Harold Sails to Normandy
The cloth opens on a problem that has no good answer: an old king with no heir.
Edward the Confessor had been king of England for more than twenty years and had no children. The tapestry shows him enthroned and talking with Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex and the most powerful man in England after the king himself. Harold then rides to Bosham in Sussex with hawk and hounds, prays in the church there, feasts in an upper room, and wades out to his ship.
What the tapestry does not say is why he went. This silence is the single most important thing about the opening scenes. Norman writers working after the conquest — William of Poitiers and William of Jumièges — said Edward had sent Harold to confirm an earlier promise of the English throne to Duke William of Normandy. English sources say nothing of the kind. The embroidery simply shows a conversation, a journey and a crossing, and lets the viewer supply the reason.
The crossing goes wrong. The last scene of this stretch has Harold running before a full sail into the territory of Count Guy of Ponthieu — not where anyone intended to land.
Listen while you walk — free
Our free walking guide keeps pace with you along the cloth: open audioguide.london/bayeux-tapestry on your phone before you go in. It needs no app and no sign-up.
Photography is not permitted in the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, so the camera on the audioguide.london home page will not work there. Open audioguide.london/bayeux-tapestry instead and keep your phone in your hand.
audioguide.london now covers the British Museum’s permanent galleries too, in beta. This walking guide is separate, made for the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, where photography is not allowed.
What the audio guide says here
The narration for these scenes, word for word, as you hear it in the walking guide — 0:45 to 2:05 into the 20-minute walk. It was written with reference to Wikipedia, whose text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The old king sits on his throne, having no children to take his place. The succession is wide open, and everyone in the room knows it. He sends Earl Harold away on an errand that carries the weight of the entire kingdom. Harold rides out with his soldiers toward the coast, moving toward Bosham. The manor there is his family seat, a place of deep roots for the Godwin line. As he approaches the church, he pauses to pray before he sails. Then the journey begins, and he heads for the Channel.
The sea carries him forward. The wind catches his sails, but it is not the wind that will carry him to Normandy. It is a storm, violent and sudden, that drives his ship off course. He is blown far south, past the coast of Normandy, into the waters off Ponthieu. There, the land is hostile. Count Guy’s men are waiting. They do not offer aid to a stranded king’s brother. They seize him.
The inscriptions in these 5 scenes
The embroidered Latin, letter for letter, with translations. Positions are measured from the start of the cloth.
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Scene 1
EDVVARD RЄX
King Edward
Le roi Édouard
0.0 m along the cloth
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Scene 2
VBI hAROLD DVX ANGLORVM ET SVIMILITЄS ЄQVITANT AD BOShAM
Where Harold, an earl of the English, and his soldiers ride to Bosham
Harold duc des Anglais et ses chevaliers se rendent à cheval à Bosham
0.8 m along the cloth
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Scene 3
ЄCCLЄSIA
The church
L'église
1.5 m along the cloth
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Scene 4
HIC hAROLD MARЄ NAVIGAVIT
Here Harold sailed the sea
Ici Harold navigua sur la mer
2.5 m along the cloth
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Scene 5
ET VЄLIS VЄNTO PLЄNIS VЄNIT IN TERRAM VVIDONIS COMITIS
And, the wind full in his sails, he came to the country of Count Guy
Et, ses voiles remplies par le vent, il vint dans la terre du comte Guy
3.3 m along the cloth
See it in person
The Bayeux Tapestry is at the British Museum from 10 September 2026 to 11 July 2027 — the first time it has been in Britain in roughly 950 years. Entry is by timed ticket, booked in advance and separate from the museum's free general admission, and each slot is short, so it is worth knowing what you are looking at before you arrive.