1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry |
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1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry
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by Andrew Bridgeford
Sales Rank: 270062
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List Price: $15.00
$15.00
At Amazon
on 4-14-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 354 pages
Published by: Walker & Company April 4, 2006
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0802777422
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0802777423
Book Dimensions:
8.2 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
Weighs: 13.4 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
The simple linen background and bright woolen colors of the Bayeux Tapestry have always been interpreted as a French tribute to William the Conqueror, celebrating his victory over England in 1066 with its depiction of soldiers, archers, ships and battles. In an often riveting but ultimately unconvincing revisionist account drawing on the work of other scholars as well as on contemporary accounts of events, Bridgeford, a British lawyer, argues that the tapestry was more likely designed by English monks at St. Augustine's abbey in Canterbury under the direction of Count Eustace of Boulogne. English women, more famous for their embroidery skills than the French, stitched a tapestry containing a covert anti-Norman message. Bridgeford also provides details on minor characters in the tapestry, such as the dwarf Turold—who Bridgeford thinks might have written the medieval French epic poem Chanson de Roland and been the tapestry's patron—and Aelfgyva, the only lady named on the tapestry. While Bridgeford offers a fascinating look into the tapestry and the events it depicts, his language and method are so tentative ("Could it be that?") that one is left doubting his interpretation. 16 pages of color illus., one map. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
The Bayeux Tapestry, in the French town of Bayeux, draws half a million visitors a year. For more than 900 years it has been kept--and sometimes concealed--in several places around the town. The story of the Norman invasion of England in 1066 is set out in this masterpiece, recounting the Battle of Hastings, culminating in a victory for William the Conqueror and the death of King Harold. Although barely half a metre wide, the tapestry is about seventy metres long, embroidered on a plain linen background in wools of red, yellow, gray, green, and blue. Here are men feasting on birds, drinking from ivory horns, hunting, going to church, and loading provisions onto a ship. Bridgeford posits "the quest of [his] book is to unravel the millennial mysteries of the work, to investigate the true origin and meaning of it, to understand more about the characters who are named in it, and to gain a new insight into some of the darkest events of the Norman Conquest." The result is a fascinating study. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: 1066: The Hidden History In The Bayeux Tapestry (Hardcover)
For a single day's battle, it is hard to think of any that is greater in consequence than the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. If it had gone the other way, and it was a very near thing, we would, for instance, be using a different language now, the descent of royalty in England would have been decidedly altered, and English and European (and therefore world) history would be unrecognizable from where we are now. The classical depiction of the battle is on a long piece of linen, and the cloth's story is told in _1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry_ (Walker Books) by Andrew Bridgeford. Everyone who has looked at this extraordinary work of art has tried to see one scene after another, as if it were some epic graphic novel, to tell the story of the invasion. If you don't know much about the history that has been taught from the tapestry, Bridgeford makes this a fascinating introduction, examining each scene and coordinating it with the written histories of the time. He is not, however, a professional historian, but a lawyer, and he has a case to argue. The tapestry has been interpreted the wrong way, he explains, and he means to set the matter straight. There is a good deal of guesswork and supposition in his explanation, but it is generally well-argued, and will make little difference to those who come to the tapestry without having been drilled in the old interpretations. Bridgeford does bring the tapestry to life, with its depictions of valor and brutality, and anyone reading his work is going to want to get to France someday to see the real thing. The tapestry is not a tapestry at all, really, but an embroidery; the pattern is not in the weave of the fabric, but stitched into the linen. The illustrations consist of hundreds of human figures, plus horses, falcons, and dogs, set within forests, churches, castles, and ships. It is about 75 yards long and one yard wide, and was sewn almost a millennium ago. The battle depicted in the tapestry was brought about by the death of Edward the Confessor in December 1065, an event depicted about a third of the way along the tapestry. William of Normandy expected to be made king, but Harold Godwinson was given the nod by the dying Edward. William set forth to get the throne he thought was his, and of course when Harold fell in the Battle of Hastings, he succeeded. The view of the tapestry ever since has been that because the Normans won, and because victors get to write the histories, the tapestry is "a work of Norman triumphalism," made by Normans who wished to celebrate their just conquest. Bridgeford has taken scholarly works of the latter twentieth century to demonstrate that the tapestry necessarily tells of the Norman victory, but it gives an English version of events. For instance, the tapestry never refers to William's claim to the throne, showing Harold's nomination as lawful; Harold is not the usurper whose actions would have justified invasion. Harold is referred to as King Harold when he is depicted, but he was almost always in other Norman documents referred to by his former title Duke. There is an enormous amount of evidence for this new hypothesis, attractively arranged and argued with legal skill. Part of the problem is that the tapestry is from so long ago, there are no written documents from its own time that refer to its story or how it was made, and there is an enormous amount of confusing and strange inclusions on the cloth. It thus has many panels that can be interpreted in various ways. Bridgeford knows this, and wisely includes many times a phrase like, "One further piece of intriguing evidence should be mentioned, though its import is unclear." The case, full of suppositions about spears that point to particular letters and animals on the cloth's border that illustrate a fable from Aesop that might apply in some way to the goings-on in the main pictures, is an interesting one, but for most people, the new ideas Bridgeford presents will be secondary. His book primarily serves as an excellent introduction to the tapestry and how mysterious it is, with many large voids of information about and within it. He also has drawn from other sources to describe a strange and turbulent time, and his descriptions of side issues, like the process of becoming a knight, are useful to the main story. The book is illustrated with small pictures to show the whole cloth, and enlargements of the panels to which Bridgeford pays particular attention. As an appreciation of a spectacular work of art, the book is fine guide, particularly in its explanation of symbolism that appealed to the medieval mind.
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1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry
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