|
Contents
Preface
Short History
Facts and
Figures
Page spreads
Home page
Boydell home
page
More French History Titles
 |
 The Tapestry is believed to date from the eleventh century, though no
documentary evidence exists as to its exact origins.
It is approximately 64.38 metres in length and averages roughly 50 centimetres
in width.
Although no one can be sure, the occasional use of Anglo-Saxon spellings, the
dispassionate attitude towards the defeated Harold and lack of hostility towards
the English, and the high reputation of English embroidery at the time all
suggest that this famous record of an epochal French victory was actually made
in England.
The Tapestry shows 626 people in total.
With its detailed images of ships and the invasion fleet, the Tapestry is one of
the principal sources for marine archaeology of the Middle Ages.
Despite its length the Tapestry’s Latin commentary runs to (approximately) an
economical 375 words.
In 1792, amidst the chaos of the Revolution, the Tapestry was confiscated from
Bayeux Cathedral, termed public property and given a very specific new purpose:
to cover military wagons.
It was saved only by the intervention of a local lawyer, Léonard Leforestier.
|
NOW AVAILABLE
272 pages
c.95 colour and c.15 b/w illus.
Size: 25 x 21 cm
ISBN: 978
184383 1631
Binding: Hardback
Publication date: 29/Sep/2005
Price: 47.95 USD / 25.00 GBP
Imprint: Boydell Press |
