I Want To See This Someday

The Bayeux tapestry (1066) is one of the most historically important, and unusual, chronicles of its day, is now located in the town of Bayeux in Normandy. The 70m-long (231ft) tapestry offers a splendidly vivid depiction of the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. It begins with Harold of Wessex’s visit to Normandy and his meeting with Duke William in 1064, and culminates with the flight of the English army at Hastings. All the main intervening events, including the death of King Edward the Confessor in January 1066, Harold's coronation, William's elaborate invasion preparations, his landing at Pevensey, the Battle of Hastings and Harold's death, are covered in painstaking detail. Along the top and bottom of the tapestry run decorated borders illustrating scenes of contemporary warfare, hunting and husbandry and also some episodes from the fables of Aesop and Phaedrus. The tapestry is often referred to in French as La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde (Queen Mathilda’s Tapestry) after William’s wife. Although it was almost destroyed in 1792 when French revolutionaries used it as a wagon cover, the whole tapestry (with the exception of the final section, thought to have depicted William's coronation in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066) has survived to this day and can still be viewed by visitors to the town of Bayeux.

The Tapestry consists of 626 humans, 55 dogs, 202 horses, 41 ships, 49 trees, almost 2000 Latin words, over 500 mythical and non mythical creatures such as birds and dragons. At least 8 colours of yarn are discernible. It is approximately 70 metres long and half a metre wide.

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