Highlands Ranch High School - Mr. Sedivy
Highlands Ranch, Colorado

The Entire Bayeux Tapestry - Part IV

Completion of the abbey consumed the interest of the king in his last days. The Hand of God, descending from a cloud, symbolizes the consecration of the church on Holy Innocents' Day - December 28, 1065. Bearers carry Edward's enshrouded body to the abbey.

Before his death "the wise ruler entrusted the realm to a man of high rank, to Harold himself," reads the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Harold listens to the king's last words at the foot of the bed. Breaking his oath to William, he accepts the crown.

Archbishop Stigand proclaims him king. "Then over all England there was seen a sign in the skies such as had never been seen before. Some said it was the star 'comet' which some call the star with hair," records the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In the spring, Halley's comet blazed across Europe. A courtier hastens to tell Harold of the omen.

Sinister, ghostly ships in the tapestry border hint at coming disaster. Meanwhile, a messenger sails to inform William, probably at Rouen, that Harold has been crowned king. Enraged at such perfidy, William resolves to invade England and take the throne.

Crash of giant oaks resounds as woodsmen fell trees for the fleet. Carpenters shape planks while shipwrights with adz and hammer construct long, narrow ships. Using block and tackle, men launch them at Dives. Arms and provisions accumulate. But for a month, an adverse wind blows from the north.

William, with superb leadership, so controlled his men that "the flocks and herds of the peasantry pastured unharmed," recorded a Norman. Then a westerly permits the duke to move his fleet to St. Valéry for a shorter voyage across the Channel.