Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons^™

It’S Elementary: The Bayeux Tapestry As A Medieval Educational Tool, Sarah Bulger

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

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 postulating its intended location and function as a religious ornament for Bayeux Cathedral. Modern academics have explored themes readily visible …