Author Description

The Bayeux Tapestry is the worldʼs most famous textile - an exquisite 230-foot-long embroidered panorama depicting the events surrounding the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is also one of historyʼs most mysterious and compelling works of art. This account of the battle that redrew the map of medieval Europe has inspired dreams of theft, waves of nationalism, visions of limitless power, and esthetic rapture. R. Howard Bloch reveals the history, the hidden meaning, the deep beauty, and the enduring allure of this astonishing piece of cloth. Book jacket. Includes information on Anglo-Saxons, Arabs, Canterbury (England), Charlemagne, coins, Constantinople, Danes, Edward the Confessor, England, English Channel, feudalism, France, Germany, Guy of Amiens, Guy of Ponthieu, Battle of Hastings, Heinrich Himmler, Holy Roman Empire, Knights, medieval manuscripts, Mathilda (queen of England), Michel Francisque, Middle Ages, Mont Saint Michel, Normandy, Normans, Odo of Bayeux, Old French language, Orderic Vitalis, Rome, Scandinavia, Sicily, The Song of Roland, Song of the Battle of Hastings, Battle of Stamford Bridge, Stigand (archbishop of Canterbury), Sutton Hoo treasure, textile arts, Vikings, Westminster Abbey, William of Normandy, William of Poitiers, William the Conqueror, World War II, York, etc.