The Loan of the Bayeux Tapestry: A Generous Gesture to be Reciprocated?
In January 2018, Emmanuel Macron announced that France would lend the Bayeux Tapestry to the United Kingdom in 2022. This will be the first time that the tapestry will leave the French shores in 950 years. The 70-metre-long embroidered cloth depicts events from the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, from Edward the Confessor’s death to the Battle of Hastings.
The French president’s loan is a diplomatic gesture. It could just have easily stayed at another location in France, whilst its current home, The Museum of Bayeux in Normandy, would be getting rebuilt.
However, since the gesture has been seen as an attempt from France to strengthen its relationship with Britain despite Brexit, should we not lend the French anything in return?
Two artefacts have been suggested for this “exchange program”, but which one will make the cut: the Rosetta Stone, or Marengo’s skeleton?
The Rosetta Stone, a huge block of granite from 196 BC, on which there is Egyptian and Greek writing, was first discovered by French soldiers in 1799 during the Battle of Abukir; and was used by a French historian and multi-linguist, Jean-François Champollion, to decipher hieroglyphs for the first time. In 1801, whilst the French surrendered to Egypt and were under the terms of the Capitulation of Alexandria, Britain took possession of the stone, where it was transported to London, and is now residing in the British museum. A worthy contender for the exchange?
However, the recently skilfully restored skeleton of Marengo, Napoleon’s horse, currently residing in the National Army Museum in London, is an equally, if not more attractive pursuit for the French. Its symbolic value, as an artefact steeped in French history, is arguably superior. Eventually abandoned on the field of battle at Waterloo in 1815, the grey Arab stallion had been carrying Napoleon from First Consul to Emperor in each and every great French victory. He was captured by the English and brought back to England, where he lived until he was 38 years old, outliving Napoleon by ten years.
In the field of diplomacy, the offer of Marengo’s skeleton may strike a more powerful chord.