Editing Bayeux Tapestry (section)

== Unsettled questions ==
[[File:Bayeux Tapestry scene57 Harold death.jpg|thumb|Harold's death. Legend above: ''Harold rex interfectus est'', "King Harold is killed"]]
[[File:Harold arrow, Bayeux tapestry detail.jpeg|thumb|right|Detail of arrow]]
[[File:Aelfgyva.jpg|thumb|''Ubi unus clericus et Ælfgyva'']]

The depiction of events on the tapestry has raised several questions which remain unsettled.

The identification of [[Harold Godwinson|Harold II of England]] in the vignette depicting his death is disputed. Some recent historians disagree with the traditional view that Harold is the figure struck in the eye with an arrow, and that the arrow is a later 18th/19th century modification following a period of repair.<ref name="musset" /> Benoît's engraving of 1729, and [[Bernard de Montfaucon]]'s engravings of the tapestry as it was in 1730, show a spear or lance in place of the arrow and no arrow fletchings. Further, needle holes in the linen suggest that something has been removed, or shortened, and fletchings added to form an arrow.<ref name="musset" /> A figure is slain with a sword in the subsequent plate, and the phrase above the figure refers to Harold's death (''interfectus est'', "he is slain"). 

This would appear to be more consistent with the labelling used elsewhere in the work. It was common medieval [[iconography]] that a [[perjurer]] was to die with a weapon through the eye{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}. Therefore, the tapestry might be said to emphasise William's rightful claim to the throne by depicting Harold as an oath breaker. Whether he actually died in this way remains a mystery and is much debated.<ref>{{cite book|last=Foys|first=Martin|title=Pulling the Arrow Out: The Legend of Harold's Death and the Bayeux Tapestry|publisher=Boydell and Brewer|location=Woodbridge, UK|year=2009|pages=158–75|isbn=978-1-84383-470-0}}</ref>

There is a panel with what appears to be a [[clergy]]man touching or possibly striking a woman's face. No one knows the significance of this scene or the caption above it: ''ubi unus clericus et Ælfgyva'' ("where [or ''in which''] a certain cleric and Ælfgyva"), where Ælfgyva is the Latinised spelling of [[Ælfgifu]], a popular Anglo-Saxon woman's name (literally "elf-gift").<ref name="hicks" /> The use of the [[grapheme]] [[Æ]] shows familiarity with English spelling.<ref name="hicks" /> There are two naked male figures in the border below this figure; the one directly below the figure is in a pose mirroring that of the cleric, squatting and displaying his [[genitalia]] (a scene that was frequently censored in historical reproductions). However, similar naked figures appear elsewhere in the lower border where there seems to be no connection at all with the main action.<ref name="musset" /> 

Harold had a younger sister named Ælfgifu (her name is spelt Alveva in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086) who was possibly promised to William by Harold or even betrothed to him, but she died {{circa|1066}}, prior to the invasion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mason |first=Emma |title=The House of Godwine: the history of a dynasty |place=London |publisher=Hambledon and London |year=2004 |isbn=1852853891 }}</ref> [[Ælfgifu of Northampton|Ælfgifu]] was also the name of the mother of [[Sweyn Knutsson]] and [[Harold Harefoot]], past kings of Denmark and England respectively, via [[Cnut the Great]]. It has been speculated that this scene, occurring after the meeting of Harold and William, is to remind the contemporary viewers of a scandal that occurred between [[Ælfgifu of Northampton]] and [[Emma of Normandy]], Cnut's wives, that eventually led to the crowning of Edward the Confessor, child of Emma and her first husband, [[Æthelred the Unready]].<ref name="Bridgeford" />

At least two panels of the tapestry are missing, perhaps even another {{convert|6.4|m|yd|abbr=on}} in total. This missing area may have depicted William's coronation as King of England.<ref name="hicks" /> A poem by [[Baldric of Dol]] describes a tapestry on the walls of the personal apartments of [[Adela of Normandy]], which is very similar to the Bayeux depiction. He describes the closing scene as the coronation of William in London.<ref>Bertrand, Simone ''The Bayeux Tapestry''  1978  p.30</ref>