1066
Origins of the Bayeux Tapestry
The original Bayeux Tapestry is an elaborate embroidery over 70 meters long ( 231 feet) and shows 626 people and over 700 mythological creatures as well as horses, dog and cats. The Tapestry illustrates the story of the events leading up to and including the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The tapestry is generally attributed to William the Conqueror's wife Matilda, the Bayeux Tapestry in fact was probably made to order by William's half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, for display in the Bayeux church, which was built a dozen years after the Battle of Hastings. According to Medieval historian, Julia De Wolf Addison, "The earliest European work with which we have to concern ourselves is the Bayeux tapestry. Although this is really needlework, it is usually treated as tapestry. Some authorities state that the Bayeux tapestry was made by the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I., while others consider it the achievement of Queen Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror. She is recorded to have sat quietly awaiting her lord's coming while she embroidered this quaint souvenir of his prowess in conquest. A veritable medieval Penelope, it is claimed that she directed her ladies in this work, which is thoroughly Saxon in feeling and costuming. It is undoubtedly the most interesting remaining piece of needlework of the eleventh century, and it would be delightful if one could believe the legend of its construction. Its attribution to Queen Matilda is very generally doubted by those who have devoted much thought to the subject. Mr. Frank Rede Fowke gives it as his opinion, based on a number of arguments too long to quote in this place, that the tapestry was not made by Queen Matilda, but was ordered by Bishop Odo as an ornament for the nave of Bayeux Cathedral, and was executed by Norman craftsmen in that city. "
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