,,the ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,bayeux ,,tapestry ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,additional information about the ,bayeux ,tapestry can be found here3 https3_/_/en4wikipedia4org_/wiki_/,bayeu x,tapestry ,much nicer images of the tapestry itself can be found here3 https3_/_/www4bayeuxmuseum4com_/en_/the- bayeux-tapestry ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,illustration ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,bayeux ,,tapestry ,,presenting ,,the ,,complete ,,work ,,in ,a ,,series ,,of ,,colour ,,facsimiles3 ,,the ,,introduction ,,narrative ,,by ,,hilaire ,,belloc ,,london ,,chatto ,,windus #aiad ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,all rights reserved ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,introduction ,at ,bayeux in ,normandy1 a little town as old perhaps as our race and older certainly than our records and our religion1 there is to be seen in the main room of what was once the ,bishop's ,palace a document unique in ,europe4 ,there is no other example1 ,i think1 of a record1 contemporary or nearly contemporary1 of an event so remote in the story of ,christendom1 detailed upon so considerable a scale and relating to a matter of such moment4 ,it is these three characters combined which give to the ,bayeux ,tapestry its value4 ,we have1 indeed1 pictorial representation more accurate and more detailed in some few cases1 but relating to the periods when material civilisation was high--before the ,dark ,ages4 ,we have again an ample store of evidence pictorial and written1 relating to the vivid life of the earlier ,middle ,ages1 and of course1 an overwhelming mass of matter dealing with everything that accompanied or has succeeded the ,renaissance4 ,even of the ,dark ,ages and of that violent and happy transition from the ,dark ,ages to ,medival civilisation1 we have here and there sharp pictures--mostly pictures of the pen and not of the pencil4 ,but these pictures relate--almost always--episodes which were not the capital episodes of their time4 ,the ,bayeux ,tapestry stands quite apart in this3 that it represents so faithfully and so thoroughly one of the half-dozen acts essential to the remaking of ,europe1 and that it so represents an act which1 on the analogy of every other of that early time1 we should expect to receive only from a short and doubtful literary account4 ,it is the one picture we have of any magnitude showing us the things of the ,crusading turning-point4 ,for ,western ,christendom1 as we know1 awoke from its sleep and flowered into the ,middle ,ages through three great efforts3 ,the ,norman ,adventures1 the ,reform of the ,church under ,st4 ,gregory ,,vii1 and the ,crusading ,march4 ,all these were the product of a sort of spring which came upon our ancestry more than eight hundred years ago1 and which restored in a renewed form the civilisation of the ,west4 ,of that spring the ,bayeux ,tapestry remains the one piece of ocular description which has survived4 ,unfortunately1 there must be added to this statement 7which would be final if we could be certain of our dates7 a critical warning4 ,the date of the work is not certain4 ,i will set forth in a moment the arguments which have been put forward for fixing the work to this or to that moment4 ,we can happily be certain beyond reasonable doubt that it was produced within the lifetime of men who could remember the ,invaders of ,england4 ,it is not later than that4 ,it has even been believed to be actually contemporary with the ,invasion itself1 and produced under the direction of those who took part in the expedition4 ,but though it is virtually a contemporary document1 even if we find ourselves compelled to accept the lower of these limits1 yet we unfortunately have not a definite proof of the year or years in which the work was finished4 ,this is the one point which mars our satisfaction in our possession of this thing4 ,it is here worthy of curious remark that the history of the ,english is singularly fortunate in the wealth of record which it has at call4 ,no other nation has such an accumulation of ancient testimony to hand4 ,no other nation has such a document as the ,anglo-,saxon ,chronicle or as the ,doomsday ,survey1 and1 by an accident both of civil and of religious history1 no other nation has preserved through the revolutions of a thousand years so much material record undestroyed4 ,when a man first sees the ,tapestry at ,bayeux his immediate impression and his most vivid one is the impression occasionally1 but rarely1 produced by some perfect architectural relic--an impression of liveliness as though time had been telescoped up for his advantage4 ,i say that this impression is rare1 but when we do get it1 it is violent4 ,you feel it in the 8immortal marble undecayed0 of a portrait bust of the ,mediterranean2 in the sharp colouring of the funereal inscriptions of ,constantine2 in the flagstones and the columns of the ,forum at ,timgad4 ,it is exceedingly difficult to convey in language this shock which the eye receives when centuries seem to drop out and the action of men to be brought up from the remote past to the present as an object is brought up from the remote distance to the foreground through the action of a lens4 ,i can best compare it to the shock which the mind receives upon hearing after many years1 and long after it has been thought forgotten1 a familiar voice2 or to that similar arrest that our whole being suffers when we smell some smell which went with a whole experience of youth4 ,i say it is very rarely that a surviving monument of the remote past will give this shock4 ,most antique material things carry deeply bitten into them the evidences of decay4 ,but now and then 7the ,gospel of ,st4 ,chad at ,lichfield occurs to me as ,i write7 you get freshness and1 as it were1 companionship from something which belongs to the dead1 who have been dead so long that the very style of their lives has vanished4 ,all this you get when you first see the canvas at ,bayeux4 ,it must next be clearly understood in what convention and with what purpose those who made this embroidery worked4 ,the object of all this kind of work in every age where it has flourished 7and such ages cover nearly the whole of human history7 is to establish a record4 ,the motive is 8lest the deeds of those great men1 our fathers1 should perish40 ,now1 there are a hundred ways of satisfying that motive more or less4 ,the one that first occurs to us to-day is of course ,inscription4 ,but ,inscription suffers from two faults3 first1 it is not universal2 secondly1 it is jejune4 ,it is not universal1 because the written characters and the language which they express cannot be universal4 ,they may be lost1 or they may become provincial and neglected4 ,it is jejune because full experience is not to be crowded into even an excess of words4 ,you will find in ,normandy 7not a day's walk from ,bayeux1 by the way7 a very long inscription to a local personage of the third century4 ,it is in ,latin--that is1 in the most universal of literary mediums--and yet it has served principally for the quarrels of archologists4 ,there is no prime term in any early inscription that will not serve for such a quarrel1 simply because language is an imperfect symbol4 ,you are pleased to understand to-day the inscription upon a bronze tablet let into the wall of a public building and thus inscribed3 8,this ,foundation ,stone was laid by the ,rev4 ,charles ,woodle1 ,m4,a41 on the occasion of the ,second ,jubilee of ,her ,gracious ,majesty ,queen ,victoria40 ,you understand what it means4 ,a few centuries hence 7if the language has survived71 one determining symbol after another will be a matter of dispute4 ,men will be arguing what 8,rev40 means1 what 8,m4,a402 perhaps what 8,jubilee10 what 8,gracious0--and all the rest of it4 ,the word 8,foundation0 will give them a good deal of trouble4 ,what is the alternative8 ,if record by verbal symbol is so imperfect and if all symbol must be sensual1 what other sense can we approach8 ,humanity has never made anything of the symbolism of music1 and never will4 ,it is not fixed4 ,there remain only the eye and the picture meant for the eye4 ,now in a picture1 however rude or however perfect1 whether in the flat or the round1 you get the most permanent record4 ,all humanity except our time has understood that4 ,the appeal to the eye is at once the most universal1 and can be with the least expense of effort the most detailed4 ,our own time will probably suffer more through the neglect of this than through any other of our neglects1 and posterity will ignore us most through our lack of pictorial symbol4 ,it does not tell a future age anything to paint a picture of cows at a ford4 ,it tells a future age very little to paint a picture of the ,coronation1 but to make a bas-relief of one policeman holding up one motor-bus1 one man selling newspapers to one other man1 and so on1 all along a frieze1 would be to leave a record of ,london1 and a record which would be independent of the vitality of alphabets and idioms4 ,now1 this kind of record demands a ,convention2 in other words1 it must be symbolic much more than it is mimetic1 and that is the note you get in the work preserved at ,bayeux4 ,not the reproduction of things seen1 but the perpetuation of their ideas3 a few figures standing for a host3 an emblem defining a man3 an episode noticed to its simplest terms4 ,now as to the authenticity of1 or to be more accurate the date of1 this famous document4 ,the more slipshod1 earlier1 and picturesque historians1 with their touch of charlatanism and their eye upon the public 7notably ,freeman71 naturally desired to believe1 and even more naturally said1 that the embroidery now preserved at ,bayeux was exactly contemporary with the ,conquest4 ,we must not include in our criticism or our blame such men as ,napoleon1 who1 after all1 did not pronounce himself1 but took what he was told2 nor men not professedly historians who carried on the tradition that the work came from the needle of ,william the ,conqueror's wife and her ladies4 ,an unhistorical statement proceeding from one who does not profess acquaintance with the bases of history cannot be seriously criticised4 ,but1 as the legend that the ,bayeux embroidery is actually contemporary with the ,invasion of ,england has been erected into a sort of ,university dogma and propagated through ,english schools and text-books1 it is as well to point out to my readers the nature of this simple error4 ,the ,battle of ,hastings was fought on the #adth of ,october #ajff4 ,the ,bayeux ,tapestry is later than the ,first ,crusade1 the climax of which campaign was the capture of ,jerusalem on ,july #ae1 #ajii4 ,it is as certainly later than the ,first ,crusade as a picture of a man in trousers and a top-hat is later than the ,french ,revolution4 ,how much later it is than the ,first ,crusade we cannot yet say1 and perhaps will never be able to say4 ,we can say 7just as we can say about the gentleman in the trousers and the top-hat7 that it is quite appreciably later than the turning-point in history chosen for our fixed date of change4 ,it was the ,french ,revolution which disturbed1 woke up1 rearranged society4 ,attaching to that big business any number of external expressions may be discovered--quasi-democratic parliaments1 the modern post-office1 conscript armies1 c4 c41 but the historical date is #aghi-agie4 ,one of the products or marks of the change is the change in costume4 ,even an expert in the distant future might be puzzled to tell you whether the engraving of a man in trousers and a top-hat was twenty or thirty or forty or fifty years later than #agie4 ,but he could be absolutely certain if a proper knowledge of the past had survived that it was some few years1 say ten or fifteen years1 or1 even better1 twenty years later than the conclusion of the ,revolutionary upheaval4 ,now1 so it is with the ,bayeux ,tapestry and the ,first ,crusade4 ,the dates of the ,first ,crusade are #ajif-ii4 ,it was accomplished from thirty to thirty-three years after the ,battle of ,hastings4 ,william was dead some time2 men who1 as boys1 had deployed upon ,telham ,hill1 and charged up the slope of battle were grizzled1 were between fifty and sixty1 when that squire from ,sourdeval first leapt upon the wall of ,jerusalem4 ,but the effect of a great change1 its external effect in habiliment and the rest1 takes some few years to work1 and early as we may put the ,bayeux ,tapestry1 we cannot put it earlier than a date in which men who may in youth have seen the fight at ,hastings were certainly old1 even if they survived to give their testimony4 ,in rough figures1 there must be an interval of at least fifty years4 ,it is more probable that the interval was of greater length than that--but fifty years is the minimum4 ,let me briefly lay before the reader the evidence upon which this decision must be accepted4 ,i will enter into no one of the many--,i had almost said innumerable--doubtful details4 ,i will not even linger upon one part of the evidence1 which is very striking--the fact that the length of the ,tapestry exactly coincides with the contour of the nave of ,bayeux ,cathedral1 upon which it was annually hung4 ,and my reason for not pressing this point is that we have no definite evidence upon the date of the nave of ,bayeux4 ,let me make myself clear4 ,we know1 of course1 that the ,gothic is roughly the product of the ,crusades4 ,we know that the ,romanesque is roughly the pre-,crusade architecture4 ,a man has but to see the interior of ,bayeux ,cathedral 7as ,i did at ,mass three or four months ago during my inspection of this document7 to see that that nave is a product of the ,transition4 ,but short of documents telling us exactly when the ground plan of the nave was drawn up1 we cannot establish a date within fifty years4 ,what adds to our ignorance is the fact that your later work was nearly always and throughout ,europe modelled upon your earlier work4 ,consider1 for instance1 all the discussion with regard to the extension of the western end of ,chartres2 or consider the massive ,romanesque foundation and pillars of ,notre ,dame in ,paris1 with its ,gothic superstructure2 consider the accident by which we owe the ,gothic unity of that monument to the fire which happened to destroy in #abah the original ,romanesque apse4 ,had evidence of dates not survived in the case of ,notre ,dame we might be out by anything between fifty and seventy years4 ,so with ,bayeux4 ,the correspondence of the length of the ,tapestry to the length of the nave proves that the ,tapestry was at least not earlier than the nave1 but we do not know that the nave may not have been of just that length before some process of rebuilding4 ,no2 the evidence that the ,bayeux ,tapestry is later than the ,battle of ,hastings and the reign of ,william the ,conqueror is of a simpler and more conclusive kind1 and resides in the idea the artist had of men's accoutrements--dress and arms4 ,let me detail these4 ,first1 ,edward the ,confessor bears a crown marked by the fleur-de-lis4 ,now the fleur-de-lis thus marked upon the crown is a matter of the twelfth century1 not of the eleventh--just as is the oriflamme4 ,the sceptre1 if we may judge by the seals and manuscripts 7which with very rare sculptural examples are our sole evidence71 is a twelfth-century and not an eleventh-century sceptre4 ,this note on costume is true even down to the details of the shoes upon the feet2 they are the shoes of the middle of the twelfth1 not of the end of the eleventh century4 ,now turn to something upon a larger line1 though not more conclusive3 the adornment of the shield4 ,i am here upon very vague ground1 and ,i know it4 ,but ,i think that ground1 though vague1 has limits inferior and superior4 ,the custom of adorning the shield with distinctive marks which might be recognised in battle1 is of course as old as the world--or at least as old as the profession of arms4 ,but something ritual and regular attaching to this habit1 something which made it part of society and a wheel within the machinery almost of law and certainly of social habit1 is the creation of the ,crusades4 ,a modern parallel will make my point clear4 ,a cheque is something belonging to the nineteenth century1 especially the latter part of the nineteenth century4 ,orders for payments signed in various ways are very much older4 ,but a cheque is a cheque4 ,it is something crystallised and developed in what is now a fixed and a final form4 ,so with armorial bearings4 ,bring me some new document which shows that ,charlemagne himself had the sun or the moon painted upon his shield1 and ,i shall not be surprised2 but ,i do know that the regular portraiture of such and such emblems to represent such and such people1 and the common habit among great families of always having such1 is posterior to and not prior to the ,crusading march3 it was indeed1 in the main1 a product of the ,crusading march4 ,now1 the ,bayeux ,tapestry1 though it shows us most of the shields without such signs 7for most of them were the shields of common knights71 yet shows the shields of leaders regularly adorned with distinctive bearings2 note1 for instance1 the four lords who come from ,guy of ,ponthieu to take ,harold prisoner4 ,each of these shields carries an armorial bearing4 ,the two heralds or messengers1 men presumably of position1 who ride to tell ,william the overlord that ,guy has captured ,harold1 are similarly distinguished4 ,those in the immediate suite of the sovereigns or quasi-sovereigns show the mark1 as when ,harold is interviewed by ,william4 ,one principal shield is hung upon the first two ships of those which sail for ,england for the ,conquest1 and each has armorial bearings4 ,nor need the reader be surprised at the number of shields which have none1 if he will consider how large a proportion are seen in reverse--that is1 from the inside--the side where the shield was held by the arm1 the side which was turned towards the body4 ,for where the artist describing a fight shows us the right arm with its weapon1 and therefore the left arm holding the shield from within1 he cannot let us know whether the shield was ornamented or no4 ,but turn to the scenes where the fight is upon the defensive1 as1 for instance1 that showing ,harold's resistance to the ,norman charge1 there you at once get the leaders with their pictured shields marking the distinction of rank2 or again1 where the ,norman charge in the next panel is shown getting home into the ,saxon axes--there you have two shields out of five distinctively ornamented4 ,in the episode of the death of the brothers of ,harold1 all the three shields that appear have some mark4 ,there is no need to labour the point1 nor even to point out the elaborate design upon one of the shields portrayed in the pursuit of the defeated army4 ,it is evident that we are dealing with a work produced at a time when it was thought normal that any man of distinction should carry his mark upon his shield1 and1 ,i repeat1 to think that normal was the state of mind of the middle twelfth century at earliest and not of the mid-eleventh century at all4 ,there is just one good argument and only one for the contemporary character of the document2 that argument is the argument from tradition4 ,it is an argument to which ,i shall always offer the greatest reverence1 particularly as it has been particularly despised by the superficial but popular ,university historians of the last century4 ,tradition is certainly the binding element in social memory1 and if one could discover an active tradition that the embroidery of ,bayeux had been made by the wives of those who fought at ,hastings1 though existing evidence not traditional would compel us to reject that tradition in its absolute form1 yet it would be our duty to consider closely how the tradition arose and what it might mean--for instance1 it might mean that the existing work was the adaptation of an earlier work4 ,but1 as a fact1 the tradition is not old4 ,it was not of popular but of academic1 and therefore of worthless1 origin4 ,the later ,middle ,ages seem to have known nothing of it2 the ,chapter of the ,cathedral1 which was the conservator of the document1 bears no testimony of the sort4 ,to call the ,bayeux ,tapestry 8,queen ,matilda's ,tapestry0 seems to have been nothing but the guesswork of an antiquarian don4 ,let us leave it at that4 ,another evidence of date is the fact 7to which ,i shall make continual allusion in the text7 that the ,bayeux ,tapestry follows fairly closely the ,roman de ,rou1 ,wace's poem describing the ,conquest2 and that poem cannot be earlier than the middle of the twelfth century--it is usually put as late as the last third of the twelfth4 ,not only is ,wace followed1 but certain other authorities which help to date the production4 ,now this would be quite conclusive but for one rebutting argument1 the value of which ,i leave to the judgment of the reader4 ,the written sources which the ,tapestry appears to follow would repose upon certain common traditions1 memories1 and earlier documents1 and the ,tapestry might be imagined to repose upon the same4 ,but the general rule in tracing the sources of human work of this sort is that the written account precedes the pictorial and serves as a basis for it1 while the convergence of this evidence with the evidence of accoutrements and dress leaves little doubt4 ,we have in the ,bayeux ,tapestry something certainly later than #aadj1a almost certainly later than #aaej1 probably as late as #aafj1 but1 on the other hand1 certainly prior to the date #abjj4 ,footnote #a3 ,the bier of ,edward the ,confessor is designed in the twelfth century fashion1 not in the eleventh--the long vestment of the royal personages throughout is a twelfth-century not an eleventh-century type4 ,the description of the coat of mail in ,wace 7verses #febb and the following7 is that of the ,tapestry2 and most important of all the coat of mail of the ,tapestry is no longer the mere breastplate1 but the full coat of the ,crusading period4 ,it is true that we have very little information upon the eleventh century armour1 but with the ,crusades we do get a full description1 and we have a right to judge by what we know rather than by what we do not know4 ,thus ,ordericus ,vitalis remarks the full coat as a novelty4 ,the helmet with a nasal is not now in any document before the seal of ,baldwin1 the late #aaae1 but after that date it is common1 as one may see in the seal of ,charles of ,flanders or of ,matthew of ,montmorency4 ,indeed1 the seal of ,william the ,conqueror himself gives no sign of the nasal1 and the same is true of the seals of the ,first ,crusade4 ,this kind of helmet is wholly twelfth century2 but remark that ,william1 in the ,chronicles1 lifted his helmet to show his face4 ,so there is here doubt4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,notes ,the corresponding reference-numbers will be found in the following text4 ,footnote #b3 ,many of our historians carelessly talk of ,harold being brought to ,rouen4 ,we have no proof of this4 ,there is just one allusion in the ,chronicles to the place where delivery of ,harold's body was made from ,guy to ,william1 and the place mentioned is what we should expect1 a frontier town1 ,eu4 ,the ,palatium does not only mean a place1 it also means an institution2 and though ,rouen was ,william's chief city1 whenever he moved1 his clerks and staff of government--that is1 his 8,palatium0--moved with him4 ,footnote #c3 ,mr4 ,oman in his version of the affair makes ,bonneville the scene of the oath4 ,i have not seen the proof of this4 ,the two fundamental pieces of evidence--,wace and the ,tapestry--both say ,bayeux4 ,william had a castle above the river ,touques at ,bonneville1 and ruins of it1 or of a later construction upon its site1 can be seen to-day2 but it is a good two days' march from ,bayeux4 ,the ,french word 8parliament0 meant1 of course1 any general assembly for discussion1 and was here used of something earlier than any representative assembly1 though these were already springing up in the ,spanish ,march of the ,pyrenees1 to which district we owe the origin of representative institutions4 ,footnote #d3 ,i have never understood why this third messenger should have been confused with ,harold himself4 ,the ,latin inscription is quite clear3 8,here they gave to ,harold the ,crown of ,king40 ,the people holding the axes are not ,harold1 neither is the man offering the crown1 that ,i can see4 ,footnote #e3 ,the ,tapestry1 of course1 does not show ,freeman's famous 8,palisade10 and that for an excellent reason4 ,the ,palisade never existed outside the imagination of ,oxford4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,illustration3 #a ,illustration3 #b ,illustration3 #c ,illustration3 #d ,the first three sections of the ,bayeux ,tapestry must be taken together1 for they describe one incident1 which is the departure of ,harold from ,bosham the port of ,chichester1 and a manor of his own4 ,of strictly contemporary evidence to that journey we have none4 ,we can only guess that the year in which it was taken was the year #ajfd4 ,as to its motive the ,bayeux ,tapestry gives of course the current ,norman version1 or rather hints at it4 ,edward the ,confessor is in his palace at ,westminster4 ,it is important to note the conventional signs of his rank1 the sceptre and the crown4 ,it is the reappearance of the same symbols in the crowning of ,harold--which was in the ,norman version his supreme act of treason--that is particularly insisted upon4 ,edward1 thus officially presented as it were1 is giving a message3 that is certainly the symbolism of the attitude1 and it is exceedingly likely1 though not equally certain1 that the person to whom the message is being given is intended for ,harold4 ,but it is remarkable that the inscription here says nothing of the nature of that message1 and that the point of capital importance--,william of ,malmesbury's assertion that ,harold was sent by ,edward to assure ,william of his succession to the ,english throne--is not set out4 ,taking ,wace as the basis of the ,tapestry--and this is the best hypothesis--,harold sailed to release from ,william's custody his brother ,wulfnoth1 who had been kept as a hostage in ,normandy for ,king ,edward to guarantee ,king ,edward the fidelity of ,godwin4 ,but we must remember that the ,roman de ,rou does mention ,edward's sending ,harold to assure ,william of the succession4 ,and on the whole it is most likely that the intention of the ,tapestry is to suggest this4 ,harold and his knights ride to ,bosham4 ,harold himself is conventionally distinguished by the hawk on the wrist4 ,the ,church of ,bosham is introduced into the story probably or certainly with the object of emphasizing 7as the ,tapestry perpetually does7 the religious enormity of ,harold's later action1 and both this visit to the ,church and the ,feast in the ,upper ,room before embarking1 which forms the fourth episode1 are clearly intended to refer to incidents which were traditional in the ,norman story4 ,but we have1 ,i think1 no remaining text giving either the visit to the ,church or the ,feast4 ,illustration3 #e ,illustration3 #f ,illustration3 #g ,illustration3 #h ,in the fifth division ,harold and his suite embark1 and it should be noted how large a company the ,convention of the ,tapestry supposes4 ,the intention of the expedition was almost certainly to make a ,norman port4 ,once in the ,channel the square-rigged ships could not beat into a wind that was too westerly for them or too much south of west1 and their land-fall was at some point upon the coast of ,ponthieu1 of which district ,count ,guy was the lord4 ,the point upon the coast of ,ponthieu where the ships beached1 or rather cast anchor in the shoal water1 we may presume to have been the right bank of the estuary of the ,somme1 for it is the most convenient entry and has some shelter from a southerly wind2 but all that flat sandy coast gave good opportunity for landing from such vessels1 and the fleet may have made the ,bay of ,authie or even the mouth of the ,canche4 ,but the choice is not a wide one1 for the coast of ,ponthieu did not extend beyond the ,canche4 ,if the ,somme were the point of entry1 it has this historical interest3 that ,harold would then have found himself fated to land at the very point from which ,william two years later was to sail for the invasion of ,england4 ,count ,guy seized ,harold for ransom1 something of a formality1 though a formality which was to be of formidable consequence4 ,he takes ,harold and his suite to 8,belrem0--the place to-day called ,beaurain4 ,here the ,tapestry follows ,wace very closely1 for it is ,wace who tells us that ,harold was recognised by a fisherman1 who sent for ,count ,guy4 ,the capital of ,ponthieu was ,montreuil1 and this castle of ,beaurain1 of which ruins still stand1 was six or seven miles up the river from ,montreuil--one passes right beneath it in the railway to-day on one's way to ,hesdin4 ,illustration3 #i ,illustration3 #aj ,illustration3 #aa ,illustration3 #ab ,the last scene in this episode 7which ends the first part of the story7 is a scene by night in the hall of the castle of ,beaurain1 where by the light of torches ,count ,guy and ,harold 7who have ridden to ,beaurain together as men of equal rank though one is being held to ransom7 are bargaining--for the word 8,parobolant0 must refer to the discussion of the ransom4 ,to this first series of episodes in the story succeeds the arrival of the ,duke of ,normandy's heralds insisting upon the release of ,harold because ,guy was vassal to ,william4 ,the advent of these messengers forms the #abth and #acth sections of the design4 ,it is perhaps a guide to the time of year in which all this took place1 that on the border below we have the ploughing and the sowing of the spring4 ,there has arisen in connection with these messengers of ,william's a considerable and rather futile debate as to the meaning of the little figure who is holding the horses4 ,i take his small size to be merely a piece of perspective1 and the word 8,turold0 to refer to the taller figure on the left1 to which it is attached4 ,this name ,turold will be familiar to the students of ,normandy in another famous connection1 for it was a ,turold 7much at this time7 who put at the end of 8,the ,song of ,roland0 his inscription3 8,this is the end of what ,turoldus wrote40 ,illustration3 #ac ,illustration3 #ad ,illustration3 #ae ,illustration3 #af ,after the arrival of the messengers the next three panels deal with ,guy's reluctant submission to his overlord2 then comes the handing over of ,harold to ,william4 ,the ,tapestry here closely follows ,wace1 save in one odd particular--that it reverses the order of the scenes and does not make quite clear the insistence of ,william2 at least1 that insistence and the importance of the urgent orders which ,william sent are not evident to a modern man looking at the document4 ,but there is an element which might have made it clearer to a contemporary1 and this is the accoutrement of the messengers4 ,i have spoken about this in another aspect in the ,preface4 ,they are presumably men of high position in ,william's court1 for they bear fully developed heraldic signs upon their shield4 ,it should be remarked1 however1 that save for shield and lance they are not armoured1 and whether to indicate haste or the pacific character which ,william designed to retain as long as possible in their mission1 they are not even helmeted4 ,there is another point in these panels well worth the attention of the modern reader interested in the date of the document4 ,we have in the border beneath an episode of a man fighting a bear1 and somewhat to the right an episode which may be the introduction of tropical animals--the larger ,felid1 panthers perhaps4 ,the first subject is certain1 the second probable4 ,now1 here 7with many other examples in the long border above and below7 you have the influence of the bestiaries 7that is1 the twelfth-century books describing beasts foreign and imaginary71 and these1 in turn1 are the product of the ,crusading march4 ,in other words1 these details fit in with all the rest of the converging evidence which forbids us to doubt that the document is of a later date than the ,conquest itself4 ,the last of this group of panels1 the #afth1 represents the bringing of ,harold to ,william by ,guy1 and there follows a most interesting group of not less than ten panels1 which form a separate episode in the story1 and one which is for many reasons of high historic interest4 ,this episode is that of the ,breton ,war1 and it is curious to note that the rude though vigorous work of the ,bayeux ,tapestry tells us more about it than any other authority4 ,the importance of this contrast between the ,tapestry and the chroniclers will be at once apparent4 ,it means that some tradition or some lost document ascribed to this somewhat inconclusive expedition into ,brittany holds a great place in the story of ,harold and his relations with the ,conqueror4 ,no one who looks at the ,tapestry can doubt for a moment what the point of this episode is4 ,the point is that ,harold1 joining with ,william in the expedition1 proving of great service1 rewarded by ,william1 and in general much more closely bound to the ,norman court through this accident than he otherwise might have been1 was in all that followed a treacherous friend4 ,the implication is clear4 ,whoever designed the ,tapestry1 or furnished the materials from tradition1 believed and wanted others to believe that ,harold was not only formally a traitor according to the mere rules of feudal society1 but also morally and fundamentally one1 as having forgotten and abused a close personal tie1 the product of armed service4 ,it is evident that in the imagination of contemporaries1 and therefore in the tradition which they built up1 this march of ,harold side by side with ,william into ,brittany colours the whole story4 ,wace has but a few vague lines just telling us that there was such a thing as a fight with ,brittany at this moment4 ,if ,i am not mistaken1 ,william of ,poitiers is the only chronicler who gives us anything like an account1 and even so his account is absurdly short and undetailed1 though it tallies1 both as to the places mentioned and as to the episodes with the ,tapestry4 ,the ,breton ,chronicle1 ,i believe1 says nothing about it4 ,illustration3 #ag ,illustration3 #ah ,illustration3 #ai ,illustration3 #bj ,turning to the details of these ten panels 7#ag to #bf inclusive71 one notes again the fully developed armorial bearings upon the retinue of ,william1 and in the next panel the convention of the ,palatium1#b that capital institution of ,europe1 the seat of government in every land2 in one aspect a building1 in another a body of men1 and throughout the ,west for a thousand years the continuator of ,rome4 ,it is also interesting to note the attempt at portraiture in the case of ,william4 ,the round bullet head and square shoulders of the ,gaul 7the slight and distant strain of ,scandinavian blood seems to have influenced neither his soul nor his body7 are emphasized in this first introduction of him1 and it is possible so to emphasize the portrait because he is so represented in this early part of the series neither helmeted nor crowned4 ,the episode of the priest and of the woman who is given the name of 8,aelfgyva0 has1 if ,i am not mistaken1 remained quite inexplicable4 ,i will not follow my predecessors in the criticism of this1 for ,i can suggest nothing new with regard to it4 ,all who have written on the ,tapestry with any care for historical accuracy and for the spirit of research have admitted their incompetence to explain the thing4 ,there follows upon it the riding out of the army across the neck of the ,cotentin towards the ,mont ,st4 ,michael1 which was1 as it were1 the boundary stone between ,brittany and ,normandy2 and here we have the first appearance of those knights in full armour1 which are so characteristic of the chief episodes in the ,tapestry and whose costume is of such value to us in estimating its date4 ,there was some incident at the crossing of the ,couesnon 7the boundary river between ,normandy and ,brittany7 which evidently vividly impressed contemporaries and which further emphasized the now intimate and personal bond between ,harold and the ,norman court4 ,illustration3 #ba ,illustration3 #bb ,illustration3 #bc ,illustration3 #bd ,the river was forded4 ,men and horses got caught in the quicksands1 and in some fashion it was ,harold and his men who saved those who were in peril4 ,it is worth pointing out in this connection that there was a bridge at ,pontorson1 within a few miles of the mouth2 why that bridge was not used suggests an interesting conjecture4 ,perhaps the enemy held it1 and ,william took his force round by the seashore to the north in order to outflank the position4 ,conan of ,brittany fell back on ,dol1 and then back again from ,dol to ,rennes4 ,in the representation of the retreat from ,dol you have a man sliding down a rope from the walls1 which may be the memory of some incident1 or more probably a conventional mark of haste4 ,i presume a retreat upon ,rennes1 though the only proof of it is the single word 8,rednes0 and the conventional drawing to represent the town4 ,at any rate1 the 8hub of the campaign0 was at ,dinant2 the main fight was round the walls of that town1 and ,conan is represented in the ,tapestry as surrendering it4 ,he 8offers the keys to ,william0 in the inscription upon this panel4 ,illustration3 #be ,illustration3 #bf ,illustration3 #bg ,illustration3 #bh ,now the very little documentary evidence we have goes to show that this is legend rather than history1 and further suggests the comparative lateness of the ,tapestry1 for ,william of ,poitiers tells us that the expedition was on the whole unsuccessful4 ,these ten panels of the ,breton ,expedition 7which ,i desire once more to point out as capital in the whole story--as told in the ,bayeux ,tapestry7 end with a short and simple but critical incident1 and that is the giving of arms to ,harold by ,william4 ,the thing was already a ritual and the mention of nothing could have more struck the men of the twelfth century with the closeness of the personal tie between ,william and ,harold1 which all this part of the ,tapestry is designed to bring into relief4 ,it is symbolised in the #bfth panel4 ,the next two panels 7#bg and #bh7 represent what is in popular history the pivot of the whole story1 ,harold's oath4 ,it is1 of course1 the chief single event in the story of what the ,norman writers regard as his treason4 ,note first that the scene is ,bayeux4 ,that is important1 both because it explains why this favourite town of ,william's should also be the custodian of the document before us1 and because it again refers us to ,wace and the ,roman de ,rou4 ,wace is the only author1 ,i believe1 who puts down ,bayeux as the scene of ,harold's oath4 ,i will give the words from the ,roman de ,rou that the reader may judge3 8,that he 7,harold7 would give up to him 7,william7 ,england when the ,king ,edward should die1 and that he 7,harold7 should take to wife1 if he willed1 a daughter that he 7,william7 had4 ,this1 if he would1 he should swear4 ,william 444 summoned a ,parliament#c at ,bayeux as people say10 c4 c4 ,william is clothed in all the ritual garments of his authority1 garments which were for the rulers of that day almost hierarchic and priestly2 he is seated upon a throne1 and everything is done by the artist to bring out the solemnity of the occasion4 ,harold swears with a hand upon either reliquary set upon two neighbouring altars for the purpose of the oath4 ,it is true that the inscription upon the ,tapestry tells us nothing of what he is promising upon oath1 but we are quite safe in presuming that the story follows ,wace and that he is promising the crown of ,england4 ,it is1 of course1 the chief matter of historical dispute in the whole business whether ,harold did make that promise or no4 ,illustration3 #bi ,illustration3 #cj ,in the next two panels 7#bi1 #cj7 ,harold crosses the sea1 touches ,english land1 and comes again into the presence of his king1 ,edward4 ,the episodes are not very striking4 ,perhaps the most remarkable is the conventional building with a sort of pier thrust out into the sea1 from which a look-out man watches for the fleet and from the windows of which its arrival is also watched4 ,this building makes the division between the first and second of the panels4 ,it is remarkable that we have no written evidence of this interview between ,harold and ,edward immediately following his landing2 but it must have taken place1 and evidently contemporaries took it for granted4 ,illustration3 #ca ,illustration3 #cb ,the next two panels 7#ca and #cb7 are a very curious instance of that reversing of the historical order by the ,tapestry1 of which we have already seen a minor example in the case of the messengers sent by ,william to ,guy of ,ponthieu4 ,what the artist desired to do was to tell1 as a separate little story1 the death and burial of ,edward2 but he conceived of it as an episode running from right to left1 and the result is that1 in the order of the ,tapestry1 we have the burial actually coming before the death4 ,take the two panels separately1 read them from right to left1 and you get a consecutive story2 ,edward upon his death-bed1 in the upper part of the canvas1 is speaking his last words to his lieges with the women and the tonsured priests about him4 ,in the lower part he is represented dead4 ,then1 in the second part1 to the left1 you have the body carried to ,westminster ,abbey1 with acolytes ringing bells and a retinue of tonsured priests4 ,perhaps the hand appearing from heaven above ,westminster ,abbey is designed to indicate the sanctity of the king4 ,nowhere does the ,tapestry follow ,wace more closely than in these episodes1 and even if we had no other evidence to guide us this portion of the ,tapestry alone would be almost sufficient to establish the connection between the poem and the embroidery4 ,illustration3 #cc ,illustration3 #cd ,then comes the turning-point in the story1 as in the series of pictures1 and it has been designed to come not quite half way in that series 7the #cdth out of #gf panels74 ,harold is offered the crown of ,england3 accepts it1 and appears enthroned and in full regalia4 ,to the left you have two messengers holding the typical battle-axe of the ,saxon army1 and a third messenger pointing towards the death-bed of ,edward#d with his right hand1 and with his left holding forth the crown4 ,next you have the same symbolism completed with the picture of ,harold enthroned as a king4 ,the early ,middle ,ages were careful to an extreme of their conventions1 which were centuries old and which linked them with ,rome4 ,to distinguish by conventional signs between a king and a man who might be an actual ruler but not king1 to distinguish the various rituals of various decisive ceremonies1 the various accoutrements and the rest1 was with them as strict a matter as spelling is with us--,i could not put it more strongly4 ,when1 therefore1 ,harold is represented with the orb and cross1 the sceptre and the crown1 and the long vesture of royalty1 seated on the high throne1 and presented with the temporal sword1 that picture is equivalent to what some long emphatic statement would be in modern times that such and such a man had committed himself to such and such a political action4 ,it means 8,see here6 ,harold did really seize the throne60 ,scholars have made some play over the presence of ,stigand1 the ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 in this panel4 ,i may briefly put before the reader what ,i make of this figure4 ,in the first place1 it is a divergence from ,wace1 who does not mention ,stigand4 ,in the second place1 it shows ,stigand's rle as the ,ecclesiastic responsible for the crowning of ,harold4 ,in the third place1 we must note that he is called 8,the ,archbishop40 ,now ,i put all this together and ,i presume that when the ,tapestry was produced1 about a generation later than the ,conquest1 it was desired to make prominent the fact that a man held to be schismatic was responsible for the ,coronation1 and that the same motives which caused the making of ,harold the villain of the piece throughout caused the author to bring ,stigand well forward4 ,one or two critics have suggested that ,stigand's irregular position would have prevented a foreign1 or a later1 artist from calling him 8,archbishop40 ,that seems to me unhistorical4 ,true1 ,william of ,malmesbury and every orthodox writer thought ,stigand no true ,archbishop of ,canterbury4 ,he was a 8false ,archbishop0 in their language1 but for all purposes of general description he was the ,archbishop all the same4 ,whether ,stigand did1 as a fact1 crown ,harold or not is a matter for historical discussion2 but it is certain that those who designed the ,bayeux ,tapestry wanted it to be thought that ,harold1 a perjurer and a traitor1 had been crowned by a man who1 in the heat of ,st4 ,gregory the ,seventh's reformation of the ,church1 would be odious to public opinion4 ,illustration3 #ce ,illustration3 #cf ,between this panel and the next are a group of figures representing 8the populace10 who do homage to the new king4 ,then come two panels1 separated one from the other and dividing1 as it were1 the first half of the ,epic from the second4 ,these two panels 7#ce and #cf7 give the comet1 a figure of ,harold1 and the arrival of an ,english ship upon ,norman land4 ,it was just after ,low ,sunday of the year #ajff1 on the ,tuesday1 ,i think1 that a great comet was seen in ,france and ,england4 ,modern science has affected to regard it as ,halley's ,comet1 which it may possibly have been--but modern science should remember that the variation of these bodies1 and the confusion of our evidence upon their movements in the remote past1 gives no one a right to certitude in such a matter4 ,nor is it of the least importance4 ,so far as we can fix a date1 #beth ,april #ajff seems to have been the moment when this star was first seen4 ,at any rate1 it was an apparition which vastly moved the opinion of ,europe at the time4 ,what the artist meant by the episode with the single word 8,harold0 does not seem to me doubtful4 ,you have there the conventional marks of the palace1 the king in the full garb of his kingship but partially armed2 a messenger1 and beneath him the hull of ships4 ,he is awaiting the advent of the invaders4 ,he knows that they will come4 ,the second panel of this group represents the coming of an ,english ship to ,normandy1 and beyond that we are told nothing4 ,but we do get some light upon this panel from ,wace1 who tells us that a ship came from ,england with a special message to the duke--it must be presumed a private message sent to him at his own orders informing him of the death of ,edward and of the usurpation 7as ,william would regard it7 of ,harold4 ,we have all the conventional symbols of the landing of a ship1 but in these it must be specially noticed that few men are represented1 and that there are no arms4 ,after this begins the action which completes the whole business3 ,i mean the building and arming of the invading fleet1 the landing of the invaders1 and the victory that followed4 ,illustration3 #cg ,illustration3 #ch ,illustration3 #ci ,illustration3 #dj ,of this latter part the first three panels 7#ch1 #ci1 #dj7 are concerned with the building and launching of the ships4 ,in the first ,william orders the fleet to be built4 ,he is seated upon his throne1 and is delivering his commands4 ,illustration3 #da ,illustration3 #db ,illustration3 #dc ,illustration3 #dd ,illustration3 #de ,illustration3 #df ,next you have conventional representations of men cutting down trees1 rinding off the bark1 and making planks4 ,then you have the construction of the vessels and the dragging of them to the sea from the slips4 ,it is remarkable how little the artist has attempted to symbolise the implements of this industry2 the adze and the axe are all that he gives us4 ,the hammer is not recognisable1 nor the nail1 nor any other thing in the construction of the boats4 ,following these three you get the provisioning of the fleet1 and in this long panel1 or rather two panels undivided 7#da and #db7 we must closely watch the details1 for they are of great historical interest4 ,there you will see the servants bringing on board the swords in their scabbards1 the lances tied on to wagons1 which also bear barrels of wine2 over one man's shoulder a wine skin1 over another's a small barrel1 and1 borne upon poles1 which bear their weight and stretch them out1 the heavy coats of mail for the knights4 ,these panels ended1 you have the sailing of the fleet1 monotonous and undivided1 covering what may be called four panels 7#dc1 #dd1 #de1 and #df71 though all are continuous4 ,in these the draughtsman has concerned himself to insist upon the number of horses that were carried1 and upon little more4 ,but at the end of the inscription you have that piece of historical documentary evidence1 8,and he came to ,pevensey0 7it is written just above the last of the four foremost ships proceeding to disembarkation3 the ship with the cross upon its mast74 ,the size of the transport1 the great number of the ships1 has evidently impressed the artist1 and he has tried to symbolise it4 ,you get exactly the same thing in ,wace3 8,i have heard it told to my father that there were #gjj ships less four40 ,then1 again1 the word ,pevensey comes into the ,roman de ,rou1 though spelt 8,penevesal0 in that document4 ,illustration3 #dg ,illustration3 #dh ,illustration3 #di ,illustration3 #ej ,illustration3 #ea ,illustration3 #eb ,in the next panel 7#dg71 which is the disembarkation1 the horses are again insisted upon1 and one curious point which ,i would remark1 the un-stepping of the mast4 ,there are not a few descriptions in the later ,dark ,ages and the early ,middle ,ages which lead us to believe that the mast of their small craft was not fixed3 for instance1 the ,danes going up river above ,london ,bridge4 ,let me repeat again1 at the risk of tedium1 that the episode of the disembarkation of horses1 which the men of the time seem to have been particularly struck by1 makes the ,tapestry follow ,wace4 ,once landed1 the army in the next panel 7#dh7 fully accoutred--or rather patrols of it--rides out to forage1 and you get as a sequel 7in #di7 the raiding of houses1 the slaughtering of cattle and of sheep1 the commandeering of horses2 and next again 7in #ej7 you have the preparing of a meal1 and it is to be remarked how minute are the details here compared with the vagueness of detail in the building of the ships4 ,look1 for instance1 at the little stove of charcoal on which one of the cooks is preparing the meat1 and the spits with their roasted pieces1 and see how the draughtsman--whoever he was--knew more of courts than of artisans4 ,and the feast itself1 which follows1 is interesting as showing a table laid out in continuity with classic custom1 served from the inside of its horse-shoe or oblong4 ,in the inscription1 though hardly to be discerned upon the ,tapestry1 we have the benediction of the meats by the bishop--and the bishop should mean ,odo4 ,but we have1 ,i believe1 no ,,mss4 authority for that little incident at all4 ,the bishop is probably brought in here for the purpose of the next scene1 where he sits with his brother1 ,duke ,william1 and with his other brother1 ,robert1 making council4 ,the symbolism of the three figures is obvious2 the portraiture of ,william reappears1 the unarmed priest upon the left1 the vassal brother upon the right making ready to draw the sword4 ,in the next panel 7#eb7 there is given the throwing up of earthworks for a fortified camp at ,hastings 7the spade is half warfare71 and here notice the figure of ,robert of ,eu1 for it exactly follows the account of ,wace4 ,the figure holds the lance1 and in command of the building of the camp is the man whom the ,roman de ,rou speaks of as commanding the same work4 ,with this panel the preliminaries of the action may be said to end1 and the advance towards the battle itself to begin4 ,there are two incidents in the next panel introducing that advance3 one in which a messenger from ,harold reaches ,william 7whose portrait is again clearly marked71 another in which the act of war begins with the burning of a house4 ,illustration3 #ec ,wace gives us the story of a friendly baron1 whose name he did not know1 but who came and warned ,william of ,harold's movements4 ,as to the burning of the house1 there has been a great deal of guesswork about it4 ,i believe it means no more than a bit of conventional symbolism that the war has begun in earnest4 ,to these two incidents in panel #ec succeed the feats of arms which take up the remaining part of the ,tapestry1 and which ,i will treat as a whole4 ,illustration3 #ed ,this last portion of the document consists in twenty-two panels1 from the #edth to the #geth inclusive4 ,in the first you have the conventional representation of a knight fully armed representing the whole body as it were1 and riding out from ,hastings on the morning of that ,october day which by sunset had determined the fate of ,england4 ,it has been said by more than one modern ,english writer that the soldier thus pictured is ,william himself1 and consequently that the horse is that ,spanish horse which ,alphonso had given ,william1 and that its leader is ,william's old liegeman1 ,walter ,giffard1 who had brought it back with him from ,spain4 ,now this--like such masses of ,freeman6--is not only conjecture1 it is also false conjecture4 ,wherever ,william appears he is called ,william1 and it is unthinkable under the conditions of the time that his figure should be given under the general name 8knights40 ,nor is the conventional figure leading forward the stallion an old man2 he is1 if anything1 on the young side4 ,i will not here repeat what ,i have said elsewhere with regard to the accoutrement of the knight1 though it bears out in this particular panel very strongly the conclusions of the ,introduction as to the age of the document4 ,illustration3 #ee ,illustration3 #ef ,the next two panels 7#ee and #ef7 are very interesting because they show by what conventions the artist expresses the act of deployment4 ,as long as the cavalry are marching in column of route he puts each figure only slightly overlapping the next1 and suggests a walking space for the mounts2 to express deployment or formation into a broad column of attack1 as he has not the mastery of perspective1 he puts the horses at the gallop and separates them much further one from the other4 ,illustration3 #eg ,illustration3 #eh ,illustration3 #ei ,illustration3 #fj ,the next point of interest in these panels is the personality of ,william bearing not a sword or lance1 but a staff of authority or mace2 while behind him is a figure bearing a sceptre1 and it is only behind him again that you have anything resembling the consecrated banner of the chroniclers4 ,here there is a conflict between the ,tapestry and ,wace1 as well as a divergence between them1 which shows 7like the episode of the ,breton ,war7 that though our document is largely based upon ,wace1 it must also have other sources4 ,for in the poem the consecrated banner is sent on before the host by ,william1 and that indeed is what one would expect2 while the interrogation of one ,vital by ,william as to the results of his scouting1 though it seems to have been an incident that struck some contemporary or other vividly1 is not found in any of the chronicles4 ,who ,vital was there is no sort of evidence to tell us4 ,it was a name known in ,normandy4 ,it occurs on a charter of ,william's brother in the list of witnesses1 and again in ,doomsday under the same lord4 ,this ,vital of the ,tapestry points in the direction of the scouts 7who appear as conventional figures in the #ehth panel71 and there is here a little piece of realism which is of great interest to those who have studied the field4 ,it will be observed that these scouts are represented as standing upon the summit and the hither slopes of a hill while on the farther slope you have trees conventionally represented4 ,this hill1 from which the scouts caught sight of ,harold's army 7which had marched up the day before and taken position after that splendid advance from ,london--one of the most rapid in history7 was the hill now known as ,telham ,hill4 ,the ridge on which ,telham farm stands was the summit beyond which the scouts did not advance1 and the wood on the slope immediately below is the wood represented in this panel4 ,in the next panel 7#ei71 as the inscription tells us1 the converse is going on in ,harold's case1 and his scouts 7represented as being on foot7 come to tell ,harold1 who is mounted1 that they have established contact with the enemy4 ,the #fjth panel stands for the speech ,william made to his troops before the battle4 ,most of the chronicles mention this episode1 and ,wace in particular4 ,you get again1 in the next panel1 the deployment suggested as before1 and then a group of four panels 7#fb-fe inclusive7 bearing no inscription 7the words above them being no more than the continuation of the legend above ,william's speech3 8,that they should prepare themselves for battle against the ,english army both courageously and with art074 ,and these four panels are the effort of the artist1 with such means as he had at his disposal1 to give some conception of the order of battle4 ,illustration3 #fa ,illustration3 #fb ,illustration3 #fc ,illustration3 #fd ,illustration3 #fe ,now we know what that order was4 ,there were three columns of attack1 consisting of the fully armed and mounted knights4 ,that on the left was composed of the ,bretons in the main1 and had the duty of charging over the space now occupied by1 or neighbouring to1 the pond in ,battle ,abbey park4 ,that on the left1 which was to charge the steepest part of the hill1 was to cross the ground on which the station has been built in modern times2 it was a column mainly ,french and led by ,roger of ,montmorency4 ,the central column1 which was to take the sharp hill between the two others1 was composed mainly of ,normans and was led by ,william himself4 ,upon the jutting promontory of the height which these three columns were to attack1 stood the ,saxons on foot1 depending largely upon the axe as a defensive weapon1 but also upon the throwing-spear or javelin1 and to some extent upon the sword4 ,in front of the attacking army was scattered in open order a line of archers1 whose function was the permanent service of the missile weapon1 to wit1 to shake the enemy's infantry1 upon which1 so shaken1 the cavalry should charge4#e ,now all this the artist has attempted to represent4 ,you have the attack represented both to the right and to the left and falling upon a body which faces two fronts2 this is to symbolise the convergence of the three columns upon the semicircular front of the ,saxon position upon ,battle ,hill4 ,no particular figures are given2 not even ,harold is to be distinguished4 ,some critics too ingenious have discovered in the head of the ,norman charge the person of ,taillefer1 8,iron-shear10 who certainly rode out before the army singing his song of ,roncesvalles and tossing his sword 7or by another account1 his lance7 into the air4 ,there is nothing of this in the ,tapestry4 ,illustration3 #ff ,illustration3 #fg ,illustration3 #fh ,the next two panels 7#ff and #fg7 give the death of the two brothers of ,harold4 ,apart from the introduction of the figures of these two princes1 ,lewine and ,gyrth1 the interest of these panels also lies in the accoutrements4 ,thus on four of the charging ,french knights you see the crossed garters which bound the leg below the suit of mail1 and in the hands of one of the ,english you see the round shield with a boss1 which will reappear in the scene of the death of ,harold4 ,i would say tentatively and subject to correction1 that this symbolised something old-fashioned in the ,saxon accoutrement4 ,in the border below1 the same type of accoutrement1 the round shield with the boss1 reappears twice among the dead bodies4 ,gyrth and ,lewine were standing near ,harold1 and one chronicle makes ,william himself fell ,gyrth with a blow of his mace1 but there is nothing of this in the embroidery4 ,there is no figure armed with a mace and no mention of ,william4 ,the #fhth panel is the liveliest attempt the artist makes anywhere to represent the heat of the attack4 ,it speaks for itself in the exaggerated catastrophes of the mounts and of their riders2 but what should be particularly noted is the representation of the ,hill of ,battle1 the horse stumbling at the approach of it and the defence by the ,saxon footmen upon the summit4 ,illustration3 #fi ,with the #fith panel we approach the attempts in the latter part of the ,tapestry to introduce persons4 ,this attempt has led to a considerable historical controversy1 for while some points in the portraiture are obvious1 others1 as will be seen in a moment1 lend themselves to discussion4 ,illustration3 #gj ,illustration3 #ga ,first we have1 in the #fith panel itself1 ,odo of ,bayeux1 the ,bishop1 ,william's brother1 with the characteristically ,french inscription1 8,pueros suos10 by way of saying 8his men40 8,here ,odo1 the ,bishop1 holding a stick1 heartens his men10 or literally1 8his children40 ,so the modern ,french army term1 8mes enfants0 for 8men40 ,all this is quite clear2 but the next panel 7,no4 #gj7 has led to the controversy of which ,i speak4 ,note here three men at the charge4 ,the first brandishes a sword1 the second has a mace or sceptre in his hand1 and is lifting the nasal of his helm1 and the third holds a lance and pennon or1 as the ,french then called it1 a ,gonfanon4 ,above the group is written1 8,here is ,duke ,william40 ,it is fairly established that ,wace's poem 7which the panels of this part of the ,tapestry follow with great fidelity7 is here abandoned by the artist and the account of ,benoit de ,saint ,more is followed4 ,the incident is1 of course1 that of ,william showing his face to his followers when it was feared he had fallen4 ,further1 the first figure carrying the pennon is certainly intended for ,eustace of ,boulogne4 ,above his head1 in one of the few fragments that have suffered mutilation1 is the beginning and ending of the word ,eustatius 7,e----,,tius72 while the clear writing of the inscription round the central figure and the obvious reference to the passage in ,benoit de ,saint ,more1 coupled with the fact that the central figure bears a mace or sceptre1 not a sword1 leave no doubt that it is ,william that is intended4 ,it is worth remembering in connection with the date of the ,tapestry that the emphasizing of the part which ,eustace of ,boulogne played in the battle is peculiar to the twelfth-century chroniclers4 ,illustration3 #gb ,illustration3 #gc ,illustration3 #gd ,the next three panels are bringing the battle to an end4 8,here10 says the inscription1 8the ,french fight and slay those who were with ,harold40 ,the number of armorial shields1 and their presence even1 on the ,saxon side is noteworthy1 and the reappearance of the round shield with the boss in the border2 further1 that the archers have at last got home1 is indicated in the arrows that have struck the shields1 and in the full quivers of the border4 ,the stripping of the bodies of the slain by the camp followers is equally indicative of the stage the fight has reached2 and in the next panel 7the #gdth7 you have one of the last episodes1 the death of ,harold himself4 ,harold is introduced twice3 first1 standing near his standard pulling from his face the arrow that has struck it2 next1 cut down by a mounted horseman1 who strikes him on the thigh with his sword4 ,that exactly follows ,wace point for point1 for his poem tells us first that ,harold was struck in the eye by an arrow and that he pulled it out1 and that then one came1 a knight1 who struck him on the thigh with a sword1 wounding him to the bone2 that at the same moment the standard fell to earth1 and that the men 8then killed ,harold40 ,illustration3 #ge ,illustration3 #gf ,the last two panels 7#ge and #gf7 are the breaking of the ranks and the flight4 ,they need no comment save perhaps one note3 the conventional tree in the last panel may well enough stand for the wood of the ,weald which lay behind the ,saxon position1 and into which the rout pressed as darkness fell4 ,it has been suggested that the ,tapestry continued further than the point at which it now ends1 both because it is somewhat frayed at that end and because in the description of another ,tapestry 7lost7 the account of the day following the battle is given4 ,what seems to me to prove definitely that the ,tapestry did end almost exactly where its frayed edge terminates it to-day1 is the fact that it was exactly of a length to go round the nave of ,bayeux ,cathedral1 and that the measurements of the existing stuff correspond with that length4 ,printed in ,france4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected4 ,typographical errors were silently corrected4 ,inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book4 ,text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores 7italics74