The Bayeux Tapestry is a complex visual history of the Norman Conquest of England. Its creation and the story it weaves were defined by its dichotomous authorship, its physical form as textile art and its analogous narrative imagery.
The Bayeux Tapestry: The Case of the Phantom Fleet
September 1, 2014 By
There is a large bibliography of secondary works concerning the Bayeux Tapestry, but when one reads much of the published material it is clear that a high proportion of this comment, as one would expect, copies and builds on previous authors.
Aelfgyva: The Mysterious Lady of the Bayeux Tapestry
August 24, 2014 By
One of the most intriguing of these puzzles centers upon a scene in that initial segment of the Tapestry treating with Earl Harold Godwinson’s famed and controversial visit to the court of the Norman duke
Ten Things You May Not Have Noticed in the Bayeux Tapestry
August 12, 2014 By
The designer of the Bayeux Tapestry also included little details that might be missed by the casual viewer. Here are ten images to take a second look at!
Could Duke Phillip the Good of Burgundy have owned the Bayeux tapestry in 1430?
July 7, 2014 By
An entry in the Inventory of the Bayeux cathedral treasury records that in 1476 the church owned the following: Item une tente tres longue et estroicte de telle a broderie d’ymages et escripteaulx, faisans representation du Conquest d’Angleterre, laquelle est tendu environ la nefde l’église le jour et par l’octave des reliques (l). Not until the 1720 ‘s did scholars first find and appreciate the potential importance of this brief entry.
A Feast for the Eyes: Representing Odo at the Banquet in the Bayeux Embroidery
July 6, 2014 By
This paper will therefore investigate Odo’s role in the banquet as a way to ask larger questions about how patronage has been portrayed in the literature on the Bayeux Embroidery as a whole.
Designer of the Bayeux Tapestry identified
October 29, 2013 By
The Bayeux Tapestry was designed by Scolland, Abbot of St.Augustine’s monastery in Canterbury, according to research by Howard Clarke of University College, Dublin.
A stitch in time
September 28, 2013 By
Who commissioned the tapestry? Who made it, where and when? Where was the Tapestry first displayed? Was the message of the Tapestry outright Norman propaganda or a more evenhanded attempt at Anglo-Norman reconciliation?
The Garments of Guy in the Bayeux Tapestry
May 24, 2013 By
In her paper, Gale R. Owen-Crocker looks at how the late 11th century frieze portrays Guy, Count of Ponthieu.
New research on how the Bayeux Tapestry was made
November 15, 2012 By
A University of Manchester researcher has thrown new light on how the world famous Bayeux Tapestry was made over 900 years ago.
Who was the mysterious Ælfgyva in the Bayeux Tapestry?
November 13, 2012 By
Joanna Laynesmith, a medieval historian from the University of Reading offers two possibilities in a new article that appears in the October issue of History Today.
The alternation between present and past time in the telling of the Bayeux Tapestry story
July 20, 2012 By
When an anonymous artist designed the Bayeux Tapestry shortly after the Norman conquest of England he presented some of the action as taking place in the present time and some in the past.
Symbolism and Iconography of the Hawk in the Main Panel of the Bayeux Tapestry
October 26, 2011 By
Symbolism and Iconography of the Hawk in the Main Panel of the Bayeux Tapestry By Makra Péter Published Online (2001) Introduction: The main panel of the Bayeux Tapestry features a large predatory bird carried by human figures on several occasions. More precisely, this predatory bird can be found in plates [2], [5], [10], [15] and […]
The Bayeux Tapestry: a stripped narative for their eyes and ears
September 13, 2011 By
The Bayeux Tapestry: a stripped narative for their eyes and ears Brilliant, Richard Word and Image, Vol..7, (1991) Abstract The Bayeaux Tapestry, a masterpiece of medieval narrative art, tells the highly politicised story of the ascension to the English crown, held by Edward the Confessor. The historical narrative begins in 1064 while Edward was still […]
How English is the Bayeux Tapestry?
September 13, 2011 By
How English is the Bayeux Tapestry? Musgrove, David BBC History Magazine (2010) Abstract With a major conference about the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum this month, David Musgrove considers where it was made and by whom, and asks historians whether the tapestry should be displayed in England. The Norman Conquest of England –1066 and all that […]
Odo of Bayeux At War: Linking The Bayeux Tapestry And “The Song Of Roland”
September 13, 2011 By
Odo of Bayeux At War: Linking The Bayeux Tapestry And “The Song Of Roland” Jameson, Carl (University of Delaware) Thesis: B.A., University of Delaware, Spring (2009) Abstract In 1066 England was conquered by Duke William of Normandy, and during the next ten years a magnificent work of art was created to glorify the conquest: the […]
The Mercian Connection, Harold Godwineson’s Ambitions, Diplomacy and Channel-crossing, 1056-1066
September 13, 2011 By
The Mercian Connection, Harold Godwineson’s Ambitions, Diplomacy and Channel-crossing, 1056 -1066 VAN KEMPEN,AD F. J. (Tilburg, The Netherlands) History, Volume 94, Issue 313 (2009) Abstract It is supposed that the Vita Ædwardi contains some information about Harold’s dealings with William of Normandy in 1064. This article links these covert references with William of Poitiers’ statements […]
Textual evidence for spilling lines in the rigging of medieval Scandinavian keels
August 21, 2011 By
Textual evidence for spilling lines in the rigging of medieval Scandinavian keels Sayers, William (Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York) The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (1999) Abstract Sail trimming and standing and running rigging on Viking-era craft are elucidated by references in 12th- and early 13th- century Anglo-Norman historical sources and an Icelandic lexical catalogue. […]
The strange death of King Harold II: Propaganda and the problem of legitimacy in the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings
December 18, 2009 By
The strange death of King Harold II: Propaganda and the problem of legitimacy in the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings By Chris Dennis The Historian (2009) Introduction: How did King Harold II die at the Battle of Hastings? The question is simple enough and the answer is apparently well known. Harold was killed by […]
A Guide to the The Bayeux Tapestry
June 11, 2009 By
The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most well known and interesting pieces of artwork from the Middle Ages. This feature offers readers information about the Bayeux Tapestry, including videos and articles
Stylistic Variation and Roman Influence in the Bayeux Tapestry
May 30, 2009 By
There are a number of places in the Tapestry where the graphics of the main register are different in both subject matter and style. The men pictured at these points are workers, engaged in practical, mundane (distinctly non-heroic) tasks.
The Bayeux Tapestry and the Vikings
May 30, 2009 By
How did the Bayeux Tapestry, with its images of Normans and Englishmen, come to be so strongly equated with the legendary Vikings in the popular imagination?
The Saxon Statement: Code in the Bayeux Tapestry
March 23, 2009 By
The Bayeux Tapestry is thus often largely take at face value, and no serious attemtp seems to have been made to look beyond the work’s representation of the Norman point of view to the possibility that the Saxons who designed and stitched it might have employed covert devices in order to reveal occurences closer to the truth, which the Designer sought to articulare even the some of the facts were suppressed by the Norman conquerors.
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