[1:54]Bringing history to life: the Bayeux Tapestry fully explained
Posted on 12/15/2025 3:59:42 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Professor Benjamin Pohl, a historian at the University of Bristol, claims the masterpiece was hung on the walls at St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, Kent.
It was originally designed to provide mealtime reading for medieval monks at the abbey's new refectory, Professor Pohl claims.
'Just as today, in the Middle Ages mealtimes were always an important occasion for social gathering, collective reflection, hospitality and entertainment, and the celebration of communal identities,' he said.
'In this context, the Bayeux Tapestry would have found a perfect setting.'
While the Bayeux Tapestry is widely regarded as one of the world's most important cultural treasures, very little is known for certain about its origins.
However, St Augustine's Abbey is the 'Bayeux Tapestry's probable place of origin', where a 'team of highly skilled embroideresses' crafted it in the late 11th century – probably the 1080s, Professor Pohl now claims.
Next year, the Tapestry will go on display in the British Museum, marking the first time it has returned to the UK since it was made nearly 1,000 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The rest of the Bayeux Tapestry keyword, sorted:
Thanks for the link!
I thought they entertained themselves at mealtime by eating beans and broccoli.
“Hey, let’s watch the rug on the wall again tonight. I love the ending”
The British History Podcast just covered the events of 1066 until 1100 and the Bayeaux Tapestry plays an historical part. I enjoy the podcast but the guy suffers from TDS on occasion.
I had the series “King & Conquerer” (Hastings 1066), which aired on Amazon Prime in my queue to watch, but then my son watched it when I was in the same room and I half-listened to it. The one scene that made me take it out of my queue, was when they portrayed Edward the Confessor beating his mother to death. WTF?? That never happened.
IMHO, made FOR the abbey is unlikely. It would be hugely expensive to make. Made AT the abbey is possible, but I would say it’s much more likely that it would have been made for William 1 or one of sons.
Medieval TV. Who knew?
It looks like “Game of Thrones” LOL.
Sounds like a lot of speculation based on estimated close dates of the making of the tapestry and the building of said abbey. Why would monks living in a monastery be interested in looking at a tapestry of the Norman Conquest as they ate, day after day, year after year? They would more likely be edified to gaze upon a scene (in addition to the Last Supper), say, from the life of Christ.
Except for one thing Mr. ‘Historian’... Monks didn’t need pictures to tell a story... They could read.
The amount of common people who could read and write in 1066 was about zero. Meaning that to tell a story to most people at that time you needed pictures. The tapestry was created to express the events that occurred in 1066 and it does so with complete accuracy. It was made shortly after the events... So it’s accuracy is spot on.
With all of the dead knights along with King Harold catching an arrow with his eye, it is a snuff tapestry. Those monks were sick.
I thought they entertained themselves at mealtime by eating beans and broccoli.
“More beans, Mr. Taggart?”
So, it was Medieval Television?
One long Monty Python Sketch!
And now for something completely different............................................
She was pretty opportunistic, but you’re right.
“What an amazing escape!”
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