The Bayeux Tapestry, a 70-meter-long embroidered linen cloth which narrates the story of the Norman conquest of England in 1066 has been said to be "one of the most powerful pieces of visual propaganda ever produced, as well as one of the few medieval works of art familiar to almost everyone in the Western world."[1] The tapestry has compelled many people to study and question who commissioned it and for what purpose.[2] The tapestry is currently located in Bayeux, Normandy and is protected by a glass case.[3] The Bayeux Tapestry Tituli are Medieval Latin captions that are embroidered along the Bayeux Tapestry scenes and describe the portrayed re-enactments on the tapestry. The tituli, comprising 2,226 characters and symbols, is the longest known text of its kind.[4] These depicted events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, culminating in the Battle of Hastings.
Description
Many palaeographers who study manuscripts can distinguish different hands within the writings on manuscripts. Although Bayeux Tapestry scholars have proven, so far, that there were different scribes at work, there are subtle differences between similar letters along the entire tapestry.[4] For example, at Scene 17 the 'e' letters, both Roman and uncial, in the top line of the tituli have elegant serifs with tiny points; those in the lower two lines have straight bars.[4] As well as in scenes 52 to 57, different techniques and colorings suggest different writers.
The Bayeux Tapestry was most likely commissioned by William the Conqueror's half-brother, Bishop Odo, possibly at the same time as Bayeux Cathedral's construction in the 1070s, and completed by 1077 in time for display on the cathedral's dedication. It is embroidered in woolyarn on a tabby-wovenlinen ground using outline or stem stitch for detailing and lettering. A dark blue wool, almost black, is used for most of the tapestry's lettering but towards the end other colors are used, sometimes for each word and other times for each letter.
Detail of embroidered lettering
The content of the hanging is primarily pictorial but tituli are included on many scenes of the action to point out names of people and places or to explain briefly the event being depicted.[5] The text is in Latin (which for the most part is grammatically correct), and is extremely direct, with each statement being closely tied to the scenes depicted in a given section.[6][7] The text is frequently abbreviated as indicated by tildes placed over words at the place of omission of a letter. The words themselves are often demarcated by two points (which Lucien Musset likens to colons); sometimes, more important section breaks are demarcated by three points. Many personal names, mostly in English, are not Latinised and the same applies for names of places in England and for Beaurain "Belrem" in France. In places the spelling shows an English influence, such as the phrase "at Hestenga ceastra", which in proper Latin would be "ad Hastingae castra".[6] Some French names are either archaic ("Rednes") or anglicised ("Bagias").[8] Sometimes "Franci" is used to describe the Normans who at that time certainly did not regard themselves as French.[9]
Notable Scenes
Scene 12
Scene 12 is another notable scene, however it is studied because of its tituli. It appears as though "a different writer took over the inscription at this point and saw himself as beginning here; or that the same scribe began a new stint of work here."[4] The upper border has dipped at this point and the birds and beasts depicted in it are large.[3] "The tituli is accordingly forced into smaller letters and is very intermittent, being fitted in round a tree, a sword, hands, spears, and birds’ heads. It seems likely that the first workshop completed the main register and the upper border, leaving the inscription (and possibly the lower border) incomplete."[4]
Scenes 29 and 30
Another notable event occurs in scenes 29 and 30, the coronation of Harold as king. In this scene, Harold is seated on the throne, with nobles to his left and Archbishop Stigand to his right. The tituli states, "Here they gave the king's crown to Harold" in scene 29, and "Here sits Harold King of the English" in scene 30.[10] The coronation of King Harold is important because as the masses are cheering for Harold, Halley's Comet appears in the sky.[11] This scene also includes a fleet of ships in the lower border, which foreshadows the Norman invasion and the English defeat at the hands of William the Conqueror.[11]
Scene 57
The most famous scene within the Bayeux Tapestry is scene fifty-seven, Harold's death. In this scene, the tituli states, "Here Wido seized Harold"[11] which can be translated to "Here King Harold was slain." Harold's death marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon era in England and births the beginning of the French Norman rule.[10] Harold appears to be plucking an arrow from his eye in the scene. According to many historians, The Bayeux Tapestry is considered one of the earliest and most convincing pieces of evidence that Harold was killed by an arrow.[3] Scene 57 also holds evidence that there were more than one "writer". Scene 52, within the first new titulus after the sixth seam, the colors change to black and yellow with intermittent red letters.[4] They continue, mostly in letters of alternating color, until Scene 57, Harold’s death. At this point green is introduced to the inscription and there are some words in black, some in the lighter greenish shade, to the present limit of the Tapestry.[4] "The change of color at Scene 57 may, again, relate to a different production team: The episode of Harold’s death also contains a seam, the eighth, although it is invisible from the front of the Tapestry."[4]
Latin text with English translation
The English translation provided here is of a literal nature, to reflect the simplicity of the captions themselves. The numbering scheme uses the scene numbers on the tapestry's backing cloth, which were added sometime around 1800.[5]
^Letters in square brackets are omitted on the tapestry either by way of abbreviation or where they are implied by a macron diacritic on the previous letter.
^The Bayeux Tapestry scholar Lucien Musset argues that "Edward" is anachronistic (as his name is spelled elsewhere on the tapestry as "Eadwardus") and that it was almost certainly added by restorers, given that the name is missing in 18th century copies.[13]
^This symbol, resembling a right-angled 7, is a Tironian note abbreviation for et ("and").[6]
^Possibly a member of either or Duke William or Bishop Odo's entourage.[16]
^ abThe significance of the cross is discussed by Norton.[17]
^A verb is missing, which makes this image the greatest mystery in the Tapestry. The historian D. C. Douglas commented as follows: "The similarity of attitude between the clerk and the semi-obscene figure in the lower margin will not escape notice, nor will the absence of a verb in the legend. Perhaps the dovecot and the doves in the upper border have an erotic significance, and the whole episode may possibly refer to some scandal, then notorious, but now advantageously forgotten".[18] Theories on the woman and her relationship with the cleric abound, ranging from being an embroidress to receiving anger, lewdness or affection on part of the clergyman.[19]
^This word is a misspelling of the demonstrative pronoun hic.[20][21]
Coatsworth, Elizabeth (2005). "Stitches in Time: Establishing a History of Anglo-Saxon Embroidery". In Netherton, Robin; Owen-Crocker, Gale R. (eds.). Medieval Clothing and Textiles. Vol. 1. Suffolk, UK: Boydell & Brewer. pp. 1–27.
Douglas, D.C., ed. (1961). "Bayeux Tapestry". English Historical Documents 1042–1189. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. pp. 232–78.
Norton, Christopher (23 October 2019). "Viewing the Bayeux Tapestry, Now and Then". Journal of the British Archaeological Association. 172 (1): 52–89. doi:10.1080/00681288.2019.1642012.
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