1085 AD - Letter to William de Bremingehame from the Lady Adelle de Falaise Abbess de L'Abbaye aux Dames de Bayeux
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Mon cher enfant, I write to tell you of a wonderful picture which the women of my abbey have just completed. It is a tapestry and shows the story of our Duke and his Conquest of Saxon England. I have included your father Richard in part of a picture as my brother was quite important. The tapestry is very long and will hang all down one side of the Bayeux Cathedral. The death of old King Edward is shown and the coronation of the thief Harold of Wessex who claimed to be King Harold. In the coronation scene you can see a flying star (Haley's Comet) which could be seen during daylight hours. The Saxon peasants thought the star was a sign of bad luck - how right they were. When my women were embroidering the section on Edward's death the old Lady Mathilde of Caen made a silly mistake and put his funeral procession before the death, but I shall not bother to have it changed as he was only a Saxon king. There are scenes showing how Harold came to Normandy and took an oath to support Duke William as King of England; he swore over the bones of holy saints long before Edward died. We have shown how the men built the invasion fleet and collected all the weapons and armour. To identify people and places we have sewn words in Latin as all educated men (and a few women) know some of that language from church. The horses, dogs and weapons look very real. As no-one knows how Harold the Traitor died at the Battle of Hastings
I told the ladies to show it in two ways. They have put a man with
an arrow in his eye and another being cut down with a sword and
across the two men have put the words saying Harold is wounded.
We end with the coronation of our Duke William of Normandy as King
William I of The making of the Tapestry of Bayeux has taken many years and all the important ladies in the duchy have done pieces of the work to show how we all support our Duke and King. Give my love to your mother and to my brother Richard. I hope you are a good son to Lord Richard de Bremingehame. Au revoir, mon cher neveu Guillaume de votre Tante Adelle, de Falaise |
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