Publications
The Bayeux Tapestry: a stripped narrative for their eyes and ears, by Richard Brilliant, published 1991 in Word & Image: A Journal of Verbal/Visual Enquiry (vol. 7, issue 2, article, pp.98-126) View Online
Abstract:The Bayeux Tapestry, a masterpiece of medieval narrative art, tells the highly politicized story of the contested accession to the English crown, held by Edward the Confessor. The historical narrative begins in 1064, while Edward was still king, and ends in I066, when Harold, formerly the Earl of Wessex and the domestic claimant, lost his life and the crown to the foreigner, William, Duke of Normandy, at the Battle of Hastings (figure 1, see p. 115). There is some scholarly agreement that the Tapestry was made in England not long after I066, possibly at Canterbury, and even more that the work was done at the behest of Norman patrons, perhaps even for Odo, William's half-brother, and artfully composed to present the Norman side of the story. Yet, there is very little agreement over how the Tapestry was originally displayed, although a secular rather than ecclesiastical environment seems likely. Almost no attention has been paid to the way this magnificent artwork was seen by Normans, or English, or both.