Q 01/05

Before 1066, Duke William, the victor of the Bayeux Tapestry's story, was generally known by which nickname?

A) William the Bastard

B) William the Red

C) William the Lion

D) William the Silent

Answer · why

A) William the Bastard

William the Bastard: his parents, Duke Robert and Herleva, never married, and he inherited Normandy as a boy of seven or eight, decades before 1066 ea...

Q 02/05

Approximately how long is the Bayeux Tapestry?

A) 7 metres

B) 22 metres

C) 70 metres

D) 220 metres

Answer · why

C) 70 metres

70 metres is too much cloth to take in at once: in the early 1800s Bayeux's custodian showed it to visitors by turning the crank of a winder, unrollin...

Q 03/05

Despite its name, how were the Bayeux Tapestry's pictures actually made?

A) Stitched onto cloth with a needle

B) Painted onto cloth with dyes

C) Printed from carved wooden blocks

D) Knotted like a pile carpet

Answer · why

A) Stitched onto cloth with a needle

Stitched onto cloth with a needle, so it is really an embroidery: a true tapestry's picture is woven in on the loom. The even lines suggest an artist ...

Q 04/05

Which animated sitcom opened a 2008 episode with its family feuding with the neighbours in Bayeux Tapestry style?

A) The Simpsons

B) Family Guy

C) South Park

D) King of the Hill

Answer · why

A) The Simpsons

The Simpsons: in the couch gag for 'E Pluribus Wiggum', the family rides to medieval war against the Flanders clan, who have made off with the family ...

Q 05/05

Whom did 20th-century scholars come to see as the Bayeux Tapestry's most likely patron?

A) William the Conqueror

B) Archbishop Lanfranc

C) Pope Alexander II

D) Bishop Odo

Answer · why

D) Bishop Odo

Bishop Odo, William's half-brother, is the favourite: he gets a flattering part in the story, and three of the few minor figures it bothers to name we...