Uncovering The Bayeux Tapestry
Art and Architecture • 43m
One of the world's most famous and well-preserved pieces of medieval embroidery, the 70-metre-wide Bayeux Tapestry depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, culminating in the Battle of Hastings.
To this day, the tapestry remains one of the most valuable sources historians can analyse when understanding the events that led up to the Battle of Hastings, and the battle itself - which saw the Anglo-Saxon shield wall final succumb to the might and shrewd strategy of William’s Norman Army and King Harold being struck by an arrow in the eye…or so it seems…
In this documentary Professor Michael Lewis and Dr Emily Ward dissect the nuanced and, at times, controversial history of the Bayeux Tapestry and what it means to audiences today.
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