Hello and welcome to the third episode in this series of close readings, looking at the way that history changed in the romantic period. I'm Rosemary Hill.

I'm a contributing editor at the LRB, and I'm delighted to be joined this week by Rowy Sweet,

Professor of Urban History at the University of Leicester. Hello, Rowie. Hello, Rosemary.

Last time we saw how by the mid-19th century, Britain had been taken over really by a kind of mania for all things

Scottish, and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were established in their great Gothic granite

fantasy at Balmoral and how quite a lot of this was the work direct and indirect of Walter Scott.

Well, this week we're going to go back to France and look at a medieval object

which played an important role in how history changed in this period, how it was understood

and how it was misunderstood, and that's the biotapestry. We do know that it wasn't really a

tapestry. It isn't really a tapestry. It's an embroidery. But putting that to one side,

up to this point, the history of the tapestry is largely obscure. It had been in the Cathedral of Bayeur, it was shown once a year, and it was kept in a wooden chest.

During the revolution, there were two very serious attempts to destroy it. It was saved on the first occasion by the chief of police

in Bayeur, who actually moved it into his office and more or less sat on it. By the time we get to

our period, it was on a roller and in very poor condition. So, Rui, how and why did it come to assume

such enormous importance during this period? Well, I think one of the main reason is that Napoleon and many others realize that it's highly

topical because what it depicts is a successful invasion from Normandy of England.

And Napoleon, of course, has been lining up his ships in the channel, hoping for an opportunity

to invade England for many years.

And come the piece of Amiens when the English are coming over the channel to look at the art

collections that Napoleon has looted from Italy, they also come and see one of the treasures

that Napoleon has had moved from Bayer, which is the tapestry,

because they too are interested in seeing this illustration of this pivotal moment, as they see it, in their own national history.

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