Gale R. Owen-Crocker

Squawk talk: commentary by birds in the Bayeux Tapestry?

A brief history of the tradition of birds as motifs on textiles is followed by a catalogue of the birds in the Bayeux Tapestry and a discussion of their function. The possible significance of identifiable birds (cocks, doves, peacocks, storks), the birds of Aesops fables and the creatures in the border ‘bird scaring scene’ is analysed. The individuality, in colouring and position, of all the border birds is demonstrated and the apparent interest which many of them take in the action of the main register is highlighted to suggest that the border birds present a commentary on, and audience-participation in, the narrative.

Anglo-Saxon textiles from Cleatham, Humberside

Excavation of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery of Cleatham, England, which was discovered in 1856, occurred between 1979 and 1989. The site has major significance as a cremation cemetery, with 1,016 cremation burials identified to date. Some of the inhumation graves, which go back to the 5th century, preserve textiles that reflect pre-Christian practices of burying grave goods with the dead. Contact with metal grave goods such as brooches, buckles, and wrist clasps was responsible for the preservation of these textiles. Analysis of these fragments provides such descriptions as dimensions, weave structure, fiber type, thread count, whether the yarn is Z or S twist, the artifact with which the fragment is associated, and whether the inhumation was male or female based on the type of grave goods.

Clothing the past : surviving garments from early medieval to early modern western Europe

One hundred surviving garments are discussed with colour plates. Ranging from high art to homely, some are associated with known persons, others are anonymous, yet their histories – of recycling, repairing, augmenting – illuminate times when textile was handmade and precious.

Hunger for England: Ambition and Appetite in the Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestrys theme of political ambition in the eventual rivals for the throne of Anglo-Saxon England is enforced by its two feast scenes in the main register, and the many border images of animals and birds eating, of creatures stalking, chasing and capturing prey and of human beings both hunting animals and cultivating the soil.