Bayeux Tapestry: A 1,000-year-old embroidery depicting William the Conqueror’s victory and King Harold’s grisly death

Bayeux Tapestry: A 1,000-year-old embroidery depicting William the Conqueror’s victory and King Harold’s grisly death

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A sector of the Bayeux Tapestry revealing the death of King Harold. The Latin title checks out “Harold rex interfectus est,” or “King Harold is killed.”
(Image credit: Alamy)

Call: Bayeux Tapestry

What it is: A roll of linen fabric with wool embroidery illustrating scenes from the 11th century

Where it is from: Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy, France

When it was made: The late 11th century

Related: Bad Dürrenberg headdress: A fancy 9,000-year-old headpiece used by a female shaman in Europe

What it informs us about the past:

This tapestry was very first tape-recorded in 1476 as part of the stock of the Bayeux Cathedral, however it was most likely commissioned in the 1070s by Bishop Odo, a close relative of William the Conqueror, to celebrate his success in the Norman Conquest of England, according to the Bayeux Museumwhere the artifact is on display screen.

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Including 58 scenes sewed into the linen fabric in various colors of wool, the middle ages artwork– which is technically an embroidery instead of a woven tapestry– steps almost 230 feet (70 meters) long and 20 inches (50 centimeters) high. Each scene is identified with a fundamental caption in Latin.

The tapestry portrays essential minutes in history from 1064 to 1066– primarily the battle in between Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon king, and William, Duke of Normandy, for control over the throne of England following a succession crisis when King Edward the Confessor passed away childless. This capped at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. In a definitive triumph, William and his soldiers dominated and King Harold was eliminated, starting the Norman Conquest of England. For this factor, he is frequently called William the Conqueror.

Scenes on the tapestry provide historians essential info about this duration not understood from other sources. The tapestry reveals Harold taking an oath on saintly antiques, although the nature of the oath is unidentified. Another scene reveals Edward the Confessor on his deathbed, offering his crown to Harold, however historians disagree on whether this in fact taken place. And at Harold’s crowning, the tapestry consists of a star with a streaming tail– the very first recognized representation of Halley’s Comet

MORE ASTONISHING ARTIFACTS

The last scene on the Bayeux Tapestry reveals the Battle of Hastings. The English are battling on foot, while the Normans are on horseback. Bloody, dismembered remains litter the ground, and the death of King Harold is shown, after which the English are revealed leaving. Missing out on from the tapestry is another panel or 2, which might have illustrated William the Conqueror’s crowning as King of England.

No matter whether the occasions in the tapestry are strictly traditionally precise, the artifact is essential for its visual record of middle ages weapons, ships, architecture, clothes and other items from life.

This 1,000-year-old fabric has actually been saved and brought back over the centuries, and a brand-new museum is being constructed for the things, with a prepared opening in 2027. The whole tapestry can be completely checked out on the Bayeux Museum’s site.

Kristina Killgrove is a personnel author at Live Science with a concentrate on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her short articles have actually likewise appeared in places such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Killgrove holds postgraduate degrees in sociology and classical archaeology and was previously a university teacher and scientist. She has actually gotten awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science composing.

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