Bayeux Tapestry - Phil and Jill

Today gave me hope....as of today I can tell my sewing friends, especially my 'Wise Women' group of ladies that going slowly can produce a great result and I am not the slowest as can sometimes be exclaimed!! The makers of the Bayeux Tapestry took 42 years to complete their work - admittedly it is nearly 70m long and done on linen with wool thread, hand dyed and set with mordants of waud and madder. The mystery is who did make it? Historians originally thought it was commissioned by Queen Mathilde (William's wife) and it was originally called the 'Mathilde tapestry. Then on further study it was thought to have been made by embroiderers in southern England. Some people believe it is the world's first comic strip or a propaganda tale. Whoever did it, did a magnificent job. So too does the curator of the museum with an excellent audio.

Now housed behind glass in an acclimatised showcase it has stood the test of time. It was originally meant only to be displayed for a short period each year and then stored. It was saved twice from fires in the Notre Dame church; the pillaging during the French Revolution and the storing of it in less than ideal conditions. Without giving you a history lesson, which I certainly had today, the tapestry tells the story of how King Edward of England entrusted in his cousin Harold that after his (Edward's) death Harold was to go over to Normandy and tell his bastard son William that he was to be the next King of England. However Harold broke his oath and thought why would I do that...I would make a better king than William. As in all families this started a feud. William gathered 7,000 of his best troops, organised lots of food for the men and the horses; gathered together lots of Viking style boats (as these had proven very sea worthy) and set sail from Dives (where we were a couple of days ago) for Hastings in England. Harold's men, mainly archers were tired as they had recently been fighting some Viking invaders up north near York and had to scamper down south when Harold called. The Battle of Hastings took place. The Norman infantry on their horses far outmatched the Anglo-Saxon foot soldiers with their bow and arrows. In one day of battle it was all over with Harold dying from an arrow in his eye. William, the bastard son became William the Conqueror. He was consecrated as the King of England on Christmas Day the next year. Understandably he was never that popular in England but boy was he busy building huge Norman cathedrals all over England and bringing over French bishops to take over the religious leadership of the Cathedrals. The tapestry tells that entire story graphically on around 60 sections of linen panels all stitched together to make the one long scroll. Some people said that it was Karma getting the arrow for Harold breaking his promise to Edward.

Pretty interesting story. The embroiderers might have been getting sick of doing the tapestry when it was getting near the end because the sizing of some of the axes and spears out of proportion say some needlepoint experts. Always a critic or two around. The ordinary person would never have noticed the difference from all the other thousands of images. They did use light, medium and dark on their threads to sew the horses in battle giving a depth of field perspective. I am in complete awe of what I have seen today and marvel at the workmanship of the sewers.

The museum doesn't just have the tapestry on display on the 2 floors above they have a half hour movie telling the tale. Together with a floor of pictorial and model displays filling in the detail of making of the tapestry. It basically gave the reason of why William invaded England including details of the actual Battle of Hastings and how William asserted his authority on a reluctant England by the use of landlords and the oppression of the Anglo Saxons. Different language, different customs and the aggression by his soldiers of burning down villages. England was a very different place after that battle.

The art of doing embroidery hasn't completely left this town. It is being kept alive by a lady named Chantal James who is a Maitre artisan d'art, and who runs Bayeux Broderie in a cute blue coloured shop where she specialises in doing Bayeux tapestry style sewing. She was kind enough to explain and demonstrate her work to me.
She uses only best quality linen, wool threads especially dyed for her shop using traditional mordants. These do not fade as the newer machine dyed ones do. She follows the traditional stitches of satin, stem, chain stitches using short and long stitch methods and then uses couching turning the work vertically. She is optimistic that young sewers are showing interest in this style of embroidery. Her shop will be closed on Saturday and Sunday for an exhibition so I was lucky she gave me so much of her time today.

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No time for the wicked today....after nearly 4 hours of savouring all the museum had to offer we headed back to our B&B for a late lunch and momentary stop before heading out again. We had missed some heavy rain this morning whilst in the gallery (just as an aside - overnight there had been a full on thunderstorm with lightening and the lot) and it was only drizzling when we once again we headed down the main pedestrianised Rue St Jean which was much quieter this afternoon after the buzz from the market this morning,

to the Musee d'art and d'histoire originated by Baron Gerard. It stands next to the cathedral and is housed in the former bishop's palace (11th to 16th centuries) . It has collections of works from original settlement when Bayeux was a Roman town to the 20th century. It had 600 pieces of art, 1,000 pieces of porcelain and Bayeux lace. Lace making was introduced around the 13th century by the nuns. It gave a good livelihood to thousands of women until industrialisation brought a sudden stop to the handmade craft. The Bayeux lace was white, Chantilly black and Blond was cream.

To end our journey we entered the massive Cathedral of Bayeux which was consecrated on 14th July, 1077 by Bishop Odon of Conteville, half brother of William. The provocative sound of the organ rang out as we entered. The tall columns, the arches and so many stained glass windows were awe inspiring. Just so huge and dominant.

It was interesting to note that a recent window had been put in to commemorate D-day landing and the liberation. It had been dedicated by the Queen-Mother, Queen Elizabeth in 1989.

Tired out we staggered back home. It had been particularly difficult for Phil due to the extent of pain, but he soldiered on!!

Off to the beaches tomorrow....