Bayeux Tapestry

Legendary card · No. 1839

The Bayeux Tapestry (French: Tapisserie de Bayeux) is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres (230 feet) long and 50 centimetres (20 inches) tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England, led by William, Duke of Normandy, and the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It is normally thought to have been made in England in the decades after the events it shows, although the earliest known written reference to it was in 1476. Since 2007 it has been inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. It is normally displayed in the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Bayeux, Normandy, France, but this is closed for renovation until 2027, and the work is currently on display in London. Despite its name, the work is technically an embroidery rather than a true tapestry, since the images are stitched rather than woven into the fabric. It was worked in wool thread on a coarse linen ground using four different stitches and ten natural dye colours. The cloth now consists of 58 scenes, all...

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