Hey, I wrote an answer about the reliability and usefulness of the Bayeux Tapestry here. The tapestry, or more accurately embroidery, is likely to have been begun fairly shortly after the Conquest, during a period in the late 1060s and early 1070s when Norman control over England was fragile at best, and in many cases entirely nominal; as an artefact, the Tapestry could have been a useful piece of visual propaganda to remind the people of who was in charge. The Tapestry corroborates many of the details of the battle portrayed in literary sources such as Guy of Amiens Carmen de Hastingæ Proelio but it's unlikely that these acted as sources; supposition is that the Tapestry was ordered by Bishop Odo, a witness to many of the events, and based largely on his testimony.

Given the techniques and design elements in the Tapestry, it's most likely that the Tapestry was created in the South-East of England, most likely near Canterbury in Kent. The textile industry was a major part of the English economy, and was mostly a cottage industry carried out by women in the home. For the most part, peasant women would have been involved more in the spinning of wool yarn - although they may certainly have practiced embroidery - while large-scale embroidery is more likely to have been carried out as an industry in religious communities. As Margaret Labarge (1999) states, the production of tapestries, embroideries and wall hanging was a major industry in both female religious communities and urban centres.

While convents certainly were religious centres, they were also important centres of refuge for the Early Medieval woman, as well opportunities for wealth and power. Many major religious centres were founded by the sisters, widows or younger daughters of royals or members of the nobility, whether as a source of asylum or a way to fill later years. The Cerdicing royal minster at Wimbourne, for example, was founded by St Cuthburga, sister of King Ine of Wessex, while Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire was founded by Ela, Countess of Salisbury in 1229 following the death of her husband. Ælfwyn, briefly ruler of an independent Mercia in 920, went into a convent following her deposition at the hands of her uncle, Edward the Elder of Wessex, quite possibly as a means of sanctuary to prevent her abdication becoming more terminal.

For less noble women, convents could still offer a site of refuge. Penitentials and legal codes stated, for example, that a husband was duty bound to allow his wife to divorce him if she wished to enter a relgious community, or vice versa. This could offer a ready means of escape from an abusive or simply unhappy marriage, as other cases of divorce required both parties to consent to the split. Many widows became nuns if they did not have families or a trade able to support them, or considered themselves unable to unwilling to remarry. Similarly, while the religious life was not easy, it did offer a preferable alternative to young women from poor families who may not have been able to provide for them. A religious community provided a source of education, of employment, and in many cases a position of power and responsibility over not only the convent itself, but its attendant settlements and, in many cases, its industrial and mercantile investments.

While we may never know the individual women behind the Bayeux Tapestry, they likely come from the rich meilleux of an Anglo-Saxon convent. Some are likely to have been noble-born, whether sisters, widows or daughters, and some may even have had relatives on the field at Hastings. Others are likely to have been more common women, often widows, or those fleeing an unhappy home.