The Bayeux Tapestry and Anglo-Norman Art and History
with Dr Sam Newton
at Sutton Hoo, Saturday, 18^th October, 2014.

An exploration of the magnificent embroidery known as the Bayeux Tapestry, the most important work of narrative art of the eleventh century and one of the major sources of Anglo-Norman culture. We shall attempt to unravel the great story it tells of the Norman conquest in the light of contemporary art and literature, especially the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which provides an almost continuous narrative of the events leading up to and including 1066, one of the most well known years in English history.

Provisional Programme

09.50 – 10.15:                Coffee on arrival

10.15 – 11.15:                The Last of the Line of Alfred

11.15 – 11.45:                Coffee break

11.45 – 12.45:                The Oath Sworn at Bayeux, 1064

12.45 – 14.00:                Lunch break

14.00 – 15.00:                 The Oath Broken at Westminster, 1066

15.00 – 15.20:               Tea break

15.20 – 16.20:                The Judgement of God?

c.16.20:                            Thanks and Close

About Dr Sam Newton

Sam Newton was awarded his Ph.D in 1991 and is the author of The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia (1993) and The Reckoning of King Rædwald (2003). He has lectured widely around the country as an independent scholar and has contributed to many radio and television programmes, especially Time Team.. He is a Director of Wuffing Education, NADFAS lecturer, and tutor for Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education.

Some Suggestions for Optional Background Reading

Allen Brown, R., The Normans and the Norman Conquest (London 1969)

Allen Brown, R., Castles from the Air (Cambridge 1989)

Barlow, F., Edward the Confessor (London 1970; Yale 1997)

Barlow, F., The Godwins (Pearson Longman 2002)

Backhouse, J. (ed.), The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art (British Museum, 1984)

Bridgeford, A., 1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry (Walker 2005)

Heyer, G., The Conqueror (Heineman 1931; Arrow 2005)

Hicks, C., The Bayeux Tapestry: The Life Story of a Masterpiece (Chatto & Windus 2006)

Higham, N., The Death of Anglo-Saxon England (Stroud 1997)

Higham, R. & P. Barker, Timber Castles (London 1992; Exeter 2004)

Howard Bloch, R., A Needle in the Right Hand of God: The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry (Random House 2006)

Jones, G., A History of the Vikings (2nd Edition, Oxford 1984)

Liddiard, R. (ed.), Anglo-Norman Castles (Woodbridge 2003)

Magnusson, Magnus, & Hermann Pálsson, King Harald’s Saga (Penguin Classics 1966)

Muntz, H., The Golden Warrior: the story of Harold and William (Chatto & Windus 1950)

Musset, L., The Bayeux Tapestry, tr. R.Rex (Boydell 2005)

Swanton, M.(ed. & tr.), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Dent 1996; Phoenix 2000)

DeVries, K., The Norwegian Invasion of England in 1066 (Woodbridge 1999)

Williams, A., The English and the Norman Conquest (Boydell 1995)

Wilson, D., The Bayeux Tapestry (Thames & Hudson 1985)