The Bayeux tapestry consists of a band of linen, probably originally unbleached,
and which the lapse of ages has reduced to the colour of brown holland. The
present length of this band is 70 metres 34 centimetres (230 ft. 9 1/3 in. English
measure), and its width 50 centimetres (19 2/3 in. English measure). It formerly
consisted of a single piece of linen without seam [i]; and although
at one time divided into two parts, it has now been cleverly joined together
again. In the upper margin a piece of cloth of a slightly inferior quality has
been added at some time subsequent to the original manufacture of the tapestry.
This additional strip, which is itself of a high antiquity, is joined to the
main portion by a seam; it contains no figures, but displays blue stripes, as
well as simple, double, and triple crosses; and before a kind of altar, a ladder,
of which the sides are terminated by a cross and a little banded standard, the
staff of which is surmounted by a cross. The width of this strip is 20 centimetres
(nearly 8 in. English measure), and it may have been added to facilitate the
exhibition of the main work[ii]. The whole
tapestry is divided into seventy-two compartments [1] or scenes,
which are generally separated from one another by conventionally-rendered trees
or buildings. The tapestry contains [2] representations
of :—
| 623 persons. 202 horses and mules. 55 dogs. 505 various other animals. 37 buildings. 41 ships and boats. 49 trees. --- 1,512 objects --- |
These figures are worked with a needle in worsteds of eight different colours[iii], viz. : Dark
and light blue, red, yellow, dark and light green, black, and dove colour. The
intention of most of the compartments is explained by Latin inscriptions placed
over them. The letters, like the figures, are stitched in worsted, and are about
an inch in height. The drawing of all the objects is rude, nor has any great
attention been paid to the representation of things in their natural colours.
Thus horses are shown as blue, green, red, and yellow, a circumstance no doubt
due to the limited number of colours at the artist's disposal. Working with
flat tints, the embroiderers had no means of giving effects of light and shade
; and perspective is wholly disregarded. To indicate, therefore, objects at
different distances from the spectator, they employed worsteds of different
colours; thus a green horse has his off legs red, whilst those of a yellow horse
are worked in blue, and so on.
If the drawing be rude the composition is bold and spirited, and is always rendered
with great truth of expression, which is at times, however, exaggerated. The
really historical portion of tapestry is for the most part confined to a width
of 33 centimetres 5 millimetres (13 1/5 in. English measure) ; the top and bottom
forming fantastic borders, containing lions, birds, camels, minotaurs, dragons,
sphinxes, some fables of Æsop and Phaedrus, scenes of husbandry and of the chase,
etc. Occasionally the border is taken into the thread of the story, and it frequently
contains allegorical allusions to the scenes enacting within its bounds.
The mode of working has been to cover the figures with worsted threads laid down flat side by side, and then bound at intervals by cross fastenings: seams, joints, and folds being indicated by a species of twist. The faces of persons, their hands and, when bare, their legs also, are simply outlined in red, green, or blue, the features being frequently executed in yellow.
From the above description it will be seen that historical embroidery would be a more accurate title than tapestry for this work; time has, however, consecrated the misnomer, and it is improbable that it will ever bear a different appellation.
In concluding this notice of the tapestry it is fitting to offer some opinion as to its date and authorship. The chief facts upon which my judgment is based are as follows:
William and his wife were accustomed to recite their gifts to the Church, but neither the Duke on his deathbed nor Matilda in her will mentions the tapestry. This was called " La Grand Telle du Conquest d'Angleterre," when, for the first time, noticed in the inventories of 1369 and of 1476. In the latter document the canons of Bayeux recorded the traditions relating to other objects in their custody, but were silent when dealing with the tapestry, and a like silence was observed by subsequent writers. The date of its festal exhibition obtained for the tapestry the title of "La Toilette de St. Jean," and, when discovered by the Abbé Montfaucon, it was known in Bayeux as "La Toilette du Due Guillaume." The abbé recorded a tradition, as then current, that it was Queen Matilda "qui la fit faire "; this on dit was converted by Lancelot into " qui l'ait tissue elle-même avec ses femmes," and improved by Sir Joseph Ayloffe into " by her own hands and the assistance of the ladies of her court worked in arras and presented to the cathedral at Bajeux " (sic) etc., and only after its exhibition in Paris did the tapestry acquire the designation of "Le Tapis de la Reine Mathilde."
To so late a tradition which, if actually current, was confined to a place where nearly everything was ascribed to William and his Duchess, little importance can attach.
Failing tradition, recourse must be had to internal evidence, and here (whilst
there is nothing to connect the work with Matilda) the evident attempt to preserve
the characteristics of the principal figures (William and Eadward resembling
their portraits on their seals), together with the accurate representation of
eleventh century costume and of military details, which would certainly have
been wanting at a later date, show it almost contemporary with the incidents
depicted. Such words as Ælfgyva, Ceastra and Franci suggest
an English origin, but admit of the explanation that the dialect spoken in Bayeux
was a mixture of Saxon and Norman, Ceastra alone remaining untraced to the Bessin
dialect or its source. [3] The prominence given to Odo and to obscurer
persons who were subsequently his feudatories (Turold, Vital, and Wadard), the
employment of a worsted characteristic of the Bessin district, the introduction
of the local form of wine barrel and of such dialectic peculiarities as Bagias
and Wilgelm, the coincidence of length in the tapestry and the nave which it
served to decorate, and the choice of the anniversary of the cathedral's consecration
for the date of exhibition, point to the moment of its presentation by Odo,
who, as bishop, alone had power to display a profane history in a sacred edifice;
these facts taken together afford strong evidence of locality of origin, and
suggest the probable donor. Passing the foregoing points in review, I conclude
the tapestry to be a contemporary work in which Queen Matilda had no part, and
that it was probably ordered for his cathedral by Bishop Odo and made by Norman
workpeople at Bayeux.
Notes
1. That is, following the subjects; for the
different divisions or lengths are indicated by large numbers from 1 to 56 marked
on the canvas outside the border. The form of these numbers is such that they
cannot be more than a couple of centuries old. They are of no special interest,
and were probably added by some custodian of the tapestry for convenience of
exhibition.
2. "The Bayeux Tapestry, elucidated by Rev. John Collingwood
Bruce." 4to. London, 1856. P. 13, note a.
3. Ceastra for Castra has been looked upon
as another Saxon form; but M. Delauney points out that it is the same species
of orthography as Eadwardus for Adwardus, which the author of
the panegyric of Queen Emma employs; and that in modern French this mode of
spelling is retained in Jean, protégea, and in all those words
where the soft g precedes an a.
Editor's Notes
i. A more recent description of the tapestry provides additional detail: The embroidery was fashioned by needle on a thin, fairly even linen cloth. It is made up of nine identical widths of cloth, each of unequal length, assembled by oversewing. The embroidery is carried out using stem stitch for the outlines and couching stitch for filling in most of the figures. Also, chain stitch and split stitch, using coloured wool threads and bay-coloured linen threads, were used to give the effect of greater relief to certain letters and patterns, such as arrows, spears and ropes. The colours used have no naturalist function. (UNESCO submission).
ii. Chemical analysis has shown that the natural dyes used included weld, madder and either woad or indigo. (UNESCO submission).
iii. This appears to have been removed in subsequent restoration. (UNESCO submission).