Bayeux tapestry.PDF

[angelfire.com/rnb/bayeux_tapestry/]

The Bayeux Tapestry - primary source for the story of William the Conqueror,

Harold Godwinson and the battle of Hastings

Harold Godwinson swears allegiance to duke William upon alters containing holy relics and the host

Harold Godwinson is offered the crown - and here he sits as king of the English

By repudiating his solemn oaths Harold brought retribution upon himself and his country. Duke William invaded England to

uphold his claim to the throne. Harold was killed at the battle of Hastings, 14 October 1066. On Christmas day England's third

king of that year was crowned - and William the bastard was forever afterward known as William the Conqueror.

Stitched on linen, twenty inches wide and 231 feet long, in eight colors of worsted yarn, the Bayeux Tapestry is a fabulous

piece of medieval art. It is very "busy" and detailed, containing the depictions of: 24 identifiable dogs, 33 structures (churches,

castles and so forth), 37 ships, 45 weird looking trees and other flora, 183 equines (mostly stallions, a couple of ponies and a

few mules/asses), 621 humans (including a few boys and seven women), 654 other fauna (birds, predators, domesticated

animals and mythical creatures), and c. 2,000 Latin words. Unparalleled as a primary source for the story of William the

Conqueror, Harold II and the Norman conquest, this century closes in on it's (and the battle of Hasting's) 1,000-year-old

birthday.

1. Harold journeys oversea

2. Count Guy takes Harold captive

3. Duke William demands Harold's release

4. Guy releases Harold into Duke William's custody

5. William and Harold campaign in Brittany

6. Harold is knighted and swears oaths of fealty to William

The Bayeux Tapestry

7. Harold returns to England - king Edward's death

8. Harold is crowned as king Harold II - William decides to wage war

9. Preparations for the Norman conquest: ships are built: arms collected etc.

10. The fleet sails and lands at Hastings

11. Scenes of the Norman camp and foraging

12. A castle is built - William musters his army for battle

13. The armies of Harold II and William the Conqueror spot each other

14. The battle of Hastings begins

15. Harold's brothers Gyrth and Leofwin are killed - carnage on both sides

16. The battle rages - the Normans begin to get the upper hand

17. Harold II is killed - his house-earles fight to the last - the English rustics flee

The Bayeux Tapestry

The vicissitudes that it has endured makes the survival of the Bayeux Tapestry perhaps miraculous. One would have to

search far to find a more amazing survival story of an historical artifact. It ranks as one of the wonders of the world in my

estimation.

I quote from Dawson for the tale of the Bayeux Tapestry’s discovery and survival:

The earliest recorded mention of the existence of the (Bayeux)tapestry occurs in the inventory of the Cathedral

of Bayeux in the year 1476, and again in 1563. From that time forward we hear nothing of it down to the year

1729, the time of its discovery to the archaeological world. It had long been the custom to exhibit the

embroidery, on the Feast of Relics and its octaves, hung around the nave of the Cathedral of Bayeux; and at

other times it was kept in a press in a chapel on the south side of the cathedral. The interest aroused by its

discovery, of course, led to a more frequent and casual exhibition of it; and, as no proper method was adopted

for its preservation, it no doubt suffered considerably. During the anarchy of 1792 it was suddenly

requisitioned as a covering for a military cart in need of canvas, from which peril it was rescued by a

Commissary of Police; but again, in 1794, it was in danger of being cut up and used as a decoration during a

civic festival, from which fate it was happily once more rescued. In 1803 it was taken by order of the First

Consul Napoleon for exhibition in Paris, but returned to Bayeux the next year. When, in 1814, Mr. Hudson

Gurney saw it, it was coiled round a winch, or, as he described it, "A machine like that which lets down buckets

into a well" and was exhibited to visitors by being drawn out over a table. Mr. Dawson Turner, writing two

years later, said that the necessary rolling and unrolling was performed with so little attention that the tapestry

would have been wholly ruined in the course of half a century if left under its then management. He describes

the tapestry-roll as being injured at the beginning and very ragged towards the end, where several figures had

completely disappeared, and adds that the worsted was unravelling in many intermediate parts. Later on the

end is described as a mere bundle of rags.

-- The Restorations of the Bayeux Tapestry Charles Dawson London 1907

Until modern times, the best colour rendering was that painstakingly executed by C. A. Stothard in 1818; the first

photographic rendering of the Bayeux Tapestry was made by E. Dossetter in 1871-2.

My first contact with “the world’s oldest and most complete comic-strip” was when, as a child, I saw in the National

Geographic some plates included in one of those medieval articles. Later I received as a Christmas present “The Age of

Chivalry” wherein was reproduced the Bayeux Tapestry in full. The crudeness of the figures offended my youthful taste for the

photographic and realistic. Still, something there caught my imagination and has never gone away. For a long time very critical

with my artist’s eye (“those legs are too long, the horses look ridiculous, we have skinny giants and midgets standing together,

that one is holding his lance like a spastic” - and so forth), I now consider the survival and restoration of the Bayeux Tapestry

almost as a personal favour. I never tire of looking at it. As a child, and for many years, I had no real appreciation for the

medium used. The idea in an age of photography of using thread to make pictures was almost an alien concept: but now the

detail is the one thing about the Bayeux Tapestry I love most.

My favourite screen-saver is, of course, the entire Bayeux Tapestry parading majestically by.

Many of its details continue to baffle me. But I know enough to raise some odd or unique questions and possibly offer

some answers; I think I have noticed some details that others have either overlooked or at least not published to my knowledge.

This examination of the Bayeux Tapestry is mainly for my own pleasure. I will be bringing up things not usually, or ever,

raised whenever this magnificent original source is expounded upon: artistic things, tiny things overlooked or perhaps not very

important to anyone else: but interesting things.

The scanned sections used here are taken directly from the Bayeux Tapestry frieze book. The images, to my understanding,

are already in the public domain (at least I have seen them so claimed in more than one place on the Net before now). I am not

turning a buck here; just enjoying a hobby and hopefully shared interest with some of you. If I don’t hear otherwise, then I

guess the curators of the Bayeux museum agree.

The Latin has in several instances been restored - sometimes heavily. Nevertheless, I will borrow the translation as given in

the National Geographic volume “The Age of Chivalry.”

The Bayeux Tapestry

1. Harold journeys oversea

KING EDWARD - WHERE HAROLD DUKE OF THE ENGLISH AND HIS SOLDIERS...

The entire story of the Norman conquest was intimate knowledge of that generation of Englishmen and their families. I doubt

that they talked of much else but the great changes which were all around them since they had lost their country to the

invaders. So the terseness of the opening scene sufficed. By the time the Tapestry was commissioned (some time shortly after

the coronation of William - probably within a very few years, or even months) everyone was only too familiar with the story of

how king Edward had failed his people by refusing to provide them with an heir. The last of the ‘right line of Cerdic’ died as

celibate as a monk. But at the moment, he is still the good old king, and he is giving his main man - subregulus earl Harold

Godwinson - the royal sendoff. Whether or not Harold actually had his king’s blessing for the forthcoming voyage, the

Normans believed it, as the Tapestry clearly shows in this opening scene. Edward is gigantic compared to the two earls - a

device used often to show superior status and authority: Harold and the king touch index fingers, a sign of royal approval for

the coming embassy to Edward's cousin, duke William of Normandy. It is late spring of 1064.

I find the earls’ manner of dress interesting. How much of the Tapestry’s details accurately show the differences between

Anglo-Saxon/Dane and Anglo-Norman/French? Were they essentially identical by the time bishop Odo commissioned the

Tapestry? I tend to think they were. And the artists would have most likely sewn details which were familiar to them. It is the

considered opinion of most students of the Tapestry that its creation was likely in Canterbury where Odo was lord. So we can

take as a given that the details are familiar ones to the craftsmen (the idea that only women sewed the Tapestry is absurd) of

that period and place. All throughout the Middle Ages, artists only depict their subjects in the arms and armour and clothing of

their own time; historical niceties are a modern phenomenon, hardly extending further back than the mid nineteenth century. It

is this wealth of consistent detail with the eleventh century which clearly dates the Tapestry better than any other evidence. It is

likely that the artists depicted the styles prevailing at the time amongst their rulers - the Norman/French aristocracy. Therefore,

the arms and armour might more accurately show what was currently in vogue, rather than what had been typically English at

the time of the battle of Hastings. It seems also evident - and natural - that the ruling class wished to be thought of as

legitimate: they were not mere bandits, come to England to squat down upon their fiefs and exploit their peasants into oblivion.

Their style of dress and speech soon enough adopted the English fashions. By the same token, English freemen - and former

thanes - would often ‘ape’ their new masters in matters of dress and behavior. The melding together of foreign ways must have

begun even with the first generation of the conquest.

The earls bending Edward’s ear are in civilian dress. They do not even carry swords. They are obviously well-dressed and

their hair and mustaches are trim and neat. There is nothing of the rustic “Teuton” about them. (However, the subject of

mustaches is problematic: since Dawson claims that these, at least, were added in the 1842 restorations. Therefore, any

conclusion that mustachios positively identify the English in the Tapestry must be suspect.)

The very first Latin here – “Edward Rex” - is a restoration. “Eadwardi” (or Eadwardus) would have been the correct form

of the king’s name; and originally (if at all) on the left side of his head and not the right: the lettering was apparently all

coming to pieces early in the eighteenth century, and the “DI” of Edward’s name was possibly changed to "UBI." (see “The

Restorations of the Bayeux Tapestry” Charles Dawson London 1907).

The first technical detail which strikes me is the high cantles of the saddlery. Is this accurate for Anglo-Saxons before the

French came? I think not. The Normans and other French knights used this saddle for making mounted close combat attacks. It

is certainly going against all the other evidence to say that the English fought mounted like the knights of continental Europe.

This must be a “Norman” detail. However, in eleventh century English art - pre-conquest art - cavalry is shown using saddlery

designed with breast and hindquarter straps; and the warriors are using stirrups and spurs; but the high cantles are missing. All

of these Englishmen are sporting mustaches. Earlier English art shows mostly clean-shaven faces; indicating, perhaps, a

change in fashions brought about by the Danish occupation. Certainly, the king’s forked beard (and those seen later in the

Tapestry) are old-fashioned. It is possible, however, that the diehard English went about deliberately sporting “English”

fashion as a statement of their discontent with the Norman regime.

The Bayeux Tapestry

...RIDE TO BOSHAM - THE CHURCH

The detail stitched into this building tells me that the place was well-known. I understand the parish church in “Bozzam”

(David Howarth – “Year of the Conquest” page 89) is the original as depicted in the tapestry. I doubt time or the Normans

improved its appearance very much.

The architecture of the great hall where Harold and his companions are feasting is interesting because it looks decidedly

Romanesque. It has a tile roof in an age when thatch was the usual. The feasting is in an upper room. This building is anything

but the wattle and log walls and thatched roof of the old Saxon mean hall. Since Bosham was originally a Roman town, it

seems possible that Harold owned the ancient hall of the lord. Roman-built structures tend to last.

HERE HAROLD HAS SAILED THE SEA AND WITH SAILS FILLED BY THE WIND

HAS COME INTO THE LAND OF COUNT GUY

The man standing beside the stairs to the great hall is throwing a stick into the Channel to test the tide. It is going out and

Harold and his party embark. They carry their dogs and hawks aboard, planning for diversion in France. “The Fox the Crow

and the Cheese” by Aesop is in the lower border.

Although four largish ships are depicted (see following scene), I believe he only sailed in one, or possibly two: the

multiplicity of ships is a device used to convey the passage of time and location. These vessels show a maximum of 20 rowing

benches (later, the return ship has that many: the largest in these scenes is a sixteen-bencher). Weapons are conspicuous by

their absence, but there is a veritable phalanx of shields along the gunwales. These announce the occupants as warriors, but

they are not going to war. “The Wolf and the Lamb” might be depicted in the lower border - and any amount of speculation as

to imagery can be advanced, in light of what happened because of this fateful voyage. “The Pregnant She-wolf” and “The Wolf

and the Crane” follow.

The Bayeux Tapestry

2. Count Guy takes Harold captive

The curious custom of hanging a shield or pair of shields from the bow or stern is probably intended as a method of identifying

the lord(s) of the ship to other sea traffic; or when entering port. Large ships towed in their wake little skiffs, like the one

depicted to the rear of the first large ship. The man in the bow is poling to discover bars or shallows while they manoeuvre

close to shore. The second large ship depicts their arrival on the coast of Ponthieu; the forward men are using oars to help

direct their approach in the lee wind. Harold mans the tiller. The sail is unique, and afterward the sails on all the ships are of a

simpler shape.

Aesop’s “The Lion King” is in the lower border - perhaps a metaphor of William. Another fable, “The Mouse, the Frog and

the Kite” has caused scholars to identify Harold, Guy and William with the animal characters, as is natural with all the

identified Aesop’s fables appearing in the Tapestry - otherwise why include them at all?

HAROLD - HERE GUY HAS SEIZED HAROLD AND HAS TAKEN HIM...

Earl Harold holds a spear in the bow of the ship. And then, bare-legged to wade ashore, he is taken captive by count Guy of

Ponthieu. (This is the second of several instances - multiple ships being the first - where the Bayeux Tapestry artists use

duplicate images of the same character or object to show action.) Throughout these and the earlier scenes the English have no

weapons except Harold’s lone spear. I have a difficult time with the idea that Harold and his party of companions went across

to see duke William of Normandy unarmed. Perhaps the English artists were sending a subtle hint to those who would view the

Tapestry that the last “English” king was an innocent victim, harmless and pacific.

We get our first look at early “heraldry.” All the English shields were blank on the ships. But Guy’s knights sport four

fascinating shield patterns (the knights ride casually without armour). the mixing of pagan and Christian motifs is typical of

this period. The Normans were only a couple of generations beyond their Scandinavian origins.

The first time I ever examined the Tapestry closely was when I wanted authentic shield designs for painting my 25mm-

scale Norman knights for my war-games army. I have used most if not all of those found on the Bayeux Tapestry. But one I

know I have never used, because I do not care for it, is the poorly rendered “dragon” on the figure’s shield on the right. It is

either swallowing some tiny and hapless creature whole, or the tongue is far too huge.

The odd particolouring of the horses in the Tapestry has always struck me as very strange. Aside from making the artwork

as colourful as possible, I wonder if this might not be a depiction of dyeing horses. Eastern armies - e. g. the Mongols - often

organized their cavalry into units of like-coloured horses; even applying distinctive dyed patterns to mark a unit’s horses out.

Later in the Middle Ages the bard of cloth for the knight’s horse served the purposes of identifying him. Could earlier knights

have experimented with dying their horses by conrois to be more easily recognized in battle? If this proves to be true, then my

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: