Tobias Capwell - A Tale of Threads and Steel: A Bayeux Tapestry Study Day

A Tale of Threads and Steel: A Bayeux Tapestry Study Day

The Bayeux Tapestry brings the drama of the Norman Conquest to life through an extraordinary sequence of embroidered images. Combining art, history and visual storytelling, it offers a remarkable glimpse into the world of Anglo-Saxon England and the Normans.

Join Dr Tobias Capwell for a day of three lectures exploring how this monumental work was made, the events it depicts and the details that help us understand its story. From its construction to its representations of mounted knights, the day offers a closer look at a familiar masterpiece.

Part One: Understanding a Great Work of European Art - It Is NOT a Tapestry

The opening lecture examines the essential facts of the Bayeux Tapestry, which is actually an embroidery. Tobias considers when and how it was made, why such an ambitious work was created and who may have produced it. He also explores how its images tell the story of the Norman Conquest.

Part Two: Two Kings, a Bastard Duke, Some Knights, a Comet and a Dwarf - The Story Told by the Tapestry

Follow the unfolding narrative, from the end of Edward the Confessor’s reign through the relationship between Harold Godwinson and William of Normandy, Harold’s brief kingship and William’s invasion. This lecture examines how the embroidery communicates its dramatic story and what it reveals about the people and world of the eleventh century.

Part Three: The Gears of Conquest - The Norman Knight, His Armour and Weapons, and His Representation in the Bayeux Tapestry

The final lecture focuses on the mounted knight, one of the embroidery’s most important visual elements. Drawing on his specialist knowledge of arms and armour, Tobias explores the realities of warfare at the time of the Conquest and how understanding these details helps us read the images more closely.

About the Lecturer: Dr Tobias Capwell FSA

Dr Tobias Capwell is an independent scholar and a leading authority on medieval and Renaissance arms and armour. In 1998, he completed a master’s degree examining Norman arms and armour and their representation in the Bayeux Tapestry. He subsequently completed a PhD on late medieval armour in England.

His career has involved work with major collections, including the Imperial Armoury in Vienna, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Armouries in Leeds. He served as Curator of Arms and Armour at Glasgow Museums and at the Wallace Collection, where he worked for sixteen years until January 2023.

Tobias is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Armourers in London. He has written numerous books on armour, weapons and tournaments, curated exhibitions and frequently appears in film, television and online media.

Date: Wednesday 3rd February 2027
Time: 10am - 3pm Please arrive a little earlier to check in and be seated.
Venue: Firstsite, Lewis Gardens, High Street, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1JH.

Please note: This study day carries a separate, one-off charge and is not included in annual membership.