tapestry

The (fictional) story of the making of the Bayeux Tapestry in 1071 is narrated by the nun Aelthwyfe, who, we learn early on, has a beard that she hides under her wimple. We wonder what her story is, and we soon find out that each of the nuns working on the “tapestry,” (which Aelthwyfe points out is not really a tapestry, but a “broidery,” since the design is embroidered onto the cloth instead of woven into it) has a strange story to tell. These English nuns have all lived through the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and the violence and upheaval that followed. Although they are following the plan laid out for the tapestry, they add embellishments in the margins that tell something of their trials, and each sister takes a turn to tell her story and explain the significance of the images she has embroidered on the hanging. As the nuns work at the embroidery, a couple of mysteries are playing out at their convent. The most troubling is the one involving their abbess, Aelfgyva, who is afflicted with a mysterious illness (mysterious to the nuns, although not to the reader) after coming back from visiting Bishop Odo, who has commissioned the tapestry.

The book is written in pseudo Old English, with some archaic spellyng and with Old English and Norman words substituted for modern English, such as “heafod” for “head” and “cou” for “neck.” There's no glossary, but after a couple of pages it starts to seem normal and reading is not hard. I started to find the instances of modern words and turns of phrase a little jarring, in fact.

The nuns' tales all have fantastic elements to them. One nun flies away from her persecutors, and thereafter is able to hover above the ground when she wants. Another nun is transformed into a creature with the body and legs of a lion and the head and torso of a woman, and then back. We also learn how Aelfwyfe came to have a beard. These fantastic elements come into the story through the traumatic events of the Norman conquest, and the nuns' revealing their stories to each other constitutes quiet solidarity with each other and resistance to the Norman rule.