The Bayeux Tapestry - all of it, from start to finish

The tapestry story starts in 1064 with this man.

Edward the Confessor, who is clearly very important as he gets the biggest and most elaborate depiction of any character in the tapestry.

Sitting here with his crown and scepter and generally being King of England, but at this point having no heirs, he's having a talk to presumably Harold and a companion in what we think is Westminster Palace.

Harold Godwinson was the Earl of Wessex and the most powerful noble in England and Edward's brother-in-law.

The King is presumably sending them on some unspecified mission to Normandy.

Right you, with your different colored hands and your legs of different sizes, go on some unspecified mission to Normandy. Go on, off with you. Oh, uh, right ho.

It says in Latin, Harold, leader of the English and his soldiers ride to Bosham. He's the one with the hawk and the magnificent mustache.

And Bosham was his family estate.

It's great being canine.

We then get a tree. Yes, seriously, that's meant to be a tree.

And these are used to divide up the scenes a bit like the gutters between the pictures of a comic book.

He and his pal go into an Ecclesia or church for a quick pray. That church is still there today, by the way.

And then we see a banquet scene.

Next, it says, Hic Harold Mare Navigavit. Here Harold travels by sea.

You can see him having stripped his legs bare, wading out with his hawk and dog.

Some rather wonky oars there.

And comes with full sail to the land of Wido. Wido is a chap we generally call Count Guy, spelled Guy.

A smaller boat apparently in tow there, perhaps a dinghy for making landfall. Lots of shields, so all looking rather military.

Tiny lookout at the top of the mast.

Then, what's this affrontry?

Hic apprehendit Wido Haroldum. Here Guy apprehends Harold.

Seize him, I say.

I'm warning you, I have a magnificent mustache.

Et duxit eum ad Belrem et ibi eum tenuit. And leads him to Beau Rain and holds him there.

Things don't look too bad though, as he gets to keep his hawk.

We got him. Look, look, look, it's him, it's him, it's him.

Ubi Harold et Wido parabolant. Here Harold and Guy have a bit of a chat.

Ah, now my point is...

I'm in charge here.

I do the pointing.

There is a lot of pointing here.

Lots of pointing, yes.

There are people farming in the lower border there, see?

It doesn't help that the characters keep changing their clothes. Here's Guy in yet another natty outfit.

Where Duke William's messengers came to Guy, it says.

Above a figure holding a horse, normally interpreted as a dwarf, is the name Tyrold, but it could be the name of the messenger standing left of the text.

Anyway, messengers from the Duke arrive, and then the timeline goes a bit haywire as we go back in time to see the messengers on their way.

In something of a rush, see the wind in their hair.

Ooh, the drama.

William to the rescue.

And there's someone watching from a tree.

Which is always nice.

Here the messengers come to William. The tapestry is devoting a lot of space to this incident, so clearly it is a very important part of the story that it wants to tell.

We delivered the message, sir.

Well done.

Are you hiding a dwarf behind that shield?

Uh, no. Uh, no, no, it's me. I stand oddly.

I'll say.

Here Guy takes Harold, mustache and hawk there, to William, Duke of Normandy.

I've brought him, sire. He's fine, he's got his hawk and everything.

That's good. Now I'll have your hawk.

Oh!

A gentleman would seldom travel without his hunting bird.

Are those camels do you think in the top border? Some of the animals definitely look quite fantastical.

Now another of those amazing surreal trees. It says, Here leader William with Harold came to his palace.

Ha ha, I got his hawk.

Um, the palace has come out a bit wonky and a bit smaller than you might like it, sir.

Is this our new kennel?

Now a man with a great mustache, Harold presumably, sporting yet another set of clothes, talks to a man on a throne in a palace. Next, two characters are named Unus Clericus, a particular cleric, and Aelfgyva.

Literally Elf gift.

A common Anglo-Saxon woman's name. Just what in the world is going on here? We simply do not know.

Is the cleric hitting her or blessing her? Is this some reference to a sex scandal?

Is that why there's a naked man in the lower border, the only figure displaying genitals in the whole tapestry?

Harold had a sister with this name. Was she betrothed to someone?

It is thought that she died shortly before the Battle of Hastings. It's a story lost in time.

Now it says, Here William the leader and his army come to Montem Michaelis, today known as Mont Saint-Michel.

And there it is at the top there, a fortified abbey on top of a small island.

Et Hic Transierunt Flumen Cosnonis. Et venerunt ad Dol et Conan. And here they crossed the river Cosnon.

Here Harold the leader pulled them out of the sand. He's rescuing two men at once and carrying a shield.

Yes, well, with a mustache like mine, it's easy.

Mont Saint-Michel was on the border of Normandy and Brittany, and they had to cross a river to attack Duke Conan at his place called Dol. Conan flees.

Is that him climbing down a rope?

Then, they ride past what we today call Rennes, you can see R E D and N E S either side of it there, in a hurry to do some more fighting.

Did cavalry ever attack raised fortifications like this? I think it's very unlikely, so we have to imagine that a certain amount of artistic license is being used.

Here, it says, The soldiers of William fought against, contra means against, the inhabitants of Dinan, the Dinantes, and Conan handed over the keys. You can see the keys there on the spear tip of the surrendering defender.

There's a bit of a knack to them. You have to pull towards you as you turn and then jiggle a bit. Right ho. Got him. Thanks.

Hic, it says, meaning here, William gave Harold weapons.

An important and symbolic gift one thinks, a leader bestows arms on a follower, not the other way round.

Now, William, Wayne it, he came, Bagias to Bayeux, where, Ubi, Harold Sacramentum fecit. He made an oath. Very important to leader William.

You can see him swearing with his hands on some sacred items. Does this mean that Harold swore loyalty to William, or perhaps to support his claim to the English throne? That's what's being implied.

Here, Harold the leader, or you could say Earl Harold, but Dux refers to all manner of leader figures, reversus est Anglicam Terram, goes back to English soil. And came to Edward the King.

Now then, what's going on here? The King, who is clearly wearing a false beard, is he wagging a finger at Harold? Harold has no weapons in this picture and is bent forward oddly.

Is he being told off for something? Perhaps he's showing worry at the frailty of the King because the next scene shows the King's funeral, with the hand of God there blessing the proceedings.

And the body in a casket in procession to a big church, Westminster Abbey. Accompanied by bell ringers. This was January the 5th, 1066.

The text reads, Here King Edward's body is carried to Saint Peter the Apostle.

He had ordered the rebuilding of the Abbey, intending to be buried there, but had been too ill to attend its consecration just the week before he died.

Then, we get a bit of the story in reverse again. These were the early days of graphic novels.

We see Edward twice here. Upstairs it says, Here King Edward in bed speaks to his faithful.

One we think is his Queen, Edith, and another might be Harold. Is he saying something significant here, naming an heir?

Downstairs it says, And here he died.

Next, Here, they gave the King's crown to Harold, and the King's axe too.

No, it's all right. I've got this axe that William gave me.

What?

Oh, uh, nothing. Oh, great, a crown.

So, here we see on the throne, Harold II, King of England.

The figure to the right of him is labeled without explanation, Archbishop Stigand.

This controversial cleric had been excommunicated by the Pope, so, if he has performed the coronation, that might make it null and void.

But English sources suggest that he was crowned by Ealdred, Archbishop of York, whom the Pope thought was fab. So, is this a bit of fake news?

The crowd seems happy enough.

King Harold the Second!

Next we see a group of people marveling at the star.

This is the first depiction of Halley's Comet, which passed overhead at this point in history and was supposed to be an ill omen.

Although I don't see how that works because it would be an ill omen for William too, wouldn't it, and everyone else.

Anyway, news of the comet is perhaps being related to Harold here, and beneath him in the lower border, you see a lot of ships, a ghostly foreshadowing of the invasion to come.

New panel, tree, new scene.

Here, it says, an English ship came to Duke William's land. Why does it say this? Bringing news of the coronation, I'm guessing.

Next we go to William's palace, which would have been perhaps in the old seat of the Dukes of Normandy at Rouen, or possibly at Caen, where it had moved.

Anyway, he's not happy, and the text tells us that he ordered the building of ships. The seated figure on the right is Bishop Odo, William's half-brother, and the probable patron of this tapestry. We'll see him a lot.

Now we get a strong clue that those things that look not a lot like trees are trees. Men chopping them down.

Men forming the trees into planks with carpentry axes.

Then we see men forming the planks into the hulls of ships.

Here the ships are pulled to the sea.

Next, we are shown arms and armor being carried to the ship, mail hauberks carried on poles, swords and is that a barrel on the wagon along with spears and helmets?

Yet it is, because the text tells us so. It says, And here they pull a cart loaded, cum vino et armis, with wine and weapons.

Here William crosses the sea in a big ship. Sometimes they could perhaps let the pictures do more of the talking, or they could have told you that the ship he sailed in was a gift from his wife Matilda and was called Mora.

You can see shields hanging on the ends of the ships. Tiny horses there too. Fancy carved heads on the prows and sterns.

No rudders yet, you'll notice, they're still using steering oars.

Their sails were, so far as we know, square, so this is probably an inaccurate depiction of how they would look in use.

And he came to Pevensey.

In the word Pevensey, you can see the Pope's banner on the mast of William's ship, so he was proclaiming to have the backing of the Pope. Possibly a bit naughty of him.

Here the horses disembark. Taking the mast down too, you'll notice.

And here the troops, milites, rushed to Hastings to pillage for food. And you can see men carrying off and slaughtering livestock.

I think you're holding it the wrong way round.

My axe is red.

I got me a blue-green pig. What did you get?

Hope.

Right, now I have to stop things here to explain why the landings were unopposed. The tapestry has missed out a massive part of the story, and it would be an injustice to Harold not to mention it now.

Harold had in fact been waiting with an army on the south coast for ages, but Harold had not one but three armies to worry about.

There was William the Bastard's army in Normandy, also there was Harald Hardrada, who was King of Norway, but was keen to add England to his portfolio, and Tostig Godwinson, Harold's own younger brother, who was cooperating with Hardrada.

This pair defeated the Earls of Northumbria and Mercia at the Battle of Fulford on the 20th of September, which left England at the mercy of the Norsemen. What was more, Harold's militia had to be released from military service so that they could harvest their crops.

Harold raced north and marched 185 miles to York in four days with just the core of his army, surprised and decisively defeated the invaders at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, killing both pretenders to the throne in the process, and then marched all the way back to Hastings where he found that William's army had landed when he wasn't looking.

So, can we have just a bit of appreciation for that?

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

Thank you. Yes.

Right, back to the Bayeux tapestry. The next caption says, Here is Wadard.

Why? Who was he? He's never mentioned again.

Research in the Victorian era revealed that he was one of Bishop Odo's retinue, so the Bishop, patron of the work, was depicting his friends and underlings.

Ha ha. Your horse is really small.

No. My horse is just far away.

Here the meat is cooked. Lots of kebabs and a big cauldron over a fire.

And here the servants serve.

A man loading a plate using tongs, a fork.

Dead bird on the stick, sir.

Oh, I don't mind if I do.

I'll have the beige one.

They seem to be using shields as trays or a makeshift table top. No, no, no, you drink out of the wide end.

No, no, no, you drink out of the wide end.

Here they dined.

And here the Bishop blesses the food and drink.

I'll keep blessing it as long as you keep bringing it.

I've been practicing my pointing.

Here we see Odo again with his tonsure.

William holding a sword, and also seated Robert, Robert, or Rotbert as he appears here, another half-brother of William's.

He, presumably Robert, ordered defenses dug at Hastings.

These men might be press-ganged locals.

And what's going on here? I'm not a Norman lackey. You take that back. What are you hitting me with? It looks a bit rude.

Well, it will if you animate it like that.

Oh, the spades.

The men are throwing up an earth mound, a motte for a fort.

Here William received news of Harold. A messenger reporting.

And here a house is set alight.

Now, you can see a woman there and a child. They are usually described as fleeing the house, although it could be that they are trapped in a burning house.

Oh, the Frankish fiends!

Here, it says, The soldiers set out from Hastings. A door, totally out of scale with its building, has opened and out has stepped a very tall William, with a pennant on his lance that will in no way help to identify him later.

I brought you a horse, sir.

Yes, I know just that it's green and yellow. It's all right, we can change that later.

And they went out to do battle with King Harold. It does call him King.

Haroldum Regem.

Wow, that horse is blue.

Ah, a figure riding with a pennant just like William's. So, is it William? No.

Another pennant, not William either.

He's one of these two chaps with maces.

Here, Duke William asks Wital if Harold's forces have been sighted. Who was Wital? Another of Odo's followers and friends, it seems, getting a mention.

Yay, Wital!

Some scouts riding over a hill, looking past the cellophane flowers of yellow and green at another man doing the classic, I'm looking for something pose. Terrible typesetting here. This man informs King Harold about Duke William's forces.

You, yes, you!

No, I'm not pointing at myself.

Your shield!

No, I'm pointing through myself.

I'm, it's very difficult, but it's really awkward with this.

The point is that the enemy's over there.

I knew that.

Back to William now, on a horse of yet another color, this time red, and carrying what looks like a simple wooden club.

And we get a very long, strong out piece of text. It says, Here Duke William exhorts his troops to prepare themselves like men, and wisely for the battle against the English.

We are three quarters of the way through the tapestry now, and the Battle of Hastings is about to start.

There is a buildup of momentum. See how each horse has a more gallopy pose than its predecessor.

Mmm, beige.

William's men aren't listening. You can't gallop and listen.

Here we see Norman archers, some wearing armor, adding support. And now the single line of horses becomes double, and the picture gets busier and noisier. From the way the horses' legs overlap, they seem to be competing to be the one closest to the viewer.

Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for, the clash with the English. Javelins fly, as does at least one mace, and the English shield wall holds.

And the ground becomes littered with the dead and dying. You can see one English archer in the foreground there.

The English seem to have fewer archers than the Normans, but more foot soldiers.

Now, we can see Norman cavalry coming in from the right. I don't think this arrangement is meant to show that the English were surrounded. I think it's just the designer's way of getting more figures battling each other.

While most of the fallen lie anonymously in the lower border, two of the dead get named here. It was vital that people knew that the entire line of claimants had been extinguished.

The text says, Here fell Leofwine and Gyrd. These were Harold's brothers. Presumably, they are the athletic figures doing the forward roll and the backflip. The text then adds, The brothers of King Harold.

Just to hammer home the point. Now there is a scene of messy carnage.

And the text says, Here fell simultaneously the English and the Franks in the battle. What looks like a disastrous cavalry charge, full of movement and pain, has come crashing to a halt. This horse has fallen so violently, it's lost its saddle.

Holding a hill, a group of unarmored English militia suffers losses, and some appear to be running about the bottom of the hill in panic.

Here, Bishop Odo, holding a club, encourages his boys. It's likely that they were following an old tradition of senior commanders using maces as badges of office.

Here is Duke William, is all it says.

William of Poitiers, writing in 1071, said that the Duke had had three horses killed under him during the battle, and that a rumor spread that he himself had been killed, and that to quash this, he raised his helmet in front of his army to show everyone that he was fine.

So, it is thought that this picture represents this episode in the story.

It's all right, everyone.

It's me!

It's him! It's him! Hooray! Hooray!

Hooray!

Who are you then?

Oh!

High up in the top border you can just make out the damaged word Eustace, above the man with the banner pointing to William. Count Eustace was another important knight who presumably deserved a mention.

And so much more important than the tiny archers scuttling along the bottom border.

Hic Franki Pugnant. Here the Franks do battle.

Since both sides are pictured wearing identical kit, there's no way to be sure whether some of these are Norman or Saxon.

These Saxon thanes have been fighting for some while now, as shown by the number of arrows in their shields. The battle lasted some nine hours, which was a long time by the standards of this period.

This man is so tall, he's actually standing on the ground in front of his saddle, while astride his horse.

And those who were with Harold fell. Armored thanes finally succumbing to the Frankish attacks.

This mystery figure is under the name Harold and has his signature massive handlebar mustache, but isn't wearing armor and seems to be being tended to by a Norman, but one can't be sure. Is he having a head wound sewn up?

And next, the most famous words on the tapestry. Hic Harold Rex interfectus est. Here Harold the King is killed.

Yes, that's it, men. Hold steady. And watch out for the... Oh, I say!

But which figure is the King? Hitherto the word Hic, here, has often indicated a figure referred to by the text.

But names have often, but not always, been above the named figures. The arrow in this figure's eye was sewn on in the tapestry's repairs, but holes on the back of the cloth show that there was something there before, so there probably was originally an arrow there.

But figures being killed have often been shown in the act of falling, and that would make Harold the figure under the words the King is killed. Does it matter?

Both the arrow in the eye death and the King's being hacked up by Norman knights are mentioned in contemporary accounts.

And so the fate of a nation was decided. The Norman yoke would be on our shoulders, and there it remains to some degree. The upper classes of Britain today still tend to have Norman surnames.

There are stripped, robbed, and cut up bodies in the lower border.

There's just one more caption to go, and you may see that the art style and lettering change noticeably.

The end of the tapestry has been restored a lot, and it has been suggested that the last words were added during the Napoleonic Wars. And the English fled.

Then it peters out. Some say that it was never completed, but more likely the end has been lost, perhaps to fire, rot, recycling as a wagon cover, or any of a thousand natural shocks that cloth is heir to.

It is generally speculated that the tapestry ended with the coronation of William.

History gets written mostly by the winners, and this tapestry does seem to be an attempt to make it look as though William's claim to the throne was stronger than perhaps it was.

William the Bastard of Normandy became King William I of England. He was still a bastard though.

Oh!

Now I fear that some people will cry foul when they realize that the artwork shown in this video is not the Bayeux Tapestry in the museum at Bayeux today.

What I have been showing you is in fact a facsimile, made by 35 embroiderers in 1885 to 1886.

It isn't a forgery, they made it very clear that it wasn't the original by adding a border along the bottom which includes their modern English names.

Other copies exist, including one by a Canadian called Ray Duggan, another by a Danish reenactment group called Lindholm Høje, and in New Zealand there is a half-sized mosaic version.

One minor difference between the version I've shown you and the original is that the man's genitals I mentioned earlier have been covered up with a pair of underpants.

If you want to see this work, it is in the Reading Museum, where you can view it for free at your leisure, but if you prefer, you can go to France, queue up with thousands of tourists, and pay nine and a half euro to see it instead.