Bayeux Tapestry
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The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the world’s most famous pieces of medieval art. It is 70 metres long, and chronicles the legendary tale of the Norman conquest of England, when William the Conqueror invaded and defeated King Harold Godwinson.
In the late 19th century, an extremely ambitious project was undertaken by a group of Victorian embroiderers to recreate the Bayeux Tapestry in full, painstakingly reproducing every single detail, stitch-by-stitch, so that the Tapestry’s timeless story could be enjoyed by the people of Britain.
Today, this artwork, Britain’s Bayeux Tapestry, is held at Reading Museum and displayed in our specially designed Bayeux Gallery.
For many years we have shared our Victorian replica with audiences across the world via our online version of the Bayeux Tapestry. Discover the full Tapestry’s story and many facts about this remarkable artwork. Click on a scene below to start exploring. Use our zoom tool to see the Tapestry up close. And if you are viewing the Tapestry on a mobile device, be sure to rotate it to landscape, so that you can enjoy the finest details at the highest possible quality.
The Bayeux Tapestry, a unique artefact created in the 11th century
Step into the engrossing story of the conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy in 1066, told in a 70 meters long embroidery.
The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth, not a woven tapestry, that depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, including the Battle of Hastings. It is a historical artefact and a masterpiece of Romanesque art. It is approximately 70 meters long and 50 centimetres high, and it is currently housed in the Bayeux Museum in Normandy, France.
The Bayeux tapestry is one of the supreme achievements of the Norman Romanesque …. Its survival almost intact over nine centuries is little short of miraculous … Its exceptional length, the harmony and freshness of its colours, its exquisite workmanship, and the genius of its guiding spirit combine to make it endlessly fascinating.
The cloth consists of 58 scenes,[note 1] many with Latin tituli, embroidered on linen with coloured woollen yarns. It is likely that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William’s maternal half-brother, and made for him in England in the 1070s. In 1729, the hanging was rediscovered by scholars at a time when it was being displayed annually in Bayeux Cathedral. The tapestry is now exhibited at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France.
The designs on the Bayeux Tapestry are embroidered rather than in a tapestry weave, so it does not meet narrower definitions of a tapestry. It can be seen as a rare example of secular Romanesque art. Tapestries adorned both churches and wealthy houses in medieval Western Europe, though at 0.5 by 68.38 m (1 ft 8 in by 224 ft 4 in), the Bayeux Tapestry is exceptionally large. The background is not embroidered, providing a large, clear field of cloth which allows the figures and decorative elements to stand out very clearly.
History Origins
The earliest known written reference to the tapestry is a 1476 inventory of Bayeux Cathedral, but its origins have been the subject of much speculation and controversy.
French legend maintained the tapestry was commissioned and created by Queen Matilda, William the Conqueror’s wife, and her ladies-in-waiting. Indeed, in France, it is occasionally known as La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde (“The Tapestry of Queen Matilda”). However, scholarly analysis in the 20th century concluded it was probably commissioned by William’s half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who, after the Conquest, also became Earl of Kent and, when William was absent in Normandy, regent of England.
The reasons for the Odo commission theory include:
- three of the bishop’s followers mentioned in the Domesday Book appear on the tapestry;
- it was found in Bayeux Cathedral, built by Odo;
- it may have been commissioned at the same time as the cathedral’s construction in the 1070s, possibly completed by 1077 in time for display on the cathedral’s dedication.
Assuming Odo commissioned the tapestry, it was probably designed and constructed in England by Anglo-Saxon artists (Odo’s main power base being by then in Kent); the Latin text contains hints of Anglo-Saxon; other embroideries originate from England at this time; and the vegetable dyes can be found in cloth traditionally woven there. Howard B. Clarke has proposed that the designer of the tapestry (i.e., the individual responsible for its overall narrative and political argument) was Scolland, the abbot of St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury, because of his previous position as head of the scriptorium at Mont-Saint-Michel (famed for its illumination), his travels to Trajan’s Column, and his connections to Wadard and Vital, two individuals identified in the tapestry. Alternatively, Christine Grainge has argued that the designer may have been Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury 1070–1089. The actual physical work of stitching was most probably undertaken by women needleworkers. Anglo-Saxon needlework of the more detailed type known as Opus Anglicanum was famous across Europe. It was perhaps commissioned for display in the hall of Odo’s palace in Bayeux, and then bequeathed to the cathedral he had built, following the precedent of the documented but lost hanging of the Anglo-Saxon warrior Byrhtnoth, bequeathed by his widow to Ely Abbey.
Other theories exist. Carola Hicks has suggested the tapestry could possibly have been commissioned by Edith of Wessex, widow of Edward the Confessor and sister of Harold. Wolfgang Grape has challenged the consensus that the embroidery is Anglo-Saxon, distinguishing between Anglo-Saxon and other Northern European techniques; Medieval material authority Elizabeth Coatsworth contradicted this: “The attempt to distinguish Anglo-Saxon from other Northern European embroideries before 1100 on the grounds of technique cannot be upheld on the basis of present knowledge.” George Beech suggests the tapestry was executed at the Abbey of Saint-Florent de Saumur in the Loire Valley and says the detailed depiction of the Breton campaign argues for additional sources in France. Andrew Bridgeford has suggested that the tapestry was actually of English design and encoded with secret messages meant to undermine Norman rule.
Recorded History
The first reference to the tapestry is from 1476 when it was listed in an inventory of the treasures of Bayeux Cathedral. It survived the sack of Bayeux by the Huguenots in 1562; and the next certain reference is from 1724. Antoine Lancelot sent a report to the Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres concerning a sketch he had received about a work concerning William the Conqueror. He had no idea where or what the original was, although he suggested it could have been a tapestry.
Despite further enquiries he discovered no more.
The Benedictine scholar Bernard de Montfaucon made more successful investigations and found that the sketch was of a small portion of a tapestry preserved at Bayeux Cathedral. In 1729 and 1730, he published drawings and a detailed description of the complete work in the first two volumes of his Les Monuments de la Monarchie française. The drawings were by Antoine Benoît, one of the ablest draughtsmen of that time.
The tapestry was first briefly noted in English in 1746 by William Stukeley, in his Palaeographia Britannica. The first detailed account in English was written by the English antiquary Smart Lethieullier, who was living in Paris in 1732–3, and was acquainted with Lancelot and de Montfaucon: it was not published, however, until 1767, as an appendix to Andrew Ducarel’s Anglo-Norman Antiquities.
During the French Revolution, in 1792, the tapestry was confiscated as public property to be used for covering military wagons. It was rescued from a wagon by a local lawyer who stored it in his house until the troubles were over, whereupon he sent it to the city administrators for safekeeping.[ After the Reign of Terror, the Fine Arts Commission, set up to safeguard national treasures in 1803, required it to be removed to Paris for display at the Musée Napoléon.When Napoleon abandoned his planned invasion of Britain the tapestry’s propaganda value was lost and it was returned to Bayeux where the council displayed it on a winding apparatus of two cylinders. Despite scholars’ concern that the tapestry was becoming damaged the council refused to return it to the cathedral.
10 Facts About the Bayeux Tapestry
Though neither a tapestry nor in all likelihood made in Bayeux, the Bayeux Tapestry is one of Britain’s most cherished historical artefacts, a medieval embroidered cloth chronicling scenes from the Norman Conquest of England.
The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the period from 1064 to 1066 when the English throne passed from Edward the Confessor to Harold Godwinson, and then to William the Conqueror following the Norman Conquest.
In addition to depicting the build-up to, and events of, the Battle of Hastings, the tapestry provides rich insight into 11th-century Britain and Anglo-Norman cultural history. It has proven to be an invaluable source of insight and information.
Here are 10 facts about the Bayeux Tapestry.
1. It’s not a tapestry
Strictly speaking, the Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidery as it was created by sewing thread onto cloth and not woven with a loom.
9 separately produced linen panels were embroidered with wool yarn and then sewn together into one continuous piece. It is 68.38 metres in length and 0.5 metres in height.
2. The Bayeux Tapestry is thought to be incomplete
The Tapestry provides plenty of background to the Norman Conquest. It begins in 1064 with Edward the Confessor and his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson’s private conversations.
And yet it ends abruptly after Harold’s death at the Battle of Hastings without any reference to William’s coronation as King of England. This has led many historians to assert the Bayeux Tapestry may never have been finished or that at least one panel may have been lost.
A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting Bishop Odo rallying Duke William’s troops during the Battle of Hastings in 1066
3. It is almost 1000 years old
The precise date of the Bayeux Tapestry’s creation is unknown but historians widely agree on it being produced shortly after the events it depicts: ending with the Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066, the artefact was probably created sometime between then and the end of the 11th century.
If, as suspected, the Bayeux Tapestry was created soon after Norman Conquest, that would make it around 950 years old.
4. It was likely commissioned by William the Conqueror’s half-brother
It is not known who commissioned the Tapestry, but a likely candidate is William the Conqueror’s half-brother Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who became Earl of Kent following the successful Norman invasion of England.
As Bayeux Cathedral was built in 1077, it’s plausible to suggest the Tapestry was intended to adorn its walls. Furthermore, historians have highlighted the disproportionately large role Bishop Odo is given on the Bayeux Tapestry.
5. The Bayeux Tapestry might have been produced in England
Despite residing in France for most of its history, the artefact is believed to have been made in England. Canterbury is considered a credible location for a number of reasons. Namely, it had a famous tapestry school producing work in a very similar style to the Bayeux Tapestry.
As for the specific artists behind the tapestry, it is likely that nuns were responsible: their convent lifestyles enabled them to become the most experienced and talented embroiderers of the period.
6. Centuries of the Bayeux Tapestry’s history are unaccounted for
The first reference to the Bayeux Tapestry was in the 1476 Bayeux Cathedral inventory, around 300 years after it was likely produced. The listing noted the cloth was hung annually in the cathedral for the week of the Feast of St John the Baptist.
While the Bayeux Tapestry was briefly noted in William Stukeley’s 1746 Palaeographia Britannica, it took until 1767 for the first detailed account to appear in English in the appendix to Andrew Ducarel’s Anglo-Norman Antiquities written by Smart Lethieullier.
7. Aesop’s Fables feature in the borders
While the central sections detail the Norman Conquest, the Bayeux Tapestry’s upper and lower borders are filled with mythological figures, animals and Aesop’s Fables. Four separate fables have been identified: The Fox and the Crow, The Wolf and the Crane, The Wolf and the Kid and The Wolf and the Lamb.
One interesting theory for the fables’ inclusion suggests they are subversive messages from the presumed Anglo-Saxon creators of the Tapestry, commissioned to depict the Norman Conquest, but perhaps with bitterness about the events.
8. Halley’s Comet is depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry
In February 1066, less than two months after Harold had seized the English throne following Edward’s death, Halley’s comet appeared in the sky. Contemporary superstition held that this was an omen of great transformation, perhaps an epic downfall or regime change. For that reason, comets were referred to as ‘the terror of kings’ during the Middle Ages.
To represent the imminent doom which awaited Harold, who met his death at the Battle of Hastings, Halley’s Comet thus appears on the Bayeux Tapestry.
Detail of Halley’s Comet
9. The Nazis planned to seal the Bayeux Tapestry
During Germany’s occupation of France in World War Two, staff of Nazi think-tank The Ahnenerbe moved the Tapestry from Bayeux Cathedral to a Juaye-Mondaye abbey, then to the Château de Sourches, before the Gestapo eventually housed it at the Louvre.
As Germany prepared to withdraw from Paris following the city’s liberation in August 1944, SS leader Heinrich Himmler sent a coded message ordering his troops to take the Tapestry to Berlin. However, British codebreakers intercepted the message and informed their French counterparts who regained control of the Louvre and possession of the Bayeux Tapestry. It is currently held at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France.
10. Britain has twice failed to loan the Bayeux Tapestry
In recent years, Britain has made a habit of unsuccessful requests to borrow the Bayeux Tapestry. The first occasion was in 1953 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. France initially agreed but conservation concerns led to them to renege.
On the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1966, Britain was again denied due to objections from Bayeux and France’s Inspector General of Historical Monuments.
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