The myriad mysteries of the Bayeux Tapestry have been up for debate among scholars for centuries now. To this day there are still questions surrounding the 11th century depiction of the Norman Conquest, not least where it was made and who commissioned it.

An academic row has now broken out, nearly 1,000 years on from the Battle of Hastings and that is - exactly how many penises feature on the embroidery? Oxford academic Professor George Garnett previously claimed to have identified 93 depictions of male genitalia within the Bayeux Tapestry. However, medieval scholar and expert on Anglo-Saxon nudity, Dr Christopher Monk, believes he has found another, taking the figure up to 94. There is one contested depiction of a running man with something hanging low beneath his tunic.

On the HistoryExtra Podcast, Dr Monk said: "I am in no doubt that the appendage is a depiction of male genitalia – the missed penis, shall we say?"

He added: "The detail is surprisingly anatomically fulsome."

But Professor Garnett stands firmly by his belief that the graphic is of a sword or dagger.

He said: "It's quite clear to me that what is being depicted in that instance is the scabbard of his sword or dagger because right at its end is a yellow blob, which I take to be probably a depiction of brass.

"If you look at what are incontrovertibly penises in the tapestry, none of them has a yellow blob at the end."

Podcast host and tapestry expert Dr David Musgrove said: "The possibility of there being another penis in the Tapestry is fascinating.

"It invites us to think again as to why there are these explicit scenes in what is otherwise a story of politics, power and pitched battle.

"It's a reminder that this embroidery is a multi-layered artefact that rewards careful study, and remains a wondrous enigma almost a millennium after it was stitched."

It is thought that the tapestry, which is nearly 230 feet (70 metres) long and 18 inches high, was woven in the 1070s to celebrate the victory of William, Duke of Normandy, over the Anglo-Saxon King Harold in the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Writing about his original research in 2018, Professor Garnett, of St Hugh's College, Oxford, said: "By my calculations there are 93 penises in what survives of the original tapestry."

"There is also what appears to be a pair of testicles, the penis itself being concealed by a discreetly positioned axe handle," he said.

"All of these human male genitalia are confined to the upper or lower borders.

"There are 88 penises depicted on horses, all in the main action; and curiously, none on dogs, or on any of the other many creatures in the main frame or borders.

"With the possible exception of the dead soldier, all the human members are shown tumescent [erect]. A small minority of the equine ones are too."

Discussing the impact of his research, Prof Garnett told the podcast: "I think my academic colleagues were mostly very entertained. One of them said to me, 'You're not a historian of masculinity; you're a historian of masculinities, 93 of them'."

He added that his work is not about sensationalism, it is about understanding medieval minds.

"The whole point of studying history is to understand how people thought in the past.

"And medieval people were not crude, unsophisticated, dim-witted individuals. Quite the opposite."