Kristin Bech (ILOS) and Eirik Welo (IFIKK) invite staff and students to an informal, low-threshold seminar series (three meetings) entitled ‘Reading the Bayeux tapestry’. The Bayeux tapestry is a spectacular 70-metre-long embroidery that tells the story of the events leading up to William, duke of Normandy’s conquest of England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This marked the end of the Viking Age and the end of the Anglo-Saxon period.
In the seminar we will work our way through the tapestry, about one third of it every seminar, looking at what the Latin text says and at what the images and scenes tell us. The tapestry, which was made in England immediately after the conquest (and has miraculously survived) has been regarded as a nice piece of (Norman) French propaganda, justifying the invasion, but alternative perspectives have also been suggested. Perhaps there were hidden messages in the tapestry..?
The meetings take place on the following dates:
10 September 12.15-13, Sophus Bugge, seminar room 3
15 October 12.15-13, Sophus Bugge, seminar room 3
12 November 12.15-13, Sophus Bugge, seminar room 3
All are welcome and no preparation is necessary. You can choose to attend one or two or all three seminars. The language of the seminars is English.