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The Bayeux Tapestry tells the story of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 across nearly 70 metres of linen. Despite its name it is not a tapestry, which is woven, but an embroidery: the pictures are stitched onto the cloth in coloured wool.

Art history

ArtHistory

The story behind the card

The cloth is about 50 centimetres tall and made of nine linen panels sewn together. Its 58 scenes, each with a short Latin caption, run from 1064 to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, where William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the English king Harold Godwinson. It shows more than 600 people, nearly a thousand animals, 41 ships and the earliest known picture of Halley's Comet. Most historians think it was commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William's half-brother, and stitched in England, probably at Canterbury, in the 1070s, perhaps for the consecration of Bayeux Cathedral in 1077. The final section is missing. It takes its name from the town of Bayeux in Normandy, where it has been kept for most of its history, and it is listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.

Türkçe oku
Bayeux İşlemesi, Normanların 1066'da İngiltere'yi nasıl fethettiğini yaklaşık 70 metrelik bir keten bez üzerinde anlatır. Fransızca adı “Bayeux duvar halısı” anlamına gelse de eser dokuma değildir: Resimler bezin üstüne renkli yün iplikle işlenmiştir.

Yaklaşık 50 santimetre yüksekliğindeki bez, birbirine dikilmiş dokuz keten parçadan oluşur. Her biri kısa bir Latince yazıyla açıklanan 58 sahne, 1064'ten, Normandiya Dükü William'ın İngiliz Kralı Harold Godwinson'ı yendiği 1066'daki Hastings Muharebesi'ne kadar uzanır. İşlemede 600'den fazla insan, bine yakın hayvan, 41 gemi ve Halley Kuyruklu Yıldızı'nın bilinen en eski resmi yer alır. Tarihçilerin çoğuna göre eseri William'ın anne bir kardeşi, Bayeux Piskoposu Odo yaptırdı. İşleme 1070'lerde İngiltere'de, büyük olasılıkla Canterbury'de dikildi; belki de 1077'deki Bayeux Katedrali'nin açılışı için hazırlandı. Son bölümü kayıptır. Eser adını, tarihinin büyük bölümünde saklandığı Normandiya'daki Bayeux kasabasından alır ve UNESCO'nun Dünya Belleği listesinde yer alır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Bayeux Tapestry
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