The Bayeux Tapestry is not a tapestry but an embroidery: nearly 70 metres of wool stitched on linen telling the story of the Norman Conquest, Halley's Comet included.
The events
- Halley's Comet over England1066 · England. In spring 1066 Halley's Comet hung over England and was taken as a bad omen for King Harold II. That autumn he died at Hastings, and the comet was stitched into the Bayeux Tapestry beside words saying people marvel at the star.
- Battle of Hastings1066 · Hastings. Duke William of Normandy defeated the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II, who was killed in the battle. The Norman Conquest replaced the English elite, transformed the English language and bound England closely to continental Europe.
More amazing facts
- 1054 In July 1054, Chinese astronomers saw a new star; 12 days later came the schism in Constantinople.
- 1066 · 1910 The same Halley's Comet embroidered on the Bayeux Tapestry in 1066 returned in 1910 — when the Earth even passed through its tail.
- 1066 Yaroslav the Wise's son-in-law died 19 days before the Battle of Hastings.
- 1066 It is unclear whether King Harold died from an arrow in the eye. The detail is read into the Bayeux Tapestry, but the figure may not be Harold, and the arrow may have been added during restorations.
- 1068 · 1957 The medieval Ghana Empire was not in Ghana at all but in today's Mauritania and Mali.
- 1079 · 1582 The poet Omar Khayyam helped design a calendar more accurate than the Gregorian.