ltwilliammowett:The Bayeux Tapestry , occasionally also called tapestry of Queen Mathilda, is an e
ltwilliammowett: The Bayeux Tapestry , occasionally also called tapestry of Queen Mathilda, is an embroidery work made in the second half of the 11th century on a 52 centimetre high strip of cloth. The conquest of England by the Norman Duke Wilhelm the Conqueror, depicted in picture and text on 68 metres in 58 individual scenes, begins with a meeting of Harald Godwinson, Earl of Wessex with the English King Edward and ends with the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. This masterpiece was probably commissioned by William the Conqueror’s half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, to decorate the new cathedral of Bayeux, which was consecrated in 1077. But the final scenes are missing, so that the original length of the cloth strip is unknown. The Tapestry holds remarkable illustrations of English and Norman ships, built in the traditional Viking style. The ships were built using the clinker technique (large wooden planks overlapping like the tiles on a roof) and without a keel. The clinker technique - developed by the Scandinavians - enabled the construction of boats that were slender, fast and sea-worthy, even in the rough weather of Northern Europe. Clinker built vessels could be beached on any coast without the need for deep-water harbours. There were several types of boats: the langskip (“longship”), a war vessel, and the knarr, a cargo ship, but the Tapestry does not distinguish them clearly. Prows and sterns were decorated with dragon heads, which owed the ships the name Drekar (“dragons”), a term used in the 19th Century for Scandinavian vessels. -- source link
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