Bayeux Tapestry


Bayeux Tapestry. Romanesque Europe (English or Norman). c. 1066–1080 C.E. Embroidery on linen.
  • THE MOST FAMOUS WORK OF ENGLISH ROMANESQUE ART; UNIQUE IN MEDIEVAL ART BECAUSE IT ISN’T A BOOK OR CHRISTIAN IN SUBJECT; EMBROIDERED FABRIC, WOOL SEWN ON LINEN; LATIN TEXT ACCOMPANIES MANY OF THE PICTURES
  • CONTINUOUS, FRIEZELIKE PICTORAL NARRATIVE; 20 INCHES HIGH AND 230 FEET LONG; CRUCIAL MOMENT IN ENGLAND’S HISTORY; NORMAN DEFEAT OF ANGLO SAXONS AT HASTINGS IN 1066; FRANCE AND ENGLAND UNITED 
  • DEPICTS AN EVENT IN FULL DETAIL; CONQUERER’S VERSION OF HISTORY; PROCLAMATION OF NATIONAL PRIDE; THE MOST ROMAN-ESQUE WORK OF ROMANESQUE ART 
  • Measuring twenty inches high and almost 230 feet in length, the Bayeux Tapestry commemorates a struggle for the throne of England between William, the Duke of Normandy, and Harold, the Earl of Wessex (Normandy is a region in northern France). The year was 1066—William invaded and successfully conquered England, becoming the first Norman King of England 
  • The Bayeux Tapestry consists of seventy-five scenes with Latin inscriptions (tituli) depicting the events leading up to the Norman conquest and culminating in the Battle of Hastings in 1066
  •   Nevertheless, it presents a rich representation of a particular historic moment as well as providing an important visual source for eleventh-century textiles that have not survived into the twenty-first century.
  • The Bayeux Tapestry was probably made in Canterbury around 1070. Because the tapestry was made within a generation of the Norman defeat of the Anglo-Saxons, it is considered to be a somewhat accurate representation of events. 
  •  Anglo-Saxon drawing techniques. Many of the scenes are believed to have been adapted from images in manuscripts illuminated at Canterbury.
  • The artists skillfully organized the composition of the tapestry to lead the viewer's eye from one scene to the next and divided the compositional space into three horizontal zones. The main events of the story are contained within the larger middle zone. The upper and lower zones contain images of animals and people, hunting
  • The seventy-five episodes depicted present a continuous narrative of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings and the battle itself. 
  • dining practices. We also see examples of armor used in the period and battle preparations. 
  • William's tactical use of cavalry is displayed in the “Cavalry” scene. The cavalry could advance quickly and easily retreat, which would scatter an opponent's defenses allowing the infantry to invade
  • the cavalry commands the scene, thus presenting the impression that the Normans were a cavalry-dominant army.
  • The brutality of war is evident in the battle scenes. Figures of mortally wounded men and horses are strewn along the tapestry's lower zone
  • Cavalrymen are shown wearing conical steel helmets with a protective nose plate, mail shirts, and carrying shields and spears whereas the foot soldiers are seen carrying spears and axes.
  • The Bayeux Tapestry provides an excellent example of Anglo-Norman art. It serves as a medieval artifact that operates as art, chronicle, political propaganda, and visual evidence of eleventh-century mundane objects, all at a monumental scale. 
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