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

The Entire Bayeux Tapestry - Part VIII

The Bretons begin to waver. Stallions, their bloody flanks flecked with foam, stumble as their riders turn in retreat. Despite Harold's order to stand fast as a defensive bulwark, English rustics of the fyrd, or militia, filling out his ranks feel the flush of victory and break out in pursuit.

Trapped on a hillock in the valley, the over-anxious Anglo-Saxon militiamen fight to the last man against encircling invaders. Galloping past, Bishop Odo rallies the Norman cavalry with his swinging mace. In the melee William's horse is thrice cut from under him.

To quell rumor of his death, the duke doffs his helmet and cries, "Look at me well! I am still alive and by the grace of God I shall yet prove victor!" Eustace of Boulogne, carrying the papal banner symbolizing Rome's approval of the invasion, points out his commander.

As the long, bloody day draws to an end, the bone-weary, haggard Normans call upon their tired steeds for a final charge, vowing to breach the English line. In the tapestry border, archers aim their arrows over the wall of shields and death rains upon the Anglo-Saxons.

The shafts take their toll. The shield wall begins to crumble, exposing Harold to mortal danger. Rushing in, a mounted Norman knight hews down the doomed monarch with one mighty blow from his broadsword. Their stalwart leader dead, their army shattered, the English have little heart left for battle.

"They... began to fly as swiftly as they could," wrote William of Poitiers. Behind them, "The blood-stained battleground was covered with the flower of the youth and nobility of England. "The sun set on the field - and on Anglo-Saxon England.

(Scholars believe two missing panels at the end may have portrayed William on the throne of England.)