“1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry” [REVIEW]

The book “1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry” by Andrew Bridgeford will make you question EVERYTHING you’ve ever been taught on the subject! And it’s a good thing too!

When I first saw this book I started out thinking “here’s just another Bayeux milieu,” this book will be the same rehashed rendering of William the Conqueror and the Norman invasion of England that I’ve read so many times before. Not so!

STAR RATINGS:

1066 BAYEUX TAPESTRY BOOK STATS:

• Published 2005
• 354 total pages
• 309 pages of text
• 22 chapters
• Map and Genealogy section in forward matter
• One 4-page color insets depicting the entire Bayeux Tapestry
• One 4-page color insets depicting the main characters of the Bayeux Tapestry
• 1 Annotated Notes section
• 1 thorough Bibliography
• 1 Index section
• Hardcover available

1066 BAYEUX TAPESTRY BOOK REVIEW:

Author and historian Andrew Bridgeford has written the most compelling and urgent account of the genealogy and hidden meaning behind the Bayeux Tapestry that I have yet come across. His book entitled “1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry” is truly revelatory.

Not only is it a historical and cultural account, but it is also a genealogy of the people and families so closely associated with this masterpiece. It is both their story and our story.

Bridgeford’s level of analysis is truly astounding as he peels back the layers of rhetoric that have thoroughly accumulated so much patina over time that we have been afraid to touch them. Andrew Bridgeford not only touches on those assumptions, he ever so deftly offers a solution that is so cunning even old Blackadder would be gobsmacked.

As a lawyer, Bridgeford brings to bear a level of juridical analysis that is both logical and persistent. That is to say that his theory about the true origins of the Bayeux Tapestry are introduced, expounded upon throughout the book, and at all times offered up as a counterpoint to other more mainstream perspectives. He truly puts the “prudence” in jurisprudence.

The crux of his argument is made clear when he writes:

The tenor of this book has been to cast doubt on the idea, which has long reigned unquestioned, that Odo was the tapestry’s patron. Rather it has been argued that Count Eustace II of Boulogne may have had a much closer involvement in the making of the tapestry than has hitherto been believed and that he may, in fact, have been the patron.

Bridgeford 2005: 277

The book “1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry” by Andrew Bridgeford is one of the best books I have read in awhile. It is both academic and expository, it engages both the mind and the emotions and is a must-read for any medieval enthusiast. Here is a book that when I finished it I stood up and applauded!

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Bridgeford, Andrew. 2005. 1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry. New York: Walker & Company.
• ISBN-13: 978-0802777423
• Amazon Link