For the past three centuries, historians have speculated and argued over the dating, patronage and provenance of the Bayeux Tapestry. Researchers have pondered the Latin inscriptions; reflected on the techniques of production and the use of narrative devices; mined the Tapestry for information on a number of subjects, including architectural styles, costumes, modes of navigation, nascent heraldry, and weaponry; and focused on areas of special interest, especially on scenes such as the so-called "Aelfgyva episode." Additionally, the Tapestry has been described as an epic and/or a panegyric; it has even been compared to a chanson de geste, a Shakespearian play, a film, and a cartoon; it has been "deconstructed," and finally turned into a "hypertext" accessible via the internet. Yet, in spite of many promises, the borders of the Bayeux Tapestry remain largely unexplored to date. This apparent neglect may be due to the difficulty one encounters when attempting to retrieve the symbolism and the meanings of the pictographs, which, even at the time of production, may have been multiple and may have depended on the cultural level, social awareness and political leanings of the beholders. The purpose of this dissertation is to acquaint the reader with a novel approach to the reading of the Bayeux Tapestry, based on the premise that the border pictographs are charged with symbolic meaning; that their meaning(s) inflect(s), reflect(s) and even alter(s) the images in the center field; and that this synergic interplay helps in the discovery, and stimulates the generation of a new understanding and integrated interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry. For my research to be comprehensive and in order to uncover and decode some of the latent symbolic meanings, it was fundamental to take into account the social, cultural and political history of eleventh-century Northwestern Europe, and to acquire an appreciable knowledge of the lives of the important individuals illustrated in the Bayeux Tapestry. It was also necessary to be aware that, since the shaping of minds and the rewriting of history was already practiced in the eleventh century, the possibility existed that the Bayeux Tapestry was more than objective history recorded on cloth, but was someone's -- perhaps the patron's -- interpretation of historical events. Thus, this dissertation takes the reader on a journey inside and outside the frame to achieve an integrated reading of the Bayeux Tapestry and its borders.

For the past three centuries, historians have speculated and argued over the dating, patronage and provenance of the Bayeux Tapestry. Researchers have pondered the Latin inscriptions; reflected on the techniques of production and the use of narrative devices; mined the Tapestry for information on a number of subjects, including architectural styles, costumes, modes of navigation, nascent heraldry, and weaponry; and focused on areas of special interest, especially on scenes such as the so-called "Aelfgyva episode." Additionally, the Tapestry has been described as an epic and/or a panegyric; it has even been compared to a chanson de geste, a Shakespearian play, a film, and a cartoon; it has been "deconstructed," and finally turned into a "hypertext" accessible via the internet. Yet, in spite of many promises, the borders of the Bayeux Tapestry remain largely unexplored to date. This apparent neglect may be due to the difficulty one encounters when attempting to retrieve the symbolism and the meanings of the pictographs, which, even at the time of production, may have been multiple and may have depended on the cultural level, social awareness and political leanings of the beholders. The purpose of this dissertation is to acquaint the reader with a novel approach to the reading of the Bayeux Tapestry, based on the premise that the border pictographs are charged with symbolic meaning; that their meaning(s) inflect(s), reflect(s) and even alter(s) the images in the center field; and that this synergic interplay helps in the discovery, and stimulates the generation of a new understanding and integrated interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry. For my research to be comprehensive and in order to uncover and decode some of the latent symbolic meanings, it was fundamental to take into account the social, cultural and political history of eleventh-century Northwestern Europe, and to acquire an appreciable knowledge of the lives of the important individuals illustrated in the Bayeux Tapestry. It was also necessary to be aware that, since the shaping of minds and the rewriting of history was already practiced in the eleventh century, the possibility existed that the Bayeux Tapestry was more than objective history recorded on cloth, but was someone's -- perhaps the patron's -- interpretation of historical events. Thus, this dissertation takes the reader on a journey inside and outside the frame to achieve an integrated reading of the Bayeux Tapestry and its borders.

Cette thèse porte sur le principe même de séquentialité d’images fixes, pour comprendre la différence entre la Bande Dessinée et les différentes formes de narration par images fixes, même les autres arts. Cela nous aide à comprendre pourquoi la Bande Dessinée est devenue un art autonome, pourquoi la Bande Dessinée s’est plus developpée que d'autres formes de narration par images, et quelles sont plus précisément les origines de la Bande Dessinée.Analyser la naissance de la Bande Dessinée signifie donc tracer un parcours à travers des oeuvres, des auteurs ou des mouvements fondamentaux, et considérer les thèmes, les poétiques, les technologies qui l'ont définie à telle ou telle époque. Ce travail vise donc à identifier les oeuvres qui forment une ligne de partage entre le Moyen Âge et l'Âge Moderne. Une analyse historique, mais également paradigmatique, aidera à mieux comprendre comment la Bande Dessinée a évolué, quelles influences ont eu les autres formes d'art (comme la peinture, la littérature, la caricature ou le théâtre) mais surtout, quelles techniques et stratégies ont été mises en place et ont fait évoluer la Bande Dessinée vers un système narratif à base iconique. / This thesis focuses to question the very principle of sequentiality of still images, that is to understand how in Sequential Art this dynamic takes different forms, but at the same time, how Sequential Art can be differentiated from other Arts. This help us to understand why it became an autonomous art, why it has developed more than any other sequential art, how and when the Comic was actually created.Analyze the rise of the Comics means tracing a path through the works, authors and the basic movements, considering the new poetics, themes, techonologies, that have defined this. This work aims to identify works which form a connection between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. A historical analysis, but also paradigmatic one, will help to better understand how Comics evolved, what influences have had other forms of art (such as painting, literature, theater or caricature) but, above all, which techniques and strategies have been implemented and have changed Comics toward a narrative system based on images.