera Cronica General, in the year 1099 the city of Valencia was under the rule of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid. However, just three days after his death on July 10th, a huge army arrived from Tunis to capture the city. Led by a certain King Bucar, his army included “a black Moorish woman, who had 300 black Moorish women with her.” The text goes on to describe them:
All of them had their heads shaved, apart from a tuft which each of them had on the top of their head. This was because they came as if on a pilgrimage and to seek pardon. They were well armed with cuirasses and with Turkish bows. According to Abenalfarax, who was the one who transcribed this Historia in Arabic, there were at least 15,000 tents, and King Bucar ordered that black woman to station herself nearest the town with all her company.
The siege of Valencia lasted nine days, but then Alvar Fanez, El Cid’s deputy decided to make a surprise attack on the besiegers camp at sunrise. He had the body of Rodrigo Diaz embalmed and dressed in armour, and put him on a horse. The Christian forces with the dead El Cid then rode out of the city under the cover of darkness before making their attack.
The Primera Cronica General relates what happens next:
The first charge was against the tents of that black Moorish woman, who was in the van, and so hard was the charge that they killed a good hundred of those Moorish women, before they could take arms and mount. But the History says that that Moorish woman so shrewd a master archer with the Turkish bow, that it was a wonder to behold, and for that reason, it says that the Moors called her in Arabic Nugeymath Turkia, which means ‘Stare of the Archers of Turkey’; and she was the first to ride forth, and the other hundred Moorish women, her companions, with her, and they wrought some harm in the Cid’s company.
With their leader defeated, the other female archers then fled, and this somehow caused the rest of King Bucar’s army to panic and flee to their ships, leaving the Cid with another legendary (and posthumous) victory.
Historians have usually dismissed this story as fiction, noting that after the Cid’s death there was no attempt by the Almoravids to take the city. It was, in fact, abandoned by the Christian forces in 1101 or 1102 before another siege could be started. Some believed that there might be some truth to this story, but not the idea that these could be female archers. As one historian commented, “Who can believe that a Muslim army ever contained a regiment of women, however monstrous?”
The Historia Roderici, a biography of El Cid which dates from the early twelfth century, offers only a couple of paragraphs about the Siege of Valencia in 1094 – it does mention that during the siege the Almoravid forces would ride around the city, and “often used to fire arrows at the tents and dwellings of Rodrigo and his soldiers, provoking them to immediate combat.” The text then quickly goes over the Cid making a sortie from the city, which led to a major battle where the Almoravids were defeated.
Meanwhile, historians from al-Andalus offer a different take on El Cid’s victory, indicating that it was won through a trick. The Cid apparently had part of his men make a sortie out of Valencia, which drew the Almoravid fighters to one spot. As this was happening, Rodrigo and the rest of his troops left the city through a different gate, and then attacked the unprotected Almoravid camp. Those within the camp fled, and in the panic and confusion the other Muslim units retreated as well.
Lourie believes that the account in Primera Cronica General was originally from Abu-l-’Abbas ibn ‘Alqama, who wrote an account of El Cid’s conquest of Valencia before the year 1116. His account only survives in pieces, and that the Abenalfarax who is mentioned as the source for this story could likely be ibn ‘Alqama.
Women warriors in medieval Ghana
If this story could be true, then where did these women come from? While Lourie notes that women sometimes played roles in warfare among the Berber and Tuareg peoples of northwest Africa (the Almoravids themselves were a Berber dynasty), she believes they actually came from the Kingdom of Ghana, which lies in western Africa. Connected by major trade routes, the Almoravids and Ghana were allies, with the latter even supplying troops to assist in Iberian campaigns. Moreover, some evidence also exists of the use of women in warrior roles in Ghana. “Regiments of women warriors were known in the Western Sudan,” Lourie writes, “and therefore it not inconceivable that a company of female archers might have served with Ghana’s Almoravid allies in Spain in 1094. Indeed the evidence from the Primera Cronica General may be regarded as a precious addition to the meager knowledge of Black African society and sex-roles in the Middle Ages.”
Only one other account of these warrior women exists. It comes from a sixteenth-century Castillian ballad, and presents these women in an even more admirable light, even though they are ultimately defeated and killed:
Alvar Fanez was the first
Who charged with fury
Upon the great force of Moors
Assembled with Bucar.
He found before him
A beautiful Mooress,
Skilled at shooting
Arrows from a quiver
With a Turkish bow;
Star was what they called her
Because of her excellence
At striking with the javelin.
She was the first
Who took horse and rode forward
With a hundred others like her,
Valiant and daring.
With fury the Cid’s vassals charged them
And left them dead on the ground.
While perhaps these women were not superheroes like the Dora Milaje, they certainly did leave an impression as warriors that commanded respect even among their enemies.
Top Image: ©Marvel Studios / Disney
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