The Bayeux Tapestry is an exceptional piece of history. Likely commissioned by members of William The Conquerer's family, it is a visual retelling of the Norman Conquest of England, encapsulated and transferred to a 224 foot length of cloth that has survived for more than 900 years. Stop and consider that for a moment. Fires, religious wars, natural disasters, lootings, political upheavals, the Nazis... It has endured all to remain with us, an invaluable resource for our understanding of a medieval world so often clouded by the mists of time.
Mr. Bloch, here, not only recounts the Tapestry's long history, he details the ways and means of its creation by reconstructing the labors of countless women to embroider colored yarn on a linen backdrop. Every image, from the grandest battles to the simplest of letters was the result of incalculable hours of necessarily errorless stitching. But while its making and its adventures fascinate, Mr. Bloch is at his best, here, filling in the events depicted by its myriad scenes. Being an account of the Conquest from the viewpoint of its victors, the reader requires a historian to provide both context and balance to a biased tale. And while Mr. Bloch's account is more pro-Norman than the version posited by Harriet Harvey Wood, it is just as edifying.
It's such a shame that the piecing together of our history has been reduced to the interpretation of wall hangings, yet, there's something glorious about such necessities. For while we pick it apart for nuance, we're forced to acknowledge that all history, all understanding, is transient, that who we are and what we achieve will be retained, forgotten, remembered and forgotten again as we and our descendants endure the rapids of the future. There's nothing especially revelatory about Mr. Bloch's work here, but he certainly does justice to a worthy subject. (3/5 Stars)
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