THE MEDIEVAL STORYTELLING BEHIND THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY MUSEUM

Housed in the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Bayeux, Normandy, France is a 230-foot-long world-famous UNESCO-listed linen cloth embroidered in colorfully dyed wool depicting the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Next year will be the 950th anniversary of the Bayeux Tapestry’s creation. Historically speaking tapestries were regularly used in castles and churches in the medieval era for both decoration and insulation or to commemorate an event.

Presented in this extraordinary medieval textile art is a sequence of events leading up to William the Conqueror’s invasion of England featuring motte-and-bailey castles such as Chateau de Dinan, Castle Dol, Bayeux Castle, Hastings Castle and the sanctuary of Mont-Saint-Michel whilst the upper and lower borders contain dragons, griffins, lions, and various animals from Aesop's Fables that draw upon Latin inscriptions.

At the heart of the Bayeux Tapestry is Edward the Confessor, English King and Saint, who ruled from 1042 until his death on January 5, 1066.  He was a direct descendant of Alfred the Great, who died 899 and whose family had forged the kingdom of England in the 10th century.  Leaving no children, Edward the Confessor's death precipitated a succession crisis - a conflict amongst three claimants to the throne of England - Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Norman rivals.

Remarkably, I descend from EIGHT of the figures depicted on this medieval textile art. They are as follows:

-William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, (1027-1087-my 29th great-grandfather) thru three of his children: King Henry I of England, Constance of Normandy, and Adela of Normandy

-Robert de Conteville, Count of Mortain, (Half-Brother to William) thru his two daughters: Agnes and Emma of Mortain

-Bishop Odo de Conteville of Bayeux, (Half-Brother to William) thru his illegitimate son, John de Conteville aka John of Bayeux

-Count Guy I de Ponthieu, (Captured Harold Godwinson in 1064 after being shipwrecked) thru his two daughters: Clemence and Agnes of Ponthieu.
-Count Eustace II de Boulogne, (Norman nobleman who fought with William during the Battle of Hastings) thru his eldest son, Eustace III de Boulogne

-Roger de Beaumont, (Norman nobleman and close advisor to William who was his 2nd cousin once removed) thru his two sons: Robert and Henry de Beaumont

-Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex, (Crowned King of England the day after Edward the Confessor's death) thru his daughter, Gytha of Wessex

-Robert FitzWimarc, (Kinsman of both Edward the Confessor and Duke William of Normandy and one of the four inner counsellors present at King Edward the Confessor's death bed) thru his son, Suen of Essex