155.  Historical Works; the Bayeux Tapestry.

The chief books written in England under the Norman kings were histories.  Of these the most noteworthy were the continuation of the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” in English (S99) and the chronicles of William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon in Latin.[1] William’s book and the “Saxon Chronicle” still continue to be of great importance to students of this period.  Mention has already been made of the Bayeux Tapestry (S75), a history of the Norman Conquest worked in colored worsteds, on a long strip of narrow canvas.

[1] Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Britons” belongs to this period.  It abounds in romances about King Arthur.  Tennyson based his “Idylls of the King” on it.

It consists of a series of seventy-two scenes, or pictures, done about the time of William’s accession.  It was probably intended to decorate the cathedral of Bayeux, in Normandy, France, where it was originally placed.  Some have supposed it to be the work of his Queen, Matilda.  The entire length is two hundred and fourteen feet and the width about twenty inches.  It represents events in English history from the last of Edward the Confessor’s reign to the battle of Hastings.  As a guide to a knowledge of the armor, weapons, and costume of the period, it is of very great value.  The tapestry is preserved at Bayeux.

156.  Architecture.

Under the Norman sovereigns there was neither painting, statuary, nor poetry worthy of mention.  The spirit that creats these arts found expression in architecture introduced from the Continent.  The castle, cathedral, and minster, with here and there an exceptional structure like the Tower of London, London Bridge, and the Great Hall at Westminster, built by William Rufus, were some well-known Norman buildings which mark the time.  All were of stone, a material which the Normans generally preferred to any other.  Aside from Westminster Abbey, which, although the work of Edward the Confessor, was really Norman, a fortress or two, like Coningsborough in Yorkshire, and a few churches, like that at Bradford-on-Avon, the Saxons had erected little of note.

The characteristics of the Norman style of architecture was its massive grandeur.  The churches were built in the form of a cross, with a square, central tower, the main entrance being at the west.  The interior was divided into a nave, or central portion, with an aisle on each side for the passage of religious processions.  The windows were narrow, and rounded at the top.  The roof rested on round arches supported by heavy columns.  The cathedrals of Peterborough, Ely, Durham, Norwich, the church of St. Bartholomew, London, and St. John’s Chapel in the Tower of London are fine examples of Norman work.