Welcome to the official Bayeux Companion's website.
Hi, my name is Lord Thibeau de Montfort, Artisan Master of the
tapistery for the Bayeux Project and it is with great pleasure that i welcome
you to this website dedicated to the reproduction of a SCA (Society for Creative
Anachronism Inc.) copy of the famous Bayeux Tapistry displayed at Bayeux
(France). This website is the initiative of Webmaster Ferris MacGregor to
present the project and ease the distribution. If you wish to be informed,
you can join our mailing
list.
Keep an eye out for these pages : Progress, Pictures, Exposures as they will
have lots of updates in the next few weeks.
A couple of years ago, i had the idea to reproduce the entire Bayeux Tapistry,
in full size. A crazy project if it is, but one that i always tought could be
done. My other occupations prevented me to realize this project until now.
It was in fall of the year 2001 that i finally started work by enlarging the
pictures and compilation of information coming from different websites and books
that were available to me. I completed this work within 5 months.
The ultimate goals of the projects are :
- The complete reproduction of the tapistry.
- The addition of known SCA characters.
- Interest people in an arts and sciences project.
- Regroup a large number of gentles around this great project.
- Facilitate the mutual aid and the exchange between the participants.
- Grant us with a superb piece of work to decorate our events.
Here is a brief history of the tapistry :
This embroidery of the end of the XIth century, renamed by mistake "tapestry" in the XIXth century, represents the conquest of England by the Normans in 1066. The hanging of Bayeux is famous by its age, its dimension and
its state of conservation. Sort of comic strip prematurely, it also announces the development of the
history behind the tapestry. This embroidery, at present exposed in the Museum of
Queen Mathilde at Bayeux ( calvados), measures approximately seventy metres long and fifty centimeters wide
It is worked with the woolen thread on two stalks in eight natural tints (red and various tones of yellow, green and blue), on a
base constituted by several fragments of a strong linen cloth. Only two techniques
are used: a variant of the stem stitch for outlines and a point of couchure, called at present the point of Bayeux, for the completion of the motives. This last point
is still called "Orient Point", is executed on a tapestry frame. We begin by
filling the motive with a very tight launched point, then we tighten the threads perpendicularly to the first ones, by spacing
them at approximately a half-centimeter in a very regular way. Finally, we fix the
threads with "petit point" placed in staggered rows.
Preceded by a short explanation in Latin, the historic events appear on the central
part, lined at the top and at the bottom by friezes representing animals and scenes of hunting or
peasant life, as well as some secondary battles. In spite of the absence of perspective, the attitudes of the
characters and the profusion of the weapons of the warriors suggest well the movement and look of the rhythm to the composition. On seventy-three represented sequences, near half are situated before the conquest. The main
characterss are the count Harold of Wessex, became a king under the name of Harold II of England, and duke Guillaume of Normandy, more known under the name of Guillaume the
Conqueror.
We attributed wrongly the realization of this embroidery to the wife of Guillaume,
from its name " tapestry of queen Mathilde ". We think today that it is Odon, a bishop of Bayeux, who
ordered it be made in England. Odon, indeed, became a duke of Kent and there was a
embrodery workshop in Canterbury. It is graphic peculiarities (in particular the famous " D ") that put the researchers on the English track. The unity of execution proves that it was realized according to the drawings of a single artist. Conceived to be hung, probably on July 14th, 1077, on the occasion of the inscription of the cathedral of Bayeux,
it was suspended once a year for four centuries.
This embroidery tells a history, but offer especially the immense interest to be a
unique document on the daily life in the XIth century. We listed 632 characters, 202 horses, 55 dogs, 505 different animals, 37 buildings, 41
vessels, 49 trees. Through the represented scenes, we learn many things on the clothing, the weapons and the war, the boats and the maritime techniques, the food and the meals, the hunting, the agriculture, etc.
The embroidery of Bayeux completes admirably the archaeological discoveries in
Vikings vessels. It notably reveals us how were conceived masts, veils and riggings. The Normans of the XIth century were, for a very wide part, the direct descendants of the Viking who, a century earlier, had settled down in Normandy. The maritime world undergoes there thus profoundly the Scandinavian influence. So, we see the way the heads of dragons were placed in front of these boats improperly called drakkars, the way sails were rigged, how horses
off-loaded. We discover maritime carpenters at work, we see how were built these Norman boats, and with which
tools.
We recognize the ethnic origin of the protagonists by the way they are put on or
shaved, according to the fashions of the period. Picards and Normans have the face and the nape of the neck shaved closely, the English and the Anglo-Danois
wear the mustache and have long hair. Also for the armament: the Normans are equipped with
swords, lances and with long shields, whereas Anglo-Danois still often uses the round shield and the big Danish axe. We also discover the leaders eating at the table, in the camp near Hasting, while the riders and the soldiers use simply their shield as improvised table.
