The battle for the question « Where is Willy? » further unfolds at the Penistellen on the Bayeux carpet

It has been a discussion among British historians for some time: how many penises are there on the famous medieval Carpet from Bayeux To be seen? The issue was: are there 88 or 93? It depends a bit of which school you are: do you only count the ‘nodules’ that the horses have between their legs, or that with some men? It is a discussion that nicknamed the British 1066 With Knobs On Has, who already took a new turn in 2018 and has now come up with discussion again.

Initially, people assumed 88 penises, because only the horses were looked at. In 2018, a professor from Oxford, the Medievist George Garnett, noticed that there had been too little attention for the visible parts of some men. Of the 626 human figures (including six women), five men would be with a (visible) penis.

As far as the historian Christopher Monk is concerned, that judgment must be adjusted: he noticed a sixth man with a penis depicted, writes The Guardian Friday.

The world -famous embroidery of 70 meters by 50 centimeters, which was made around 1068, depicts the Battle of Hastings in 1066 in strip form. At work, 626 people can be seen, 190 horses, 35 dogs, 506 other animals, some buildings and some trees and bushes. It was the battle in which Willem the conqueror on the battlefield defeated the English king Harold II. Harold ended up on the throne nine months earlier, while he was previously promised to Willem.

Who has the largest horse?

On the Carpet from Bayeux Both the run -up and the battle yourself can be seen. For example, the promise to Willem de Conqueror is depicted, and the consent of Harold II with the follow -up of his uncle by Willem. In addition to the run -up, the nine -hour battle on October 14, 1066 can also be seen on it, which ended with the death of Harold (the viewer sees him with an arrow in his eye). The victory is up to Willem, and the viewer could have known that, because his horse is the greatest of all at work. « So you see: Size Matters, » notes The Guardian dry.

It is an as insignificant and entertaining discussion in a work praised for the way in which dynamics, chaos and empathy are all so precisely shown in postures, facial expressions and gestures of the figures on the carpet. Archaeologists and historians have often bent over the work, and in that respect it may be quite surprising that until 2018 there was only attention for the genitals of the horses (of which half of which is not even awarded with a penis) and not for those of the men.

Everything has now been studied, counted and interpreted in detail. The 94th penis has now been added. Historian Monk found a sixth in a running man who lets a penis dangling under his tunic: « I have no doubt that the appendix is ​​an image of male genitals – the missing penis, we will say. The details are anatomically surprisingly rich, » he explained his find. Garnett, on the other hand, is convinced that it is the sheath of a sword or a dagger. Whoever is right remains in the middle: The Penis is in The Eye of the Beholder.

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