HAROLD-AS-AENEAS? THE INFLUENCE OF THE AENEID ON A RESCUE SCENE IN THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY

A scene in the Bayeux Tapestry (c. 1072–7 ce) shows Earl Harold ‘Godwinson’ of Wessex (c. 1022–66), future king of the English (r. 1066), rescuing two Normans from drowning in the quicksand of the River Couesnon as they cross into Brittany on military campaign (see figure 1; Bayeux Tapestry Scene 17). Harold (Bayeux Tapestry Figure 152) is depicted standing more or less upright, upon embroidered lines that represent the waters of the Couesnon. As is typical for the representation of Anglo-Saxons in this, the earlier part of the embroidery, he has a ‘pudding-bowl’ haircut and is moustached. These features distinguish Harold from the Normans he saves, who have the backs of their heads shaven and are without facial hair. Harold carries one of the men ‘piggyback’ and drags the other, who has almost fallen on his back, up by his right hand. The Latin inscription above this scene is brief, but nonetheless tells us most of what we need to know to understand the imagery beneath: hIC VVILLEM DVX ET EXERCITVS EIVS VENERVNT AD MONTE[M] MIChAELIS ET hIC TRANSIERVNT FLVMEN COSNONIS. hIC hARLOLD DVX TRAhEBAT EOS DE ARENA (‘Here Duke William and his army came to Mont St Michel, and here they crossed the River Couesnon. Here Duke Harold pulled them out of the sand’).

Imagining the medieval face of battle: the ‘Malfosse’ incident and the battle of Hastings, 1066–1200*

One hundred years after the battle of Hastings (1066), two historians wished to ask new questions about what the experience of the battle was like. Their approach – both sophisticated and seemingly modern – supplemented existing knowledge with imaginative recreation to fashion a fuller historical account of the battle. This article analyses the reporting of the ‘Malfosse’ incident, a deadly quasi-legendary episode in the encounter, in Wace’s Roman de Rou and the anonymous Chronicle of Battle Abbey, in relation to their sources and the Bayeux Tapestry. It argues that the prospect of historical detachment galvanized chroniclers into narrating the battle in a way that centred on experience.

Dalla guerra alla pace. L’Arazzo di Bayeux e la conquista normanna dell’Inghilterra (secolo XI)

The Bayeux Tapestry (or rather, embroidery) is one of the most famous medieval artworks, which narrates in images the conquest of England by the Normans led by Duke William the Conqueror. Images taken from the embroidery are reproduced on thousands of objects evoking the Middle Ages, and at the same time the work has been the subject of hundreds of studies in many European countries, by historians, art historians and narrative scholars. In all of this, some questions and some answers are lacking, in particular with regard to the political culture expressed in the work: there is no doubt that the embroidery is a narrative of the exploits of William the Conqueror, an attempt to reconcile the English and Normans and in part an exaltation of the role of Odo, bishop of Bayeux; but it is also the expression of a series of political ideals and models of order, a reading and an evaluation of the system of contemporary power, organized around the kingdom and based on the primacy of the aristocracy and the value of personal ties. The volume aims to follow this line of research, showing how the embroidery, from many points of view (the political ceremonial, the role of the king, the aristocratic bonds of fidelity), reflects a social imaginary and a series of clearly recognizable political ideals.