The Bayeux Tapestry As a Medieval Educational Tool
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal Volume 6 Article 1 2019 It’s Elementary: The Bayeux Tapestry as a Medieval Educational Tool Sarah Bulger Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ourj Part of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, and the Medieval Studies Commons Recommended Citation Bulger, Sarah (2019) "It’s Elementary: The Bayeux Tapestry as a Medieval Educational Tool," OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 6 , Article 1. Available at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ourj/vol6/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal by an authorized editor of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. It’s Elementary: The Bayeux Tapestry as a Medieval Educational Tool Cover Page Footnote Thesis Advisor: Dr. Anne H. Muraoka This article is available in OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ourj/ vol6/iss1/1 Bulger: The Bayeux Tapestry as a Medieval Educational Tool IT’S ELEMENTARY: THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY AS A MEDIEVAL EDUCATIONAL TOOL By Sarah Bulger Published by ODU Digital Commons, 2019 1 OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal, Vol. 6 [2019], Art. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………… ii Introduction ……………………………………………………………………….... 1 State of Scholarship ……………………………………………………………....... 2 The Bayeux Tapestry ………………………………………………………………. 7 The Battle of Hastings and the Bayeux Tapestry ……………….……………….…11 Medieval Women in Anglo-Saxon and Norman England ………………………....16 Medieval Education ………………………………………………….……….…….21 Humor and Play in Anglo-Saxon England ………………………………………....28 The Faults Inherent in Odo’s Patronage ……….…………………….……….….....31 The Bayeux Tapestry as an Educational Tool ……………...………………………37 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………….....46 Endnotes …………………………………………………………………………....48 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………….……….61 Figures………………………………………………………………………………65 Timeline …………………………………………………………………………….75 Family Trees ...……………………………………………………….…….……….80 ii https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ourj/vol6/iss1/1 2 Bulger: The Bayeux Tapestry as a Medieval Educational Tool LIST OF FIGURES 1. Marie de France. Fables, 13th century. Parchment. Bodlein Library, Oxford........................ 65 2. Bayeux Tapestry; Harold struck in the eye and fallen (Death of Harold), begun ca. 1070- 1080. Embroidery, 53m x 69m. Centre Guillaume-le-Conquérant, Bayeux...........................66 3. Chasuble (opus anglicanum), ca. 1330-1350. Embroidery, 51 x 30 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York......................................................................................................67 4. Left: Bayeux Tapestry; Norman Forager, begun ca. 1070-1080. Embroidery, 53m x 69m. Centre Guillaume-le-Conquérant, Bayeux; Right: Psychomachia of Prudentius: Labor and other allegories, ca. late 10th century. Manuscript. British Library, London.....................................................................................................................................68 5. Bayeux Tapestry; Harold, King of the English, sits with Archbishop Stigand of Canterbury (King Harold II Enthroned with orb and scepter), begun ca. 1070-1080. Embroidery, 53m x 69m. Centre Guillaume-le-Conquérant, Bayeux.....................................................................69 6. Bayeux Tapestry; King Edward on his Deathbed [upper], King's Body Is Prepared for Burial [lower], begun ca. 1070-1080. Embroidery, 53m x 69m. Centre Guillaume-le-Conquérant, Bayeux.....................................................................................................................................70 7. Bayeux Tapestry; detail of Anglo-Latin inscription using vernacular spelling: runic letter thorn (Ð), begun ca. 1070-1080. Embroidery, 53m x 69m. Centre Guillaume-le-Conquérant, Bayeux.....................................................................................................................................70 8. Replica of the Bayeux Tapestry in the nave of Bayeux Cathedral. Photograph. from Bernstein, David J. The Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987...............................................................................................................................71 9. Chronique Anonyme Universelle, begun ca. 1470. Parchment roll, 50 cm wide x 10.4 meters long. Boston Public Library Rare Books Department, Boston................................................72 10. Joshua Roll: Joshua and the Israelites, mid 10th century. Illumination on vellum, 12 ½ in. in height. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,Vatican City.............................................................73 11. Winchlike device. from Bloch, Howard R. A Needle in the Right Hand of God: The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry. New York: Random House, 2006.............................................................................................................................73 12. Bayeux Tapestry; Guy brings Harold back to Duke William, begun ca. 1070-1080. Embroidery, 53m x 69m. Centre Guillaume-le-Conquérant, Bayeux.....................................74 13. Bayeux Tapestry; Negotiations between William and Harold in Palace at Rouen, begun ca. 1070-1080. Embroidery, 53m x 69m. Centre Guillaume-le-Conquérant, Bayeux..................74 iii Published by ODU Digital Commons, 2019 3 OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal, Vol. 6 [2019], Art. 1 INTRODUCTION The Bayeux Tapestry, a 230-foot-long, 950-year-old Anglo-Norman embroidery has baffled historians resulting in extensive (and diverse) scholarship since its rediscovery in the eighteenth century. The Bayeux Tapestry plays a preeminent role (outside of contemporaneous manuscripts and texts) in deciphering aspects of medieval life in England through its visual representation of the age of the Norman Conquest. Long-standing assumptions about the Bayeux Tapestry’s commission, production, and purpose have accumulated through the years based on a single inventory document from 1476 which postulates its intended location and function as a religious ornament for Bayeux Cathedral, leading many scholars to assume the patron had been Odo, Bishop of Bayeux.1 The question of who commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry has nevertheless been re-evaluated and within the past decade. A new, arguably more conceivable, Tapestry patron has been championed: “Edith Godwinson, widow of King Edward, sister of King Harold, friend of King William.”2 Despite the unknown patron of the Bayeux Tapestry, scholars have still gleaned from its diverse scenes features of medieval Anglo-Norman life which are not readily apparent in extant manuscripts. Medieval weapons and warfare, eleventh-century armor, Anglo-Saxon and Norman architecture, folklore and fables, and a deeper understanding of the unique opus anglicanum (English work) style of embroidery are all dispersed throughout the Bayeux Tapestry.3 Modern academics have explored these themes attempting to interpret them, but a relationship between the Bayeux Tapestry and its utility in Anglo-Norman England cannot yet be accurately constructed. Due to the lack of documentation on the Tapestry’s origins, the approach taken by scholars in an effort to retell its story remains fixed in the idea that the Bishop of Bayeux commissioned it to serve as an ecclesiastical decoration for the consecration of Bayeux Cathedral 1 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ourj/vol6/iss1/1 4 Bulger: The Bayeux Tapestry as a Medieval Educational Tool in 1077.4 Thus, room for new ideas regarding the nature of the Bayeux Tapestry has been stifled. Therefore, the objective of this analysis of the Bayeux Tapestry is to offer a new perspective for the interpretation of the Tapestry’s purpose in history by exploring previously overlooked facets of medieval life. Through comprehensive examinations of medieval noblewomen’s prominent roles in society, Anglo-Saxon traditions in education, and the functions of fables and humor as depicted in the embroidery friezes, the Bayeux Tapestry is revealed as indisputably a didactic tool for eleventh-century Anglo-Norman literary and historical education, thus constructing a new narrative for the Tapestry as undeniably instructive rather than decorative. STATE OF SCHOLARSHIP Research on the Bayeux Tapestry largely centers on supporting its functions as ecclesiastical decoration. To this end, current research on the Tapestry addresses various avenues of inquiry relating to its supposed religious function in Bayeux Cathedral and as a commission by Odo of Bayeux. Other areas of inquiry center on the roles of women in Anglo-Saxon society, practices in medieval education, and the use of fables in medieval art as seen in the Tapestry. According to scholars such as John D. Anderson and Trevor Rowley, the Bayeux Tapestry presents a justification for the Norman invasion of England and eventual claim to the English throne by clearly illustrating the scenes of the Battle of Hastings.5 These scenes of the Conquest are where William I of England, Duke of Normandy received his cognomen: “The Conqueror.” Carola Hicks adds to the “justification” theory with the idea that the Tapestry may have served as propaganda for William to maintain control of the crown in light of Anglo-Saxon unrest with the new Norman