[12] “All have hitherto treated the Bayeux Tapestry as a ‘Monument of the Conquest of England,’ following therein M. Lancelot, and speaking of it as an unfinished work: whereas it is an apologetical history of the claims of William to the crown of England, and of the breach of faith, and fall of Harold; and is a perfect and finished action.”--_Mr. Hudson Gurney_, Archæologia, vol. xvii., p. 361.
[13] The Abbé de la Rue, in an elaborate paper in the _Archæologia_ (vol. xvii, p. 85-109), supports the opinion that the Tapestry was prepared at the command of Matilda, daughter of Henry I. and wife of Henry V. Emperor of Germany. Lord Lyttleton (History of Henry II., vol. i, p. 353) and Hume (History of England, vol. i, _note_ F.) entertain similar views.
[16] Some idea of the labour involved in the work may be learned from the number of figures represented in it. It contains 623 men, 202 horses, 55 dogs, 505 animals of various kinds not already enumerated, 37 buildings, 41 ships and boats, and 49 trees--in all 1512 figures.
[18] Queens of England, vol. i., p. 66, edition 1851. I have been unable to meet with any authority for this statement.
[19] In a short visit which I made to Italy in the winter of 1853-4, I paid some attention to this subject. I have seen a _vettorino_, when protesting that his exorbitant charge was a most reasonable one, throw himself into all the contortions exhibited in the Tapestry.
[20] Lives of the Queens of England, edition 1853, p. 65. _n_.
[21] His words are “L’opinion commune à Bayeux est que ce fut la reine Mathilde, femme de Guillaume-le-Conquérant, qui la fit faire. Cette opinion, qui passe pour une tradition dans le pays, n’a rien que de fort vraisemblable.”--_Jubinal’s Tapisserie de Bayeux_, p. 1.
[22] Letters from Normandy, vol. i. p. 241.
[24] William of Malmesbury’s English Chronicle (Bohn’s edition), p. 196.
[25] _See_ Note C., at the end of the Volume.
[28] General Introduction to Domesday, vol. i., p. 312.
[29] Ducarel’s Antiquities of Normandy, Appendix, p. 4.
[30] The first account of the hood is in a book written in Latin by the Emperor Frederic II. _See_ History of Inventions and Discoveries by John Beckmann, translated by William Johnston, vol. i. p. 330.