International Medieval Society, Paris
Société Internationale des Médiévistes, Paris

Symposium 2009 - Space/l'Espace
Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between spatial representation in the Bayeux Tapestry, eleventh-century visual experience and oral performance of the narrative. The puzzling depictions of architecture in the Bayeux Tapestry have often been described as fragmented, inadequate or naïve representations of space. However, by reconstructing the visual experience of the eleventh century, spatial representations in the Bayeux Tapestry can be understood in quite different terms. The architectural representations provide portals for visual access creating a bidirectional and non linear flow to the narrative. This engagement demands an imagined kinetic movement through an embodied space in which the viewer became a participant in the narrative. The unmistakable emphasis on doors and windows as well as ramps and steps provided a literal road map for points of entrance and exit to the story as it was performed in a series of vignettes or episodes. Several anomalies in the architecture may also have functioned as memory cues in that performance.