Why is the bayeux tapestry important to historians
Why is the Bayeux Tapestry important? - Berwick Coates
[Music]
can you remember your first history
lesson as it happens I can because I was
told a story and it's the story I
remember so I know that it was in a
history lesson it was at a little rural
primary school in the West Country very
old-fashioned old much carved can you
name two rivers in Normandy can you name
two seaports in Normandy can you name a
Cathedral City in Normandy there are a
dozen um can you even tell us why
Normandy was called Normandy the minutes
all told of course you say yes that's
obvious
what had happened in the ninth eighth
and ninth century Vikings had traveled
everywhere as you know causing mayhem
and destruction all over the place and
they were known obviously as the
Northmen because they had come from the
north
some of them settled in the north of
France King of France was at his wits
end to know what to do with these Norman
Raiders until in the end he thought
right well if they've come here to look
for land and to seize it let's give them
some and that might stop the other raids
coming by enlarge it worked so they
settled in northern France
so the Northmen settled in what they
became what became known as Northman
Dean or the day became Normandy so
that's where Normandy comes from but to
carry on the the questionnaire apart
from 1066 can you name another single
date in Norman history take William what
do you know about William the Conqueror
all right so he was called William the
Conqueror but he was 38 years old when
he conquered England do you know
anything about William before he was 38
years old I bet you do yes you might
know one thing you will know that he was
called William the bus
why obviously because his father had
neglected to marry his mother
we know his mother's name Arlette she
lived in a normal town called phallus if
you go to fellows today you will see a
castle and they will tell you that it is
the castle of Duke Robert of Normandy it
wasn't actually it was built sometime
later but never mind that's what the
legend is for the tourists and the story
goes that Robert looked out of the
window of his castle one day and down by
the stream there were some young women
of the town doing the family laundry and
he rather liked the look of one of them
and as Norman barons and Norman Lords
were accustomed to doing he sent word
down that this particular one our let
was to be brought up to the castle later
on
he didn't marry her but he took her as
his life's partner and she became the
mother of William so that's the legend
so say they'll even show you the window
in Fallon's castle out of which Robert
looked when he caught sight of Arlette
but it's a different color I'm afraid
anyway William came to the throne very
young because his father had gone on a
pilgrimage got ill died so it didn't
come back and William found himself in
charge of a Duchy at the age of seven or
eight you can imagine what happened his
rule in Normandy was beset by by other
barons Nobles foreigners the King of
France pretty well anybody who fancied
his chances of seizing a bit of extra
territory and William was very fortunate
in having two or three Guardians who
looked after him very fair in fact two
died in their duty of looking after
William so he grew up in a very very
stern set of circumstances on at least
two occasions he was yanked out of bed
in the middle of the night because
assassins were actually
in the castle with the daggers out
trying to kill him you can imagine what
a life like this must have done to a
growing boy so he grew up very hard
indeed he learned soldiering very he was
commanding men in battle when he was
fifteen years old
so by the time he got to 38 there wasn't
very much
you could tell William about running a
Duchy in medieval France he was a very
successful one too he had plenty of
enemies particularly in the King of
France himself this was the man who at
the age of 38 had embarked on the
conquest of England why what would come
to that a little bit later on
the legitimacy today the legitimacy
doesn't matter very much not all that
long ago a young woman who got herself
into an interesting condition could
often face the door of her own house
slammed in her face and her own father
telling her never to darken the doorstep
again luckily that's all gone but in
11th century Normandy it was a very very
serious business indeed the most
important thing in the world was land
and you had a heavy old title to that
land secured beyond any possible doubt
or challenged and the way to do that was
to prove that your father had married
your mother
so the succession could be proved you
would have continuity you would have
security medieval Europe lived in a
state of far greater insecurity than we
do today
what do we know about the country he
conquered frankly not very much name
three facts about England in the 11th
century you might know it was ruled by
somebody called ed with a confessor true
but I bet you don't know why it was
called ed with a confessor do you know
about the the old countries of England
do you know if I said the word to hep
takea would it mean anything
in fact it means the land of the seven
kingdoms hep turkey comes from a greek
word meaning seven based on the early
conquests of the Saxons as you well know
the south Saxons settled in what became
honey's Sussex the east saxons Essex the
West second Wessex and so on curiously
we do not have a county of nossek's
we don't know what happened to the north
Saxons if indeed there were any they use
the word Shire
so that muck would have been familiar to
you in fact the man in charge of the
Shire
and produces another word which are
extremely familiar with for another
reason a man put in charge of a farm or
an estate was known as the Reeve so a
man put in charge of a Shire was known
as a Shire Reeve carry that on for a few
decades allow for people's laziness and
pronunciation and Shia Reeve becomes
sheriff sheriff was the chief executive
officer in a county in England in the
11th century and as you well know share
it means something completely different
in America so we know a little bit well
I just told you a little bit about the
Shires about the counties but you would
be making a mistake if you thought of
England as one single country
geographically of course it was but
culturally demographically to use a long
word it wasn't why because of the
invasions of the Vikings from the 8th
century onwards as you well know this I
hope you do King Alfred made his
reputation defeating the invading Danes
being not only a warrior but a very
shrewd statesman as well he tried to
provide for the future by arranging that
there should be no more Wars so he did
what the King of France did to the norm
as he gave them some land he signed a
treaty which allowed the Danes to settle
in the area of England which they had
already been trying to conquer the north
and the east and he allowed that Danish
law should run in these particular
counties hence the word Danelaw
that was the area of England where
Danish law applied and where the customs
were Danish where a large slice of the
population were Danish or descended from
Danes so England was exactly two
countries but that there were two
clearly defined sections of it all right
there was into marriage there was trade
ground
- emerging the one into the other but
they still have separate personalities
and that applied in cen 66 so you didn't
know that you didn't know about me the
old countries how much do you know about
the culture of England in the 11th
century not much I don't suppose neither
do I and certainly and neither did the
Normans they were going to somewhere
about which they knew very little indeed
they probably did there much olive else
how big it was and they certainly didn't
have much idea about the population few
any idea how many people lived in
England in 1066 now there are about 60
million in 1066 so far as we can judge
there were less than 2 million 130th of
what we've got now well we all think we
know about the Norman Conquest William a
Conqueror sailing across landing in
Hastings fighting a great big battle and
winning so we know the mechanics of it
we know how but do we know why
what brought William over here to
conquer England well you would think one
motive might be pretty always greed
William was a greedy man certainly when
he died and they wrote his obituary they
did mention the fact that he was
avaricious they used the word avarice
he was avaricious beyond average so that
much is most definitely true Prince
a Duke accounter King whatever you like
in the 11th century had to develop his
image if he was to stay in business to
attract a following to protect his rule
to help his people feel feel secure he
had to do big things he had to do noble
things he had to give justice he had to
be fair he had to provide for the future
and he had to keep her a liar out for
the main chance
to show his own people and everybody
else that he was not to be trifled with
so William saw his chance with England
there's nothing unusual about that
pretty well all medieval princes did
pretty much the same as an illustration
I'm sure you've heard of Alexander the
Great
Alexander the Great was king of
Macedonia in Greece his entire career
was taken up with conquering the Persian
Empire which was enormous
people often wondered why Alexander had
grown up in fear of the Persian Empire
and any Greek would want to get his own
back on the Persian Empire ideally of
course remove it altogether so the
suggestion is that Alexander conquered
the Persian Empire because it never
occurred to him not to that was the
thing that he was there for and in a
similar way William got the idea of
conquering England because no
alternative appeared particularly
serious to him and this was reinforced
by the fact and in 10 5151 15 years
before the conquest he'd visited England
and he'd met the King Edward the
Confessor he was in fact distantly
related to Edward the Confessor because
his great aunt Emma Emma of Normandy was
ever the confessors mother so there was
a family relationship and William kind
when he got back to Normandy not only
that Edward had looked with favor upon
him treated him as a favored and
distinguished guest and made a great
fuss of him but that he Edward will
promise him William the crown when he
Edward died now that's not so
preposterous as it sounds because
William sorry Edward I had no children
and he was not going to have any either
because he had refused to have any kind
of intimate relations with his wife so
succession the question of the
succession was yawning wide open and
getting wider with each successive year
so when the story got around that Edward
had promised the crown to William you
can imagine the effect that this would
have in in Norman and in England for
that matter great hope and excitement
possibly and normally annoyance
indignation even outrage in England who
did this jumped up bastard Duke think he
was talking about inheriting the throne
of England but there that was a motive
and a very very powerful motive that
plus the fact as I said he always had an
eye to the main charge any medieval
Prince did any many evil Prince had to
carve a reputation for himself he was
only as successful as his last campaign
that was what medieval dudes did now
that does not mean that William the
Conqueror left out of bed one morning
feeling good and say hooray if he what a
splendid morning this is in the Middle
Ages it's great to be living in the
Middle Ages I know chaps let's go on
conquer England today shall we clearly
it was not like that he took a very long
time and one of the questions that
needed to be asked was was it realistic
don't worry about I have these wonderful
ideas but look at the size of England
look at the size of Normandy what's it
really going to work was it realistic
and if it wasn't
how on earth was he going to sell it to
his to his barons to his vessels to his
to his sub tenants you see William just
couldn't issue a set of call-up papers
and expect all his non barons to come to
the fuel host and bring all their
soldiers with him because generally
speaking they're what not only generally
always there were laws about this the
rules said that a knight was bound to
serve his overlord for forty year forty
days a year
340 days a year free but most of the
regulations implied that that service of
40 days a year only meant within the
territory that he ruled in other words
Normandy it didn't cover going on wild
adventures to places like England and in
any case quite a large number of his
normal vassals thought it was crazy they
too had looked at the maps of England
and Normandy and they reckoned Normandy
would be on a hiding to nothing look at
the population of England the resources
of England look at the size of England's
army look at the reputation look at
their history they had five hundred
years of history the Normans in only
been there 150 years they didn't stand a
chance
so too many Norman barons who worked
very hard all their lives to to carve
out their own particular set of property
weren't gonna risk it all on some crazy
Enterprise in England where they could
lose the lot so not all Williams vessels
were willing to follow him not by a long
shot
then he tried the idea of the oath Isle
I don't know how much you know about
this but this is coming later on in the
talk Harold swore an oath that when
Edward the Confessor died that the
throne would pass to William and then he
Harold would not stand in Williams way
Harold later on broke the south by
becoming King himself so William could
use the great story that Harold was a
perjurer therefore William was doing the
decent thing by invading England to put
right a great sin committed by Harold
Earl of Wessex now did the Norman barons
by this idea and I should think he was
very unlikely the oath itself the very
story of the earth didn't sound very
likely he didn't sound very like me that
Harold was we willing to keep it
Harold possibly only swore it in order
to get back to England he was living
with William at the time
normally staying with William
nevertheless it was a good story and it
was very respectable it made the
conquests respectable William was
carrying out the wishes of God by
punishing a sinner so as I said it was a
good story and it was a good line but
the odds I repeat were very very unfair
we if you had gone to a bookie in 1066
and said what are the odds on England
and Normandy he would have given you
very short odds very poor odds on
William and very good odds on England
and that's ironic because you know about
Spanish Armada in 1588 again look at the
map look at the size of England look at
the size of Spain we didn't have a cat
in Health's chance against the Spanish
Armada the same thing applied when we
fought against louis xiv he was enormous
ly more powerful than England and we
didn't lose that either in 1805
Napoleon's army was poised on the coast
of France only 30 miles away all ready
to invade England and we didn't think we
had in in sheer numbers we didn't have
the resources to stop him but we didn't
lose that war either in 1940 the odds
are even longer against us the whole of
Nazi Europe was under they alone all of
Europe was under the Nazi rule we didn't
stand a cat in Hell's chance then either
and we survived that though the Spanish
Armada louis xiv Napoleon Hitler each
time we were the underdog when we won
and in 1066 we were not the underdog we
were the top dog and we lost I don't
know there's a moral in that anywhere
who saw 1066 coming did it show any
signals on the horizon it's interesting
that many of the or several of the big
dates in English history took people by
surprise and you could argue that that
1066 was one of them the the Civil War
was another civil war broke out in 1642
but in 1641 nobody had the faintest idea
that the Civil War was on way and when
it broke out many many men serious
scholarly sensitive men knowledgeable
men scratched their hairs shook their
heads and said how on earth did this
come about how did we get to be in this
position of fighting a war against our
fellow countrymen same thing happened in
1914 the country went on holiday in July
of 1914 they'd heard that some Austrian
Jew had got himself assassinated that
was a bit of a yawn nobody took most
notice and by August the 4th the whole
of Europe was at war again men shook
their heads and wondered how on earth it
had all come about the big things take
you by surprise all right William the
conquerer let's go back to 1066 William
the Conqueror saw me coming or I did
wanted it to come all he had to do was
to wait for heed for the Confessor to
die and Edward was not all that oh so he
might have to wait a long time but did
France wanted dr. France see it coming
very unlikely the French King would
always look out for an opportunity to
score over Normandy but beyond that I
don't see how his crystal ball could
have told him anything about the events
of 1066 in advance England no we had a
safe King Edward the Confessor we know
that what they knew then that he didn't
have an obvious successor and they knew
they didn't want William but by this
time clearly far away above everyone
the second man in the kingdom was Harold
the earl of wessex he was the King's
right-hand man he was the second man in
the kingdom he practically ran the
country if ever there was an obvious
next king it was how the only thing
against him was that he did not belong
to the blood royal but he was the
obvious next king did other people take
notice yes surprisingly Norway took
notice because there was a very powerful
and a keen normally also called Harold
he distinguished the two because our
Harold was have rolled with an O in
Norway it was Harold with an A and he
had an eye on the throne of England - he
was another Prince always looking out
for the main chance he had a fearsome
reputation he had fought everybody he
had been in every country he had even
been a member of the legendary bodyguard
of the Emperor Constantine no Paul no
less it was a fearsome literary
reputation and the mere sight of him I
was enough to strike or into anybody
apparently he stood 6 feet 6 when the
average height of a man was barely 5
feet 6 and Harold of Normandy Harold had
rather they called him the stern ruler
he had eyes for the English crown so
there was the north there were the
Normans odd Norwegians all ready to jump
when something happened by the same
token surprisingly Denmark had eyes on
England as well doesn't look a very big
country in our and it isn't but it was
very powerful in the 11th century we had
already had four Danish kings
everybody's heard of King Canute but he
wasn't the first he was second his
father Swain conquered England in 1014
and son Knut succeeded in 1016 and his
two sons succeeded him in 1035 we
had had four Danish kings so the Danes
were very interested in what was going
on in England in 1066 Flanders which is
nowadays Holland Belgium they were
interested - not so much because of
politics but because of the trade
Flanders was the center of a wool and
weaving trade England produced an awful
lot of sheep an enormous amount of trade
passed between the two countries
so the Count of Flanders was immensely
interested in English politics for
business reasons Germany no probably too
far away but soldiers of fortune in
Germany kept their eyes and ears open
and there was no shortage of soldiers of
fortune when William was building his
army in the middle of 1066 they came
flocking in from everywhere Germany
Denmark
Lorraine Alsace Switzerland northern
Italy northern Spain you name it they
came in from these places to join
William's army and see what rich
pickings they would be
a word of warning when you decide to
study any year from the past always try
and look at it from the point of view of
the people who lived in it
don't look at 1066 with the
preconceptions of the Year 2019 an
obvious example is this word Europe now
we know that France and England and
Italy and Spain all arrests in 1066 were
in the continent of Europe just as they
are today are we talking about living in
Europe today but men in 1066 did not
talk about living in Europe if they
wanted a word to convey the whole the
whole lot if you like they called it
Christendom it was where the word of
Christ was supreme this was the land
which had been founded by the Holy Roman
Catholic Church God's church they did
not use the word Europe they regard it
christened 'm as not just a stretch of
land but it was a fortress it was a
bastion it was the final defense against
this sea of wilderness and paganism and
heresy the threatened the entire what we
call Western Europe don't tell me that
we were at the mercy of the elements to
the West was the Atlantic Ocean and
nobody knew where that went to the north
was ice and snow and nobody knew our
Father that went to the east was miles
and miles of forests and Marcia if he
went further north it was tundra and
more ice and snow if he went south you
will run into the Sahara Desert so
you've got to remember that many of
those days if they thought at all
thought about the world as as I said
this bastion of Christendom against the
elements against savage weather against
the climate and against the pagans and
the Muslims and the infidels on whatever
other unpleasant adjective you had for
describing them for those who lived in
Christendom and who fought to keep it
going
in a word was hard it was a veil of
Tears
it was hard and he didn't last very long
if you made it a 45 or 50 you were doing
pretty well all you could hope for was
that when it was over if you're lucky
you might go to Paradise which was going
to be absolutely wonderful did it jolly
well better be after the terrible things
that they'd had to put up with in the
life they were living and when you've
died of course it was your body only the
died your soul survived and it was your
soul that was going to go you hoped to
heaven so your soul was important no
matter how harsh life was no matter how
unpleasant many people were no matter
how much cruelty and I'm a Thomas
cheating no matter how much murder the
matter how much crime most men and women
at bottom accepted the fact that your
soul was there and then it was eternal
and it was important people were
concerned about what they were concerned
enough about him what happened to their
bodies but they were more concerned
about what happened to their eternal
soul so what they had what they were
putting up with didn't look as if it was
going to be subjected to very much
change it was so hard it was so
unrelenting there was no hope this was
what life was going to be like nothing
very much happened except there are
always exceptions now and again there
was an event and that did upset things
and people had to react to events and
the one event which is relevant to this
particular topic came in the year 1064
news reached France and reached Normandy
obviously that there had been shipwreck
a boat had been cast up on the shore at
the mouth of the river Somme in Normandy
and when men went to investigate who was
on it
they were crew obviously but the most
important there
the celebrity on it and his name was
Harold and he was the earl of wessex the
earl of wessex a saxon earl had been
shipwrecked off the coast of Normandy
what on earth were they going to do
about that when the Normans heard about
it inevitably after they got over the
shock they said it was Oh what is he
doing in Normandy what on earth is he up
to
Norman's a great chess players they love
planning advance they love working out
reasons for things they love working out
the background they like method they
like system they could not follow life
of them work out what on earth Harold
had in mind what he came to Normandy
never cross their mind that he might
have come there by accident yeah there
was once an Austrian Chancellor called
metonic and in 1815 he was at a famous
Congress in Vienna and everybody was
there and in the middle of the night his
servants woke him up to tell him that
the Russian ambassador had just suddenly
died and metalic propped himself on an
elbow and said to himself I wonder what
he means by that enormous of great ones
for wondering what anybody meant by
anything
what did Harold mean what was he up to
what was his real game
Harold of course being Harold didn't
care what they were thinking if they
want to think he wanted to think he was
up to something then he was up to
something his job is to get home he was
the second man in the kingdom he was
running the place he had to get back as
soon as possible if the Normans wanted
to tie themselves in knots well that was
their business and he let them get on
with it Harold did get home that's
another story later on we'll come to
that and everything went quiet until
January 1066 and then my world things
didn't half start to happen
firstly a brother confess had died on
January the fifth I think he was on
January the 6th Harold got himself crown
you think queen elizabeth ii was crowned
in June of 1953 but in fact she became
queen in February 1952 it took 16 months
to crown Elizabeth took our 24 hours
because he had to move fast he had to
get himself on the throne with the crown
on his head and 90 by holy oil approved
off by the church and all the rest of it
so that he was the rightful legal
honorable Christian King and he took him
24 hours so didn't hang about and then
what a year and 1066 saw not one King
but three on the English throne there
were two coronations there was Halley's
Comet ever heard of Halley's Comet well
it appeared in 1066 in the sky and it's
in the tapestry there is a picture of
this star in the heavens some people
pointing to it I'm wondering another
thing what on earth is that what does
that mean what on earth is going on
there and of course because it was a
celestial happening the world was not
short and England was not short of
people to wag their finger in the air
and say hey you mark my words no good
will come of it
so it set off all sorts of superstitious
reactions among the English there was
not one invasion of England then a tool
while before that happened Harald had to
build an army where most of his troops
were away farming William had to build
an army this is where he brought in all
those soldiers of fortune from all over
the place he also had to build a navy
how could he get his soldiers across the
channel to say nothing of thousands of
horses without building he had to build
a fleet first not just the odd ship
we're talking about hundreds of ships
we're talking about thousands of horses
you think of a feat of organization
that's required not just collecting the
personnel but a building of adapting
felling trees all the saws required all
the answers all the nails everything Oh
to be done in one year then of course
it's one thing to get all that ready but
then he needs an army and Isis in he
can't send out call-up papers he has to
persuade enough of his vassals enough of
his barons to commit themselves to
something which could lose them
everything life property family the lot
he had to be very very persuasive indeed
and there was not one battle in 1066
there were three and Harold then he
nearly won two of them the first one is
in the North called Fulford when the
king of norway arrived and won a battle
the second battle was a Stamford Bridge
where Harold marched 200 miles in the
space of a fortnight caught the Vikings
unprepared and annihilated them then
came news that William had landed so he
had to march 200 miles all the way back
again and took on William and hasting
and he very nearly won
it was touch-and-go right until the end
of the afternoon now you just think if
Harold had pulled that off if Harold and
Marx nearly 200 miles defeated the
greatest Viking alive and I rated his
army marched 200 miles back again
defeated William annihilated the Normans
his reputation want to run down the
centuries he would have been up there
with Mull bruh and the Duke of
Wellington possibly even higher and he
came so close
and that wasn't all I haven't told you
yet that Scotland was involved in all
this because the Scots never missed an
opportunity to invade England and cause
trouble if they thought England was in
trouble so there was an invasion from
Scotland there was an invasion - from
one of Harold's brothers there are
families six sons Swain had died Harold
was alright the next one of his younger
brothers were called toss T and toss
stick had been made Earl of Northumbria
made a mess of it Harold sacked him and
tossed expend the rest of his life
swearing vengeance and threatening to
invade with whoever could he could
persuade to give him an army and a fleet
so toss stick was going to invade as
well and toss ting finished up first was
Scotland and then with the king of
Norway toss he was a nuisance historian
nasty piece of work - so we had full
food we had Stamford Bridge we had
Hastings at the end of it all toss stick
was dead he died at Stamford Bridge
Harald Hardrada was dead he died at
Stamford Bridge the man who fired that
arrow must have all would have
congratulated himself for the rest of
his life had he lived he took a potshot
at Harald Hardrada six feet six and
struck him in the throat and had rather
died I no doubt that the Vikings went
berserk for revenge afterwards some bad
Archer couldn't have lived to enjoy his
success for very long even William you
would think having won the battle
everything would have been alright no
William got dysentery you can imagine
what camp life was like no hygiene at
all when it was laid out for four or
five weeks with dysentery so he could
have gone to imagine the vacuum and then
and even that was not the end because at
last he got himself crowned on Christmas
Day at 1066 and everybody who was
anybody those who were left was in
Westminster Abbey
ed with the confessors brand-new
Westminster Abbey
when he got to the stage where they had
to ask the crowd whether they approved
of King William so they all were gonna
shout long live King William they did
they let rip with an enormous shout and
the crowd outside heard it and the
Norman troops guarding the streets heard
it and they thought there was a riot
they thought everything had gone wrong
so they dashed round all houses round
about the abbey and burning them down
they could have been within an inch
burning down the abbey itself they say
even William was was shaken by what have
happened the chronicler refers to the
fact that Williams knuckles whitened as
he held on to the arms of the coronation
throne but all right it turned out to be
a false alarm but it was a very close
call once again so what do you know
about the Bayeux Tapestry short answers
probably not much but you know it's a
tapestry obviously you know that it was
made a buyer equally obviously buyers in
France yes you know that you know it's
all about the Norman Conquest that's how
he knows so much about the Norman
Conquest unit it was made by William the
Conqueror and you know that is all about
Hastings
well not quite historians are the most
terrible killjoys they will tell you
that Harold was not shot in the eye with
an arrow after all more of that perhaps
later on they tell you that Alfred
didn't burn the cakes what a shame they
tell you that Robin Hood did not know
like Errol Flynn and he didn't win the
war against King John all by himself he
probably didn't exist at all and King
John didn't sign Magna Carta as he
couldn't write so by the same token I
have to tell you being a killjoy a
historian that the Bayeux Tapestry was
not made in by you so he talked about
they only call it the Bayeux Tapestry
the first reference to it comes in the
15th century over 400 years after it was
commissioned and they found it in a
church inventory inventory in India
that's why they call it the Bayeux
Tapestry otherwise they're nothing that
they would buy oh it was not ordered by
William we know that we think that most
of the scholars seemed to agreed that it
was ordered by William brother
odo Bishop abaya Thank You st. William
Williams mother
I'll let remember our lit when Robert
died she married again when husband died
she married again more reason not the
man who was thought of as bump of our
partner and died she married he she
really did marry this chap he was a
tradesman in in fellows I think and she
had two children one of them is odo and
William made him Bishop a buyer when he
was 14 so the Bayeux Tapestry was not
made in buyer it was not ordered by
William and as for being all about the
Battle of Hastings they don't mention
the Battle of Hastings said it's about
75% over only 25% of the tapestry is
about the Battle of Hastings oh yeah and
the final thing what in the tapestry
it was an embroidery so there you say it
wasn't about Hastings all about all
those pictures the axis and the swords
and the horses and the arrows are is
true true true but 75% of that Bayeux
Tapestry is about other things as well
the Bayeux Tapestry tells you only what
the norma's wants you to know give an
example I told you that it was created
by odo Bishop abaya
now to Norma Bishop's fought at Hastings
one was odo himself bully for him bully
for odo another was a man called
Geoffrey who was the Bishop of cou
taunts of town in western Normandy
now odo and Geoffrey didn't get on and
it's most interesting that when you look
at the tapestry you'll see odo
depicted three or four times that you
don't see Jeffrey at all
odo edited Jeffrey right out of of the
Bayeux Tapestry so it tells you what it
wants you to know so you mean it isn't
true
oh yes is true but it's not the whole
truth it's out to prove something many
all historians always wanted a moral to
their stories history was not just one
damn thing after another it all meant
something and you could always get a
lesson from it it was a great deal of
finger-wagging involved with medieval
historians God was involved Harold had
lost not because he wasn't good enough
how lost because he ought to have lost
he had sinned and God had punished him
serve him jolly well right he was a
perjurer in medieval illustrations
funnily enough blinding is often shown
as as a punishment for the sinner even
though we're told that Harold got shot
in the eye more of that later so the
idea that a sinner was blinded by God's
order was quite a common walk take the
idea of Samson if you're right whether
you could interpret that as God's
punishment what if the Bayeux Tapestry
wasn't about the buyer about the Battle
of have seen what the devil was it about
well pretty well everything else Kings
castles hunting feasting shipbuilding
sailing getting shipwrecked
types of military equipment horses
cavalry chart absolutely everything
under the Sun I mentioned I barely
scratched the surface and there but two
hundred and thirty feet of it there are
two hundred thirty feet of it now and as
far as we know very little has been lost
apps if you want to write a history of
almost anything in the medieval world
you'll find evidence in the Bayeux
Tapestry you'll get some ammunition out
of the Bayeux Tapestry now let's go back
from it
why would Harold
go to Normandy doesn't seem to make
sense the verb one of the very first
paddles in the tapestry appears to show
us that King Edward is ordering Harold
to go to Normandy which seems odd the
interpretation is that Harold is being
sent by Edward to Normandy to confirm
the promise that William will get the
crown now this doesn't make sense either
because Harold is the second man in the
kingdom he's the obvious next King how
is it the Edward is able to get Harold
to go to Normandy to promise a thing
like this did he have the authority
could he make Harold go did he really
have the strength to confirm his orders
we don't know
so was he just obeying the king or was
it something else was Harold using the
opportunity was he he was a great
opportunities opportunist if Edward had
ordered him to go Harold might have said
well all right I'll go it'll give me a
chance to size up the opposition find
out what sort of a man William is case
the joint
get the feel of Normandy so Harold could
be using it for his own purposes I
haven't told you yet Harold had a couple
of relations our brother Alec and a
nephew when William had visited normally
in 1051 and Edward had promised him the
crown so they said hostages were given
it was a regular thing in the Middle
Ages if you had an agreement promised
anything like that one sign gave
hostages to the other for good behavior
obviously if they if the if the partner
in the agreement didn't didn't obey then
the hostages the ostriches could kill
and these two young Saxon hostages have
been living in Normandy since 1051 so
the suggestion is that Harold went to
Normandy to get these two young men back
why obviously because he was clearing
the deck
for when the time would come when he
would have to defend England against
William because he obviously would
everybody knew that these two men were
out for the crown and they were rivals
and clearly some kind of reckoning was
going to come somewhere so was Herald in
normally simply to try to get these two
boys back from being hostages was he
simply clearing the decks or another
interpretation was he not going to
normally at all it was quite common in
the 11th century for noblemen those with
ships to travel by sea when the
alternative was available travel by land
was terrible roads were awful I'm not
only all thing could be dangerous I mean
there was no police force no traffic
alarms or anything like this anything
could happen on the road as late as the
18th century 700 years later John Wesley
the Methodist preacher nearly drowned in
a pothole on the Great North Road that
gives you some idea of how uncomfortable
road travel was so if you had a chance
to travel from one part of Hampshire to
Sussex shall we say and you've heard the
Chancellor of traveling by sea you
travel by sea but she's here
and Harold he was the earl of wessex he
had access to seaports all around
Hampshire and Sussex it makes perfect
sense that Harold was on a boat trip and
another thing that gives you that
impression to the third or fourth panel
in the Bayeux Tapestry
shows you Harold leaving the king but
he's not just riding away
he has hounds and Falcons with him now
if you're going to travel to Normandy on
on an embassy do you normally take
Vulcans and hounds with the suggestion
is that Hara was simply on a hunting
expedition went on bull ship to go
somewhere else hunting and there was a
storm the English Channel is not noted
for its similarity to a Mill Pond
the storms are quite frequent Harold
could simply have been caught and when
you're caught in a westerly storm most
of them were westerly ships in the 11th
century were so poorly constructed that
there was no way they could sail against
the wind so the only alternative if you
were hit by a westerly gale was to go
was to go in front of it up the channel
until you got tipped onto the shore at
the mouth of the river Somme as Harold
was once again of course we don't know
many historians have asked why Harold
took the chance of going to assuming he
did going to Normandy by intent why it
seemed a very risky thing to do he was
one claimant to the English throne
William was another claimant to the
English throne did it make sense for one
claimant to put himself under the roof
of at the mercy of the other claimant
was it not simply asking begging for
trouble we don't know we know that
Edward was childless we know that the
throne was going to be vacant everybody
knew that the atmosphere was becoming
more and more electric nothing was
actually said but everybody knew
so Harold spent the summer in Normandy
as Williams guessed he wasn't in fact
captured by some obscure norman baron
who thought how will make a very good
material for ransom but when everybody
found out who Harold was William
travelled to meet this Baron tapped him
on the shoulder and said look if you
know what's good for you you'll hand
Harold over to me which he duly did so
Harold was the guest of William for the
whole of that summer which of course
raised the question to questions once
again what on earth was Harold up to
secondly what on earth do we do with him
do we just entertain him and give him
Borden lodging for as long as necessary
how long is necessary one obvious thing
of course is to cut his throat which
would simplify the arithmetic
considerably but William knowing what he
was about to embark upon has to make
sure that he's in the right dammit he's
gonna steal somebody else's territory
he's got to be in the right and heave
his if it's proved that he has committed
a crime like murdering a guest he won't
do his public reputation any good so we
can't kill him he doesn't want to send
him back without getting some kind of
profit he's had Harold dropped in his
lap if he lets him go back with nothing
done it seems that he's missed a
wonderful opportunity what do we do well
in the summer it was quite common for
feudal lords barons counts dukes
whatever Kings they went campaigning
there was always a campaign to fight
somewhere there was always somebody on
the borders of your land causing trouble
anew sent off a punitive expedition to
wrap him over the knuckles and tell him
to behave himself Paul you went did some
raiding yourself it worked both ways and
at that particular time the Duke of
Brittany next Otto normally it was
causing trouble Conan his name was
William embarked on a campaign and took
Harold with him it seemed to make sense
it was something to do it kept he would
keep his eye on Harold it was a way of
testing Harold it was a way for William
to find out how Harold behaved what sort
of a man have we got here and Harold by
the same token say to himself right I'll
watch William on campaign see what a
sort of commander he is what's he like
what's he made of so off they went to
Brittany to besiege count Conan in his
castles and it was very successful and
in the course of it they had to cross a
river which was noted for its marshes
and quicksands and to normal soldiers
got into trouble
and guess who fished them out but Harold
earl of wessex and the picture is in the
tapestry there is Harold you can tell is
Harold cause he has a mustache all that
all the Englishmen are depicted with the
mustaches the Normans are was shown as
clean-shaven say you know who's on which
side and there is Harold dragging these
two Norman soldiers out of the river
kuennen well William decides to make
something out of this so he has to thank
Harold for what he's done and he decides
to thank him publicly so he gives him a
sort of Dukes honour he makes him a
knight as the Queen did in her recent
Birthday Honours but you see in the 11th
century knighthood meant a bit more than
a gong knighthood in the 11th century if
you became a knight created by somebody
you became that somebody's vassal you
became their inferior you became their
servant you were committed to service to
them so what William had done was to set
up a ceremony in which everybody could
see that he was the overlord Harold was
the vassal wonderful for public
relations that was not the whole of it
either the next set of panels we see is
this famous oath in which Harold lays
his hands on two altars and swears that
when King William died god forbid he Oh
Harold would help him Duke William to
become the King of England
while at the time it seemed just an
ordinary routine day-to-day oath but
when the oath was over the story goes
that Bishop odo once again up to no good
Bishop odo had the covers taken off the
altars and there underneath the covers
in the altars were the relics of saints
now as you well know the medieval world
set great store by the relics of saints
they were magical they could produce
miracles they were very very significant
indeed
so everybody utters Gus was oh my god
Harold has sworn the most holy of oaths
that he will help in William become King
of England
well of course we all know and any
lawyer will tell you that any of Warren
under duress doesn't count but it didn't
have count in 1066 William trumpeted
this as you can imagine all over Europe
Harold didn't give a damn as long as he
got him out of England got him home it
achieved the object of the exercise but
that's what happened this was the famous
both dire it may sense for William
certainly because it was a wonderful
coup for public relations now you're
gonna go into another general idea from
them and it said work will entertain you
to a little bit of background once again
in the Middle Ages one of the great
problems for rulers was public relations
how on earth do they transmit what they
want to the people how do they transmit
laws how do they transmit orders how do
they make their will known to the people
well most people as you know couldn't
read and write there was no printing
press I mean no television there was no
radio there were no newspapers how on
earth do they do it while all sorts of
ways they grab any possible technique
they can lay their hands on they paint
pictures they draw pictures they they
embroider pictures like the Bayeux
Tapestry
they build statues they mint coins it's
no coincidence that the king's head
appears on the coins they put up great
buildings to make everybody suitably
impressed with the enormity of the Kings
rule look at the size of the Egyptian
public buildings and they travel
themselves one of the great tricks of
kingship is to be seen they know who you
are and they've seen you and they know
where you are they know you turn out
regularly travel travel travel quite a
lot of medieval kings they say
practically rode themselves to death
going all around the country being seen
and that was during these travels that
they had to provide justice then they
had to show everybody that everything
was secure that everything was all right
the king went on these great big
progresses and he continued into the
modern period the Tudors were great
travelers and progresses think of how
many manor houses where they tell you
the Queen Elizabeth slips here or where
enry the eighth slept here whatever they
loved progressing all over the place
Elizabeth was a vain woman she adored
doing this making a great fuss of waving
her hands people cheering and good Queen
Bess and all the rest of it so they but
it there was a reason behind it and so
you have these you comic strips I
suppose but they did have a reason and
they did have a message and that bit
about giving herald knighthood and the
swearing of the earth was absolutely
invaluable because it could be seen this
was why so many ceremonies took place in
public it was no good a few barons
meeting in a hole somewhere and signing
a document assuming they didn't write
nobody knew but if it was done out in
the open or in a great big hall or on a
field with hundreds and thousands of
people though actually witnessing it for
themselves there was no argument about
they had seen it with their own eyes and
that was proof
and it was not new the Bayeux Tapestry
was nothing like the first comic strip
as I said go back to ancient Egypt a lot
of all those pictures on the walls of
pyramids saw we're talking about
something three and four thousand years
old it's as old as the hills
the Babylonians did it look at what the
Greeks did on the on the frieze of the
Parthenon in Athens the Emperor Trajan
built this enormous column in Rome on
which were engraved carved the record of
all his victories Trajan's : pick a
trafalgar square is it any basically
different so there's a lot in the Bayeux
Tapestry don't be put off by if you look
at the picture of William giving arms
giving a knighthood to Harold it's very
easy to snigger the fact that he doesn't
look very much like a human being
nothing yes you can poke fun at some of
it but all the Johnson that you can
poke fun at some of the draftsmanship
but that's not the point because there
are times when the draftsmanship is
quite remarkable you visit Baier itself
go to the tapestry and stand in front of
the tapestry that part of the tapestry
when the normal cavalry are getting
ready to advance the drama is quite
palpable you will almost hear the
beating of the hoofs on the ground it is
quite remarkable the effect that these
these these embroiderers have not done
by military artists these are done by
ladies in Canterbury as far as we know
they're done by English women not Norman
women and they're done by seamstresses
in Canterbury how did they know all
about this it's also worth noting too
that the draftsmanship is remarkable for
its sheer scale there are something like
600 people embroidered on that tapestry
600 there are something like 200 horses
I don't have you ever tried to draw a
horse but it is extremely difficult and
there's one scene in that when there's a
Norman cavalry charge and
many horses obviously full and it is it
is so modern you can feel the impact of
those falling horses to this day it is
quite astounding that these women were
able to do it so don't be superior about
the Bayeux Tapestry
I said look at it from the point of view
of the 11th century judge it from the
standards of the time secondly don't be
afraid of the Bayeux Tapestry you say
well what's what what am I gonna get out
of it because all the inscriptions are
in Latin this is true but Latin is the
ancestor of English and there are lots
of Latin words which you who recognize
in English today you can make good
guesses for example if you see
Eduardo's you don't have to have an
awful lot of grey cells to work out the
dead while that's me as Edward or will
illness means William or have rolled us
means Harold bully for you go to the top
of the class you can deduce things you
see a picture of a ship and underneath
it says now regard you think what the
hell is now a gobbet mean but think of
our English were navigators and you've
got a picture of a ship so it seems a
reasonable guess that never garb it
means sailing and you'd be dead right so
you can do a lot of Sherlock Holmes
stuff as well we have foreign words
ourselves now we you shouldn't shy away
from a word justice is foreign we have
cafe we have buffet we have Blitz
we have spaghetti Plaza Vendetta all
these foreign words strewn across
English number used to them and sheer
gumption take the world sacramentum have
you ever heard it I don't suppose you
have but there is Harold sitting on the
throne with an orb in one hand and the
sceptre in the other and it says
sacramentum isn't it reasonable to
assume that this means that I know the
coronation so there's a lot you can get
out of the Bayeux Tapestry
and don't expect to grab it all off the
bat straightaway think about it read it
go away and pennies will drop when
you're not looking at it and you come
back oh yes yes of course
why did
I worked that out before and there
aren't all that many joy and there are
not all that many words there are far
more pictures there aren't words so you
can get a lot out of the Myo tapestry
and don't just look at the action bit in
the middle
they put a freeze at the top and they
gotta freeze at the bottom and all sorts
of fingers are going on in those freezes
right legendary animals and trees and
people and all the rest of it but they
use the freeze it's as if there was some
kind of roving reporter going over the
battlefield pointing his camera at
evocative scenes so you get pictures of
dead men obviously you get pictures of
the survivors pulling the chainmail
tunics off the head of dead men
you see disembodied arms you see one
head up in the air an axe has gone
through that man's male caller right
through the chainmail Carla once I
outside out the other side and taking
his head off with it it's an astounding
picture so it's all there is stark and
it's rude and it's realistic and it's
done by all these genteel ladies in
Canterbury how did they find out about
it there one or two rude bits as well as
a gentleman no clothes on it and the
clearly their mind is not on the Battle
of Hastings and these ladies carefully
carefully stitched at all so something
is dramatic and as clever and unique and
old it's nine hundred and fifty years
old it deserves a good look there is a
chance that the French government will
lend it to us later on in the year and
if they do I strongly suggest that you
go and have a look you might be very
pleasantly surprised
so the Bayeux Tapestry do we swallow it
parts of a yes other parts clearly not
it was we remember all the time what the
intention was behind it to prove that
William was right and then Harrell was
wrong we also know from how other
studies of history that the actual
conquest of England took a good deal
longer than a few few hours slogging it
out on a hillside in Sussex now consider
the question of the result of all this
assuming that the Bayeux Tapestry has
done its job
Hastings is over the English to run away
William has been crowned king
incidentally they don't show you the
coronation of William in the Bayeux
Tapestry
I suppose it's possible that it would
have been the very final panel in the
Bayeux Tapestry but we know that the
last bit of it has been destroyed did
that last bit contain the coronation of
William which would have been the
perfect traumatic finale to the whole
thing Harold commits a crime he is a
perjurer he loses he is punished he is
killed and William as God's
representative his crown as king and
everybody lives happily ever after
well we've lost it so we don't know but
did the English accept Hastings did they
say in effect what okay William the best
side one and let's try and make the best
of it from now on Shelby
common sense will tell you that that
didn't happen therefore did it mean that
England for the rest of Williams reign
all 21 years of it was in a state of
permanent revolt common sense tells you
that that's unlikely as well you very
rarely find blacks and whites in history
it's all a series of Gray's bit of this
and a bit of that what we do know for
sure is that William was now the master
of an entire country and he he
physically owned it
he who he was the owner he was the
physical owner the legal owner the
actual owner that the the church
recognized owner every way you care to
look at it
William owned at like you own your house
or you own your bicycle
William owned England and he could do
with it as he liked and he proceeded to
do so of course he now had to run it he
couldn't run it himself and he had to
have his norm about the ones who had
been brave enough or rash enough to risk
all to follow him now could enjoy the
rich pickings in England as William
shared them out now the norman the saxon
nobility had very obligingly killed a
lot of themselves off at the Battle of
Stamford Bridge and the Battle of
Hastings
so William to a certain extent had a
fairly clear run when it came to
allocating land of course these Saxons
left young boys as their heir and sadly
and many of them got pushed on one side
as the normal barons took over the
Saxons land it turned out to be the
biggest shift of land ownership pretty
well in English history up to that time
the only comparable shift in land
ownership came four or five hundred
years later with the dissolution of the
monasteries which is quite an epic in
itself what in ordinary people think
about the Norman Conquest what poor
souls they didn't really matter what
they thought about they were certainly
nothing they could do about it
but whether they could or not we don't
really know because they couldn't read
and they couldn't write they didn't
write anything down so we don't know we
can just make an intelligent guess life
was hard it had always been hard it was
going to carry on being hard he will
still have to pay taxes a landlord was
the landlord English weather didn't
change so in many many ways life hadn't
changed all that much for the English
except that their landlord now spoke a
different language and possibly couldn't
understand
what about the winners what happens to
them you ask yourself from it it's
wonderful to have had the adventure to a
risk taught or won the battle to be
human
countless estate some in some of the
estate's Nolan Barrens
came into possession ready sell hundreds
all over the place what did they know
about these new lands did they even know
where they were how many of them had
visited England before how many other
knew anything about English family of
them spoke English how many of them knew
anything about English law English
customs English anything what about the
importing they know about the English
church what do you know about
communications in England and all this
whom remember has to be seen to and they
still got their estates in Normandy they
can't leave them alone for long they
can't neglect them because if they do
there are gonna be some naughty
neighbors sooner or later who are going
to take advantage of their absence so
these Norman barons have to commute
regularly William commuity
regularly between England and Normandy
so the Norman barons had an awful lot to
learn and that wasn't the end of it
either because England remember had
neighbours was was the kingdom of Norway
going to accept the defeat at Stamford
Bridge would they not come back for a
revenge expedition but would Denmark
have another crack at putting a Danish
king on the English throne with Scotland
start their antics again after one
England had a broken government had a
decimated nobility
he'd had a whole year of war it had two
invasions if ever there was a chance for
the King of Scotland the cause trouble
this was it
so you think of all those problems that
existed and all the disadvantages that
the normal barons would have to deal
with sometimes makes you wonder by the
Normans thought it was worth all the
trouble in the first place
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