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Bayeux Tapestry

Inscribed 2007

What is it

An 11th-century embroidery stitched in wool, linen, hemp and cotton on linen cloth that depicts pictorially and in narrative detail the political background and military events of the start of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, together with everyday scenes of ordinary life.

Why was it inscribed

The Bayeux Tapestry is a unique artefact of its period, both as a historical document and record, and also as a work of art in its own right.

Where is it

Médiathèque Municipale de Bayeux, Bayeux, France

The Norman Conquest was one of the most significant events in British and European medieval history and the tapestry narrates its early stages in the political and personal events leading up to the military campaign and Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Its images depict, scene by scene and in lively detail, the events between 1064 and 1066 that led up to William, Duke of Normandy’s disputed claim to and taking of the English throne. The story is told arguably from a Norman perspective and includes information that appears in no other contemporary source: for example, an oath of fealty that Harold, Earl of Wessex – later King Harold II of England and William’s rival – was said to have sworn to the duke at Bayeux.

A detail from the tapestry shows what is believed to be King Harold, struck in the eye by an arrow.

The death of King Edward

Border details depict scenes of work.

The tapestry is unique in size and scope. Works of art celebrating military victories were common but virtually none remain now beyond references in contemporary accounts.

The political and military events of the mid-1060s are related in pictorial chronological narrative. The scenes on the tapestry’s main section appear between two narrower upper and lower borders depicting animal, possibly fabulous, and everyday rural scenes. At moments of tension in the main action, the central image overlaps the upper border in a technique that implies energy and movement, while the raised strands of wool create a light-and-shadow effect suggestive of a cartoon technique.

The tapestry on display in Bayeux today.

Little is known of the tapestry’s origins, but the details of its manufacture offer some clues. It is believed that a cleric skilled in Latin and with a knowledge of illumination techniques designed and oversaw production, ensuring the remarkable consistency of style throughout. The design may have been influenced by the mural cloths of northern Europe – the only other equivalents remaining are fragments from Scandinavia, where the Normans originated. Another possible influence was a similar narrative style used in Anglo-Saxon Bible manuscripts. The tapestry was probably sewn in the south of England. Furthermore there is distinct English influence in its colours and dyes, and in its etymology.

Odo, bishop of Bayeux and William’s half-brother, may have commissioned the work for the consecration of Bayeux Cathedral in 1077. The church was the foremost artistic patron in the medieval period, and appropriately for a clerical commission and creation, the tapestry is said to use religious allegory and imagery interwoven with historical record – in this case, the conquest of Judah by Babylon.