Weaving Nationalisms: Uses and Meanings of the Bayeux Tapestry in the Anglo-French Context of the 19th Century

Abstract

The present work aims to present some considerations on the uses and meanings of the Bayeux Tapestry, produced after the Norman Conquest of England (1066) in the context of the 19th century. Created in the abbey of Canterbury under the commission of Odo of Bayeux (c. 1030–1097), half-brother of William the Conqueror (c. 1028–1087), the first Norman king of England, the textile visually presents a sequence of events related to the process of the Conquest, placing particular emphasis on William’s victory over Harold II Godwinson (c. 1022–1066) during the Battle of Hastings—the climax of this political-military campaign. In the wake of 19th-century medievalist productions, nationalist movements reinterpreted and instrumentalized the Bayeux Tapestry in order to reinforce emerging national identities, as well as the alterities that characterized them.