With the news of the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK, I've been talking to the media about it, and I thought it might be fun to reflect on the loan and all that (sorry this isn't a Life Lesson)
You may be interested to hear about the Battle of Stamford Bridge tapestry, which a group of volunteers (including me) stitched in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry between 2015 and 2021. As you know, the battle of Stamford Bridge took place outside York on September 25, 1066 against the Scandinavian army led by Harald Hardrada, less than a month before the battle of Hastings.
Hi Heather. I've heard about this. It's so fab that the Tapestry continues to inspire new creativity. Did you enjoy the stitching? Were you new to embroidery when you started? Dave
Lovely article, thank you. I’m very excited to see the tapestry in person. The penis question always fascinates me - I do wonder how many of them are a result of larking about by the women stitching it (because it would have been largely women, surely?). A group of women spending lots of time together can get quite mischievous - and I’m sure that was the case in 1066 as much as it is in 2025! ☺️
I think that's quite possible that nudity is there to lighten the tone. Alex Makin, who I mention in the piece, is pretty sure it's the work of women I think. There is a big book coming out next year from the main expert on the design of the tapestry, Prof Gale Owen-Crocker - i imagine she might have some thoughts on this. It's interesting to think how much agency the embroiderers had to do their own thing or whether they were very much on script. There are a lot of elements in the BT that do seem to be directly copied from, or at least heavily inspired by, designs elsewhere (the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts that I mention, and fascinatingly Trajan's Column in Rome), so if they are working off some sort of traced or pricked artwork, they might not have much scope to do anything themselves. There are a lot of egs of explicit nudity in other sources - manuscripts and churches (think sheel-na-gigs) so it's not that unusual. I did a longer video about this all if you're interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u90XrdKT6EE&t=8s
I enjoyed reading this, and the first footnote made me laugh. I hope, therefore, you'll understand this response as a conversational rather than provocative one! I think it *does* matter what we call it!
You may be interested to hear about the Battle of Stamford Bridge tapestry, which a group of volunteers (including me) stitched in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry between 2015 and 2021. As you know, the battle of Stamford Bridge took place outside York on September 25, 1066 against the Scandinavian army led by Harald Hardrada, less than a month before the battle of Hastings.
Our website is here: https://stamfordbridgetapestry.org.uk/
and contains full colour photographs of each of the fifteen 1.5m long panels.
Hi Heather. I've heard about this. It's so fab that the Tapestry continues to inspire new creativity. Did you enjoy the stitching? Were you new to embroidery when you started? Dave
Lovely article, thank you. I’m very excited to see the tapestry in person. The penis question always fascinates me - I do wonder how many of them are a result of larking about by the women stitching it (because it would have been largely women, surely?). A group of women spending lots of time together can get quite mischievous - and I’m sure that was the case in 1066 as much as it is in 2025! ☺️
I think that's quite possible that nudity is there to lighten the tone. Alex Makin, who I mention in the piece, is pretty sure it's the work of women I think. There is a big book coming out next year from the main expert on the design of the tapestry, Prof Gale Owen-Crocker - i imagine she might have some thoughts on this. It's interesting to think how much agency the embroiderers had to do their own thing or whether they were very much on script. There are a lot of elements in the BT that do seem to be directly copied from, or at least heavily inspired by, designs elsewhere (the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts that I mention, and fascinatingly Trajan's Column in Rome), so if they are working off some sort of traced or pricked artwork, they might not have much scope to do anything themselves. There are a lot of egs of explicit nudity in other sources - manuscripts and churches (think sheel-na-gigs) so it's not that unusual. I did a longer video about this all if you're interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u90XrdKT6EE&t=8s
I am very interested! Thank you so much for replying 🤗
I am SO excited about the BT coming over. I will do my damnedest to see it several times.
I enjoyed reading this, and the first footnote made me laugh. I hope, therefore, you'll understand this response as a conversational rather than provocative one! I think it *does* matter what we call it!
https://lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/another-chaucer-mystery-and-the-canterbury