My thoughts on 1066 events: August 2026

Saturday, 29 August 2026

Battle of Hastings - How the Bayeux Tapestry has been corrupted!

How the Bayeux Tapestry has been corrupted!

You're thinking that the headline is pretty strong and may be even clickbait. I'm going to show you why I think the Establishment has lost the plot and it all begins over 200 years ago.....

The Tapestry was scheduled to be displayed at the Louvre in Paris in 1803/04. Up until then it couldn't have been an object worthy of study but some French historians decided they would study it and needed a quick way to reference particular points of the Tapestry.

The historians came up with an easy way to reference the Tapestry by aligning "scenes" with the Latin inscriptions which seem to align with the illustrations below as seen below for Scene 50

By https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/la-tapisserie-de-bayeux/decouvrir-la-tapisserie-de-bayeux/explorer-la-tapisserie-de-bayeux-en-ligne/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=190988073

However, the one sentence per illustration breaks down when the Tapestry tries to depict the Battle. Here's Scene 52

Here's the content descriptors.

For the first part A part of scene 52 of the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting men battling

For the Second part A part of scene 52 of the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting Leofwine and Gyrth, brothers of King Harold, falling

And just for good measure here's Scene 53

By Université de Caen Normandie · CNRS · ENSICAEN d'après la campagne photographique 2017 de la Fabrique de patrimoines en Normandie. - https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/la-tapisserie-de-bayeux/decouvrir-la-tapisserie-de-bayeux/explorer-la-tapisserie-de-bayeux-en-ligne/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=190856988

What is impossible for historians to see is the difference in activity between Part A and Part B and half of Scene 53. In Scene 52 part A one can see the shield wall intact and the English facing Eustace of Boulogne ( according to The Chronicle of Battle Abbey author). In Part B, I can see is mounted knights coming at the Huscarls/thegns from both left and right and this spills over into over into Scene 53. Also notice no one is running away i.e no Fyrd or levees are present. This echoes William of Poitiers account ( Gesta Guillelmi) "Full of zeal the Normans surrounded some thousands who had pursued them and destroyed them in a moment, so that not a single one survived."

If you can see a reason why Scene 52 part A and B should be together please make a comment otherwise please get a professional historian to give a reason other that that's how the French Historians saw it in the early 1800's. I'd love to hear it.

Wednesday, 5 August 2026

Battle of Hastings - Interesting factoid about the Bayeux Tapestry

Interesting factoid about the Bayeux Tapestry

Just a quick entry about an interesting fact concerning the Bayeux Tapestry.

Have you ever wondered why the Bayeux Tapestry has 58 scenes and not 70 or 5?

Apparently it is all tied to the writing on the Tapestry. Back in 1804/5 just before going on display in the Paris Louvre Museum, historians wanted to be able to refer to specific parts of the Tapestry quickly and they noticed that the Latin sentences seemed to be relevant to the embroidered scene below or in close proximity to the scene. Hence the 58 scenes.

The part of the Tapestry that deals with the actual battle(s) is where the above breaks down.

If you look at scenes 51 (a and b) and 52 (a) they form a cohesive picture of the Norman knights advancing to contact with the English heavy infantry and attacking said infantry from the rear ( Eustace of Boulogne according to the Chronicle of Battle Abbey). The English are in good order i.e. within their shield wall so the stage is set for an engagement. So here we have the embroidered scene not being in sync with the writing on the Tapestry.

Now cast an eye at Scenes 52 (b) and half of Scene 53. This time, although the horses are in the same configuration as the combined scenes 51 and 52 (a), the English heavy infantry seem to have been reduced to the last survivors of the previous scenes. Again the text is not in sync with the images.

So now, half of scene 53, scene 54, scene 55 and scene 56 form yet another episode in the battle ( the start of the main battle imo). Finally, we have the death of Harold and the remaining Huscarls and routing peasantry in scenes 57 and 58.

From the above historians have a dilemma. Do they side with the French historians of the early 19th century or do they remain faithful to the peasantry, the great unwashed and unlettered so to speak, and interpret the Tapestry according to what is shown on the Tapestry. I'm going to invite a historian that I have had dealings with before for his comments. I'll add his comments below.