The Bayeux Tapestry & Propaganda- The telling of events both leading up to and the subsequent invasion and victory of the Normans is clearly from the Norman perspective. Is it too strong to label this as propaganda? What is propaganda and do you think this is an appropriate term to describe the tapestry? How much information can we glean from the tapestry regarding social/political/military customs of the time? Visual representations are documents of a culture but how valid are they in giving us an accurate perspective? Think of some representations of our culture that might go down in history as accurate reflections of how we live and what biases they may present to future people.

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Explanation:

The work was commissioned by Guilherme's half brother, Odo de Conteville, bishop of Bayeux, to be exhibited in the future cathedral of the same city, consecrated in 1077, where it stayed until the French Revolution. The Bayeux Tapestry should, above all, function as a kind of political propaganda, valuing the deeds of the great duke who became king. In fact, it is interesting to note that he is represented in a manner close to that of the king, by his clothes - a distinctive symbol of the social position of each individual -, even when he was still a duke and thus showing that he was destined to reign.

The relatively faithful representation of clothes and objects makes the work an important historical testimony of almost a thousand years ago, a time from which there are not so many artistic and archaeological fragments. It is possible to catch a glimpse of the relationships between people and their clothes, to study the military tactics and equipment of that time. One can perceive, for example, the difference between the shields of the time, almond-shaped, with a curved end and without personal identification, and those of later times, of different shape and with the arms and emblems of its possessor, in addition to the characteristics of helmets and armor, these composed of interwoven metal rings, which gradually became, over time, metal plates.