The Bayeux Tapestry

I thought Jura was asking if we thought Macron was right to lend us the tapestry ( which is not technically a tapestry but a work of embroidery). Now everyone is arguing about the Norman French fighting the English.
I think it would be lovely for it to return home, even if just for a short time. Modern thinking is that it was embroidered by groups of Nuns in Canterbury and was commissioned by Bishop Odo, who later became Duke of Kent. I might manage to see it in England, but doubt that I would ever travel to France just to visit it.

My first thought was I hope some idiot doesn't try to damage it when it's here...

Thought it was beautifully presented when we saw it, with all the explanation and the “replica” displayed first so that we appreciated what we were seeing when we got to the “real thing”.
It’s a significant gesture by the French and comparable perhaps to the world tour tge Hereford Cathedral copy of Magna Carta made a year or so back.
DD’s godfather accompanied it - Magna Carta got to travel First Class, he didn’t!

We stopped to see it en route back to the ferry one year when we had all the DC with us and just happened to have some spare time.
I'm so glad we did, it was impressive and quite awe-inspiring; now I have to find the folding paper replica I bought and study it!

We saw in in Bayeux too and I also bought the folding paper one but have never displayed it and it is still in my knicker draw for some reason ?. I used the headphones and really enjoyed learning what the different scenes depicted - I’d love it to come over here. It was the length that surprised me, as well as the narrow width. Always imagined a large floor to ceiling square hanging up before I saw it!

I saw it in France when I was still a child, and my parents had a book with a facsimile of the whole thing, so I am fairly familiar with it. I was also struck by its narrowness.

The Norman invasion was one of those historical events that must have seemed bad at the time, but was good in the long run. The effect on our language was very beneficial. Every day we use hundreds of words of French origin, though most people are unaware of this.

And while we're at it, let's remember that the battle was fought not at Hastings but seven miles NW, at Senlac, near what is now Battle.

But since it would be daft, and anachronistic, to call it the Battle of Battle, Hastings it is.

I am reminded of the number of rivers called Avon, which means river (British/Welsh avon/afon). I have this mental image of a Saxon asking a passing Briton what a river is called, and the grumpy Brit thinking he's being asked what the actual physical feature is. "Daft foreign bugger," he says to himself, "can't he see it's a river?" "Avon," he yells, and so it is named.

But I digress. The Tapestry is well worth a journey to see. Vaut le voyage.

If we digress a bit- the names of towns, villages and geographical features tells us so much about who lived there. Our last place of abode in the UK was right on the Danelaw border- so half the names were Saxon with a bit of French mixed in, and Norse- and do represent real features. Really interesting.

It makes me nervous. I think it should stay in France.

I felt a bit like that, too, loopyloo

What if some rabid English Nationalist attacked it as it's unpatriotically depicting an 'English' defeat by the French?

(And don't all shout at me for inaccurate history - these alt-right folks don't usually have a strong grasp on historical detail...)

It is a beautiful thing to see. It has amazing detail and it's hard to believe it's age. The workmanship is incredible. It will be treated with great care as it is such a rare and valuable piece. I thought it was going to the British museum?
We went to see it and I was amazed by its size. It stretches on and on. Incredible. I have every confidence in its safety as works of great art are often transported so more people are able to see them. Remember the fantastic Tutenkhamen exhibition? People queued for ages. The insurance bill must be phenomenal!

In a way it would be great for it to go to Hastings, if it comes to UK. But practically speaking- the British Museum is the only place that has the space conditions and security to house it properly- and for the maximum of people to view it.

Same as Tegan2, I am concerned that it could become a symbol to attack by extreme right Brexiters.

Just seen that apparently (do confirm, I am not in UK) the Sun has published a spoof version done by ult right Brexiters- showing Mrs May surrounded by decapitated French men. So perhaps Tegan2 was right to think it might become a target.

They did - and re-called it the Bye-EU tapestry-

quite sick really- and not very helpful perhpas- depicting Mrs May killing Macron with one in the eye, and decapitating French ... Just can't understand what goes through those people's heads (ooops perhaps not the best phrase)

grumpa I believe there is a hill somewhere whose name is "Hillhillhill" in three different languages, where successive occupants or invaders did exactly that. The original occupants called it "The Hill", the next ones thought that was a proper name and called it Hill Hill, the ones who followed called it Hilhill Hill and it is now known as Hillhillhill (modern visitors probably think that it is Hillhillhill Hill)

Unfortunately I can't remember where it is, only that one of the components is Dun

There is one in East Leicestershire called Houghton (high town)- on-the-Hill

'Beachcombing can’t say goodbye though without referring to the most famous pleonastic placename of them all. Torpenhow Hill in Cumbria.

Tor is Anglo-Saxon and means hill.

Pen is head or peak (e.g. Apennines): another hill.

How comes from Danish haugr, meaning hill.

And then finally modern English hill.

Translated this placename means Hill-hill-hill-hill.

Only it doesn’t.

This is a much repeated linguist legend.

Torr is likely a loan word from Celtic into Anglo-Saxon and Torr Pen would be something like the hill peak, which is boring but not redundant. So we have Hill-peak-hill-hill.'

That'll be the one, jura2 I was a bit out with the Dun, but not far.

When did Beachcomber write that? It must have been a while ago.

2011, so not that long ago

www.strangehistory.net/2011/05/04/hill-hill-hill-hill/

I've got a great and fascinating book on place names and their origins, with often mixed origins thrown together, including geographical features- but it is on the bookshelf in our holiday apartment in East Mids.

The villages in ending in -by are Viking, so are the ones with 'toft' (a farm) and the ones in -thorpe (meaning daughter- so when a settlement got too big, they would marry off a daughter and they would make a new settlement nearby. Like Barkby- and Barkby Thorpe. And geographical features like 'lea or leigh' a clearing, etc.

I live beside a small river called Xburn beck, in other words the X stream stream..
Aren't place names fun

Love it - as said, even more interesting if you live on a border which had huge influence- as place names tell you so much about the history- as on the Danelaw border- where Norse, Saxon and Norman all mix.

Jura2, ‘thorp(e)’ doesn’t mean ‘daughter’ in any Scandinavian language or place name I know about. It means ‘small village’.

I understood it came from the germanic Tochter/daughter.
When I did my Degree in Environmental studies, this is the process that was explained to us. Once a settlement became too big, a daughter would be married off and begin a new nearby settlement. And the example given was nearby Barkby and Barkby Thorpe, and a few others- those villages are usually only a few miles away.

-THORPE Another common Scandinavian suffix in The Danelaw is -thorpe. This can appear in various form, such as -thorp, -throp or -trop. This originally meant a secondary settlement, that is, an additional small hamlet and land established as a sort of 'overflow' from a village as it became overpopulated. It is interesting to note that most Danelaw -thorpes are still tiny settlements.