You have probably seen The Bayeux Tapestry – if not in real life then in books, on websites or on television – and you may know that it depicts the story of the Norman Conquest of England, but have you ever looked at the pictures that appear in the margins and wondered what they mean? This new book by historian Arthur C. Wright, Decoding the Bayeux Tapestry: The Secrets of History’s Most Famous Embroidery Hidden in Plain Sight, attempts to interpret these often-overlooked images and relate them to the action taking place in the main body of the Tapestry.

At a quick glance, the pictures in the margins look very random and don’t appear to be connected with the larger pictures in the middle, but now that I’ve read this book I know that is not the case. Wright takes us step by step along the whole length of the Tapestry, matching the marginal story to the one in the main panel and this adds to our overall understanding of what the Tapestry is telling us.

So, what exactly are these marginal illustrations? Well, many of them depict birds and animals such as dogs, lions, ‘pards’ (the name given to large leopard-like cats), crows, foxes, mythological beasts such as dragons – anything that might have appeared in a medieval bestiary. These creatures add extra meaning to the central panels; for example, a dog is shown howling below the picture of Edward the Confessor being taken to his burial. Others display fear, joy, pride, anger or other appropriate emotions at relevant points in the Tapestry. The margins also include illustrations of some of Aesop’s Fables; the story of ‘the Fox and the Crow’ is one of them. In order to understand the significance of the fables and the other messages we are being given in the margins, it helps if we know who embroidered these images, who commissioned the Tapestry in the first place and who the intended audience was, and Wright spends a lot of time discussing these things as well as interpreting the images themselves.

All of this was fascinating, but I did wonder who this book was really aimed at. Even though I do have an interest in the subject and a moderate amount of knowledge of the Norman Conquest (admittedly, gained mainly through historical novels such as Gildenford, Godwine, Kingmaker and 1066: What Fates Impose), I didn’t really feel the need to go into so much detail on the size of the fleet that invaded England or the geographical features of the landscape. There are lengthy appendices exploring both of these topics and I think this sort of information would only really be of interest to an academic reader who wanted to make a very thorough study of the subject. Although the earlier chapters are much more accessible, I’m not sure whether I could recommend the book overall to the general reader, especially not to those who are unfamiliar with this period of history.

I’m still pleased to have had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the Bayeux Tapestry, though, and to have been made aware that those medieval embroiderers were perhaps telling us more than meets the eye.

Was hat man nicht schon alles gelesen und gehört über dieses Stück Zeitgeschichte, festgehalten auf einem Stück Stoff. Und dennoch gibt es einiges, was neu interpretiert, die Geschichte auf eine Art und Weise einzigartig lebendig werden lässt.
Lädt zum überlegen, recherchieren und lernen ein.

I selected this book to read and review because of its title and its strap-line suggesting that the author would interpret the images in the top and bottom border of the “Tapestry”. The Bayeux piece is extraordinary in itself, in its survival and in terms of the window it opens on life, art and culture of its period. So a book with quality pictures would seem to be a huge open goal to aim for. Wright, however, has additionally decided to use this book to explore wider things - key people, the historical narrative of the events depicted, the accuracy of the defensive buildings and weaponry – and has then tried to match the illustrations against his understanding of the rural landscape of the area in 1066. This would be a big ask and to be achieved successfully would need clear focus (after both broad and detailed research) – regrettably something that seems to be lacking in this volume.
Reviewing this book presents difficulties too because of the confrontational nature of a lot of the writing. The author seems intent on rejecting what he believes to be current beliefs and understandings of academic thought on his themes of interest. Admittedly an ex-archaeologist of some years standing – and a generalist rather than a military specialist, I found many of the “current” theories he rejects as already obsolete twenty years ago to my knowledge. Which raised the constant question in my mind whether other information and analysis was also flawed and that his wider background understanding of topics he was discussing was lacking? Genuine experts could perhaps comment in more detail.
But to come back to the “tapestry” itself. The author’s hypothesis is that many of the 11th century people were illiterate, so relied for information on images or oral transmission. So the tapestry is an extremely significant “source”. He recognises three streams of image on the “tapestry” the main central images of the story cycle, the Latin text and the “border images”. Checking the accuracy of these then needs to be matched against the (varying) historical accounts of the battle and later historical understanding.
Having identified, almost in passing, that there would have been a patron who commissioned the work to his requirements, he refers to a “designer” who would have to organise the commission more or less to these. There would be a series of embroiderers who would do this work to instruction – or possibly not - but rather to their own plans and designs. He asserts that the borders are representative of a subversive alternative narrative created by the embroiderers – some, but not all identified as “English”. Presented clearly these ideas might have some standing, but they are melded into the text of wider analysis and discontent throughout the book. I suspect a little detailed and informed focus on who, where and what around the creation of the embroidery could have led to the removal of great swathes of “analysis”, some of it extremely silly.
Moving on to the designs themselves that inform the main thesis. The first problem is the illustrations (poorly selected and often ill placed) do not focus on the border designs sufficiently. So interpretations of what - let’s face it - are rather crude images – then have to be taken on trust. The author’s understanding of bestiary design, allegorical significance and design transition is weak and in no ways matches up to evolving theories. If this is the case, can his theories of the analysis of “extra” significance of individual images be true? This quandary is not helped as elsewhere in the text he repeatedly tells us that the designer/embroiderers have got other key images wrong (“did not know” or “cannot have seen”). So why should peripherals be that significant? The constant contradictions, back tracking either/or scenarios make this is a hard read.
Sorry, if this sounds critical but I found the book at first disappointing, then increasingly tiresome due to inaccuracies sometimes bordering on silliness, the unfortunate ordering and tone of the author’s writing. We may not be experts on everything, but most readers will accept an argument (recognising that historical and archaeological knowledge constantly evolves) that is well thought out and references the right research and publications. History does not need to be a battle between historians, even if war is part of the topic. The Bayeux Tapestry is a glorious and inspiring artefact that attracts world-wide attention from people of all cultures, why reduce discussion to this level? A wasted opportunity.

Here we have a look at the infamous Bayeux Tapestry so familiar from our school history lessons telling the story of the Norman Invasion of 1066. This book looks at what the Tapestry shows and attempts to interpret the parts of the narrative that have hitherto been lost in time, essentially the margins. Their story is told using a range of archaeological input and medieval bestiary information as well as referring to classical myth.

The book is produced to a high standard and the quality of reproduction is good. Some authors wear their knowledge lightly but that is not so here, the author is often boastful of their researches and frequently dismissive of the output of others. He also doesn't seem to have decided whether he is going to provide an academic piece or a more popular account introducing the non-historian to the richness of the Tapestry. The first two chapters are rambling and repetitive and I struggled to make it through them to read what was to come. That said the author does hold the tale well as it doesn't feel like a laborious scene to scene retelling. I did learn many things from this book and the variety of topics covered in addition to the Tapestry itself provided some context.

#DecodingTheBayeuxTapestry #NetGalley

A well researched, entertaining and interesting book that can be read as a novel.
It's full of interesting explanations and gives you a clear idea of the Tapestry.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine