The Bayeux tapestry: is it any good?

The epic portrayal of the Norman invasion of 1066 is bound for Britain. But does it really live up to its reputation as a great work?

If you want to know why the Bayeux tapestry truly matters, why it is one of the world’s great works of art and not just a corny bit of British heritage, the place to start is not the famous scene of Harold getting it in the eye at the Battle of Hastings, or even the wondrous image of Halley’s comet that was embroidered 600 years before Halley, but a far more unsettling detail: a depiction of a war atrocity.

As the Normans establish a beachhead on the south coast, two men are setting fire to a Saxon house. You can tell from their dull disengaged eyes they are only following orders. In front of the blazing building, on a smaller scale than the burly arsonists, a woman holds her boy’s hand as she asks for humanity with a dignified, civilised gesture.

The Bayeux tapestry is a graphic depiction of the Norman buildup to, and success in, the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In a series of scenes told in 70m of coloured embroidery and Latin inscriptions, it shows how William the Conquerer crossed the Channel to seize the English crown from King Harold.  

Related: Emmanuel Macron 'agrees to loan Bayeux Tapestry to Britain'

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