The Bayeux Tapestry as a Religious - Peregrinations

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Figure 8: Harold Feasts. Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry – 11th Century by special permission of the City of Bayeux. While on campaign in Brittany with William, Duke of Normandy, Harold rescues a soldier from the treacherous sands along the ford of the River Couesnon. In the distance background stands the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, a building perched on a hilltop and already a major center for pilgrimage. The Tapestry designer gives a stylized impression of what the Romanesque church looked like. 16 Already famous as a center of pilgrimage, Mont-Sainte- Michelle is also depicted in the form of reliquary, nestled on a hilltop. (Figure 9). 16 Lucien Musset, The Bayeux Tapestry (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2005), 130. 145
Figure 9: Mont Saint-Michel. Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry – 11th Century by special permission of the City of Bayeux. The largest, and most important, ecclesiastical structure, King Edward‟s foundation of Westminster Abbey, is depicted as it nears completion. A workman hastily races to attach a golden cock, a reference to St. Peter, as a weathervane. The hand of God appears in the heavens to bless the new church. (Figure 10) King Edward‟s abbey was consecrated on December 28 th , 1065. 17 The King died, probably as the result of a stroke, on the night of January 4 th or 5 th , 1066, and Harold was crowned, with seeming indecent haste on January 6 th . It was news of Harold‟s coronation that provoked William of Normandy to plan his invasion and ultimate Conquest. If indeed Edward the Confessor had planned to secure the throne for his Norman relative, then his 17 Lucien Musset, The Bayeux Tapestry, 160-164. The Abbey was the first major Romanesque church built in England, and there are similarities in its design with the Abbey of Jumièges which was dedicated in 1067. Robert of Jumièges was a friend of King Edward‟s, and served as Archbishop of Canterbury until he was removed by the Godwins to be replaced by the controversial Stigand. 146
Page 1 and 2: Sacred Threads: The Bayeux Tapestry
Page 3 and 4: was part of the fabric of the cultu
Page 5 and 6: the book Edith made a virtue of her
Page 7 and 8: is Odo rather than William who seem
Page 9 and 10: presented to the monastery at Ely.
Page 11: Figure 7: Harold enters Bosham Chur
Page 15 and 16: Figure 11: Chevron Pattern in the B
Page 17 and 18: Controversy has raged over who the
Page 19 and 20: Among the glories of early medieval
Page 21 and 22: They also represent vanity and jeal
Page 23 and 24: and they are mainly grouped around
Page 25 and 26: y special permission of the City of
Page 27 and 28: the oath-breaker, was a usurper who
Page 29 and 30: the small fleet of ghostly ships be
Page 31 and 32: finally falls, perhaps because of a

The Bayeux Tapestry as a Religious - Peregrinations

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