Product Description

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. 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 and dogged 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #725692 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 354 pages

Review
Definitely not the Norman version. The Battle of Hastings, in 1066, when the last Anglo Saxon king, Harold, was defeated by William the Conqueror, is one of the world's most commented-upon battles, partly because its effects (the fusion of French and Anglo-Saxon into English, for example) ramify to this day-and partly because it was illustrated by the near-contemporary Bayeux Tapestry, a masterpiece of Medieval art. What is there new to add to the library of references? Bridgeford attempts to overturn at least two old verities about the battle. According to the author, "close observation of the Bayeux Tapestry reveals that it is not a work of Norman propaganda that popular myth would have us believe, but a covert, subtle, and substantial record of the English version of events." He makes a very strong case by comparing real Norman propaganda, which is codified in William of Poitier's The Deeds of Duke William (circa 1070), with the Bayeux's scenes. Scene by scene, the Bayeux tapestry deviates significantly in its sympathetic treatment of Harold from the simple-minded vilification to which he was subjected after his death at Hastings. Bridgeford goes to less used sources, such as Eadmar's The History of Recent Events in England (circa 1090), to understand the images. If he's right, then another supposed fact about the tapestry-that it was commissioned by William's half-brother Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux-seems unlikely. Bridgeford believes, instead, that the tapestry was commissioned by William's occasional ally Count Eustace of Boulogne as a peace offering to Odo, with whom Eustace was often in violent conflict. This is solid historical detective work, enlivened with extensive speculations about the tapestry's mysteries (Bridgeford, for instance, has a fascinating theory about why a dwarf named Turold holds a special place in the story). On sound empirical ground, Bridgeford's work will no doubt generate much heat and some light among students of English history. (Kirkus Reviews)

Roy Strong, Daily Mail
'A highly readable and haunting book.'

Christopher Silvester, Sunday Times
'A stimulating book...(Bridgeford) marshalls the battalions of his argument with analytical force, lucidity and panache.'

Customer Reviews

A Tapestry Well Woven
Everyone knows about the Bayeux Tapestry, or do they?

If you are really interested in the Bayeux Tapestry and the period of history covering the conquest of England, then this is the book for you.

A work of exquisite detail the tapestry has preserved the glory of the Norman Conquest for later generations to see. If you know what you are looking for it reads like a book.

The tale of the battle of Hastings, the death of Harold and the ascendency of Duke William are indelibly woven into the fabric of the tapestry for all to see.

The validty of many of the deeds depicted by the tapestry is brought into question by the author of the book Andrew Bridgeford. The tapestry is a pictorial story of courage and deceit and the pageantry of the age, but is everything as it appears to be.

The quality of the research and the excellent story-telling is a joy to readers of history. The book contains may photographs of the tapestry and I enjoyed it immensely