Trend Spotting at the Battle of Hastings
The Bayeux Tapestry is gracing the shores of the UK - so why not look into the fashion of this iconic artefact.
Firstly - fashion is how we know who is who in this massive comic strip.
The French, who conquered the English and commissioned this recording of it have lil bowl cuts, whilst the English have stunning little moustaches. They also wear common 11th century regional garments that help us keep track of the story.
The English wear knee length tunics often with colourful stockings, which we see them remove to cross water.
The Normans (French) wear culottes and split front tunics for movement.
As the battle progresses these garments turn to chainmail armour. And we follow who is who based on the shapes of shield. The kite shape for Normans, which was shaped to cover their legs whilst riding. And a mixture of kite and round for the English - which were an Anglo-Saxon tradition and used better on foot.
Edward the confessor is the most lavishly dressed in the whole thing, and his facial features are totally distinct from everyone else. He wears a royal tunic, a crown, holds an orb and sceptre and generally gives ‘king’. This makes sense - he was the king of England after all. He actually died less than a year before the battle of Hastings, and the whole palaver was because William (Duke of Normandy) and Harold (Edwards brother in law) both thought that the crown should now pass onto them. So he’s presented the best on this thing because he was the king of England, and Englald was a prosperous land good enough to fight over.
More dramatic clothing singles out other important characters like Bishop Odo (Williams half brother) who supposedly is the person that ordered the tapestry to be made. Makes sense he’d want to look good right, hence why he wears really fancy armour. He probably had his friends round and was like ‘look that’s me!’
William himself, who (spoiler alert) goes on to win the battle of Hastings is also made to look important through the fashion on this tapestry - he wears spurs, a double gold belt, a red and gold cloak embellished with roman style ribbons attached. This wasn’t actually something common to wear, but denotes his power. He also has the biggest horse.
There are very few women depicted surprise surprise, three are featured and only one is named - Aelfgyva. She is depicted in some kind of scandal with a priest, there are references that suggest it would have been common knowledge to contemporary viewers, but has left us puzzled. Her clothing is meant to demean her. She is wearing heavy clothing worn by the wealthy class, with hugely impractical long sleeves. A wasteful overuse of fabric to show off.
Anyway - are you going to see it? Tell me your fave tapestry fits!