When I think of Couched and Laid work, I think of the Bayeux Tapestry. This tapestry is a very long rectangular tapestry that depicts the story of the Norman Conquest and was embroidered sometime in the late 1000s! Legend suggests it was embroidered by the Queen and her ladies, but it was probably the work of professional embroiders and commissioned by Bishop Odo (William the Conqueror's half brother).