tapestry

On the surface, an event portrayed in the Bayeux Tapestry seems innocuous, but it may have a much more serious political implication than its size would suggest, as argued by Professor Michael Lewis from the British Museum. Lewis believes that Ælfgyva is Emma of Normandy, and that the naked man underneath her may indicate an affair which could undermine William the Conqueror’s claim to the throne. The proposed Bayeux Tapestry scandal turns an already mysterious vignette into a possible attack on the very legitimacy of the Norman Conquest. Scene 15 of the Bayeux Tapestry shows Ælfgyva, a cleric and a nude man in the lower border. (Université de Caen Normandie, CNRS, ENSICAEN/Fabrique de patrimoines en Normandie/ Public Domain ) A