The Bayeux Tapestry and Its Contexts - by Elizabeth Carson Pastan & Stephen R Reimer & Kate Gilbert Hardcover

About the Book

A full and provocative reappraisal of the Bayeux "Tapestry", its origins, design and patronage.

Book Synopsis

A full and provocative reappraisal of the Bayeux "Tapestry", its origins, design and patronage.

Aspects of the Bayeux Tapestry (in fact an embroidered hanging) have always remained mysterious, despite much scholarly investigation, not least its design and patron. Here, in the first full-length interdisciplinary approach to the subject, the authors (an art historian and a historian) consider these and other issues. Rejecting the prevalent view that it was commissioned by Odo, the bishop of Bayeux and half-brother of William the Conqueror, or by some other comparable patron, they bring new evidence to bear on the question of its relationship to the abbey of St Augustine's, Canterbury. From the study of art-historical, archeological, literary, historical and documentary materials, they conclude that the monks of St Augustine's designed the hanging for display in their abbey church to tell their own story of how England was invaded and conquered in 1066.

Elizabeth Carson Pastan is a Professor of Art History at Emory University; Stephen D. White is Asa G. Candler Professor of Medieval History (emeritus), Emory University, and an Honorary Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews.

Review Quotes

Pastan and White present powerful challenges to the old binaries of sacred or secular display and of Norman or English sympathies. . . . . The Bayeux Tapestry and Its Contexts> gives scholars of the famous embroidery a lot to think about, and the next generation of Bayeux Tapestry scholarship will surely be richer for it.-- "THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW"

[T]he most interesting, inventive, level-headed, and systematic reassessment of the Tapestry for a long time. It gets us much closer to solving many of the remaining mysteries concerning a source that is so familiar that we often fail to notice its persistent enigmas.-- "AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW"

I strongly recommend this book; any tapestry scholar will certainly want access to a copy.-- "SPECULUM"

Interesting and thought-provoking.-- "FRANCIA"