Bayeux Tapestry

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

It was a busy day, but we were able to see all the beaches in one day on Monday February 19. We were also able to visit the war memorial and American cemetery. The cemetery is located on top of the cliffs overlooking Omaha beach. In this picture you can see the beach in the background.

This cemetery has 9,387 graves, most of whom died on D Day. Another 1,557 names of soldiers whose remains were never found are recorded on a big wall. As we were checking out the names on the wall, we noticed that a few of them had a little rosette next to their names. We figured that they must be soldiers who had received a medal of honor but when we asked, we were told that these were missing soldiers whose bodies have been found.

There were a few soldiers in the cemetery who had been medal of honor recipients and they did have stars on their markers and the words medal of honor written on them. They would also allow relatives to color the letters on the markers with gold.

It was a beautiful memorial and really makes you wonder how some people can allow this kind of thing to happen.

We spent two nights in Bayeux, and on Tuesday morning, Feb 20, we packed up our stuff, checked out the Bayeux Tapestry and a British Cemetery and then headed up to the city of Caen to check out the museum there.

We had breakfast in this cute little patisserie which felt very French. I think all we ate on this entire trip was pastries and breads. They really were very good.

As we were walking to the tapestry museum, I felt like I was on my mission again. The cobblestone streets and old houses were very quaint. They are murder on a bike though.

After the tapestry, we got brave and took a shortcut back to the car. We saw some very interesting scenery that you don’t see from the streets. I would love to have that house on the canal where the back door opens right onto the canal. Let’s just hope it doesn’t flood.

I wasn’t overly thrilled when Lisa said she wanted to see the Bayeux tapestry because I had no idea what it was. As Alex repeatedly said, “it’s just drapes”. As it turns out, it was amazing. No one is sure just who commissioned the Bayeux tapestry, but it tells a story about William the Conqueror who took over England. I had no idea that we knew so much about that event in history. Because most of the population in those days were illiterate, they used images to tell the story but without our audio guides I would have figured out about 3% of the story.

The Bayeux tapestry isn’t actually a tapestry, but an embroidery using wool thread on a linen fabric. The tapestry is 20 inches high and 230 feet long and depicts fifty-eight scenes that culminate in the battle of Hastings. The tapestry is thought to have been given to William as a gift shortly after the Battle of Hasting that took place in 1066. While I would find this history fascinating anyway, I think I am especially intrigued because it is thought that my ancestor was among the troops that accompanied William, and left Normandy and settled in England.

OK, let me give a very condensed version of the story as told by the tapestry. Look, we even have a picture of William.

William was born to the concubine of some important aristocrat but later his mother married a man who later had two kids, one who went on to become the bishop of Bayeux. I love that his name was Odo. Because of his illegitimacy, it was a rough road for William. He was usually referred to as “The Bastard”. Because of this, he became a real scrapper growing up, and only because of his mother’s fierce protection did he live to become an adult. As a young adult, he was generally recognized as a good man and was eventually recognized as a Duke. In 1059, at the age of sixteen, he appointed his brother Odo as a bishop.

Meanwhile, Henry, the king of England, was dying and stated that he wanted William to succeed him as King of England. He asked some guy named Edward to go tell William he was to be the next king. Edward swore he would do so.

Edwards party was blown off course and he was captured but some of the dukes’ vassals, but William ransomed him and received the message.

So, Edward heads back to England but when the King dies, he violates his oath and takes over England. When William learns about this, he masses his armies and crosses the sea and wipes out Edward and takes over England. The tapestry depicts this is very gory detail. The poor horses. Listening to someone tell the story as we viewed the tapestry made it an amazing experience. Without the audio, I would have been done in there after about 15 minutes.

As I said earlier, while this story is fascinating in and of itself, it is even more interesting to me because I probably had an ancestor among Williams soldiers. Alex is pretty sure that he found our ancestor on the tapestry.