1066 ANDREW BRIDGEFORD 1066 The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry Copyright © 2004 by Andrew Bridgeford All rights reserved No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews For information address Walker & Company, 104 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011 Reproductions of the Bayeux Tapestry by special authorization of Bayeux Town Published in 2006 by Walker Publishing Company Inc Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers All papers used by Walker & Company are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in well-managed forests The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardback edition of this book under LCCN: 2004381071 eISBN: 978-0-802-71940-9 Originally published in Great Britain in 2004 by Fourth Estate First published in the United States in 2005 by Walker & Company This paperback edition published by Walker & Company in 2006 Visit Walker & Company's Web site at www.walkerbooks.com Printed in the United States of America by Quebecor World Fairfield 10 Eventually All things decline Everything falters, dies and ends Towers cave in, walls collapse Roses wither, horses stumble Cloth grows old, men expire Iron rusts and timber rots away Nothing made by hand will last I understand the truth That all must die, both clerk and lay And the fame of men now dead Will quickly be forgotten Unless the clerk takes up his pen And brings their deeds to life again Wace, Roman de Rou, III, ll 131-142 (c 1170) Contents Map of Northern France and England Genealogical chart: England Genealogical chart: Normandy Genealogical chart: Charlemagne/ Boulogne/Jerusalem Genealogical chart: Ponthieu In Search of the Bayeux Tapestry A Tale of Consequence: The Impact of Conquest Sources Stitches in Time The Strange Journey of Harold Godwinson The Fox and the Crow The English Decision Invasion The Battle of Hastings 10 English Art and Embroidery 11 A Connection with Bishop Odo of Bayeux 12 The Bayeux Tapestry and the Babylonian Conquest of the Jews 13 The Tanner's Grandsons 14 The Scion of Charlemagne 15 Count Eustace and the Death of King Harold 16 Eustace and the Attack on Dover 17 The Downfall of Bishop Odo 18 Turold the Dwarf 19 The Scandal of Ỉlfgyva 20 Wadard and Vital 21 Bayeux Cathedral and the Mystery of Survival 22 The Patronage of the Bayeux Tapestry Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgements References to scene numbers in the book refer to scenes in the first plate section References to plates correspond to images in the second plate section Montfaucon, Bernard de, Les Monuments de la monarchic franỗaise, vol II (Paris, 1730) Morton, Catherine, 'Pope Alexander II and the Norman Conquest', Latomus 34 (1975), pp 362-82 Morton, Catherine and Muntz, Hope, The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio of Guy Bishop of Amiens (Oxford, 1972) Musset, Lucien, La Tapisserie de Bayeux (Paris, 2002) Nicholas, Lynn, The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War (London, 1995) Orderic Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, ed and tr Marjorie Chibnall, vols (Oxford, 1969-80) Owen, D D R 'The Epic and History: Chanson de Roland and Carmen de Hastingae Proelio', Medium Ævum 11 (1982), pp 18-34 Peckham, D W., 'The Bosham Myth of Canute's Daughter', Sussex Notes and Queries XVII 6, pp 179-84 Platts, Beryl, Origins of Heraldry (London, 1980) Pollock, John, Harold Rex: Is King Harold II Buried in Bosham Church? (Bosham, 1996) Prentout, H., 'Les Sources de la conquête de l'Angleterre', Bulletin Annuel de la Societe Jersiaise, 1923, pp 27-8 —,'Essai d'identification des personnages inconnus de la tapisserie de Bayeux', Revue Historique 176 (1935), pp 14-23; translated and reprinted as 'An Attempt to Identify Some Unknown Characters in the Bayeux Tapestry', in Gameson (ed.), The Study of the Bayeux Tapestry Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades, vols (London, 1990) Short, Ian, 'The Language of the Bayeux Tapestry Inscription', Anglo-Norman Studies 23 (2001), pp 267-80 Simeon of Durham, Opera Omnia, ed T Arnold, vols (London, 1882,1885) Smith, Mary F., 'Archbishop Stigand and the Eye of the Needle', Anglo-Norman Studies 16 (1994), pp 199-219 Song of Roland, tr Glyn Burgess (London, 1990) Stenton, Frank (ed.), The Bayeux Tapestry: A Comprehensive Survey (2nd edn, London, 1965) Stevenson, W H., 'An Alleged Son of King Harold Harefoot', English Historical Review 28 (1913), pp 112-17 Stothard, C A., 'Some Observations on the Bayeux Tapestry', Archaeologia (1821), pp 184-91; reprinted in Gameson (ed.), The Study of the Bayeux Tapestry Tabuteau, Emily Zack, 'The Role of Law in the Succession to Normandy and England, 1087', The Haskins Society Journal (1991), pp 141-9 Tanner, Heather J., 'The Expansion of the Power and Influence of the Counts of Boulogne under Count Eustace IF, Anglo-Norman Studies 14 (1992), pp 251-86 ——, 'Between Scylla and Charybdis: The Political Role of the Comital Family of Boulogne in Northern France and England (879-1159)', unpublished Ph.D thesis (1993) Taylor, Arnold J., 'Belrem', Anglo-Norman Studies 14 (1992), pp 1-23 Thomson, W G., A History of Tapestry (3rd edn, London, 1973) Urry, W., 'The Normans in Canterbury', Annales de Normandie (1958), pp 119-36 Vallery-Radot, Jean, La Cathedrale de Bayeux (Paris, n.d., c 1926) Van Houts, Elisabeth, M C., 'The Ship List of William the Conqueror', Anglo-Norman Studies 10 (1988), pp 159-83; reprinted in van Houts, History and Family Traditions, chapter ——, 'The Norman Conquest Through European Eyes', English Historical Review 110 (1995), pp 832-53; reprinted in van Houts, History and Family Traditions, chapter ——, 'Wace as Historian', in K S B Keats-Rohan (ed.), Family Trees and the Roots of Politics (Woodbridge, 1997); reprinted in van Houts, History and Family Traditions, chapter 10 ——, History and Family Traditions in England and the Continent, 1000-1200 (Aldershot, 1999) ——, 'The Echo of the Conqest in Latin Sources: Duchess Matilda, Her Daughters and the Enigma of the Golden Child', forthcoming in La Tapisserie de Bayeux/The Bayeux Tapestry, ed B Levy and F Neveux (Caen) Verchere, Chantal, 'Peripherie et croisement: aspect du nain dans la litterature medievale', in Exclus et systemes d'exclusions dans la litterature medievale (Aix-en-Provence, 1978) Villion, Pierre, Visions secretes de la tapisserie de Bayeux (Caen, 1987) Von Choltitz, Dietrich, 'Pouquoi, en 1944, je n'ai pas detruit Paris', Le Figaro, 12 October 1949 Wace, The Roman de Rou, ed and tr Glyn Burgess (Jersey, 2002) Walker, Ian W., Harold: The Last Anglo-Saxon King (Stroud, 1997) The Waltham Chronicle, ed and tr L Watkins and Marjorie Chibnall (Oxford, 1994) William of Jumieges, The Gesta Normannorum Ducem of William of Jumieges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Vol I, ed and tr Elisabeth M C van Houts (Oxford, 1995 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, vol I, ed and tr R A B Mynors, R M Thomson and M Winterbottom (Oxford, 1998) William of Poitiers, The Gesta Guillelmi of William of Poitiers, ed and tr R H C Davis and Marjorie Chibnall (Oxford, 1998) Williams, Ann, 'Some Notes and Considerations on Problems Connected with the English Royal Succession 860-1066', Battle (1978), pp 144-233 ——, 'Land and Power in the Eleventh Century: The Estates of Harold Godwinson', Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies (1981), pp 171-87 ——, The English and the Norman Conquest (Woodbridge, 1995) Wilson, David, The Bayeux Tapestry (London, 1985) Wissolik, Richard D., 'The Saxon Statement: Code in the Bayeux Tapestry', Annuale Mediaevale 19 (1979), pp 69-97 ——, 'The Monk Eadmer as Historian of the Norman Succession: Korner and Freeman Examined', The American Benedictine Review, 30.1 (1979), 32-43 Wormald, Francis, 'Style and Design', in Stenton (ed.), Bayeux Tapestry Acknowledgements During my research for this book both the British Library in London and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris moved from their famous, older buildings to equally splendid new homes What has been lost in historic atmosphere has been readily gained in efficiency and my thanks are due to all the library staff who have assisted me there, as well as to the librarians of Cambridge University Library, the Societe Jersisaise, the Jersey Public Library and several other institutions I have had the advantage of corresponding with, and sometimes meeting, many of the leading scholars of the Norman Conquest Too numerous to mention by name, many of their works are listed in the Bibliography It has certainly been an exciting time to research this period Many of the leading sources have been republished in authoritative new English editions; researching in libraries, always a pleasure, has been made immeasurably easier with the advent of computerised indexes; and more and more material is becoming freely available on the Internet My thanks cannot but be due to all the scholars whose expert work I have consulted Inevitably, however, many questions are left without certain answer; the light of history shines only sporadically on the eleventh century This remains a personal book, which argues for a new vision of the Bayeux Tapestry The passage from the Roman de Rou by Wace quoted at the beginning of this book is rendered in my own interpretation Where the Roman de Rou is quoted elsewhere, I have used Professor Glyn Burgess' recent prose translation I am grateful to the Societe Jersiaise for permission to quote from that translation; to Oxford University Press for permission to quote from translations of the various Latin sources published in the Oxford Medieval Texts series; to Everyman's Library for permission to quote from the translation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle by Professor Michael Swanton; to Penguin Books for permission to quote from Professor Burgess's translation of the Chanson de Roland Further details of these books may be found in the Bibliography The Bayeux Tapestry has been reproduced by kind permission of the City of Bayeux My correspondence with Beryl Platts has been long and (for me) fruitful Valentine Fallan of W.A.C.E has kept me abreast on matters pertaining to Wace and has been a source of much information and encouragement My gratitude is also due to many other people who have volunteered information or helped in various ways, including Catherine Cooper, Nicholas Falla, Rod McLoughlin, Dr S Pavan and Mark and Julie Temple I am grateful to the Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge, for affording me the facilities of the Senior Combination Room during 2000; to the partners of Crills for allowing me a six-month sabbatical in 1998; to them and latterly the partners of Carey Olsen for their continued interest and encouragement; to my agent A M Heath & Co Limited; and to Fourth Estate for seeing this book through to publication Finally I must thank my wife who, when she married me, little knew that she was marrying this book as well and has suffered many of its attendant tribulations To her and our daughter this book is offered as an imperfect tribute For the paperback edition I have taken the opportunity to make some minor corrections and changes I am also grateful for further information provided by Richard Knowles F.S.A and Richard Michel ... 1066 ANDREW BRIDGEFORD 1066 The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry Copyright © 2004 by Andrew Bridgeford All rights reserved No part of this... mysterious events that occurred a year or two before 1066 - the crucial background to what followed before building to a climax with the events that made 1066 the most decisive year in English history... Column by more than a third of its height The dramatic story of the Norman invasion of England in 1066 is set out in these threads, stitched by contemporaries and preserved and displayed here, in