Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry tells one of the most famous stories in British history – that of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, particularly the battle of Hastings, which took place on 14 October 1066. The Bayeux Tapestry is not a tapestry at all, but rather an embroidery. The tapestry is some 68m long and is composed of several panels that were produced separately and then eventually sewn together to form one long whole. It was most likely made in England by English embroiderers, and while we do not have a precise date for when the Bayeux Tapestry was created, the academic consensus is that it must have been produced very soon after the events it depicts

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Unravelling the Bayeux Tapestry HistoryExtra podcast series title card

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Unravelling the Bayeux Tapestry HistoryExtra podcast series title card

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Unravelling the Bayeux Tapestry HistoryExtra podcast series title card

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Unravelling the Bayeux Tapestry HistoryExtra podcast series title card

Unravelling the Bayeux TapestryEpisode 2: How was the Tapestry created?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Unravelling the Bayeux TapestryEpisode 1: When, Where & Why. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Edgar the Aetheling is notably missing from the Bayeux Tapestry

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A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. The tapestry was most likely embroidered by women in Norman England in a workshop setting using four embroidery stitches – stem stitch; split stitch; chain stitch; and laid work, sometimes called ‘Bayeux Stitch’, says Dr Alexandra Lester-Makin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Norman cavalry on the charge in the Bayeux Tapestry. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

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Harold Godwinson is proclaimed king of England in the Bayeux Tapestry. It may have been commissioned by a Norman but this magnificent artwork repeatedly acknowledges the English leader’s piety and courage. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

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William the Conqueror (1027–87), king of England from 1066 when he beat Harold II at the battle of Hastings. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. The tapestry was most likely embroidered by women in Norman England in a workshop setting using four embroidery stitches – stem stitch; split stitch; chain stitch; and laid work, sometimes called ‘Bayeux Stitch’, says Dr Alexandra Lester-Makin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting a naked man with an erection reaching out towards a naked woman, who is covering both her face and her pudenda with her hands. (© Bayeux Museum)

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The Bayeux Tapestry depicts scenes of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. To characterise the English response in 1066 as "deliberately acquiescing" is a little hard on our 11th-century compatriots, says Professor George Garnett. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

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A scene depicted on the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

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Detail from the Bayeux tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)

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A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman conquest of England in 1066. (Photo by DEA/M. SEEMULLER via Getty Images)

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Norman cavalry charge the enemy in this detail from the Bayeux Tapestry. Debate rages over the pros and cons of the tapestry leaving France for the first time in more than 900 years. (Photo by Photo 12/Getty Images)

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A scene depicted on the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry.

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How English is the Bayeux Tapestry?

Events leading up to the battle of Hastings, and the conflict itself, are depicted in the Bayeux tapestry, a 68-metre-long embroidered frieze probably made within 20 years of the Conquest. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

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