Two eminent experts have initiated a good-natured dispute over the number of male members displayed in the Bayeux Tapestry.
The argument centers on whether the number of penises found in the famous Norman artwork stands at 93 or 94. So, what is the answer?
A detailed examination
Technically an embroidery, the Bayeux Tapestry tells the story of 1066, probably the most consequential year in British history.
It was then that William of Normandy invaded England, defeated Harold Godwinson in battle, and took control of England, culminating in the end of Anglo-Saxon dominance and the rise of the Normans.
The tapestry also depicts Godwinson's earlier victory over Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge, an act that for many represents the final act of the Viking Age.
Six years ago, George Garnett, a historian at the University of Oxford, England, carried out an investigation into a very specific historical detail of the Bayeux Tapestry—the number of penises it contains.
Garnett's results made headline news: he identified 88 penises belonging to horses and five human penises, for a grand total of 93.
In discussion with History Extra, however, the Bayeux Tapestry scholar Dr. Christopher Monk (also known as the Medieval Monk) questioned this figure.
Although Monk agrees with Garnett on the first 93, he believes he has spotted one more appendage dangling liberally down from the tunic of a soldier.
The object in question appears between the legs of a sword-bearing soldier. Source: Detail of the Bayeux Tapestry – 11th Century, Bayeux Museum
Phallus or scabbard?
The panel in dispute comes in one of the earlier scenes in the tapestry where, in 1064, Harold Godwinson lands in Normandy and is immediately seized by the soldiers of Count Guy (before later being released and speaking to Duke William).
In the frieze found at the bottom of the scene, there are several animals depicted alongside two men in long tunics, both brandishing a pair of long swords. Between the legs of the second of these two men, however, a long black object dangles down.
So what is it?
To George Garnett, it is clearly a scabbard—the long protective sheath that holds the sword or dagger. To Dr. Monk, on the other hand, it far more closely resembles a penis.
"I am in no doubt that the appendage is a depiction of male genitalia," Monk asserted to History Extra. "The missed penis, shall we say. The detail is surprisingly anatomically fulsome."
Looking at the picture, the difference of opinion is understandable: the object in question has an unmistakable penis-like shape, with the form of testicles possibly also visible.
At the same time, the color of the object would appear to indicate it could be a scabbard, with the alleged "testicles" matching the color of the tunic.
Historians have counted 93 penises that appear without dispute, including 88 on horses and 5 on people. Source: Public domain
The royal package
The precise number of penises found in the Bayeux Tapestry has no major historical significance, of course.
At the same time, Garnett points out that there is some symbolic meaning to be found in the analysis of the borders of the embroidery, in particular.
Citing the work of Professor Stephen D. White, Garnett points out that the friezes found below the main story likely reference Aesop's Fables and could therefore provide deeper commentary and context to the 11th-century scenes above.
Garnett also notes that the appendage of the horse owned by Harold Godwinson is notably larger than that of the other horses depicted.
Naturally, William of Normandy's horse has the biggest member of all, surely signifying his status as the eventual conqueror of England.
Amusingly, the horse of Bishop Odo, who is thought to have commissioned the artwork, has a somewhat more modest endowment.
As Garnett points out in his own comments to History Extra, the light-hearted nature of the discussion hides a serious point about the richness of the tapestry and the possible range of interpretations.
"The whole point of studying history is to understand how people thought in the past," he notes.
"Medieval people were not crude, unsophisticated, dim-witted individuals. The designer was an intelligent, highly educated individual, using literary allusions to subvert the standard story of the Norman Conquest."
You can view the entirety of the Bayeux Tapestry on the official website here.
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