ABSTRACT
The Bayeux Tapestry provides a window onto a world of continuity and change, and is not just a pictorial narrative of a recent historical event. Its Norman patron no doubt wished to celebrate the Norman achievement, but felt it necessary to do so in a manner sensitive to the political complexities of the time; when the Tapestry was produced, the Anglo-Norman state was still fragile and sought assimilation as much as domination. As a craft of English renown, embroidery was a significant choice for this masterpiece. Not only did this highlight Norman appreciation of Anglo-Saxon craft-work, but embroidery was a medium that lent itself to the production of large-scale and complicated narrative sequences, also drawing upon an art historical tradition more apparent in extant Anglo-Saxon illuminations of biblical events. Indeed, the nature of the commission provided its (probable) English designer with challenges, which he had to overcome with imagination and inventiveness, again reflecting the unique nature of the Anglo-Norman period as one of both continuity and change.
