I read a piece this morning in Inside Higher Ed that discusses articles by Michael Gorman published in the Britannica Blog. So, I wandered over to the Britannica site and found a fascinating collection of entries ranging from the aforementioned Gorman articles about how the Internet is causing a decline in the Western intellectual tradition to a nifty essay noting Brian Wilson's 65th brithday.
Anyone who would like to catch up on a major event in Medieval history should take a look at the animated version of the the Bayeaux Tapestry.
As the latter site points out, the Bayeaux Tapestry, now permanently housed in the city of Bayeaux, is actually not a tapestry but eight bands of embroidered linen sewn together, stretching 270 feet in length.
The work tells the story of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. in which the Normans under William, Duke of Normandy (later William I) defeated forces under King Harold. This quickly led to the Norman takeover of Britain. To make things a bit more complicated the clash did not take place at Hastings, but at a place called Battle, a few miles away. But as the Battle of Battle probably didn’t sound good to William’s the public relations people, they decided to call it the Battle of Hastings.
