Editing Tapestry (section)

===Military===
[[File:Fall of Tangier.jpg|thumb|''Fall of [[Tangier]]'', one of the [[Pastrana Tapestries]] (1470s), recording the victories of [[Afonso V of Portugal]] about a decade earlier. Woven in [[Tournai]]]] 
After a probable gap since the 11th century, in the late 14th century sets of tapestries returned as the grandest medium for "official [[military art]]", usually celebrating the victories of the person commissioning them.<ref>Pepper</ref> [[Philip the Bold]] commissioned a ''Battle of Roosbeke'' set two years after [[Battle of Roosbeke|his victory in 1382]], which was five metres high and totalled over 41 metres in width.  [[John of Gaunt]], [[Duke of Lancaster]] insisted it was changed when Philip displayed it at a diplomatic meeting in [[Calais]] in 1393 to negotiate a peace treaty; Gaunt regarded the subject-matter as inappropriate for the occasion.<ref>Campbell and Ainsworth, 16</ref>   The Portuguese [[Pastrana Tapestries]] (1470s) were an early example, and a rare survival from so early.  
[[File:La Bataille de Zama Jules Romain 1688 1690.jpg|thumb|''[[Battle of Zama]]'' (202 BC), from a set of the life of [[Scipio Africanus]], Gobelins copy of c. 1688, after designs by [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]] and [[Francesco Penni]] for a set destroyed in the French Revolution]]

Many sets were produced of the lives of classical heroes that included many battle scenes. Not only the [[Trojan War]], [[Alexander the Great]], [[Julius Caesar]] and [[Constantine I]] were commemorated, but also less likely figures such as [[Cyrus the Great]] of ancient [[Persia]].

There were many 15th-century sets of contemporary wars, especially celebrating Habsburg victories. Charles V commissioned a large set after his decisive victory at the [[Battle of Pavia]] in 1525; a set is now in the [[Museo di Capodimonte]] in Naples.  When he led an expedition to North Africa, culminating in the [[Conquest of Tunis (1535)|Conquest of Tunis in 1535]] (no more lasting than that of [[Tangier]] depicted in the Pastrana tapestries), he took the Flemish artist [[Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen]] with him, mainly to produce drawings for the set of tapestries ordered on his return.

Contemporary military subjects became rather less popular as many 16th-century wars became religious, sometimes allegorical subjects were chosen to cover these.  But the [[Battle of Lepanto]] was commemorated with a Brussels set, and the defeat of the [[Spanish Armada]] with the [[Armada Tapestries]] (1591); these were made in [[Delft]], by a team who also made many tapestries of Dutch naval victories.  The Armada set were destroyed in the [[Burning of Parliament]] in 1834, but are known from prints.  Both sets adopted a high and distant aerial view, which continued in many later sets of land battles, often combined with a few large figures in the foreground.  The French tapestries commissioned by Louis XIV of the victories early in his reign were of this type.  Right at the end of the 16th century, a set (now in Madrid) was commissioned of the ''Triumphs and battles of [[Albert VII, Archduke of Austria|Archduke Albert]]'', who had just been made sovereign of the [[Spanish Netherlands]] (his military career had in fact been rather unsuccessful). The city council of [[Antwerp]] ordered it from the workshop of Maarten Reymbouts the Younger in Brussels, to be first seen on the occasion of his [[Royal entry]] to Antwerp in late 1599.

A set produced for [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough]] showing his victories was varied for different clients, and even sold to one of his opponents, [[Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria]], after reworking the generals' faces and other details.<ref>* Pepper; [http://www.britishbattles.com/spanish-succession/battle-blenheim.htm 1704 Battle of Blenheim depicted in tapestry at Blenheim Palace]</ref>