In a historical dispute that might be dubbed “1066 with embellishments,” two medieval scholars are locked in a contention regarding the number of male genitalia depicted in the Bayeux tapestry.
Six years ago, the Oxford professor George Garnett captured global attention when he revealed that he had counted 93 penises incorporated into the embroidered narrative of the Norman conquest of England.
Garnett states that 88 of the male appendages are connected to horses, while the rest are linked to human figures.
Currently, historian and Bayeux tapestry expert Dr. Christopher Monk, recognized as the Medieval Monk, is convinced he has discovered a 94th tapestry.
A man in motion, illustrated in the border of the tapestry, has an object hanging below his tunic. Garnett states that it is the sheath of a sword or dagger. Monk asserts that it is a male member.
“I have no doubt that the appendage represents male genitalia – the absent penis, if you will.” “The detail is surprisingly rich in anatomical features,” Monk said.
The Bayeux Museum in Normandy, which houses the 70 metre-long embroidery, states: “The story it conveys is an epic poem and a moralistic work.”
The historians engaged in an academic debate on the HistoryExtra Podcast assert that, despite the humorous remarks and suggestive undertones, their research is anything but trivial. Garnett expressed that it was centered on “understanding medieval minds.”
“The primary purpose of studying history is to grasp the mindset of people from the past,” he stated. “Medieval people were not crude, unsophisticated, or dim-witted individuals.” On the contrary.
He posits that the anonymous creator of the remarkable embroidery was well-educated and employed “literary allusions to challenge the conventional narrative of the Norman conquest.”
He stated: “What I’ve demonstrated is that this represents a serious, scholarly effort to reflect on the conquest – though expressed in code.”
According to Garnett, the size of the Bayeux tapestry was significant. He noted that the two leaders of the battle – Harold Godwinson, who met his end at Hastings with an arrow in his eye, and the triumphant Duke William of Normandy, also known as William the Conqueror – are depicted on horses with distinctly larger attributes. “William’s horse is undoubtedly the largest,” Garnett remarked. “That is certainly not a coincidence.”
Monk asserted that the running man’s dangling bits represent the tapestry’s “missing penis.”
Dr. David Musgrove, the podcast host and an expert on the Bayeux tapestry, expressed that the new theory was intriguing.
“This embroidery serves as a multi-layered artefact that invites careful examination and continues to be a fascinating enigma nearly a thousand years after it was created,” he remarked.
