It’s taken 900 years because the French are far too smart to lend anything to the British Museum! It’s yet another Starmer-Macron deal (probably more successful than any other deal they’ll do). Given the British habit of “borrowing” things e.g. parts of the Parthenon, mummies, Graeco-Roman statues and, well, sort of keeping them, the French are holding the British to ransom by taking the Sutton Hoo Treasure in return: a sensible move.
70 metres in length, the tapestry depicts the Norman invasion of 1066 and the Battle of Hastings. The language of the tapestry is Latin. I’ve picked out some of the titles which illustrate a number of points in the language; it is not the entire text. All of the features highlighted have been covered in the group and so this is a useful way of reading some Latin in context.
Note abbreviated forms marked in
[brackets], especially noun endings; this is a common feature of written Latin
at this period and continues through Mediaeval Latin writing; it is
particularly noticeable with endings in -m e.g. -a(m) and -u(m) since, by this
point, either the /m/ was nasalised or simply not pronounced; V = u; VV = w;
the colon : is marking a space between words or phrases (shown only in the
first extract)
[1] VBI : HAROLD DVX : ANGLORUM : ET SVI MILITES :
EQVITANT : AD BOSHAM : ECCLESIA[M]
Ubi Harold ¦ dux Anglōrum ¦ et suī mīlitēs ¦
equitant ¦ ad Bosham ecclēsiam
Where Harold ¦ a leader of the English ¦
and his (own) soldiers ¦ ride ¦ to Bosham
church
mīles, mīlitis [3/m]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Godwinson
[2] HIC HAROLD MARE NAVIGAVIT
Hīc ¦ Harold ¦ mare nāvigāvit
Here ¦ Harold ¦ sailed the sea
[3] ET VELIS VENTO PLENIS VENIT IN TERRĀ(M) VVIDONIS
COMITIS
Et [(1) vēlīs ¦ (2) ventō ¦ (1) plēnīs]
¦ vēnit ¦ in terram ¦ Widōnis comitis
And (1) with sails (1) filled ¦ (2) with wind
¦ he came ¦ into the land ¦ of Count Wido*
comes, comitis [3/m]: (here) count; earl
* Guy I of Ponthieu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_I,_Count_of_Ponthieu
[4] / [5] HIC APPREHENDIT VVIDO HAROLDV[M] / ET
DVXIT EVM AD BELREM ET IBI EVM TENVIT
In the image note the horizontal stroke through V; that
marks an abbreviation, in this case Haroldu(m)
Hīc ¦ apprehendit Wido Haroldum / et dūxit eum ¦
ad Belrem ¦ et ibi eum tenuit
Here ¦ Wido (Guy) seized Harold / and led him ¦
to Beaurain ¦ and held him there
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaurainville
[6] VBI NVNTII VVILLELMI DUCIS VENERVNT AD
VVIDONĒ[M]
Again, note the line above the /e/ to indicate the absence
of the ending: AD VVIDONĒ; it is not a macron indicating a long vowel but a
common means of abbreviation. Depending upon individual writing style, it can
look like a straight line or the equivalent of the Spanish tilde (˜)
Ubi ¦ nūntiī Willelmī ducis ¦ vēnērunt ¦
ad Widōnem.
Where ¦ the messengers of Duke William
¦ came ¦ to Wido (Guy)
dux, ducis [3/m]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Conqueror
[7] HIC DVX VVILGELM[US] CVM HAROLDO VENIT AD
PALATIṼ[M] SVṼ[M]
Hīc ¦ Dux Wilgelmus ¦ cum Haroldō ¦
vēnit ¦ ad palātium suum
Here ¦ Duke William ¦ has come ¦ with Harold
¦ to his (own) palace
[8] – [10]
HIC VVILLEM[US] DVX ET EXERCITVS EIVS VENERVNT AD
MONTE[M] MICHAELIS
Hīc Willēmus Dux ¦ et exercitus eius ¦
vēnērunt ¦ ad montem Michaēlis
Here Duke William ¦ and his army ¦ have
come ¦ to Mont [the mountain] Saint Michel
mōns, montis [3/m]
ET HIC TRANSIERVNT FLVMEN COSNONIS
Et hīc ¦ trānsiērunt ¦ flūmen Cosnōnis
and here ¦ they have crossed ¦ the river
Couesnon
trānseō, -īre, -iī
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couesnon
ET HIC HAROLD DVX TRAHEBAT EOS DE ARENA
Et hīc ¦ Harold dux ¦ trahēbat* ¦ eōs ¦ dē arēnā
And here ¦ Duke Harold ¦ dragged (was dragging / started dragging)
¦ them ¦ from the sand
* a good example of the use of the imperfect tense;
all the other past tense verbs are in the perfect to denote single ‘one-off’
actions which is the most common tense in any account of past events:
apprehendit Wido Haroldum │ Guy seized Harold
et dūxit eum ad Belrem │ and led him
to Beaurain
mare nāvigāvit │ he (has) sailed the
sea
et ibi eum tenuit │ and held him
there
cum Haroldō vēnit│ (he) came / has
come with Harold
trānsiērunt flūmen │ they crossed the
river
vēnērunt ad montem Michaēlis │ they came to
Mont Saint Michel
The imperfect tense, on the other hand,
implies, for example, an action that continued over a period of time, or was
repeated, usually with no sense of beginning or end:
Harold … trahēbat … eōs dē arēnā │ Harold was dragging them from the sand i.e. he didn’t drag them all at once!
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