1066 AND ALL THAT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 262, 30 June 1944, Page 10

1066 AND ALL THAT

Pictorial History of An Invasion HEN the Allied leaders decided that the European invasion should begin in Normandy, they could hardly have chosen a place with more "invasion memories." William the Conqueror is said to have been born about 1027 in Falaise, a small town about 20 miles south of Caen; in 1066 he set out for the invasion of England from the coastal town of Dives, and 21 years later he died in Rouen while engaged in a war with Philip I. of France. At the same place Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431 after having led her countrymen against the invading English. At Bayeux, a little town with quaint timbered houses and stone mansions and forlorn, decayed streets, captured recently by the Allied forces in the present invasion, there is a document unique in Europe -a pictorial history of an invasion. The Bayeux "Tapestry

represents in 72 scenes the conquest of England by the Normans, beginning with Harold taking leave of Edward the Confessor before going to Normandy and ending with his death and the flight of the English from the Battle of Hastings. It is a band of coarse linen 230 feet long and 20 inches wide, now light brown with age, which has been worked with a needle in worsteds of eight colours -- dark and light blue, red,

-- yellow, dark and light green, black and buff. It is not a tapestry in the usual sense of the word, but closely resembles sampler work, the objects being covered with threads laid side by side and crossstitched at intervals. The faces, hands, and (where bare) the legs, are simply outlined in coloured worsteds. The work contains figures of 623 persons, 762 horses, dogs, and other animals, (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) 37 buildings, and 41 ships or boats, but no attempt is made to show local colour, horses, dogs, etc. being blue, green or yellow, just as may have suited the convenience of the design. To show perspective, different colours are used, sometimes with curious effect, such as when a blue horse has its off-legs red. "Rude But Vigorous" Scenes are generally separated from each other by a tree or other object, most of the scenes are described by Latin inscriptions sewn along the upper margin of the main part of the tapestry. Along the top and bottom run decorative borders with figures of animals, scenes from fables, from husbandry and the chase, and occasionally from the story of the Conquest itself. The drawing throughout is rude but vigorous and spirited, and has a bold sense of rhythm and composition. But the most striking thing about it is the impression it gives that time has been telescoped for us; that centuries have been dropped out of history and the actions of men in 1066 have been brought up to the present. The tapestry has been repeatedly described, discussed, and reproduced since its discovery in 1730, and disputes have been carried on about its origin. Local tradition assigned the work to Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror, but later it was connected with his half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who is said to have had it executed for the decoration of Bayeux Cathedral. The tapestry fits exactly round the nave of the cathedral, and was used there on feast days. It has also been claimed that the work was done by English fingers, some of the words on it seeming to favour this view. ‘Towards the end of the eighteenth century, it passed out of the keeping of the cathedral authorities, and was kept in the hofel-de-ville on a couple of rollers and exhibited to the curious by winding from one to the other. When its great value was discovered, however, it was put in an apartment built for the purpose, and relined, and portions were restored that had suffered from age and the rollers. At Napoleon’s desire it was exhibited at Paris in 1803-04, after it had narrowly escaped the perils of the French Revolution. In 1871, during the FrancoPrussian war, the Prussians were so near the town that the tapestry was taken from the glass case in which it is displayed, and hidden till danger was past. Although it has encountered many dangers from fire, invasion, and other causes, it has yet to be seen whether this ancient pictorial history will come unscathed through the battles that are racine once again in Normandy.

J.

H.