#if anyone found this interesting please consider reading Femina by Janina Ramirez. she's got a whole chapter on this and it's really good

[hesbuckcompton-baby]

history facts!!!!!!! yes please

ANON SO TRUE!!!!

HISTORY FACT! the Bayeux Tapestry is NOT a tapestry, nor is it from Bayeux. it's an embroidery (tapestries are made on looms - this was not), and it was created by nuns in Canterbury. it may have been commissioned by Odo of Bayeux but it's not actually from there.

Bonus since we're on the topic - that guy everyone thinks is Harold Godwinson on the Bayeux Tapestry??? that ain't him.

Beneath the name 'Harold', we can see a man with an arrow in his eye, and for a long time people have assumed this was Harold Godwinson (who was King of England at the time) but it's NOT

And we know it's not him for a couple of reasons

As a general rule, the action described in the tapestry text typically appears at the end of the sentence. The man believed to be Harold is not in the right place for this to be correct

Recent examinations of the tapestry have found that the thread used to embroider the arrow in 'Harold's' eye dates back to the 19th Century. The Bayeux Tapestry was made in the 11th Century. This was not an original addition (typical Victorians, fucking with history - but that's a rant for another post)

By looking at accounts from around the time of the Battle of Hastings, we know Harold didn't die from an arrow to the eye - dude got dismembered real bad <3

So when we consider all of this, it's much more likely that the real Harold Godwinson is actually the man on the ground to the right of the figure most people label as him👍