In Search of William the Conqueror

It took us a little over an hour and a half to drive to Bayeux today.  While not far from the Canadian and British D-Day invasion beaches this town had no significant value to the Germans so they just left.  It is one of the best preserved towns in Normandy.

More incredibly beautiful hydrangeas and a pretty statue were sights to see on the way to take a look at the famous tapestry that is housed here.

We were kind of surprised when our guide asked us if we wanted to the the Bayeux Tapestry, it kind of felt like a no brainer to us, if you go to Bayuex you go see the tapestry.

The tapestry is a 224 foot piece of art that tells the story of two men who wanted to be king of England, Harold and Guillame, or William.  It tells history from a very Norman perspective.

Inside the building where it's housed are photos and models from the pictures of this tapestry that is believed to have been created shortly after William conquered Harold to become King of England , a title to add to the one he already as Duke of Normandy.

I was a good girl and didn't take any photos of the tapestry are requested by the signs at the entrance.  Michelle, however, succumbed and surreptitiously took three photos after watching two women in front of her taking photos along the length of the piece.  She shared them with me so here they are.  You can see in this photo how the tapestry is currently displayed.  Due to pressures this is creating on the cloth and thread a new museum is going to be created and the display will be changed to one where the cloth is lying flat.  You can see that the room it's kept in is dark, plus the entire length is under climate controlled glass.

What was super surprising to me was that the Bayeux "Tapestry" turned out to be a  224 foot long piece of embroidery!  It was created on linen cloth using wool thread dyed various colors.  I was expecting something completely different.

The detailing on it is pretty amazing, notice the soldiers in their chain mail, the different colors of horses.  Each of the 75 scenes from the story flows into the next and you walk along it using an audio guide to explain what exactly you're seeing.  It begins with Edward of England promising his throne to William, Duke of Normandy, how Harold the Saxon who wants to be the English king, promises to William he will swear fealty to him once Edward dies.  Once Edward is gone Harold reneges on his promise to both Edward and William and has himself crowned King of England.  When William finds out he prepares his army of archers and cavalry, takes them across the channel (the boat scenes were some of my favorites!) and attacks Harold.  He wins the day at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and becomes known as William the Conqueror.

Displays on the second level of the building share info on various aspects of the embroidery.  No one knows exactly who created it, who designed it, how many women would have worked at stitching it.  I can just picture a group of women stitching away in some drafty medieval castle by candlelight.  It was a historic record, similar to stained glass windows, telling a story to an illiterate public through pictures.

These are photos on display of some of the scenes from the artwork.  On the left men are cutting down trees to make the ships that will sail the army, even the horses and supplies, across the Channel.  On the right are pictured some of the men working on the boats.

It is fun to looks at the similarities and difference in the faces.  Most of the time hands looked a little weird.

There was also a piece of old chain mail on display, made of iron rings.  The depictions of this were easily recognizable in the embroidery. 

The battle scenes were pretty fierce and as they went on the border below each of the main panels became littered with more and more bodies, some missing heads.  Medieval battles were brutal!

There's also an incredible 11th century cathedral in Bayeux, although most of what you see in this photo was added later on in the 13th century, a more Gothic style of architecture, complete with flying buttresses.

There had been a village here during Roman times.  Here you see the oldest bit of today's city, the only remains from the 3rd century Roman town that stood at this site.

Notice how the two towers on the left have a completely different look than the rest of the building.  They are from the original church and are a more blocky Romanesque style of architecture.

The Gothic interior soars high, lifting the eyes towards heaven.

There were so many gorgeous stained glass windows in the Cathedral de Notre Dame de Bayeux that I wanted to share many of them with you.  You should know by now that I love stained glass, just as much as flowers and doors!

There was a unique podium to speak from here,

plus more stained glass,

and more stained glass.

One of the chapels had several 14th century paintings on the wall, along with the more recent 19th century painting on the upper section here that showed the murder of Bishop Thomas Beckett.  The monk to his right with the severed hand was injured trying to save him.

A series of stained glass let light into the cathedral at the altar.

What made this spot even more special was that someone was there playing the organ that you can see up above the rear wall.  The sound was marvelous and we listened to song after song.  Our guide, Adrian, said it was unusual for there to be organ music so we were just lucky.

Haven't done a door photo in a while, this one was impressive.

The simple towers are much different than the middle section with the clock that was added in the 16th century.  Overall it was an impressive structure with its sturdy Romanesque towers along the with lighter Gothic style.

Near the cathedral is what was the Bishop's palace that is now the city hall.

A view down a street in Bayeux.

This large square was where the king's palace once stood, until it was torn down during the French Revolution.  it's now known as Pláce de Gaulle.

It got that name after Charles de Gaulle came back to France following the Normandy invasion to set up his Free France government here.  What I had not known until today was that the Allies plan was to partition France between the Americans, Canadians and British, similar to what was done in Germany at the end of the war.  De Gaulle wanted to have none of that, he made a speech at the site of this memorial saying that France is back and would not accept continued occupation.  Eventually the Allies decided they liked the idea of de Gaulle running the country rather than it becoming communist so France once again ruled its destiny.  On the memorial is a Cross of Lorraine, the one with two horizontal lines, which was a symbol of de Gaulle and also of Free France.

Another statue that stands in Bayeux is Alain Chartier, someone I had never heard of.  He lived at the time of Louis IX and was a contemporary of Joan of Arc.  His claim to fame was that he was the first to write in vulgate French, or the spoken French language, rather than in Latin.

It was fun to see what views were around each corner in Bayeux.

Notice on this house how the upper levels jut out more than the lowest one.  Taxes were based on how much of your house actually touched the land, so they would build houses up instead of out.  It also helped to have these overhangs for when the slop bucket was emptied into the street below, if you were on the first floor you wouldn't get sewage dumped on you.

It really did feel like we were walking around on a movie set for "Beauty and the Beast" here in Bayeux.

Another street scene.

This tree was planted at the bishop's palace in 1797, one of three, and the last to survive.  It is known as The Freedom Tree.

The only damage Bayeux suffered during WW2 is shown here.  This building had been the German commander's headquarters and it was thought there was a machine gun in the upper window, so when the British arrived they took a few shots at it, until they realized the Germans had fled.  Bayeux was the first city liberated in France after the D-Day invasion.

One of the reasons that Bayeux escaped damage during the war, and why it has never gotten very big, is that there are no navigable rivers nearby to bring commerce here, just this small stream.  We really enjoyed our time spent in this city of 14,000.

In search of more about William the Conqueror we headed to  Caen to visit the Abbey des Hommes, the site of his final resting place.  According to our guide, William was set to marry Mathilda of Flanders to make a power merger between their families.  She wasn't too agreeable about the idea at first but eventually got used to it.  They became good counselors for one another.  The only problem was that the pope wouldn't sanction their marriage because they were something like 5th cousins and the rule was that you couldn't marry anyone closer than an 8th cousin.  The two disregarded the pope and married anyway.  Eventually, to make peace with the next pope, who was willing to sanction their union, if they would build a monastery and a convent as penance.  The Abbey des Hommes , or Men's Abbey was William's contribution, the the Abbey of Women was Mathilda's.

Unlike Bayeux, Caen suffered a great deal of damage as the Allies came and the Germans left.  Some of the bullet strikes can still be seen on the walls.

You can see that the Men's Abbey is a massive structure.  It served residents well during the Battle of Caen when thousands took refuge here in 1944.

Again there are the strong Romanesque Medieval towers at the abbey.  It has continued to look quite Medieval since no decorations were added later.

Another nice door here, 

with both a filigree knocker and a hand one.  I'm wondering what this hand is holding.

Another view of the Abbey entrance.

Inside is relatively simple,

but the "Rule of Three" reigns here with the three different levels, shown on the left, that are to remind the parishioners of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  A clock was added to the interior later but it doesn't chime since the monks that were here had taken vows of silence and a clock striking would be intrusive.  The abbey only became a regular church after the French Revolution.

At the head of the church is the grave, such as it is, and memorial to William the Conqueror.  His burial was botched after his death in 1087, when his body was brought in a bag to be buried but it wouldn't fit in the grave that had been dug.  To try to get it to fit they began breaking bones which ended up popping open the bag and releasing a smell so bad that almost everyone who had come for the funeral had to leave the building.  Generations later, during the 16th century religious wars, his bones were dug up and scattered, only his left femur is actually still in the grave.  The current tomb was added much later.

Engraved on the plaque in front of the tomb are the words, "Here lies the invincible William, conqueror, Duke of Normandy, King of England, builder of this house who died in 1087."

More stained glass from the Abbey.

We then made our way to the Abbey of Women, a less visited site, that has the grave of Matilda.

These lovely doors adorn the official entrance.

When I slipped in the actual entrance that is used for the Abbey I was surprised at how much light was inside.  This structure is an excellent example of 11th century Norman Romanesque architecture, completed between 1060 and 1080.

Matilda's grave looks like what Williams would have had originally, a full length marker in the floor.  Hers is now covered with glass to preserve it.  The light from stained glass windows plays on the marker in the afternoon.

Our final stop of the day was the small town of Honfleur, a spot that is on the other side of the Seine from Le Havre.  In the past it was a busy trading and fishing village but now its mostly a tourist destination.

One of the interesting buildings in town is the old salt granary.

At one point there were three of these massive structures in the town, used to store salt for the cod fishermen.  They would take loads of salt out with them when they went fishing in the North Atlantic so that they could layer it with the fish to keep them from spoiling.

The interior could store up to 10,000 tons of salt!

One of the interesting houses in Honfeur, 

and the old carousel that still carries kids round and round.

There were two houses like this one, one on either side of the small harbor entrance, where the taxes would be collected from merchants coming in with their goods.  They are now a last vestige of the city wall that surrounded the harbor and town center.

These narrow old buildings are iconic in Honfleur.  When the land was parceled out the lots were very narrow, hence the need to build up rather than out.

From the square looking towards the old harbor.  It now has a tide gate on it so that the water can be controlled and boats don't end up sitting on the ground when the tide is out.

To the left is one of the old entrances through the city walls into the town.  On the right is a memorial to Samuel de Champlain who left from Honfleur on his voyage when he discovered the St. Lawrence in Canada, and eventually he began the city of Quebec. 

A truly unique church was built in Honfleur by the shipbuilders who lived here.  It's made all of wood and even has pegs rather than nails to hold pieces together.  The original structure was built in 1450 to celebrate the end of the 100 Years War.  

Because of its weight the tower was located behind the church itself.  It also protected the wooden church from being burned down by lightning strikes.

The church entrance is simple and is on the side of the church that was added in 1496.

This side of the building is from 1450,

while this one is from 1496.  I really couldn't tell much difference.

The ceiling is interesting in that it looks like the hull of a ship, which reminded me of the Pine Valley Church in Southern Utah.  This was the first time that I had seen an actual book of music in a church.

Not as much stained glass in here but these three panels were nice around the altar.

The shell baptism font was also unique.

One more lovely door and the newer side of the church.

After touring we had a little free time to wander the interesting streets with their various shops.  We added to our "Chocolate Around the World" stash, and Karl enjoyed a banana and chocolate crepe before it was time to head back to Serenade.  Today was another great French adventure!