Bayeux Tapestry

During the Middle Ages, tapestries were a popular art form. Many of the castles of Europe used tapestries not only as a decoration but as a practical measure to help cover the stone walls and keep out the cold.

Perhaps one of the best known is the Bayeux Tapestry, which was made about 1067–70. The linen hanging gives a vivid pictorial record of the invasion and conquering of England by William I (the Conqueror) in 1066.

Bayeux tapestry. Cavalry attack

The Bayeux Tapestry is traditionally considered the work Queen Matilda to honor the success of her husband, William the Conqueror.

It was commissioned by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent who was the half-brother of William the Conqueror.

It is an embroidery rather than a true tapestry, sewn with woolen threads in eight visibly different colors.

The hanging is 70 m/231 ft long and 50 cm/20 in wide, and contains 72 separate scenes with descriptive wording in Latin.

The border is of foliage, fantastic animals, and hunting scenes.

Two hundred horses are embroidered into this work of art.

It is exhibited at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France.

The Bayeux Tapestry is most valuable for its representation of the costume, arms, and manners of the Normans before the Conquest; it gives more details of the events represented than does the contemporary literature.  

Sources Hutchinson Encyclopedia , Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia, funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia