The Bayeux Tapestry: History and Interpretations

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As our regular listeners know, I am an Anglo-Saxon historian. Previously, I did several episodes with my good friend Dr. Jennifer Paxton on the Norman Conquest of my beloved Anglo-Saxon England. In them we mentioned one of the most famous sources for that event, the so-called Bayeux Tapestry. Today marks the opening of the British Museum’s exhibition of the Bayeux Tapestry, the culmination of eight and a half years of intense negotiations with the Bayeux Museum.  British newspapers and well as American make it sound almost like a royal visit. There is no doubt that it has sparked the interest of the British public. The British Museum reported that thousands flocked to see it today and that tickets are sold out for the remainder of 2026. In all, it is expected that about a million visitors will see it over the course of its 10 month showing in London. 

Although ‘Tis But A Scratch is an audio podcast and the Tapestry is, of course, very much visual, I thought that this would be a good time to provide my listeners with the history of the most famous artworks of the Middle Ages. Fortunately, the Bayeux Museum has placed a panorama of the entire Bayeux Tapestry online, photographed in high resolution. You can scroll through it scene by scene—and I highly recommend that you do that as a prelude to listening to this podcast. Given that Jenny Paxton, my cohost for our episodes on the Norman Conquest, has been promoted to Vice Provost at the Catholic University of America and is now swamped with decanal duties—and, yes, decanal is the adjective for dean—I decided to do this as a solo effort.

Bayeux Museum: https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/discover-the-bayeux-tapestry/explore-online/

Jan Messent's suggested reconstruction of the missing last panel(s) of the Bayeux Tapestry: http://anglo-saxon.archeurope.com/bayeux-tapestry-reconstruction-of-the-end/

In the late 19th century, a group of Victorian embroiderers decided to create an exact reproduction of the Bayeux Tapestry in full. Their work is housed at the Reading Museum where it is advertised as "Britain's own Bayeux Tapestry": https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/bayeux-tapestry

Listen on Podurama   https://podurama.com                                                                    

Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada

If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com