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Name : Bayeux Tapestry

What it is : A whorl of linen paper cloth with wool fancywork render scenes from the 11th century

A colorful embroidered scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicts the death of King Harold

A segment of the Bayeux Tapestry showing the death of King Harold. The Latin title reads “Harold rex interfectus est,” or “King Harold is killed."

Where it is from : Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy , France

When it was made : The tardy 11th 100

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Close-up of a wooden diorama showing five human figurines. Two are facing away from the camera, and three face the camera. They are carrying sacks of grain.

What it tells us about the past :

This tapis was first commemorate in 1476 as part of the stocktaking of the Bayeux Cathedral , but it was in all likelihood commissioned in the 1070s by Bishop Odo , a nigh relative of William the Conqueror , to commemorate his succeeder in the Norman Conquest of England , allot to theBayeux Museum , where the artefact is on presentation .

Consisting of 58 scene stitched into the linen paper fabric in unlike colors of wool , the gothic work of art — which istechnically an embroideryrather than a woven tapestry — step nearly 230 foot ( 70 beat ) long and 20 inches ( 50 centimeter ) tall . Each vista is mark with a canonical caption in Latin .

a close-up of a stamp with a warrior riding a horse

The tapis depict key moment in history from 1064 to 1066 — mainly the struggle between Harold , the last Anglo - Saxon Martin Luther King , and William , Duke of Normandy , for mastery over the throne of England follow a chronological sequence crisis when King Edward the Confessor died childless . This add up to a head at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066 . In a decisive victory , William and his troops prevailed and King Harold was killed , beginning the Norman Conquest of England . For this reasonableness , he is often called William the Conqueror .

Scenes on the tapestry give historian key information about this point not known from other source . For example , the tapestry shows Harold taking an curse word on saintly relics , although the nature of the swearing is unknown . Another conniption record Edward the Confessor on his deathbed , giving his crown to Harold , buthistorians disagreeon whether this actually happened . And at Harold ’s investiture , the tapestry let in a star with a streaming tail — the first be intimate delineation ofHalley ’s Comet .

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The last view on the Bayeux Tapestry shows the Battle of Hastings . The English are fighting on foot , while the Normans are on horseback . Bloody , dismembered corpses litter the footing , and the dying of King Harold is illustrate , after which the English are shown take flight . miss from the tapis is another gore or two , which may have depicted William the Conqueror ’s coronation as King of England .

Four views of a gold-covered figurine in the shape of a woman. She holds a shield and a sword and wears her hair in a ponytail. There is a small hole behind her neck, perhaps for hanging.

Regardless of whether the events in the tapestry are rigorously historically accurate , the artifact is important for its ocular record book of chivalric weapons , ship , computer architecture , article of clothing and other objective from casual life history .

This 1,000 - class - honest-to-goodness material has beenconserved and restoredover the centuries , and anew museumis being built for the object , with a planned opening in 2027 . The intact tapestry can befully exploredon the Bayeux Museum ’s website .

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