How the Bayeux Tapestry Works

The Bayeux Tapestry is considered the one of the most important images of the Medieval Age. It's a stunning piece of art, and it covers a crucial event in Western history: The Norman Conquest of Britain. Tune in to learn more about the Bayeux Tapestry.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how
Stuff Works dot com. Hello, welcome to the podcast. I'm
fair Dowdy and I'm Develinta Charko Boarding and today we're
going to be talking about a pretty visual subject, which
is always a little bit tricky to do in a podcast,

(00:22):
but we really take it for granted nowadays that a
complete historical record usually include some pictures, whether they're these,
you know, the point each in tutor portraits, or Civil
War era photos, or the digital photos of modern journalism
that are just everywhere in people's cell phone pictures, all
of that. But that's obviously not the case for all

(00:45):
of history. And if we're talking about the eleventh century,
the pickings get pretty slim when you're looking for good
visuals of of something that went on, and and that
point is something that really makes the Bio Tapestry all
the more remarkable. It's a piece of art, and it's
considered the most important pictorial archive of the eleventh century,

(01:06):
or maybe even of the medieval age. But it's actually
remarkable for quite a few other reasons too. It is.
First off, there's its size. It's two four ft long,
which is sixty eight meters, and that's after losing some
sections in the nearly one thousand intervening years since it
was made. So it's enormous. That's probably the first thing
you had noticed if you saw it exactly. And then

(01:28):
there's its detail. The nine panels feature two hundred two horses, dogs,
thirty seven buildings, forty one ships, and six hundred and
twenty six people, all with historically accurate hairdoice I love
very important to love that point. It's also really beautiful.
The so called tapestry is not really a tapestry at all.
It's actually embroidered linen. But it's just colorful. It's lively,

(01:53):
it has almost a three dimensional quality, and we're going
to talk about that a little more later and then
another another notable part of this tapestry story is that
it survived all of this time. It's made it through
the French Revolution, even though it was used to cover ammunition.
It survived the Franco Prussian War, it was whisked into

(02:13):
hiding before the occupation in World War Two, and Bayou actually,
on a side note, sort of was one of the
first cities liberated after D Day. So it's remarkable that
this nearly thousand year old tapestry has managed to make
it this long. It is, but it's the subject matter
that makes the tapestry truly important. It doesn't just document

(02:33):
courtly scenes or hunting outings in daily life. It also
chronicles one of the major events in Western history, the
Norman Conquest. So we're going to give you a little
background on the Norman conquests. Pretty standard history class there,
but figured a refresher would be in order. So the
English King Edward the Confessor was a nice guy, a

(02:55):
very pious man, a generous man, but he wasn't the
strongest leader, and most of efficantly, he was not interested
in having kids for religious reasons, or he couldn't have kids.
So there was this question who would be his heir
and there were a few possibilities. None of them really
jump out as as that obvious if if you look

(03:15):
into how exactly they're related to him. The first is
Harold Godwinson and he was Edward's brother in law. So
Harold's sister was married to Edward, and he was also
a really powerful man in England, a powerful advisor. The
next guy our list is Edgar Atheling, and he was
Edward's great nephew, but he was living abroad and he

(03:36):
was he was pretty young too. The third guy on
our list is going to be a familiar name, Duke
William of Normandy, and he was Edward's second cousin. The
way they're related is is pretty convoluted. But he's also
a descendant of a Viking pirate, so that gives you
a good idea of what kind of drive this man has.
William was even making his case for the throne. Even

(03:59):
more unlikely was the bastard, son of the Duke of Normandy,
and he was known for a long time as William
the Bastard. But he had been um accepted by his father,
who had no legitimate heirs, and he had inherited his titles,
so he was set up well in life. So who
was the front runner here? Well. Edward initially leaned toward

(04:20):
making William his heir because he himself had spent a
long exile in the Norman court and he knew the
country's habits and its nobles. He also supposedly promised the
crown to William, but he really seemed interested in all
the candidates, to be honest in all these potential airs,
and it wasn't his decision to make anyway. The Witton,
the old English Council of Advisers, was the body that

(04:42):
was going to make this decision the call. Yeah, So
the next part of our story gets a little murky.
That was supposedly in ten sixty four, Harold, one of
the potential candidates share was shipwrecked in William's territory and
William slapped him into honorable captivity until he swore on
holy relics that he would support William's claim to the throne.

(05:04):
Because of course William he was no dummy. He knew
that Harold, who actually lived in England and was a
powerful man there, probably had the strongest the strongest chance
of becoming king. But this oath that Williams supposedly makes
Harold take was also where the tapestries action starts and
Harold's tripped to Normandy in this all important oath or

(05:27):
are really important because after the Norman conquest of England
it was crucial to legitimize what had happened before, because
William's blood ties were really so weak they had to
make it a matter of honor. Almost. But whatever may
or may not have happened to Normandy between William and Harold.
By ten sixty five, Edward was dying and the Waton

(05:49):
selected Harold as his successor. It's likely that they did
this because they thought Harold is powerful, he's capable, he
was already just about the strongest man in the kingdom
and he would probably make the best fits. So on
his deathbed, Edward left the throne to him, and Harold
was crowned King Harold the Second on January six, ten
sixty six. It's something that you might remember from our

(06:10):
recent Westminster podcast, definitely. So meanwhile, William is feeling left
out here. This is not the way he hoped things
would go down, so he started to raise an army
back in Normandy to go and claim what he saw
as his right. And unfortunately for Harold the Second, William
wasn't the only person thinking okay, time to act, time

(06:33):
to go invade England, because in September of ten sixty six,
the King of Norway landed at the Yorkshire coast and
began an attack there, and Harold the Second successfully defended
his new kingdom, defeated the Norwegians, but he was stuck
in the northern part of his country when he got
word that William had landed in the south. That's kind

(06:56):
of a big problem there. He had a tired army
and a really long way to go, and he marched
them all across England and got to London by October six,
and then they spent the next few days sort of
resting up preparing before setting off for Hastings. But on
October fourteen, William actually attacks before harold troops were ready.

(07:17):
Even with this element of surprise, it didn't go well
for the Normans at first. Eventually, though, Anglo Saxon leaders
did start to drop, including Harold, who was supposedly shot
in the eye with an arrow. So William ascended to
the English throne and was no longer William the Bastard,
but William the Conqueror. Definitely, he's better known as that today.
So there were also some big changes with William in charge,

(07:39):
because he of course brought in all of his his
Norman lords, and they took up new lands and titles,
and there were new additions to the language. I remember
in high school French uh learning about pig versus pork
and cow versus beef, and the old Anglo Saxon versus
the Norman introduction ends, and there were other changes besides

(08:02):
language too, that customs and legal system changes, and as
a result, Saxon traditions really became kind of considered low class.
They weren't the the popular chic thing anymore. And that's
where we're going to transition to the tapestry. Because obviously
a story like the want of the invasion in the battle,
which is clearly a crucial piece of history and has

(08:25):
a long term effect, was pretty well documented. The tapestry
was not. You could think of it as some sort
of sole primary source we have, but it's not maybe
more romantic that way. It does sound romantic. You just
go consult your tapestry when you're doing research, but it's
certainly not the only record of the invasion or even
the most comprehensive source about the battle pastings. No, it wasn't.

(08:48):
There were several pro stories and tales and verse as well,
Norman historical texts written by monks or chaplains, and Anglo
Norman twelfth century narratives too, But the Biou tapestry is
kind of in a unique spot. It's precise, it's detailed,
and sometimes historians take its word over that of written
sources because of the level of planning and commitment that

(09:09):
goes into stitching versus writing. Yeah, I read an article
that sort of gave the example of weaponry that certain
men would carry. And while written accounts had different, contradicting
versions of what specific weapons so and so is carrying. Uh,
there were some historians were more inclined to go with
what somebody had bothered to stitch out across this this

(09:33):
huge panel, assuming that maybe they looked into the research
a little more, right, But it's also just special because
the Tapestry was created during the lifetimes of the Norman conquerors.
It's just about as close to contemporary as we can get,
all right, So it's a contemporary kind of source. It's
been compared to photojournalism actually before, which is pretty funny

(09:53):
if you think about it. But what does it look like?
The Tapestry's main narrative story covers span of two years
ten sixty four to ten sixty six. That's why it
is so long. And as we mentioned, it starts with
Harold's visit to normity, which is the really crucial component
of the moral element of the story. So from there

(10:14):
it progresses through Edward's sickness through Harold taking the throne
and William raising his army, crossing the channel and ending
with the battle, and they're likely was another panel that
included scenes of Williams coronation and that's the missing part.
But the interesting thing about the tapestry, though, is that
no step is rushed over. You might think, well, let's

(10:37):
get onto the battle and not handle the building the ships,
that that's not true at all. It shows men cutting
down trees, it shows shipwrights building boats, men loading the
ships with food and wine, really every single detail of
what happened in the lead up. Yeah, it even shows
Westminster Abbey isn't complete and everyday life too tilling, cooking

(11:00):
if you're a nobleman going hunting with a falcon on
your arms, so very detailed. The dress in court is
elaborate and fine, and the dress in full battle that's
shown is full of detail, with a range of weapons
and armor styles. The Anglo Saxons are wearing fashionable mustaches
while the Normans are sporting their distinctive shaved hairstyles. Actually

(11:20):
read a BBC article about how you know British children
are obviously taught this story pretty pretty regularly. And um.
Their idea of the Norman warrior definitely comes from that
of the bio tapestry. Those helmets with the nose guards
and the chain mail, it's it's what you probably think
of if you think of Norman armor. Yeah. But what

(11:43):
we've just mentioned this is just at the center of
the tapestry, right, I mean all along at the edges
are animals with allegorical significance. You see cox, peacocks, rams, deer, bear, fish, lions, camels, monsters,
I mean, even dragons, motifs from Aesop's fables. So it's
not just the narrative of the conquest that we're seeing,

(12:05):
but a moral story about how if you break your
sacred oath the only punishment is death. Yeah, and maybe
an arrow through the eye maybe, And if we're going
to talk about that more later. The other component of
the TAPS three is these neat Latin captions that are
written throughout and they really helped break down the scenes
and label key protagonists like William and Edward and Harold

(12:28):
and Odo and he's going to come up later too.
He's William's half brother and the Bishop of Bayou. But
we want to talk about it as a piece of
art too, because I mean, that's that's what it is.
First and foremost. It's really notable for its craftsmanship. The
overall design is pleasant, it's uncluttered. You'd think that if
you are trying to depict in needle work a battle

(12:53):
with tons of horses, like literally tangled together, it would
come across as kind of messy and and maybe not
that pleasing. But it looks good. And because it's embroidery
and not tapestry, and that background is left unfinished, it's um.
The figures really pop off of the light linen. It's
it's it looks nice. Plant based eyes were actually used

(13:15):
to make the ten different colors of wool that were used,
ranging from mustard to yellow to blue black and pale green,
and four types of stitches were used stem stitch, change stitch,
split stitch, and couching work or buy you stitch. So
this variation is what makes the tapestry have greater dimension
than most medieval art. I like the way you put it, Sarah,

(13:36):
we're talking about it earlier. You said that has like
a layered quality to it. It does, even if you
know that if you look at a picture where two
horses are right next to each other. Even though you
know that on the actual piece of linen, those stitches
are right next to each other. It looks like one
horse is front of in front of the other. I mean,
don't don't go expecting some great feet of perspective, but

(13:59):
I think it's it's pretty cool that so much depth
was achieved through stitches alone in different shadings and such.
But unfortunately, not all of that stitching is original. Some
of the older restorations have faded really badly, and some
done in the nineteenth century with wool that was colored
by chemical dies look really garish. And um, I didn't

(14:22):
see pictures of this, but all all sources said it
looked quite obvious the nineteenth century restoration work, and those
restorations actually create some bigger problems than just affecting the
look of the whole thing they do. I mean, you
have to wonder, when all these restorations have been done,
how much has been altered, reinterpreted, or just plain lost.

(14:44):
And the best example here is the famous arrow in
the Eye of King Harold. The tapestry is mentioned as
the earliest source for this particular claim, of of that
being the way that he died but since that claim
wasn't made until hundreds of years after the works creation,
who's to say the tapestry was an all heard or
incorrect in the first place. Another matter complicating that is
the Latin text doesn't really help clarify who is actually

(15:08):
getting shot in the eye. Clarifies that Harold was killed,
but there's another guy next to him too, And and
people have debated whether the guy with the arrow in
his eyes actually Harold. But there are a few mysteries.
That's just the first one in this In this tapestry,
a big one is who actually made it, who commissioned it,

(15:29):
who designed it. And tradition says that the work was
wrought by William's own wife, Queen Matilda, and her ladies.
And that's a very romantic idea that you would become
Queen of England and then immediately get to work on this,
on this embroidery, massive embroidery project of commemorating your husband's triumph.
But it's likely that the work was instead commissioned by

(15:52):
Williams half brother Odo, who he mentioned earlier, the Bishop
of Bayou, and he would have wanted it for the
dedication of the cathedral of our Lady of Bayou, which
was um started about ten years or so after the
Battle of Hastings, so that's what most people are thinking.
There are a few other theories out there, though. Art
historian Carola Hicks suggests that Edith Godwinson, Edward the Confessor's

(16:15):
widow and Harold's sister, actually commissioned it as a way
to establish herself in the new Norman court. So that's
another theory for that question. But where it was made
is also a mystery too. Many think that it was
made in England, most likely at the embroidery center of Winchester,
but some people think it was made in Normandy. American
historian George Beach even suggests that the tapestry was made

(16:36):
in a French abbey. People have also debated about what
purpose it served. In Some of the purposes seem obvious.
It's a beautiful decorative item. It's something that you would
bring out for for celebrations, very special days. It's clearly
a propaganda piece, and it's clearly a celebration of the
Norman conquest to and justification for William's rule. But it

(17:00):
then suggests that it's also maybe some kind of memory device.
And I like this idea for someone who was reciting
a ballad, uh, they could consult the tapestry and present
the ballad while almost using the tapestry as some sort
of slideshow as as they were going along of visually acually.

(17:22):
And I mean that power of images though it would
have been powerful then and it's still powerful today, even
nearly a thousand years after. Ten sixty six is clearly
a banner year in Western history. But maybe one of
the reasons why we remember it so well while it's
why it's still seems so accessible and recognizable, is because

(17:42):
we do have these images, and they're so common and
so well known. If you go and look up William
the Conqueror, if you go and look up the Battle
of Hastings, the little thumbnail image you're going to get
next to it will be from the bio tapestry. And
that's not something you can say for every medieval battle
or character you come across. No, you can't. But it's

(18:04):
cool that you can still see. The actual tapestry too,
is at the Bayou Museum in Bayou, right, It is
in Bayou, And yeah, you can go and visit it,
and there are actually a few replicas around the world too.
If you can't make it out to France. I think
there's one in Reading, England. And I also learned there's
not a replica tapestry, but there's a hand painted replica

(18:26):
really near by us to Blina over at the University
of West Georgia. I feel kind of obligated now that
you've said that, to go take some pictures or something.
I know. Well, I was, I was checking out how
far away the one in France was from Paris, and
I feel like be a lot easier to just go
to the West Georgia check and maybe well, I feel

(18:46):
like our listeners always go visit places, but we've talked
about and send us pictures, so they do. Maybe somebody
already lives in Carrollton and can go visit and they
have some pictures ready. I am curious to know what
it looks like the rep. Well, if you know, listeners,
please write in and let us know. But for now
we're gonna see what another listener has to say in

(19:06):
listener mail. So this message is from Chris. He wrote
in about our recent episode on the Belly Ruth and
the Right of Spring, and here's what he had to say.
It was fascinated to learn about the controversial ballet, and
it was amazed by the detailed account of the riot.
But I would surprise you left out the little detail

(19:27):
about the ballet causing World War One. That's right, the
Great War. Maybe you weren't aware, or maybe you left
it out because it's a little too Goldburgian. But the
idea comes from a fascinating book by Modus X Steins
called What Else The Rights of Spring. The book focuses
on the cultural implications that led to the Great War,
with the famous modernist ballet skeearheading the way. So really

(19:51):
interesting read, a fascinating take on World War One, and
I would recommend it to anyone interested in world history.
Thanks for all the wonderful podcast. So thank you Chris
for letting us know about the book. I always like
getting book suggestions from our listeners, especially when especially when
they're pitching an idea recommend a book. Yeah, we're always

(20:13):
looking for new things to read, so if you have
any suggestions, please write us where at History podcast at
how Stuff Works dot com, or you can look us
up on Twitter at liston history or on Facebook. And
if you like fun art stories, we also have a
really great article called Five Impressive Art Heights by Julia Layton,
and uh it's it's a great look at some museums

(20:35):
and and strange cases. And I think we've covered a
few before on the podcast, but if you're ready for fresher,
go back and check it out Five Impressive Art Heights
so you can find it by searching on our homepage
at www dot how stuff works dot com. Be sure
to check out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future.

(20:57):
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