The Bayeux Tapestry, I saw it in France many years ago and realised that it was embroidered propaganda. It is a mixture of triumphal William worship and a successful attempt to legitimise his invasion. Your article is so interesting and well written . It takes real talent to make embroidery and crochet exciting, to me at any rate. We talk of the Normans and the Anglo Saxons though as if they were two new forces in opposition. Considering family roots, the Scandinavians had already seized the English throne by force centuries previous to the Conquest and probably the best bit of early propaganda concerned Canute and his marvellous magnanimity. History is always seen through the eyes of others and there are many versions of the same event to be read, depending upon who was watching and their bias. So, the tapestry, wholly Norman biased giving legitimacy to a history changing event about which we still have no real idea of who was the goodie and who was the baddie.
William worship! I really do wonder what William was like. And my heart goes out a bit for Harold - there is something about the Tapestry that makes me wonder if Harold wasn’t the more interesting guy. And yes, the Scandinavians! Thank you so much fo reminding me, and pointing out that the story doesn’t begin with Harold and William. Basically two occupying forces battling each other. I know almost nothing about Canute but now I’m so curious about the propaganda.
This was FANTASTIC! I absolutely loved the voiceover, it added just a wonderfully personal touch to this and better understanding your tone only elevated you’re already incredible writing! Thank you for taking the time to add your voice—I know that comes with another layer of vulnerability when putting your words out into the world, and I’m sending love your way for whatever feelings/nerves came up when hitting publish.
In all of the time I’ve spent pondering this phenomenal work of art, I’ve never once stopped to empathize with the heaviness of telling the story of your own country’s colonization, of the death of your fellow countrymen. Thank you for sharing that with us, I know I’ll be thinking on it for some time.
Thank you! I’m so glad you like the voiceover - in fact, you inspired me. It is vulnérable-making (I do not like the sound of my own voice), but I do like speaking directly to whomever might happen by this newsletter. And it makes it much more accessible.
I've been fascinated by the Bayeux Tapestry since I saw a photo of part of it on the cover of a 1966 issue of Life magazine. It was when I was a teenager in the 1980s, but I loved to look at old magazines, and the library I was in had lots of them. I wanted to look at 1966 issues because that's my birth year. The cover story was celebrating the 1000 year anniversary of the famous needle work. The fact that such an old piece of art was worthy of a Life cover at a time when astronauts, movie stars, Kennedys and The Beatles were its usual subjects was amazing to me, especially as it was created by women and told a story, historically accurate or not.
That’s pretty impressive that Life Magazine featured the Tapestry on its cover. It certainly says something, to my mind, about Life Magazine! You have to wonder if anything similar today would ever feature something like Tapestry on the cover….and yet, here we all are, still writing about it, still fascinated. One of the people I was traveling with said, while waiting in a very long line, ‘This better be some tapestry.’ When they came out they said: ‘it was!’ So much of the Tapestry is impressive, but I personally wonder whether it’s held our fascination in part because it’s so obviously telling a story, and we humans just love a story. Thank you so much for reading!
Whoops! I meant the 1966 magazine was celebrating the 900th anniversary of the Norman Conquest, not a the 1000th. That would be in 2066. Clearly, I’m better at history than math.😑
You know I'm here for this content. ps. Have I gushed to you about Michèle Smith's The Valkyries Loom? Definitely an interesting spin on the vikings' nautical power. (see what I did there?)
What a powerful, thoughtful and beautiful text! And I recognize your unique writing style, matching old and new words making it so much fun and deeply interesting to read. Bravo!
The Bayeux Tapestry, I saw it in France many years ago and realised that it was embroidered propaganda. It is a mixture of triumphal William worship and a successful attempt to legitimise his invasion. Your article is so interesting and well written . It takes real talent to make embroidery and crochet exciting, to me at any rate. We talk of the Normans and the Anglo Saxons though as if they were two new forces in opposition. Considering family roots, the Scandinavians had already seized the English throne by force centuries previous to the Conquest and probably the best bit of early propaganda concerned Canute and his marvellous magnanimity. History is always seen through the eyes of others and there are many versions of the same event to be read, depending upon who was watching and their bias. So, the tapestry, wholly Norman biased giving legitimacy to a history changing event about which we still have no real idea of who was the goodie and who was the baddie.
William worship! I really do wonder what William was like. And my heart goes out a bit for Harold - there is something about the Tapestry that makes me wonder if Harold wasn’t the more interesting guy. And yes, the Scandinavians! Thank you so much fo reminding me, and pointing out that the story doesn’t begin with Harold and William. Basically two occupying forces battling each other. I know almost nothing about Canute but now I’m so curious about the propaganda.
This was FANTASTIC! I absolutely loved the voiceover, it added just a wonderfully personal touch to this and better understanding your tone only elevated you’re already incredible writing! Thank you for taking the time to add your voice—I know that comes with another layer of vulnerability when putting your words out into the world, and I’m sending love your way for whatever feelings/nerves came up when hitting publish.
In all of the time I’ve spent pondering this phenomenal work of art, I’ve never once stopped to empathize with the heaviness of telling the story of your own country’s colonization, of the death of your fellow countrymen. Thank you for sharing that with us, I know I’ll be thinking on it for some time.
Thank you! I’m so glad you like the voiceover - in fact, you inspired me. It is vulnérable-making (I do not like the sound of my own voice), but I do like speaking directly to whomever might happen by this newsletter. And it makes it much more accessible.
I've been fascinated by the Bayeux Tapestry since I saw a photo of part of it on the cover of a 1966 issue of Life magazine. It was when I was a teenager in the 1980s, but I loved to look at old magazines, and the library I was in had lots of them. I wanted to look at 1966 issues because that's my birth year. The cover story was celebrating the 1000 year anniversary of the famous needle work. The fact that such an old piece of art was worthy of a Life cover at a time when astronauts, movie stars, Kennedys and The Beatles were its usual subjects was amazing to me, especially as it was created by women and told a story, historically accurate or not.
That’s pretty impressive that Life Magazine featured the Tapestry on its cover. It certainly says something, to my mind, about Life Magazine! You have to wonder if anything similar today would ever feature something like Tapestry on the cover….and yet, here we all are, still writing about it, still fascinated. One of the people I was traveling with said, while waiting in a very long line, ‘This better be some tapestry.’ When they came out they said: ‘it was!’ So much of the Tapestry is impressive, but I personally wonder whether it’s held our fascination in part because it’s so obviously telling a story, and we humans just love a story. Thank you so much for reading!
Whoops! I meant the 1966 magazine was celebrating the 900th anniversary of the Norman Conquest, not a the 1000th. That would be in 2066. Clearly, I’m better at history than math.😑
Nah - slip of the fingers….
You know I'm here for this content. ps. Have I gushed to you about Michèle Smith's The Valkyries Loom? Definitely an interesting spin on the vikings' nautical power. (see what I did there?)
No you haven’t! But now I must read ~ and, yes, I completely see what you did there and kudos!
This is such fun! I love how you weave together past and present.
Janina Ramirez has a chapter on the tapestry too, in FEMINA.
That’s right! I had forgotten that. I love the book and will go back and look at that part again.
What a powerful, thoughtful and beautiful text! And I recognize your unique writing style, matching old and new words making it so much fun and deeply interesting to read. Bravo!
🙏🙏😊. Thank you, Claudia - I am so glad you enjoyed!
I wish that were true. 🙄