This article first appeared in .

The Norman Conquest was straightforward: William the Conqueror invaded from Normandy and won the Battle of Hastings. His opponent, King Harold of England, died on the battlefield with an arrow in his eye, and that was that – the Normans were in charge. Game over.

At least that’s what the Bayeux Tapestry – freshly arrived in Britain for the first time in almost 1,000 years – wants us to think. If you’re not a keen history enthusiast, that’s probably the thrust of what you know about 1066. It’s the most famous date in English history and it’s a memorably simple story.

The Tapestry’s designer – the identity of that individual is unknown – has most of us believe that the Conquest was a case of one warrior lord defeating another. In that sense, it follows a modern maxim of PR: take one clear, core message and stick to it like glue.

You might imagine, given that it’s almost 70m long and features 58 scenes, that it provides a full and accurate account of proceedings in 1066. You would be wrong. So, what does the Tapestry – going on display at the British Museum after a secret overnight lorry journey from France, inside a vibration-damping box, and the subject of a BBC Two documentary taking us behind the scenes – omit from the story?

Harold is the star of the first half of the Tapestry. But after his speedy coronation following the death of the previous English king, Edward the Confessor, we cut straight to William’s invasion preparations in Normandy, and lose sight of Harold until Hastings.

We are not shown that Norway’s Harald Hardrada had already attacked in the north of England, before the Normans landed on the south coast. He beat the English at the Battle of Fulford, but then was comprehensively defeated by Harold at Stamford Bridge.

Equally, there is no reference to Edgar Aetheling, the closest blood relative to Edward the Confessor. He had a stronger claim to the throne than William or Harold, and was acclaimed as the next king by some English survivors after Hastings.

Why cut out these people? Doing so helps make the case for the legitimacy of William’s invasion. The Tapestry is a retrospective justification for military action, and that relies on it telling a binary story of Harold against William. Harold is in the wrong because he has himself crowned, even though he has apparently promised to support William’s claim to be king after Edward. This act of perjury gives William the moral right and duty to invade. The clarity of the Tapestry’s message demands that neither Hardrada nor Edgar Aetheling get an airing.

That is the story that has come down to us today, some 950 years after the Tapestry was made, probably in England by Anglo-Saxon embroiderers on the orders of William’s half-brother, Odo. Thanks to its compelling artistry, it’s still getting its version of events across.

Part of its fame rests on Victorian fascination with it, and the fact that a fabulous replica (now in Reading Museum) toured the world from the 1880s, while the original stayed in Bayeux. Incidentally, the famous arrow-in-the-eye scene may have been inserted when the Tapestry was restored in the 19th century, but that is a subject for another day.

Right now, the Tapestry is getting another huge blast of attention, and so once more it can spin its 1066 story. Though the tale told by the Tapestry isn’t fake news, neither is it the whole truth. In our age of social media storytelling, it’s a reminder that every story has more than one side, and we shouldn’t be seduced into thinking that what we see online today is absolute truth, any more than in an 11th-century embroidery.

The latest issue of is out on Tuesday – subscribe here.

Secrets of the Bayeux Tapestry is on Monday 14 September at 9pm on BBC Two and iPlayer.

Check out more of our Documentaries to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to