No one will be more grateful to President Macron for allowing the Bayeux Tapestry to cross the Channel than Britain’s schoolchildren.
No longer will they have to endure pitching and tossing ferries, ghastly French youth hostels and the gloom of Normandy in order to see one of the most famous objects concerning our island story.
Finally, after nearly a millennium, the tapestry is coming home - for it is entirely possible that it in, in fact, English...
The Bayeux Tapestry's English... if the French want it back they'll have to invade! GUY WALTERS explains how Anglo-Saxon royal politics mean the artwork was produced in Kent
By Guy Walters for the Daily Mail
18 January 2018
No one will be more grateful to President Macron for allowing the Bayeux Tapestry to cross the Channel than Britain’s schoolchildren.
No longer will they have to endure pitching and tossing ferries, ghastly French youth hostels and the gloom of Normandy in order to see one of the most famous objects concerning our island story.
Finally, after nearly a millennium, the tapestry is coming home.
But isn’t the Bayeux Tapestry in fact French? Surely the French premier Monsieur Macron is displaying lots of entente cordiale in sharing this Gallic national treasure with us rosbifs?
French locals are revolting over plans to lend the Bayeux Tapestry (pictured today) to Britain
Actually, even though the president may have been cheekily well-intentioned in sending us a 70-metre-long depiction of the British Isles being successfully invaded by our oldest enemy, it’s quite possible to argue that the Bayeux Tapestry belongs to us anyway.
Rather than its permanent home being in northern France, it should hang in perpetuity in southern Britain, either in Winchester, Canterbury, or perhaps even Wilton, the former capital of Wessex.
So why here, and not across la Manche?
To answer that, we need to delve into the ancient soap opera of Anglo-Saxon royal politics.
In the year 1064, England was ruled by Edward the Confessor, whose wife was Edith of Wessex, who had been raised in Wilton Abbey, in what is now Wiltshire.
Edith had a brother – Harold Godwinson. Harold was therefore King Edward’s brother-in-law, and that year, the king sent him on a mission to France, the precise purpose of which has long been debated.
Preparations are under way to move the fabric (pictured) - which shows the conquest of England by Norman invaders - across the Channel in a bid to show the strength of the British-French relationship in the wake of the Brexit vote
Norman sources state that Harold was visiting William, the Duke of Normandy, to pledge his allegiance, while others state that Harold was seeing him in order to negotiate the release of some hostages.
Whatever the truth, we do know that Harold was captured by another nobleman, and had to be rescued by William. Harold then made a pledge to William, and again, we cannot be certain of the details, but Norman sources insist that Harold promised William he would not seek the crown of England upon Edward’s death.
However, when Edward did die, Harold went back on his word and was crowned king. William successfully invaded England out of revenge, accompanied by his scheming half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux.
He is the person most frequently credited with dreaming up the tapestry. He certainly had the money to do it. After the invasion he became the Earl of Kent and enriched himself to such a staggering extent that he remains, even today, a candidate for the richest Briton who has ever lived.
This close up of the Bayeux tapestry shows Harold (left) being struck by an arrow to the eye
Perhaps he wanted to curry favour with William, with whom he had a strained relationship. Supporters of the Odo theory point to the fact that the bishop and his followers appear frequently and in good light in the work, and also to the obvious fact that the tapestry would later be found in Bayeux Cathedral, which was built by Odo.
If he was indeed the man behind the tapestry, then nearly every scholar agrees that this stunning work of art was produced in Kent, where Odo was based.
Furthermore, textile experts maintain that the style of embroidery and even the vegetable dyes used in the wool were all English.
In fact, the more you examine the tapestry’s history, the more English it gets.
Although he cannot be definitive, one scholar, Emeritus Professor Howard B. Clarke of University College Dublin, suggests that the designer was an Englishman called Scolland, who was the abbot of St Augustine’s monastery in Canterbury. If the tapestry was designed and made by the English, and commissioned by a French invader who held a British title, the case for it being on our side of the Channel would be strong enough.
A section of the Bayeux Tapestry on display at the Bayeux Museum in Normandy, France
However, it gets stronger still, for there is another possible candidate for the patron of the tapestry, and that is Edward’s widow Edith.
You might have expected a tyrannical invader like William to have slaughtered any surviving Anglo-Saxon royalty. But it appears that many were spared, including Edith.
In her highly respected book on the tapestry, the late Carola Hicks, a former research fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, suggests that Edith is a highly plausible candidate to have commissioned the work.
As Hicks recounts in her book, she was one of the few Anglo-Saxons who kept their wealth after the Conquest. In the years after 1066, she emerged as a kind of continuity figure who paid homage to the new rulers.
As well as residing in Winchester, Edith spent much of her time in Wilton, where she had been brought up in the nunnery. It was at prestigious institutions such as Wilton that embroideries were often produced, and when she was Queen, Edith had run the royal embroidery workshop.
With her connections with craftspeople across southern England, and her deep understanding of the world of embroidery, it is possible that Edith could have commissioned the tapestry for the same reasons as Odo – to ingratiate herself with William and make sure she kept her fortune.
What is not seriously in doubt is that the tapestry was made in England, and was produced by a workforce subjugated by colonialists.
So perhaps we should refuse to return the tapestry when the loan comes to an end. And if the French want it back, then they’ll have to invade. Good luck with that, mon braves.
The story it tells
As well as being an object of great beauty, the Bayeux Tapestry is also an immensely important historical document, as few other objects provide us with so much knowledge of such significant events from so long ago.
Although it’s laced with ambiguities, the tapestry provides us with a good outline of the events that led up to the Norman invasion of the British Isles in 1066, as well as the decisive Battle of Hastings in the October of that year.
It begins by showing Edward the Confessor dispatching Harold to France, where he is captured and held hostage. Harold is rescued by William and the two men join forces in a successful campaign against the Duke of Brittany.
Normans Burning English Homes: This image shows that the fundamentals of tyranny have not changed in a thousand years. Just as soldiers in Burma have been doing to the Rohingya Muslims in recent months, Norman soldiers are shown burning down homes while women and children flee in terror
Mystery of the Cleric Touching a Woman’s Face: One of the more mysterious scenes in the tapestry shows a man described as a ‘certain cleric’ touching the face of an Englishwoman called Ælfgyva. The meaning can only be guessed at, but the appearance of a nude man at the bottom of the panel may suggest a prelude to rape
After this, Harold swears an oath to William, although what the oath promised is not clear. When Edward the Confessor dies and Harold takes the crown, an enraged William assembles a mighty invasion fleet.
The tapestry shows the Norman landing, as well as violent scenes such as villages being torched, with women and children fleeing.
The final third of the tapestry shows the Battle of Hastings, and the subsequent carnage wrought on both sides – the tapestry is explicit in its depiction of bloodied, headless corpses.
With the English holding the high ground, the battle initially goes badly for the Normans, but William rallies his men, and a hail of arrows by his archers proves decisive.
Famously, the tapestry shows the death of Harold, although it is ambiguous whether he is the figure killed by an arrow to his eye, or whether he is felled by a Norman horseman. The final images show the English fleeing.
How the tapestry is stitched with ten shades of woolen yarn
With the Bayeux Tapestry set to be displayed in Britain, here are some facts about the masterpiece:
It is nearly 230ft long, 1.6ft high and made of nine panels of linen cloth.
Although it is called a tapestry it is in fact an embroidery stitched with 10 shades of woollen yarn.
Over a succession of scenes, it chronicles events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England by William the Conqueror and culminates in the Battle of Hastings and the defeat of Harold in 1066.
Nothing is known for certain about its origins, with the first written record appearing in the Bayeux Cathedral's inventory of treasures in 1476.
Napoleon put it on display in Paris in 1804 and it was briefly exhibited at the city's Louvre in 1944.
The work is currently exhibited in the Bayeux Museum in Normandy.
Read more: The Bayeux Tapestry's English, writes GUY WALTERS | Daily Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
No longer will they have to endure pitching and tossing ferries, ghastly French youth hostels and the gloom of Normandy in order to see one of the most famous objects concerning our island story.
Finally, after nearly a millennium, the tapestry is coming home - for it is entirely possible that it in, in fact, English...
The Bayeux Tapestry's English... if the French want it back they'll have to invade! GUY WALTERS explains how Anglo-Saxon royal politics mean the artwork was produced in Kent
By Guy Walters for the Daily Mail
18 January 2018
No one will be more grateful to President Macron for allowing the Bayeux Tapestry to cross the Channel than Britain’s schoolchildren.
No longer will they have to endure pitching and tossing ferries, ghastly French youth hostels and the gloom of Normandy in order to see one of the most famous objects concerning our island story.
Finally, after nearly a millennium, the tapestry is coming home.
But isn’t the Bayeux Tapestry in fact French? Surely the French premier Monsieur Macron is displaying lots of entente cordiale in sharing this Gallic national treasure with us rosbifs?
French locals are revolting over plans to lend the Bayeux Tapestry (pictured today) to Britain
Actually, even though the president may have been cheekily well-intentioned in sending us a 70-metre-long depiction of the British Isles being successfully invaded by our oldest enemy, it’s quite possible to argue that the Bayeux Tapestry belongs to us anyway.
Rather than its permanent home being in northern France, it should hang in perpetuity in southern Britain, either in Winchester, Canterbury, or perhaps even Wilton, the former capital of Wessex.
So why here, and not across la Manche?
To answer that, we need to delve into the ancient soap opera of Anglo-Saxon royal politics.
In the year 1064, England was ruled by Edward the Confessor, whose wife was Edith of Wessex, who had been raised in Wilton Abbey, in what is now Wiltshire.
Edith had a brother – Harold Godwinson. Harold was therefore King Edward’s brother-in-law, and that year, the king sent him on a mission to France, the precise purpose of which has long been debated.
Preparations are under way to move the fabric (pictured) - which shows the conquest of England by Norman invaders - across the Channel in a bid to show the strength of the British-French relationship in the wake of the Brexit vote
Norman sources state that Harold was visiting William, the Duke of Normandy, to pledge his allegiance, while others state that Harold was seeing him in order to negotiate the release of some hostages.
Whatever the truth, we do know that Harold was captured by another nobleman, and had to be rescued by William. Harold then made a pledge to William, and again, we cannot be certain of the details, but Norman sources insist that Harold promised William he would not seek the crown of England upon Edward’s death.
However, when Edward did die, Harold went back on his word and was crowned king. William successfully invaded England out of revenge, accompanied by his scheming half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux.
He is the person most frequently credited with dreaming up the tapestry. He certainly had the money to do it. After the invasion he became the Earl of Kent and enriched himself to such a staggering extent that he remains, even today, a candidate for the richest Briton who has ever lived.
This close up of the Bayeux tapestry shows Harold (left) being struck by an arrow to the eye
Perhaps he wanted to curry favour with William, with whom he had a strained relationship. Supporters of the Odo theory point to the fact that the bishop and his followers appear frequently and in good light in the work, and also to the obvious fact that the tapestry would later be found in Bayeux Cathedral, which was built by Odo.
If he was indeed the man behind the tapestry, then nearly every scholar agrees that this stunning work of art was produced in Kent, where Odo was based.
Furthermore, textile experts maintain that the style of embroidery and even the vegetable dyes used in the wool were all English.
In fact, the more you examine the tapestry’s history, the more English it gets.
Although he cannot be definitive, one scholar, Emeritus Professor Howard B. Clarke of University College Dublin, suggests that the designer was an Englishman called Scolland, who was the abbot of St Augustine’s monastery in Canterbury. If the tapestry was designed and made by the English, and commissioned by a French invader who held a British title, the case for it being on our side of the Channel would be strong enough.
A section of the Bayeux Tapestry on display at the Bayeux Museum in Normandy, France
However, it gets stronger still, for there is another possible candidate for the patron of the tapestry, and that is Edward’s widow Edith.
You might have expected a tyrannical invader like William to have slaughtered any surviving Anglo-Saxon royalty. But it appears that many were spared, including Edith.
In her highly respected book on the tapestry, the late Carola Hicks, a former research fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, suggests that Edith is a highly plausible candidate to have commissioned the work.
As Hicks recounts in her book, she was one of the few Anglo-Saxons who kept their wealth after the Conquest. In the years after 1066, she emerged as a kind of continuity figure who paid homage to the new rulers.
As well as residing in Winchester, Edith spent much of her time in Wilton, where she had been brought up in the nunnery. It was at prestigious institutions such as Wilton that embroideries were often produced, and when she was Queen, Edith had run the royal embroidery workshop.
With her connections with craftspeople across southern England, and her deep understanding of the world of embroidery, it is possible that Edith could have commissioned the tapestry for the same reasons as Odo – to ingratiate herself with William and make sure she kept her fortune.
What is not seriously in doubt is that the tapestry was made in England, and was produced by a workforce subjugated by colonialists.
So perhaps we should refuse to return the tapestry when the loan comes to an end. And if the French want it back, then they’ll have to invade. Good luck with that, mon braves.
The story it tells
As well as being an object of great beauty, the Bayeux Tapestry is also an immensely important historical document, as few other objects provide us with so much knowledge of such significant events from so long ago.
Although it’s laced with ambiguities, the tapestry provides us with a good outline of the events that led up to the Norman invasion of the British Isles in 1066, as well as the decisive Battle of Hastings in the October of that year.
It begins by showing Edward the Confessor dispatching Harold to France, where he is captured and held hostage. Harold is rescued by William and the two men join forces in a successful campaign against the Duke of Brittany.
Normans Burning English Homes: This image shows that the fundamentals of tyranny have not changed in a thousand years. Just as soldiers in Burma have been doing to the Rohingya Muslims in recent months, Norman soldiers are shown burning down homes while women and children flee in terror
Mystery of the Cleric Touching a Woman’s Face: One of the more mysterious scenes in the tapestry shows a man described as a ‘certain cleric’ touching the face of an Englishwoman called Ælfgyva. The meaning can only be guessed at, but the appearance of a nude man at the bottom of the panel may suggest a prelude to rape
After this, Harold swears an oath to William, although what the oath promised is not clear. When Edward the Confessor dies and Harold takes the crown, an enraged William assembles a mighty invasion fleet.
The tapestry shows the Norman landing, as well as violent scenes such as villages being torched, with women and children fleeing.
The final third of the tapestry shows the Battle of Hastings, and the subsequent carnage wrought on both sides – the tapestry is explicit in its depiction of bloodied, headless corpses.
With the English holding the high ground, the battle initially goes badly for the Normans, but William rallies his men, and a hail of arrows by his archers proves decisive.
Famously, the tapestry shows the death of Harold, although it is ambiguous whether he is the figure killed by an arrow to his eye, or whether he is felled by a Norman horseman. The final images show the English fleeing.
How the tapestry is stitched with ten shades of woolen yarn
With the Bayeux Tapestry set to be displayed in Britain, here are some facts about the masterpiece:
It is nearly 230ft long, 1.6ft high and made of nine panels of linen cloth.
Although it is called a tapestry it is in fact an embroidery stitched with 10 shades of woollen yarn.
Over a succession of scenes, it chronicles events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England by William the Conqueror and culminates in the Battle of Hastings and the defeat of Harold in 1066.
Nothing is known for certain about its origins, with the first written record appearing in the Bayeux Cathedral's inventory of treasures in 1476.
Napoleon put it on display in Paris in 1804 and it was briefly exhibited at the city's Louvre in 1944.
The work is currently exhibited in the Bayeux Museum in Normandy.
Read more: The Bayeux Tapestry's English, writes GUY WALTERS | Daily Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Last edited:
