What the three mysterious women in the Bayeux tapestry can tell us

The Bayeux tapestry is one of the most famous pieces of material culture produced in medieval England. The tapestry is fundamentally important for our understanding of the Norman conquest, telling us what happened and how it was remembered.The embroidery was most probably made by a group of English women, who were famed for their needlework across Europe.The story of the tapestry starts around 1064, with King Edward the Confessor sending Harold Godwinson, then Earl of Wessex, on a visit to Normandy, and ends with the English retreat at Hastings in 1066.Military and political events are the key focus, yet three women are depicted in the main body of the Bayeux tapestry: a mystery woman named as Ælgyva, a woman mourning at the death of Edward the Confessor (very likely Queen Edith, his wife)