The Bayeux Tapestry Digital Edition

A bargain-priced jewel Library Journal Brilliant in design, scholarly in content Choice Best new edition in any medium International Society for Anglo Saxonists, 2005

Buy by credit card/PayPal now: Limited offer, January 2008: individual prices reduced! EU: +17.5% VAT Non-EU: Runs on any recent Windows or Macintosh computer with CD-ROM drive. See Bayeux Sales for further ordering information.

The CD-ROM version (Macintosh and Windows) of this edition is now available through Scholarly Digital Editons, at reasonable prices for individual users and institutions. You can buy now from the buttons above, or visit the Scholarly Digital Editions site (http://www.sd-editions.com/bayeux/sales.html). The digital edition is also available through Boydell and Brewer: go to http://www.boydell.co.uk, and enter Bayeux in the Search panel.

The CD-ROM edition is far more extensive and superior to the on-line version. In addition to the ability to scroll through the entire Tapestry, it now has the ability to zoom in on the Tapestry to the level of the actual weave. It also includes a whole host of supporting materials, including:

• hyperlinked scholarly commentary on each of the 173 panels, detailing all major and minor interpretative issues in the Tapestry; an outline to facilitate non-linear navigation of sections of the Tapestry; the ability to toggle between English and Latin in the inscriptions ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• more general descriptions of the forty scenes of the Tapestry, intended as a beginner's guide to the "plot" of the work ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• a full glossary of People, Places, Details and Events depicted or referenced in the Tapestry, complete with a linked index ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• an animated and clickable map of English and Norman geography of the Tapestry, and a map of the battlefield ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• 360 degree video panoramas of the battlefield at Hastings ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• a clickable genealogy of William and Harold's ties to the English throne ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• a library featuring translations of seventeen textual analogues to the events depicted in the Tapestry, with editorial notes to link the texts to the Tapestry ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• a museum containing thirty-seven visual analogues (medieval artifacts, manuscript illuminations, archaeological remains, etc.) to aspects of the Tapestry ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• a search engine allowing for variable keyword searches of the 400+ text files contained in the edition ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• a searchable bibliography of all 300+ works referenced in the edition ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• a full introduction, detailing the history, manufacture, purpose and restoration of the Tapestry. ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• full scrollable and zoomable versions of three early (pre-restoration) facsimiles of the Tapestry: the 1730 Montfaucon, the 1821 Stothard, and the 1886 Leek ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• a slideshow feature, allowing users to pre-arrange the order in which panels of the Tapestry may be displayed ( link to screenshot and more info)

  

• a print and copy facility, allowing any text from the edition to be printed, or copied for use in a word processing program ( link to screenshot and more info)

The CD-ROM edition supersedes the on-line prototype. It is with some sadness that I must announce that, after four years of operation, the on-line prototype of my Digital Edition of the Bayeux Tapestry has ended. I would like also to thank publicly the hundreds of people who have used this edition while in development, and especially those who offered constructive feedback.

©2002 Martin Kennedy Foys

Dr. Martin Foys
Department of English
Hood College
foys@hood.edu