1066: The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry

1066: The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry
Andrew Bridgeford

A brilliant new reading of the Bayeux Tapestry that radically alters our understanding of the events of 1066 and reveals the astonishing story of the survival of early medieval Europe’s greatest treasure.This edition does not include illustrations.The Bayeux Tapestry was embroidered (it’s not really a tapestry) in the late eleventh century. As an artefact, it is priceless, incomparable – nothing of it’s delicacy and texture, let alone wit, survives from the period. As a pictorial story it is delightful: the first feature-length cartoon. As history it is essential: it represents the moment of Britain’s last conquest by a foreign army and celebrates the Norman victory over the blinded Saxon Harold. Or does it?In this brilliant piece of detective interpretation, Andrew Bridgeford looks at the narrative contained within the tapestry and has discovered a wealth of new information. Who commissioned it? Who made it? Who is the singular dwarf named as Turold? Why, in a work that celebrates a Norman conquest is the defeated Harold treated so nobly? Is Harold indeed the victim of the arrow from the sky? And who is the figure depicted in the tapestry who, at the moment of crisis for the Normans rallies the army just at the point when it mistakenly believes William is dead and it will be defeated?Using the tapestry, the book retells with vivid characterisation the story of the remaking of England in and after 1066. It is a compelling story, as is the tale of the extraordinary survival of the tapestry itself: history has rarely been writ so large, with such fine detail and yet been so veiled in mystery.

ANDREW BRIDGEFORD

1066

The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry

Copyright (#ulink_6e55fd68-c1d1-5757-b271-89665a334530)

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate 2004

This edition published by Harper Perennial 2004

Copyright © Andrew Bridgeford 2004

PS section copyright © Eithne Farry 2004

PS™ is a trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

Andrew Bridgeford asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9781841150413

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN 9780007394135

Version: 2016-12-20

Epigraph (#u4e2b72fa-0abe-5276-8900-14c9e9617810)

Eventually

All things decline

Everything falters, dies and ends

Towers cave in, walls collapse

Roses wither, horses stumble

Cloth grows old, men expire

Iron rusts and timber rots away

Nothing made by hand will last

I understand the truth

That all must die, both clerk and lay

And the fame of men now dead

Will quickly be forgotten

Unless the clerk takes up his pen

And brings their deeds to life again

Wace, Roman de Rou, III, 11. 131–142 (c. 1170)

Contents

Cover (#udb9f8000-e68d-5a78-a14b-d2a8c71a8952)

Title Page (#uf425ebb9-e0b3-562a-aaaa-1baa9a72fd79)

Copyright (#ub764f700-3f7f-59cf-8176-33beff6b5209)

Epigraph (#u8da516da-de10-5081-ac3c-c41305268f1b)

Map (#ub941b6ed-2d18-5933-8f00-83f648407a65)

Genealogical Charts (#ue5863715-db62-59cc-80a3-e5d62146313b)

1. In Search of the Bayeux Tapestry (#u6ceeef0b-f8eb-5492-aeca-9a1f5ae789bd)

2. A Tale of Consequence: The Impact of Conquest (#u6ca162b0-6587-5d7d-af38-637b5ee4fb9b)

3. Sources (#u3afff534-7b9c-51db-a974-cfbc2ca71d9d)

4. Stitches in Time (#u58023d1a-0c39-5090-9ff8-7ac8204a5b93)

5. The Strange Journey of Harold Godwinson (#u4dd948be-2b2f-5448-a590-9cd9f161b9f9)