E-Bayeux

E-Bayeux

Hi there!
Last day in France, 
Bayeux Tapestry this afternoon.
Fantastic craftsmanship, although I had to wonder, even with my basic O level needlework why it was called a tapestry when it looked embroidered to me.
Didn’t like to ask – after all, if the French want to call it a tapestry, who am I to argue?!
So I googled it when we got to the hotel room, to see what the experts say,
and here’s what it says:
The designs on the Bayeux Tapestry are embroidered rather than woven, so that it is not technically a tapestry.[2] Nevertheless, it is always referred to as such.
Aha! Told ya!!!
Anyway, it was an amazingly long piece of work – 70 metres long, in fact. Very impressive. 

I was very grateful for the English commentary walkie-talkie gismo we were handed on the way in. 
Basically, the tapestry tells the story of how Edward sent Harold to France, to tell William to get ready to take over as King of England, because he, Edward was dying.
Long story short, Harold’s boat went off course, and he ran into a load of bother and aggro with the locals. Obviously didn’t appreciate the way he was treated by the Normans,
 and fired up a right heaving resentment.
Finally got back to Blighty, 
having had to swear to William on all that was sacred
(a scroll and a coffin) 
that he would make sure Will got crowned King of England 
See him here, leaning on the scroll and the coffin? Not happy.
But clearly, as soon as he was back home,
he had such a cob on, that he decided to become King himself,
and stuff Will.
Here we see him flying in the face of the Normans at his coronation.
And the rest as they say, is history.
William was over in Pevensey before you could say
Eye Eye, 
and at the Battle of Hastings, on Saturday 14th October, 1066,
Harold had what can safely be called the worst day of his life. 
Ahhhh.
But seriously. Did he really think William was just going to slap him on the back and wish him a happy life?!
I mean, the clue was in his nickname.
William the Bastard.
Seriously.
Not William the friendly cousin.
How Harold didn’t see it coming I don’t know.
But there we are.
William the Bastard became William the Conker, or Conqueror.
Fascinating.
Power-pissed men causing carnage and destruction, then as now. 
But the artwork, the tapestry itself a masterpiece.
I would bet my house on the fact that women created it.
What think you?

love and peace,

55 thoughts on “E-Bayeux

  1. Bonjour Barbara

    I have not seen the 'tapestry' although all four of my children went to France with the school to see it when they were 12. Much too young to appreciate it.

    It had to be women creating it didn't it? The men were much too busy being macho and waging war! No change there.

    Enjoy the last day of your holiday.

    Love
    Roz.x

  2. Haha – speaketh unto the hand indeed!! Lol. Glad you enjoyed your visit to the embroidered tapestry. Hehe. Safe journey the rest of the way home. Xxx

  3. It's an incredible piece of history isn't it Barb and I agree most likely crafted by women who back in the day needed to fill their idle hands. It's a shame they didn't have a say as I'm sure a lot less warring would have taken place. Enjoy the end of your hols….it's been sleeting here in Surrey so the weather is pretty pants xx

  4. It's an incredible piece of history isn't it Barb and I agree most likely crafted by women who back in the day needed to fill their idle hands. It's a shame they didn't have a say as I'm sure a lot less warring would have taken place. Enjoy the end of your hols….it's been sleeting here in Surrey so the weather is pretty pants xx

  5. I thinketh yes indeedeth twas the work of ye women folk. Fascinating work I love history, nothing changes does it , you have to laugh, men……they all need their heads banging together ; -) x

  6. Great piece of work, must have taken them ages to do! Lovely way to depict history though . Hope you are both rested and ready for the snow which seems to have fallen in various places .

  7. I would have enjoyed history so much more if it had been told to me in the same way as you have in this blog…no matter how down I feel, when I read you blogs they always seen to put a smile on my face…Thank you x
    Have a safe trip home, glad you and Dave have had some chill out time together. Sally (spanner) xx

  8. Glad you enjoyed your visit to Bayeux (oops! I spelt it wrong yesterday) to see the tapestry. When you see it it is difficult to comprehend just how old it is and the colours are wonderful still. I love your fun explanation of the story too, and as you say in nearly 950 years it hadn't changed much with mainly the men warring and the ladies creating. Unfortunately human nature prevails! x

  9. Bonjour Barbara, wow 70m long that must be something to see. Such talented people to have stitched that. I hadn't heard of it before. How old is it? Of course it will have been women who have stitched it! Clearly the menfolk were too busy throwing their toys out their prams and fighting each other, yeah nothing changes eh!!! Always did think the male brain hasn't evolved at anywhere like the same rate as the female brain, eh!!!!!!! Merci beacoup for sharing and for the wee history lesson, I know so little history wise, history at school was not my thing. But I am always interested and often fascinated, if it's being portrayed in in the non stuffy way! I always try to think of what life for me would be like in whichever period, and it's never anything less than scary and even harder than life is in these times for me. I find it a good way to get a reality check and thank my lucky stars I wasn't born into an earlier age in time.

    Hope you have a bon safe voyage home. Merci beaucoup for sharing your holiday with us, I've enjoyed it, and learned some new stuff, and it was good to see you chilling and having some work free time too.
    Love Brenda xx

    Merci beaucoup Roz for all the French language help too. I never knew there was a female version of le chat, poor Daisy must be so confused!!!!

    Thinking about you Dot xx

    1. Hi Brenda, hope you are ok. Have you had snow today? Had an excited call from Emma this morning showing me the snow flakes falling and the snow on the rooftops! Xxxx

  10. Absolutely! Of course it was the ladies who created it, but I bet the men told them what they had to say! It's a fantastic piece of work isn't it? Loved your re-telling of 1066 and all that – it's the way you tell 'em. Safe journey back.
    Tonbridge Sue

  11. Hi Barbara

    I am loving your tales from your break in France even when some of the early blogs were from the heart, after the shocking incident in Paris.

    I love todays blog and yes………..I too think that a woman was behind the wonderful tapestry. You make the history of such a fantastic tale, so easy to understand!

    Hope you and Dave are enjoying your break and wishing you a safe journey back home.

    Lol Barbara W xx

    1. Hi Sheila, how are you? What are you up to today? You're busy putting the cushions down and getting the body suit ready for tomorrow is my guess!!!! I wonder how many partners /husbands out there dread Barbara's Clarity shows as much as we all look forward to them!!!!! No beer money, and beans on toast for them for a while!!!!! xx

    2. Hello Brenda I'm not feeling too bad today just resting up going to do a little craft later then rest again looking forward to hochanda tomorrow I don't think I will need my cushions as got so much I haven't crafted with yet so Tom can have beans and toast even a sausage too .
      You sound a lot brighter than lately it so lovley to have you back with us xxx

    3. That's lovely of you to say, thank you Sheila. I'm trying hard to not disappear again!
      I won't be holding my breath re you not needing those cushions tomorrow, 3 hours of new products and your CCA track record!!!!!! And somehow I think Tom won't be banking on getting that extra sausage either!!!!!! 😉 xx

    4. Hi Sheila no crafting today, we've been Christmas shopping, or rather avoid the crowds! I am wearing my lovely warm jumper I've just finished knitting – does that count? Hope you are ok and don't hurt yourself tomorrow, could Tom stretch to an egg with his sausage and beans? Xxxx

    5. Hi Donna, Diane, Sheila, Brenda & Dot, hope you have all had a good day. This predictive text is annoying me, as you will see this is my 4th attempt to chat to you. Chilly here as well today, but nice and sunny. Did a bit of Christmas shopping this morning or should I say yesterday morning. Made a few cards this afternoon/evening. Had a bit of an accident with the micro beads and spilled them all over the floor, had enough though to finish what I wanted. Been out for a nice meal with Hubby, my Nephew & his wife this evening. Hoping you're all keeping warm probably all tucked up in bed by now. Time I was in bed too, lots of hugs.xx

  12. Hi Barb,
    My first comment to Dave after coming out from seeing the tapestry was " Its not a tapestry, it's embroidered!" I was actually shocked at how narrow it was, but it is a masterpiece. I was always taught that it was done in a convent by nuns but I don't know if that's true or not. Love your description of the story of the tapestry – histoires a la Barb! – brilliant. I have one of the scenes framed in the house – one of the long postcards that you can buy as a memento from 30 years ago and I still love it. Have a safe journey back to a very cold UK , love Alison xxx

  13. Thank you for the potted history lesson, much easier to follow that way! Glad you've had a lovely week despite the problems out there. My groovie plate is calling, so impressed with the Christmas card I've done (taken from the gallery on the website – must go and see who the designer was!). Loving the new punch to place the parchment – used it for the first time last night and thought bet this parchment isn't going to fit after I had to cut the card to size but it did so I must have done something right! xx

    1. Just checked and it's the one by Syliva Marshall – thanks Sylvia! I'm going to copy your shading on the lightbulb next time as I did it differently on mine. I'm sure I'm going to be copying the others too!

  14. Thanks so much , as I said yesterday , they were closed when we were there . You are so funny , wish I understood more of your words and humor .
    We just finished watching the series Doc Martin , gosh we loved it . I imagine you all watched it .

    1. Hi Janice, have you tried googling (or other search engine) the words and phrases you don't get? I'm sure you'll find someone else has asked the same and been given an answer somewhere on the internet. Hope that helps. And if you're still stuck I'm sure one of us can help you out if you let us know what you're not understanding. I don't like to think of you feeling excluded because of our humour being different to what it is where you come from. xx

  15. Hi Barbara
    Thats one heck of a piece of art and I'm sure your right women will have created this.
    Not much changed in the world though power crazed men gunning for trouble when the ordinary people just want to live in peace.
    Safe trip home.

  16. I read about the tapestry last night as i didn't know much about it – must have read the same bit as you as it said exactly that! I found another bit which had several different theories as to who created it – i guess since no-one knows for sure we can decide to think what we like!
    Will enjoy those three shows tomorrow & will hopefully be able to fall off the wagon myself later in the week. Hurrah!!

  17. I have often wondered myself why pieces of embroidery in stately homes are called tapestries because as you say they are not. Does not take away the fact that they are magnificent pieces of work. Would love to see the Bayeaux, maybe one day if I am lucky. Looking forward to the shows tomorrow, I am sure Paul will do an amazing job. Hope you have good trip home. xx

  18. Hi Barbara & Dave, glad you enjoyed seeing the tapestry (embroidery), must have been stitched by women, men didn't do that sort of work. As you said too busy doing other things. You would have made a good teacher Barb, your blog was so interesting, I remember learning about the Battle of Hastings and 1066 but not all the details. Glad you didn't take that route though Barb, we wouldn't have had all those lovely stamps, stencils or a wonderful Groovi if you had. Have a safe journey home. Looking forward to seeing Paul's demos tomorrow on Hochanda.xx

  19. Hi Barbara
    I love the way you tell it Barbara, makes history really interesting. What an amazing tapestry, would love to see it one day. Safe journey home and wrap up warmly, it's quite chilly here.
    Love Diane xxxx

    Hi Pam hi Donna, how's London ? Hi Dot xxxxxxxx

  20. Hi Barbara
    Definitely women's work. The men set them to do it to keep them out of trouble. If they were busy with their needles they had no time for any hanky panky while the menfolk were away fighting battles.
    I am looking forward to the shows with Paul and seeing the new Groovi plates.
    Hugs from Chris X

  21. I forgot to say, I received my gift voucher and lovely card today from the office, for winning the Limerick competition – thank you so much! I just need to decide what to treat myself to! xxx

  22. As I understand it from my history knowledge, the "tapestry" was a project undertaken by William's wife, the Duchess Matilda, who came from Flanders. It was started before William's fleet even sailed for England, and was continued to keep her occupied. "The Bastard King" by Jean Plaidy is the first of a trilogy about the Norman conquest, and is factually correct despite being a novel, and tells the story about the stormy relationship between William and Matilda. Glad you enjoyed your tour, even though it means you have to come back from your well-deserved break. Safe Journey. xxx Maggie

  23. I really enjoyed your potted history of the problems Good old Blighty had at the time, and yes, I think the embroidery prolly was done by women, but described as a tapestry by stupid non discerning men

  24. Hi Barb, thank you for sharing this fascinating piece of artwork. Of course it was created by women, not sure men would have the patience. Hope you get home safely. It is really cold here. Bx

  25. Yes I go with the women. It is a fantastic piece of embroidery. I seem to remember a few years ago having an exhibition about it at our local museum and what must have been a replica on show. Leek my local market town used to be famous for dying silk and the Leek embroidery Guild.

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