the technical facilities increased. But
a study of the craft as it began gives one all that is necessary
for a proper appreciation of the art of tapestry weaving.

The earliest European work with which we have to concern ourselves
is the Bayeux tapestry. Although this is really needlework, it
is usually treated as tapestry, and there seems to be no special
reason for departing from the custom. Some authorities state that
the Bayeux tapestry was made by the Empress Matilda, daughter of
Henry I., while others consider it the achievement of Queen Matilda,
the wife of William the Conqueror. She is recorded to have sat
quietly awaiting her lord's coming while she embroidered this quaint
souvenir of his prowess in conquest. A veritable mediaeval Penelope,
it is claimed that she directed her ladies in this work, which is
thoroughly Saxon in feeling and costuming. It is undoubtedly the most
interesting remaining piece of needlework of the eleventh century,
and it would be delightful if one could believe the legend of its
construction. Its attribution to Queen Matilda is very generally
doubted by those who have devoted much thought to the subject. Mr.
Frank Rede Fowke gives it as his opinion, based on a number of
arguments too long to quote in this place, that the tapestry was
not made by Queen Matilda, but was ordered by Bishop Odo as an
ornament for the nave of Bayeux Cathedral, and was executed by
Norman craftsmen in that city. Dr. Rock also favours the theory
that it was worked by order of Bishop Odo. Odo was a brother of
William the Conqueror and might easily have been interested in
preserving so important a record of the Battle of Hastings. Dr.
Rock states that the tradition that Queen Matilda executed the
tapestry did not arise at all until 1730.

The work is on linen, executed in worsteds. Fowke gives the length
as two hundred and thirty feet, while it is only nineteen inches
wide,--a long narrow strip of embroidery, in many colours on a cream
white ground. In all, there are six hundred and twenty-three figures,
besides two hundred horses and dogs, five hundred and five animals,
thirty-seven buildings, forty-one ships, forty-nine trees, making in
all the astonishing number of one thousand five hundred and twelve
objects!

The colours are in varying shades of blue, green, red and yellow
worsted. The colours are used as a child employs crayons; just as
they come to hand. When a needleful of one thread was used up,
th