Decoding the Bayeux Tapestry by Arthur Colin Wright

Author:Arthur Colin Wright
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: HISTORY / Military / General
Publisher: Frontline Books
Published: 2019-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

The Conclusion to the Tapestry

Of course, once upon a time, the Tapestry had a suitable conclusion, a tailpiece, but why is it missing today and what did it show and say? How much is missing? Everyone assumes it would have been King William enthroned. If Queen Mathilde had embroidered it, that is what you would expect, but she did not. Neither was it commissioned by William and it is very doubtful it was presented to him. The missing portion is, therefore, a matter for speculation and we need to ask ourselves, what would Odo of Bayeux have wanted to see? I think there is a distinct possibility that the missing tail-piece was not lost in the French Revolution, the only part of the whole Tapestry to suffer any significant damage, but that instead it was destroyed in antiquity (like the blank above Eustace), possibly even amputated, taken and presented as evidence to show King William the allegories it contained. Even the earliest record we have of the Tapestry notes this missing tail-piece1 Using the evidence now before us there can be no doubt that Bishop Odo was arrested and incarcerated for high treason in 1082 and I suggest that the Tapestry may have been one element in this picture of treachery and ambition. The beginning of the Tapestry’s story is there so why not the end? There would have been no reason to remove it at a later date when the story it told was largely unknown and ignored. The amputation itself indicates a hasty job with a knife, perhaps while it was hanging. There is also the mystery of Eustace of Boulogne’s poor reward and his rapid withdrawal from England, followed by an abortive invasion the following year, to add to this strange picture. Were Odo and Eustace in league at some point? Let us consider the range of possibilities before moving on to speculate on the content of the missing portion.

It has been suggested that Eustace commissioned the Tapestry as a gift to Odo,2 though Odo remains the favourite commissioner with most historians. Two things stand out beyond the rest to me. In the first place Eustace was descended from the line of Charlemagne, though the Carolingian kingship had passed to the Capetians with the death of Louis V in 987. He was noble beyond his contemporaries and undoubtedly proud of it. In the second place the wealth of England and especially her land-tax (geld) was the envy of Europe and Scandinavia. Eustace had inherited his title from his father in 1047, the Count of Boulogne and Therouanne and, after 1054, also of Lens. Though a smaller territory (in truth a kingdom) than Normandy this was a very prosperous one due to ancient cross-Channel links and trade. Such links might, indeed, suggest to us that the source of information concerning Pevensey was possibly Eustace himself, hence his inclusion in the picture of the invasion fleet, maybe boasting about his assistance. In c.1036, Eustace married Godgifu, sister of

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