The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages Part 7

"Behind her farre away a dwarfe did lag That lasie seem'd, in being ever last, Or wearied with _bearing of her bag_ Of needments at his backe."

Faerie Queene.

The dwarf worked in the tapestry has the name TVROLD placed above him, and seems to have been a dependant of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, William the Conqueror's brother.[36]

The first negotiations are unsuccessful; more urgent messages are forwarded, and in the end Duke William himself proceeds at the head of some troops to _compel_ the surrender of the prisoner. Count Guy is intimidated, and the object is attained; every stage of these proceedings is depicted on the canvas, as well as William's courteous reception of Harold at his palace.

The portraiture of a female in a sort of porch, with a clergyman in the act of p.r.o.nouncing a benediction on her, is supposed to have reference to the engagement between William and his guest, that the latter should marry the daughter of the former. Many other circ.u.mstances and conditions were tacked to this agreement, one of which was that Harold should guard the English throne for William; agreements which one and all--under the reasonable plea that they were enforced ones--the Anglo-Saxon n.o.bleman broke through. It is said that his desertion so affected the mind of the pious young princess,[37]

that her heart broke on her pa.s.sage to Spain, whither they were conveying her to a forced union with a Spanish prince. As this young lady was a mere child at the time of Harold's visit to Normandy, the story, though exceedingly pretty, is probably very apocryphal. Ducarel gives an entirely different explanation of the scene, and says that it is probably meant to represent a secretary or officer coming to William's d.u.c.h.ess, to acquaint her with the agreement just made relative to her daughter.

The Earl of Bretagne is at this moment at war with Duke William, and the latter attaching Harold to his party, from whom indeed he receives effectual service, arrives at Mount St. Michel, pa.s.ses the river Cosno (to which we have before alluded), and arrives at Dol in Brittany.

Parties are seen flying towards Rennes. William and his followers attack Dinant, of which the keys are delivered up, and the Normans come peaceably to Bayeux; William having previously, with his own hands, invested Harold with a suit of armour.

Harold shortly returns to England, but not before a very important circ.u.mstance had taken place. William and Harold had mutually entered into an agreement by which the latter had pledged himself to be true to William, to acknowledge him as Edward's successor on the English throne, and to do all in his power to obtain for him the peaceable possession of that throne; and as Harold was, the reigning monarch excepted, the first man in England, this promised support was of no trifling moment. William resolved therefore to have the oath repeated with all possible solemnity. His brother Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux, a.s.sisted him in this matter. Accordingly we see Harold standing between two altars covered with cloth of gold, a hand on each, uttering the solemn adjuration, of which William, seated on his throne, is a delighted auditor; for he well knew that the oath was more fearful than Harold was at all aware of. For "William sent for all the holy bodies thither, and put so many of them together as to fill a whole chest, and then covered them with a pall; but Harold neither saw them, nor knew of their being there, for nought was shown or told to him about it; and over all was a phylactery, the best that he could select. When Harold placed his hand upon it, the hand trembled and the flesh quivered; but he swore, and promised upon his oath, to take Ele to wife, and to deliver up England to the duke; and thereunto to do all in his power, according to his might and wit, after the death of Edward, if he should live, so help him G.o.d and the holy relics there! (meaning the Gospels, for he had none idea of any other). Many cried 'G.o.d grant it!' and when Harold had kissed the saints, and had risen upon his feet, the duke led him up to the chest, and made him stand near it; and took off the chest the pall that had covered it, and showed Harold upon what holy relics he had sworn, and he was sorely alarmed at the sight."

FOOTNOTES:

[22] Archaeologia, vol. xvii.

[23] Biblio. Tour, vol. i., 138.

[24] Archaeol. vols. xviii., xix.

[25] One writer, Bolton Corney, Esq., maintains that this work was provided at the expense of the Chapter of Bayeux, under their superintendence, and from their designs. "If it had not (says he) been devised within the precincts of a church it could not have escaped female influence: it could not have contained such indications of _celibatic_ superintendence. It is not without its domestic and festive scenes; and comprises, exclusive of the borders, about 530 figures; but in this number there are only three females."

[26] Henry III., 25.

[27] Archaeol. vol. xix.

[28] The attempts to imitate the human figure were, at this period, stiff and rude: but arabesque patterns were now _chiefly_ worked; and they were rich and varied.

[29] Henry III., 554.

[30] Fabyan's Chron.

[31] Rastell's Chron.

[32] Henry II., 515.

[33] Hist. Chiv.

[34] Archaeol. 1 and 3.

[35] Master Wace. Roman de Rou, &c., by Taylor.

[36] Archaeologia, vol. xix.

[37] "Her knees were like horn with constant kneeling."

CHAPTER IX.

THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY.--PART II.

"But b.l.o.o.d.y, b.l.o.o.d.y was the field, Ere that lang day was done."

Hardyknute.

"King William bithought him alsoe of that Folke that was forlorne, And slayn also thoruz him In the bataile biforne.

And ther as the bataile was, An abbey he lite rere Of Seint Martin, for the soules That there slayn were.

And the monkes well ynoug Feffed without fayle, That is called in Englonde Abbey of Bataile."

Immediately after the solemn ceremony described in the foregoing chapter, Harold is depicted as returning to England and presenting himself before the king, Edward the Confessor. "But the day came that no man can escape, and King Edward drew near to die." His deathbed and his funeral procession are both wrought in the tapestry, but by some accident have been transposed. His remains are borne in splendid procession to the magnificent house which he had builded (_i.e._ rebuilded), Westminster Abbey; over which, in the sky, a hand is seen to point as if in benediction. It is well known that the Abbey was barely finished at the time of the pious monarch's death, and this circ.u.mstance is intimated in an intelligible though homely manner in the tapestry by a person occupied in placing a weatherc.o.c.k on the summit of the building.

The first pageant seen within its walls was the funeral array of the monarch who so beautifully rebuilt and so amply endowed it. Before the high altar, in a splendid shrine, where gems and jewelry flashed back the gleams of innumerable torches, and amid the solemn chant of the monks, whose "Miserere" echoed through the vaulted aisles, interrupted but by the subdued wail of the mourners, or the emphatic benediction of the poor whose friend he had been, were laid the remains of him who was called the Sainted Edward; whose tomb was considered so hallowed a spot that the very stones around it were worn down by the knees of the pilgrims who resorted thither for prayer; and the very dust of whose shrine was carefully swept and collected, exported to the continent, and bought by devotees at a high price.

We next see in the tapestry the crown _offered_ to Harold (a circ.u.mstance to be peculiarly remarked, since thus depicted by his opponent's wife), and then Harold shows right royally receiving the homage and gratulations of those around.

But the next scene forbodes a change of fortune: "ISTI MIRANT STELLA,"

is the explanation wrought over it. For there appeared "a blasing starre, which was seene not onelie here in England, but also in other parts of the world, and continued the s.p.a.ce of seven daies. This blasing starre might be a prediction of mischeefe imminent and hanging over Harold's head; for they never appeare but as prognosticats of afterclaps."

Popular belief has generally invested these ill-omened bodies with peculiar terrors. "These blasing starres--dreadful to be seene, with bloudie haires, and all over rough and s.h.a.gged at the top." They vary, however, in their appearance. Sometimes they are pale, and glitter like a sword, without any rays or beams. Such was the one which is said to have hung over Jerusalem for near a year before its destruction, filling the minds of all who beheld it with awe and superst.i.tious dread. A comet resembling a horn appeared when the "whole manhood of Greece fought the battaile of Salamis." Comets foretold the war between Caesar and Pompey, the murder of Claudius, and the tyranny of Nero. Though _usually_, they were not _invariably_, considered as portents of evil omen: for the birth and accession of Alexander, of Mithridates, the birth of Charles Martel, and the accession of Charlemagne, and the commencement of the Tatar empire, were all notified by blazing stars. A very brilliant one which appeared for seven consecutive nights soon after the death of Julius Caesar was supposed to be conveying the soul of the murdered dictator to Olympus. An author who wrote on one which appeared in the reign of Elizabeth was most anxious, as in duty bound, to apply the phenomenon to the queen. But here was the puzzle. "To have foretold calamities might have been misprision of treason; and the only precedent for saying anything good of a comet was to be drawn from that which occurred after the death of Julius Caesar;" but it so happened that at this time Elizabeth was by no means either ripe or willing for her apotheosis.[38]

Comets, one author writes, "were made to the end the etherial regions might not be more void of monsters than the ocean is of whales and other great thieving fishes, and that a gross fatness being gathered together as excrements into an imposthume, the celestial air might thereby be purged, lest the sun should be obscured." Another says, they "signifie corruption of the ayre. They are signes of earthquake, of warres, chaunging of kyngdomes, great dearth of corne, yea, a common death of man and beast." So a poet of the same age:--

"There with long b.l.o.o.d.y hair a blazing star Threatens the world with famine, plague, and war; To princes death, to kingdoms many crosses, To all estates inevitable losses; To herdsmen rot, to plowmen hapless seasons, To sailors storms, to cities civil treasons."

But a writer on comets in 1665 crowned all previous conjecture. "As if G.o.d and Nature intended by comets to ring the knells of princes; esteeming the bells of churches upon earth not sacred enough for such ill.u.s.trious and eminent performances."

No wonder that the comet in Harold's days was regarded with fearful misgivings.

It did not, however, dismay him. Duke William, as may be supposed, did not tamely submit to a usurpation of what he considered, or affected to consider, his own dominions--a circ.u.mstance which we see an envoy, probably from his party in England, makes him acquainted with. He holds a council, seemingly an earnest and animated one, which evidently results in the immediate preparation of a fleet; of which the tapestry delineates the various stages and circ.u.mstances, from the felling of the timber in its native woods to the launching of the vessels, stored and fully equipped in arms, provisions, and heroes for invasion and conquest.

William in this expedition received unusual a.s.sistance from his own tributary chiefs, and from various other allies, who joined his standard, and without whom, indeed, he could not, with any chance of success, have made his daring attempt. A summer and autumn were spent in fitting-up the fleet and collecting the forces, "and there was no knight in the land, no good serjeant, archer, nor peasant of stout heart, and of age for battle, that the duke did not summon to go with him to England; promising rents to the vava.s.sors, and honours to the barons." Thus was an armament prepared of seven hundred ships, but the one which bore William, the hero of the expedition, shone proudly pre-eminent over the rest. It was the gift of his affectionate queen.

It is represented in the canvas of larger size than the others: the mast, surmounted by a cross, bears the banner which was sent to William by the Pope as a testimony of his blessing and approbation. On this mast also a beacon-light nightly blazed as a _point d'approche_ of the remainder of the fleet. On the p.o.o.p was the figure of a boy (supposed to be meant for the conqueror's youngest son), gilded, and looking earnestly towards England, holding in one hand a banner, in the other an ivory horn, on which he is sounding a joyful reveillee.

But long the fleet waited at St. Valeri for a fair wind, until the barons became weary and dispirited. Then they prayed the convent to bring out the shrine of St. Valeri and set it on a carpet in the plain; and all came praying the holy relics that they might be allowed to pa.s.s over sea. They offered so much money, that the relics were buried beneath it; and from that day forth they had good weather and a fair wind. "Than w.i.l.l.yam thanked G.o.d and Saynt Valary, and toke shortly after shyppynge, and helde his course towarde Englande."

On the arrival of the fleet in England a banquet is prepared. The shape of the table at which William sits has been the theme of some curious remarks by Father Montfaucon, which have been copied by Ducarel and others. It is in form of a half-moon, and was called by the Romans _sigma_, from the Greek +s+. It was calculated only for seven persons; and a facetious emperor once invited eight, on purpose to raise a laugh against the person for whom there would be no place.

"A knight in that country (Britain) heard the noise and cry made by the peasants and villains when they saw the great fleet arrive. He well knew that the Normans were come, and that their object was to seize the land. He posted himself behind a hill, so that they should not see him, and tarried there watching the arrival of the great fleet. He saw the archers come forward from the ships, and the knights follow. He saw the carpenters with their axes, and the host of people and troops. He saw the men throw the materials for the fort out of the ships. He saw them build up and enclose the fort, and dig the fosse around it. He saw them land the shields and armour. And as he beheld all this his spirit was troubled; and he girt his sword and took his lance, saying he would go straightway to King Harold and tell the news. Forthwith he set out on his way, resting late and rising early; and thus he journeyed on by night and by day to seek Harold his lord."

And we see him in the tapestry speeding to his beloved master.

Meanwhile Harold is not idle. But the fleet which, in expectation of his adversary's earlier arrival, he had stationed on the southern coast, had lately dispersed from want of provisions, and the King, occupied by the Norwegian invasion, had not been able to reinstate it; and "William came against him (says the Saxon chronicle) unawares ere his army was collected." Thus the enemy found nor opposition nor hinderance in obtaining a footing in the island.