A huge 11th-century tapestry of the Norman Conquest has (carefully) traveled to England
Part war propaganda, part comic strip, the 230-foot Bayeux Tapestry is back in England for the first time in 900 years.
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Tapestry → travel → years
It depicts the 1066 Battle of Hastings, which ended Anglo-Saxon rule.
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which → depict → rule
In England, students memorize one date above all else, 1066, the year of the Norman Conquest, an epic invasion by France.
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students → memorize → France
But this year, it's journeyed to London.
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it → journey → London
And tomorrow, it goes on public display there for the first time in more than 900 years.
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it → go → years
NPR's Lauren Frayer got a sneak peek.
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Frayer → get → peek
People joke it's the country's most used pin number.
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it → joke → ?
1066 was the Battle of Hastings, which The British Museum calls...
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Museum → call → which
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: The battle that decides who becomes king, marking the dawn of the Norman era.
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who → archive → era
FRAYER: When William the Conqueror led a Norman army to kill the Anglo-Saxon King Harold with an arrow through his eye.
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William → lead → eye
It's celebrated in one of the oldest pieces of war propaganda, a giant comic strip embroidered on linen depicting the Norman Conquest in bright colors.
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It → celebrate → colors
It was commissioned by the victors.
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It → commission → victors
So let's have a bigger one than anyone's had before.
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anyone → let → one
Historian Gale Owen-Crocker says the tapestry was commissioned by William's half-brother, the Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy, France.
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tapestry → say → Normandy
But its intricate scenes of horsemen in battle, royal banquets and mythical beasts were actually stitched on the losing side in England.
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scenes → stitch → England
Every thread passed between some woman's finger and thumb.
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thread → pass → finger
Probably by seamstress nuns, who snuck in subversive insults
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who → sneak → insults
, Owen-Crocker says.
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Crocker → say → ?
On the face of it, it's bluntly telling the story the way the Norman historians did.
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historians → tell → story
But if you look at which images depict William and his half-brother, Bishop, they tend to be biblical villains.
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they → look → William
And that's one reason Brits love this tapestry.
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Brits → love → tapestry
Another is that their modern-day monarch descends from this battle.
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monarch → descend → battle
King Charles, when he saw it, said...
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he → see → it
It also tells the story of the beginning of what I like to think of as the French side of my family's history in these islands.
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I → tell → islands
After years of diplomacy, last year, French President Emmanuel Macron announced...
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Macron → announce → diplomacy
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON: France will loan the United Kingdom the Bayeux Tapestry.
(APPLAUSE)
FRAYER:
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France → archive → Tapestry
But it was quite a feat to get it here.
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it → get → it
It's a nearly 1,000-year-old piece of cloth that almost met its demise as a wagon covering in the French Revolution.
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that → meet → Revolution
It survived Napoleon, the Nazis and plunder by the common clothes moth while folded for centuries in storage.
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It → survive → storage
It's got a checkered conservation history, to put it mildly.
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It → get → it
And less than a hundred years ago, the Nazis had it rolled up on a bobbin.
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it → have → bobbin
Curator Millie Horton-Insch oversaw its transport from France.
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Insch → oversee → France
Everything was considered, vibrations, the temperature, the humidity.
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Everything → consider → ?
HORTON-INSCH: Squishy bits of fabric in between each bit so that it didn't rub against itself.
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it → rub → itself
When it was first taken out of the case, and Edward the Confessor was sort of waving at you from the 11th century, it was the most incredible feeling in the world.
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it → take → world
The museum expects this to be its most popular exhibition ever.
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this → expect → ?
Before the crowds, I got a tour.
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I → get → tour
It starts with this musical installation.
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It → start → installation
You come down these stairs, and then it's sort of illuminated.
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it → come → stairs
Walking alongside it, it feels like a medieval action movie.
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it → walk → movie
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
