Bibliography - History: {1070s} - Bayeux Tapestry
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Researches and Conjectures on the Bayeux Tapestry, by Bolton Corney, published 1838 (second edition, 16 pp., London: Samuel Bentley) accessible at: British Library

The Bayeux Tapestry. Extracted from the Gentleman's Magazine, etc., by Bolton Corney, published 1839 (5 pp., London: J. B. Nichols & Son) accessible at: British Library

The Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated, by Rev. John Collingwood Bruce, LL.D., F.S.A., published 1856 (166 pp. & 32 pp. of plates, London: J. R. Smith) accessible at: British Library   View Online

On the banners of the Bayeux Tapestry, and some of the earliest heraldic charges, by Gilbert J. French, published 1857 (Reprinted from the Journal of the Archæological Association of Great Britain and Ireland, published by the author) accessible at: British Library

The Bayeux Tapestry: A History and Description, by Frank Rede Fowke, published 1898 (ix + 139 pp & 79 plates, London: George Bell & Sons) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries   View Online

The Book of the Bayeux Tapestry, presenting the complete work in a series of colour facsimiles: the introduction & narrative, by Hilaire Belloc, published 1914 (xix + 76 pp., London: Chatto & Windus) accessible at: British Library   View Online

Guide to the Bayeux Tapestry, by F. F. L. Birrell, published 1931 (third edition, 135 pp. + xii plates, Victoria and Albert Museum) accessible at: British Library

The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry, by Ian C. Hannah, F.S.A., published 1932 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VI no. 1, article, pp.14-25) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9325] & The Keep [LIB/500175]

Symbolism in the Bayeux Tapestry, by Admiral B. M. Chambers, C. B., published 1932 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VI no. 1, article, pp.26-27; no. 2, pp.113-115; no. 3, pp.171-173) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9325] & The Keep [LIB/500175]

The Bayeux Tapestry, by Eric Maclagan, published 1943 (32 pp., London: Penguin Books) accessible at: British Library

The Bayeux Tapestry. A comprehensive survey by Sir Frank Stenton, general editor, Simone Bertrand, George Wingfield Digby, Charles H. Gibbs-Smith, Sir James Mann, John L. Nevinson and Francis Wormald. With 150 illustrations., edited by Sir Frank Stenton, published 1957 (182 pp., London: Phaidon Press) accessible at: British Library

The Bayeux Tapestry. A comprehensive survey by Sir Frank Stenton, general editor, Simone Bertrand, George Wingfield Digby, Charles H. Gibbs-Smith, Sir James Mann, John L. Nevinson and Francis Wormald. With 150 illustrations., edited by Sir Frank Stenton, published 1965 (second edition, 194 pp., London: Phaidon Press) accessible at: British Library

The Bayeux Tapestry: Story of the Norman Conquest, 1066, by Norman Denny and Josephine Filmer-Sankey, published 1 June 1966 (72 pp., London: Collins, ISBN-10: 0001950584 & ISBN-13: 9780001950580) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

The Bayeux tapestry and the Norman invasion. With an introduction and a translation from the contemporary account of William of Poitiers, by Leslie Guy Melville Thorpe, published 1973 (110 pp., London: Folio Society) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

Conquest and Overlord: The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry and the Overlord Embroidery, by Brian Jewell, published 1981 (96 pp., London: East-West Publications Ltd, ISBN-10: 0856920738 & ISBN-13: 9780856920738) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The Bayeux Tapestry, by David M. Wilson, published 1985 (234 pp., London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., ISBN-10: 0500234477 & ISBN-13: 9780500234471) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

The mystery of the Bayeux tapestry, by David J. Bernstein, published 1986 (272 pp., London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ISBN-10: 0297789287 & ISBN-13: 9780297789284) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Puzzles of the Bayeux Tapestry, by Roger S. Porter, published 1 January 1987 (14 pp., Hastings: Ferndale Press, ISBN-10: 1870096002 & ISBN-13: 9781870096003) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

The Bayeux Tapestry: the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest, by John Collingwood Bruce, published 1 August 1987 (reprint of 1856 edition, 166 pp. & 32 pp. of plates, London: Bracken Books, ISBN-10: 185170101X & ISBN-13: 9781851701018) accessible at: British Library

Bayeux Tapestry: history and bibliography, by Shirley Ann Brown and Michael W. Herren, published 2 February 1989 (216 pp,, Boydell Press, ISBN-10: 085115509X & ISBN-13: 9780851155098)

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

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.

The Adelae Comitissae of Baudri of Bourgeuil and the Bayeux Tapestry, by S. A. Brown, M. W. Herren and edited by M. Chibnall, published 30 June 1994 in Anglo-Norman Studies XVI: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1988 (article, pp.55-74, Boydell Press, ISBN-13: 9780851153667)   View Online

Burhgeat and gonfanon: two sidelights from the Bayeux Tapestry, by D. F. Renn and edited by M. Chibnall, published 30 June 1994 in Anglo-Norman Studies XVI: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1988 (article, pp.177-198, Boydell Press, ISBN-13: 9780851153667)   View Online

Cut on the Norman bias: fabulous borders and visual glosses on the Bayeux Tapestry, by Daniel Terkla, published 1995 in Word & image: a journal of Verbal/Visual Enquiry (vol. 11, article, pp.264-290)   View Online

. . . the tendency of artists to breach the supposed boundaries between temporal and spatial arts is not a marginal or exceptional practice, but a fundamental impulse in both the theory and practice of the arts, one which is not confined to any particular genre or period.
Harold Godwinson, King of England for nine months in 1066, was undeniably an assertive opportunist-albeit a brave one- and perhaps a traitor; Edward the Confessor was a misguided monarch - or at least a bad judge of character - and William of Normandy was a righteous conqueror, a ruler asserting his legal right to the English crown. This, at least, is the interpretation of historical events presented by the Bayeux Tapestry, the late eleventh-century embroidery that Otto Pacht has called the 'earliest work of secular art on a monumental scale which has survived from the Middle Ages.' In this study, I posit an interpretative program that shows how the Tapestry's Norman bias was manifested and emphasized by its designer's intratextual, interactive use of imaginal marginalia, specifically the eight appearances of the Norman chevrons and the pictographs representing the Tapestry's nine Aesopic fables.4 Each group of marginal images demonstrates, via its interaction with the main panel narrative, the permeability of the Tapestry's inscribed borders and the need for an inclusive reading, one which recognizes the futility of imaginal separation and the representational richness possible when the urge toward such narrative divisiveness is overcome.

Doing What Historians Do: Using the BayeuxTapestry to Discover the Past, by John Marshall Carter, published 1996 in Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas (vol. 70, article, pp.24-25)   View Online

John Collingwood Bruce and the Bayeux Tapestry, by John H. Farrant, published 1997 in The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Archaeologica Acliana (fifth series vol. 25, article, pp.109-114) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14753] & The Keep [LIB/502011]

The Study of the Bayeux Tapestry, by Richard Gameson, published 22 May 1997 (230 pp., Woodbridge: Boydell Press, ISBN-10: 0851156649 & ISBN-13: 9780851156644) accessible at: British Library

This volume presents a selection from the classic literature on the tapestry, providing a comprehensive companion to its study. The articles have been carefully chosen in order to provide a strong, balanced coverage of most aspects of the tapestry; all the major themes - the material fabric of the artefact, its origin, its relation to other early sources, its visual language, the form and function of the inscriptions, the work's general meaning and purpose, and the way it was perceived - are discussed in authoritative contributions collected here. The volume also includes substantial new essays by the editor on studying the Bayeux tapestry, and on its origin, art, and message.

Bosham: Ecclesia as Shown in the Bayeux Tapestry - A Speculative Guide to Bosham Church c.1066, by John Pollock, published 1 October 1997 (booklet, 16 pp., Bosham: Penny Royal Publictions, ISBN-10: 1900851016 & ISBN-13: 9781900851015) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15550] & British Library & West Sussex Libraries

Bayeux Tapestry Embroiderers' Story, by Jan Messent, published 1998 (112 pp., Thirsk: Madeira Threads U.K. Ltd., ISBN-10: 0951634852 & ISBN-13: 9780951634851) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

Answers questions like who were the embroiderers of the Bayeux Tapestry?, what were their tools?, their materials?, and how could such a massive project have been designed and organised?

The Bayeux Tapestry: the case of the phantom fleet, by D. Hill, published 1998 in Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester (vol. 80, no. 1, article, pp.23-32)

The Rhetoric of Power in the Bayeux Tapestry, by Suzanne Lewis, published 28 September 1998 (xv + 169 pp., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN-10: 0521632382 & ISBN-13: 9780521632386) accessible at: British Library

The Bayeux Tapestry has long been recognized as one of the most problematical historical documents of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. More than a reinterpretation of the historical evidence, Suzanne Lewis's study explores the visual and textual strategies that have made the Bayeux Tapestry's narrative such a powerful experience for audiences over the centuries. The Rhetoric of Power focuses on how the Tapestry tells its story and how it shapes the responses of reader-viewers. This involves a detailed analysis of the way the visual narrative draws on diverse literary genres to establish the cultural resonance of the story it tells. The material is organized into self-contained yet cross-referencing episodes that not only portray the events of the Conquest but locate those events within the ideological codes of Norman feudalism. Lewis's analysis conveys how the whole 232-foot tapestry would have operated as a complex cultural 'fiction' comparable to modern cinema.

Kingship-in Death in the Bayeux Tapestry, by V. Thompson, published 1999 in Reading medieval studies (vol. 25, article, pp.107-121)

Was Count Eustace II of Boulogne the patron of the Bayeux Tapestry?, by A. Bridgeford, published 1999 in Journal of medieval history (vol. 25, no. 3, article, pp.155-185)

The orthodox account of the Bayeux Tapestry takes Bishop Odo of Bayeux to have been its probable patron. This article argues that a very feasible alternative candidate for the Tapestry's patron is Count Eustace II of Boulogne. The traditional theory fails to explain the prominence of Count Eustace in the Tapestry, given that, with English support, he launched an attack on Odo's castle at Dover in 1067 and that a close kinsman of his (his nepos) was captured by Odo's men. The relationship between Eustace and Odo, post-1067, is seen as the key to understanding the Tapestry's origin. It is suggested that the Tapestry was commissioned by Eustace as a gift to Odo and that it formed part of the process of their reconciliation. This thesis is examined in the context of the Tapestry's relatively sympathetic attitude to Harold and the probability of English design and manufacture. The minor characters Wadard and Vital are identified conjecturally as Odo's knights who defended Dover castle against the Anglo-Boulonnais attack, a conjecture for which there is at least some circumstantial evidence. The strength of the identification of the figure traditionally taken to be Eustace is also discussed.

The Bayeux Tapestry: A Charter of a People and a Unique Testimony of Creative Imagery in Communication, by D. Sullivan, I. Langmoen, C. B. T. Adams, C. Saint-Rose and M. L. J. Apuzzo, published 1999 in Neurosurgery (vol. 45, no. 3, article, pp.663-669)

The Bayeux Tapestry and Schools of Illumination at Canterbury, by C. Hart and edited by C. Harper-Bill, published 17 August 2000 in Anglo-Norman Studies XXII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1999 (article, pp.117-168, Boydell Press, ISBN-13: 9780851157962) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries   View Online

The Language of the Bayeux Tapestry Inscription, by I. Short and edited by J. Gillingham, published 29 July 2001 in Anglo-Norman Studies XXIII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2000 (article, pp.267-280, Boydell Press, ISBN-13: 9780851158259) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries   View Online

The Bayeux 'Tapestry': invisible seams and visible boundaries, by G. R. Owen-Crocker and C. P. Lewis, published 2002 in Anglo-Saxon England (vol. 31, article, pp.257-274)

All's Well That Ends: Closure, Hypertext, and the Missing End of the Bayeux Tapestry, by M. K. Foys, published 2003 in Exemplaria (vol. 15, part 1, article, pp.39-72)   View Online

John Collingwood Bruce and his Bayeux TapestryFacsimile, by K. L. Boardman, published 2003 in Archaeologia aeliana, or, Miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity (vol. 32, article, pp.179-188)

Prefigurations of courtliness in the Bayeux Tapestry, by Rouben Cholakian, published 2003 in The court reconvenes: courtly literature across the disciplines (article, pp.241-254)

Visual Meaning in the Bayeux Tapestry: Problems and Solutions in Picturing History, by Bard McNulty, published 1 February 2004 (87 pp., Edwin Mellen Press Ltd, ISBN-10: 0773466185 & ISBN-13: 9780773466180) accessible at: British Library

This study explains how images in the Tapestry that are generally dismissed as purely decorative, random, or historically mistaken are in fact none of these, but meaningful devices observable in other medieval works.

The Bayeux Tapestry, by David M. Wilson, published 9 February 2004 (234 pp., London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., ISBN-10: 0500251223 & ISBN-13: 9780500251225) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries

Anglo-Saxon Propaganda in the Bayeux Tapestry, compiled by Meredith Clermont-Ferrand, published 31 October 2004 (xv + 153 pp., Edwin Mellen Press Ltd., ISBN-10: 0773463852 & ISBN-13: 9780773463851) accessible at: British Library

Saxon messages encoded in a work of art that purportedly celebrates the Norman French conquest of England. This is a pioneering perspective that no other scholar has brought to the Tapestry.

King Harold II and the Bayeux Tapestry, by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, published 2005 (Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies v. 3, ix + 202 pp., Woodbridge: Boydell Press, ISBN-10: 1843831244 & ISBN-13: 9781843831242) accessible at: British Library

Harold II is chiefly remembered today, perhaps unfairly, for the brevity of his reign and his death at the Battle of Hastings. The papers collected here seek to shed new light on the man and his milieu before and after that climax. They explore the long career and the dynastic network behind Harold Godwinesson's accession on the death of King Edward the Confessor in January 1066, looking in particular at the important questions as to whether Harold's kingship was opportunist or long-planned; a usurpation or a legitimate succession in terms of his Anglo-Scandinavian kinships? They also examine the posthumous legends that Harold survived Hastings and lived on as a religious recluse. The essays in the second part of the volume focus on the Bayeux Tapestry, bringing out the small details which would have resonated significantly for contemporary audiences, both Norman and English, to suggest how they judged Harold and the other players in the succession drama of 1066. Other aspects of the Tapestry are also covered: the possible patron and locations the Tapestry was produced for; where and how it was designed; and the various sources - artistic and real - employed by the artist.

Animal Fables, the Bayeux Tapestry, and the Making of the Anglo-Norman World, by R. H. Bloch, published 2005 in Poetica (Band 37, HEFT 3/4, article, pp.285-310)

The Bayeux Tapestry, by Lucien Musset and translated by Richard Rex, published 24 March 2005 (272 pp., Woodbridge: Boydell Press, ISBN-10: 1843831635 & ISBN-13: 9781843831631) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most extraordinary artefacts to survive from the eleventh century. A fragile web of woollen thread on linen, its brilliant colours undimmed after nearly a thousand years, this masterpiece is unique as a complete example of an art form beloved of the aristocracy in the Romanesque era - the 'historiated' or narrative embroidery. The momentous story it tells is that of one of the turning-points in English and European history, the struggle for the succession to the English throne which culminated in the Battle of Hastings in the fateful year of 1066. The version told is that of the Normans who commissioned it - of Harold's perjury and its dreadful price, death and defeat in battle. Yet the sympathies of the English hands that designed and created it are equally evident. And the Tapestry itself is so close to the events it describes, and portrays them in such vivid detail, as to make it in its own right a historical source of the first order, not only for the political crisis of 1064-66 but also for the social history of eleventh-century life.This book presents a full-colour reproduction of the entire Tapestry, with a detailed commentary alongside each episode, equipping the reader to follow the story blow by blow and this marvellous work of art step by step. In addition, a preliminary study sets the Tapestry in its artistic, cultural and historical context. The late Lucien Musset, Emeritus Professor of the University of Caen, studied the Tapestry of nearby Bayeux for nearly fifty years. This erudite but highly readable survey distils a lifetime's scholarship into a wise and impeccably researched synthesis which enables the modern reader to appreciate what the Tapestry meant in the context of its time, at the start of the last millennium.

Was the Bayeux tapestry made in France? : the case for St. Florent of Saumur, by George Beech, published 4 June 2005 (xii + 142 pp., Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN-10: 1403966702 & ISBN-13: 9781403966704) accessible at: British Library

This book presents the hypothesis that the Bayeux tapestry, long believed to have been made in England, came from the Loire valley in France, from the abbey of St. Florent of Saumur. This is based on a number of different kinds of evidence, the most important of which is signs of a St. Florent/Breton influence in the portrayal of the Breton campaign in the tapestry, about a tenth of the whole.

The Archaeological Authority of the Bayeux Tapestry, by Michael J. Lewis, published 31 December 2005 (BAR British Series 404, xvi + 267 pp., Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd., ISBN-10: 1841717312 & ISBN-13: 9781841717319) accessible at: British Library

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which artefacts depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry reflect those of the contemporary world of the eleventh century, comparing them with archaeological evidence on the one hand and with early medieval artistic tradition on the other.

The embroidered word: text in the Bayeux Tapestry, by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, published 2006 in Medieval Clothing and Textiles (vol. 2, article, pp.35-60)

A Needle in the Right Hand of God: The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry, by R. Howard Bloch, published 28 November 2006 (xv + 230 pp & 16 pp. of plates, New York: Random House, ISBN-10: 1400065496 & ISBN-13: 9781400065493) accessible at: British Library

The Bayeux Tapestry is the world's most famous textile - an exquisite 230-foot-long embroidered panorama depicting the events surrounding the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is also one of history's most mysterious and compelling works of art. This haunting stitched account of the battle that redrew the map of medieval Europe has inspired dreams of theft, waves of nationalism, visions of limitless power, and esthetic rapture. In his fascinating new book, Yale professor R. Howard Bloch reveals the history, the hidden meaning, the deep beauty, and the enduring allure of this astonishing piece of cloth.
Bloch opens with a gripping account of the event that inspired the Tapestry: the swift, bloody Battle of Hastings, in which the Norman bastard William defeated the Anglo-Saxon king, Harold, and laid claim to England under his new title, William the Conqueror. But to truly understand the connection between battle and embroidery, one must retrace the web of international intrigue and scandal that climaxed at Hastings. Bloch demonstrates how, with astonishing intimacy and immediacy, the artisans who fashioned this work of textile art brought to life a moment that changed the course of British culture and history.
Every age has cherished the Tapestry for different reasons and read new meaning into its enigmatic words and images. French nationalists in the mid-nineteenth century, fired by Tapestry's evocation of military glory, unearthed the lost French epic "The Song of Roland," which Norman troops sang as they marched to victory in 1066. As the Nazis tightened their grip on Europe, Hitler sent a team to France to study the Tapestry, decode its Nordic elements, and, at the end of the war, with Paris under siege, bring the precious cloth to Berlin. The richest horde of buried Anglo-Saxon treasure, the matchless beauty of Byzantine silk, Aesop's strange fable "The Swallow and the Linseed," the colony that Anglo-Saxon nobles founded in the Middle East following their defeat at Hastings - all are brilliantly woven into Bloch's riveting narrative.
Seamlessly integrating Norman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and Byzantine elements, the Bayeux Tapestry ranks with Chartres and the Tower of London as a crowning achievement of medieval Europe. And yet, more than a work of art, the Tapestry served as the suture that bound up the wounds of 1066.

The Bayeux tapestry: the life story of a masterpiece, by Carola Hicks, published 1 March 2007 (x + 356 pp, London: Vintage, ISBN-10: 0099450194 & ISBN-13: 9780099450191) accessible at: British Library

Identity and Status in the Bayeux Tapestry: The Iconographic and Artefactual Evidence, by M. J. Lewis and edited by C. P. Lewis, published 19 July 2007 in Anglo-Norman Studies XXIX: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2006 (article, pp.100-120, Boydell Press, ISBN-13: 9781843833093)   View Online

The Interpretation of Gesture in the BayeuxTapestry, by G. R. Owen-Crocker and edited by C. P. Lewis, published 19 July 2007 in Anglo-Norman Studies XXIX: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2006 (article, pp.145-178, Boydell Press, ISBN-13: 9781843833093)   View Online

The Political Artistry of the Bayeux Tapestry: A Visual Epic of Norman Imperial Ambitions , by John Michael Crafton, published 30 December 2007 (iii + 197 pp., Edwin Mellen Press, ISBN-10: 0773453180 & ISBN-13: 9780773453180) accessible at: British Library

The alternation between present and past time in the telling of the Bayeux tapestry story, by G. Beech, published 2008 in Annales de Normandie : revue trimestrielle d'études régionales (vol. 58, no. 1/2, article, pp.7-24)

The Real World of the Bayeux Tapestry, by Michael J. Lewis, published 6 October 2008 (192 pp., Stroud: History Press, ISBN-10: 0752434462 & ISBN-13: 9780752434469) accessible at: British Library

The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most celebrated surviving works of art, as well as recounting the story of one of the most famous episodes of British history. Yet much about the object itself remains a mystery; who commissioned it, and where, when and why was it made? In this introduction to the Tapestry, Michael Lewis looks not only at the story of the Tapestry itself, but also explores the design and production of this great artefact, and looks at how reliable the evidence it presents for 1066 actually is. In a fresh and dynamic approach to one of the 11th century's most famous survivors, this book attempts to dispel some of the myths attached to a traditional interpretation of the tapestry and its message.

1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry, by Andrew Bridgeford, published 2009 (368 pp., Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN-10: 0802719406 & ISBN-13: 9780802719409) accessible at: British Library

For more than 900 years the Bayeux Tapestry has preserved one of history's greatest dramas: the Norman Conquest of England, culminating in the death of King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Historians have held for centuries that the majestic tapestry trumpets the glory of William the Conqueror and the victorious Normans. But is this true? In 1066, a brilliant piece of historical detective work, Andrew Bridgeford reveals a very different story that reinterprets and recasts the most decisive year in English history.
Reading the tapestry as if it were a written text, Bridgeford discovers a wealth of new information subversively and ingeniously encoded in the threads, which appears to undermine the Norman point of view while presenting a secret tale undetected for centuries-an account of the final years of Anglo-Saxon England quite different from the Norman version.
Bridgeford brings alive the turbulent 11th century in western Europe, a world of ambitious warrior bishops, court dwarfs, ruthless knights, and powerful women. 1066 offers readers a rare surprise-a book that reconsiders a long-accepted masterpiece, and sheds new light on a pivotal chapter of English history.

Regarding the spectators of the Bayeux Tapestry: Bishop Odo and his circle, by T. A. Heslop, published 2009 in Art History (vol. 32, no 2, article, pp.223-249)

The Bayeux Tapestry: New Interpretations, edited by Martin Kennedy Foys, Karen Eileen Overbey and Dan Terkla, published 20 August 2009 (248 pp., Woodbridge: Boydell Press, ISBN-10: 1843834707 & ISBN-13: 9781843834700) accessible at: British Library

In the past two decades, scholarly assessment of the Bayeux Tapestry has moved beyond studies of its sources and analogues, dating, origin and purpose, and site of display. This volume demonstrates the value of more recent interpretive approaches to this famous and iconic artefact, by examining the textile's materiality, visuality, reception and historiography, and its constructions of gender, territory and cultural memory. The essays it contains frame discussions vital to the future of Tapestry scholarship and are complemented by a bibliography covering three centuries of critical writings

Questioning the Archaeological Authority of the Bayeux Tapestry, by M. J. Lewis, published 2010 in Cultural and Social History: The Journal of the Social History Society (vol. 7, issue 4, article, pp.467-484)   View Online

The Bayeux Tapestry is the earliest known visual record of the events leading to the Norman Conquest of England. In view of this fact, the poor survival of eleventh-century material culture, and the dearth of contemporary imagery depicting secular life on the eve of the Conquest, it is no surprise that historians and archaeologists have quarried it as a source for contemporary life (and death) in the eleventh century. However, have scholars been sufficiently critical of its authority in this respect? Is it reasonable to expect that the medieval artist would 'accurately' depict the world around him, given that the medieval artistic tradition was one where it was customary for artists to repeat pictorial formulae and reuse them in new contexts? With this in mind, the article considers the Tapestry as an example where scholars have utilized its imagery as a factual record of the 'real world' without due caution.

Bayeux Tapestry Secrets, by Bob Mealing, published 31 July 2010 (32 pp., Pikin Publishing, ISBN-10: 1841653241 & ISBN-13: 9781841653242)

"Garments so Chequered": the Bible of Citeaux, the Bayeux Tapestry and the Vair Pattern, by D. Phoenix, published September 2010 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 90, article, pp.195-210)   View Online

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts three curious chequered garments. These garments are usually identified as gambesons, or some form of scaled armour. Several scholars have observed similar garments in the early twelfth-century Bible of Cîteaux. The Cîteaux garments are depicted in a pattern later used to represent fur (called 'vair') in heraldic art. This identification is confirmed by the pattern's usage in cloak linings, but its simultaneous appearance as tunic material is unfamiliar in later art. The Cîteaux tunics suggest the possibility that the Bayeux garments may also have been intended to represent fur tunics. Reasons for that identification, as well as problems with the identification, are considered.

The Breton Campaign and the possibility that the Bayeux Tapestry as produced in the Loire Valley (St Florent of Saumur), by George T. Beech, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.10-16, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

Decoding Operation Matilda: the Bayeux Tapestry, the Nazis, and German Pan-Nationalism, by Shirley Ann Brown, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.17-26, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

Backing up the virtual Bayeux Tapestry: facsimiles as attachment disorders, or turning over the other side of the underneath, by Richard Burt, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.27-36, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

The hidden face of the Bayeux Tapestry, by Sylvette Lemagnen, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.37-43, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

The storage chest and the repairs and changes in the Bayeux Tapestry, by David Hill, John McSween, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.44-51, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

Edward the Confessor's succession according to the Bayeux Tapestry, by Pierre Bouet, François Neveux, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.59-65, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

How to be rich: the presentation of Earl Harold in the early sections of the Bayeux Tapestry, by Ann Williams, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.66-70, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

Robert of Mortain and the Bayeux Tapestry, by David S. Spear, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.75-80, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

Hic Est Miles: some images of three knights: Turold, Wadard and Vital, by Hirokazu Tsurushima, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.81-91, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

Leofwine and Gyrth: depicting the deaths of the brothers in the Bayeux Tapestry, by Michael R. Davis, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.92-95, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

The Bayeux Tapestry: faces and places, by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.96-104, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

The Bayeux Tapestry and Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11, by Michael J. Lewis, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.105-111, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

Dining with distinction: drinking vessels and difference in the Bayeux Tapestry feast scenes, by Carol Neuman de Vegvar, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.112-120, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

Slippery as an eel: Harold's ambigious heroics in the Bayeux Tapestry, by Jill Frederick, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.121-126, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

The Bayeux Tapestry, dendrochronology, and Hadstock Door, by Jane Geddes, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.127-135, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

Portals of the Bayeux Tapestry: visual experience, spatial representation, and oral performance, by Linda Elaine Neagley, published 15 January 2011 in The Bayeux Tapestry: new approaches (pp.136-146, Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765)

The Bayeux Tapestry: New Approaches, edited by Michael J. Lewis, Gale R. Owen-Crocker and Dan Terkla, published 30 March 2011 (196 pp., Oxford: Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1842179764 & ISBN-13: 9781842179765) accessible at: British Library

The Bayeux Tapestry, perhaps the most famous, yet enigmatic, of medieval artworks, was the subject of an international conference at the British Museum in July 2008. This volume publishes 19 of 26 papers delivered at that conference.
The physical nature of the tapestry is examined, including an outline of the artefact's current display and the latest conservation and research work done on it, as well as a review of the many repairs and alterations that have been made to the Tapestry over its long history.
Also examined is the social history of the tapestry, including Shirley Ann Brown's paper on the Nazi's interest in it as a record of northern European superiority and Pierre Bouet and François Neveux's suggestion that it is a source for understanding the succession crisis of 1066.
Among those papers focusing on the detail of the Tapestry, Gale Owen-Crocker examines the Tapestry's faces, Carol Neuman de Vegvar investigates the Tapestry's drinking vessels and explores differences in its feast scenes, and Michael Lewis compares objects depicted in the Tapestry and Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11.
The book also includes a résumé of four papers given at the conference published elsewhere and a full black and white facsimile of the Tapestry, with its figures numbered for ease of referencing.

King Harold II and the Bayeux Tapestry, by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, published 19 May 2011 (Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, reprint edition, 214 pp., Boydell Press, ISBN-10: 1843836157 & ISBN-13: 9781843836155)

Harold II is chiefly remembered today, perhaps unfairly, for the brevity of his reign and his death at the Battle of Hastings. The papers collected here seek to shed new light on the man and his milieu before and after that climax. They explore the long career and the dynastic network behind Harold Godwinesson's accession on the death of King Edward the Confessor in January 1066, looking in particular at the important questions as to whether Harold's kingship was opportunist or long-planned; a usurpation or a legitimate succession in terms of his Anglo-Scandinavian kinships? They also examine the posthumous legends that Harold survived Hastings and lived on as a religious recluse. The essays in the second part of the volume focus on the Bayeux Tapestry, bringing out the small details which would have resonated significantly for contemporary audiences, both Norman and English, to suggest how they judged Harold and the other players in the succession drama of 1066. Other aspects of the Tapestry are also covered: the possible patron and locations the Tapestry was produced for; where and how it was designed; and the various sources - artistic and real - employed by the artist. Contributors: H.E.J. Cowdrey, Nicholas J. Higham, Ian Howard, Gillian Fellows-Jensen, Stephen Matthews, S.L. Keefer, Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Chris Henige, Catherine Karkov, Shirley Ann Brown, C.R. Hart, Michael Lewis.

A feast for the eyes: representing Odo at the banquet in the Bayeux Embroidery, by Elizabeth Carson Pastan, published 2012 in Haskins Society Journal (vol. 22, article, pp.83-122)

The Bayeux Tapestry: New Interpretations, by C. M. Bowie, published 2012 in French history (vol. 26, no. 2, article, pp.245-247)

Hunger for England: Ambition and Appetite in the Bayeux Tapestry, by G. R. Owen-Crocker, published 2012 in English studies : a journal of English letters and philology (vol. 93, no. 5, article, pp.539-548)   View Online

The Bayeux Tapestry's theme of political ambition in the eventual rivals for the throne of Anglo-Saxon England is enforced by its two feast scenes in the main register, and the many border images of animals and birds eating, of creatures stalking, chasing and capturing prey and of human beings both hunting animals and cultivating the soil.

The Beasts who Talk on the Bayeux Embroidery: The Fables Revisited, by S. D. White and edited by D. Bates, published 19 July 2012 in Anglo-Norman Studies XXXIV: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2011 (article, pp.209-236, Boydell Press, ISBN-13: 9781843837350)   View Online

Just as the central frieze of the Bayeux Embroidery depicts Harold dux Anglorum and his milites leaving a second-story banquet hall at Bosham, boarding ship and sailing out to sea, the lower border shows the first in an uninterrupted series of Aesopian fables, the last of which appears just as the English reach land and are captured by a lord called Guy (W 4-8). Previous writers on the embroidery are generally agreed that the series includes eight fables, referred to here as the ?canonical' eight to distinguish them from other fables also represented, but rarely if ever noticed. They can be summarized as follows. In Fox and Crow - which reappears first in the lower border, after Harold meets with William, duke of the Normans (W 18), and then in the upper one, as he returns to England (W 27-8) - the crow found a piece of cheese, but the fox tricked him into dropping it and ate it himself. The wolf in Wolf and Lamb met the lamb drinking from a stream and made false charges against him, which the lamb rebutted. But the wolf ate him anyway. Bitch and Puppies - which the lower border shows again, shortly before the battle of Hastings (W 59-60) - tells how one bitch loaned her lair to another who was pregnant and later allowed her to keep it until her puppies were older.

The Bayeux Tapestry, by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, published 24 December 2012 (374 pp., Routledge, ISBN-10: 1409446638 & ISBN-13: 9781409446637)   View Online

This collection of fifteen papers ranges from the author's initial interest in the Tapestry as a source of information on early medieval dress, through to her startling recognition of the embroidery's sophisticated narrative structure. Developing the work of previous authors who had identified graphic models for some of the images, she argues that not just the images themselves but the contexts from which they were drawn should be taken in to account in 'reading' the messages of the Tapestry. In further investigating the minds and hands behind this, the largest non-architectural artefact surviving from the Middle Ages, she ranges over the seams, the embroidery stitches, the language and artistry of the inscription, the potential significance of borders and the gestures of the figures in the main register, always scrutinising detail informatively. She identifies an over-riding conception and house style in the Tapestry, but also sees different hands at work in both needlecraft and graphics. Most intriguingly, she recognises an sub-contractor with a Roman source and a clownish wit. The author is Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at The University of Manchester, UK, a specialist in Old English poetry, Anglo-Saxon material culture and medieval dress and textiles.
Contents:

• Preface, Shirley Ann Brown
• Introduction
• Part I Textile: Behind the Bayeux Tapestry; The Bayeux 'tapestry': invisible seams and visible boundaries; Fur, feathers, skin, fibre, wood: representational techniques in the Bayeux Tapestry
• Part II Sources: Reading the Bayeux Tapestry through Canterbury eyes; Stylistic variation and Roman influence in the Bayeux Tapestry
• Part III Narrative Devices: The embroidered word: text in the Bayeux Tapestry. Telling a tale: narrative techniques in the Bayeux Tapestry and the Old English epic Beowulf; Brothers, rivals and the geometry of the Bayeux Tapestry
• Part IV Borders: Squawk talk: commentary by birds in the Bayeux Tapestry?; The Bayeux tapestry: the voice from the border
• Part V Dress: The Bayeux 'tapestry': culottes, tunics and garters and the making of the hanging; Dress and authority in the Bayeux Tapestry
• Part VI Detail: Embroidered wood: animal-headed posts in the Bayeux 'Tapestry'; The interpretation of gesture in the Bayeux Tapestry; Hawks and horse-trappings: the insignia of rank
• Index.

The Man Behind the Bayeux Tapestry: Odo, William the Conqueror's Half-Brother, by Trevor Rowley, published 1 March 2013 (192 pp., Stroud: The History Press, ISBN-10: 0752460250 & ISBN-13: 9780752460253) accessible at: British Library

Odo of Conteville, the younger half-brother of William the Conqueror, was ordained Bishop of Bayeux while still in his teens. A larger than life character, he is best known for commissioning the Bayeaux Tapestry, in which he makes a dashing appearance at the height of the Battle of Hastings. He also played a pivotal role in the planning and implementation of the Conquest of England, after which, as Earl of Kent, he was second only to William in wealth and power.
The popular impression of Odo is of a not so loveable rogue, who typified the worst excesses of the Norman conquerors. He was the first Chief Justice of England and on occasion also acted as regent when the king was in Normandy. After defrauding both Crown and Church, however, Odo was disgraced and his plans to raise an unauthorised army for a campaign in Italy, possibly in order to gain the papacy, saw him imprisoned for five years. He was released by the dying William in 1087, but soon rebelled against the new king, his nephew William Rufus.

The Role of the Curator of the Bayeux Tapestry, by Sylvette Lemagnen and edited by D. Bates, published 18 July 2013 in Anglo-Norman Studies XXXV: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2012 (article, pp.35-44, Boydell Press, ISBN-13: 9781843838579)   View Online

The Identity of the Designer of the Bayeux Tapestry, by H. B. Clarke and edited by D. Bates, published 18 July 2013 in Anglo-Norman Studies XXXV: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2012 (article, pp.119-140, Boydell Press, ISBN-13: 9781843838579)   View Online

Is the Bayeux embroidery a record of events ?, by Stephen D. White, published 2014 in The Bayeux Tapestry and its contexts (article, pp.33-58)

". . . Velis ventoplenis . . .": Sea Crossings in the Bayeux Tapestry, by G. R. Owen-Crocker, S. S. Klein, W. Schipper and S. Lewis-Simpson, published 2014 in Medieval & Renaissance texts & studies (vol. 118, article, pp.131-156)

The Bayeux Tapestry and Its Contexts: A Reassessment, by Elizabeth Carson Pastan, Stephen D. White and Kate Gilbert, published 18 November 2014 (xxvi + 415 pp. 32 pp. of plates, Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, ISBN-10: 1843839415 & ISBN-13: 9781843839415) accessible at: British Library

Aspects of the Bayeux Tapestry (in fact an embroidered hanging) have always remained mysterious, despite much scholarly investigation, not least its design and patron. Here, in the first full-length interdisciplinary approach to the subject, the authors (an art historian and a historian) consider these and other issues. Rejecting the prevalent view that it was commissioned by Odo, the bishop of Bayeux and half-brother of William the Conqueror, or by some other comparable patron, they bring new evidence to bear on the question of its relationship to the abbey of St Augustine's, Canterbury. From the study of art-historical, archeological, literary, historical and documentary materials, they conclude that the monks of St Augustine's designed the hanging for display in their abbey church to tell their own story of how England was invaded and conquered in 1066. Elizabeth Carson Pastan is a Professor of Art History at Emory University; Stephen D. White is Asa G. Candler Professor of Medieval History (emeritus), Emory University, and an Honorary Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews.

The Bayeux Tapestry: a critically annotated bibliography, by John F. Szabo and Nicholas E. Kuefler, published 18 June 2015 (576 pp., Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, ISBN-10: 1442251557 & ISBN-13: 9781442251557)

Commanding its own museum and over 200 years of examination, observation and scholarship, the monumental embroidery, known popularly as the Bayeux Tapestry and documenting William the Conqueror's invasion of England in October 1066, is perhaps the most important surviving artifact of the Middle Ages. This magnificent textile, both celebrated and panned, is both enigmatic artwork and confounding historical record. With over 1780 entries, Szabo and Kuefler offer the largest and most heavily annotated bibliography on the Tapestry ever written. Notably, the Bayeux Tapestry has produced some of the most compelling questions of the medieval period: Who commissioned it and for what purpose? What was the intended venue for its display? Who was the designer and who executed the enormous task of its manufacture? How does it inform our understanding of eleventh-century life? And who was the mysterious Aelfgyva, depicted in the Tapestry's main register? This book is an effort to capture and describe the scholarship that attempts to answer these questions. But the bibliography also reflects the popularity of the Tapestry in literature covering a surprisingly broad array of subjects. The inclusion of this material will assist future scholars who may study references to the work in contemporary non-fiction and popular works as well as use of the Bayeux Tapestry as a primary and secondary source in the classroom. The monographs, articles and other works cited in this bibliography reflect dozens of research areas. Major themes are: the Tapestry as a source of information for eleventh-century material culture, its role in telling the story of the Battle of Hastings and events leading up to the invasion, patronage of the Tapestry, biographical detail on known historical figures in the Tapestry, arms and armor, medieval warfare strategy and techniques, opus anglicanum (the Anglo-Saxon needlework tradition), preservation and display of the artifact, the Tapestry's place in medieval art, the embroidery's depiction of medieval and Romanesque architecture, and the life of the Bayeux Tapestry itself.

Intertextuality in the Bayeux Tapestry: the form and function of dress and clothing, by Michael Lewis, published 2016 in Textiles, Text, Intertext: Essays in Honour of Gale R. Owen-Crocker (article, pp.69-84)

Birds of a feather: magpies in the Bayeux Tapestry ? , by Michael Lewis, published 2016 in Textiles, Text, Intertext: Essays in Honour of Gale R. Owen-Crocker (article, pp.85-102)

Turold, Wadard and Vitalis: Why Are They on the Bayeux Tapestry?, by Hugh M. Thomas and edited by Elisabeth Van Houts, published 2016 in Anglo-Norman Studies XXXVIII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2015 (vol. 38, article, pp.181-197, Boydell Press, ISBN-13: 9781783271016)   View Online

An Archaeological Study of the Bayeux Tapestry: The Landscapes, Buildings and Places, by Trevor Rowley, published 30 September 2016 (192 pp., Pen & Sword Archaeology, ISBN-10: 1781593809 & ISBN-13: 9781781593806)

An Archaeological Study of the Bayeux Tapestry provides a unique re-examination of this famous piece of work through the historical geography and archaeology of the tapestry. Trevor Rowley is the first author to have analysed the tapestry through the landscapes, buildings and structures shown, such as towns and castles, while comparing them to the landscapes, buildings, ruins and earthworks which can be seen today. By comparing illustrated extracts from the tapestry to historical and contemporary illustrations, maps and reconstructions Rowley is able to provide the reader with a unique visual setting against which they are able to place the events on the tapestry. This approach allows Rowley to challenge a number of generally accepted assumptions regarding the location of several scenes in the tapestry, most controversially suggesting that William may never have gone to Hastings at all. Finally, Rowley tackles the missing end of the tapestry, suggesting the places and events which would have been depicted on this portion of William s journey to Westminster.