The Bayeux Tapestry tituli are Medieval Latin captions that are embroidered on the Bayeux Tapestry and describe scenes portrayed on the tapestry. These depict events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.
The Bayeux Tapestry was probably commissioned by William the Conqueror's half-brother, Bishop Odo, possibly at the same time as Bayeux Cathedral's construction in the 1070s, and completed by 1077 in time for display on the cathedral's dedication. [1] It is embroidered in wool yarn on a tabby-woven linen ground using outline or stem stitch for detailing and lettering. [2] [3] A dark blue wool, almost black, is used for most of the tapestry's lettering but towards the end other colours are used, sometimes for each word and other times for each letter.
The content of the hanging is primarily pictorial but tituli are included on many scenes of the action to point out names of people and places or to explain briefly the event being depicted. [4] The text is in Latin (which for the most part is grammatically correct), and is extremely direct, with each statement being closely tied to the scenes depicted in a given section. [5] [6] The text is frequently abbreviated as indicated by tildes placed over words at the place of omission of a letter. The words themselves are often demarcated by two points (which Lucien Musset likens to colons); sometimes, more important section breaks are demarcated by three points. Many personal names, mostly in English, are not Latinised and the same applies for names of places in England and for Beaurain "Belrem" in France. In places the spelling shows an English influence, such as the phrase "at Hestenga ceastra", which in proper Latin would be "ad Hastingae castra"). [5] Some French names are either archaic ("Rednes") or anglicised ("Bagias"). [7] Sometimes "Franci" is used to describe the Normans who at that time certainly did not regard themselves as French. [8]
The end of the tapestry has been missing from time immemorial and the final titulus "Et fuga verterunt Angli" is said by Lucien Musset to be "entirely spurious", added shortly before 1814 at a time of anti-English sentiment. [9] The first word on the tapestry "Edward" is also a restoration. [10]
The English translation provided here is of a literal nature, to reflect the simplicity of the captions themselves. The numbering scheme uses the scene numbers on the tapestry's backing cloth, which were added sometime around 1800. [4]
| Scene | Text [nb 1] | Translation [11] | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EDWARD[US] [nb 2] REX | King Edward |  |
| 2-3 | UBI HAROLD DUX ANGLORUM ET SUI MILITES EQUITANT AD BOSHAM ECCLESIA[M] | Where Harold, a leader of the English, and his knights ride to Bosham Church [12] |  |
| 4 | HIC HAROLD MARE NAVIGAVIT | Here Harold sailed by sea |  |
| 5 | ET VELIS VENTO PLENIS VENIT IN TERRA WIDONIS COMITIS | and with sails filled with wind came to the land of Count Wido [nb 3] |  |
| 6 | HAROLD | Harold |  Higher resolution detail |
| 7 | HIC APPREHENDIT WIDO HAROLDU[M] | Here Wido seized Harold |  |
| 8 | ET DUXIT EUM AD BELREM ET IBI EUM TENUIT | and led him to Beaurain and held him there |  |
| 9 | UBI HAROLD ⁊ [nb 4] WIDO PARABOLANT | Where Harold and Wido confer |  |
| 10 | UBI NUNTII WILLELMI DUCIS VENERUNT AD WIDONE[M] | Where the messengers of Duke William came to Wido |  |
| TUROLD | Turold [nb 5] |  | |
| 11 | NUNTII WILLELMI | The messengers of William |  |
| 12 | † HIC VENIT NUNTIUS AD WILGELMUM DUCEM | † [nb 6] Here the messenger comes to Duke William |  |
| 13 | HIC WIDO ADDUXIT HAROLDUM AD WILGELMUM NORMANNORUM DUCEM | Here Wido led Harold to William Duke of the Normans |  |
| 14 | HIC DUX WILGELM[US] CUM HAROLDO VENIT AD PALATIU[M] SUU[M] | Here Duke William comes with Harold to his palace |  |
| 15 | UBI UNUS CLERICUS ET ÆLFGYVA | Where a cleric and Ælfgyva ... [nb 7] |  Higher resolution detail |
| 16 | HIC WILLEM[US] DUX ET EXERCITUS EIUS VENERUNT AD MONTE[M] MICHAELIS | Here Duke William and his army came to the Mount of Michael |  |
| 17 | ET HIC TRANSIERUNT FLUMEN COSNONIS | and here they crossed the river Couesnon |  Higher resolution detail |
| HIC HAROLD DUX TRAHEBAT EOS DE ARENA | Here earl Harold dragged them from the sand | ||
| 18 | ET VENERUNT AD DOL ET CONAN FUGA VERTIT | and they came to Dol and Conan turned in flight |  |
| REDNES | Rennes |  | |
| 19 | HIC MILITES WILLELMI DUCIS PUGNANT CONTRA DINANTES | Here the knights of Duke William fight against the men of Dinan |  Higher resolution detail |
| 20 | ET CUNAN CLAVES PORREXIT | and Conan passed out the keys |  |
| 21 | HIC WILLELM[US] DEDIT ARMA HAROLDO | Here William gave arms to Harold |  |
| 22 | HIE [ sic ] [nb 8] WILLELM[US] VENIT BAGIAS | Here William came to Bayeux |  |
| 23 | UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTUM FECIT WILLELMO DUCI | Where Harold made an oath to Duke William |  |
| 24 | HIC HAROLD DUX REVERSUS EST AD ANGLICAM TERRAM | Here earl Harold returned to English land |  |
| 25 | ET VENIT AD EDWARDU[M] REGEM | and he came to King Edward |  |
| 26 | HIC PORTATUR CORPUS EADWARDI REGIS AD ECCLESIAM S[AN]C[T]I PETRI AP[OSTO]LI | Here the body of King Edward is carried to the Church of Saint Peter the Apostle [nb 9] |  |
| 27 | HIC EADWARDUS REX IN LECTO ALLOQUIT[UR] FIDELES | Here King Edward in bed speaks to his faithful followers |  Higher resolution detail |
| 28 | ET HIC DEFUNCTUS EST | and here he died | |
| 29 | HIC DEDERUNT HAROLDO CORONA[M] REGIS | Here they gave the king's crown to Harold |  |
| 30 | HIC RESIDET HAROLD REX ANGLORUM | Here sits Harold King of the English |  Higher resolution detail |
| 31 | STIGANT ARCHIEP[ISCOPU]S | Archbishop Stigand | |
| 32 | ISTI MIRANT[UR] STELLA[M] | These people marvel at the star [nb 10] |  |
| 33 | HAROLD | Harold |  |
| 34 | HIC NAVIS ANGLICA VENIT IN TERRAM WILLELMI DUCIS | Here an English ship came to the land of Duke William |  |
| 35 | HIC WILLELM[US] DUX JUSSIT NAVES [A]EDIFICARE | Here Duke William ordered ships to be built |  |
| 36 | HIC TRAHUNT NAVES AD MARE | Here they drag the ships to the sea |  |
| 37 | ISTI PORTANT ARMAS AD NAVES ET HIC TRAHUNT CARRUM CUM VINO ET ARMIS | These men carry arms to the ships and here they drag a cart (laden) with wine and arms |  |
| 38 | † HIC WILLELM[US] DUX IN MAGNO NAVIGIO MARE TRANSIVIT ET VENIT AD PEVENESÆ | † [nb 6] Here Duke William in a great ship crossed the sea and came to Pevensey |  |
| 39 | HIC EXEUNT CABALLI DE NAVIBUS | Here the horses leave the ships |  |
| 40 | ET HIC MILITES FESTINAVERUNT HESTINGA UT CIBUM RAPERENTUR | and here the knights have hurried to Hastings to seize food |  Higher resolution detail |
| 41 | HIC EST WADARD | Here is Wadard [nb 11] |  |
| 42 | HIC COQUITUR CARO ET HIC MINISTRAVERUNT MINISTRI | Here the meat is being cooked and here the servants have served (it) |  |
| 43 | HIC FECERUN[T] PRANDIUM | Here they have a meal |  |
| ET HIC EPISCOPUS CIBU[M] ET POTU[M] BENEDICIT | And here the bishop blesses the food and drink |  Higher resolution detail | |
| 44 | ODO EP[ISCOPU]S WILLEM[US] ROTBERT | Bishop Odo, William, Robert |  |
| 45 | ISTE JUSSIT UT FODERETUR CASTELLUM AT HESTENGA [nb 12] | He ordered that a motte should be dug at Hastings |  Higher resolution detail |
| CEASTRA [nb 13] | the camp | ||
| 46 | HIC NUNTIATUM EST WILLELM[O] DE HAROLD[O] | Here William was told about Harold |  |
| 47 | HIC DOMUS INCENDITUR | Here a house is burned |  |
| 48 | HIC MILITES EXIERUNT DE HESTENGA ET VENERUNT AD PR[O]ELIUM CONTRA HAROLDUM REGE[M] | Here the knights have left Hastings and have come to the battle against King Harold |  Higher resolution detail |
| 49 | HIC WILLELM[US] DUX INTERROGAT VITAL[EM] SI VIDISSET HAROLDI EXERCITU[M] | Here Duke William asks Vital [nb 14] if he has seen Harold's army |  |
| 50 | ISTE NUNTIAT HAROLDUM REGE[M] DE EXERCITU WILLELMI DUCIS | This messenger tells King Harold about Duke William's army |  |
| 51 | HIC WILLELM[US] DUX ALLOQUITUR SUIS MILITIBUS UT PREPAREN[T] SE VIRILITER ET SAPIENTER AD PR[O]ELIUM CONTRA ANGLORUM EXERCITU[M] | Here Duke William speaks to [nb 15] his knights to prepare themselves manfully and wisely for the battle against the army of the English |   |
| 52 | HIC CECIDERUNT LEWINE ET GYRD FRATRES HAROLDI REGIS | Here fell Leofwine and Gyrth, brothers of King Harold |   |
| 53 | HIC CECIDERUNT SIMUL ANGLI ET FRANCI IN PR[O]ELIO | Here English and French fell at the same time in battle |  Higher resolution detail |
| 54 | HIC ODO EP[ISCOPU]S BACULU[M] TENENS CONFORTAT PUEROS | Here Bishop Odo, holding a club, gives strength to the boys |  |
| 55 | HIC EST WILLEL[MUS] DUX | Here is Duke William |  |
| 56 | E[USTA]TIUS | Eustace |  Higher resolution detail |
| HIC FRANCI PUGNANT ET CECIDERUNT QUI ERANT CUM HAROLDO | Here the French are fighting and have killed those who were with Harold |  | |
| 57 | HIC HAROLD REX INTERFECTUS EST | Here King Harold was slain |  Higher resolution detail |
| 58 | ET FUGA VERTERUNT ANGLI [nb 16] | and the English have turned in flight |  Higher resolution detail |
William the Conqueror, sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward. By 1060, following a long struggle to establish his throne, his hold on Normandy was secure. In 1066, following the death of Edward the Confessor, William invaded England, leading an army of Normans to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands, and by difficulties with his eldest son, Robert Curthose.
A mace is a blunt weapon, a type of club or virge that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful strikes. A mace typically consists of a strong, heavy, wooden or metal shaft, often reinforced with metal, featuring a head made of stone, bone, copper, bronze, iron, or steel.
Harold Godwinson, also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon English king. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings, fighting the Norman invaders led by William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest of England. His death marked the end of Anglo-Saxon rule over England.
The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conquest of England. It took place approximately 7 mi (11 km) northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory.
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Eustace II,, also known as Eustace aux Grenons, was Count of Boulogne from 1049 to 1087. He fought on the Norman side at the Battle of Hastings, and afterwards received large grants of land forming an honour in England. He is one of the few proven companions of William the Conqueror. It has been suggested that Eustace was the patron of the Bayeux Tapestry.
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to hang vertically on a wall, or sometimes horizontally over a piece of furniture such as a table or bed. Some periods made smaller pieces, often long and narrow and used as borders for other textiles. Most weavers use a natural warp thread, such as wool, linen, or cotton. The weft threads are usually wool or cotton but may include silk, gold, silver, or other alternatives.
Odo of Bayeux was Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy, and was also made Earl of Kent in England following the Norman Conquest. He was the maternal half-brother of duke, and later king, William the Conqueror, and was, for a time, William's primary administrator in the Kingdom of England.
Robert, Count of Mortain, first Earl of Cornwall of 2nd creation was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings and as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 was one of the greatest landholders in his half-brother's new Kingdom of England.
Bayeux is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France.
Odo of Rennes, Count of Penthièvre, was the youngest of the three sons of Duke Geoffrey I of Brittany and Hawise of Normandy, daughter of Richard I of Normandy. Eudon married Agnes of Cornouaille, the daughter of Alan Canhiart, Count of Cornouaille and sister of Hoel II, Duke of Brittany who was married in 1066 to Eudon's niece Hawise, Duchess of Brittany.
The Harrying of the North was a series of military campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–1070 to subjugate Northern England, where the presence of the last Wessex claimant, Edgar Ætheling, had encouraged Anglo-Saxon Northumbrian, Anglo-Scandinavian and Danish rebellions. William paid the Danes to go home, but the remaining rebels refused to meet him in battle, and he decided to starve them out by laying waste to the Northern shires using scorched earth tactics, especially in the historic county of Yorkshire and the city of York, before relieving the English aristocracy of their positions, and installing Norman aristocrats throughout the region.
Thomas of Bayeux was Archbishop of York from 1070 until 1100. He was educated at Liège and became a royal chaplain to Duke William of Normandy, who later became King William I of England. After the Norman Conquest, the king nominated Thomas to succeed Ealdred as Archbishop of York. After Thomas' election, Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, demanded an oath from Thomas to obey him and any future Archbishops of Canterbury; this was part of Lanfranc's claim that Canterbury was the primary bishopric, and its holder the head of the English Church. Thomas countered that York had never made such an oath. As a result, Lanfranc refused to consecrate him. The King eventually persuaded Thomas to submit, but Thomas and Lanfranc continued to clash over ecclesiastical issues, including the primacy of Canterbury, which dioceses belonged to the province of York, and the question of how York's obedience to Canterbury would be expressed.
Guy I of Ponthieu was born sometime in the mid- to late 1020s and died 13 October 1100. He succeeded his brother Enguerrand as Count of Ponthieu.
The Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is coextensive with the Department of Calvados and is a suffragan to the Archdiocese of Rouen, which is also in Normandy.
Titulus is a term used for the labels or captions naming figures or subjects in art, which were commonly added in classical and medieval art, and remain conventional in Eastern Orthodox icons. In particular the term describes the conventional inscriptions on stone that listed the honours of an individual or that identified boundaries in the Roman Empire. A titulus pictus is a merchant's mark or other commercial inscription.
William the Conqueror had men of diverse standing and origins under his command at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. With these and other men he went on in the five succeeding years to conduct the Harrying of the North and complete the Norman conquest of England.
Eudo Dapifer ;, was a Norman aristocrat who served as a steward under William the Conqueror, William II Rufus, and Henry I.
The Tapestry of Creation or Girona Tapestry is a Romanesque panel of needlework from the 11th century, housed in the Museum of the Cathedral of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Measuring 3.65 m × 4.70 m, it originally may have served as a baldachin for the Altar of the Holy Cross in the church's entrance. Some believe that it was used as a curtain or even a carpet. It depicts a series of theological scenes related with the Christian creation narratives.
Æthelwynn, often spelled Ethylwynn, Ethylwyn, or Ethelwynn (10th-century) was an English noblewoman and textile artist. She was known for her embroidery work and her miraculous encounter with Saint Dunstan.
