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 


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=191000051


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=191000908

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.




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