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The Bayeux Tapestry: Woven by the Victors

38 points · 21 comments · prismatic

  1. expedition32 · · focus · HN ↗
    I never really understood why the tapestry is considered French. The Norman aristocracy at the time did not take orders from the French crown.
    1. hn_submit · · focus · HN ↗
      The Normans accepted the French king as their ruler, even though their lands were ruled separately.

      I've always admired the French kings playing the long-game in this. Step by step, over centuries, the French kings took back more and more land from the Normans until it became completely French and the Normans were absorbed into the French kingdom.

      1. hgomersall · · focus · HN ↗
        Then got their heads chopped off. Arguably the failure of the British monarchs to become absolute monarchs was what saved them from the same fate (Charles I notwithstanding, him being the vent).
        1. hn_submit · · focus · HN ↗
          Maybe their leaders lost their heads but not the general Norman population. Massacres were common during that period but genocide was never performed, not even against Jews and Gypsies.
          1. itkdkfkgk · · focus · HN ↗

            [dead]

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