What is the Bayeux Tapestry?
The Bayeux Tapestry is a unique survival from the 11th century, 70.34 m (230 ft 10 1/4in) by 50 cm (19 3/4in). It should be noted at the outset that it is not strictly speaking a tapestry, woven on a loom. Rather, it consists of a bleached linen background on to which scenes are embroidered using needle and thread. Indeed, when first mentioned in 1476 it is referred to as an embroidery, but in 1730 the French antiquary, Montfaucon, already speaks of a tapestry. This was reinforced when it was exhibited in Paris in 1803-04.
The Tapestry covers the entire story of the Conquest, beginning with an aging King Edward sending Harold to Normandy, who is seized by Count Guy of Ponthieu and rescued by Duke William. He is taken on a campaign to quieten unrest in Brittany and rescues two Norman soldiers from the river Couesnon. He is rewarded with Norman armour in a scene heavy with the symbolism of a lord making a new vassal. Back at Bayeux he takes a sacred oath to help William before returning to England. The death and funeral of Edward, shown transposed to emphasize the swiftness of Harold’s seizure of the throne, are followed by a picture of the new king in state. The appearance of Halley’s comet in the next scene is brilliantly used to contrast a bowed Harold, with ghostly invasion ships below. The Norman response is then depicted: the building of a fleet, the carrying of provisions to the ships, the crossing to England, and finally the great battle at Hastings. The borders of the Tapestry carry little scenes often symbolically relevant to the main picture, but in the battle the dead and dying break into the lower border. The Tapestry ends with the flight of the English but damage has caused the loss of perhaps two further panels. If the tapestry described in the work of the 12th-century writer, Baudri of Bourgueil is believed, they showed the capture of cities (perhaps London) and lastly the coronation of William, thus balancing nicely the opening sequence with Edward the Confessor on his throne.
The Bayeux Tapestry tells the story of the Norman Conquest from the point of view of the conquerors themselves, lacking the fiction that soon began to creep into the various accounts of 1066. Moreover, English and Norman chroniclers do not always agree on, or are silent about, parts of the story of the Conquest. That is not to say the Tapestry is a true version of events. It must never be forgotten that it was made to show what its patron wanted it to show.
In the 19th century the Tapestry was renovated. Already in 1730 it appears that large margins of linen were added as backing because the edges were deteriorating. In 1842 Edouard Lambert, librarian at Bayeux, had it restored for exhibition in
the library. A comparison of Montfaucon’s drawings of 1730 with Charles Stothard’s plates of 1819 and the 1873 hand-coloured photographs also serves to highlight the repairs. These were mainly done over the scenes of Count Guy and the end scenes of fleeing Englishmen.