The Bayeux Tapestry

Romanesque embroidery is best known from the Bayeux tapestry, an embroidered cloth nearly 230 feet long.

Learning Objective

Explain the importance of the Bayeux Tapesty

Key Points

The Bayeux tapestry depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England; images include depictions of William, Duke of Normandy; the coronation and death of the English King Harold; the Battle of Hastings; and even Halley's Comet.
It is likely that the tapestry was commissioned by Bishop Odo, the half-brother to Duke William of Normandy, and made in England—not Bayeux—in the 1070s.
The designs on the Bayeux tapestry are embroidered rather than woven; in this way, it is not technically a tapestry, though it is referred to as such.
The tapestry can be seen as the final and best known work of Anglo-Saxon art, and though it was made after the Norman Conquest of England, historians now accept that it was created firmly in an Anglo-Saxon tradition.
The tapestry's central zone contains most of the action; events take place in a long series of scenes, which are generally separated by highly stylized trees and surrounded by a decorative border.

Term

tituli
A term used for the labels or captions naming figures or subjects in art, which were commonly added in classical and medieval art and remain conventional in Eastern Orthodox icons.

Full Text

Overview and History

Romanesque embroidery is best known from the Bayeux tapestry. The tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 meters (230 feet) long and 50 centimeters (20 inches) tall, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England. Images in the cloth include depictions of William, Duke of Normandy; the coronation and death of the English King Harold; the Battle of Hastings; and even Halley's Comet.

The tapestry consists of some 50 scenes with Latin tituli, or inscriptions, and is embroidered on linen with colored woolen yarns. It is likely that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo, the half-brother to Duke William of Normandy, and made in England—not Bayeux—in the 1070s. The hanging was rediscovered in 1729 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.

Design

The designs on the Bayeux tapestry are embroidered rather than woven; in this way, it is not technically a tapestry, though it is referred to as such. The tapestry can be seen as the final and best known work of Anglo-Saxon art, and though it was made after the Norman Conquest of England, historians now accept that it was created firmly in an Anglo-Saxon tradition. Such tapestries adorned both churches and wealthy houses in England, though the Bayeux tapestry is exceptionally large.

The Bayeux tapestry is embroidered in crewel (wool yarn) on a tabby-woven linen ground using two methods of stitching: outline or stem stitch for lettering and the outlines of figures, and couching or laid work for filling in figures. Nine linen panels, between 14 and 3 meters in length, were sewn together after each was embroidered, and the joins were disguised with subsequent embroidery. The design involves a broad central zone with narrow decorative borders top and bottom. Later generations have patched the hanging in numerous places, and some of the embroidery (especially in the final scene) has been reworked.

Bayeux tapestry

Detail of stem stitching and laid work.

The main yarn colors are terracotta or russet, blue-green, dull gold, olive green, and blue, with small amounts of dark blue, black, and sage green. Later repairs are worked in light yellow, orange, and light greens. The tapestry's central zone contains most of the action, which sometimes overflows into the borders either for dramatic effect or because depictions would otherwise be very cramped. Events take place in a long series of scenes, which are generally separated by highly stylized trees. The trees are not placed consistently, however, and the greatest scene shift (between Harold's audience with Edward after his return to England and Edward's burial scene) is not marked in any way at all.

The tituli are normally located in the central zone but occasionally use the top border. The borders are otherwise purely decorative, and only sometimes does the decoration complement the action in the central zone. The decoration consists of birds, beasts, and fish, as well as scenes from fables, agriculture, and hunting. The picture of Halley's Comet, which appears in the upper border (scene 32), is the first known picture of this comet.

Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—nearly 230 feet long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England.

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