The Bayeux Tapestry

After William the Conqueror's victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 (which changed him from Duke of Normandy to King of England), a tapestry was made showing the key events that led up to that battle. It was first exhibited at Bayeux Cathedral in 1077 and has somehow survived to the current day.

Not a place to get tapas

The legend of its creation is that William's wife, Queen Matilda, began work on the tapestry the day after the battle was won. She and her ladies in waiting worked diligently to commemorate her husband's victory. No one is certain who really made the tapestry. Current theories give either the monasteries at Canterbury or Winchester or Wilton or Bayeux itself as the creator of the tapestry. Most agree it was made in anticipation of the reopening of the Bayeux Cathedral in the late 1070s, where it was kept for most of its history.

Queen Mathilda embroidering the Telle du Conquest by Alfred Gaillard

The tapestry is not actually a tapestry, that is, it is not a woven image. The pictures are sewn on using two different embroidery stitches and eight shades of wool. Eight or nine separate pieces of linen were embroidered and then sewn together. The tapestry is 50 centimeters high (about 19.5 inches) and an amazing 70 meters (about 230 feet) in length.

The story depicted on the tapestry starts with King Edward of England, who is growing old and frail. Without a son of his own, he plans that Duke William of Normandy will be king after him. He sends his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson to Normandy to pass on the good news. He has various misadventures but eventually arrives and passes on the information and swears on relics at Bayeux Cathedral that he will not claim to be King of England. When he gets back, he does declare himself king after Edward dies. William invades to claim his throne and the climax of the tapestry is the Battle of Hastings. The story definitely shows a Norman bias in its telling, justifying William's invasion. Here's some bits scanned out of a book on the tapestry.

Death of King Edward (click to enlarge)

Harold has himself made king (click to enlarge)

Part of the final battle (click to enlarge)

Readers will notice the subtle use of color variation in the horses' legs to suggest depth. Also, the story is told in the middle of the cloth with top and bottom borders showing fantastical animals or supplements to the main story (such as the above bottom border showing the wounded and the archers from the battle). The detail of the work is quite incredible and definitely justifies a visit to Bayeux.

The tapestry is in the former grand seminary of Bayeux. It was used to train priests for the local diocese from the late 1600s until 1969. Only the original chapel remains of the priory that existed before the seminary. The tapestry has been kept here since 1983. It's kept in a protective case that runs down and back a long room. Audio guides are provided that describe the work scene by scene. The audio presentations are very informative and keep visitors moving along without time to dawdle.

Entrance to the museum

Seminary courtyard

Fancy door into the museum

The museum has other exhibits related to the medieval era, including displays about the local nobility and towns and the Viking raiders.

J by the knight

A Viking sea boat

Notre Dame Cathedral, Bayeux, France

Notre Dame Cathedral in Bayeux, France, dates back to the Roman times, but the currently standing cathedral was built in the 13th century. It is an inspiring work of Norman Gothic architecture, which can be seen from the outside as well as the inside.

The rear of the building (or east side) is the most visible and most ornate. The famous flying buttresses of the Gothic area are easily visible and are decorated with statues!

Eastern end of Notre Dame Cathedral in Bayeux

Flying buttresses with statues

The walls have a wide assortment of gargoyles, some low enough almost to be reached by a tall person.

Gargoyle up close

Another scary guy

The Dean's Portal on the south transept includes a graphic depiction of Saint Thomas Becket's life and martyrdom. Sadly, time has worn away much detail, but the Channel crossing in the second line and the martyrdom at the end of the third are still quite clear and identifiable.

Dean's Portal

Becket's life and martyrdom right above the door

Inside is just as glorious, and includes more on Becket. The nave is light and airy.

Nave

The pulpit dates from 1786 by sculptor Jean-Louis Margin. The neo-classical stage is surmounted by a fantastic Baroque sounding board depicting a cloud with a globe and a religious figure bearing a cross on top.

Pulpit

Pulpit top with ornate wall behind

The main altar leads into the choir area. The ceiling is decorated with paintings of various saints and bishops of Bayeux.

Main altar

Above the main altar

The choir ceiling

Local bishops!

The choir stalls date from the 1500s and have the same joyful exuberance of the rest of the church.

Choir stalls

Surrounding the choir are several chapels, including one devoted to St. Michael the Archangel and another containing a relic of St. Therese of Lisieux.

St. Michael in action!

St. Therese's relic

St. Peter had a chapel too!

The south transept has a mural depicting rather explicitly Thomas Becket's martyrdom at Canterbury Cathedral.

Becket's martyrdom over a crucifixion scene and scenes from St. Nicholas's life

Back in the nave is a chapel dedicated to St. Philomena and another chapel that has an interesting but unidentified painting in it.

St. Philomena chapel

A bishop and a pregnant lady?

The Romanesque crypt is still accessible and contains some 15th century paintings on the columns designed to evoke the ancient times of the church.

Angel in the crypt

The stained glass in the cathedral is great as well, with many evocative windows.

Sample of the stained glass

Of course, Bayeux is more famous for the Tapestry, which will be the next post!

German Battery at Longues-sur-Mer, France

Just outside Bayeux, on the English Channel coast, is one of the best preserved World War II-era German gun emplacements. Hitler wanted to build an impregnable wall of defenses along the western coastline of Europe, the Atlantic Wall. Nazi propaganda claimed there were 22,000 concrete bunkers in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. In reality, the guns larger than 7.5 cm caliber (just under 3 inches) only numbered 2,692. They were enough to make the D-Day landings (whose 70th anniversary is the day after this post is published) a bloody and difficult invasion.

Most of the guns of the Atlantic Wall were used for scrap metal after the war, but the artillery battery at Longues-sur-Mer still stands 70 years later. They have a nice visitor center with plenty of good information about the guns and support buildings, including a map (which is more helpful if you know French).

A French preview of the rest of this post!

We walked from the visitor parking to the guns, a fairly short walk. The first gun is a bit of a disappointment.

Guns in the distance

The first bunker was a bust

Remains of the gun

The other bunkers, or casements as they are often called, are much more satisfying and surprisingly similar. Mass production of the defenses required the same designs be used again and again. These particular guns are 15 cm (6 inch) caliber guns with a range of 20 km (about 12 miles). L and J loved exploring inside the heavily fortified gun placement. They were buried in concrete to protect them from aerial bombing.

L by the gun

The gun's rear end in the firing chamber

View from next to the gun

The back entrance

Ammunition and other supplies were held inside the casements. Additional ammo was stored in the fields near the gun. Again, they were placed underground for safety. We explored one such storage area. Similar shelters were quarters for the artillerymen. Now the floors were full of water, so we didn't go inside.

Ammunition bunker

We also discovered bases where other, smaller guns were placed.

Gun emplacement, probably for machine guns

Outside we heard some buzzing sounds and were surprised to see para-gliders flying through the sky. One swooped low enough for us to wave back and forth.

Someone's coming!

Enjoying the good weather in style

On the cliff-edge is the firing command post, a two-story bunker used to direct the guns. Information was passed back by telephone.

Front of the firing command post

View of the sea from outside the bunker

More of the view

The upper floor of the bunker is the telemetry post, where they observed targets with special optical devices. They had views of the approaches to Omaha and Gold beaches where Allied forces landed on June 6, 1944 (i.e. D-Day).

L and J in the telemetry post

Downstairs is calculation and transmission room, where the data from upstairs was analyzed and provided to the guns.

Down the dark stairs

The room is not very interesting without equipment in it

The front room downstairs has a 180 degree view through a small slit called the crenel.

The crenel with the sun shining through

View through the slit

Naturally, the exit for the command post is at the back. We made our way back to the car with one last view of the gun casements.

Back of the firing command post

Concrete casements just visible behind the command post

These guns were bombed heavily in the lead up to D-Day. The massive bombing only succeeded in destroying the telephone lines buried between the casements and the firing command. As ships approached land, various destroyers fired on the guns as the guns fired back. After three hours the battery ceased firing at 0845. On June 7, the Second Battalion Devonshire Regiment (which had landed on Gold Beach) approached the battery. The 200 German gunners (mostly in their 40s) surrendered without a fight.

The next post will also be in honor of D-Day--our visit to Pegasus Bridge!