Before I unwind my essay about the BBC’s new 1066 drama, I want to let you know that my new novel, Lion Hearts, is out now in the UK - and is very nearly out in the USA.
In fact, until the end of this week, American readers can get 25% off pre-orders with Barnes & Noble.
Just click this link and use the code PREORDER25 at checkout.
Please consider pre-ordering. It really (really) helps authors out.
In the spring of 1066 a ‘hairy star’ appeared in the night sky, trailing its way slowly through the blackness for several months before it finally vanished. Today we call this Halley’s Comet; it is next due to appear on July 28th 2061 (which, all being well, will be the day after my 80th birthday).
In 1066, the hairy star had no such name. But it had - or was later given - great meaning. If we look at the Bayeux Tapestry, the embroidery (sorry, but it’s true) stitched to tell the events of that fateful year, we may see awestruck figures pointing to the heavens in astonishment.
ISTI MIRANT STELLA, reads the caption. They wonder at the star.
In the careful narrative that the Bayeux Tapestry seeks to deliver, the star serves as a portent. Something big is gonna go down, it says. And the tapestry (so-called) does not leave us wondering what - or who - that might involve. In the very next frame, the hint is dropped. We see King Harold, looking quizzical: wtf, is that thing for me? And below him - oh, below him - so innocent in the margin, we see exactly how his fate will come and find him: in a fleet of Norman ships.
The Bayeux Tapestry, which you really have to see to believe, is a masterpiece of historical drama. In fact, it is in many ways the founding historical drama in the long British tradition, which stretches back through medieval mystery plays depicting scenes from the Bible, through the historical works of Marlowe and Shakespeare, all the way to the present day, in which TV commissioners churn out endless rehashings of Great Moments From Our Past.
I am not joking. The Bayeux Tapestry ticks so many of the boxes. It is an all-action political story about rivalry, betrayal, missed meanings, confusion, struggle, death and triumph. It has some cracking battle scenes and a lot of nudity.
And of course, it is basically a pack of lies.
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