The Bayeux Tapestry is one of our key sources for understanding the events around the Norman Conquest but, much though it contains plenty of fascinating detail, it remains a work that is shrouded in mystery. It asks as many questions as it answers. What are Harold and King Edward talking about in the opening scene? Why did Harold go to Normandy? And, of course, is Harold the man with an arrow in his eye at the Battle of Hastings?
The tapestry is full of rich and allegorical imagery that must once have been clear to those who viewed it, but the passage of a thousand years has left us wondering what the brief and opaque Latin text actually means, and what the many different pictures of people and animals are supposed to be telling us.
In the whole tapestry there is perhaps no scene more enigmatic than scene 15 (the numbering is a modern invention not included in the tapestry itself). In this scene a woman stands between two spiral pillars facing a man who is dressed as a priest. The man’s hand is outstretched, touching the woman’s face, and his other hand is on his hip. Beneath the woman, in the margin of the tapestry, a naked man with oversized genitals is squatting. His hand is also outstretched and the other is on his hip so that his hand gestures mirror those of the priest above suggesting that he represents the priest in some way.
The text above the scene simply reads ‘where a cleric and Aelfgyva’. There is no further explanation as to who the cleric is or who Aelfgyva is or, indeed, what on earth is actually happening, and why a naked man is squatting beneath the pair.
Scene 15 ‘where a cleric and Aelfgyva’
In the scene before, William and Harold are in conversation. Harold is pointing with one hand, possibly to the men standing behind him, or possibly to the pair in scene 15. Under this scene, a naked man is doing woodwork which is also unexplained. This scene has the text, ‘here Duke William came to his palace with Harold’.
Scene 14 ‘here Duke William came to his palace with Harold’. William is seated, Harold is the man with the heroically wide stance, pointing backwards towards scene 15.
The scenes immediately following scene 15 depict Duke William’s campaign in Brittany which is thought have occurred in 1064 and in which Harold participated.
It may be assumed that Aelfgyva and the cleric are important to the story in some way and are probably the topic of the conversation between Harold and William in the previous scene. But why they are important is the unresolved subject of much scholarly debate.
The naked man must also not be ignored. The margin of the tapestry is full of extra detail that elaborates on the main narrative. For example, a number of Aesop’s fables are depicted in the margin, all of them to do with deception and all of them linked to scenes involving Harold. In this way, Harold’s character was demonstrated to the viewer and the image of him as a perjurer and an oath breaker is enhanced. It is this narrative that is used to help legitimize William’s invasion on England. The naked man is certainly also intended to add something to the narrative.
Who was Aelfgyva?
Aelfgyva is probably a latinized version of the English name Aelfgifu. Many different women have been proposed to be Aelfgifu. It has been suggested that it is Aelfgifu of Northampton, first wife of King Cnut. This theory suggests that the tapestry is making reference to a rumour that that son’s of Aelfgifu and Cnut were not actually Cnut’s, but were the sons of a cobbler and a priest. The depicted priest is thus the father of one of these illegitimate boys and the naked man represents the sexual scandal. As Harald Hardrada’s claim to the English throne came in part due to this lineage, the scene is included in the tapestry to de-legitimize that claim. Why Harold Godwinson and William would be discussing this at this point is not clear.
Secondly, it has been proposed that Aelfgyva is Emma of Normandy, second wife to King Cnut and mother to Edward the Confessor, who took the name Aelfgifu after marrying Cnut – presumably to spare him any confusion in the marital bed. It has been suggested that the scene may refer to an affair she was rumoured to have had with the Bishop of Winchester. The depiction of the affair is supposed to speak to the sexually lax morals of the English at the time (this, despite Emma being Norman). Conversely, it has also been argued that she is present on the tapestry to strengthen William’s claim to the English throne as she was his great aunt and thus gave him a tenuous connection to the bloodline.
Emma of Normandy (known as Aelfgifu after marriage to Cnut)
The next candidate is Adelida, daughter of William. The suggestion is that she was betrothed to Harold on this trip. This seems reasonable although obviously she has the wrong name and it is not clear what the cleric or the naked man represent in this scenario.
More attractive is the suggestion that Aelfgyva was a sister of Harold who was betrothed to a Norman noble. Eadmer, a monk in Canterbury writing in the early 12th Century, says that Harold’s sister was betrothed to a Norman noble on this trip. There is a single mention of an Aelfgifu, ‘sister of Earl Harold’, in the Domesday Book but, unfortunately no other evidence of Harold having had such a sister.
In identifying the cleric, we are on even shakier ground. The term cleric is itself fairly vague as it could mean anything from a monk to an archbishop, although the clothing he wears in the tapestry has been interpreted as showing that he was a high-status priest. His gesture of touching the woman’s face has variously been interpreted as a slap, a blessing, the miraculous curing of an eye complaint, or an erotic caress.
The gesture, and the composition of the scene in general, has also been interpreted as showing a father saying goodbye to a child. In this interpretation the naked man is squatting because he is in the position of childbirth. Aelfgyvu is therefore the daughter of the priest. A priest being married and having children was not unusual in England at the time, but the marriage of priests was something that the Pope was actively trying to crack down on at this time. William, to gain the Pope’s support for his invasion, had promised to bring this reforming message to England. The scene would thus seem to show both a father who is a priest, and the sexually immoral practices of the English that were in need of reform. This theory may also provide us with our Aelfgyvu – a cousin of Harold who owned the village of Lewknor near Abingdon. Her father was indeed probably a cleric who was related to Harold. Could Harold have elevated her status from cousin to ‘sister’ as part of the negotiations on his trip to Normandy?
Interestingly, Eadmer tells us that the marriage between Aelfgyvu and the Norman noble was supposed to happen after the death of Edward the Confessor. According to Eadmer, after the king’s death, William sent a messenger to Harold demanding that the bride be sent over to Normandy. Harold replied that she was dead so no marriage would take place. It appears that Aelfgifu of Lewknor may have died in 1065 which would fit with this story.
The theories outlined above are just a few of many. All rely on supposition and speculation. We are unlikely ever to fully understand scene 15. What is perhaps most interesting to consider is that its meaning must have been plain to the original audience of the tapestry. The meaning was in fact so plain that the designer of the tapestry felt no need to furnish us with any explanatory details. Somewhere in the passage of time we have simply forgotten what it meant.
Adam Staten is an author of fiction and non fiction. His first novel, Steadfast, is based on his experiences serving in Afghanistan. His second novel, Blood Debt, is set during the period leading up to the Norman Conquest.
