1 In Search of the Bayeux Tapestry
1 In a forthcoming study, David Hill and John McSween (The Bayeux Tapestry: The Establishment of a Text) will look closely at how the present appearance of the tapestry differs from the earliest eighteenth-and nineteenth-century drawings and (by the 1870s) photographs of the work. Almost 400 points of difference will be noted, showing either that the pre-18 70 artists were inaccurate or that 'restorers' over the last 300 years have altered some of the details. The early artists were certainly not infallible. Only where a 'change' is supported by photographic and/or forensic evidence can it be accepted without demur. Rather than physically unpicking the work of restorers, the ultimate goal would presumably be to reproduce, in those places where an alteration can be proved, the original appearance of the tapestry in an electronic format for display in the museum next to the tapestry itself.
2 For the tapestry's subversive English point of view, this work is particularly indebted to the studies of Bernstein and Wissolik listed in the bibliography. The view that the tapestry is entirely pro-Norman (which it will be argued is incorrect) also has an academic pedigree and is represented by Grape, Bayeux Tapestry.
2 A Tale of Consequence: The Impact of Conquest
1 Beowulf, lines 994-6.
2 Liber Eliensis, II, 63, p. 136.
3 For general accounts of the Norman Conquest, see R. A. Brown, The Normans and the Norman Conquest; Williams, The English and the Norman Conquest; Douglas, William the Conqueror; Bates, William the Conqueror.
4 Simeon of Durham, Opera Omnia, II, p. 188.
5 Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, II, p. 233.
6 For example, see Michel de Bouard, 'La chanson de Roland et la Normandie'; Rita Lejeune, 'Le caractere de l'archeveque Turpin'.
7 Song of Roland.
8 Loyd, Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families; Keats-Rohan, Domesday People.
3 Sources
1 For a detailed survey, see Gransden, Historical Writing in England.
2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Accounts of the Norman invasion are found in version 'E', which is considered to have been written at St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, and version 'D', which was probably written at Worcester. Manuscript 'C', from Abingdon, ends in 1066.
3 Life of King Edward.
4 William of Jumieges, Gesta Normannorum, ed. and tr. by E. M. C. van Houts.
5 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi. William of Poitiers was a Norman. The designation 'of Poitiers' refers to where he was educated.
6 Carmen de Hastingae Proelio, ed. and tr. by F. Barlow.
7 Eadmer, Eadmer's History, tr. by G. Bosanquet.
8 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum; Orderic Vitalis, Ecelesiasheal History; Wace, Roman de Rou.
9 Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, IV, p. 95.
4 Stitches in Time
1 The following account is indebted to S. A. Brown, Bayeux Tapestry: History and Bibliography, pp. 1-22.
2 Baudri, Oeuvres poetiques; the relevant section of the Adelae Comitis-sae is translated by Michael Herren in Brown, Bayeux Tapestry: History and Bibliography, Appendix III; on the probability of Baudri having seen the Bayeux Tapestry, see Brown and Herren, 'The Adelae Comitissae of Baudri de Bourgeuil'.
3 Quoted in Wilson, Bayeux Tapestry, p. 12.
4 Quoted in S. A. Brown, Bayeux Tapestry: History and Bibliography, p. 4.
5 Montfaucon, Monuments, II, p. 2.
6 Ducarel, Anglo-Norman Antiquities, pp. 79-80.
7 Hume, History of England.
8 Barre et al., La Tapisserie de la reine Mathilde, comedie, en un acte
9 Stothard, 'Some Observations on the Bayeux Tapestry'.
10 Dubosq, La Tapisserie de Bayeux: dix annees tragiques, p. 21.
11 Dibdin, A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour, I, p. 248.
12 Dubosq, La Tapisserie de Bayeux: dix annees tragiques, and S. A. Brown, Bayeux Tapestry: History and Bibliography, pp. 17-20.
13 Nicholas, Rape of Europa, p. 285.
14 Von Choltitz, 'Pourquoi, en 1944, je n'ai pas detruit Paris'.
15 The attempt of the SS men to take the Bayeux Tapestry is briefly portrayed in the fact-based 1966 film Is Paris Burning? starring Jean Paul Belmondo, Yves Montand and Orson Welles and based on a book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre.
5 The Strange Journey of Harold Godwinson
1 On Edward and Harold, see Barlow, Edward the Confessor; Barlow, The Godwins; Walker, Harold.
2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (D), 1063.
3 Brooke, The Saxon and Norman Kings, pp. 25ff.
4 Harald Hardrada's claim was based on a treaty entered into in the 1030s between King Harthacanute of Denmark and Magnus, Harald Hardrada's predecessor as King of Norway. It was apparently agreed that if either died childless the survivor would inherit the deceased's domain. Harthacanute was at that time not yet king in England, although he did become king in 1040. He died childless in 1042 and was succeeded in England by Edward the Confessor.
5 McLynn, 1066, chapter 3.
6 For William the Conqueror, see the biographies of Bates, Douglas and de Bouard listed in the bibliography to this book.
7 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (D), 1051 (literally 1052). William of Poitiers (Gesta Guillelmi, p. 121), writing after the Conquest, states that Archbishop Stigand and Earls Godwin, Leofric and Siward formally consented around this time to William succeeding. The several problems with this later contention are discussed by Barlow, Edward the Confessor, pp. 107-9.
8 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (D), 1057.
9 Walker, Harold, pp. 8Iff.
10 Barlow, Edward the Confessor, p. 58.
11 Gesta Guillelmi, p. 69.
12 Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, II, p. 199.
13 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (E) 1052 states that Edward and Godwin both took hostages as part of the negotiations for their settlement in September 1052. Eadmer (History, p. 6) is quite clear that Wulfnoth and Hakon were handed over at this time and that they were merely transported to Normandy (presumably without Godwin's consent) for safekeeping. However, William of Poitiers (Gesta Guillelmi, pp. 21, 121) states that the hostages were specifically sent to Normandy as security for the supposed designation of Duke William as heir to the throne and that they were brought over by Robert of Jumieges, the Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. This latter contention suggests that they were taken to Normandy in the spring of 1051, when Robert passed through Normandy on his way to Rome, although in the autumn of 1052 he also returned from England to Normandy, in haste and never to return, when the Godwins were restored. The whole matter is rendered uncertain by these conflicting accounts but the evidence of Eadmer, both as to the purpose and date of Wulfnoth and Hakon's detention, tends to be overlooked by modern historians. For general commentary see Barlow, Edward the Confessor, pp. 107-9; Barlow, The Godwins, p. 48; Walker, Harold, chapter 3.
14 Eadmer, History, p. 6. Wace, Roman de Rou, Part III, lines 5585 ff., repeats both stories and confesses he does not know which to prefer. Of the other twelfth-century writers, William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 417, reports that Harold was simply on a fishing trip that went wrong. This cannot be the tapestry's view for the party departs with hawks and hounds. Later Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, p. 381, baldly states that Harold was on his way to Flanders, not Normandy, and was driven by a storm southwards to Ponthieu.
15 The insight that the artist of the tapestry is telling a smilar story to Eadmer is made by Wissolik, 'Saxon Statement: Code in the Bayeux Tapestry', and by Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, especially pp. 115-17.
16 Barlow, The Godwins, p. 54.
17 Jenkins, England's Thousand Best Churches, pp. 685-6.
18 Musset, La Tapisserie de Bayeux, pp. 92-3; Taylor, 'Belrem'.
19 The story of Canute and the tide first appears in Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum (first half of twelfth century), p. 367.
20 Marwood, The Stone Coffins of Bosham Church. The story of Canute's daughter is, however, doubted by D. W. Peckham in 'The Bosham Myth of Canute's Daughter'.
21 The place where Harold landed is identified as the River Maye by Eadmer, History, p. 6. The Maye is a tiny river that flows into the sea on the north side of the Somme estuary.
22 Wace, Roman de Rou, Part III, lines 5623ff.
23 Morton and Muntz, Carmen, p. 5n.
24 William of Poitiers Gesta Guillelmi, p. 69.
25 On Harold's gifts to Waltham Holy Cross, see Barlow, The Godwins, pp. 78-9.
6 The Fox and the Crow
1 See Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, chapter 9 and in particular as regards the ambiguous import of the fox and the crow pp. 133-5. The relevance of the border imagery to the main drama is one of the most difficult and controversial aspects of the tapestry. See also Grape, Bayeux Tapestry; Albu, The Normans in their Histories.
2 The interpretation here follows Taylor, 'Belrem'. For alternative views, see the commentary in Foys, Bayeux Tapestry Digital Edition.
3 Hariulf, Chronique de Saint-Riquier, p. 250.
4 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 419.
5 Grierson, 'A Visit of Earl Harold to Flanders'.
6 The memory, much garbled, of resistance against pagan incursions into Ponthieu in the ninth century was preserved through the heroic poem, Gormont et Isembart, of which unfortunately only part survives. See Hariulf, p. 149. Gormont et Isembart is quite possibly the very earliest surviving, albeit fragmentary, chanson de geste.
7 The 'Frenchness' of Ponthieu and Boulogne in implicit in the Carmen. See also Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, p. 14.
8 Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, IV, p. 89.
9 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 71, states that William gave Guy lands and other gifts. The later twelfth-century source, Wace, Roman de Rou, Part III, line 5664, specifies that William gave Guy land on the River Aulne.
10 Bates, William the Conqueror, p. 115.
11 Eadmer, History, pp. 6-7.
12 In the tapestry's present condition this man has a beard. However, in the eighteenth-century reproduction made around 1730 by Antoine Benoît for Bernard de Montfaucon the figure in question has a moustache. In the present context the difference is immaterial; both scenarios strongly suggest that the figure is English. For commentary see Foys, Bayeux Tapestry Digital Edition.
13 The interpretation that Harold is here attempting to negotiate the release of the hostages was first suggested by Wissolik, 'The Saxon Statement: Code in the Bayeux Tapestry', but the force of his point has not been noted by others. Wissolik suggests the bearded figure is Harold's nephew Hakon but his reasons are not compelling. I suggest the figure is more likely to be the more senior of the two, Harold's brother Wulfnoth, but neither can this strictly be proved.
14 William of Poitiers, Gesta Gullelmi, p. 71.
15 Bertrand, 'Le Mont-Saint-Michel et la tapisserie de Bayeux'; Bates, Regesta, no. 213.
16 Suggestions for the identity of the figure are made in Bertrand, 'Le Mont-Saint-Michel et la tapisserie de Bayeux' (Ranulphe); McNulty, Narrative Art, p. 42 (Richard II); Messent, The Bayeux Tapestry Embroiderer's Story, p. 88 (Scolland/tapestry's artist).
17 Keynes, 'The Æthelings in Normandy'. The authenticity of the document recording this gift has been questioned but it is regarded more favourably by Keynes. As to its relation to a later grant of St Michael's Mount to Mont-Saint-Michel by Count Robert of Mortain, see Bates, Regesta, p. 667. For Edward's charter see also Fauroux, Recueil, no. 76.
18 William of Poitiers (Gesta Guillelmi, p. 71) tells us that Duke William provided Harold and his men 'with knightly arms and the finest horses, and took them with him to the Breton war'.
19 Stenton (ed.), Bayeux Tapestry, p. 167 (Gibbs-Smith); Villion, Visions secretes, p. 27. Villion suggests that the constellations are in the neighbourhood of the Milky Way and that an allusion is being made to the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela which would have passed through Mont-Saint-Michel and Dol.
20 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, pp. 75-7.
21 Eadmer, History, p. 7.
22 Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, pp. 196-7; Brevis Relatio, p. 28; Wace, Roman de Rou, Part III, lines 5691-4.
23 Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, pp. 168-9.
24 William of Poiters, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 71.
25 Quoted in Barlow, The Godwins, p. 118.
26 Eadmer, History, p. 8.
7 The English Decision
1 The Life of King Edward, p. 69.
2 The Life of King Edward, p. 111 (Sulcard addition).
3 The Life of King Edward, pp. 69-71; Barlow, Edward the Confessor, pp. 229-32.
4 Ibid., p. 125.
5 Ibid., p. 119.
6 Ibid., pp. 117-19.
7 Ibid., p. 121.
8 Smith, 'Archbishop Stigand and the Eye of the Needle'.
9 The Life of King Edward, p. 123.
10 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 119.
11 Foreville, 'Aux origines de la renaissance juridique'; Beckerman, 'Succession in Normandy, 1087, and in England, 1066'; Cowdrey, 'Death-bed Testaments', pp. 716ff.; Williams, 'Some Notes and Considerations'; also, Tabuteau, 'The Role of Law in the Succession to Normandy and England, 1087'.
12 Walker, Harold, p. 136.
13 John of Worcester, Chronicle, p. 601.
14 Walker, Harold, pp. 36-8.
15 The Life of King Edward, p. 121. To portray Stigand in this light was not, therefore, an exclusively Norman view. It is true, however, that Stigand had been on good terms with St Augustine's Abbey (Gem, ed., St Augustine's Abbey, p. 50) where the art historical evidence suggests the tapestry was made. My interpretation assumes the poor view of Stigand to be the interpretation of the artist, who was influenced by The Life of King Edward.
16 Van Houts, 'The Norman Conquest through European Eyes'; E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, III, pp. 645-50.
17 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, pp. 141-3.
18 Ibid., p. 107.
8 Invasion
1 Ibid., p. 109.
2 Ibid., p. 105. Doubts as to the truth of Poitiers' statement that William obtained papal support have been raised (Morton, 'Pope Alexander II and the Norman Conquest'; Walker, Harold, pp. 148-9) but Poitiers is usually taken to be accurate on this point.
3 Van Houts, 'The Ship List'.
4 Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, II, pp. 138-41, 142-5.
5 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (D and E).
6 Barlow, The Godwins, p. 97; Walker, Harold, p. 145.
7 Churchill, History of the English Speaking Peoples, I, p. 128.
8 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 113.
9 These details are summarised in the Carmen, introduction by Barlow, pp. lxvii-lxviii.
10 Taylor, 'Belrem'; Bachrach, 'Some Observations on the Bayeux Tapestry'.
11 Whether Ulf's mother was Harold's mistress Edith Swan-Neck or his wife Ealdgyth is not clear from surviving documents. Walker, Harold, p. 197, argues that Ulf's mother is more likely to be Edith Swan Neck.
12 Wace, Roman de Rou, III, lines 7541-2; Gaimar, L'e stoire des Engleis, lines 6077-8.
9 The Battle of Hastings
1 Accounts of the Battle of Hastings are given in many of the secondary sources, including Barlow, The Godwins; Walker, Harold; and in most detail, Lawson, The Battle of Hastings.
2 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 129.
3 Ibid., p. 129.
4 Ibid., p. 125.
5 Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne'.
6 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, pp. 133-5. Wace, writing 100 years after the event, extensively supplements the list of combatants but his list has not been considered wholly reliable.
7 Carmen, introduction by Barlow, p. xxx.
8 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 143.
9 The terminological opposition of Francia and Normandy is implicit throughout William of Poitiers' work as well in other Norman writers. That Guy of Amiens does not include the Normans within the meaning of 'French' is shown by his reference to the ducal army being arranged with the Bretons on one flank, the Normans in the centre and the French on the other flank (Carmen, p. 25). Implicitly 'French' in the Carmen includes Ponthieu and Boulogne. For the 'Frenchness' of Boulogne, see also, Tanner, 'Between Scylla and Charybdis', pp. 248-9.
10 Gibbs-Smith, in Stenton (ed.), Bayeux Tapestry, p. 188.
11 Brooks and Walker, 'The Authority and Interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry'.
12 Amatus of Montecassino, Storia de' Normanni, pp. 11-12.
13 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 455.
14 Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, p. 395.
15 Baudri, in S. A. Brown, The Bayeux Tapesry: History and Bibliography, p. 174.
16 Lawson, Battle of Hastings, pp. 231ff.
17 Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, pp. 152ff.
18 Carmen, p. 33.
19 Ibid., introduction by Barlow, p. lxxxii.
20 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 141.
21 Eadmer, History, p. 9.
22 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 141; Waltham Chronicle, pp. 54-5.
23 Pollock, Harold Rex: Is King Harold II Buried in Bosham Church? The positive evidence being non-existent, an application to exhume the bones for analysis was rejected by the consistory court in 2003: In re Holy Trinity, Bosham [2004] 2 WLR 833.
24 Barlow, The Godwins, p. 113.
25 For example, see Messent, The Bayeux Tapestry Embroiderer's Story.
26 Baudri, in S. A. Brown, Bayeux Tapestry: History and Bibliography, pp. 175-7.
27 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Guillelmi, pp. 417, 467.
28 Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne', p. 272.
10 English Art and Embroidery
1 Montfaucon, Monuments de la monarchic franqoise, II, p. 2.
2 See generally Brooks and Walker, 'The Authority and Interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry'; Gameson, 'The Origin, Art, and Message of the Bayeux Tapestry'; Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, chapter 2.
3 Dodwell, Anglo-Saxon Art.
4 The Life of King Edward, p. 23; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 405.
5 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 177.
6 On Goscelin see The Life of King Edward, introduction by Barlow.
7 Liber Eliensis, II, 63, p. 136.
8 Domesday Book, p. 410, p. 195.
9 Les actes de Guillaume, no. 16.
10 Wormald, 'Style and Design'.
11 Hart, 'The Canterbury Contribution to the Bayeux Tapestry' and 'The Bayeux Tapestry and Schools of Illumination at Canterbury'; Gameson, 'The Origin, Art, and Message of the Bayeux Tapestry'.
12 Hart, 'The Canterbury Contribution to the Bayeux Tapestry', p. 7.
11 A Connection with Bishop Odo of Bayeux
1 See Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, Chapter 1, and the sources referred to therein.
2 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 71; Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, II, p. 135.
3 See Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, p. 30 and the sources referred to therein.
4 Stothard, 'Some Observations on the Bayeux Tapestry'.
12 The Bayeux Tapestry and the Babylonian Conquest of the Jews
1 The biblical accounts are in 2 Chr. 36:17-21; 2 Kings 25:1-21; Jer. 41-2.
2 Ezek. 17:13-21.
3 Biblical references implicitly likening the Norman Conquest to the Babylonian Conquest of the Jews are made in The Life of King Edward (pp. 117-21) but no reference is explicitly made to Zedekiah's breach of oath, just as the author of the Life avoids explicitly mentioning Harold's perjury.
4 Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, Part III.
5 Dan. 7:17.
6 Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, p. 170.
7 Ibid., pp. 174ff. However, Hart, 'The Bayeux Tapestry and Schools of Illumination at Canterbury', also finds exemplars in Canterbury manuscripts.
8 Jer. 22:24, 22:28 and 37:1. However, the nickname does not appear to be used in the Vulgate Bible which would have been known to the artist and may also have been known only in Jewish writings.
9 However, Hart, 'The Bayeux Tapestry and Schools of Illumination at Canterbury', notes an exemplar for this scene in a Canterbury manuscript that illustrates a different biblical escape (OE Hexateuch; Joshua 2: 7-15).
10 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 171.
11 Short, 'The Language of the Bayeux Tapestry Inscriptions'.
13 The Tanner's Grandsons
1 Bates, 'The Character and Career of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux'; biographies of William the Conqueror by Douglas, Bates and de Bouard.
2 Benoi't, Chronique des dues de Normandie, II, lines 33445ff.; Wace, Roman de Roy, III, lines 2824ff.
3 Benoi't and Wace have the tree cast its shade over Normandy; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 427, has it cover England as well.
4 William of Jumieges, Gesta Normannorum, p. 125; Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, IV, p. 102.
5 Bates, William the Conqueror, p. 124, notes that the bones in her grave were despoiled in the sixteenth century and, therefore, it is not certain that they are hers.
6 Bates, William the Conqueror, p. 53.
14 The Scion of Charlemagne
1 Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne' 'Between Scylla and Charybdis'.
2 Genealogia Comitum Boloniensium.
3 Platts, Origins of Heraldry (p. 28) also notes a descent from Charlemagne through the emperor's favourite daughter Bertha and the poet-courtier Angilbert. A quite different lineage in the male line for Count Eustace II of Boulogne is given by Baigent et al., The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, linking him to the so-called Grail family and the curious story of Rennes-le-Château. This makes Eustace IPs paternal grandfather, not Count Baldwin I of Boulogne, but one Hughes de Plantard. Although this is dubious and not supported by any contemporary documentary evidence, it has been taken up by a number of other writers of the 'alternative' history genre. Strangely the Bayeux Tapestry, for all its suggestive imagery, has remained an untapped resource for such writers.
4 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 185; Carmen, p. 31; Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, II, p. 206.
5 Chiefly Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne'. Her book on the subject, Families, Friends and Allies: Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England c. 879-c. 1162, had not yet been published at the time of writing this book.
6 The episode and its sources are fully discussed in Barlow, Edward the Confessor, pp. 45ff. For Eustace's marriages, see also pp. 307ff.
7 Barlow, Edward the Confessor, pp. 307ff, suggests that there may, after all, have been issue.
8 Barlow, The Godwins, pp. 40ff.
9 Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne', p. 268.
10 Morton and Muntz, Carmen, p. xxxix.
11 From charter evidence; Bates, William the Conqueror, p. 82.
12 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 139.
13 Ibid., p. 183.
15 Count Eustace and the Death of King Harold
1 Stothard, 'Some Observations'.
2 For example, Grape, Bayeux Tapestry, p. 23; discussed in Bridgeford, 'Was Count Eustace the Patron?' pp. 180ff.
3 The earliest reference to Count Eustace's whiskers I have found comes from the late twelfth century: Lambert of Ardres, History, p. 142, refers to Eustace II as 'Eustace the Whiskered of Boulogne'. Late as this is, there seems no reason seriously to doubt the historicity of the name. My statement in Bridgeford, 'Was Count Eustace the Patron?', that the nickname is found in the Old French Crusade Cycle appears to be incorrect.
4 Although omitted in print in Montfaucon's book, the moustache properly appears in Benoît's original drawing. This was shown by Dr David Hill at the conference on the Bayeux Tapestry in October 1999 at Cerisy-la-Salle. The theory that the moustache is a later 'improvement' by nineteenth-century repairers is, therefore, wrong.
5 Carmen, pp. 31-2.
6 Eustace's banner is sometimes said to be the papal banner given by Pope Alexander II to Duke William's expedition. Other sources, however, say that this was borne by one Thurstan, son of Rollo: Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, II, p. 172. Nor has it been conclusively identified as an emblem of Boulogne.
7 Platts, Origins of Heraldry, p. 41.
8 The identification of the other three apart from Eustace is not entirely certain. The interpretation here follows Carmen, introduction by Barlow, p. lxxxii, where the issue is fully discussed.
9 Carmen, p. 32.
16 Eustace and the Attack on Dover
1 William of Jumieges, Gesta Normannorum, pp. 177-9; William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, pp. 183-5; Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, II, pp. 205-7.
2 For both suggestions, Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne', pp. 272-4.
3 Ibid., p. 266.
4 Barlow, Edward the Confessor, pp. 307ff.
5 The date of the reconciliation is often given as 1077 on the basis that William of Poitiers implies that it had taken place not long before he was writing and he may possibly have completed his work after 13 September 1077. However, the date of William's Gesta Guillelmi is subject to conflicting evidence and may well be earlier; see William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, introduction, p. xx. Thus Barlow, Edward the Confessor, p. 308, suggests a date for the reconciliation of shortly before 1074.
17 The Downfall of Bishop Odo
1 On Odo, Bates, 'The Character and Career of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux'; Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, pp. 31ff.
2 F. du Boulay, quoted in Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, p. 32.
3 The start date for the list was 1066, presumably reflecting the curiously common assumption that English history only begins in 1066. It should have been possible to include some Anglo-Saxon fortunes on the basis of Domesday evidence alone.
4 Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, II, p. 203.
5 Ibid., II, p. 265.
6 Ibid., IV, p. 117.
7 Bates, 'The Character and Career of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux', p. 12.
8 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 507.
9 Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, IV, pp. 40-44; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 277; Hyde Chronicle, p. 296.
10 Wace, Roman de Rou, III, lines 9185ff.
11 Harold's brother Wulfnoth was taken by William Rufus to England but placed under restraint in Winchester.
12 Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, IV, p. 99.
13 Bates, 'The Character and Career of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux'.
14 See Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, IV, p. 189.
15 Ibid., IV, p. 129.
16 Ibid., IV, 133ff.
17 With only one exception, the sheer anomaly of Eustace's appearance has simply not been noticed in studies of the Bayeux Tapestry. Only one attempt has been made to address the point: Shirley A. Brown, 'Why Eustace, Odo and William?' Brown suggested that Odo commissioned the tapestry after his fall-out with William and that the purpose of highlighting Eustace, already forgiven for his revolt, was to encourage William to forgive Odo as well. On balance this seems unlikely, both as to date and purpose. Odo and Eustace had specifically fallen out themselves, and highlighting the role of another adversary of William would be an odd and rather oblique way to encourage his forgiveness.
18 Bridgeford, 'Was Count Eustace the Patron?'.
18 Turold the Dwarf
1 For the contention that it is the adjacent knight, not the dwarf, who is the Turold, see Lejeune, 'Turold dans la tapisserie de Bayeux'.
2 This is suggested by Bennett, 'Encore Turold dans la tapisserie de Bayeux'. If the knight is also called Turold, a prime candidate would be Turold of Rochester, another knight of Bishop Odo with land in Kent. He was also accused of encroachments by Archbishop Lanfranc. But the name was common.
3 For the view that Turold is not a dwarf, see Bennett, 'Encore Turold dans la tapisserie de Bayeux'.
4 I am grateful for information in this respect to Dr S. Pavan.
5 Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, pp. 430-32.
6 Adigard des Gautries, Les Noms des personnes scandinaves en Norm-andie de 911 a 1066, pp. 171-3 and 342-7.
7 Wilson, Bayeux Tapestry, p. 176, alludes to this theory. Whether the dwarf is Turold and whether the dwarf designed the tapestry are clearly two different questions but they seem to be conflated by Gibbs-Smith in Stenton (ed.), Bayeux Tapestry, p. 165.
8 J. J. G. Alexander, Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work, pp. 9-16.
9 Ibid., pp. 12-16.
10 Rita Lejeune (herself a noted scholar of the Chanson de Roland), 'Turold dans la tapisserie de Bayeux'. Lejeune, however, thought that the name Turold did not apply to the dwarf-jongleur.
11 Faral, Les Jongleurs en France au Moyen Age.
12 Domesday Book, p. 92. The land of Adelina Joculatrix lay in Upper Catford; Domesday People, p. 124.
13 Domesday Book, p. 445 (Berdic joculator regis).
14 Lomenec'h, Chantres et menestrels a la cour de Bretagne, p. 24.
15 The suggestion that the jongleur accompanied the two Norman knights is made by Lejeune, 'Turold dans la tapisserie de Bayeux', but it simply does not conform to what we see in the tapestry.
16 For Count Guy's family connections, Carmen, introduction. For monkish opinion of him, Hariulf, Chronique de Saint-Riquier, p. 250; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 419.
17 For medieval dwarfs generally, Johnson, 'Medieval German Dwarfs'; Harward, The Dwarfs of Arthurian Romance and Celtic Myth; Ver-chere, 'Peripherie et croisement'.
18 Johnson, 'Medieval German Dwarfs', p. 212. Johnson's statement that William the Conqueror had a dwarf and that dwarfs held horses in state processions may be a confusion based upon Turold in the Bayeux Tapestry.
19 Runciman, History of the Crusades, III, p. 93.
20 Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, III, p. 319.
21 Hariulf, Chronique de Saint-Riquier, p. 149.
22 Song of Roland, tr. Burgess.
23 Le Gentil, La Chanson de Roland, chapter 3. There is much debate as to whether the poem is the result of successive versions over a long period of time or the product of a single poet. Burgess, Song of Roland, p. 14, concludes: 'My own preference is to see Turoldus as the author, relating his own version of a heroic poem which would have existed in a variety of earlier states.'
24 Moignet, La Chanson de Roland, p. 16.
25 Some specialists (but not all) consider this subsequent episode to be the work of another poet.
26 For example, Maclagan, Bayeux Tapestry, p. 25; S. R. Brown, 'The Bayeux Tapestry and the Song of Roland'. It is often also said that Taillefer, a 'Norman' knight, sang the Chanson de Roland as the Normans advanced at Hastings. A jongleur called Taillefer is mentioned juggling with his sword by the Carmen but there is no mention of him singing the Roland. William of Malmesbury (Gesta Regum Anglorum, 1120s) states that the Normans sang of Roland and Charlemagne as they advanced but does not mention any Taillefer. In the 1160s Wace amalgamated the two traditions. The earliest surviving version of the Roland refers obliquely to the Norman victory (and certain later events) and, therefore, this cannot have been sung at Hastings. It is not impossible that an earlier version than this was sung but the evidence of Malmesbury is relatively late. The name Taillefer has not been found in Normandy. It is most strongly associated with the nobility of Aquitaine and the Languedoc. Given the French tenor of the Carmen, it is most likely that the Taillefer at Hastings was a non-Norman Frenchman of some description.
27 Song of Roland, tr. Burgess, lines 1515ff. See also 1490ff. for the interesting description of Turpin's horse which in some respects is similar to Odo's.
28 As argued by Short, 'The Language of the Bayeux Tapestry Inscriptions'.
29 A belligerent Norman monk Turold of Fecamp, afterwards of Malmesbury and then Peterborough, is sometimes proposed as the author (for example, de Bouard, 'La Chanson de Roland et la Normandie'). A Peterborough record speaks of him as a'nepos' of King William and on the basis of this it is often said that he is either a son or nephew of Bishop Odo. However, 'nepos' could denote other relationships besides nephew and Turold of Fecamp was probably a more distant kinsman of Duke William.
30 Joseph Bedier, quoted in Douglas, 'The Song of Roland and the Norman Conquest', p. 105; Moignet, La Chanson de Roland, pp. 278ff.
31 Bender, Konig und Vasall, pp. 26ff.
32 Hariulf, clearly a late source, states (Chronique de Saint-Riquier, p. 61) that Charlemagne gave Angilbert 'the whole maritime region'. But even in his known capacity as Abbot of Saint-Riquier, Angilbert was undoubtedly one of the most important men in Ponthieu.
33 It is tempting to try to make something of the fact that Angilbert's nickname was Homer and the Greek Homer is mentioned in passing in the Roland (line 2616). It is at least possible that the name Homer was familiar to the poet because of Angilbert.
34 This point was not addressed by Douglas, 'The Song of Roland and the Norman Conquest'. See also F. Lot, 'Etudes sur les legendes epiques franchises', who concluded (p. 376) that 'Historically and psychologically, it is impossible that the Chanson de Roland is by a Norman.' It should also be mentioned in passing that Normandy did not exist at the time of Charlemagne and the references to Normandy and the Normans in the Roland are anachronistic.
35 The suggestion that the Roland is later than the tapestry because the tapestry shows lances both couched and thrown whereas the Roland only speaks of them as couched (a later technique) tries to deduce too much from what are, after all, specific and very different works of art. Moreover, lances are also thrown in the Roland, by the Saracens, and the preference for describing the couched lance on the Christian side may be aesthetic or ideological rather than realistic.
36 Song of Roland, tr. Burgess, lines 372, 2332.
37 Bridgeford, 'Camels, Drums and the Song of Roland'.
38 The possible allusions are: King William's advance into Scotland in the autumn of 1072 (line 2331); the capture of Jerusalem by Atsiz ibn Abaq in 1071 (line 1566); the devaluation of the Byzantine currency in or after 1071 (line 132); the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 (Baligant episode); the capture of Palermo in January 1072 (line 2923).
39 Song of Roland, tr. Burgess, line 2923. From the context Sezile (line 200) must be a town in Spain, not the island of Sicily.
40 Song of Roland, tr. Burgess, lines 2503ff. The mention of the Holy Lance has been used by some specialists to date the poem after 1098, when a Holy Lance was discovered by a crusader, Peter Bartholomew, at Antioch. The idea that the poet was reacting to news of the Antioch discovery, whose authenticity was 'disproved' when Bartholomew perished undergoing an ordeal by fire a year later, is not in itself particularly persuasive and the argument is made redundant by the prior existence of the Saint-Riquier tradition.
41 John 19:31-5.
42 Loomis, 'The Passion Lance Relics and the War Cry Monjoie'.
43 Hariulf, Chronique de Saint-Riquier, p. 150.
44 It may have been among the gifts given to King Althelstan of England by Hugh the Great of France in 926, subsequently ending in Exeter Cathedral where it is last referred to in the eleventh century. Of course, the Holy Lance was far too important a relic to be inconvenienced by a mere singular existence. Many Holy Lances have been venerated. The point is that the Saint-Riquier lance is the only one of its time to be associated with Charlemagne, apart from the one mentioned in the Chanson de Roland.
45 Loomis, 'The Holy Relics of Charlemagne', p. 443.
46 Owen, 'Epic and History'.
47 Carmen, introduction by Barlow, pp. xxiv-xl.
48 For Bishop Guy, ibid., pp. xlii-liii.
19 The Scandal of Ælfgyva
1 Hill, 'The Bayeux Tapestry and its Commentators'; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 253.
2 E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, III, pp. 708-11, discusses several candidates; reprinted in Gameson (ed.), Study of the Bayeux Tapestry.
3 William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 157. The same point is made by Eadmer, History, p. 7.
4 Hill, 'The Bayeux Tapestry and its Commentators', p. 26. Hill denies the sexual content of the scene.
5 Grape, Bayeux Tapestry, p. 40.
6 Eadmer, History, p. 7.
7 Domesday Book, p. 307, 'Ælfgyfu, sister of Earl Harold' (Buckinghamshire Waldridge).
8 McNulty, 'Ælfgyva in the Bayeux Tapestry', p. 665; Kurder, Der Teppich von Bayeux, p. 73.
9 Eric Freeman, 'The Identity of Ælfgyva in the Bayeux Tapestry'.
10 E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, II, pp. 568-71.
11 The account of the two lives that follows is indebted to Campbell, 'Queen Emma and, Ælfgifu of Northampton'.
12 John of Worcester, Chronicle, p. 521.
13 McNulty, 'Æflgyva in the Bayeux Tapestry'.
14 Ibid., p. 665 n. 8.
15 Encomium Emmae Reginae, introduction to 1998 reprint, p. xlv.
16 Campbell, 'Queen Emma and Ælfgifu of Northampton', p. 74.
17 Encomium Emmae Reginae, pp. 41-3.
18 Ibid., p. 43; William of Jumieges, Gesta Normannorum, p. 107.
19 John of Worcester, Chronicle, p. 523.
20 Encomium Emmae Reginae, p. 45.
21 McNulty, 'Ælfgyva in the Bayeux Tapestry', pp. 667-8.
22 Swein does not appear to have had any issue but, interestingly enough, Harefoot seems to have had a son called Ælfwine (by a wife or mistress who, confusingly, was named Ælfgifu). Æfwine is heard of only once. It is recorded in a document in the cartulary of the abbey of Conques, in central France, that not long before 1060 a wandering Englishman on pilgrimage through the county of Rouergue one day presented himself to the lords of Panat as being the son of one 'King Harold' of England. In the context this can only mean Harold Harefoot (king, 1037-40). Ælfwine impressed the locals with his piety and he became the abbot of a nearby monastery: W. H. Stevenson, 'An Alleged Son of King Harold Harefoot'. In theory, one might take theÆltgyva scene in the tapestry as undermining any lingering pretension to the English throne that Harefoot's progeny may have had. In practice, Æltwine would not have had any real expectation of succeeding, nor any supporters in England, and he appears to have become a monk in France long before 1066. This, therefore, cannot be the answer to the Ælfgyva enigma.
20 Wadard and Vital
1 An account of the meeting was published in The Genealogists Magazine and is reprinted with other copious information on the subject in Camp, My Ancestors Came with the Conqueror.
2 Douglas, 'Companions of the Conqueror'.
3 Van Houts, 'Wace as Historian'.
4 Prentout, 'An Attempt to Identify Some Unknown Characters in the Bayeux Tapestry'.
5 Chibnall, The World of Orderic Vitalis; Gravett, Norman Knight.
6 La Crepin, vie de Saint Herluin.
7 Chibnall, The World of Orderic Vitalis, pp. 15, 119.
8 Bridgeford, 'Was Count Eustace II of Boulogne the Patron?'.
9 Urry, 'The Normans in Canterbury'.
10 Ibid.; Gem (ed.), St Augustine's Abbey, pp. 60-61.
11 Domesday Book, p. 30.
12 On Goscelin's life, The Life of King Edward, introduction by Barlow.
13 Gem, 'Canterbury and the Cushion Capital'; Gem (ed.), St Augustine's Abbey.
14 Gem, 'Canterbury and the Cushion Capital', pp. 88-9.
15 The mention of commercial documents at this early date is said to be unusual.
16 Translated by Gem in 'Canterbury and the Cushion Capital'.
17 Gem, 'Canterbury and the Cushion Capital', pp. 86-7, commentary and discussion pp. 88ff.
18 Lambert of Ardres, The History of the Counts of Guines and the Lords of Ardres, pp. 141-2.
19 Gem (ed.), St Augustine's Abbey, chapter 3 (Ann Williams); Bernstein, Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, p. 54.
21 Bayeux Cathedral and the Mystery of Survival
1 Dodwell, 'The Bayeux Tapestry and the French Secular Epic'.
2 Vallery-Radot, La Cathedrale de Bayeux, p. 41. The scene dates from 1857. There seems no evidence of any pre-existing similar sculpture linking the tapestry with the cathedral.
3 Wace, Roman de Rou, III, lines 5685ff.
4 Ibid., Ill, lines 6453ff.
5 Interestingly, the image depicted in the tapestry seems identical to how William's ship is described in the Ship List of William the Conqueror, except that for some curious and as yet unexplained reason the embroidered version is a mirror image of that in the Ship List. Van Houts, 'The Echo of the Conquest in the Latin Sources'.
6 Wace, Roman de Rou, III, lines 8115ff.
7 The conjectures which follow are indebted to H. Prentout, 'Les Sources de la conquete de PAngleterre' (who put them forward only as conjectures).
8 Vallery-Radot, La Cathedrale de Bayeux, pp. 68ff.
9 Ibid., p. 69.
10 Wace, Roman de Rou, III, line 11121.
11 Although William of Malmesbury has Harold die in a manner which is reminiscent of the tapestry, his account of Harold's voyage is completely at odds with what we see in the tapestry. Malmesbury has him depart only on a fishing expedition, which is blown off-course to France. Marjorie Chibnall has examined the relationship between the Bayeux Tapestry and Orderic Vitalis and concluded that Orderic either did not know of the tapestry or chose not to use it: Chibnall, 'Orderic Vital et la tapisserie de Bayeux'.
12 Thomson, A History of Tapestry, p. 91; Thomson also reproduces the inventory.
22 The Patronage of the Bayeux Tapestry
1 Gem (ed.), St Augustine's Abbey (Ann Williams), Chapter 3.
2 Gem (ed.), St Augustine's Abbey (Ann Williams), Chapter 3.
3 Prentout, 'An Attempt to Identify Some Unknown Characters in the Bayeux Tapestry'.