Threads of history

Many years ago, my husband and I spent several months in Oxford. He was writing a book, his second, and I was converting my master’s thesis into my first book. As I finished my task early, I travelled to Paris to visit my husband’s sister “D” (Daphne) and we drove along the coast where we paused at the Normandy beaches and visited the vast cemeteries where British, Commonwealth and US troops landed to liberate France during World War II. We halted at Bayeux where we visited the nearly 1,000-year-old tapestry which is now on loan to Britain and displayed at the British Museum in London while the Tapestry Museum in Bayeux is closed for renovation until July 2027. The loan of the tapestry by Bayeux to London is regarded as proof of France’s enduring ties to Britain despite occasional spats and differences.

Having survived successive European wars, the tapestry depicts the events which led to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. William, Duke of Normandy, faced English King Harold II, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. The tapestry was made in England during the 11th century, a few years after the battle, perhaps as a gift for William. Naturally, it tells the story from the point of view of the conquering Normans and for centuries has been preserved in Bayeux.

The first half of the tapestry depicts the events leading up to the Norman invasion while the second half shows the Norman army crossing the English Channel and the Battle of Hastings. The English fought on foot behind a wall of shields while the Normans had the advantage because they were on horses. The battle was bloody and dismembered corpses littered the ground.

The Norman conquest and 88-year rule produced long-lasting and significant changes for both the conquered and the conquerors. Some British historians have even argued England was “civilised” by the Normans who introduced feudalism which settled land ownership and usage, contributed French words and phrases to the languages spoken in England, Scotland, and Wales and advanced castle building and church architecture. The Normans also centralised governance and imposed laws to restrict the activities of local nobles. While over the centuries the two countries grew firmly connected, England became a much stronger and united kingdom and an influential actor in European economics, politics and warfare.

The 58 scenes depicted on the tapestry are embroidered on linen with woollen yarn on a clear background which shows the work to best advantage. As it is embroidered rather than woven, the Bayeux “tapestry” is not officially classified as a tapestry. At half a metre wide to nearly 69 metres, it is very long but was accommodated by the designated chapel in Bayeux.

Historians believe it was commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William’s half-brother, and hand-stitched for him in England in the 1070s. The tapestry seems to have been forgotten until 1729 when scholars were reminded of its existence by its annual display in Bayeux Cathedral. The tapestry is regarded as a rare example of secular Romanesque art which often graced wealthy homes during medieval times in western Europe.

The tapestry was probably designed and produced in England by Anglo-Saxon artists in Kent where Odo also had his English base and the text suggests the influence of Anglo-Saxon.

In 1939, the tapestry was placed for two years in an underground shelter at the Hotel du Doyen and aired monthly to ensure conservation. German teams transferred it to the National Museums repository in Sourches (Sarthe region), where it remained until June 1944. As the allied armies advanced, the German authorities sent it to the Louvre in Paris.

Although political propaganda or personal renditions may have partially distorted the historical accuracy of the tale told by the Bayeux Tapestry, it provides a better visual record of medieval arms, apparel, and other objects than any other artefacts surviving from this period. Knights carry shields without coats of arms as became the practice in the mid-12th century. Some warriors were even shown fighting with bare hands.

From the late 19th century numerous replicas have been made of the Bayeux tapestry while modern commentators have compared it to a comic strip. For example, British textile expert George Wingfield Digby wrote in 1957: “It was designed to tell a story to a largely illiterate public; it is like a strip cartoon, racy, emphatic, colourful, with a good deal of blood and thunder and some ribaldry.” In his 1993 book “Understanding Comics” Scott McCloud gave credit to the tapestry as “an example of early sequential narrative art while British comic book artist Bryan Talbot said it is “the first known British comic strip.”

Other contemporary artists have tried to complete the work by creating panels depicting events up to William’s coronation, although the images and text of the lost panels are unknown.

Photo: TNS