The Bayeux Tapestry (Variorum Collected Studies)

Owen-Crocker, Gale R.

Reference

Routledge

Dress in Anglo Saxon England

Arts & Photography

Graphic Design

Manchester Univ Pr

The old English poem "Beowulf" begins and ends with funerals and includes the third as a digression part of the way through. Now, for the first time, a fourth funeral—hitherto disguised as poetic imagery—is identified from archaeological evidence. A detailed analysis of the four funerals establishes their thematic and structural importance, revealing them as pillars around which the poem is built.

The Four Funerals in Beowulf: And the Structure of the Poem

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Manchester University Press

This collection of fifteen papers ranges from the author's initial interest in the Tapestry as a source of information on early medieval dress, through to her startling recognition of the embroidery's sophisticated narrative structure. Developing the work of previous authors who had identified graphic models for some of the images, she argues that not just the images themselves but the contexts from which they were drawn should be taken in to account in 'reading' the messages of the Tapestry. In further investigating the minds and hands behind this, the largest non-architectural artefact surviving from the Middle Ages, she ranges over the seams, the embroidery stitches, the language and artistry of the inscription, the potential significance of borders and the gestures of the figures in the main register, always scrutinising detail informatively. She identifies an over-riding conception and house style in the Tapestry, but also sees different hands at work in both needlecraft and graphics. Most intriguingly, she recognises an sub-contractor with a Roman source and a clownish wit. The author is Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at The University of Manchester, UK, a specialist in Old English poetry, Anglo-Saxon material culture and medieval dress and textiles.

The Bayeux Tapestry: Collected Papers (Variorum Collected Studies)

When it first came out in 1986, Gale Owen-Crocker's book was a milestone in costume studies, a foundation on which much work has subsequently been based. Nearly twenty years later, there is more to be said, and this updated edition is long overdue. An encyclopaedic study of English dress from the fifth to the eleventh centuries, it draws evidence from archaeology, text and art (manuscripts, ivories, metalwork, stone sculpture, mosaics), and also from re-enactors' experience. It examines archaeological textiles, cloth production and the significance of imported cloth and foreign fashions. Dress is discussed as a marker of gender, ethnicity, status and social role - in the context of a pagan burial, dress for holy orders, bequests of clothing, commissioning a kingly wardrobe, and much else - and surviving dress fasteners and accessories are examined with regard to type and to geographical/chronological distribution. There are colour reconstructions of early Anglo-Saxon dress and a cutting pattern for a gown from the Bayeux tapestry; Old English garment names are discussed, and there is a glossary of costume and other relevant terms. GALE OWEN-CROCKER is Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at the University of Manchester. She has a special interest in dress throughout the medieval period - she advises on dress entries to the Toronto Old English Dictionary and has consulted for many museums and television companies. She is co-editor of the new journal Medieval Clothing and Textiles. Generously illustrated with 25 plates, 12 in colour, and 140 drawings.

Dress in Anglo-Saxon England

Boydell & Brewer Ltd

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