1066 (32 page)
Authors: Andrew Bridgeford
19
Stenton (ed.),
Bayeux Tapestry,
p. 167 (Gibbs-Smith); Villion,
Visions secretes,
p. 27. Villion suggests that the constellations are in the neighbourhood of the Milky Way and that an allusion is being made to the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela which would have passed through Mont-Saint-Michel and Dol.
20
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi,
pp. 75-7.
21
Eadmer,
History,
p. 7.
22
Bernstein,
Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry,
pp. 196-7;
Brevis Relatio,
p. 28; Wace,
Roman de Rou,
Part
III,
lines 5691-4.
23
Bernstein,
Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry,
pp. 168-9.
24
William of Poiters,
Gesta Guillelmi,
p. 71.
25
Quoted in Barlow,
The Godwins,
p. 118.
26
Eadmer,
History,
p. 8.
7
The English Decision
1
The Life of King Edward,
p. 69.
2
The Life of King Edward,
p. 111 (Sulcard addition).
3
The Life of King Edward,
pp. 69-71; Barlow,
Edward the Confessor,
pp. 229-32.
4
Ibid.,
p. 125.
5
Ibid.,
p. 119.
6
Ibid., pp.
117-19.
7
Ibid., p.
121.
8
Smith, 'Archbishop Stigand and the Eye of the Needle'.
9
The Life of King Edward, p.
123.
10
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi, p.
119.
11
Foreville, 'Aux origines de la renaissance juridique'; Beckerman, 'Succession in Normandy, 1087, and in England, 1066'; Cowdrey, 'Death-bed Testaments', pp. 716ff.; Williams, 'Some Notes and Considerations'; also, Tabuteau, 'The Role of Law in the Succession to Normandy and England, 1087'.
12
Walker,
Harold, p.
136.
13
John of Worcester,
Chronicle, p.
601
.
14
Walker,
Harold,
pp. 36-8.
15
The Life of King Edward, p.
121. To portray Stigand in this light was not, therefore, an exclusively Norman view. It is true, however, that Stigand had been on good terms with St Augustine's Abbey (Gem, ed.,
St Augustine's Abbey, p.
50) where the art historical evidence suggests the tapestry was made. My interpretation assumes the poor view of Stigand to be the interpretation of the artist, who was influenced by The
Life of King Edward.
16
Van Houts, 'The Norman Conquest through European Eyes'; E. A. Freeman,
Norman Conquest,
III, pp. 645-50.
17
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi,
pp. 141-3.
18
Ibid., p.
107.
8 Invasion
1
Ibid., p.
109.
2
Ibid., p.
105. Doubts as to the truth of Poitiers' statement that William obtained papal support have been raised (Morton, 'Pope Alexander II and the Norman Conquest'; Walker,
Harold,
pp. 148-9) but Poitiers is usually taken to be accurate on this point.
3
Van Houts, 'The Ship List'.
4
Orderic Vitalis,
Ecclesiastical History,
II, pp. 138-41, 142-5.
5
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
(D and E).
6
Barlow,
The Godwins, p.
97; Walker,
Harold, p.
145.
7
Churchill,
History of the English Speaking Peoples,
I, p. 128.
8
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi, p.
113.
9
These details are summarised in the
Carmen,
introduction by Barlow, pp. lxvii-lxviii.
10
Taylor, 'Belrem'; Bachrach, 'Some Observations on the Bayeux Tapestry'.
11
Whether Ulf's mother was Harold's mistress Edith Swan-Neck or his wife Ealdgyth is not clear from surviving documents. Walker,
Harold, p.
197, argues that Ulf's mother is more likely to be Edith Swan Neck.
12
Wace,
Roman de Rou,
III, lines 7541-2; Gaimar,
L'e stoire des Engleis,
lines 6077-8.
9
The Battle of Hastings
1
Accounts of the Battle of Hastings are given in many of the secondary sources, including Barlow,
The Godwins;
Walker,
Harold;
and in most detail, Lawson,
The Battle of Hastings.
2
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi, p.
129.
3
Ibid., p.
129.
4
Ibid., p.
125.
5
Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne'.
6
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi,
pp. 133-5. Wace, writing 100 years after the event, extensively supplements the list of combatants but his list has not been considered wholly reliable.
7
Carmen,
introduction by Barlow, p. xxx.
8
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi, p.
143.
9
The terminological opposition of
Francia
and Normandy is implicit throughout William of Poitiers' work as well in other Norman writers. That Guy of Amiens does not include the Normans within the meaning of 'French' is shown by his reference to the ducal army being arranged with the Bretons on one flank, the Normans in the centre and the French on the other flank
(Carmen, p.
25). Implicitly 'French' in the
Carmen
includes Ponthieu and Boulogne. For the 'Frenchness' of Boulogne, see also, Tanner, 'Between Scylla and Charybdis', pp. 248-9.
10
Gibbs-Smith, in Stenton (ed.),
Bayeux Tapestry, p.
188.
11
Brooks and Walker, 'The Authority and Interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry'.
12
Amatus of Montecassino,
Storia de' Normanni,
pp. 11-12.
13
William of Malmesbury,
Gesta Regum Anglorum, p. 455.
14
Henry of Huntingdon,
Historia Anglorum, p.
395.
15
Baudri, in S. A. Brown,
The Bayeux Tapesry: History and Bibliography, p.
174.
16
Lawson,
Battle of Hastings,
pp. 231ff.
17
Bernstein,
Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry,
pp. 152ff.
18
Carmen, p.
33.
19
Ibid.,
introduction by Barlow, p. lxxxii.
20
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi, p.
141.
21
Eadmer,
History,
p. 9.
22
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi, p.
141;
Waltham Chronicle,
pp. 54-5.
23
Pollock,
Harold Rex: Is King Harold II Buried in Bosham Church?
The positive evidence being non-existent, an application to exhume the bones for analysis was rejected by the consistory court in 2003: In re Holy Trinity, Bosham [2004] 2 WLR 833.
24
Barlow,
The Godwins,
p. 113.
25
For example, see Messent,
The Bayeux Tapestry Embroiderer's Story.
26
Baudri, in S. A. Brown,
Bayeux Tapestry: History and Bibliography,
pp. 175-7.
27
William of Malmesbury,
Gesta Guillelmi,
pp. 417, 467.
28
Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne', p. 272.
10
English Art and Embroidery
1
Montfaucon,
Monuments de la monarchic franqoise,
II, p. 2.
2
See generally Brooks and Walker, 'The Authority and Interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry'; Gameson, 'The Origin, Art, and Message of the Bayeux Tapestry'; Bernstein,
Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry,
chapter 2.
3
Dodwell,
Anglo-Saxon Art.
4
The Life of King Edward, p.
23; William of Malmesbury,
Gesta Regum Anglorum, p.
405.
5
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi, p.
177.
6
On Goscelin see
The Life of King Edward,
introduction by Barlow.
7
Liber Eliensis,
II, 63, p. 136.
8
Domesday Book,
p. 410, p. 195.
9
Les actes de Guillaume,
no. 16.
10
Wormald, 'Style and Design'.
11
Hart, 'The Canterbury Contribution to the Bayeux Tapestry' and 'The Bayeux Tapestry and Schools of Illumination at Canterbury'; Gameson, 'The Origin, Art, and Message of the Bayeux Tapestry'.
12
Hart, 'The Canterbury Contribution to the Bayeux Tapestry', p. 7.
11 A
Connection with Bishop Odo of Bayeux
1
See Bernstein,
Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry,
Chapter 1, and the sources referred to therein.
2
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi, p.
71; Orderic Vitalis,
Ecclesiastical History,
II, p. 135.
3
See Bernstein,
Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, p.
30 and the sources referred to therein.
4
Stothard, 'Some Observations on the Bayeux Tapestry'.
12
The Bayeux Tapestry and the Babylonian Conquest of the Jews
1
The biblical accounts are in 2 Chr. 36:17-21; 2 Kings 25:1-21; Jer. 41-2.
2
Ezek. 17:13-21.
3
Biblical references implicitly likening the Norman Conquest to the Babylonian Conquest of the Jews are made in
The Life of King Edward
(pp. 117-21) but no reference is explicitly made to Zedekiah's breach of oath, just as the author of the
Life
avoids explicitly mentioning Harold's perjury.
4
Bernstein,
Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry,
Part III.
5
Dan. 7:17.
6
Bernstein,
Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry, p.
170.
7
Ibid.,
pp. 174ff. However, Hart, 'The Bayeux Tapestry and Schools of Illumination at Canterbury', also finds exemplars in Canterbury manuscripts.
8
Jer. 22:24, 22:28 and 37:1. However, the nickname does not appear to be used in the Vulgate Bible which would have been known to the artist and may also have been known only in Jewish writings.
9
However, Hart, 'The Bayeux Tapestry and Schools of Illumination at Canterbury', notes an exemplar for this scene in a Canterbury manuscript that illustrates a different biblical escape
(OE Hexateuch;
Joshua 2: 7-15).
10
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi, p.
171.
11
Short, 'The Language of the Bayeux Tapestry Inscriptions'.
13
The Tanner's Grandsons
1
Bates, 'The Character and Career of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux'; biographies of William the Conqueror by Douglas, Bates and de Bouard.
2
Benoi't,
Chronique des dues de Normandie,
II, lines 33445ff.; Wace,
Roman de Roy,
III, lines 2824ff.
3
Benoi't and Wace have the tree cast its shade over Normandy; William of Malmesbury,
Gesta Regum Anglorum, p.
427, has it cover England as well.
4
William of Jumieges,
Gesta Normannorum, p.
125; Orderic Vitalis,
Ecclesiastical History,
IV, p. 102.
5
Bates,
William the Conqueror, p.
124, notes that the bones in her grave were despoiled in the sixteenth century and, therefore, it is not certain that they are hers.
6
Bates,
William the Conqueror, p.
53.
14
The Scion of Charlemagne
1
Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne' 'Between Scylla and Charybdis'.
2
Genealogia Comitum Boloniensium.
3
Platts,
Origins of Heraldry (p.
28) also notes a descent from Charlemagne through the emperor's favourite daughter Bertha and the poet-courtier Angilbert. A quite different lineage in the male line for Count Eustace II of Boulogne is given by Baigent
et al., The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail,
linking him to the so-called Grail family and the curious story of Rennes-le-Château. This makes Eustace IPs paternal grandfather, not Count Baldwin I of Boulogne, but one Hughes de Plantard. Although this is dubious and not supported by any contemporary documentary evidence, it has been taken up by a number of other writers of the 'alternative' history genre. Strangely the Bayeux Tapestry, for all its suggestive imagery, has remained an untapped resource for such writers.
4
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi, p.
185;
Carmen,
p. 31; Orderic Vitalis,
Ecclesiastical History,
II, p. 206.
5
Chiefly Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne'. Her book on the subject,
Families, Friends and Allies: Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England c. 879-c. 1162,
had not yet been published at the time of writing this book.
6
The episode and its sources are fully discussed in Barlow,
Edward the Confessor,
pp. 45ff. For Eustace's marriages, see also pp. 307ff.
7
Barlow,
Edward the Confessor,
pp. 307ff, suggests that there may, after all, have been issue.
8
Barlow,
The Godwins,
pp. 40ff.
9
Tanner, 'Counts of Boulogne', p. 268.
10
Morton and Muntz,
Carmen, p.
xxxix.
11
From charter evidence; Bates,
William the Conqueror, p.
82.
12
William of Poitiers,
Gesta Guillelmi,
p. 139.
13
Ibid., p.
183.