The Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated

by J. Collingwood Bruce

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Contents

[PREFACE.] [I. THE ROLL.] [II. THE COMMISSION.] [III. THE ENTANGLEMENT.] [IV. THE KNIGHTHOOD.] [V. THE SUCCESSION.] [VI. PREPARATIONS.] [VII. THE LANDING.] [THE BATTLE.] [IX. THE SEQUEL.] [APPENDIX]

List of Plates

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Plate [I]., [II.,] [III.,] [IV.,] [V.,] [VI.,] [VII.,] [VIII.,] [IX.,] [X.,] [XI.,] [XII.,] [XIII.,] [XIV.,] [XV.,] [XVI.,] [XVII.] (etext transcriber's note)

THE
BAYEUX TAPESTRY

ELUCIDATED.
BY
REV. JOHN COLLINGWOOD BRUCE, LL.D., F.S.A.,
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, OF THE IMPERIAL SOCIETY OF
ANTIQUARIES OF FRANCE, AND OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF NORMANDY; ONE OF THE
COUNCIL OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE; AN HONORARY
MEMBER OF THE SURREY ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY; AND ONE OF THE
COMMITTEE OF THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.

“ ... They burning both with fervent fire
Their countrey’s auncestry to understond.”
Spenser.

LONDON:
JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE.
——
M.DCCC.LVI.
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE:
PRINTED BY J. G. FORSTER AND CO., CLAYTON STREET.

PREFACE.

England has performed, and is probably destined yet to perform, an important part in the history of nations. The era treated of in this work was doubtless the crisis of her fate. Happily, she survived the shock of the Conquest, and was benefited by its rough discipline. All true-hearted Englishmen must read with peculiar feeling this portion of our country’s annals. Surrounding nations, too, have their share of interest in it. When the Society of Antiquaries published the beautiful copy of the Bayeux Tapestry, made, at their request, by Mr. Charles Stothard, they testified the importance which they attached to the document. As yet they have published no explanation of it. The world still expects it at their hands. To supply, meanwhile, some little assistance to the student of history, this work is published. It was suggested by a holiday ramble in Normandy, amidst the scenes rendered famous by the career of William the Conqueror. The plates have been carefully reduced from those published by the Society of Antiquaries, by Mr. Mossman, and printed in colours by the Messrs. Lambert, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. These gentlemen, and the Printers, have spared no pains to render the volume creditable to the local press. In addition to the authorities cited in the course of the work, La Tapisserie de Bayeux, édition variorum, par M. Achille Jubinal, has been continually before the eye of the writer.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 13th of October, 1855,
(Eve of the Anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.)