Bayard, Thomas F.

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Thomas F. (1828-1898), an American statesman. He was born at Wilmington, Delaware, in which city he practiced law until elected to the United States Senate. He was a member of the electoral commission of 1876, secretary of state in President Cleveland's first cabinet, and ambassador to the Court of St. James in Cleveland's second term. He belonged to an old Huguenot family, whose ancestor was driven from Paris to Holland to escape persecution. A son of this refugee married a sister of Peter Stuyvesant, the famous Dutch governor of New York , and became a wealthy merchant in Amsterdam. Upon his death, however, the widow followed her brother Peter to the New World, and took up an estate on Manhattan Island, where the Astor Library now stands. Four descendants of the family have been members of the United States Senate, and others have held positions of no less distinction and responsibilty. The family is noted for ability and uprightness of character. Bayeux (ba-yu') Tapestry, a famous piece of needlework or embroidered tapestry made by Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, or under her immediate direction. It is 20 inches wide and 230 feet long. It contains 1,512 figures with Latin inscriptions, giving their names and the subjects of composition. It is supposed to be a panoramic representation of the invasion and subjugation of England by the Normans. The events are those leading up to and immediately connected with the battle of Hastings, 1066. It is therefore exceedingly interesting, not only as a specimen representative of the needle work of the Middle Ages , but also for certain details of history not given by the chroniclers of that period. Matilda is said to have given this tapestry to the library of the Cathedral of Bayeux, where it was discovered in 1728. During the Napoleonic wars, Napoleon carried it away to Paris, but later it was brought back to Bayeux and is now exhibited in the city hall. The foundation is a strip of linen canvas, which was doubtless stretched in a frame while the patterns were worked in with worsted yarns drawn through with a needle. Seven colors are used: light and dark blue, light and dark green, red, yellow, and buff. It is still in a state of excellent preservation. See William The Conqueror; Hastings ; Normandy; Carpet ; Tapestry It will be seen that I accept the witness of the Bayeux Tapestry as one of my highest authorities. I do not hesitate to say that I look on it as holding the first place among the authorities on the Norman side. That it is a contemporary work I entertain no doubt whatever, and I entertain just as little doubt as to its being a work fully entitled to our general confidence. I believe the tapestry to have been made for Bishop Odo, and to have been most probably designed by him as an ornament for his newly rebuilt cathedral church of Bayeux.--E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest.