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Stei. rº-3 Greºaze f ENGLAND AND Scotland 3 Kilm: º - - marnock that was included inthe ANCIENT NORTHUMBRIA reprenewcº Principal Towns shewnthus - small Towns and Pittages - churches dedicated to st-cutºbert First flight rted 3_º º, º-to- - Third -la. --- - - - * Rewcastle3, * º Loºtozºº -- º, Kºs - -T- º tinºan- º º * * Stanhºe - - Zaºuana lºsingharz. "pwº *Cºtherstºº º: %, ſº -stain lºo 2/. - Fºrº ºterºz gº. º -. - - ºy E. s. Tº MoR E LAND... egº ozºon º Alſº º --- Ree?/. * "ºf"… | º, º enda º Askºg 4-yºurn [. 2:...nº hºwes - Pedadec º gºttºe. Mºleºn - ſº -- º º - *::: ade Y. º Matham - º * º º Sº A - - - --> - wº- % - */orºozz º - - *A*ttlewe Atrºam ytham f s R38 bº J inº - ºr. --- cecus º: *y Brad/ - º - Blackburn & Halifax/ majºngden', * Wakefield -- A Tº Rochdal nºn-Lale T uddersfiel Barnsley - …” *-i--- º stoº ºw- * Tickhiº s H 1 R E. English Miles. ~ 30 * Rotherham. º º, ſîsefield | \ lo _ _ - _ Meridiano of Greenwich ſ º - º Bº u - - º 2. I -77-7: -- - ==<> Es=== * º-S Aft gº º ſº | º º * | | Yºſiſ, - - ||||||. -º º | lº * º ------ºº: º: - º sº d º º Ǻ sº \ - N - - º º º Sº º 7. Rºss - - * w ſº º --y #º M--#- F-º --- :-- :- .-- &- - 5|| § Nº. tºº. *śss ..º. \\ \º jº N RN º' Yºº, ºr - *S.-- * 3/2= ſº ANACCOUNT of The IIIEGOECEASE&mRACIS of SAINGCVChBGRÖ of the uſanderingſUlich hiſ bodvac interialſ during 1% year of the ſcace of hiſbody from hiſ deceaſe mnciſ Ao 1542. § OF Chavariovsmonvments eRGCCGo Cohls meſDOEy. Y CfARIGSARCſ Bishop OFGLASCOW) |{{ROFäANſ|{Iſºliºſº Fºº ČſlRD GDI310N 1887. 4}, =-s-s-ſ * } \\ == §§§DNBºſiº Sºygºſº }NADé [[IWGGRVNG966.6RAGONANOGöNGRECOWAYA BIST.O.P. ——ºr- Eccles [...M., ".º *=e 6. - -> tº A sº- 4. E-i - - o & --~~ • * 2. 2. º N | -- É. º -| =º ººŽ E. &M w{j • *s C.C. on OſulpSQN , THE HISTORY OF ST. CUTHBERT: OR, AN ACCOUNT OF This Life, E)ecease, ano (IDiracles; OF THE WANDERINGS WITH HIS BODY AT INTERVALS DURING CXXIV. YEARS ; - of the STATE OF HIS BODY FROM HIS DEGEASE UNTIL AD. 1542, AND OF THE %3arioug füonuments erected to hig ſtiemorp. BY Eyre, CHARLES, ARCHBISHOP OF GLASGOW, MEMBER OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. * “Their bodies are buried in peace, and their name liveth unto generation and generation.” —ECCLUS xliv. 14. THIRD EDITION. 5 1 8 3 LONDON : BURNS & OATES, LIMITED. NEW YORK : CATEIOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY CO. 1887. BX 47 OO CQ EQ? \987 2’ -z zºº& TO THE C EIA PTE R A N D THE C L E R G Y OF üße 3rth biotest of Ölasgoſu, whosF, SAINT, ST. KENTIGERN, OR MUNGO, DIED 86 YEARS BEFORE THE BIRTH OF ST. CUTHBERT, AND WHOSE NAME AND FAME WAS IN WEST SCOTLAND WHAT THE NAME AND FAME OF ST. CUTHBERT WAS IN NORTH-EAST ENGLAND, THE TWELFTH CENTENARY EDITION º OF ‘ūſhe jigtorp of St. Cuthbert IS DEDICATED, AS A MARK OF ESTEEM AND AFFECTION BY THE AUTHOR. II. III. IV. VI. INSTRUCTIONS TO BINDER. . The Map of Ancient Northumbria, . tº . To face Title-page. The Map of Holy Island, e tº ſº º 35 page 25 The Map of Lindisfarne and the Farne Islands, 53 , 35 The Map of Farne Island, & tº Q wº 29 , 42 The Map of the Cathedral Church of Durham, 99 ,, 220 The Plan of Lindisfarne Priory Church, . * , 3 y , 240 \ C O N T E N T S. PAGE PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION, . th * g * e * ix PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION, . tº e © e e * xi LIST OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED, &c., tº g g e te ... xiii PART I. THE LIFE, DECEASE, AND MIRACLES OF ST. CUTHBERT. CHAP. * I. His Birth and Boyhood, o tº e e * te º I II. Cuthbert's life as a Monk at Mailros, . ſº tº tº tº 8 III. Cuthbert is removed from Mailros to Ripon, but soon returns to Mailros, and, at the death of Boisil, is made Prior, * 15 IV. Cuthbert leaves Mailros to go to the Monastery of Lindisfarne, where he remains twelve years, sº ſº º º * 24 V. He retires from Lindisfarne, and becomes an Anchorite on Farne Island, where he remains nine years, & e * 32 VI. Cuthbert is made Bishop of Lindisfarne, and leaves his Cell at Farne Island, * * * te te we te 51 VII. Bishop Cuthbert retires to Farne Island a second time, and dies there, te º * tº tº tº e te 72 VIII. His Burial, his Character as the popular Saint of Northumbria, and his Miracles after his decease, . * g e gº 86 PART II. S E C T I O N I. THE WANDERINGS WITH ST. CUTHBERT'S BODY AT INTERVALS DURING CXXIV. YEARS. I. The Monks leave Lindisfarne with the Body of their Saint, . 94 II They wander from place to place for the space of seven years, . 102 III. The Body of St. Cuthbert is brought to Chester-le-Street, which is made the Bishop's See, and remains there 113 years, . g tº e & tº e © * e . 121 viii CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGF. IV. The Saint's Body and the Episcopal See are removed from Chester-le-Street to Durham, . sº e tº * . 123 W. The Third Flight with St. Cuthbert's Body, A.D. 1069, when the Bishop is forced for a time to leave Durham, º . 131 SECTION II. THE STATE OF ST. CUTHBERT'S BODY FROM THE TIME OF His DECEASE TILL THE YEAR MDXLII. I. The First Disinterment of his Body, A.D. 698, g to e 141 II. The Translation of St. Cuthbert's Body into Aldhune's Cathedral, A.D. 999, {º º ſº wº * . . . 148 III. The Examination and Translation of St. Cuthbert's Body in the year 1104, * e e {} ge e e . 155 IV. The Opening of St. Cuthbert's Coffin, and the State of his Body, A.D. 1537, . tº e e e . . . 186 W. The Fortunes of St. Cuthbert's Body after 1542, and the Opening of the Vault in the Feretory in 1827, . e . 197 SECTION III. THE DIFFERENT MONUMENTS ERECTED IN HONOUR OF ST. CUTHBERT. I. Durham Cathedral, . e e e * e ſº . 220 II. Lindisfarne Priory Church, . § © º * e . 240 III. Melrose Abbey Church, g & © © te tº . 247 IV. Other Churches built in honour of St. Cuthbert in Northumbria, 256 W. Churches and Chapels erected in his honour since the Six- teenth Century, . e • © & º * . 278 VI. Sculptured Monuments in honour of St. Cuthbert, º . 280 VI. Pictured Monuments of St. Cuthbert, . & g te . 284 VIII. Poems in honour of St. Cuthbert, . { } & © tº . .293 IX. Personal Relics of St. Cuthbert, . tº * & tº . 301 APPENDIx, . ſº & gº o '. e e . 330 INDEX OF PERSONs, PLACES, AND SUBJECTs, . ſº © * . 343 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. WHEN the writer of these pages first began to collect docu- ments connected with the history of St. Cuthbert, they were meant solely for his own information and edification. For Some time he confined his attention to such as might serve to throw light upon the mysterious pilgrimage made with St. Cuthbert's body from the time it left Lindisfarne till it was finally entombed in “Durham's gothic shade". Afterwards, the love of the holy labour so far increased upon him, as to induce him to endeavour to compress within a small compass the leading features of the Saint's life and history. In deference to the entreaties of his friends, he has consented to lay his notes before the public. They have been written, not as the task of one who had much leisure to give to it, but as a relaxation from arduous parochial duty. And in writing the history of the Apostle of Northumbria, a Saint so highly venerated among all, especially Northern Catholics, he hopes to remove the common impression, that what is really known of St. Cuthbert bears no proportion to the degree of venera- tion paid to him by the Catholics of the present as well as of past ages. g The work has but little claim to originality; but is an attempt to give the biography and history of the Saint in the traditions left by the monastic historians, and, in as far as may be, in the very language of these old chroniclers. The chief novel feature in the work is its arrangement. As one X BREFACE. would collect from the different parts of a garden a variety of flowers, and endeavour, for his amusement, to hit upon some new and pleasing and "harmonious combination of such beauti- ful forms and colours, so has the writer ventured to aim at an attractive combination and a new arrangement of facts scattered through the pages of different authors. The writer begs to acknowledge the courteous liberality of the Rev. Dr. Lingard, in allowing him to make use of the extracts from his Anglo-Saxon Church, &c. He desires to tender his acknowledgments to Sir William Lawson, Bart., for his kindness in allowing him the use of the Brough Manuscript; and also to thank G. Goldie, Esq., a young and highly talented architect, for the very valuable “Map of the Cathedral Church of Durham as it was before the dissolution of the Monastery,” compiled by him, as also for the Map of Holy Island. Whilst, with the anonymous Monk, he must own his inadequateness to the task he has undertaken,_for he may truly say, what the humility of the Monk made him express, est enim mihi et hoc opus arduum et mea intelligentia, facultas eacigua (p. 123), yet, with the Monks of Lindisfarne and Whitby's Nuns, he has “essayed to paint The rival merits of their Saint; A theme that ne'er can tire A holy maid; for be it known, That their Saint's honour is their own ". —Marmion, ii. 12. NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, 1849. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. IN deference to the oft-expressed solicitations of his friends and others, the writer has consented to publish a new edition of this work. The first edition, printed in 1849, was soon exhausted. A second edition made its appearance in 1858, but has for many years been out of print. The 12th cen- tenary seemed a fitting occasion for bringing out a third edition. It was in the hopes of the writer to be able to add some new matter, and to give a better translation of the passages quoted from Bede's Life. Unfortunately he has not been able to find time to do the one or the other. All that he has been able to do has been to make a very few verbal alterations, and to insert into the text a number of notes that formed an Appendix in the previous editions. With these exceptions this edition is just a reprint of the two others, with their many shortcomings and very little merit. He has, however, added an Appendix containing notes on the birthplace of the Saint, on the question as to whether he was a Columban or a Benedictine monk, and an account of the search made in Durham Cathedral in 1867, in order to verify the tradition concerning the removal of the body of . St. Cuthbert. GLASGow, January, 1887. JR CŞist OF T H E A U THORITIES AND E DITION S QUOTED IN THIS WORK. I. Vita Sti. Cuthberti, auctore anonymo. Bollandists: Acta SS. Martii, tom. iii. p. 117. This very ancient and anonymous life of St. Cuthbert was written by an inmate of the Monastery of Lindisfarne, contemporary with St. Cuthbert. As far as can be ascertained, it was written, or at least finished, about the year A.D. 700. There is internal evidence to show that it was written while Egfrid filled the throne of Northumbria; and it was dedicated to Bishop Eadfrid, the same prelate to whom Bede afterwards dedicated his life of the Saint. The writer had ample means of ascertaining every particular respecting the life of the Saint, and took care, as he himself states, to record nothing of the accuracy of which he was not most fully informed. The Bollandists mention that, on the occasion of the open- ing of the Saint's tomb in 698, “Alii praeclara ejus gesta literis consignare statuerunt, ut procul absentium et posterorum utilitati consulerent. Inter hos vitae ejus scriptores primus censeri potest domesticus testis oculatus, monachus Lindisfarnensis, qui gesta ejus in quatuor libros digessit.” P. 94 E. The Bollandists discovered two very ancient MS. copies of this life: one belonging to the Monastery of St. Bertin, in the town of St. Omers; and the other in the Monastery of St. Maximin, near Treves. From these two manuscripts their edition was compiled. It has also been published by the English Historical Society, in the volume Venerabilis Bedae Opera Historica minora, pp. 259-284. II. Liber de Vita et Miraculis Sti. Cuthberti, Lindisfarnensis Episcopi. “Bedae Opera omnia.” Edited by the Rev. J. A. Giles. London, 1843. Vol. IV. Bede's prose life of St. Cuthbert was written just before the year 720. “It is dedicated to Eadfrith, Bishop of Holy Island, and the monks there resident; a fact which of itself would have been a sufficient security for the accuracy of the narrative. The historian, apparently determined to remove all doubt as to the truth of the facts which he records, has detailed the successive examinations to xiv. A LIST OF THE AUTHORITIES AND EDITIONS. # which his materials were subjected. Having formed his narrative from the in- formation of those who had the best means of knowing the truth of what they stated, the unpublished work was submitted as well to the inspection of one who had attended Cuthbert during his last illness, as of others equally well informed respecting the deceased Saint ; and corrections were made according to their suggestions. A fair copy of the legend was then sent to Lindisfarne, and during two days underwent a rigid scrutiny by the oldest and most judicious brethren of that monastery. When it had obtained their final sanction, and had been augmented by the insertion of certain additions, for which they were the vouchers, the work was declared to be worthy of circulation, and was accordingly handed over to the transcribers. After so much precaution, employed by men who had such favourable opportunities of knowing the truth, we may be assured that we are here put in possession of an authentic narrative of the principal facts in the life of St. Cuthbert. Our faith in its historical veracity is augmented by noticing a fact of which Bede has not informed us, namely, that it is founded upon, and in many parts transcribed from, an earlier life of the Saint, that, in fact, supplied him with the groundwork of the narrative, although he has in some places augmented, in others abridged, its details, so as to prove that he was not indebted to it for all he knew respecting the Bishop of Lindisfarne.”" The passages quoted in these pages from Bede's prose life are taken, with a few verbal alterations, from the translation by Giles. The best copy of the original life is the one published by the English Historical Society, Bedae Opera Historica minora, pp. 45-137, and taken from the MSS. Harleian, 1117, fol. 2, and Cottonian, Vitellius, A. xix. III. Liber de Miraculis Sti. Cuthberti Episcopi. “Bedae Opera Historica minora,” pp. 1-43. Bede's metrical life of St. Cuthbert was written before his prose life. In the prologue to the prose life he says, that he “vitam ejusdem Deo dilecti patris, ali- quanto quidem brevius Sed eodem tamen ordine, rogantibus quibusdam e fratribus, heroicis dudum versibus edidisse". He inscribed the poem to a friend of his named John, a priest, who was about to set off on a journey to Rome; and this for two reasons, partly in token of his good wishes and the interest he felt in his welfare, and partly that it might edify the traveller during his journey. IV. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England. Stephens' translation. Edited by J. A. Giles. London, 1847. This work was written by Bede after his two lives of St. Cuthbert, and A.D. 725. The edition quoted is published with the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in Bohn's Antiquarian Library. * Introduction to the Eng. Hist. Soc. edition, p. vii. A DIST OF THE AUTHORITIES AND EDITIONS. XV V. Historia Translationis S. Cuthberti. Ex codice MS. Nicolai Bel- fortii, capita sex. Bolland., page 127. These six chapters on the history of the translation of the body of St. Cuthbert describe its various peregrinations, until it was finally enshrined at Durham, together with the account of several miracles wrought through it. It extends from A.D. 875 to the episcopate of William, Bishop of Durham, who succeeded Walcher in 1080. They were written in the eleventh century, and are published in the Bedae Opera Historica minora, pp. 285-317, from the text of the Bollandists. ' VI. Historica Narratio, ex variis codicibus MSS. capita tria. Bolland., page 138. VII. Symeonis Dunhelmensis Libellus de Exordio Dunhelmensis Ecclesiae. Edidit Thomas Bedford. Londini, 1732. This is the most important history of the Church of Durham and of the patrimony of St. Cuthbert. It passes under the name of “Simeon of Durham’s” history; but the real author is Turgot, the Prior of Durham. The Bollandists, with Usher and Selden, &c., prove it to be the work of Turgot. Simeon wrote, when at the age of fifty, a work, De Gestis Regum Anglorum, in which, speaking of Turgot, he mentions that he deceased A.D. 1115, having been Bishop in Scotland eight years and two months. Turgot had been Prior of Durham twenty-two years, and wrote this work towards the close of his priorate, and about sixty years before Simeon wrote. He was made Bishop in Scotland A.D. 1107. He was present at the opening of St. Cuthbert's tomb in 1104, on the 24-26th of August. He closes his history with the death of William, Bishop of Durham, 11th Jan uary, 1096. Simeon flourished about the year 1164; and it was probably he who wrote the continuation of Turgot's history, comprising the history of the four bishops that succeeded William Carileph. P.S.–In this edition of the Libellus, &c., we find Rud's dissertation on the authorship of the work, which he attributes to Simeon. - VIII. Reginaldi, Monachi Dunelmensis, Libellus de admirandis beati Cuthberti Virtutibus. Surtees Society's edition. London, 1835. Reginald, called “of Coldingham ” in the York MS., was a monk of Durham in the twelfth century. The exact time at which he lived may be gathered from his writings; for in p. 180 he speaks of an event of the year 1165 as “nostris xvi A LIST OF THE AUTHORITIES AND EDITIONS. diebus,” and gives other dates as late as 1172 (p. 254). This work was compiled at the suggestion, by the assistance, and under the correction of St. Ethelred, Abbot of Rivaulx. By the words “novellis temporibus” we are to understand “scilicet post Bedam ”. IX. Libellus de Nativitate Sancti Cuthberti, de Historiis Hybernensium excerptus et translatus. A MS. of the fourteenth century, in the Diocesan Library at York. Printed by the Surtees Society, in 1838. X. A Description of all the Ancient Monuments, Rites, and Cus- toms belonging to the Monastical Church of Durham before the Suppression. Written in 1593. Surtees Society's edition. London, 1842. This book contains compilations from four manuscripts: 1. MS. Cosin, of date about 1620; 2. Hogg's manuscript roll, of date 1593; 3. MS. Hunter, No. 45 ; 4. MS. Hunter, No. 44. Part of these documents have been published in the following works: 1. The Ancient Rites and Monuments, &c., by John Davies of Kidwelly, A.D. 1672. 2. Durham Cathedral, &c., by Dr. Christopher Hunter. Durham, 1733. 3. The History of the Cathedral Church of Durham, &c. Durham, 1743. This is but a second edition of the last, with no change, except a fresh title-page. 4. The Antiquities of the Abbey, &c. Pat. Sanderson, Durham, 1767. In quoting passages from this work the spelling has been modernised, and it is referred to as the Rites of Durham. XI. The History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church. By J. Lingard, D.D. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1845. XII. Remarks on the “ St. Cuthbert ’’ of the Rev. J. Raine. New- castle, 1828 [By Dr. Lingard]. T H E HISTORY OF ST. CUTHBERT. PART I. THE LIFE, DEGEASE, AND MIRACLES OF ST. CUTHBERT, CHAPTER I. HIS BIRTH AND BOYEIOOD. WE are indebted for the most part of what is known of the life of St. Cuthbert to the pen of the Venerable St. Bede, the first historian, and the brightest luminary, of the Anglo-Saxon Church. St. Cuthbert's life, by his contemporary of Jarrow, was grounded on, and grew out of, a life written anonymously, and many years earlier, by one of the brethren of Lindisfarne. Other valuable documents in connexion with the history of St. Cuthbert are fur- nished in the writings of Simeon and Reginald, monks of Durham. Bede has left a small book, De Vita et Miraculis Sancti Cuthbert; Episcopi Lindisfarnensis. He wrote this life at the request of, and dedicated it to, “The holy and most blessed Father, Bishop Eadfrid, and also the congregation of brethren who serve Christ in the Island of Lindisfarne’’. That the facts contained in his life may be fully relied on, we gather from the account he gives in the preface of the evidence that he had collected: “I have not presumed without minute investigation to write any of the deeds of so great a man, nor without the most accurate examination of credible witnesses, to hand over what I had written to be tran- 1. 2 EIIS BIRTH AND BOYEIOOD. scribed. . . . When my work was arranged, but still kept back from publication, Ifrequently submitted it, for perusal and for cor- rection, to our reverend brother Herefrid the priest, and others, who for a long time had well known the life and conversation of that man of God. Some faults were, at their suggestion, carefully amended; and thus every scruple being utterly removed, I have taken care to submit to writing what I clearly ascertained to be the truth, and to bring it into your presence also, my brethren, in order that, by the judgment of your authority, what I have written might be either corrected if false, or certified to be true. Whilst, with God’s assistance, I was so engaged, and my book was read during two days by the elders and teachers of your con- gregation, and was accurately weighed and examined in all its parts, there was nothing at all found which required to be altered, |but every thing which I had written was, by common consent, pronounced worthy to be read without any hesitation, and to be handed over to be copied by such as by zeal for religion should be disposed to do so.” " Bede has also devoted five chapters in his Ecclesiastical History to this subject, and states in his introduction to his history: “What I have written concerning our most holy Father, Bishop Cuthbert, either in this volume or in any treatise on his life and actions, I partly took and faithfully copied from what I have found written of him by the brethren of the Church of Lindisfarne; but at the same time took care to add such things as I could myself have knowledge of by the faithful testimony of such as knew him ‘’.” Neither can we doubt a single word that has been written concerning him by the Lindisfarne Monk: for he introduces his narrative, saying, “I beg that my readers will believe what I say, and not imagine that I would have written anything but what was known and proved: otherwise I would have said nothing, but would have kept silence ’’.” His biographers throw but little light on the parentage or birthplace of Cuthbert. As monks, they would have felt it unne- cessary to record the parentage of one who ennobled himself by * Giles's Bedae Opera Omnia, vol. iv. p. 203. 2 Bede's Eccles. Hist. p. 3. * Bolland. p. 117. THE IRISH LIFE FROM THE YORK MS. 3 his virtuous actions, or the time and place of birth of him of whom any age or country would justly have been proud. & There is, however, a treatise on the birth of St. Cuthbert, that has for its object the endeavour to prove him to have been of Irish extraction, born of blood-royal in Ireland. It is entitled, Libellus de Ortu S. Cuthberti, de historiis Hybernensium exceptus et translatus.” The Writer of this treatise mentions that a document fell into his hands, stating that St. Cuthbert was born in Ireland, and was of royal descent; that an Irish Bishop, named Eugenius, confirmed this statement, and “nonnulla alia, de quibus antea nihil novimus, nobis præclara relatione detexit . . . et loci et urbis nomina, in quibus natus fuerat, evidentius quam quivis aliorum nobis exposuit”; * and that Bishop Eugenius informed him that Cuthbert's father was King Muriadach, and that his mother |Sabina was the daughter of a king. According to this life, the child was born at Kells in Meath, was baptized at a place called Hartlbrecins, and was named Mullucc, &c.” The Irish poetical life speaks of St. Cuthbert as born of royal blood, on Irish soil: “Si cupis audire, Cuthberti miraque scire Virtutis mirae, potes hunc sanctum reperire. Sanctus Cutbertus Anglorum tutor apertus Regis erat natus et Hybernicus est generatus.” To the silence of the anonymous Monk of Lindisfarne, of Bede in his prose life, and of Simeon of Durham on this subject, may be traced the belief, at one time current, in the Irish extraction and royal descent of Cuthbert. The monks of Durham seem to Have had some, faith in the tradition, and in other circumstances stated in the same treatise. This may be gathered from an inscription that formerly existed in the church at Durham. In the list of “Inscriptions beneath the figures of such monks of the Benedictine order as were painted upon the screen-work of the * This treatise is the eighth of twelve treatises in a manuscript, classed xvi. 1, 12, preserved in the library of the Dean and Chapter of York. The MS. is in various hands, but they are all of the fourteenth century. It probably belonged originally to the Dur- ham Library. The treatise on the birth of St. Cuthbert had been quoted by Capgrave and Colgan, but was never printed entire, till published in the Surtees Society's volume, Miscellanea Biographica, in the year 1838. There is a translation of this Irish life of St. Cuthbert into Leonine verse in the British Museum, classed TITUs, A. II. 2. 3. *Libellus, in Biog. Misc. p. 63. * Ibid. p. 70, 4 HIS BIRTEI AND BOYEIOOD. altar of St. Jerome and St. Benedict in Durham Cathedral,” amongst others is the following: “Sanctus Cuthbertus, patronus ecclesiae, civitatis et libertatis Dunelmensis, natione Hibernicus, regiis parentibus ortus, nutu Dei Angliam perductus, et apud Mailros monachus est effectus, deinde in ecclesiam Lindisfarnensem per Abbatem suum Eatam translatus,” &c." To the same effect the describer of the ancient monuments in Durham Abbey adds, that from the cloister-door to the church- door “was set in glass in the windows the whole story and miracles of that holy man St. Cuthbert, from the day of his nativity and birth unto his dying day. And there you should have seen and beholden his mother lying in her childbed; and how that after she was delivered, the bright beams did shine from heaven upon her and upon the child, where he did lie in the cradle, so that to every man's thinking the Holy Ghost had overshadowed him. . . . And also the Bishop baptized the child, and did call him Mullocke in the Irish tongue, the which is in English as much as to say Cuthbert. The foresaid Bishop's name, who baptized and had the keeping of the virtuous and godly child, is called Eugenius. The name of the city that the child St. Cuth- bert was baptized in is called Hardbrecins.” And again: “He is said to be descended from the blood-royal of the kings of Ireland, being son of one Muriardach and Sabina his wife, who was daughter to a king there '’.” There is also the following note in Butler's Saints' Lives: “ St. Cuthbert, according to his MS. life in the Cottonian Library, was born at Ceannanes, or Kells, in Meath. By his mother Saba, a princess who led a holy life, he was grandson of Murertack, king of Ireland A.D. 533.” “ The origin and value of this evidence, furnished in the Irish life of St. Cuthbert, and quoted from it by other writers, is dis- cussed by the Bollandists,” who have shewn it to be full of ana- chronisms. Without rejecting it as fabulous, the author would suggest that the mistake has arisen from confounding the name of St. Cuthbert with that of St. Columba. St. Columba was born of * Rites of Durham, p. 112. * Ibid. p. 65. * Ibid., quoting Davies, p. 55. * Vol. xii. p. 399, ed. Dublin, 1845. * Bolland. p. 95. PLACE AND TIME OF HIS BIRTEI. 5 noble descent at Kells in Meath, where his house is still shewn, and where no tradition of any kind connected with St. Cuthbert is known to exist. There can be no doubt that Cuthbert was born in Northum- bria, of Saxon parentage. “Servent,” say the Bollandists, “Hi- berni suum Nulluhoe ejulantem, et relinquant Anglo-Saxonibus Cuthbertum.” In all probability, he was born not far from the Monastery of Mailros, now called Old Melrose. Though silent on this subject in his prose life of St. Cuthbert, Bede in his metrical life expressly states that he was born in Britain: “Nec jam orbis contenta sinu trans aquora lampas Spargitur effulgens, hujusque Britannia consors Temporibus genuit fulgur venerabile nostris, Aurea qua Cuthbertus agens per sidera vitam Scandere celsa suis docuit jam passibus Anglos”. The name Cuthbert is undoubtedly Saxon, and signifies “illus- trious for skill ”; or Guthbert, “worthy of God,” or “a good prince”. The year of his birth is not given by any of his bio- graphers; but we can easily conjecture it within a very few years. We know that in the year 651 he became a monk; and if we imagine him to have been about fifteen at that time, it will give us the year 637 as the probable date of his birth—a date nearly coinciding with the foundation of Mailros. His parents were probably in humble circumstances; and it appears that they died when he was about eight years old. He used, as a boy, to tend sheep on the mountains in the neighbour- hood of Mailros. There, with a naturally devotional turn of mind, he became so charmed with the holy life of the monks, that while but a boy he used to try to imitate their virtues, by watching and praying even in the night-time. Of the personal appearance of the boy Cuthbert we read: “In- finitae erat pulchritudinis et decoris, et venustae speciei dulcedinis, et gratiae admodum dilectionis”.” As a boy, he took great delight in the sports and amusements common to children. “To the eighth year of his life, which is the first year of boyhood succeed- ing to infancy, he gave his mind to such plays and enjoyments alone as boys delight in. . . . He took delight in mirth and * Bolland. p. 95. *Biog. Misc. p. 73. . 6 o HIS BIRTH AND BOYEIOOD. clamour; and, as was natural at his age, rejoiced to attach himself to the company of other boys, and to share in their sports; and because he was agile by nature, and of a quick mind, he often prevailed over them in their boyish contests; and frequently, when the rest were tired, he alone would hold out, and look triumph- antly around to see if any remained to contend with him for victory. For in jumping, running, wrestling, or any other bodily exercise, he boasted that he could surpass all those who were of the same age, and even some that were older than himself. For when he was a child, he knew as a child, he thought as a child; but afterwards, when he became a man, he entirely laid aside all those childish things.” \ At this early age he received what was not merely a check to his buoyant spirits, but a prophecy of his future greatness. Bede relates the anecdote, saying that “Trumwine, of blessed memory, told me on the authority of Cuthbert himself”. . He says, that one day a number of boys, amongst whom was Cuthbert, were col- lected together in a field, and that while in their frolic they began to twist themselves into all kinds of shapes and attitudes. “On a sudden one of them, apparently about three years old, runs up to Cuthbert, and in a firm tone exhorts him not to indulge in idle play and follies, but to cultivate the powers of his mind as well as those of his body. When Cuthbert made light of his advice, the boy fell to the ground, and shed tears bitterly. The rest run up to console him, but he persists in weeping. They ask him why he burst out crying so unexpectedly. At length he made answer, and turning to Cuthbert, who was trying to comfort him, ‘Why," said he, “do you, holy Cuthbert, priest and prelate, give yourself up to these things, which are so opposite to your nature and rank 2. It does not become you to be playing among children, when the Lord has appointed you to be a teacher of virtue, even to those who are older than yourself.’ Cuthbert being a boy of a good disposition, heard these words with evident attention; and pacifying the crying child with affectionate caresses, immediately abandoned his vain sports, and returning home, began from that moment to exhibit an unusual decision both of mind and charac- ter, as if the same spirit which had spoken outwardly to him by * Bede's Life, p. 209. HIS CALL FROM GOD. 7 the mouth of the boy, were now beginning to exert its influence inwardly in his heart.”" This anecdote is told with more detail in the narrative of the Lindisfarne Monk, who concludes it with these remarks: “See, my brethren, how he was chosen by the Providence of God, even before he is known by his works; as the prophet says con- cerning the patriarch, “I have loved Jacob, but have hated Esau’. (Malach. i. 2.) Also Samuel and David were both chosen in their infancy; and the prophet Jeremias, and John the Baptist, were consecrated to the service of the Lord from their mother's womb ; as the Doctor of the Gentiles has said, ‘Whom He predestinated, them. He also called '.”” (Rom. viii. 30.) At the same age of eight years he was cured by an angel of lameness, caused by a swelling on his knee.” On another occasion, when five vessels were near being lost, at his prayers the winds were checked, and the vessels enabled to come to land. This miracle took place near the mouth of the river Tyne.* * Ibid. p. 211. * Bolland. p. 118. * See Bede's Life, chap. ii., and Bolland. p. 118. * Bede's Life, chap. iii. The Bollandists understand this to refer to the Tyne in Lothian that falls into the sea north of Dunbar, but it seems more probable that it alludes to the Tyne that divides Northumberland and Durham. CHAPTER II. CUTHBERT's LIFE As A MONK AT MAILROs. HIS determination to become a religious was, if not formed, at least strengthened, by a vision he had of the passage of St. Aidan. One night, while engaged in prayer, he saw the soul of St. Aidan carried by angels to heaven, at the very time that holy man de- parted at Bamborough, in the year of grace 651. On account of St. Aidan's connexion with the Monasteries of Mailros and Lindisfarne, and of his having been the founder of the See of Lindisfarne, a few words may be of use as to his history. * The kingdom of Northumbria at that time embraced those parts of England and Scotland included, on the west, between the Mersey and the Clyde, and on the east, between the Humber and the Frith of Forth. It was divided into two provinces: Bernicia was the northern province," extending from the Tees to the Frith of Forth ; and Deira” was the southern province. Oswald, second son of Ethelfrith, and nephew of Edwin the Usurper, was at this time King of Northumbria.” He had spent * The wall of Antoninus, extending from the Forth west to Dumbarton, separated Northumbria from the Caledonians, called by the Anglo-Saxons Picts. * It was the fact of some youths of Deira being exposed for sale in the market-place at Rome that gave occasion to the conversion of this country, and to the charitable and facetious remark made at Rome in allusion to their nation and province : “Ut Angli angelis similes de ira Dei eruentur”. * Ethelfrith, king of Northumbria, left at his death a widow and seven sons, who were obliged to fly into Scotland to escape the hands of their uncle, the usurper Edwin. Donald the Fourth then reigned in Scotland; and being a convert to Christianity, taught his faith to the young exiles. The eldest son subsequently obtained a portion of his inheritance after the usurper's death, but relapsed into heathenism. He was slain by Cadwallon, of Cumberland. Oswald, the second son, then set out from Scotland to fight for his right, and at the head of the Northumbrians gave him battle. His forces AIDAN AND IONA. 9 his youth in Iona, where he had learnt and embraced the Chris- tian religion. It was his earnest desire to establish Christianity in Bernicia, his northern province ; Deira, the Southern province, was already Christian. For this purpose the monks of Iona. * were invited by Oswald to convert his people. . A monk named Corman was sent first ; but, for reasons well known, did not suc- ceed in his mission. Upon the failure of Corman, Aidan, another monk of Iona, volunteered, A.D. 635, to leave his dear monastery in the Hebrides for the purpose of teaching the Bernicians the faith that St. Paulinus had just before brought into Northumbria. The blessing of God accompanied the piety and zeal of Aidan, and he succeeded in converting this people to the Christian faith. On his arrival in Northumbria, the good King Oswald offered him, in consideration for his proffered services, any place he might choose in his dominions for a permanent establishment, were far inferior in number to those of his enemy; but with the Cross as his standard, he gained a complete victory; in gratitude for which he resolved to lead his people to the faith of Christ. 1 Iona, named also Icolmkill, is one of the Hebrides, west of Mull, and an island about three miles in length by one in breadth, comprising an area of 2000 acres. It is called Iona from a Gaelic word meaning “Island of waves,” in allusion to the violent force of the waters in the narrow sound by which it is separated from Mull; and Icolm- kill, i.e., “Cell of St. Columba,” because St. Columba came from Ireland to convert the Hebrides, and landed on this island, with twelve companions, in the year 563. The very spot is still pointed out where his boat came to shore. It is a bay on the western shore, called “Port-na-currach,” or the bay of the boat. He received a grant of the island, and founded upon it a monastery. Of course the rule of St. Columba was fol- lowed in the monastery. The monastery was twice ravaged by the Danes ; first in the year 797, when they set fire to it; and again in 801, when they massacred eighty of the monks, and compelled the rest to desert their home. The monastery was restored, and in the possession of monks of the Cluniac order till the suppression. The remains of the abbey-church at Iona are to this day very perfect. The church is a cruciform building of red granite, Čhiefly in the Norman style. It is 160 feet long by 24 broad ; across the transepts it is 70 feet ; the choir is 60 feet long ; and the tower rises from the junction of nave and transepts to the height of 70 feet. Massive circular columns support the tower, and separate the nave and choir. Of the monastic buildings there are still remaining four cloister-arches, portions of the refectory, &c., &c. There is also a very celebrated cemetery in this island called “Relig Owran". Within it have been buried one king of France, four kings of Ireland, eight kings of Norway, and forty-eight kings of Scotland. At one period there were 359 stone sepul- chral crosses on this island, reaching from the monastery to the cemetery. Of these only four now remain on the island ; but thirty are yet in existence in Argyleshire, that are said to have been removed from Iona, and hence are popularly called “Iona crosses". At the period of the destruction of religion, a synod at Argyle ordered sixty of these crosses to be thrown into the sea. 10 HIS IIFE AS MONR. and his episcopal See." For certain reasons” he chose the isle of Lindisfarne, on the coast of Northumbria, and ten miles from Berwick—established there the seat of his episcopacy—founded a monastery there—made it his usual place of residence—and de- ceased there in the year 651, having been Bishop of the See seventeen years, i.e., from 635 to 651. Besides the Monastery of Lindisfarne, Aidan established on the banks of the Tweed the Monastery of Mailros, very soon after the year 635. Of these two monasteries we shall speak more in detail, when we come to speak of them in connexion with St. Cuthbert. It was the vision of the passage of the holy Bishop St. Aidan that led Cuthbert to enter the monastic state. The holy monk, who lived not very far from Lindisfarne, and who was fourteen years old when St. Cuthbert died—whose name is Bede, and who is the oldest historian in the Anglo-Saxon Church—wrote this history of the event, sitting in his cell at Jarrow on the Tyne, about fifty years after it took place. “It chanced upon a time that he was tending a flock of sheep intrusted to his care on some distant mountains. One night, whilst his companions were sleep- ing, and he himself was awake, as he was wont to be, and engaged in prayer, on à sudden he saw a long stream of light break through the darkness of the night, and in the midst of it a company of the heavenly host descended to the earth, and having received among them a spirit of surpassing brightness, returned without delay to their heavenly home. The young man, beloved of God, was struck with the sight, and stimulated to encounter the honours of spiritual warfare, and to earn for himself eternal life and happiness among God's mighty Ones. He forthwith offered up praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and called upon his companions, with brotherly exhortations, to imitate his example: “Miserable men that we are,” said he, “whilst we are resigning ourselves to sleep and idleness, we take no thought to behold the light of God's holy * The territory given by King Oswald to Lindisfarne extended, on the east, from the Tweed to Warnmouth, then along the course of the Warn to its source near Heb- burn Hill, thence to the Bremish, which forms the line till it falls into the Till. Be- yond the Tweed, it embraced all the land between the Eder and the Leader, &c. * It was a spot somewhat similar to the island he had left on the western coast. It was within view of the town of Bambrough, the residence of the Northumbrian , kings. VISION OF AIDAN'S DEPARTURE. 11 angels, who never sleep. Behold, whilst I was awake and pray- ing, during a moderate portion of the night, I saw such great wonders of God. The door of heaven was opened, and there was led in thither, amidst an angelic company, the spirit of some holy man, who, now for ever blessed, beholds the glory of the heavenly mansion, and Christ its King, whilst we still grovel amid this earthly darkness; and I think it must have been some holy Bishop, or some favoured one of the company of the faithful, whom I saw thus carried into heaven amidst so much splendour by that large angelic choir.” As the man of God said these words, the hearts of the shepherds were kindled up to reverence and praise. When the morning was come, he found that Aidan, Bishop of the Church of Lindisfarne, a man of exalted piety, had ascended to the heavenly kingdom, at the very moment of his vision. Immediately, therefore, he delivered over the sheep that he was feeding to their owners, and determined forthwith to enter a monastery.” " The Lindisfarne Monk describes the spot as near the river Leader; and Simeon of Durham records the same wonderful vision, adding, that the spot where Cuthbert was tending the sheep was “in montibus juxta fluvium Leder”.” He speaks of Cuthbert at this time as “Israelita in quo dolus non erat, in carne non secundum carnem vivens, cujus a puero tota conversatio erat in coelis, conversationis angelicæ juvenis egregius”.” When he had made up his mind forthwith to become a monk, it remained for him to choose the monastery in which he would be professed. He did not, however, hesitate long in making his choice. “He knew that the Church of Lindisfarne contained many holy men, by whose teaching and example he might be instructed; but he was moved by the great reputation of Boisil, a monk and priest of surpassing merit, to choose for himself an abode in the Abbey of Mailros.” “ The same author relates, that on his road to Mailros he was miraculously fed with bread and meat by the gift of Him who 1 Bede's Life, p. 219. * Chap. iii. p. 24. This stream, the Leader, pours its waters from the north to join the Tweed two miles below Melrose. 3 Ibid. * Bede's Life, p. 225. 12 HIS LIFE AS MONK. formerly fed the prophet Elias by ravens:—a circumstance which he had from a priest named Ingwald, of the monastery of Wear- mouth, who said that he had it from Cuthbert himself. The account of it given by the Lindisfarne Monk differs somewhat from that of Bede." At this time Eata” was priest and Abbot of the monastery (not yet Bishop), and Boswell was Prior. When Cuthbert arrived at the monastery, the Prior, in a pro- phetic spirit, bore testimony to his future greatness. “Boisil was standing before the door of the monastery, and saw him first. Foreseeing in spirit-what an illustrious man the stranger would become, he made this single remark to the bystanders: ‘Behold a servant of the Lord!' herein imitating Him who said of Nathaniel when he approached Him: ‘Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile !' I was told this by that veteran priest and servant of God, the pious Sigfrid, for he was standing by when Boisil said these words, and was at that time a youth, studying the first rudiments of the monastic life in that same monastery; but now he is a man, perfect in the Lord, living in our monastery of Yarrow, and amid the last sighs of his fainting body, thirsting for a happy entrance into another life. Boisil, without saying more, kindly received Cuthbert as he approached; and when he had heard the cause of his coming, namely, that he preferred the monastery to the world, he kept him near himself, for he was the Prior of that same monastery.” " A few days later, on the return of Eata, who had been absent from the monastery, he was formally received into the commun- ity. “After a few days, when Eata, who was at that time Priest and Abbot of the monastery, but afterwards Bishop of Lindisfarne, was come, Boisil told him about Cuthbert, that he was a young man of a promising disposition, and obtained permission that he should receive the tonsure, and be enrolled among the brethren.” “ The exact date of Cuthbert's profession is given by Simeon of Durham : “In the year of our Lord’s Incarnation 651, the * See Bolland. p. 118. * Eata, the Abbot, was one of the twelve Saxon youths instructed by Aidan (vide Bede's Eccles. Hist, chap. xxvi. p. 161): Boisil, the Prior, is better known by the name of St. Boswell. * Bede's Life, p. 225. * Ibid. p. 227. l MAILROS OR OLD MELROSE. 13 fifty-fifth year after the coming of St. Augustine into Britain, the seventeenth year after the province of Bernicia, through the means of King Oswald, had received the faith of Christ, the same year in which the Bishop Aidan passed into heaven, and the ninth year of the reign of King Oswin, that very holy youth entered the Monastery of Mailros, to devote himself to the service of Christ alone, being received by the very Reverend Abbot Eata, at the suggestion of Boisil, a man of great sanctity and of a prophetic spirit, and who, as Prior, was second to the Abbot in command in the monastery’." Having brought the youth Cuthbert to Mailros, it may be interesting to say a few words of the place itself. Mailros, or as it is now termed Old Melrose, must not be confounded with the present Melrose Abbey. It stood two miles to the east of Melrose, on the south side of the river Tweed, which nearly encircles the ground on which it stood. The name is taken from two Celtic words, mul, signifying “bare,” and rhos, “a promontory”. It was founded soon after the year 635.” No sooner had the young novice entered the Monastery of Mailros, than he gave clear signs of his future sanctity and emi- nence. “When he had thus entered the monastery, he conformed to the rules of the place with the same zeal as the others, and indeed sought to surpass them by observing stricter discipline; and in reading, working, watching, and praying, he fairly outdid them all. Tike the mighty Samson of old, he carefully abstained from every drink which could intoxicate; but was not able to abstain equally from food, lest his body might be thereby rendered less able to work; for he was of a robust frame, and of unimpaired strength, and fit for any labour which he might be disposed to take in hand.” ” Simeon of Durham remarks, that Boisil loved Cuthbert above 1 Hist. p. 24. * In the year 839, the Scots invaded the country as far south as the Tweed, and the Monastery of Mailros was destroyed. It afterwards became the residence of a small community of monks, and later was but a chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert. * Bede's Life, p. 227. Of him, at this period, the anonymous Monk says: “Erat enim aspectu angelicus, sermone nitidus, opere sanctus, corpore integer, ingenio optimus, consilio magnus, fide Catholicus, spe patientissimus, caritate diffusus”. Bolland. p. 119. 14 HIS LIFE AS MONEC. all the other brethren, on account of his innocence and the up- rightness of his intentions. From Boisil he received both the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and the example of good works. By the counsels of this holy man, added to his natural love of virtue, and the good example of his fellow monks, the young novice, like his Divine Master while on earth, daily “ad- vanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men.” (Luke ii. 52.) The reader may naturally stop here to inquire, to what Order did the Monks of Mailros and Lindisfarne belong 2 St. Gregory the Great was the founder of a monastic rule, and his rule was very different from those of the other religious orders of that time. The time which other rules gave to manual labour, he allotted to study. Augustine brought with him monks of the rule of St. Gregory to convert the Anglo-Saxons; but we do not fully know what the rule of St. Gregory was. However, forty- eight years after the arrival of Augustine, Oswald, king of Nor- thumbria, requested a supply of missionaries for his people from . the Monks of Iona. St. Columba had converted a part of the people of Caledonia, and in return had received a donation of the isle of Iona, one of the smallest of the Hebrides. Aidan came from this monastery. Following the example of St. Columba, he built a monastery, after the model of the parent house at Iona, on a similarly Small and lonely island, called Lindisfarne, on the east coast of Northumbria. We do not know in what St. Columba's rule consisted ; but we know that his monks came from Ireland, and were a branch of the order that had beer established there by St. Patrick." * Consult Lingard's Anglo-Saxon Church, vol. i. p. 198, and Bede's Eccles. Hist. p. 200. GHAPTER III. CUTHBERT IS REMOVED FROM MAILROS TO RIPON, BUT SOON RETURNS TO MAILROS, AND, AT THE DEATH OF BOISIL, IS MADE PRIOR. AFTER a few years’ training in the monastic life, Providence called Cuthbert to a new scene of action. His superior talents and won- derful piety shewed him to be a man worthy of promotion to any office, however important, in a monastery. Accordingly he was made Guest Master of a monastery at Ripon. “Some years after, it pleased King Aldfrid, for the redemption of his soul, to grant to Abbot Eata a certain tract of country called Inrhipum, on which to build a monastery. The Abbot, in consequence of this grant, erected the intended building, and taking there with him certain of his brother monks, among whom was Cuthbert, ap- pointed for them the same rules and discipline that were observed at Mailros. Cuthbert was appointed to the office of receiving strangers.”” In this capacity of Guest Master, or hospitaller, he entertained an angel, and was stimulated by this miracle to greater zeal than ever in performing works of piety. “The neophyte was imme- diately chosen from the other brethren to wait upon strangers coming to the house. Amongst the rest, one morning, during the winter season, when Snow was on the ground, there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, under the appearance of a grave and grown-up man, in the same manner that angels appeared, under the appearance of men, to the patriarch Abraham in the vale of Mambre. He received him kindly, as was his custom, under the impression that he was a man, not an angel, washed his hands and feet, and wiped them with a towel, and rubbed his hands and * Bede's Life, p. 229. 16 EIIS LIFE AS PRIOR OF MAILROS. warmed his feet on account of the cold. Whilst he was waiting for the third hour of the day to take his food, he endeavoured to overcome the reluctance of his guest, and his unwillingness to eat on account of his journey, and at last entreating him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, obtained his consent. When the third hour of the day came, and he had concluded his prayer, he immediately prepared the table and put upon it the food that he had ; and because it chanced that there was no bread at hand, he put on the table only the crumbs that had been collected for blessed bread. He went to the monastery to seek some bread, but not getting any (the bread was at the time baking in the oven), returned to his guest, whom he had left eating alone; but he did not find him there, nor any trace of his footsteps, although there was snow upon the ground. In astonishment, he removed the table to an inner chamber, seeing clearly that he had enter- tained an angel of God. As he entered he perceived the flavour of very sweet bread, and found three hot loaves; and thanked God that in his person had been fulfilled the saying of the Lord : “He that receiveth you receiveth Me ; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me'. (Matt. x. 40.) And again : ‘He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive the reward of a prophet : and he that receiveth a just man in the name of a just man shall receive the reward of a just man’. (Matt. x. 41.)” But they did not remain long at Ripon. They were driven away from that monastery; and though Bede records the fact in his life of our Saint, he does not assign the reason. This change took place in the year 661. Cuthbert was not loath to return to his old home, Mailros, where he might attend, as he had ever done, to the precepts and example of his friend Boisil the Prior. “As everything in this world is frail and fluctuating, like the sea when a storm comes on, the above-named Abbot Eata, with Cuthbert and the other brethren, were expelled from their residence, and the monastery given to others.” There can be but little doubt that the reason of this appa- rently harsh step was Eata's adhering to the Scottish custom about 1 Lindisf. Monk. Bolland. p. 119. 2 Bede's Life, p. 233. RECOVERS FROM THE PLAGUE. 17 the observance of Easter. For Aldfrid, having been instructed in Christianity by Wilfrid, “rightly thought this man's doctrine ought to be preferred before all the traditions of the Scots. For this reason he had also given him a monastery of forty families, at a place called Rhypum ; which place, not long before, he had given to those that followed the system of the Scots, for a monastery ; but forasmuch as they afterwards, being left to their own choice, prepared to quit the place, rather than alter their opinion, he gave the place to him whose life and doctrine were . worthy of it.” This explains the cause of the return of Eata and Cuthbert to Mailros, and of the Monastery of Ripon being given up to Wilfrid.” About this period, A.D. 664, an epidemic raged in Britain. It depopulated the southern coasts of Britain, and afterwards ex- tending into the province of the Northumbrians, ravaged the country far and near, and destroyed a great multitude of men. To this pestilence, called the yellow plague, Tuda, the fourth Bishop of Lindisfarne, and many of the Lindisfarne monks, fell victims. Tuda was buried at a place called in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle Wagele, and by Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History Pegnaleth—probably Finchale, on the western bank of the Wear at Durham. Both Cuthbert and his friend Prior Boswell were attacked by it. Cuthbert recovered from it, although it left some effects that he could never get rid of. “About this time, accord- ing to his friend Herefrid the priest, who was formerly Abbot of the Monastery of Lindisfarne, he was seized with a pestilential disease, of which many inhabitants of Britain were at that time sick. The brethren of the monastery passed the whole night in prayer for his life and health ; for they thought it essential to them that so pious a man should be present with them in the flesh. This they did without his knowing it; and when they told him of it in the morning, he exclaimed, “Then why am I lying here? I did not think it possible that God should have neglected your prayers; give me my stick and shoes. Accordingly he got out of bed, and tried to walk, leaning on his stick; and finding * Bede's Eccles. Hist. p. 155. See also p. 271. The monastery founded at Ripon by Eata is said to have stood between the street called Stamergate and Priest's Lane, and to have been called the Scots monastery. 18 EIIS LIFE AS PRIOR OF MAILROS. his strength gradually return, he was speedily restored to health; but because the swelling on his thigh, though it died away to all outward appearance, struck inwardly, he felt some pain in the inside all his life afterwards.” + With Prior Boswell it fared otherwise. He died of this pesti- lence, as he had three years before prophesied to Eata the Abbot. During his illness he foretold the future greatness of Cuthbert. “When that servant of the Lord, Boisil, saw that Cuthbert was restored, he said, ‘You see, my brother, how you have recovered from your illness; and I assure you it will give you no further trouble, nor are you likely to die at present. I advise you inasmuch as death is waiting for me, to learn from me all you can whilst I am able to teach you ; for I have only seven days longer to enjoy my health of body, or to exercise the powers of my tongue.” Cuthbert, implicitly believing what he had heard, asked him what he would advise him to begin to read, so as to be able to finish it in seven days. ‘John the Evangelist,” said Boisil; ‘I have a copy” containing seven 4to sheets: we can, with God's help, read one every day, and meditate thereon as far as we are able.” They did so, and speedily accomplished the task; for they sought therein only that simple faith which worketh by love, and did not trouble themselves with minute and subtle questions. After their seven days' study was completed, Boisil died of the above-named complaint; and, after death, entered into the joys of eternal life. It is said that during these seven days he foretold to Cuthbert every thing which should happen to him; for, as I have said before, he was a prophet, and a man of remarkable piety. . . . Among other things, he told Cuthbert that he should be ordained Bishop. When Cuthbert became an anchoret, he would not communicate his prophecy to any one, but with much sorrow assured the brethren, who came to visit him, that if he had a humble residence on a rock, where the waves of the ocean shut him out from all the world, he should not even then consider himself safe from its snares.” s 1 Bede's Life, p. 233. * Turgot states that this book was, in the year 1000, still kept at the church of Durham. See Simeon of Durham, book i. chap. 3. * Bede's Life, p. 235. EIIS ZEAL IN PREACHING. 19 This account of the death of Boswell will naturally remind our readers of the deathbed scene of Bede himself. When Boswell passed into heaven, Cuthbert was appointed to succeed him in the office of Prior of Mailros.” He fulfilled with great zeal the duties attached to the responsible post of Prior; taught by word and by work; and, treading in the footsteps of his predecessor, travelled over the country far and near, instruct- ing the people no less by his example than by his words. “After the death of Boisil, Cuthbert took upon himself the duties of the office before mentioned; and for many years discharged them with the most pious zeal, as became a Saint ; for he not only furnished both precept and example to his brethren of the monastery, but sought to lead the minds of the neighbouring people to the love of heavenly things. Many of them, indeed, disgraced the faith which they professed by unholy deeds; and some of them, even in a time of pestilence, neglecting the holy signs of their faith, had recourse to idolatrous remedies, as if by charms, or amulets, or any other mysteries of the magical art, they were able to avert a stroke inflicted upon them by the Lord. To correct these errors, he often went out from the monastery, Sometimes on horseback, sometimes on foot, and preached the way of truth in the neighbouring villages: as Boisil, his prede- cessor, had done before him. It was at this time customary for the English people to flock together when a clerk or priest entered a village, and listen to what he said, that so they might learn Something from him and amend their lives. Now Cuthbert was so skilful in teaching, and so zealous in what he undertook, and had such an angelic countenance, that none dared to conceal from him the Secrets of their hearts: all openly confessed what they had done amiss, for they supposed that it was impossible to escape his notice, and they wished, as he commanded, to wipe away their sins by worthy fruits of repentance. He was mostly accustomed to travel to those villages which lay in out-of-the-way places among the mountains, which by their poverty and natural horrors deterred other visitors. Yet even here did his devoted mind find * The words of Simeon of Durham are: “Translato ad coelestia Boisilo, vir Domini Cuthbertus in Praepositi officium magistro successit, et cotidiano virtutum profectu acqu - parare vel etiam supergredi contendit” (p. 25). 20 EIIS LIFE AS PRIOR OF MAILROS. exercise for his powers of teaching, insomuch that he often re- mained a week, sometimes two or three, nay, even a whole month, without returning home; but, dwelling among the mountains, taught the poor people, both by the words of his preaching, and also by his own holy conduct.” Such was Cuthbert's life and occupation as Prior of Mailros. Thus did the Lord prepare him who, as a monk, had first learnt to obey, to govern others as Prior of a religious community, preparatory to raising him to the exalted dignity of a Bishop. About this time, at the request of the Abbess Ebba, he went to visit her monastery at a place called the city of Coludi, i.e. Coldingham,” Berwickshire ; and coming to the place, he con- firmed, by his life and his conversation, the way of truth which he taught.” Even while there, the holy man did in nothing relax his wonted mortifications and austerities. “Here also, as elsewhere, he would go forth when others were asleep, and having spent the night in watchfulness, return home at the hour of morning prayer. Now one night, a brother of the monastery seeing him go out alone, followed him privately to see what he would do. But he, when he left the monastery, went down to the sea, which flows beneath, and going into it, until the water reached his neck and arms, spent the night in praising God. When the dawn of day approached, he came out of the water, and falling on his knees, began to pray again.” “ The account given by the Lindisfarne Monk of Cuthbert's visit to Coldingham is as follows: “This circumstance is also worthy of being related, which I heard from many good persons, amongst whom was the priest Pleculf. During the time that he was with us at the monastery of Mailros, he was sent for by the holy nun and mother in Christ, Æbba. He went, therefore, according to the invitation, to the monastery called Coldingham, and re- mained there some days; and in nothing altering his usual habits * Bede's Life, p. 237. * Coldingham was a double monastery. See Lingard, vol. i. p. 210, &c. * Bede, chap. x. º * Bede's Life, p. 241. On this occasion two sea animals, called by Bede “lutrae,” came to him on the shore and reverenced him. A full and most interesting account of this visit to Coldingham, &c., is given in the Lindisfarne Monk's Narrative, p. 119. VISIT TO COLDINGHAM. 21 of life, he began at night to walk along the sea-shore, singing and watching, as was his custom. He was observed by one of the brothers of the monastery, who secretly followed him at a dis- tance, wishing to know how he passed the night. The man of God, Cuthbert, with great resolution, made his way to the sea, and entering into it, stood up to his loins in the water, whilst the waves of the sea sometimes rose to his shoulders. And when he came out of the sea, and was kneeling on the sands in prayer, two small sea animals immediately followed his footsteps, licked his feet, wiped and warmed them with their skins. After this service rendered to him, they received his blessing, and returned to their native element. The man of God at early dawn returned to the public services of the brethren in the church. But the brother of the monastery above mentioned, who, through fear of being seen, had concealed himself among the rocks, was almost killed by the severity of the night. The next day, however, he threw himself at the feet of the man of God, and with tears begged pardon for his fault. The man of God answered him prophetically: ‘My' brother, what is the matter? Did you approach nearer to me than you ought to have done? As you own your fault, I will pardon you on one condition, i.e. if you will swear that you will never relate the circumstance during my life-time.’ The brother promised as he was desired, and departed from him with his benediction.” “How touching is the communion with nature that has always characterised the Saints | As in the holy Scriptures we read of beasts and birds commissioned to fulfil the office of angels in ministering to the heirs of salvation, so in the records of the Church we find the same things occurring to the Saints. If the lions reverenced the virgin Daniel, they shewed a like veneration for the Christian martyrs in the bloody amphitheatres. A savage bear licked the wounds of St. Andronicus; a lioness crouched at the feet of St. Tarachus; a raven defended the unburied body of St. Vincent. St. Martin commanded the serpents, and they obeyed him; St. Anthony of Padua called on the fishes to come to his preaching when the heretics despised it; and St. Francis, above all, lived in closest communion with the inferior animals. The swallows of Alviano, the water-bird of Rieti, the pheasant of 22 HIS LIFE AS PRIOR OF MAILROS. Sienna, the wolf of Gubbio, the falcon of Laverna: there are strange and sweet records how all these did homage to the blessed St. Francis. Neither are such things as these merely the legends of late ages. The lives of the Egyptian fathers are full of such things: St. Athanasius records them of St. Anthony; and early in the fourth century, St. Macrina, the grandmother of the great St. Basil, taking refuge with her husband in the forests of Pontus during persecution, was miraculously fed by stags; and St. Gre- gory Nazianzen has recorded the miracle. And the patterns of all these things are in the Scripture histories.”” Bbba, or Æbba, the abbess of Coldingham, gave the name to the present promontory called St. Abb's Head. St. Ebba gave its name also to Ebchester, in the county of Durham, where she first founded a convent, before going to Cold- ingham. Several other miracles are recorded as having been worked by him before he took his leave of Mailros. On one occasion, when he went with two of the brethren by sea from the monastery to a place called Niduari,” and was detained there by a storm from the day after Christmas-day till the Epiphany, suffering from cold and hunger, he obtained food by his prayers, and foretold the duration of the storm, and the coming of a calm and fair wind.” At another time, he and his attendant, a boy whom he took with him to serve his Mass, and assist whilst he administered the sacraments, were fed, when on a long journey, with food brought by an eagle.” Again, when the devil, to distract an audience to which Cuthbert was preaching, caused a house to appear as if on fire, at the prayer of the Saint the author of the deceit was put to flight, and the sham fire disappeared.” When the house of a pious woman, who had been his nurse, and whom he was accustomed on that account to call his mother, was in danger of being destroyed by fire, he averted by his prayers the cause of the danger." The Lindisfarne Monk relates the circumstance thus: “At the same * Life of St. Bega, p. 154. * Probably a place on the banks of the river Nith, which falls into the Solway. * Lindisf. Monk, p. 119 ; and Bede, chap. xi. * Ibid., and Bede, chap. xii. * Lindisf. Monk, p. 120; and Bede, chap. xiii. * Bede, chap. xiv. HIS MIRACLES. 23 time the holy man of God was invited by a certain woman named Renspid," still living, and a holy widow, who took charge of him (enutrivit eum) from the age of eight till the time when he entered into the service of God; for he was accustomed to call her his mother, and often used to visit her. He came one day to the town where she lived, called Hruringaham,” at the time when a house at the east end of the town was on fire, and the wind blow- ing strongly from that quarter increased the violence of the flames. His so-called mother ran in fear to the house where he was staying, and begged of him to pray to God to preserve their houses from the flames that surrounded them. Without the slightest fear, he cheered his mother, saying, “Fear nothing; for this fire will not hurt you’. . And falling prostrate on the ground before the door, he prayed silently. Immediately, at his prayers, a strong wind rose from the west, and turned the fire away, without doing harm to any one.” ” e When the wife of Hildemer, a praefect of King Egfrid, was possessed by a devil, the man of God, even before his arrival, drove the evil spirit from her.” * Or Kenswith. * Probably Wrangholm, between the rivers Leader and Tweed. * Bede, p. 120. * Lindisf. Monk, p. 120 ; and Bede, chap. xiv. CHAPTER IV. CUTHBERT LEAVES MAILROS TO GO TO THE MONASTERY OF LINDIS- FARNE, WHERE HE REMAINS TWELVE YEARS. THIS holy man of God had been thirteen years a monk when he was removed from Mailros to Lindisfarne. With the exception of the short time he had been at Ripon, he had always belonged to the community at Mailros. “Whilst this venerable servant of the Lord was thus, during many years, distinguishing himself by such signs of spiritual excel- lence in the Monastery of Mailros, its reverend abbot, Eata, trans- ferred him to the monastery in the island of Lindisfarne, that there also he might teach the rules of monastic perfection both by his authority as Prior, and illustrate it by the example of his virtue; for the same reverend abbot had both monasteries under his jurisdiction.” " Simeon of Durham mentions these circumstances in very simi- lar words: “In the year of Our Lord's, incarnation 664, the thirtieth year after the episcopal see and monastery had been founded at the island of Lindisfarne by those zealous worshippers of Christ, King Oswald and Bishop Aidan, the same year in which the Scotch monks left this church to return to their home, the Abbot Eata, as mentioned above, having undertaken the care of this church or monastery, transferred to it the holy man Cuthbert, who was spending his fourteenth year at Mailros in the perfection of a monastic life; to the end that he might there teach the brethren the discipline of a monastic life, both by his authority as Prior, and by the example of his virtues.”” As we have now brought Cuthbert to Lindisfarne, it will be * Bede's Life, p. 257. 2 P. 34. g- *:: *=sius Point •* • - （- = • • • - • - - - --- _ _ _ • • • • • • - - - - - ---- T_T_T_T_º_-_> • •** = ~ ~ ）. *=> ≡== <= æ ;） 'TwegunoagPwoſ 4, 7.2/ſ/, /ſſſſſſſſſ)，Ķſi ，ſ'）;haerae* ſ'）;（x）,ffff ;*****）%ſ，%ſ，%ſ',} ſi: ||!\w*）\，-||||№ſiſÅ|Ë }} ſuiſ.jſ'）;|| ...ſaei hyj |||||||ſº k; ț¢ſaeprºr;● ||||| ģ ~es # +）(4€éź |-，|- §§}，ſ. +2}A È №va - qºneH} ?Ķīm，miſmſ ：t|\!\, ，| | || ||Alſ| ||:iſ：： ſ. ±|||ſiſ ± © 。 DESCRIPTION OF LINDISFARNE. 25 necessary to give a description of the place. Lindisfarne is an island on the coast of Northumberland, ten miles from Berwick; at the N.W. point, or “Snook-end,” about one mile, at the body of the island two miles, but three by the path, from the mainland. It takes its name from the Lindis, or Low, a small brook which empties itself into the sea opposite the island. Farne, in Celtic Fahren, means a place of retreat. Though popularly called an island, it is not strictly one, being an island at high water, and not an island at low water. It is twice a-day separated from the mainland by a depth of five, and in spring-tides by a depth of seven, feet of water; and twice a-day it is approachable on dry ground. This shews the accuracy of Bede as a geographer as well as an historian. “Which place,” says he, “as the tide flows and ebbs twice a-day, is enclosed by the waves of the sea like an island; and again, twice in the day, when the shore is left dry, becomes contiguous to the land.”" Reginald describes the origin of the name, and the character of this semi-island : “Lindisfarnea enim insula, a Lindis est cog- nominata, quae prope fines insulae, more fontis irrigui, oriendo defluit, et in rivi morem viantes brevi intervallo Vadare compellit. Insula haec, accedente reumate, cotidie bis undis spumantibus maris alluitur ; totiesque, refluis maris sinibus, contigua terrae relinquitur, et viantibus gressibilis et accessibilis exhibetur; cum tamen harenae spacium trium miliarium fore comprobetur.”” The author of Marmion in no less elegant terms alludes to the semi-insular character of Lindisfarne : “Dry-shod, o'er sands, twice every day The pilgrims to the shrine find way; Twice every day the waves efface Of staves and sandall'd feet the trace”. It is now more generally known as “Holy Island,” a name given to it on account of its connexion with the early history of Christianity in Northumbria, and on account of so many holy men having there borne witness to Christ with their blood. This name was given to it at the rebuilding of the church of Lindis- farne in 1093, the ruins of which now exist.” Reginald never * Eccles. Hist. p. 112. * Reginald, chap. xii. p. 18. * A very interesting account of this rebuilding of the church is given in the twenty- first chapter of Reginald's Libellus. 26 IEIIS LIFE AS PRIOR, OF ILINIDISFAIRNE. calls Lindisfarne by the name “ Holy Island,” although when he Wrote both names were in common use. The change of name from Lindisfarne to Holy Island was made during the time of Eishop Carileph. His first charter, dated 1082, uses the word Lindisfarne ; the second, dated 1084, does not use that name ; and the third, dated 1093, gives the name conferred om the island by the monks, î.e. Holy Island. The fact of the change of name is handed down in the MS. De Origine Ord. Momach. &c. usually attributed to Prior Wessington. Lindisfarne ** a quodam flumine Lindis nomine, in aquam ibidem decurrente, primitus est nomi- nata; post, a nece monachorum et aliorum secularium per Danos ibidem facta, Insula Sacra est nuncupata ; ubi ob reverentiam an- tiquæ sedis episcopalis et sanctorum ibidem antiquitus degentium, placuit Priori et conventui Dunelmensi ibidem cellam fundare ”. Simeon of Durham also describes this island : “ Lindisfarnensis insula octo miliariis se extendit per ambitum, in qua est nobile monasterium, quo eximius antistes Cuthbertus, cum aliis præsuli- bus, qui ejus successores dignissimi extiterant, corpore requievit : de quibus apte dici potest quod canitur ; * Corpora eorum in pace sepulta sunt, et vivent nomina eorum in æternum *. Vocatur au- tem Lindisfarne a fluviolo, scilicet Lindis, excurrente in mare, qui «luorum pedum habens latitudinem, non nisi cum recesserit mare, videri potest.” 1 On this island Aidan established his episcopal see, and built a L IND IS FAR NE and the FARN ISLANDS J’ Brownsman 7"o Worth Satzuderland' |Palker & Sottfall S4 IFARNE ISLAND. 35 While speaking here of Farne island, it will be necessary to describe to the reader its situation and character. The accompany- ing map will shew its position on the north-east coast of Northum- berland, and its relative situation with regard to the Fern islands. There is, then, on the eastern coast of Northumberland, and about six miles from Lindisfarne, nearly opposite Bamborough Castle, a group of islands, twenty-three in number, called the Fern islands: or they may be considered as two groups of islands, divided by a line of sea called Staples Sound, or Staples Stream, and the islands nearer the shore are called the Fern, and the others the Staple islands. A few of them are separate islands only at high water, but at low water form parts of other islands. Farne Island is the one nearest the mainland, being two miles from Bamborough, one mile and a half from Monkhouse, and two and a quarter from North Sunderland. The others in the Fern group are, two Wide-opens* at the south-east of Farne; two Knox's, north of the Wide-opens, and which form one at low water; Megstone, at the extreme north of Farne, and Scarecrows, east of the Wide-opens. In the Staples group are—Staple Island and Pinnacles, to the west of the group ; IBrownsman, north-east of the Staple, with an old tower and light- house upon it; Gun-rock, or Gun-reef, north-west of ditto; Big Wams and Little Wams, north of Brownsman; Large Hawker and Little Hawker, east of the Wamses; Blue Caps, East of the Hawkers; Crumstone, or Seal Island, to the extreme South ; and Longstones,” north-east of the Blue Caps, &c. 1 The name Wide-opens is a corruption of the old name, Wedum. At the arrival of Cuthbert on Farne Island, the evil spirits were scared away, and retired to Wedum. On this island the monks buried shipwrecked sailors. * The writer visited these islands in July, 1848, under the guidance of Robert Pat- terson, the intelligent pilot of Monkhouse, and spent seven hours in examining them and studying the remains and arrangements on Farne Island. With the exception of Farne, the rest are of comparatively little interest. They are the resort and breeding-place of immense quantities of sea-fowl, chiefly gulls, called kitty-wakes from their peculiar cry, cormorants, puffins, eider ducks, called St. Cuthbert's ' ducks, &c. Longstones, the farthest from the mainland, has of late years been noted as having been the dwelling- place of Grace Darling, the heroic maiden who, with her father, ventured her life in a noble and successful attempt to save several persons from the wreck of the Forfarshire steamer, wrecked on the Hawkers on the 7th Sept., 1838. This heroine died of consump- tion in the year 1842, and is buried in Bamborough churchyard, where an elegant cano- pied tomb covers her remains. Her father, mother, brother, and sister kindly received the writer on the occasion of his visit, and shewed him two gold medals, which they fondly treasure as mementoes of the heroism of their child. 36 EIIS LIFE AS ANCHORITE. The natural character and appearance of Farne is an island containing about five acres of grass-land, and eleven acres, includ- ing rock, at low tide. The covering of soil is about six or eight feet of strong clay. It is bordered round with basaltic rocks," rising abruptly from the water, and at the south-west extremity attain- ing the height of eighty feet above the level of the sea. To the east, i.e. to the side of the Ocean, it slopes gradually to the beach, where a little haven gives the present entrance. The author of the life of St. Bartholomew, in the “Hermit Saints,” describes Earne Island as “a circle of solid rock, the top of which is thinly strewn over with a layer of barren soil. On its south side it is separated by a channel of about two miles in breadth from the shore; to the east and west a belt of rocks protect it from the fury of the sea; while on the north it lies open to the whole force of the waves, in the midst of which it lies like the broken and defence- less hull of a shipwrecked vessel. Sometimes, when the tide rises higher than usual, and the wild storms of that rugged coast come to its aid, the waves make an inroad on the land, and the salt foam is blown over the whole island, wetting the shivering inhabi- tant to the skin, and penetrating the crevices of his habitation.” When to this it is added that the island was destitute of fresh water, had neither trees for shelter nor fruits for food, and, above all, had the character of being the abode of evil spirits, it will readily be allowed that Cuthbert could not have chosen a spot more suited to a life of mortification and austerity. It may be well to mention, that Cuthbert was not the first person that had visited Farne Island for the purposes of devotion. Bede informs us that the first Bishop of Lindisfarne was accus- tomed to retire to it to pray: “At that time (A.D. 651) the most reverend Bishop Aidan resided in the isle of Farne, which is nearly two miles from the city (Bamborough); for thither he was wont often to retire to pray in private, that he might be undisturbed. Indeed, this solitary residence of his is to this day shewn in that island ’’.” The Lindisfarne Monk also seems to insinuate that " “Est ad occidentalem insulae regionem rupis scopulosa, quae a gemino latere in- Sulae ambitum circumcingit, quae in infinitae profunditatis et latitudinis fastigia se pro- tendit.”—Reginald, p. 75. * Eccles. Hist. p. 135. It is a mistake to state “that it does not appear that there HIS CELL AND GUEST-HOUSE ON FARNE ISLAND. 37 Farne had been frequented for this purpose before Cuthbert's time, where he says that no one could “propter varias daemonum phan- tasias aliquod spatium manere". Cuthbert immediately set to work to make a cell for himself. It was made thus: “durissimam et lapideam rupem deorsum ferme cubitum viri in terram fodiens loci spatium fecit, alterum vero cubitum mirabilem murum desuper cum lapidibus incredibilis magnitudinis et terra commixtis constructum aedificavit, faciens ibi domunculas, de quibus, nisi Sursum coelum, videre nihilpotuit”.” We possess, however, a more minute description of his cell, and an account of the hospitium, or guest-house, that he built for his visitors. “Christ's soldier, therefore, having thus, by the expulsion of the tyrants, become the lawful monarch of the place, built a city fit for his empire, and houses therein suitable to his city.” The building is almost of a round form, from wall to wall about four or five poles in extent. The wall on the outside is higher than a man, but within, by excavating the rock, he made it much deeper, to prevent the eyes and the thoughts from wan- dering, that the mind might be wholly bent on heavenly things, and the pious inhabitant might behold nothing from his residence but the heavens above him. The wall was constructed, not of hewn stones, or of brick and mortar, but of rough stones and turf, which had been taken out from the ground within. Some of them were so large, that four men could hardly have lifted them; but Cuthbert himself, with angels helping him, brought them from elsewhere to this spot, and placed them on the wall. There were two chambers in the house, one an oratory, the other for his dwelling room. He finished the walls of them by digging round and cutting away the natural soil within and without ; and formed the roof out of rough poles and dried grass. Moreover, at the landing-place of the island he built a large house, in which the brethren who visited him might be received and rest themselves; and not far from it was a fountain of water for their use.” " was any building upon the island in Aidan's time" (Raine, p. 22); for there were traces of Aidan's residence in Bede's time. * Lindisf. Monk, p. 121. * “Condidit civitatam suo aptam imperio, et domos in hac aeque civitati congruas erexit.” * Bede's Life, p. 265. 38 EIIS LIFE AS ANCEIORITE. There is a considerable degree of uncertainty as to the relative position of this cell and the hospitium. Owing to the subsequent fortunes of the island, there are but few remains existing. Still, we have the account of the state of the island in the twelfth cen- tury, from which we learn that the hospitium then existed, and that a narrow pathway led to the oratory of the Saint. This docu- ment will be given in its place. From a careful examination made of the island on two different occasions, the writer thinks he has made out their exact position. At Cuthbert's prayers, a clear stream gushed from the hard rock, according to the promise of the Lord, that He would give waters in the wilderness, and that it should spring forth to give drink to His people. “But his dwelling was destitute of water, being built on hard and stony ground. The man of God, there- fore, sent for the brethren, for he had not yet withdrawn himself entirely from the sight of visitors, and said to them, ‘You see that my dwelling is destitute of water; but I pray you, let us beseech Him “who turned the stony rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into fountains of waters,” that, giving glory not to us but to His own name, He may vouchsafe to open to us a spring of water, even from this stony rock. Let us dig in the middle of my cell, and I believe that He will make us drink of the torrent of His pleasure.’ They therefore made a pit; and the next morn- ing found it full of water springing up from within. Wherefore there can be no doubt that it was procured by the prayers of this man of God from the ground, which was before dry and stony. Now this water, by a most remarkable quality, never overflowed its first limits, so as to flood the floor, nor yet ever failed, however much of it might be taken out; so that it never exceeded or fell short of the daily wants of him who used it for his sustenance.”” From Bede's account, in the life of the Saint, it appears that there were two wells, or springs, on the island: one very near the landing-place and hospitium, and the other in the middle of Cuthbert’s cell. Both these wells exist to this day, and were both miraculous in their origin. That the one mentioned first, though but incidentally, was not a natural spring, we learn from * Bede's Life, p. 267. FARNE ISLAND. 39 his Ecclesiastical History, where he states that, when the holy man and anchorite, Cuthbert, came to the island, it was quite destitute of water, and that he obtained water by his faith and prayers. The Lindisfarne Monk also leads us to infer the same, where he quotes the words of Cuthbert to the brethren: “O fratres carissimi, scitis quia locus iste pene inhabitabilis est propter aquae penuriam: ideo Oremus Domini auxilium, et fodite in medio pavi-. mento domus hanc saxosam terram, quia potens est Dominus Deus de rupe petrina petenti aquam suscitare".” Simeon of Durham, quoting from Bede, mentions, that at first the island was “tune aquae prorsus inops”; but that the holy man “de rupe Saxosa precibus fontem elicuit”.” Both Cuthbert and his Lindisfarne biographer testify to the excellent quality of this water. Reginald states in addition, that when Eistan, king of Norway, during the reign of King Stephen, was ravaging the coast of Eng- land, and, landing on Farne, destroyed the property of the holy men residing there, the well (fons beati Cuthberti precibus quondam rupe saxosa elicita, quae nec incolarum sive Omnium adventantium men- surge, necessitati, sive voluntati Supereffluit, nec Se Volentium sive indigentium aliquando ad sufficientiam Subtrahere consuevit) ceased to flow; and the barbarians were compelled to leave the island, because they could not drink salt water: “quia aquis Salsis et marinis sitim suam delinire non poterant’’. At their departure the water began to flow : “et usque hodie more solito emanare non desinit’’. This miracle Reginald gives on the authority of all the people of the country about, who were witnesses of it, and of Bartholomew and Ælwin, monks from Durham, then living on the island.* In endeavouring to point out the relative position of Cuthbert's cell and hospitium, a few words may be of use on the subsequent fortunes of Farne Island. After his time Farne Island was at first inhabited by several hermits in succession. The first anchoret there, after St. Cuthbert, was the venerable Ethelwald, who had been ordained priest at Ripon, who remained twelve years at Farne, and died there, A.D. 699 or 700, but was buried in the church at Lindisfarne. He went to Farne almost immediately * Book iv. p. 227. * Bolland, p. 121. * Libellus, p. 39. * Reginald, chap. xxxi. p. 65. 40 EIIS LIFE AS ANCEIORITE. after Cuthbert had left it." He repaired Cuthbert's cell. “When, therefore, God’s servant, Cuthbert, had been translated to the heavenly kingdom, Ethelwald commenced to occupy his island and cell; for, having already spent many years in leading the life of a monk, he now aspired to the perfection of the anchoret's life. He found that the walls of the aforesaid oratory, which had been made of boards not over-well fitted together, had become loosened in course of time; and the boards being separated from one another, could not keep out the storms. But the venerable man, who sought rather the beauty of the heavenly mansion than of an earthly one, having taken hay, and clay, and whatever other material of this kind he could find, had filled up the crevices, so that he might not be impeded in his prayers by the violence of the rains and winds that were of daily occurrence. When, therefore, - Ethelwald, at his arrival, had seen the place, he begged from the brethren who came there the skin of a calf; and nailing it in the corner where he and his predecessor Cuthbert used to stand and kneel when they prayed, contrived to shut out the violence of the storms. Afterwards, when he had lived there twelve successive years, he entered into the joys of the kingdom of heaven; and Felgeld became the third inhabitant of the place. It then seemed good to the right reverend Eadfrid, Bishop of the Church of Lin- disfarne, to restore from its foundations the time-worn Oratory.”” Felgeld was an old man of seventy in Bede's time. Hermit succeeded hermit on Farne, to keep alive, vestal-like, the torch of faith at Cuthbert's oratory, till the beginning of the thirteenth century. In the reign of King Stephen (1135) the hermit AElric dwelt there ; then Bartholomew and AElwin lived at Farne. Bar- tholomew, a Durham monk, lived on Farne forty-two years and six months, i.e. from 1151 to 1193. Of the island and the state of the buildings in the twelfth cen- tury, at the time of Bartholomew the hermit, we have an account in a manuscript in the British Museum, which has been printed in the fourth chapter of the Bollandists’ life of St. Bartholomew. We quote the passage in the original Latin, from the M.S.:— “‘Hoc mare magnum et spatiosum manibus; illic insulae quo- * Bede's Eccles. Hist, book v. chap. i. * Bede's Life, p. 354. IFAIRNIE ISIANID. 41 rum non est numerus.' In eo quoque sita est insula Farne, cui merito potest convenire Isaiæ sententia, * Civitas solis vocabitur una '. Hæc namque castrum olim dæmonum, nunc claustrum et schola sanctorum : quoddam in terris purgatorium, corporibus, animisque curandis salubriter institutum. Viros virtutum semper habet, imo et facit. Quia, qui in ejus desertum a spiritu ducitur, necesse est ut a diabolo tentetur; et aut virtutem colat, aut locum virtutis derelinquat. Plurima, ibi rerum egestas ; quæ se marino frigori consocians, tentationis vires exaggerat. Situ pæne rotunda, est. Scopulosam in superioribus faciem, in gramineam extendit planiciem : cujus altera pars fodientibus hordeum, animalibus altera profert pabulum. Maceria, dirimitur. Nulla, illic inter cives de . finibus contentio : neque a carne et sanguine, sed a. principibus et potestatibus tenebrarum harum jugis est de regno et rectore colluctatio. Versus meridiem duorum milliarum spacio ab objecto secernitur littore. Ab oriente vero usque ad occidentem prærupta, rupium altitudine præcingitur. Qua, boream respicit contigua mari redditur, et infinito dehinc clauditur Oceano. Re- liquas regionis suæ plagas pro muro habet, et freto prominet ; in quibus ei juges assultus et cum fluctibus invincibilis est conflictus. IPlerumque aquis supereminentibus et supereffluentibus tota per- funditur. Ingens tunc habitatoribus pavoris et frigoris impor- tunitas. “ Ad ejus portum, imo portam, casa patet humilis et exigua, quæ a primo loci monarcha, Cuthberto dicitur, de lapidibus impolitis. et vili cespite constructa. Venientes ipsa excipit. , Plurima his in ea, consolatio : humanitatis abundat obsequiis, et pietatis opera ac studium administrat. (Quodam autem tempore, deficientibus quæ apponerentur, jussit Bartholomæus vaccam suam occidi, et non ba- bentibus escam præparari. Sui enim negligens, aliorum semper sollicitus fuit.) Nec longe ab ea fons eorum usibus accommodus est. Dehinc per arctam viam et angustam portam ad oratorium ascenditur ; quod in quodam secretæ concavitatis latibulo positum, aptum quieti et contemplationi præbet habitaculum. Neque hoc naturæ providentia, sed sui fundatoris Cuthberti imam introrsus. cædendo rupem egit industria, quatenus dum nihil præter cœlum oculis subjicitur, in superna, quisque desideria, tota mentis intentione sublevetur. Ad ejus meridianam plagam requiescit domus (domi- 42 HIS LIFE AS ANCHORITE. nus Galfrid), Bartholomaeus; ubi rupes fontem exalat conspicuum, de imis ejus visceribus beati Cuthberti precibus olim elicitum. FIaec enim insula, licet Omnibus quae ad usus pertinet videatur egere, duorum fontium deliciosam suis habitatoribus contulit plenitudinem. Quo cum hauriendi gratia piratae conveniunt, velut a facie Solis in siccitate arescunt, et beneficium quod largire solent domesticis quoque subtrahunt. Hujus autem monarchiae multae subjacent insulae, quarum alia foenum, alia focum ; alia quae et proxima est sepulturam naufragis subministrat.” From this account it appears that the guest-house of stone and turf, built by Cuthbert close to the shelving beach which formed the landing-place, was remaining in the twelfth century; and that there was a narrow pathway leading to the oratory or chapel of St. Cuthbert, which was situated in a hollow, so shut in on all sides by walls of rock, that nothing could be seen from it, either of the wide waste of waters around, or of the landward prospect on the other side. From the beginning of the thirteenth century till the dissolu- tion, Farne was inhabited by a small community of monks from the parent house of Durham. Leland speaks of Farne as it was in his day: “Prior Castel, of Durham, the last save one, built the tower in Farne Island for defence of the ground. There was a chapel and a poorhouse before.” In the Survey-book of Norhamshire, made in the third year of Elizabeth, a plan of the island is given, together with the description, that “the same island is but a small compass, and hath in it a tower, and certain other houses, and is used for a fort”.” Till the building of the lighthouses on the island, a large cross stood on the highest point of the rock at the south-west •COI’IlêI’. The writer will be excused for introducing here a description of the present state of the island, from his notes made on the spot in July and October, 1848. The first object met with on landing is a building, now used as a stable, but which is evidently only a remnant of what has been a larger building. On a line with this building are the two wells, one on its east side, close to the water's * Harl. MS. 4843, fol. 236. * Itinerary, vol. v. p. 115. * Speed's Theatre, &c. + (MAP OF EARRC ISLATO. is . . w " #5 º §ºt ſº tº * º §§ºat 5*$ §º Tº 2, S., º,”“Sº Q' .” • * e §§ºğ." §3. wº- ºr .” :- :i : . º = ~ * ***.*. *\\sº % º Y- § § * : *.Pº -> ; § t § : ( s wº : 2º Nº. SCA L E FOUR CHA NS TO AN } N CH N E V | EW OF FA R N E | S LAND FROM THE SEA ſº. *_2~Aſ' ºr *" ºr fºr-º- “… ** 2 *śras 75% <<< • * * * º - º # =>< Sºś * - S FARNE ISLAND. 43 edge, and the other on its north side, about half a stone's throw from the water. A gentle eminence towards the north brings the visitor to St. Cuthbert's chapel. The chapel, having been allowed to fall into decay, was restored and roofed-in by Archdeacon Thorpe (to whom the greatest praise is due for the care with which he preserves all the remains upon the island), about six years ago. Its south wall, to the height of about four feet, consists of the old ashlar masonry. It stands east and west, though not fully so, but rather south-east by west-north-west. The cemetery extended on both the north and the south sides of the chapel. Part of the old wall round the cemetery remains. In the wall running north from the east end of the chapel is the lesser half of an arch, and the corresponding pillar, that formed the entrance, and which the keeper of the island stated to have been perfect about twenty years ago. The wall of the cemetery' joined on to the north end of the fort. The fort is about forty feet from the west end of the chapel, scarcely a stone's throw from the water's edge, and at the north- east angle of the island. Near it is a natural creek, called “Cuddy's Cove,” facing Lindisfarne, and by some erroneously supposed to have been the original landing-place. At the north- west angle is the “Churn,” i.e. a cavity in the rock, with a hole at the top, through which the water is forced by the sea, and produces a beautiful jet d'eau, particularly when the wind is from the north-east with a heavy swell. There are also two lighthouses on the island—the low light at the west, and the high light at the south angle of the island. Erom a careful examination of the island, the writer has satisfied himself of the situation of the hospitium and Cuthbert's cell. In the first place, it appears certain, for many reasons, that the “creek” at the north-east corner was never the landing-place of those that came from Holy Island to Farne. In the next place, * There are two stone coffins lying on the ground on the south side of the chapel. The one in three pieces was taken up from close to the south wall of the chapel. The keeper of the island also mentioned that, about thirty-two years ago, a stone coffin was dug up on the south side of the chapel near its west end, at the depth of a foot and a half, containing three skeletons, and was again buried in the same place. Many other bones were also dug up on the south side, all of which have been buried at the west corner of the north side of the chapel. 44 HIS IIIEE AS ANCEIORITE. 33 the present “haven,” if to a certain degree artificial, is still a. natural harbour, and sheltered by the Wide-opens. Sometimes the water is so low, that a person may walk on the dry sands from Farne to the Wide-opens. The situation of the hospitium is marked by the east well near the mouth of the haven, and close to the water's edge, and also by the existing building, which seems to be on the exact spot of the hospitium, and rebuilt from time to time. About forty years ago the stone vaulting overhead was perfect. The door is now at the east end, but the old door- way was at the north-west corner. There were also two or three fireplaces at the north and west ends. The other spring will mark the exact spot of St. Cuthbert's cell. It is half a stone's throw from the water's edge; and the gradual ascent to it from the hospitium coincides with the account already quoted. Such is the present aspect of St. Cuthbert's island. The spot is still hallowed by its past associations; and the memory of the holy hermit who once dwelt on it is to this day blest by the tongues of both young and old. The writer would fain invite all his readers to make a pious pilgrimage to St. Cuthbert's isle, to see the spot where he lived a solitary life nine years, between his so- journ in the monastery and his elevation to the see of Lindisfarne, and to which he returned to die, -to taste the water of which he drank, tread the ground that was furrowed by his knees, and the rock that was softened by his tears, and stand on the site of his cell, where he breathed his soul to God who gave it. Yet to him who cannot realise such a scene he would say, Procul, O procul esto profane ! But to resume the narrative. “When the man of God Cuth- bert had, with the assistance of the brethren, made the dwelling and house already described, he began to live a solitary life. At first, indeed, when the brethren came to visit him he would leave his cell and minister to them; he used to wash their feet devoutly with warm water, and was sometimes compelled by them to take off his shoes, that they might wash his feet. At length, as his zeal after perfection grew, he shut himself up in his cell from the sight of men, and spent his time alone, in fast- ing, watching, and prayer, occasionally conversing from within, through the window, with those who came to him; for it at first CHRISTMAS-DAY AT FARNE. 45 was left open, that he might see and be seen by the brethren; but, after a time, he shut it up, and opened it only to give his blessing, or for any other purpose of absolute necessity.” To prayer he added manual labour, as was the rule in the monastery where he had been brought up. He cultivated barley with success on his island. “At first, indeed, he received from the brethren a small portion of bread, and drank water from the fountain; but afterwards he thought it more fitting to live by the labour of his own hands, like the old Fathers. He therefore asked them to bring him some implements of husbandry, and some wheat to sow; but when he had sown the grain in the spring, it did not produce. At the next visit of the monks, he said to them, ‘Perhaps the nature of the soil, or the will of God, does not allow wheat to grow in this place; bring me, I beg of you, some barley; possibly that may answer. If, however, on trial, it does not, I had better return to the monastery than be supported here by the labours of others.’ The barley was accordingly brought and sown, although the season was extraordinarily late ; and the barley came up most unexpectedly and most abundantly.”” His biographer relates that Cuthbert got rid of the birds that were eating his crop of barley, and of the crows, who took some of the roofing off the guest-house for their nests, by his mere prohibition; and adds, as a moral lesson, “Let no one think it absurd to learn virtue from birds; for Solomon says, “Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom’.” (Prov. vi. 6.)* That he occasionally relieved the monotony of his solitary life in the company of the brethren of Lindisfarne, he tells us at a later period of his life, introducing the anecdote as an illustration when preaching, as Bishop, to the brethren at Lindisfarne, on the text, “Watch and pray”. “When I formerly lived alone in my island, some of the brethren came to me on the day of the nativity of the Lord, and asked me to leave my cell, and solemnise with them this joyful and hallowed day. Yielding to their earnest prayers, I left my abode, and we sat down to our repast. But about the middle of the meal, I said to them, “I beseech you, brethren, let us * Bede's Life, p. 269. * Bede's Life, p. 271. * Ibid. chap. xix. and xx. 46. HIS IIFE AS ANCHORITE. act cautiously and watchfully, lest perchance, through carelessness and a sense of security, we be led into temptation’. But they answered, “We entreat you, let us spend a joyful day now, for it is the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ'. To which I agreed. Some time after this, when we were indulging ourselves in eating, merriment, and conversation, I began again to admonish them that we should be solicitous in prayer and watchfulness, and ever pre- pared to meet all temptations. But they replied, ‘You teach well; nevertheless, as the days of fasting, watching, and prayer are numerous, let us to-day rejoice in the Lord. For the angel on the occasion of the birth of the Lord, brought to the shep- herds good tidings of great joy, that should be to all the people. ‘Well,” said I, ‘let us do so.” But when I repeated the words of the same admonition the third time, they perceived that I would not have suggested this so earnestly for no purpose, and said to me in fear, ‘Let us do as you teach ; for it is incumbent on us to watch in spirit, armed against the snares and temptations of the devil’. When I said these things, I did not know, any more than they, that any new temptation would happen to them ; but I was only admonished, as it were instinctively, that the heart should be always fortified against the sudden storms of temptations. But when they returned from me the following morning to their Monastery at Ilindisfarne, they found that one of their brethren was dead of a pestilence ; and the same disease increased and raged so furiously from day to day, for months and almost for a whole year, that the greater part of that noble assembly of spiritual fathers and brethren were sent into the presence of the Lord.”1 The sea-fowl that resorted to and bred on the Farne islands excited the interest and enlisted the sympathies of Cuthbert. The eider ducks were his especial favourites, and even in the days of Reginald were called “St. Cuthbert's ducks”.” They came to his 1 Bede's Life, p. 297. * The eider or Cuthbert duck arrives at its full growth in the fourth year. During the first year, the male has the back white, and the usual parts, except the crown, black; the rest of the body is variegated with white and black. The two-year-old male has the neck and breast spotted black and white and the crown black. The third year its colours are nearly the same as when in full plumage, but less vivid, with a few spots of black on the neck. The full-grown male has a large head, with the bill two inches ST. CUTHBERT's DUCK. 47 island regularly at certain seasons in large flocks to deposit their eggs; and his gentleness taught them, while sitting on their nests, not to fly away at his approach, or to fear his touch. “Aves illae Beati Cuthberti specialiter nominantur. . . . . Beatus etenim Cuthbertus, adhuc Vivens, avibus illis firmam pacem et quietem in patribus suis dederat, et nemini eas contingere, perdere, vel occidere, vel mali instinctu laedere permittebat. Quod enim patribus avium antiquitus dederat, hoc de illarum genere pullis procreandis, et filiis hereditarie in pacis gloria et miseri- cordiae custodia perpetuis temporibus conservando praestabat Nempe, tempore vitae suae, dum solitarius in rupe secum commaneret, prædicta volatilia et natatilia ita edom.uit, quod genus eorum illi obsequia Servitutis impenderet, et nidificandi eis locum in insula præstitueret, et certOS veniendi et regrediendi eis terminos designando prefigeret. Unde, usque, temporibus statutis adveniunt, et Omni tempestate necessitatis vel importuni- tate adversitatis illo confugiunt, et ad nota Beati Cuthberti praesidia. recurrunt,” &c." long, and black, with feathers on each side of it, as far forward as the nostrils. The top of the head is black ; below the nape, on each side of the neck, is pea-green. The rest of the head, neck, back, wing-coverts are white ; scapulars dirty white ; breast, belly, vent, and tail-coverts are of a deep black ; legs short and yellow. The female has a very different plumage. The ground-colour is reddish-brown, prettily crossed with waved black lines; the wings are crossed with two bars of white ; quills dark ; the neck has dusky streaks, and the belly is deep brown, spotted with black. The adult male measures two feet two inches in length, and two feet eighteen inches in breadth, and weighs from six to seven pounds. The female is less, and weighs from five to six pounds. She begins to lay in the first week in June, and lays about five large pale olive-coloured eggs. The Farne islands are the only places where they breed in England. See Latham, vol. iii.; Bewick's British Birds (1826), vol. ii. p. 305; and Hewitson's British Oology, plate 15. The down from these birds was also, after him, called “Cuthbert down”. In a list of the furniture belonging to the Feretory of St. Cuthbert, A.D. 1417-8, mention is made of “Two pairs of pillows (cushions), of which one is of “Cuthbert dowme’”. * Reginald, chap. xxvii. p. 62. The familiar habits of these birds are beautifully described by the same author: “In domibus mansuete nidificant, ova foetentia cuvant, advocata concurrendo veniunt, ova cuvanda manibus considerare volentium exponunt; se palpantes capere, contrectare, et tenere, sed tamen nihil refugiendo vel timendo, per- mittunt. Pullos etiam suos sibi contrectabiles exhibent ; in gremio tui ludendo reticent, et sub vestimentis tui vel in sinu, si permiseris, se componendos possibiles et habilse praebent. Et quod majoris est miraculi, ad mensam tuam si incola fueris veniunt; sub cubiculo tuo vel etiam lectisternio nidum sibi conficiunt, vel sinutu noveris et volueris, secus tui vestigia gradiendo procedunt. Ad manus etiam blandientis, alis palpitantibus, confugiunt ; crocitantibus sibilis applaudunt, et omnibus modistibi parendo deserviunt.” (Page 60.) 48 HIS IIFE AS ANCHORITE. Cuthbert spent nine years in his cell at Farne. The fame of his exalted virtues was spread abroad, and numbers came, even . from very remote parts, to see and to be edified with the conversa- tion of this holy man. There he realised what he had before said to his brethren in the monastery, that even living on a rock, shut out from all the world by the ocean's waves, he did not consider himself safe from its Snares. “Many came to the man of God, not only from the immediate neighbourhood of Lindisfarne, but even from the more remote parts of Britain, led thither by the fame of his virtues, to confess the sins which they had committed, or to lay before him the temptations that they suffered, or the adversities common to mortals with which they were afflicted; and all hoping to receive consolation from a man so eminent for holiness. Nor did their hope deceive them. For no one went away from him without consolation ; no one returned home with the same sorrow of mind that he had brought. For he knew how to comfort the sorrowful with pious exhortation; he could recall the joys of celestial life to the memory of those who were in trouble, and shew the uncertainty of prosperity and adversity in this life; he had learnt to make known to those who were tempted the numerous wiles of their ancient enemy, by which that mind would be easily captivated which was deprived of brotherly or divine love; whilst he who walked, strengthened by true faith- would, by the help of God, break the snares of the adversary like the threads of a spider's web. ‘How often,' said he, “have they An excellent description of their habits is also given by Galfridus, in his life of Bar- tholomew, the hermit of Farne : “Hanc autem insulam vetusta longinquitas quasdam perhibet aves incolere, quarum cum miraculo et momen perseverat et genus. Tempore midificationis ibi conveniunt. Tantaeque mansuetudinis gratiam a loci sanctitate, ve potius ab his qui locum in sua sanctificaverunt conversatione mox impetrant, ut humanos contactus et obtutus non abhorreant. Quietem amant, et cum strepitu non deturbantur. Secus altare quaedam ova cubant. Nullus eas laedere autova contingere sine licentia praesumit. Cum masculis suis in aequore victum quaerant. Pulli eorum statim ut creati sunt matres praecedentes subsequuntur, et patrias undas Semel ingressi, non revertuntur ad nidos. Matres quoque, oblita lenitate quam habuerant, pristini sapienda statum cum mari recipiunt.” This bird is the eider or Cuthbert duck of Latham, the anas mollissima of Linnaeus, and the amas somateria of Cuvier. The writer can speak, from his own observation, of their extraordinary tameness during the breeding season. In the manuscript mentioned as belonging to the library of the Dean and Chapter of York, and classed xvi. I. 12, there is a short treatise De avibus Cuthberti in insula, Farne, fol. 13 b. HE VISITS THE ABBESS ELFLEDA, ON COQUET ISLE. 49 sent me headlong from the high rock How many times have they thrown stones at me as if to kill me ! Yea, they have sought to deter me, and to drive me from this place of trial by many and many temptations and apparitions; but have never been able to affect my body with injury or my mind with fear.’ “He was accustomed to relate these things very frequently to the brotherhood, lest they should wonder at his manner of life as being peculiarly exalted, because, despising secular cares, he pre- ferred to live apart. “But,’ said he, ‘the life of monks may well be wondered at, who are subjected in all things to the orders of the Abbot, the times of watching, praying, fasting, and working, being all regulated according to his will ; many of whom have I known far exceed my littleness, both in purity of mind and ad- vancement in prophetic grace. Among whom must I mention with all honour the venerable Boisil, servant of Christ, who, when an old man, formerly brought me up in my youth at Mailros, and who, while instructing me, foretold, with prophetic truth, all things that would happen to me; and of all things which he foretold to me, one alone remains, which I hope may never be fulfilled.’ This he stated to be, that the already named servant of Christ foretold that he would attain to the office of a Bishop; and as his only wish was to live in secret, he felt terrified at the announce- ment.” Bede here relates, on the authority of Herefrid, priest of the church of Lindisfarne, who related it to him, that Elfleda, daughter of King Oswy, and Abbess of Whitby, and one of her nuns, were cured in sickness by a linen girdle that had belonged to Cuthbert.” A few years after this, the same Abbess Elfleda sought an inter- view with the holy anchorite. The Coquet island, an island situated at the mouth of the river Coquet, one mile from the shore, and re- markable for a large monastery, was the appointed place of inter- view. Cuthbert, with some of the brethren, entered into a boat and Sailed to Coquet island.” He answered many questions she put to him. On her asking him how long her brother Egfrid would live and govern the English nation, he foretold that he would live * Bede's Life, p. 279. * Ibid. chap. xxiii. * The date of this interview is known to be A.D. 684; for the narrative mentions that it occurred a year before the death of King Egfrid, who died A.D. 685. 4 50 EIIS LIFE AS ANCEIORITE. but one year more." Again, when she asked him who would suc- ceed him in his kingdom, as Egfrid had no son nor brother, he gave her to understand that it would be Aldfrid, who was said to be the son of their father. Knowing also that Egfrid had the intention of having Cuthbert made a Bishop, she wished to know whether this would take place ; to which he made answer: “‘I know that I am not worthy of so high a dignity; nevertheless, I cannot escape what has been decreed by the Supreme Ruler, who, if He decreed that I should subject myself to so great a burden, would, I believe, free me from it after a short time; and perhaps, after not more than two years, would send me back to my former solitude and quiet'. When he had explained to her the various things which she asked, and had instructed her concerning the things which she had need of, he returned to his solitary island and cell, and continued his mode of life as he had commenced it.” What more we know of Cuthbert as an anchorite is summed up in a few words by his anonymous biographer. “Sic namgue Vivens per plures annos, solitarius perdurabat, ab hominum as- pectibus segregatus, aquali quoque ad cuncta ferebatur examine ; nam eodem vultu, eodem animo perseverabat. Omni hora hilaris et lastus, nec recordatione peccati tristia Ora contraxit, nec magnis stupentum praecomizatione ejus elatus laudibus. Sermo vere mo- destus, sale conditus, consolabatur moestos, docebat inscios, concor- dabat iratos, Omnibus Suadens nihil amori Christi esse praeponen- dum. Praepomebatque ante Oculos Omnium magnitudinem bonorum futurorum, et beneficia relaxabat indulta: quia ‘proprio Filio suo non pepercit, sed pro Omnium salute tradidit Illum’.” The next step brings us to the most important epoch of his life. * He was slain on the 20th day of May, A.D. 685. * Bede's Life, p. 289. ° Lindisf. Monk, p. 121. CHAPTER VI. CUTHBERT IS MADE BISHOP OF LINDISFARNE, AND LEAVES HIS CELL AT FARNIE ISLAND. WHEN he had passed nine years in solitude on the island of Farne, the holy man was elected to the dignity of a Bishop. It would take too long to describe the unfortunate state of the church of Northumbria at this time. After the demise of Tuda, the fourth Bishop of Lindisfarne (A.D. 665), Deira and Bernicia were united into one bishopric under Wilfrid, and the see was removed to York. But when Wilfrid was driven from his see, on occasion of a disagreement between King Egfrid and himself, it was again divided as before, the Tees being the boundary line ; and Bosa, was made Bishop of the southern province, or Deira, and Eata of the northern, or Bernicia ; the former having his see at York, and the latter at Hexham, or Lindisfarne. They were consecrated at York by Archbishop Theodore, who also, three years after the departure of Wilfrid, added two Bishops to their number ; Tum- bert, or Tunberct, to the church of Hexham, Eata still continuing in that of Lindisfarne, and Trumwine to be Bishop of the Picts." A Council of Bishops, assembled at Twyford, deposed Tumbert,” Bishop of Hexham, and chose Cuthbert to fill the vacant see. A great deal of persuasion was necessary to induce the humble man to accept the high dignity. He was consecrated at York, in the presence of seven Bishops, at Easter, in the following year. Eata, his former Abbot, was then Bishop of Lindisfarne, but surrendered to Cuthbert the see of Lindisfarne, and took the see of Hexham, to * See Bede's History, book iv. chap. xii. pp. 192, 193, and note. * “Pro culpa cujusdam inobedientiae.” Wita Sti Eatae, printed in the Surtees Biog. Miscell. from the York MS. 52 EIIS LIFE AS A BISHOP. which Cuthbert had been appointed. “Not long after, in a full synod, in the presence of God's chosen servant, the holy King Egfrid, Archbishop Theodore of blessed memory presiding, he was unanimously elected to be Bishop of the see of Lindisfarne.” " The circumstances of his election are more minutely detailed by Simeon of Durham. “In the year of our Lord 678, the eighth year of the reign of King Egfrid, Wilfrid (who for some time had been Bishop of the whole province of Northumbria), on account of a dispute with the king, was deprived of his see, and two Bishops were consecrated in his place, at York, by Archbishop Theodore; Bosa to be Bishop of the province of Deira, and Abbot Eata to be Bishop of Bernicia. The one had his see at York, and the other at Hexham and Lindisfarne. Both had been monks before they were made Bishops. Thus Eata, when he had presided over the church of Lindisfarne as its Abbot for fourteen years, was made the head of both churches, the third year after Cuthbert became an anchorite. But three years after the departure of Wilfrid, A.D. 681, Theodore consecrated Tumbert Bishop of Hexham, Eata remaining for four years Bishop of Lindisfarne. At the end, how- ever, of four years, A.D. 684, in a large council held in the presence of the devout and of God-loved King Egfrid, near the river Alne, at a place called Twyford” (AEttwiforda, quod significat ad duplea, vadum), and at which council Archbishop Theodore, of happy memory, presided, by unanimous consent the holy Father Cuth- bert was chosen Bishop of the church of Lindisfarne.” ” A deputation from the synod waited on the holy man to solicit his consent to be Bishop. “They could not, however, persuade him to leave his cell, though many messages and letters were sent 1 Bede's Life, p. 289. * Camden mentions Twyford on the Alne : “The shore afterwards opens for the river Alaun (the White Water), which, still retaining the same name it had in Ptolemy's time, is called by contraction Alne, on whose bank besides Twifford, g. d. Two-fords, where was held a synod under King Egfrid; and Eslington, Alnwick, &c.” (vol. iii. 237). The river Alne still retains the same name, and falls into the sea at Alnmouth, south-east of Alnwick. The situation of Twyford is not known ; but if any traces can be found of an ancient town near a double ford on the Alme, they may be supposed to point out the situation of the ancient AEttwiforda. See Dixon's “History of Aln- mouth,” with description of the Two Fords. He has an old plan shewing the two fords. Whittingham has been considered to have claims in its two fords. ° Libellus, p. 44. EIE PREFERS LINIDISFARNE TO HEXEIAM. 53 to him ; at last the aforesaid king himself, with the holy Bishop Trumwine, and other religious and great men, went over to the island; many also of the brethren of the isle of Lindisfarne assem- bled together for the same purpose. They all knelt, conjured him by our Lord and with tears and entreaties, till they drew him, also in tears, from his retreat, and forced him to the synod. Being arrived there, after much opposition, he was overcome by the una- nimous resolution of all present, and submitted to take upon him- self the episcopal dignity; being chiefly prevailed upon by the mention that Boisil, the servant of God, when he had prophetically foretold all things that were to befall him, had also predicted that he should be a Bishop.”” The time and place of his consecration, and the reason why, though elected to the see of Hexham, he became Bishop of Lindis- farne, are minutely recorded. “However, the consecration was not appointed immediately; but after the winter, which was then at hand, it was performed at Easter, in the city of York, and in pre- sence of the aforesaid King Egfrid; seven Bishops meeting on the Occasion, among whom Theodore, of blessed memory, was Primate. He was first elected Bishop of the church of Hexham, in the place of Tumbert, who had been deposed from the episcopal office. But because he chose rather to be placed over the church of Lindis- farne, in which he had lived, it was thought fit that Eata should return to the see of Hexham, to which he had been first conse- crated, and that Cuthbert should take the government of the church of Lindisfarne.” ” This arrangement was probably first devised at an interview between Bishop Eata and Cuthbert, the Bishop elect, at Mailros. Bede says: “When Cuthbert, the man of God, after having been elected to the bishopric, had returned to his island, and for some time had served God in secret with his accustomed devotion, his venerable Bishop Eata called him and requested him to come to * Bede's Eccles. Hist, book iv. chap. xxviii. p. 228. See also Lindisf. Monk, p. 122. Bede's Eccles. Hist. p. 229. The Anglo-Saxon chronicle adds, that Archbishop Theodore consecrated him. “A.D. 685. This year King Egfrid commanded that Cuth- bert should be consecrated a bishop : and on the first day of Easter, at York, Archbishop Theodore consecrated him Bishop of Hexham, because Tumbert had been deposed from the bishopric.” (Bohn's edit. p. 329.) “Consecratus Ebolaci VII. Kalendas Aprilis, in ipso die sancto Paschae.” Simeon Durham. 54 EIIS LIFE AS A BISEIOP. an interview with him at Mailros”." On his journey home Cuth- bert cured, with water that he had blessed, a servant of one of the attendants of King Egfrid, who was at the point of death, and who became afterwards a priest of the church of Lindisfarne, and who himself informed Bede of his miraculous cure.” In the life of St. Eata an allusion is made to the change from Hexham to Lin- disfarne, in these words: “Sed quoniam ipse plus Lindisfarnensi ecclesiae, in qua conversatus fuerat, quam Hagustaldensi, dilexit praefici, placuit, ut Eata reverso ad sedem ecclesiae Hagulstaldensis, cui regendae primo fuerat Ordinatus, Cuthbertus ecclesiae Lindis- farnensis gubernacula susciperet ’’.” Such was the manner in which Cuthbert, who had been chosen Bishop in the winter of 684, was consecrated, March 26, A.D. 685. Then was the prophecy of his beloved master Boisil, made on his deathbed twenty years before this time, fulfilled, when Cuthbert, the poor shepherd-boy, the monk of Melrose, the Prior of Lindis- farne, and the anchorite of Farne, wore the mitre and held the pastoral staff as Bishop of Lindisfarne. Then also were fulfilled his own predictions; for “Egfrid was killed the year afterwards, in a battle with the Picts, and was suc- ceeded on the throne by his illegitimate brother Aldfrid, who a few years before had devoted himself to literature in Scotland, suffer- ing a voluntary exile to gratify his love of science ’’.* Cuthbert had counselled Egfrid not to wage war with the Picts; but the king “rashly leading his army to ravage the pro- vince of the Picts, much against the advice of his friends, and particularly of Cuthbert of blessed memory, who had been lately consecrated Bishop, was slain on the 20th of May, A.D. 685, in the fortieth year of his age and the fifteenth of his reign ".” Though at a distance, the holy Bishop saw in spirit the death of the king," and told it to the queen, who was at her sister's monas- tery at Lugubalia," waiting the result of the battle.8 * Bede's Life, chap. xxv. p. 291. * Ibid. chap. xxv. *Biog. Misc. p. 123. * Bede's Life, p. 291. * Bede's Eccles. Hist, p. 223. * See Bede's Life, p. 295. 7 Called also Luel, is Carlisle. * Before his death, Egfrid made a donation of land to his friend Cuthbert. Simeon of Durham mentions that King Egfrid and Archbishop Theodore gave him, in the city of York, all the land from St. Peter's Church to the Great Western Gate, and to the city HIS MANNER OF LIFE. 55 The life of Bishop Cuthbert was a very model of those virtues that should adorn a man in so exalted a dignity. His biographer states that he went about his diocese preaching the glad tidings of the Gospel throughout the rural districts; that he visited the villages and hamlets, scattered far and wide through his large diocese, administering the holy Sacraments of baptism, penance, and confirmation ; * that he ordained priests; * and consecrated churches.” Though a Bishop, he changed his manner of life as little as possible, only inasmuch as his change of position required. “He remained with constancy the same as he had been before, having the same humility of heart, and making use of the same simple garb. Thus, with all authority and grace he fulfilled the dignified office of Bishop, yet not so as to depart from the rule of the monk or the virtue of the anchorite. In all things he remembered to observe the teaching of the Apostle, when he said to Titus: “For a bishop must be without crime, as the steward of God; not proud, not subject to anger, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre ; but given to hospitality, gentle, sober, just, holy, continent, embracing that faithful word which is according to doctrine, that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine, and to convince the gainsayers’.” For his discourse was so pure and explicit, so serious and candid, so full of sweetness and grace, when he spoke on the ministry of the law, on the teaching of faith, on the virtue of continence, and on the discipline of justice. To every person he gave varied and suitable instructions, because he always knew beforehand what to say, and to whom, when, and how to say it. Above all other things, it was his especial care to join fasting, prayer, and watching with the study of the Scriptures. His memory, keeping always in his mind the canons, and enabling him to imitate the virtue of the saints, stood him in the place of books. He fulfilled all the duties of brotherly love towards his brethren, and practised humility and that super-eminent charity, wall on the south : also the town of Crake, and a circuit of three miles round it : and because that was found insufficient, it was further increased to a circuit of fifteen miles in Cumberland. Simeon, book i. chap. ix. See Also Raine, p. 27. * Bede's Life, chap. xxix. * Ibid, chap. xxviii. * Ibid. chap. xxvii. * Titus, i. 7-9. 56 EIIS LIFE AS A BISEIOP. without which every other virtue is nothing. He took care of the poor, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, harboured strangers, redeemed captives, defended widows and orphans, in order that he might merit the reward of eternal life amongst the choirs of angels with our Lord Jesus Christ.” " Besides this account of him by his contemporary biographer, we read of him, that, “following the example of the Apostles, he became an ornament to the episcopal dignity by his virtuous actions; for he both protected the people committed to his charge by constant prayer, and excited them by most wholesome admoni- tions to heavenly practices; and, which is the greatest help to teachers, he first shewed in his behaviour what he taught was to be performed by others; for he was much inflamed with the fire of divine charity, modest in the virtue of patience, most diligently intent on devout prayer, and affable to all that came to him for comfort. He thought it equivalent to praying, to afford the infirm brethren the help of his exhortations, well knowing that He who said, ‘thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” said likewise, ‘thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’. He was also remarkable for penitential abstinence, and always intent upon heavenly things, through the grace of humility. Lastly, when he offered up to God the sacrifice of the saving Victim, he commended his prayer to God, not with a loud voice, but with tears drawn from the bottom of his heart.”” “He saved the needy man from the hand of the stronger, and the poor and destitute from those who would oppress them. He comforted the weak and sorrowful; but he took care to recall those who were sinfully rejoicing to that sorrow which is according to godliness. Desiring still to exercise his usual frugality, he did not cease to observe the severity of a monastic life amid the tur- moil by which he was surrounded. He gave food to the hungry, raiment to the shivering; and his course was marked by all the other particulars which adorn the life of a Pontiff.” ” FIis untiring zeal in visiting even the most out-of-the-way places in his diocese, and in conferring the holy Sacraments, is also told by the same author. “As this holy shepherd of Christ's flock was going round visiting his folds, he came to a mountainous * Lindisf. Monk, p. 122. * Bede's Eccles. Hist. p. 229. * Bede's Life, p. 293. HE WAS BEDE's BISHOP. 57 and wild place, where many people had got together from all the adjoining villages, that they might be confirmed by him. But among the mountains no church or fit place could be found to receive the Bishop and his attendants. They therefore pitched tents for him on the road, and each cut branches from the trees in the neighbouring wood, to make for himself the best sort of cover- ing that he was able. For two days did the man of God preach to the assembled crowds, and impart the grace of the Holy Ghost by the imposition of hands to those that had been recently bap- tised.” " Even during a time of pestilence he never neglected one of his spiritual children, but having comforted all whom he found in a village where the plague was committing ravages, “he said to his chaplain, “Do you think that any one remains who has need that we should visit and converse with him ? Or have we now seen all the sick here, and shall we go elsewhere 2'''” We need not wonder that Bede has given such a detailed account of the life and actions of Cuthbert, both in his life of the Saint, and in his Ecclesiastical History; for he was one of the greatest Saints that this or any other country ever produced. Bede was born in A.D. 673, and would be about twelve or thirteen when the holy Bishop was visiting and confirming in his diocese; and it is very probable that he may have received the holy Sacra- ment of confirmation by the imposition of the hands of Bishop Cuthbert. “It was then (says a popular writer) that St. Cuthbert laid the foundation of that deep affection in the hearts of the people whom he ruled over, to which we are indebted for so many interesting monuments of him all over the Lowlands of Scotland and the north of England. He probably trod the soil of Mid- Lothian; his eye has rested—it is now eleven hundred years ago —on the picturesque features of our landscape. He would go to the church which stood in the castle; for half a century has elapsed since King Edwin had fortified it anew. And there he would gather around him the little handful of Christians, who then con- fessed the true faith in this wild northern part of the country. And we can easily imagine, though no record is preserved, how * Bede's Life, p. 309. * Ibid. p. 311. 58 IHIS IIIFE AS A BISEIOP. tenderly the holy Bishop would welcome the children who came and knelt around him, to receive the imposition of his hands and the unction of blessed chrism in the Sacrament of confirmation. And many years after his eyes were closed in death, they would talk to each other, and when they grew up to be men and women, would tell their children about the pale, sickly Bishop Cuthbert, with the gentle countenance, so full of humility and love for all, who came all the way from Holy Island to see them and give them his blessing, and went back to his lone dwelling on the rock to die. They would remind one another how he wept when he said Mass for them ; and how sweet and holy his discourse seemed to them, children as they were, when they stood around him before the altar. Thus a love for his memory took deep root here, and his name was given to the parish-church under the castle: for in those times men were too single-hearted to be able to separate true devotion from its outward expression. When they felt, they acted. The popular veneration for St. Cuthbert was no doubt aided by the piety and munificence of the Northumbrian kings. And the fame of his later history and miracles was not confined to the immediate neighbourhood of Holy Island.” " During the short time that he was Bishop, God was pleased to allow him to work many miracles. He foresaw and foretold, as we have already related, the death of King Egfrid. He foretold the time of his own death to Herbert, the anchorite of Derwentwater, and by his prayers obtained from God that they should both pass from this world to a better at one and the same time. “There was a certain priest, venerable for the probity of his life and manners, called Herbert, who had long been united with the man of God, Cuthbert, in the bond of spiritual friendship. This man, leading a solitary life in the island of that great lake from which the river Derwent * flows, was wont to visit him every year, and to receive * Lectures on the Antiquities of Edinburgh. Edinb. 1845. * There are four islands in lake Derwentwater. St. Herbert's island lies nearly in the centre of the lake, and is about five acres in size. The remains of his cell may be seen at the northern extremity of the island, that is now covered with wood. Hutchin- son describes it in his time, half a century ago, as appearing to consist of two rooms, the outer one about 22 feet by 16, which probably had been the chapel ; the other, of smaller dimensions, the cell. Of this smaller room the traces are almost lost. The walls of the other remain to the height of about three feet from the ground, built in the simple way of CUTHEERT AND HERBERT. 59 from him spiritual advice. Hearing that Bishop Cuthbert was come to the city of Lugubalia,” he repaired thither to him, accord- ing to custom, being desirous to be still more and more inflamed in heavenly desires through his wholesome admonitions. Whilst they alternately entertained one another with the delights of the celestial life, the Bishop, among other things, said, ‘Brother Her- bert, remember at this time to ask me all the questions you wish to have resolved, and say all you design, for we shall see one another no more in this world; for I am sure that the time of my dissolu- tion is at hand, and I shall speedily put off this tabernacle of the flesh ’. Hearing these words, he fell down at his feet, and shed- ding tears, with a sigh said, ‘I beseech you, by our Lord, not to forsake me; but that you remember your most faithful companion, and entreat the Supreme Goodness, that, as we served Him to- gether upon earth, we may depart together and see His bliss in heaven. For you know that I have always endeavoured to live according to your directions, and whatsoever faults I have com- mitted, either through ignorance or frailty, I have instantly sub- mitted to correction according to your will.’ The Bishop applied himself to prayer, and having presently had intimation in the spirit that he had obtained what he asked of the Lord, he said, “Rise, brother, and do not weep, but rejoice, because the goodness of God has granted what we desired '. The event proved the truth of this promise and prophecy.”” the country, of unwrought slaty stones and mortar. Heaps of stones from the building are lying around, and all are now overgrown with ivy, moss, and brambles, and clasped by the roots of trees which have grown upon them. We know nothing of Herbert's earlier history, but there seems little doubt that he had been a monk under Cuthbert, either at Melrose or Lindisfarne. The metrical life states that he retired to the hermi- tage on Derwentwater at the advice of his friend and guide Cuthbert. * The occasion of Bishop Cuthbert's visit to this place is explained by Bede: “The servant of God, Cuthbert, was summoned to the city of Lugubalia to ordain priests there, and to bless the queen, entering into a religious life.” Bede's Life, p. 301. * Bede's Eccles. Hist, chap. xxix. p. 230. See also Lindisf. Monk, p. 129. A well- known poet, living in the vicinity of Derwentwater, thus commemorates the friendship of Cuthbert and Herbert, and their union in death : “If thou in the dear love of some one friend Hast been so happy that thou knowest what thoughts Will sometimes, in the happiness of love, Make the heart sink, then wilt thou reverence This quiet spot ; and, stranger, not unmoved Wilt thou behold this shapeless heap of stones, 60 HIS LIFE AS A BISHOP. He also restored to health the wife of Earl Heunna, when her life was despaired of, by sprinkling her with some water that he had blessed, and causing her to swallow some of it." He cured the sister of Ethelwald (at that time his chaplain, and afterwards Abbot of Melrose), when there was no longer any hope of her recovery, by anointing her with blessed oil. This cure is related on the authority of Ethelwald, who was an eye-witness of it.” Another wonderful cure is mentioned by his biographer, who gives it on hearsay; viz. that when the Prefect Hildemer, whose wife had been cured by Cuthbert (p. 23), was apparently on the point of death, he was restored to health by one of his friends giving him water to drink in which a little bread was put that had been previously blessed by the holy Bishop.” He restored to health, by his prayers, a young man who was at the point of dying of a fever.” By blessing and kissing it, he restored in health, during a time of pestilence, a child evidently dying, to its mother, who had lost. The desolate ruins of St. Herbert's cell. Here stood his threshold ; here was spread the roof That sheltered him, a self-secluded man, After long exercise in social cares And offices humane, intent to adore The Deity with undistracted mind, And meditate on everlasting things In utter solitude. But he had left A fellow-labourer, whom the good man loved As his own soul. And when, with eye upraised To heaven, he knelt before the crucifix, While o'er the lake the cataract of Lodore Pealed to his orisons, and when he paced Along the beach of this small isle, and thought Of his companion, he would pray that both (Now that their earthly duties were ſulfilled) Might die in the same moment. Nor in vain So prayed he as our chronicles report ; Though here the hermit numbered his last day, Far from St. Cuthbert, his beloved friend, Those holy men both died in the same hour.” WoRDSWORTH. Seven centuries after this event, A.D. 1374, Thomas de Appleby, Bishop of Carlisle, to keep up its anniversary, and “in order that men might know what the Lord had done for the glory of His Saints,” ordered a Mass to be sung on St. Herbert's Isle by the Vicar of Crosthwaite, the parish in which the lake lies, on the anniversary of their death ; and granted an indulgence of forty days to all whose devotion led them on that day to the island, in honour of St. Cuthbert, and in remembrance of Herbert. * Lindisf. Monk, p. 122, and Bede's Life, p. 303. * Ibid. pp. 122, 305. * Bede's Life, p. 307. *Ibid. p. 311. EIE VISITS THE MONASTERY ON TEIE TYNE. 61 another a little time before.” Again, when on a visit to the nunnery near the mouth of the Tyne, where he was entertained according to his rank by the Abbess Verca, a woman of noble birth and a devout servant of God, he changed water so as to have the flavour of wine.” When he was staying at the monastery of 1 Lindisf. Monk, p. 122, and Bede, p. 311. * Bede speaks in more places than one of the monastery on the river Tyne, of which Verca was abbess. He mentions it first in chapter iii., saying, “Est denique monaste- rium non longe ab Ostio Tini fluminis ad meridiem situm, tune quidem virorum, nunc autem, mutato ut solet per tempora rerum statu, virginum Christo servientium, nobili examine pollens”. Again he speaks of it in chapter xxxv., saying, “Venit ad monaste- rium virginum, quod non longe ab Ostio Tini fluminis situm supra docuimus, ubi a reli- giosa famula Christi Werca Abbatissa magnifice susceptus,” &c. Also in his metrical life he says : “Est locus insignis fluvii super ostia Tini Eximio jam tunc monachorum examine pollens”. Does Bede in these passages speak of the Tine, a small stream in Lothian, on which the monastery of Tiningham was situated, or of the river Tyne that separates Durham and Northumberland, and on whose north bank the remains of Tynemouth Priory now stand? The Bollandists understand him as speaking of the Tine. Simeon of Durham, p. 82, and Roger of Hovedon, p. 418, both mention Tiningham. There can, however, be very little doubt that the passages of Bede in question refer to the Tyne. He would not have applied the words “insignis fluvii " to the smaller of the two rivers. At a very early period there was a monastery for women at the mouth of the Tyne. Ileland states that one was founded by King Edwin (616-633): “Edwinus, rex Northumbriae, sacellum erexit Tinemuthae ex ligno, in quo Rosella ejus filia postea velum sacrum accepit. . . . Oswaldus monasteriolum de Tinemuthe ex ligneo lapideum fecit” (Collectanea, vol. iv.). In speaking of the Abbess Verca's monastery, Bede uses the same language as in speak- ing of Tynemouth, where he relates a miracle that happened to Herebald, who was afterwards abbot of the monastery “juxta ostium Tini fluminis” (Eccles. Hist. p. 242). Roger de Wendover speaks of the nuns of St. Hilda's convent flying to Tynemouth for refuge among the sisterhood there: “A.D. 1065, the sacred bones of the king and martyr, the blessed Oswin, were discovered as follows. After the passion of the said most illustrious king, his body was borne to the monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, to the north of the mouth of the river Tyne (in ostio Tini fluminis ad aquilonem), and there buried in royal state. . . . In process of time, to do greater honour to the noble martyr, holy nuns from the monastery of the Abbess of St. Hilda were brought to his body, and continued in their first fervour in the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, until the Danish persecution, which was stirred up by the fury of the brothers Hinguar and Hubba. In the heat of this diabolical persecu- tion, this monastery and all its buildings is believed to have been demolished, with the other English monasteries, by the aforesaid servants of the devil; and the holy virgins were translated by martyrdom to the heavenly kingdom. For many years after this that country continued under the power of the infidel Danes, by which the memory of the holy martyr was well nigh blotted out from the minds of the people : but when at length the devotion of the faithful began to return, and the purity of the faith to revive, the bishop of that district placed there priests and clergy in the church of the Mother of God, to celebrate the divine mysteries for the parishioners of that place ’’ (Roger of Wen- dover's Flowers of History, edition 1849, p. 319. See also p. 361, where it is stated that 62 HIS IIFE AS A BISHOP. the Abbess Elfleda, whither he went, at her request, both to see monks were first brought to Tynemouth in the year 1090. See also The History of Tynemouth, by W. S. Gibson, Esq., vol. i. p. 15). The Abbess Werca gave Cuthbert the winding-sheet that he carefully preserved for his burial (see p. 74). If, as appears from history, abuses had existed at Coldingham during the seventh century—the existence of which may have resulted from the plan of a double monastery not succeeding at first—right nobly were they atoned for in the ninth. The history of that community during the Danish invasion presents an instance of Christian heroism that calls for eternal honour. The nunnery of Coldingham lay in the path of the Danes; and Ebba, the abbess, knew that worse than death awaited her flock. What were they to do? for they were not able to escape. The heroism of St. Ebba of the seventh century seems to have descended upon her namesake, the sainted Abbess of Coldingham, in the ninth. Her daring piety suggested to her nuns that they should disfigure and mutilate their countenances. She knew no other way. Their beauty was their worst enemy: they were safe if they could disfigure that. She set them the example, drawing a knife from under her robe and severing with it her nose and lips. In silence the sheep fol- lowed the example of their shepherdess. The heathen Danes rushed forward for their prey, but found only ghastly and blood-stained figures. Yet though they could not satiate their lust, they indulged their cruelty, and burned to death that noble band of virgins and martyrs in the fires of their own abbey. Roger of Wendover describes in glowing terms the heroic courage of these Colding- ham nuns. “In the year of our Lord 870, an innumerable multitude of Danes landed in Scotland, under the command of Ynguar and Hubba, men of fearful wickedness and unheard-of daring. Desiring to make an utter desolation of the entire territory of Eng- land, they cut the throats of both young and old who came in their way, and shamefully treated holy matrons and virgins. The rumours of their merciless cruelty having spread throughout every kingdom, Ebba, the holy abbess of the monastery of Coldingham, fearing lest both herself and the virgins of whom she had the pastoral care and charge should lose their virgin chastity, assembled all the sisters, and thus addressed them : ‘There have lately come into these parts most wicked pagans, destitute of all humanity, who roam through every place, sparing neither the female sex nor the tender years of children, destroying churches and ecclesiastics, ravishing holy women, and wasting and consuming everything in their way. If, therefore, you will follow my counsels, I have hope that, through the divine mercy, we shall escape the rage of the barbarians, and preserve our chastity.’ The whole assembly of virgins having promised implicit com- pliance with her maternal commands, the abbess, with an heroic spirit, affording to all the sisters an example of chastity profitable not only to themselves, but worthy to be embraced by all succeeding virgins for ever, took a razor, and with it cut off her nose, together with her upper lip unto the teeth, presenting herself a horrible spectacle to those who stood by. Filled with admiration at this admirable deed, the whole commu- nity followed her maternal example, and each did the like to themselves. When this was done, together with the morrow's dawn came those most cruel tyrants, to disgrace the holy women dedicated to God, and to pillage and burn the monastery ; but on beholding the abbess and all the sisters so outrageously mutilated and stained with their own blood from the sole of their foot unto their head, they retired in haste from the place, thinking it too long to tarry there for a moment. But as they were retiring, their leaders before mentioned ordered their wicked followers to set fire to and burn the monastery, with all its buildings and its holy inmates. Which being done by these workers of iniquity, the holy abbess, and all the most holy virgins with her, attained the glory of martyrdom.” (Flowers of History, p. 191.) WOMEN EXCLUIDED FROM HIS CHURCHES. 63 her and to consecrate a church, he foreknew in a most wonderful manner, and communicated to her the day before word was sent of it, the news of the death of Hadwald, a shepherd belonging to the monastery, that was occasioned by his falling from a tree." Several other miracles, worked by him about the same time, are also related by his biographer.” The writer considers it necessary to insert in this place a few words in explanation of the regulation made by Bishop Cuthbert, forbidding women to enter into his church. Protestant writers have endeavoured to attach to his name the stigma of misogyny, because, in this particular, they have not understood his conduct, or appreciated his motives. The real reason” of this apparently severe measure is to be traced to the irregularities that had taken place * Lindisf. Monk, p. 123, and Bede, p. 313. * Lindisf. Monk, pp. 122-3. * Another reason has been assigned, and is popularly believed, but rests on no solid foundation. It is published, with the other manuscripts, in the Rites of Durham, and appears to be an extract from a book that was entitled, Of the Coming of St. Cuthbert into Scotland. “Blessed St. Cuthbert for a long time led a solitary life on the borders of the Picts, to which place a great concourse of people used daily to visit him ; and from whom, by the providence and grace of God, never any returned without great com- fort and consolation. This caused both young and old to resort unto him, taking great pleasure both to see him and to hear him speak. In the meantime it chanced that the daughter of the king of that province was got with child by some young man in her father's house, . . . . which, when the king perceived, diligently examined her, who was the author of that fact. Upon due examination whereof, she made this answer: ‘That solitary young man who dwelleth hereby is he who hath overcome me, and with whose beauty I am thus deceived'. Whereupon the king, furiously enraged, presently repaired with his daughter, accompanied with divers knights, unto the solitary place, where he presently spoke to the servant of God in this manner: “What, art thou he who, under the colour of religion, profanest the temple and sanctuary of God . Behold, here is my daughter, whom thou with thy deceits hast corrupted, not fearing to make her dishonest ; therefore now, at the last, openly confess this thy fault, and plainly declare here before this company in what sort thou seduced her ?’ The king's daughter, marking the fierce speeches of her father, more impudently stepped forth, and boldly affirmed that it was he who had done that wicked deed. At which thing the young man, greatly amazed, perceiving that this forgery proceeded from the instigation of the devil, wherewith he being brought into great perplexity, applying his whole heart unto Almighty God, said as followeth : ‘My Lord, my God, who alone knoweth, and art the searcher of all secrets, make manifest also this work of iniquity, and by some example approve the same ; which, though it cannot be done by human policy, make it manifest by some divine oracle’. When the young man, with grievous lamentations and tears in- credible to be reported, had spoken these words, even suddenly, in the self-same place where she stood, the earth there, making a hissing noise, presently opened and swallowed her up in the presence of all the beholders. This place is called Corwen, where she, for her corruption, was conveyed and carried into hell,” &c., &c., p. 31. Again it may be repeated, that there seems to be no foundation for, or truth in, this story. The extract 64 EIIS LIFE AS A BISHOP. in the double monastery of Coldingham.” Cuthbert knew that a few years before this time the monastery of Coldingham had been burnt down,” and that the fire was looked upon as a just judgment from heaven. In the anguish of his zeal, the pious Bishop com- manded his disciples to exclude females from his cathedral and monastic church. “Nec multo post vir Domini Cuthbertus episcopali sublimatus cathedrā, ne sui vel praesentes vel futuri quandoque tali exemplo Dei super se iram provocarent, omne ab eis foeminarum separavit consortium, ne indiscreta illarum societas servis Dei aliquod Sui propositi periculum, et ex eorum ruiná inimico generaret gau- dium. Omnibus ergo et viris et foeminis consentientibus, omne suis et in praesenti et post futuris temporibus muliebre interdixit consortium, earumque ab ecclesiae suae ingressu penitus amovit introitum.”? For the accommodation of females on the island of Lindisfarne a church was built, called, in the language of the place, “Grene Cyrice,” i.e. the Green Church, from its situation in a green field.* This order of the pious Bishop was most strictly obeyed ; and for several centuries no woman entered with impunity any of the churches in which the body of the Saint had reposed. Simeon says, that up to his time (A.D. 1164), “In nullam autem pene ecclesiarum quas Confessor beatus, sive ante, sive nunc in tempore fugae, sive post, sui sacri corporis praesentia illustravit, ulla usque hodie foeminis esse constat intrandi licentia. . . . . . Quae con- suetudo usque hodie diligenter observatur, in tantum, ut nisi metus hostilis vel concrematio loci compellat, nec in cimiteria quidem ipsarum ecclesiarum, ubi ad tempus corpus ejus requieverat, muli- eribus introire liceat.” " is taken, word for word, from the Irish life of Cuthbert. (Biog. Miscell. pp. 82, 83.) The same work assigns two other reasons for the exclusion of females from the churches of St. Cuthbert (pp. 84, 85). * On the double monasteries, see Lingard's Anglo-Saxon Church, vol. i. p. 212. * For the account of this fire, see Bede's Ecclesiastical History, book iv. chap. 25, p. 220. * Simeon of Durham, p. 102. The same custom was observed in several of the monasteries of St. Columba in France. See Mabill, praef. i. Sæc. 3, 137. Also Butler's Saints' Lives, Sept. 5. * Simeon, p. 102. * Simeon of Durham, pp. 100, 102. WOMEN EXCLUIDED FROM HIS CHURCHES. 65 The same restriction existed at Durham; and Bishop Pudsey, after a fruitless attempt to build a chapel for females at the east end of the cathedral, built for their use the beautiful chapel at the west end, known as ‘the Galilee'. From the authorities quoted, it is evident that the law of exclusion extended not merely to the church, but to the cemetery.” It extended also to the abbey-gates. “Also, if any woman chanced to come within the abbey-gates, or within any precinct of the house, if she had been seen but her length within any place of the said house, she was taken, and set fast and punished, to give example to all others.” The same rule was observed at the little church on Farne Island.” Hence we must not do Cuthbert the injustice that many have done him, in supposing him to have entertained a dislike to the female sex. His motive has been already explained, and is vin- dicated by Reginald, where he says, “Non tamen sexum illum detestando persequitur, Sed Occasionis delinquendi materiam ampu- , tando elidere conatur”.4 Before taking leave of Cuthbert the Bishop, the writer would introduce him to his readers, that they may have the satisfaction * Simeon of Durham relates what happened to two women who ventured to disobey this order, and enter into the cemetery at Durham, chaps. xxiii. and xxiv., pp. 103, 104. Reginald also relates a circumstance that happened in the twelfth century, at which time we learn from him that the boundary-line was in cimiterii finibus. When David, king of Scotland, was passing through Durham on his road to Scotland after his marriage, Helisend, a servant of the queen's, in the disguise of a monk, made her Way into the church, from which she was summarily expelled by Bernard the sacristan, using words less euphonious than effective. She afterwards, in expiation of her rashness, became a nun at Elstow, near Bedford. See Reginald, chap. lxxiv. p. 151. A concise account of Reginald's story is given in Ornsby's Sketches of Durham, p. 24. Bourne, in his Newcastle, mentions how two women from Newcastle, in the fifteenth century, endeavoured, by assuming male attire, to see St. Cuthbert's shrine, and were made to do penance in the same garb in the churches of St. Nicholas and All Saints in Newcastle ; p. 208. * At a later period this restriction was modified, and females were allowed in Dur- ham Cathedral as far as a boundary-line of blue marble in the pavement, running across the church from pillar to pillar, opposite the porch. “There is between the pillar of the north side, which the holy-water stone did stand in, and the pillar that did stand over against it on the south side, from the one of them to the other, a row of blue marble ; and in the midst of the said row there is a cross of blue marble, in token that all women that came to hear divine service should not be suffered to come above the said cross.”— Rites of Durham, p. 30. * Reginald speaks of the “atria exteriora ecclesiæ foeminarum ingressui licita” at Farne, chap. cxix. p. 265. * Reginald, p. 154. 66 EIIS LIFE AS A BISEIOP. of seeing the venerable Prelate in his episcopal robes, just as he would celebrate Mass in his church at Lindisfarne. Though none of those who saw him have handed down to us a description of his personal appearance, yet Reginald has recorded several most inte- resting visions, that to a certain extent supply the deficiency. The first he gives on the authority of an old monk named John, who learnt it by word of mouth and on oath from those to whom it happened, and also from brother Bartholomew of Farne Island. During a storm at Sea, a vessel lost its rudder, and was near being wrecked. In their danger, the sailors recommended them- selves to the prayers of St. Cuthbert, who appeared to them, and taking his seat at the helm, used his crosier as a rudder, and steered them in safety to Lindisfarne. The calm sea at the early part of their journey, and the storm at a later stage, are most elegantly described by him. On their praying, “immediately the venerable Bishop Cuthbert appeared, visible and evident to all, as if in a bodily form, and took his seat as helmsman at the prow (stern ?) of the ship. He was vested in his pontificals, and wore a mitre’ on his head. There was such beauty about him as was never be- fore seen by human eyes. Then the blessed Cuthbert, putting his pastoral staff into the raging sea, and making use of it as a rudder, caused the ship to fly swiftly over the foaming and raging waters. The waves at times rose up on the right and on the left like moun- tains; still the ship never deviated from its course, or slackened its speed. Sometimes the waves rose before them like a wall, and appeared to oppose their onward course; and when these broke, others rose in like manner behind them, rolling with a loud roar. Perhaps, indeed, the waves were angry that they might not swal- low up the vessels of avarice, and destroy the souls of the wicked. The blessed Cuthbert ordered them to be of good courage, and not to fear. “No trouble,” said he, ‘can disturb Cuthbert, who is with you, nor will he whom you have invoked leave you, until he shall have steered you in safety into port.’ Then the venerable Confessor, using his pastoral staff, divided the waves with the same facility with which he used to banish the bitter thoughts from our hearts. Nor need it be wondered at, that storms at sea were calmed by the staff of him by whose power and efficacy the powers of hell and earth are subdued. All who were in the ship ST. CUTHBERT SEEN IN A VISION. 67 saw the blessed Cuthbert, as it were in a bodily form, directing the ship as helmsman; and they who before had lost courage at the prospect of their being lost, now cheered up their spirits; and speaking to one another by their gestures, signs, and words, pass- ing from side to side, told their comrades to look at the blessed Cuthbert. Yet none of those who beheld with joy his sweet countenance asked him, ‘Who art thou?’ knowing for certain, as he himself had told them, that it was the blessed Cuthbert. Be- fore long, behold, they came near Farne Island, and saw the church of Lindisfarne, which, after a little, they saw close beside them on the shore. Then the blessed Cuthbert, making use of his staff as a boat-hook, ordered all of them to land with their mer- chandise and goods, nets and fishes, and other utensils. Nor did they wet their shoes on landing on the shore, for the blessed Cuthbert had so far driven the stern of the ship on the dry sands, that all were enabled to leave it dryshod; and with his staff he kept fast the prow, until he saw every thing taken out. . . . . . . When all was done, he said, ‘All is right,’ and vanishing from before their eyes, withdrew to the place of his happy rest ; and they soon afterwards returned to Farne Island, and told all that had happened to brother Bartholomew the Durham monk, who was then living as a hermit on the island.”" A highly-wrought description is given by the same writer of two visions of the sainted Bishop celebrating the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The first is given on the authority of one of the brethren, whose testimony, says Reginald, cannot be called in question. The monk, while in the church at Farne Island, sees St. Cuthbert enter the church, and say the midnight Mass of Christmas. “After the decease of the blessed Cuthbert, the island of Farne was held in the greatest reverence, because the Sainted Confessor had frequently worked many miracles there. There were at one time on the said island two Durham monks, Serving the chapel dedicated in honour of the holy Confessor. The solemn festival of the Lord's Nativity was at hand, and the night itself both of them spent in offering up their prayers to the Lord. At the hour of midnight, according to the very ancient * Reginald, chap. xxiii. p. 52. 68 BIIS LIFE AS A BISEIOP. custom of the whole Church, the first Mass had been sung, and after a short time, both of them withdrew to spend some time in retirement. One of them, who was a layman, fatigued with the night's work, laid himself down to take a little rest; but the other remained watching and praying in the choir of the church. And lo! On a sudden, he saw shining lights glimmer at the door of the church, and the doors that were closed within opened of their Own accord on both hinges. Then he saw two monks enter with lighted torches, and a man of venerable age, vested as a Bishop, follow them, and go straight to the altar in the sanctuary. When the Confession and the Absolution were finished, they began the Mass, with all the service peculiar to Christmas Day, and sang the ‘Puer natus est nobis' to the sweetest music. In the mean- time candelabra with torches shone on both sides of the altar; and when the Bishop began the ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo, a great body of angels began to sing on high. When the brother heard and saw this, he several times tried to rise up, but felt himself held down by such a weight, that he could not raise himself up while the Mass was being said; for he had resolved within him- Self to follow the steps of the holy Bishop, if he had been able by any means to leave the spot where he was. Continuing the holy Sacrifice, they duly go through all the ceremonies and rites of the Mass. At the end of Mass the holy man gave the pontifical blessing to all the people and clergy; and when it was over re- turned in the same manner in which he had entered,” &c." The next vision was of the Saint at Lindisfarne. It was three days before a promised visit of Bishop Pudsey. The deacon in charge of the church saw St. Cuthbert say Mass. Reginald gives the story on the authority of the brethren then living at Lindis- farne, and of the deacon, whom he had known from a youth. “Of all other churches, the church of Lindisfarne holds the memory of St. Cuthbert in the highest esteem. For he was Bishop of this church, and his body was there discovered to be in a state of in- corruption. His merits have shed a lustre on it, and his many heavenly virtues have adorned it. It happened that, at a certain time, Hugh, Bishop of Durham, was about to visit the church, * Reginald, chap. lviii. p. 116. ST. CUTHBERT SEEN IN A VISION. 69 either to partake of their hospitality, or to celebrate the divine mysteries there. For his arrival, the procurator of the house had prepared everything that was needed; but, amongst other things, The had prepared two wax torches of very great length, meant to be carried before him, in honour of his worth and dignity. They were placed on a side-table in the church of St. Cuthbert, whilst the makers of them were waiting, on the day fixed, for the arrival of the Bishop. On the night of the third day before his coming, the deacon, who was clerk of the said church, and his associates, had gone to sleep near the north end of the church. It was now midnight, and on waking from his sleep he heard a loud noise at the western door of the church, and the strains of most harmo- nious music. Then he saw the doors opened, and two persons clothed in white stood beside his bed, and said to him, ‘’Where are the torches that have been got ready for the Bishop's coming? Bring them with their candlesticks, that we may wait on the Bishop; and bring some clean cloths to put upon the altar, for the great Bishop of this church, Cuthbert, has come to celebrate Mass here, and has sent us to prepare all things for him.’ In great fear he pointed out to them where the torches were, and gave them from his girdle the keys of the presses; for he did not dare to rise from the bed, or put any more questions to them. They opened the presses and took out the best cloths, which they put on the high altar. Putting the torches in the candlesticks, they led the way in front of the singers into the church; and when they entered it, they joined the other singers. Among the choir were many elderly men in surplices (dealbatorum), and they were followed by the Bishop in his episcopal vestments—a sight of no ordinary beauty. On arriving at the altar, he commenced in a very solemn manner the holy Mass, which the body of singers accompanied with the sweetest music. The Gradual, and some other parts, they sang before him; and the choir afterwards re- peating them, sang them in a becoming church-like strain. The ministers assisted the Bishop, and went through their parts ac- cording to the prescriptions of the canons. In the meanwhile, the deacon looking round the church, as time and opportunity allowed him, saw it all glittering with a shining light. The Mass, as far as he could judge, was the Mass of the Holy Ghost. When it 70 IFIIS LIFE AS A BISEIOP. was finished, all that assembly of people, following the torch- bearers and singing Sweet hymns, returned the same road they came. He heard for some time after their departure the dying away of their voices, and thought that they had entered the church of St. Mary’s.” He thought that they came first from that place, because from it he heard for a long time their sweet strains. After some time every sound died away, and the deacon over and over again returned thanks to God. In the meantime the torch-bearers returned, brought back the torches, and put them back in their former place; then, going out, they were no longer seen, but left the doors of the church open. In the morn- ing the brethren came to church, and wondered much at seeing the doors open and the cloths spread upon the altar. On inquir- ing, they learned all that had happened from the deacon; and giv- ing thanks to God, asked for some proof of what had taken place. When they examined the torches, they found that more than one palm in length had been burnt away ; and by this certain proof all doubt was removed.”” We will close our description of Cuthbert, as Bishop, with another description of his personal appearance, when he appeared to a man at Lixtune in Cheshire, who, in hopes of a cure, made a triduo in honour of the holy Saint. Nothing can exceed the beauty of this description of the holy Bishop's personal appearance:—his face rather long, his grey hairs, his chasuble of cloth of gold, his glittering mitre, his countenance beaming like the Sun, the gems upon his episcopal robes, and their sound when they came in contact with his crosier —all form a sublime picture when grouped together by the hand of Reginald. We must give the original words: “Nocte igitur tertiae diei jam media instante . . . . . . Subito lux serena per orbita ecclesiae emicuit, et post modico intervallo venerandi decoris Pontifex de altaris fastigiousque ad inferiora processit. Eratoue sublonga facie, inedia maturus, et conspersus canitie; casula toga- tus aurea; mitra, ut videbatur, redimitus ardenti cristallina; vultus sole rutilante nitidior; stellantibus oculis clementi respectu man- Suetior; fragorque gemmarum qui limbo tornatili dextraria ma- * The parish church on the island. 2 Reginald, chap. lix. p. 117. HIS WISH TO RETURN To FARNE. 71 nuum perornaverat, ex contactu baculi pastoralis, qui unionum et margaritarum copiosa multitudine insignitus fuerat, latius perstre- pendo personabat.”” Another description of the appearance of the Saint in a vision to one who sought his aid is given by Reginald. He is described as clad in white linen, his face somewhat long and ruddy, and his head and beard sprinkled with grey hairs, &c. But to copy the words of the writer: “Qui candenti lineo, ut ei videbatur, erat amictus; facie aliquantulum producta interfuse subrubicundus; capillo capitis simulac barbae mediocri tenuitate, canitiei gravitate respersus : atque velut stola aurea undique orbiculariter circum- texerat, quae ad inferiora per medium pectoris protensa productius dependebat”.” The time now arrived when Bishop Cuthbert had a presenti- ment of his coming death. During the two years he had been Bishop, his thoughts would naturally have frequently turned upon Farne Island, and he began to wish to return to it, and there prepare himself for his entrance into another world. “But now this man of God, foreseeing his end approaching, had determined to lay aside the duties of his pastoral office, and return to his former solitary life, that, by shaking off the cares of this life, he might occupy himself in uninterrupted psalmody and prayer, in preparing for the day of his death, or rather of his entrance into everlasting life. He wished first to go round his parishes, and visit the houses of the faithful in his neighbourhood ; and then, when he had confirmed all with such consolatory admonitions as should be required, to return to the solitary abode which he so longed after.”” * Reginald, chap. xviii. p. 140. “Ibid. p. 258. * Bede's Life, p. 313. CHAPTER VII. BISHOP CUTHBERT RETIRES TO FARNE ISLAND A SECOND TIME, AND IDIES THERE. “WHEN Cuthbert had passed two years in the episcopal office, knowing, in spirit, that his last day was at hand, he divested him- self of his episcopal duties, and returned to his much-loved soli- tude.” 1 The time of Christmas, A.D. 686, was the exact date of his taking his leave of the brethren and monastery of Lindisfarne, and returning to Farne. “The solemn day of the Nativity of Our Lord was scarcely over when the man of God, Cuthbert, returned to his dwelling on the island. A crowd of monks were standing by as he entered into the boat ; and one of them, an old and venerable monk, strong in faith, but weak in body in conse- quence of the dysentery, said to him, ‘Tell us, reverend Bishop, when wé may hope for your return?’ To this plain question he answered, as plainly, what he knew to be the truth: “When you shall bring my body back here'.” It must have been a most affecting sight, to have seen the venerable Bishop on the beach surrounded by his children and fellow-monks, who, to the respect due to a Bishop, loved him with the affection due to a father, and taking his leave of them. It & must have been as affecting a scene as when Jacob called his sons together, and blessed them, before he was gathered to his people. Though before he was made Bishop he was nine whole years at Farne, on his return now he had only two months and three * “Quatenus inolita sibi sollicitudinis mundanae spineta liberior priscae compunc- tionis flamma consumeret.”—Bede's Life, p. 320. * Bede's Life, p. 323. HIS IAST IIINESS. 73 weeks to spend on his loved island. What his occupation was during this time, we can be at no loss to understand. “At this time he was accustomed to go out frequently from his cell, and converse with the brethren who came to visit him.”* Bede relates, in the same chapter, an event, on the authority of Cynemund, a. very old man, and of irreproachable life, a monk also, and priest of the Monastery of Lindisfarne, who was present at the time it happened. A party of the brethren from the monastery came to see him. When he had given them some exhortations and his blessing, he left them to return to his cell, having first provided them some refreshment in the hospitium, which he ordered them to take. This they declined touching, as they had some refreshment with them. When lo, a sudden storm arose, and prevented their return to Lindisfarne ! It continued for seven days, during which time they were detained on the island. On the seventh day, as the holy father entered the hospitium, he saw that the refreshment he had prepared had not been touched, and checked them for their disobedience, ordering them immediately to cook it and eat it. As soon as they began to cook it, the wind abated, and the waves were lulled ; and when they had finished their meal, the sea was calm, and a fair breeze wafted them home to their monas- tery. Thus were they taught the lesson that holy men should be obeyed, even in those things which they do not strictly enforce. The circumstances of his last illness and decease are very minutely recorded by his sainted biographer. He gives as his authority the holy priest Herefrid, then Abbot of Lindisfarne, from whom he received them by word of mouth, and in whose very words he details much of his information. Bishop Cuth- bert's sickness commenced about two months after his arrival at Farne. “When he had passed about two months in the enjoy- ment of the quiet life he had returned to, and had as usual subdued both his body and mind with his accustomed severity, he was suddenly seized with illness, and began to prepare for the joy of everlasting happiness, through suffering and temporal affliction.” He considered himself doubly happy to be able, at the price * Bede's Life, p. 319. * Ibid. p. 323. 74 FIIS DECEASE. of austerities practised for a short time, to purchase a blissful eternity, feeling “that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us”.” During his illness, Herefrid the abbot and others often went over to Farne to see him. He spoke to them with the greatest self-possession of his approaching departure. He expressed a wish to be buried in the island of Farne, and also gave instruc- tions concerning his winding-sheet and coffin. His illness was of but three weeks’ duration; for he was taken ill on Wednesday, February 27th, and deceased on Wednesday, March 20th, A.D. 687. Bede continues his narrative in the very words in which Herefrid detailed the circumstances to him : “He was brought to the point of death, said he, after having been weakened by three weeks of continual suffering ; for he was taken ill on the Wednesday, and again on the Wednesday his pains were over, and he departed to the Lord. But when I came to him on the first morning after his illness began—for I had arrived at the island with the brethren three days before—in my desire to obtain his blessing and advice as usual, I gave the cus- tomary signal of my coming ; and he came to the window, and replied to my salutation with a groan. “My Bishop,' said I, ‘what. is the matter with you? has your indisposition come upon you this last night?”—“Yes,’ said he ; ‘sickness has come upon me this last night.’ I thought that he was speaking of an old com- plaint, that troubled him almost every day, and not of a fresh sickness ; so, without making any more inquiries, I said to him, ‘Give us your blessing; for it is time to put to Sea, and return home '..—‘Do so, replied he ; ‘go on board, and return home in safety. And when the Lord shall have taken my spirit, bury me in this place near my oratory, towards the south, Over against the eastern side of the holy cross which I have erected there (Sepelite me in hac mansione juata oratorium meum ad meridiem, contra orientalem plagām sanctæ crucis quam ibidem erewi). To- wards the north side of that same Oratory is a sarcophagus under the turf, which the venerable Abbot Cudda formerly gave me. You will place my body therein, wrapping it in the linen sheet * Rom. viii. 18. THE MONKS RETURN TO EARNE. 75 that you will find there. I would not wear it whilst I was alive; but, for the love of that highly-favoured woman who sent it to me, the Abbess Verca (see p. 61), I have preserved it to wrap my corpse in.” On hearing these words I replied: “I beseech you, father, as you are weak, and talk of the probability of your dying, to let some of the brethren remain here to wait on you.”—“Go home now,” said he ; “but return at the proper time.’ So I was unable to prevail upon him, notwithstanding the urgency of my entreaties. At last, I asked him when we should return to him. ‘When God so wills it,” said he, ‘and when He Himself shall direct you.’ We did as he commanded us; and having assembled all the brethrén immediately in the church, I had prayers offered up for him without intermission; ‘For,’ said I, ‘it appears to me, from some words which he spoke, that the day is approaching on which he will depart to the Lord’.” We can readily imagine how distressed the monks at Lindis- farne must have been, at hearing from Herefrid the sad news that their Bishop was dying. Their uneasiness, as well as that of their Abbot, was increased by the fact that a storm prevented for five days any communication between Lindisfarne and Farne islands. When it abated, the monks speedily went to Farne, and found the holy Bishop, not in his cell, but in the hospitium, where he had been five days and five nights.” Herefrid the Abbot was the only one that could remain with Bishop Cuthbert at the time; but he succeeded in persuading the dying Bishop now to have some of the brethren constantly to attend him. Herefrid continues his narration : “I was anxious about returning to him, on account of his illness ; but the weather prevented us for five days, and it was ordered so by God, as the event shewed; for God Almighty, wishing to cleanse His servant from every stain of earthly weak- ness, and to shew his adversaries how weak they were against the strength of his faith, kept him aloof from men, and put him to the proof by bodily sufferings, and still more violent encounters with the ancient enemy. At length there was a calm, and we * Bede's Life, p. 323. * The reason of his removing to the hospitium was to prevent the necessity of the monks entering into his cell, about which he was very particular. 76 EIIS DECEASE. went to the island, and found him away from his cell, in the house in which we were accustomed to reside. The brethren who came with me were under the necessity of going back to the neigh- bouring shore, so that I was left alone on the island to wait upon the holy father. I warmed some water, and washed one of his feet, which had an ulcer from a long swelling, and, from the quantity of blood that came from it, required to be attended to. I also warmed some wine which I had brought, and begged him to take it ; for I saw by his countenance that he was worn out with pain and abstinence. When I had finished waiting on him, he sat down quietly on his couch, and I sat down by his side. “Seeing that he kept silent, I said, ‘I see, my reverend Bishop, that you have suffered much from your sickness since we left you; and I wonder that you were so unwilling for us, when we departed, to send you some of our number to wait upon you’. He replied, ‘It was done by the providence and will of God, in order that, deprived of the society and aid of man, I might suffer somewhat of affliction; for when you were gone, my illness increased, so that I left my cell, and came hither to meet any one of you that might be coming to wait on me, that he might find me here, and not need to enter my cell. Now, from the moment of my coming until the present time, during the space of five days and five nights, I have remained here without moving.” “And how have you supported life, my reverend Bishop?’ asked I; ‘have you remained so long without taking food 2’ Upon which, turning up the covering on which he was sitting, he shewed me five Onions concealed beneath it, saying, ‘This has been my food for five days; for whenever my mouth became dry and parched with thirst, I cooled and refreshed myself by tasting these ' (now one of the Onions appeared to have been about half eaten); ‘ and,’ continued he, “my enemies have never persecuted me so much during my whole stay on the island, as they have done during these last five days’. I was not bold enough to ask what kind of temptations he had suffered; I only asked him to have some one to wait upon him. He consented, and kept some of us with him ; amongst whom was the priest Bede’ the elder, who 1 This Bede the elder was not the venerable St. Bede ; the other monk was Walhstod, who was suffering from dysentery, and who put the question to the holy Bishop about his return when he was leaving Lindisfarne. See p. 72. HE CONSENTS TO BE BURIED AT LINDISFARNE. 77 had always been accustomed to attend upon him. This man was, consequently, a most faithful witness of everything which he gave or received; and Cuthbert wished to keep him with him, to re- mind him if he did not make proper compensation for any presents which he might have received, and in order that, before he died, he might render to every one his own. He kept also another of the brethren" with him to wait upon him, who had long suffered from a violent dysentery, and could not be cured by the physicians; but, from his religious merit, prudent conduct, and grave demean- our, was thought worthy to hear the last words of the man of . God, and to witness his departure to the Lord.” The Abbot then returned home, to a certain degree satisfied, because the holy Bishop had consented to have two of the brethren constantly with him to wait upon him ; but he knew that he was conveying to the brethren unwelcome intelligence, in being the bearer of the dying Bishop's order that he was to be buried at IFarne. It was very natural that they should wish to have his remains buried at Lindisfarne—their monastery and his episcopal see. Herefrid suggested to the monks the propriety of soliciting his consent to their wish to bury him in their own church; and, at his suggestion, they sent a deputation to Farne for this object. The venerable Bishop stated to them, that both on theirs as well as his own account, he had expréssed his desire to be buried at Farne; but at length he yielded to their earnest entreaties, and the manner in which they thanked him shewed how highly they esteemed the favour he had conferred on them. “Meanwhile I returned home, and told the brethren that the holy Father had given an order that he was to be buried in his own island. I added my opinion, that it would be more proper and becoming to obtain his consent for his body to be brought here from the island, and buried in the church with suitable honour. My words pleased them ; and we went to the Bishop, and asked him, saying, ‘We have not dared, reverend Bishop, to despise your injunction to be buried here, and yet we have thought proper to request of you permission to transport your body over to the monastery, and so have you amongst us’. To which he re- * i.e. Walhstod. 2 Bede's Life, chap. xxxvii. p. 327. 78 EIIS DECEASE. plied, ‘It was my wish that my body should rest here, where I have fought my humble fight for the Lord ; where, too, I wish to finish my course, and whence I hope to be lifted up by the just Judge, to obtain a crown of justice. Moreover, I think it more advantageous for you also that I should repose here, on account of the fugitives and criminals who may flee to my body for re- fuge," inasmuch as I have had the character, humble though I am, of being a servant of Christ,-and you may often think it ne- cessary to intercede for such with the secular powers, and so may have trouble on account of my body being with you.’ When, however, we urged him with repeated entreaties, and stated that such labour would be agreeable and easy to us, the man of God at length, after some deliberation,” spoke thus : “Since you wish to overrule my arrangement, and to carry my body among you, it seems to me best that you should bury it inside your church, in order that you may be able to visit my tomb yourselves, and to control the visits of all other persons’. We thanked him on our bended knees for this permission, and for his advice ; and return- ing home, continued to pay him frequent visits.” ” We can readily imagine the joy there would have been at Lindisfarne when the deputation returned with the news of their successful mission. Their church had now promise of a treasure, which they, as well as their successors at Lindisfarne and at Durham, would prize above all other things. In their grief at the prospect of his death, it was no small comfort that he, who had been in life such a happiness to them as their fellow-monk, prior, and bishop, would not be separated from them in death. Even at this distance of time we can share in their joy, and congratulate ourselves on their success. We can fully enter into the feelings of the Durham Monk, who, after describing the manner in which the brethren of Lindisfarne thanked the dying Bishop for having consented to their wishes, adds: “Let us also thank him for his permission and advice, not only on bended knee, but by the pros- tration of our bodies and hearts. Let us thank him for the favour * This passage proves that at this early period the privilege of Sanctuary existed. For a list of all who afterwards sought sanctuary and St. Cuthbert's protection at Durham, see the Sanctuarium Dunelmense. 2 Cum consilio. * Bede's Life, p. 329. HE CUPES WAHLSTOID. 79 God has allowed us, unworthy of the honour, to see and to touch with our hands his incorrupt body, 418 years after his decease (A.D. 1104). Let us thank him, and, for the sweetness of his love, let us consider as pleasing and light the task of defending such as fly to his tomb ; and let us despise whatever adversities may come upon us through the changeable state of the world, as long as we can rejoice at having amongst us such and so great a treasure as his holy body.” It now became evident to the monks, that the time of his de- parture was nigh at hand. At his request they carried him from the hospitium to his cell, at nine o'clock in the morning. For many years no one had been allowed to cross the threshold of his cell, which was his sanctum sanctorum. On this occasion he allowed Walhstod to go in with him, and wait upon him. On his touching the Bishop, he was cured of his complaint. In the mean- time Herefrid had returned to Farne. At three o’clock in the after- noon he was summoned into the presence of the Bishop in his cell, received his last instructions, gave him the holy Sacraments of Mother Church, and witnessed his holy and edifying passage into eternity. “His malady now began to grow upon him, and we thought that the time of his dissolution was at hand. He bade his attend- ants carry him to his cell and oratory. It was the third hour of the day. We therefore carried him thither, for through his sickness he was too feeble to walk himself. When we reached the door, we asked him to let one of us go in with him to wait upon him ; for no one had for many years entered therein but himself. He cast his eyes round on all, and fixing them on the sick brother above-mentioned, said: ‘Walhstod shall go in with me,’—for this was the man's name. He went in accordingly, and stayed till the ninth hour, when he came out, and said to me, ‘The Bishop wishes you to go in to him ; but I have a most wonderful thing to tell you: from the moment that I touched the Bishop, when I sup- ported him into his cell, I have been entirely free from my old complaint’.” e “No doubt this was brought about by the effect of his heavenly * Simeon of Durham, p. 53. 80 IHIS IDECEASE. piety, that whereas in his time of health and strength he had healed many, he should now heal this man when he was himself at the point of death ; so that there might be a standing proof how strong the holy man was in spirit, though his body was at the lowest degree of weakness.” “I went in to him about the ninth hour of the day, and found him lying in the corner of his Oratory, over against the altar. I took my seat by his side; but he spoke very little, for the severity of his suffering prevented him from speaking much. But when I earnestly asked him what last discourse and valedictory salutation he would bequeath to the brethren, he began to make a few forcible observations respecting peace and humility; and told us to beware of those persons who strove against these virtues, and would not practise them. ‘Have peace,’ said he, ‘and divine charity ever amongst you; and when you are called on to deliberate on your affairs, be very careful that you be unanimous in your plans. Tiet there be mutual concord between yourselves and all other servants of Christ ; and do not despise others who belong to the faith, and come to you for hospitality, but receive them familiarly, and kindly entertain them, and speed them on their journey; by no means esteeming yourselves better than the rest of those who partake of the same faith and mode of life. But have no communion with those who err from the unity of the Catholic faith (Catholicæ pacis), either by keeping Easter, at an improper time,” or by their wicked * This is Bede's own remark, and not the words of Herefrid, p. 331. * The reader need not wonder that the holy Bishop spoke on the time of keeping Easter. The commencement of the Paschal time depended upon astronomical calcula- tion ; and the Scotch, using the old cycle, and not the new one, deviated from the plactice of the universal Church. Aidan, coming from Iona, brought with him the Scotch practice, to which a few of his successors pertinaciously adhered, and which was the cause of much serious trouble. Bede was Aidan's warm admirer; but of his prac. tice regarding Easter he adds—“I do not praise or approve his not observing Easter at the proper time, either through ignorance of the canonical time appointed, or, if he knew it, being prevailed on by the authority of his nation not to follow the same". (Eccles. Hist. p. 137.) During the time of Finan, the second bishop, the dispute about the Easter time was carried on, and Bede tells us that Easter was sometimes kept twice in one year (p. 154). Colman, his successor, resigned on the question of the observance of the Easter. But concord and uniformity were established in 664 by the zeal of Oswin, king of Northumbria. (Read Bede's Eccles. Hist, book iii. chap. xvii. p. 136; and Lingard’s Anglo-Saxon Church, vol. i. p. 50-64.) No wonder, then, that the dying Bishop, who had seen these troubles, and knew that they had been sent from Ripon on this account, exhorted them against such an evil. HIS FAREWELL DISCOURSE. 81 lives. And know and remember, that if of two evils you are com- pelled to choose one, I would much rather that, taking up out of the tomb and bearing away with you my bones, you would leave this place, to reside wherever God may direct you, than consent in any way to the wickedness of schismatics, and so place a yoke upon your necks. Study diligently, and carefully observe the Catholic decrees (statuta) of the Fathers; and practise with zeal those institutes of the monastic life which it has pleased God to deliver to you through my ministry; for I know that, although during my life some have despised me, yet after my death you will plainly see what sort of man I was, and that my doctrine was by no means worthy of contempt.’” * Bede's Life, p. 333. The last words of the dying Cuthbert are thus given by Bede in his metrical life : “Qui cupit altithronum victor conscendere regnum, Turpiter infecto devitet cedere bello, Et magis extremi ne vi superatus agonis Jam prope perceptis fraudetur ab hoste coronis ; Qui longo nitens vacuare labore fideles, Ultima jam majore quatit sub tempora pulsu. * # * * + Vos quoque celsa precor servetis jura perennes, Coelestis patrum vobis quae regula cavit, Ipse vel exiguis Scieram quae promere dictis, Dum sata quae proceres summi servere rigarem. Quamlibet et rabidis adsurgat turbo procellis, Omnia ferte fide, regni vi quaeritur aula ; Fundatique petra gravibus necedite nimbis Torrentum, furias aquilonis temnite saevas; Ultima jam patris maneat sententia cordi. Expedit istius patriae vos linquere fines, Limite quam trepidos mentem deflectere abillo, Quem sacra divinis depinxit littera chartis. Nec quia multorum cineres locus ille sepultet, Aurea flagranti peterent qui sidera cursu, Vos favor aut vacuaº tentet vaga gloria laudis : Illi nam meritis gaudent super astra coronis. Haud aliter nostris stadio nos currere plantis Convenit, et propriis bravium comprendere palmis. Nec loca propter homo merito venerabilis extat, Sed locus ob homines extat venerabilis almos.” Chap. xxxiv. In the “Leonine life” the same passage is given as follows: “Pacifici sitis, vitantes jurgia litis, g Et cor semper idem vobis amor alliget idem ; Alliget in Christo, nec discedatis ab isto; Non discordetis, dum consilio satagetis. 6 82 FIIS DECEASE. His words, “know and remember,” &c., are the more worthy of notice, because they afford the clue to the narrative in the next part of this work, having been scrupulously obeyed when the Danes ravaged Lindisfarne; and because to them we can trace the future magnificence of the episcopal church, when the see was removed from Lindisfarne, and finally settled at Durham. Pro- bably, in giving his order about his body, the holy man had in his mind the last words of Joseph, who, when dying in Egypt, spoke to his brethren, and “made them swear to him, saying, God will visit you: carry my bones with you out of this place ’’.” No doubt he had before his mind, that when the children of Israel went out of Egypt, “ Moses took Joseph’s bones with him, because he had adjured the children of Israel, saying, God shall visit you : carry out my bones from hence with you’’.” About the hour of midnight, the holy Bishop passed from this world to a better. Herefrid continues:— “These words, and such as these, the man of God delivered to us at intervals; for, as we before said, the violence of his Consilium plane concordia non dat inane, Nam male procedet hoc si discordia foedet: Quosque fide claros colitote per omnia caros : His fidei natis non pluris vos habeatis ; Hospitii jura summa deducite cura ; His rogo servite, parat hoc pia foedera vitae. * Catholicæ pacis procul hostes aufugiatis, Nec cum perversis in perfidiamoue reversis Consensus facti, nec sit communio pacti. Hoc retinete ratum, quod erit post funera gratum, Rebus in adversis, vobis in tristia mersis, Cum dubiis fatis erit incertum quid agatis, Plus placet, effosa mea vos tollatis ut ossa Et comportantes loca linquatis fugitantes, Quam juga pravorum ducatis scismaticorum, Collaque subdatis fautoribus impietatis. Patrum Catholica pia dogmata, pacis amica, Quaeque, Deo dante, fido sibi me famulante, In me vidistis, quae Sancta quidem 'didicistis, Digne servetis, servantes semper ametis; Nam licet exilis videar, vivendoque vilis, Post obitum certe nostrum cernetis aperte Quis Sum, vel qualis, quam vita spiritualis ; Quod mea doctrina fuerit culpa medicina.” Biog. Misc. p. 112. * Gen. v. 24. 2 Exod. xiii. 19. BIE DIES. 83 complaint had taken from him the power of speaking much at once. He then spent the rest of the day, until the evening, in the expectation of future happiness, and also spent the night in watch- fulness and prayer. When the usual time for matins was come, having received from me the holy Sacraments," he strengthened himself for his departure, which he knew to be near at hand, by partaking of the body and blood of Christ; and when he had lifted up his eyes to heaven, and extended his hands upwards in prayer, he breathed forth his soul to the joys of the kingdom of heaven.”” The soul of the holy Bishop had no sooner winged its flight to the mansions of the blessed, than Herefrid made his departure known to the brethren in the hospitium, who were watching and praying. The sad news was then telegraphed, according to a signal agreed on, to the monastery at Lindisfarne. The very spot —the highest point on the island—where now stands a lighthouse, to guide ships on their course along this dangerous part of the coast, and where, about sixty years ago, a cross stood, possibly to commemorate it, was probably the very spot from which a signal told the brethren at Holy Island that their holy Bishop, who had had to encounter adverse winds and waves, had now entered the haven of everlasting salvation. That night would have been spent at Lindisfarne in sorrow and lamentation. The monks, like Rachel, would bewail their loss, because their Bishop was no more; each would make the kind of lamentation over him that David made over Jonathan : “I grieve for thee, my brother, exceeding beau- tiful and amiable to me”;” and all would pray, though little need there was of such prayer, “Eternal rest give to him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him l’ But there was * By the holy’ sacraments are here meant the Sacraments of penance and extreme unction. The sacrament of extreme unction, according to the Anglo-Saxon ritual, was given before the viaticum ; after it he received the holy communion, which he received under both kinds, as it was given to the sick when mass was celebrated in their presence. Cuthbert communicated with the priest, and received the holy sacrament sitting “Sacer residens antistes ad altar Pocula degustat vitae, Christique supinum Sanguine munit iter.” Bede's Poetical Life. See also Lingard, vol. ii. pp. 44-46. * Bede's Life, p. 335. * 2 Kings i. 26. 84 EIIS DECEASE. joy among the choirs above, for “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints *.* “I immediately went out and made known his decease to the brethren, who had passed the night in watchfulness and prayer, and chanced at that moment to be saying in their matins the 59th Psalm, which begins, “O God, Thou hast cast us off, and hast de- stroyed us: Thou hast been angry, and hast had mercy on us”. One of them instantly lighted two torches, and, holding one in each hand, ascended a lofty spot, to make known to the brethren in the monastery at Lindisfarne that his holy soul had departed to the Lord; for they had agreed beforehand that such a signal should be made. When the brother who had kept a look-out on an eminence on the island of Lindisfarne, awaiting the hour of the event, saw the signal, he ran with speed to the church where the brethren were assembled at matins, and happened to be singing the above-mentioned psalm when he entered. This was a Divine dispensation, as the event shewed.”” Such was the manner and the time of the passage of him who departed this life A.D. 687, fifty-three years after Oswald and Aidan had established the see and monastery at Lindisfarne; who had been a religious at Mailros, Ripon, Mailros again, Lindisfarne, and Farne; who had been monk thirty-seven years, prior twelve years, anchorite nine years, and bishop two years; and who had attained the age of about fifty years. As what he had foretold concerning his own death was lite- rally verified, so was his prophecy regarding Herbert the hermit of Derwentwater. “The event proved the truth of this promise and prophecy; for after their parting at that time, they no more saw one another in the flesh; but their souls quitting their bodies on the very same day—that is, on the 20th of March—they were immediately again united in spirit, and translated to the heavenly kingdom by the ministry of angels. But Herbert was first pre- pared by a tedious sickness, through the dispensation of the Divine goodness, as may be believed, to the end that if he was anything inferior in merit to the blessed Cuthbert, the same might be made up by the chastening pain of a long sickness, that being thus made 1 Psalm crv. 15. 2 Bede's Life, p. 337. EIE I) IES. 85 equal in grace to his intercessor, as he departed out of the body at the very same time with him, so he might be received into the same seat of eternal bliss.”” * Bede's Eccles. Hist. p. 231. A poem, not wanting in merit, commemorates the fact already recorded concerning St. Cuthbert and St. Herbert, that, like “Saul and Jonathan, lovely and comely in their life, even in death they were not divided”. (2 Kings i. 23.) “At Lindisfarne, expecting death, The good St. Cuthbert lay, With wasted frame and feeble breath; And monks were there to pray. “The brotherhood had gathered round, His parting words to hear, To see his saintly labours crown'd, And stretch him on the bier. “His eyes grew dim; his voice sunk low ; The choral song arose, And ere its sounds had ceased to flow, His spirit found repose. “At that same hour a holy man, St. Herbert, well renown'd, Gave token that his earthly span Had reached its utmost bound. “St. Cuthbert, in his early years, Had led him on his way ; When the tree falls, the fruit it bears Will surely too decay. “The monks of Lindisfarne meanwhile Were gazing on their dead: At that same hour, in Derwent Isle, A kindred soul had fled.” CHAPTER VIII. HIS BURIAL, HIS CHARACTER AS THE POPULAR SAINT OF NORTHUM- BRIA, AND HIS MIRACLES AFTER HIS DECEASE. IMMEDIATELY upon his decease, his body was conveyed from Farne to the monastery at Lindisfarne. “We took back with us,” adds Herefrid, “to the island of Lindisfarne, the venerated body of our father, putting it in a boat; and it was there met by a large concourse of persons, and the brethren singing.”.” From Bede's account (chap. 41), we learn that the body was prepared at Lindisfarne for interment. The Monk of Lindisfarne describes how the remains were prepared for burial: “A navi- gantibus ad insulam nostram delatus, toto corpore lavato, capite Sudario circumdato, oblatis super sanctum pectus positis, vestimenta Sacerdotalia indutus, in obviam Christi calceamentis suis praeparatis, in Sindone cerata curatus, animam habens cum Christo gaudentem, corpus incorruptibile, requiescens et quasi dormiens in sepulchro lapideo, honorabiliter in basilica deposuerunt’’.” From this we learn, that the brethren washed his body from head to foot, wrapped it in a cere-cloth, enveloped his head with a face-cloth or napkin, placed the sacramental elements upon his breast, clothed him in the robes of a priest, and put sandals upon his feet.* Although by the word oblata, i.e. offletes or offleys, was usually meant only the bread used for the sacrifice, yet in this case there is reason to think that both the Sacramental elements were put into the coffin. Lingard says: “St. Cuthbert was laid in his coffin clothed in his episcopal vestments, with a paten, chalice, portable altar, offletes, and all that was necessary for the * Bede's Life, p. 338. 2 Lindisf. Monk, p. 123. * On the usual manner of an Anglo-Saxon burial, see Lingard's Anglo-Saxon Ch. vol. ii. p. 47, &c.; on the “oblata,” see vol. i. p. 292. HIS BTJRIAL. 87 celebration of Mass’’.” The stone coffin he was buried in was the one given him by Cudda. These stone coffins had no wooden one inside ; a place was hollowed out for the head, and a cushion was put in for the head to rest on. Though Bede does not describe the washing of the body of the holy man, yet he alludes to it, mentioning that a boy in the neighbourhood of Lindisfarne, possessed by an evil spirit which refused to go out of him after the ordinary exorcisms, was delivered from the power of the wicked spirit by the merits and intercession of the blessed Cuthbert, as soon as one of the priests put into his mouth a little earth mixed with the water in which the body had been washed. “They shew to this day the pit into which that memorable water was thrown, of a square shape, sur- rounded with wood, and filled with little stones. It is near the church in which his body reposes, on the south side.”” When the body was washed, it was prepared for burial in the manner that was customary in those days. It was “probably rubbed with some aromatic preparation supposed to possess anti- septic qualities: it was then swathed in a cere-cloth closely adhering to the skin; on this were successively placed the different habits worn by the Bishop when he offered the sacrifice of the saving Victim ; another envelope of cere-cloth was then added, and the body was deposited in a stone coffin, with an altar, chalice, paten, and other articles indicative of the high office which he held in the Church’’.” The vestments they put on him would be the amice, the alb, girdle, maniple, stole, and chasuble. The oblates were put on his breast, and sandals upon his feet. When the necessary preparations had been made, the body of the deceased Bishop was “placed in the church of the holy apostle Peter, in a stone coffin, on the right-hand side of the altar’’.” “The 13th day of the kalends of April, 687 (684 H. 44), St. Cuthbert ended his life, and was buried in Holy Island, where he was Bishop three years, in St. Peter's church, by the altar, on the east side, in a grave of stone that was for him made to be buried in.” 5 After the decease of this Bishop, very serious troubles and * Anglo-Saxon Ch. vol. ii. p. 49. 2 Bede's Life, p. 343. * Lingard, Remarks, &c. p. 14. * Bede's Life, p. 339. * Rites of Durham, p. 54. 88 E AIDEERT CONSECRATED BISEIOP, dangers fell to the lot of the church of Lindisfarne. These dangers afford a clue to the words already quoted, p. 84 (“this was a Divine dispensation, as the event shewed,” &c.), having reference to the monks singing the 59th Psalm, when they heard of their Bishop's departure. While the words of that psalm, “Who will bring me into the strong city ? who will lead me into Edom ?” (v. 11) expressed the anxious wish of the holy man to enjoy the good things of the Lord in the land of the living, the other words were equally applicable to his sorrowing brethren : “Thou hast shewn thy people hard things; Thou hast made us drink the wine of sorrow . . . . that thy beloved may be delivered '' (v. 5 and 6). |Herefrid continues: “For when the man of God was buried, the church was visited by such a storm of temptation, that several of the brethren left the place, rather than be involved in such dangers. At the end of a year (A.D. 688), Eadbert was ordained Bishop. He was a man of great virtues, learned in the holy Scriptures, and in particular given to works of charity.” Having escaped the storms of these troubles, to use the words of Scrip- ture, he “built up Jerusalem,” i.e. ‘the vision of the peace of the Lord, and gathered together the dispersed of Israel : he healed the broken of heart, and bound up their bruises'. So that it was then easy to understand the meaning of the psalm that was sung at the time when the death of the Sainted man was known; namely, that after his death his countrymen should be exposed to be driven away and destroyed, but that after a demonstration of the anger threatening them, they should again be protected by the Divine mercy. He who considers also the sequel of the above- named psalm, will perceive that the event corresponded to its meaning.”.” 1 The trials and temptations that the brethren of Lindisfarne had to undergo after the death of St. Cuthbert, and which are rather hinted at than described by Bede, are supposed by the Bollandists to allude to the endeavour then made by Wilfrid, Bishop of York, to substitute the rule of St. Benedict in the place of the instituta vitae regularis of St. Cuthbert, and which he had ordered them on his death-bed to retain. Mabillon, the Benedictine historian, throws doubt upon this suggestion. (See Acta SS. Ord. S. Bene- dicti, ii. 910.) * “According to the law, he every year gave the tenth part not only of four-footed beasts, but also of all corn and fruit, as also of garments, to the poor.”—Bede's Eccles. Hist. p. 231. * Bede's Life, p. 339. EIIS CHARACTER. * 89 “It is worthy of perpetual remembrance, that this most glorious Confessor, St. Cuthbert, was an apostolic man, admirable for every kind of virtue, plenteously replenished with the spirit of holiness, an exact mirror of justice, and an excellent example of all Christian perfection. The astonishing miracles which Almighty God wrought by this His glorious Saint, as well in his lifetime as after he arrived at the joys of heaven, the Venerable Bede, a holy man, famous and revered throughout all Christendom for his singular wisdom, learning, and sanctity, hath faithfully, sincerely, and truly published to the world, as well in prose as in verse. Besides many other exceedingly great miracles having from time to time been recorded, by grave and reverend men, as done by him, by reason of which very many and great privileges, liberties, and immunities, lands, and possessions, by Sundry magnificent princes, noblemen, and others, were granted and given to the said Bishop's see and church. This holy man was undoubtedly a chosen vessel of the Holy Ghost, raised up for the better con- firmation of the true Christian faith amongst the people of our English nation, whereunto, within a few years before, they had been converted by St. Augustine, a monk, and others, purposely sent from Rome, as related by St. Bede.”” St. Cuthbert has ever been considered the Patron Saint of Northumbria, especially of the county of Durham. Innumerable legends of him have been handed down to the present day, and the piety of the faithful still leads numbers to have their children christened by the name of the holy Cuthbert. In speaking of the popular Saint of Northumbria as a very illustrious saint, and not likely to suffer by a comparison made between him and other local Saints of England, the author trusts that he need not have recourse to such artifices as those recorded by Reginald. He states that a certain person in the south of England, of noble birth, afflicted with a very severe case of leprosy, wished to have recourse, for his cure, to the prayers of the greatest of the English saints. As St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne and Dur- ham, St. Edmund of Bury, and St. Ætheldrith of Ely, were com- monly considered the most illustrious saints, he lighted in their 1 Sanderson's Durham Cathedral and Bishopric, p. 46. 90 CURES RECEIVED AT HIS SHRINE. honour three candles of the same size, resolved in his own mind to visit the sepulchre and beg the prayers of the one whose candle should first burn out. St. Cuthbert's candle was the first to burn out, and consequently he went with his suite to Durham, and received his cure at St. Cuthbert's shrine. An interesting compa- rison is instituted in the narration between the incorruptibility of St. Cuthbert's body and that of St. Edmund and St. AEtheldrith," with a physiological essay on the connection between life and the blood. Reginald gives as his authority for this miracle the monk Thurold, who heard it from the old canons who had been witnesses of it.” He relates another story of a similar nature: A noble youth, of the city of Bergen in Norway, was afflicted with what seems to have been a paralytic stroke, that brought on blindness, deafness, and dumbness. He was in such a dreadful state as to be considered beyond recovery. His brother took him to make pilgrimages to the shrines of the different saints, for six years, in the hope of a cure. At the end of the six years, when they returned to Norway without having effected the object of the pilgrimage, his friends took him to a holy bishop. It was just a year after the martyrdom of St. Thomas à Beckett. The bishop, telling him that he had travelled much, but had never met with greater saints than St. Cuthbert and St. Edmund, and adding St. Thomas as a third, recommended them to cast lots to find out to which of these shrines the young man should go to be cured. The lot fell to the shrine of St. Cuthbert, and the young man was taken by his brother through Scotland to Durham. The evening they arrived, they passed at Repier hospital, just out of the city walls. The next morning they went to the shrine of St. Cuthbert, and in due course he received his cure. This happened in April, A.D. 1172.” A third time does Reginald bring St. Cuthbert in compari- son with English Saints, to assert his superior merits: Agnes, a matron of noble birth, is brought to death's door, by a complica- tion of diseases. Three of her friends cast lots, making a vow to take her to the shrine of that saint on whom the lot should fall. They cast lots on the three greatest Saints of this country, St. Cuthbert, St. Edmund, and St. Thomas, Martyr. The lot fell on 1 Reginald, p. 39. * Ibid. chap. xix. p. 37. *Ibid. chap. cxii. p. 248. IBIIS MIRACLES. 91 St. Cuthbert. She went to Durham, and spent the night in the church of St. Mary's ; and the next day, as soon as she crossed the threshold of St. Cuthbert's church, received her cure." The chief miracles worked by St. Cuthbert during his lifetime, and all those mentioned by Bede, have already been described. Still it is very natural to imagine, that if God granted him power when alive to work wonders, He would much more do so after his decease, when, a saint in heaven, he could have more ready access to God in interceding for such as begged his prayers. The sequel shewed that it was so. Speaking of his shrine, Bede testifies that “to this day miracles are there wrought, if the faith of those who seek them admit of it. Even the clothes which had covered his blessed body, whether dead or alive, still possess a healing power”.” He relates the details of some miracles worked by St. Cuthbert after his body had been found incorrupt. A priest, under the jurisdiction of Bishop Wilbrord Clement, Bishop of the Fresons, came to Lindis- farne, and while staying there became dangerously ill. When his life was despaired of, he desired them to lead him to the tomb of St. Cuthbert, that he might beg his intercession. When with much trouble they had led him into the church, he knelt at the tomb of the holy father, and found himself immediately recovered from his illness.” Also a young man belonging to a neighbouring monastery, whose limbs were all paralysed, was sent by his abbot to Lindisfarne, where some of the monks understood the healing art. They did all they could for him, but without effect. He then asked for something that had come from the incorrupt body of St. Cuthbert, believing that, by the blessing of God, it might be the means of his cure. The shoes which the man of God had worn in the tomb were brought to him, and put on his feet; and in a few hours he was perfectly cured.* The last miracle men- tioned by Bede in his life, is that worked in favour of the anchorite Felgeld, in which he also gives a part to Ethelwald. “Nor do I think,” says he, “I ought to omit the heavenly miracle which the Divine mercy shewed by means of the relics of the holy oratory 1 Reginald, chap. cxv. p. 260. * Bede's Life, p. 347. * Ibid. p. 349. *Ibid. p. 351. 92 HIS MIRACLES. in which the venerable father went through his solitary warfare in the service of the Lord. Whether it was effected by the merits of the same blessed father Cuthbert, or his successor Ethelwald, a man equally devoted to the Lord, the Searcher of hearts knows best. There is no reason why it may not be attributed to them both, in conjunction with the faith of the reverend father Felgeld.” He was Ethelwald’s successor, and the third anchorite of Farne. . Ethelwald died after having been there twelve years. When Felgeld went to Farne, “it seemed good to the right reverend Eadfrid, Bishop of the church of Lindisfarne, to restoré from its foundation the time-worn oratory ‘’.” When this was done, and many persons begged of Felgeld some particles of the relics of St. Cuthbert or of Ethelwald his successor, he cut up the calf's skin with which Ethelwald had repaired the oratory (p. 40), and distributed a small portion to such as asked for them. But he first experienced its wonderful efficacy in his own person. He had some complaint in his face, which at length made his face one large swelling. On steeping a piece of this skin in water, and washing his face with it, he was immediately healed. This account Bede had from a priest of the Monastery of Jarrow, who had seen Felgeld's face both before and after the cure, and also from Fel- geld himself, who, at the time he wrote, was more than seventy years old, and was waiting the end of this life with an earnest desire of the life to come.” In his Ecclesiastical History he adds some other miracles of St. Cuthbert after his decease. A brother of the monastery, named Bethwegen (A.D. 698), was struck with the palsy. On his knees, before the tomb of St. Cuthbert, he prayed that, through the inter- cession of His saint, the Lord would have mercy on him : when lo! in the midst of his prayers, he “felt a large and broad hand touch his head, where the pain lay, and by that touch all the part of his body which had been afflicted with the distemper was delivered from the weakness, and restored to health down to his feet ’’.* Another miracle was worked the same year “in the monastery, which, being built near the river Dacore,” has taken its name from the same ; over which, at that time, the monk Suidbert presided as 1 Bede's Life, p. 353. 2 Ibid. .355. * Ibid. p. 353. * Eccles. Hist. p. 233. * Dacre, Cumberland, five miles from Penrith. EIIS MIRACLES. 93 Abbot’”. It took place three years before Bede wrote, and he was informed of it by the brother himself on whom it was wrought. A young man belonging to the monastery had a swelling on the eyelid, that threatened the loss of the eye. With a great faith in the relics of St. Cuthbert, he applied to the eye some of the hair of St. Cuthbert that was in the possession of a priest of that monastery, named Thridred, and was immediately cured, through the Divine goodness, by the relics of the holy Father Cuthbert." Such were the miracles that took place immediately after his decease, and during the lifetime of his biographer. For his other miracles the author begs to refer the reader to the Durham Monk's “Libellus de admirandis Beati Cuthberti virtutibus quae novellis patratae Sunt temporibus ”. Nor need we wonder that so many miracles are handed down of him, whose life was one continued miracle. The wonders that were wrought in those days by the power of God, through his intercession, would be worked in these our days, did men ask of God, through the merits of His saint, with faith, nothing wavering, those things that are expedient. “Who may his miracles declare Even Scotland's dauntless king and heir (Although with them they led Galwegians wild as Ocean's gale, And Lodon's knights, all sheathed in mail, And the bold men of Teviotdale) Before his standard fled.” ‘Twas he, to vindicate his reign, Edged Alfred's falchion on the Dane, And turned the Conquerer back again, When with his Norman bowyer band He came to waste Northumberland.” Marmion, ii. 15. Besides these things which the holy father did and said, and besides these miracles that he worked, there are also many others, which if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books which should be written. 1 Bede's Eccles. Hist. p. 234. 2. When David I. was routed, A.D. 1138, by the English, with St. Cuthbert's holy banner, at the battle of the Standard on Cowton Moor. On this banner, see Part II. Section iii. chap. ix. PAERT II. Section #. THE WANDERINGS WITH ST, CUTHBERT'S BODY AT INTERWALS DURING (XXIV, YEARS, CHAPTER I. THE MONES IIHAVE LINIDISFARNE WITH THE BODY OF THEIR SAINT. THE evil day for the church of Lindisfarne, and for the children of St. Cuthbert, came at the close of the eighth century. “In the year 793, the inhabitants of Northumbria were alarmed by the appearance of a Danish armament near the coast. The barbarians were permitted to land without opposition. The plunder of the churches exceeded their most sanguine expectations; and their route was marked by the mangled carcasses of the nuns, the monks, and the priests, whom they had massacred. But historians have scarcely condescended to notice the misfortunes of other churches; their attention has been absorbed by the fate of Lindisfarne. That venerable pile, once honoured with the residence of the Apostle of Northumbria, and sanctified by the remains of St. Cuthbert, became the prey of the barbarians. Their impiety polluted the altars, and their rapacity was rewarded with their gold and silver ornaments, the oblations of gratitude and devotion. The monks endeavoured by concealment to elude their cruelty; but the greater number were discovered, and were either slaughtered on the island, or drowned in the sea. If the lives of the children were spared, their fate was probably more severe than that of their THE DANIES AT LINIDISFARNE. 95 teachers: they were carried into captivity. The news of this calamity filled all the nations of the Saxons with shame and sorrow. Lindisfarne had long been to them an object of peculiar respect ; and the Northumbrians hesitated not to pronounce it the most venerable of the British churches. Alcuin received the account at the court of Charlemagne, and evinced, by his tears, the sin- cerity of his grief. ‘The man,’ he exclaimed, ‘who can think of this calamity without being struck with terror, who does not in consequence begin to amend his ways, and who does not cry to God in behalf of his country, has a heart not of flesh but of stone.’ It reminded him of an extraordinary phenomenon, of which he had been an eye-witness during his last visit to England. ‘See,’ he writes to Ethelred, king of Northumbria, ‘the church of St. Cuthbert is sprinkled with the blood of its priests, and robbed of all its ornaments: that place, the most venerable of all places in Britain, has been given in prey to the Gentiles; and where Christianity first took root amongst us, after the departure of St. IPaulinus from York, there hath occurred the first of the calamities which awaited us. What else was portended by that rain of blood which we saw in Lent, at a time when the sky was calm and . cloudless, fall from the lofty roof of the northern aisle of the church of St. Peter in York, the capital of the kingdom? Did it not denote that carnage would come upon us, and come from the north 2' He wrote to the monks of Lindisfarne* who had escaped from the swords of the Danes, and asked how it came that St. Cuthbert, and the saints whose remains were interred in their church, had not preserved it from pollution. Nothing happened by chance. If it was not the first of a long train of evils destined for the whole nation, it must have been meant by God for the punishment of the inhabitants of the island.” After this pillage of the monastery and massacre of its pious * “Beatissimi Patris Cuthberti episcopi in Christo filiis, Hingoboldo episcopo, et omni congregationi Lindisfarnensis ecclesiae, Alchuinus diaconus, salutem. Westrae caritatis familiaritas me multum laetificare solehat, sed versa vice vestrae tribulationis calamitas, licet absentem, multum contristavit, quod Pagani contaminaverunt sanctuaria Dei, et fuderunt sanguinem sanctorum in circuitu altaris, calcaverunt corpora sanctorum in templo quasi sterquilinia in platea. Quid est fiducia ecclesiis Britanniae, si Sanctus Cuthbertus cum tanto sanctorum numero suam non defendit 7” &c. * Lingard's Anglo-Saxon Church, vol. ii. p. 220. 96 THE MONKS QUIT LINDISFARNE. . inmates, Higbald the Bishop, and the monks that had escaped the fury of the Danes, returned to their church, and merged their sorrow at its having been pillaged of its other treasures, in their joy at finding that the body of their Saint had escaped the sacri- legious frenzy of their enemies. Again, eighty-two years later, A.D. 875, Halfdene, the leader of the Danes, beginning with Tynemouth Priory, levelled to the ground every church in the province of Bernicia. The savage cruelty of the Danes is graphically described by Reginald:— “Anno igitur ab incarnatione Domini 875 transacto, contigit Angliae fines lata strage vastari; et Sæviente pyratarum praedonum- que mucrone populus circumquaque ex internecione deficiendo deperire. Nam civitates ignibus conflagrando consumebant; eccle- sias et cymiteria multimodis sacrilegiorum pollutionibus propha- nabant ; puerperia de materno uteri gremio excidebant; infantulos jaculis, spiculis, et hastis transfodientibus lanceabant; nec aetati nec sexui vel ordini deliberabant.” From the Smoking ruins of Tynemouth, Halfdene turned his steps towards the island of Lindisfarne. “The monastery had risen from its ashes, and was again peopled with a numerous colony of monks. By the approach of Halfdene, they were plunged into the deepest consternation and dismay. The fate of their predecessors warned them to retire before the arrival of the barbarians; piety forbade them to abandon to insult the body of St. Cuthbert. From this distressing dilemma they were relieved by the decision of the Bishop Eardulph, who reminded them of the wish expressed by the Saint at his death, that if his children should be obliged to quit the island, his bones might accompany them in their exile. The shrine which contained his body, with the remains of the other Bishops of Lindisfarne, was instantly removed from the choir; and a selection was made from the clerks attendant on the Bishop to bear it to a place of security. With tears the monks bade a last adieu to the walls in which they had devoted themselves to the monastic pro- fession. The loftiest of the Northumbrian mountains screened them from the pursuit of the infidels; and the people crowded for protection to the remains of their patron. The abbey was pillaged, and given to the flames.” * Reginald, chap. xii. p. 16. 2 Lingard's Anglo-Sax. Ch. vol. ii. p. 225. THE MONKS QUIT LINDISFARNE. 97 The same, account is given in the Rites of Durham. “In the year 875 Eardulf was Bishop, at which time certain Danes and Pagans, infidels, of sundry other nations, invaded and destroyed the realm of England in divers places. And after a certain space, Halden, king of the Danes, with a great part of the navy and army of infidels, arrived at Tinmouth haven, intending to sojourn there all the winter following; and the next spring he meant, with all his power, to invade, spoil, and destroy the county of Northum- berland. Whereof when Eardulf the Bishop had intelligence, with all his clergy and people, after long conversation had among themselves what course was to be taken in that extremity, to pre- vent the barbarous cruelty of the savage and merciless infidels, they, in the end, called to mind the words and monition delivered by St. Cuthbert to his brethren. The said holy man, before his de- parture out of this life, among other wholesome counsels and godly admonitions delivered, uttered these or the like words: “If you, my brethren, shall be at any time hereafter urged or constrained unto one of the two extremities following, I do rather choose and wish that you would take my bones up, and fly from those places, and take your place of abode and stay wheresoever Almighty God shall provide for you, than that you should, by any means, sub- mit yourselves to the yoke and servitude of wicked schismatics'. Which words he then spoke by the spirit of prophecy, foreseeing the perilousness of the time to come.” “The Bishop Eardulf, when he heard of his (Halfdene's) com- ing, and foresaw the ruin of the church of Lindisfarne, and the entire depopulation of the see, contemplated flying with his clergy. But he was in doubt as to what should be done regarding the holy body of their father Cuthbert; for he was unwilling to be without that treasure, whether he remained in his church or left it. There- fore he summoned into his presence Eadred, a man of known sanctity, who was Abbot in the monastery at Carlisle. While they were discussing the best thing to be done, they remembered the last words of the dying Cuthbert, and decided rather to leave the place than fall into the hands of the barbarians. . . . . . Therefore, taking away the holy and incorrupt body of their father, together 1 P. 55. 7 98 THE MONKS QUIT LINDISFARNE. with it, in the same coffin, as we find in the old books, they put the relics of some saints, namely, the head of the loved of God, king and martyr, Oswald, hitherto buried in the cemetery of their church; also a part of the bones of St. Aidan, for, as we have already mentioned, Colman, on his return to Scotland, took the other part ; also the venerated bones of the venerable priests suc- cessors of St. Cuthbert, Eadbert, Eadfrid, and Ethelwold, already spoken of.” They also took with them the stone cross of Bishop Ethelwold (724–40).” The Bishop, monks, and people then retired with their trea- sure from Lindisfarne, in obedience to the dying request of the Saint. “It came to pass that the inhabitants of the island of Lindisfarne, in alarm, consulted with the Bishop and clergy as to what was best to be done. For they dared not leave his holy body behind them in the island, lest it should become the prey of the enemy, and the cruel and savage pirates should carry off with them what was their greatest treasure. . . . . . At length, remembering the words of St. Cuthbert, and knowing that they were now, as he had foretold, necessitated to choose one of two evils, they preferred, according to his order, to take his bones from their grave, and carry them with them into exile, rather than submit their necks to the yoke of schismatics. Therefore, having taken this wise resolve, they communicate their plan to all, and publishing an edict, command all to follow them with all their substance. For they knew and clearly established it before the assembled people, that as long as they should have him in their company, they could not fall into the hands of their enemies, or suffer any loss or misfortune. Having settled their plans, they take the wooden coffin of St. Cuthbert, in which he had so long rested, and bearing it away with them, together with the other treasures of the church, they come to the sea-shore. It chanced * Simeon Durham, p. 97. * “Feceratiste de lapide crucem artifici opere expoliri, et in sui memoriam suum in eo nomen exarari: cujus summitatem, multo post tempore dum ipsam ecclesiam Lindis- farnensem Pagani devastarent, fregerunt : sed post artificis ingenio reliquae parti, infuso plumbo, ipsa fractura est adjuncta, Semperque deinceps cum corpore Sancti Cuthberti crux ipsa circumferri Solebat, et a populo Northanhymbrorum propter utrumque sanctum in honore haberi.”—Simeon Dunelm, p. 63. THEY BEAR AWAY THE BODY OF ST. CUTHBERT. 99 that the same moment the tide was in, and higher than usual." The bearers of the holy body, when they came to the edge of the shore, could not proceed any farther, but resolved to remain there awhile for the change of the tide. . . . Yet suddenly the sea, though it was high water, in a wonderful manner kept back its waves, and made a path on the dry sands passable to all. Eor the waters formed a wall on their right hand and on their left hand, and stood straight up like a side wall. As the bearers of the holy body advanced, there was always for their footsteps a dry road and a clear path on the sands. When all the men and women, boys and girls, herds and flocks, sheep and cattle, had entered on their path through the sea, the waters, following their steps directly behind them, returned in a wonderful manner to their former level. Thus the waters in front of them afforded them a dry path, and closing on them behind regained their original height. Thus with dry feet they reached the opposite shore ; and when they turned round to look at the island, they saw the whole extent of the sea swollen with the abundance of its waters. The sea in this manner, by a wonderful miracle, evidently showed that the incorrupt flesh of the blessed Cuth- bert was the ark of the covenant of the Lord, because, like the Jordan, it restrained its waters at the entering in of the priests bearing on their shoulders the ark of the Lord ; and in like manner closed again as they walked through it. Nor is it to be wondered at : because the body and flesh of St. Cuthbert is the ark of the eternal covenant; in which ark the pure conscience and spotless soul of St. Cuthbert is the golden urn, having in it the hidden manna, which is the heavenly desire of eternal hope, and the road of Aaron that budded, being the righteousness of spiritual discipline that grew through grace, and increased by the abundance and fruits of his virtues. It also contains a censer of pure gold, which is the recess of his pure heart, in which the incense of devotion is fragrant with the sweet odour of prayer and compunction,”’ &c., &c. When the monks fled, they left one of their brethren” behind * Probably it was a spring-tide. * Reginald, chap. xii. p. 17. * “Clericum itaque quendam, fugientes, ecclesiae custodem, reliquerunt ; a quo, Su- perveniente praedonum rabie, quidnam de ecclesiae praediis fieret se certius audituros 100 THE MONKS QUIT LINIDISFARNE. to Watch the Danes, and take charge of the church. He remained in the church, concealed, when the Danes entered. He heard them threatem to return as soon as the fugitive monks should come back with their treasures : and in consequence of his information of the threat made by the Danes, they gave up all thoughts of returning to their monastery.* confidebant, et quando reditum sperare debuissent, ab eo discere et audire instituerant. Forte igitur, illis ad insulam adventantibus, et ecclesiæ limina, subeuntibus, clericus ille, timore coactus, ad Beati Cuthberti tumbam confugerat, sub cujus præsidio vitæ commercia postulabat. Illi igitur, nudato ense, spicula, fulgrantia vibrabant, et cir- cumeuntes ecclesiam, si quempiam, sui gladii satellitem, invenire possent sollicitius quæritabant. Incredibili vero operis genere, clericus ille pervigil ante B. Cuthberti tumbam sanusque residebat, omnesque eorum ambitus, actus et strepitus et comminatus, quam studiosius advertebat. . . . . . . . . Illi igitur totam insulam pervagabant, et diripientes omnia secum exportabant. Multum tamen adinvicem conquerebantur, quod ita omnia, illis non prævenientibus, de eorum rapinis et rapacitatis ingluvie subtracta videbantur. Perpaucos, quos invenerant, gladio devorante dilaniabant. Alios etiam exspoliatos verberibus et contumeliis afficiebarft. Quæcunque autem, quamvis pauca, invenire poterant, omnia asportando diripiebant. Minabantur insuper quia si aliquando eorum reditum advertere potuissent, quam celerius accelerarent, ut eos gladio devorante consumerent : et tanto in eis acrius desævirent, quanto formidolius illis illusissent,” &c., &c.—Reginald, p. 19. * The fate of the Lindisfarne monks and of their order may be briefly told. The Danes did their work of destruction so fearfully, that but very few of the monks escaped their fury during their first visit in 793. ** Omnes monachi,” says Simeon, ** varia sunt morte necati, præter paucissimos, qui quoquo modo evaserant” (p. 97). The very few that had escaped in 793 were no more at the time of the second visit of the Danes, eighty-two years later : ** qui etiam hac clade de qua nunc agimus superveniente omnes defecerunt" (p. 98). ** Tali modo monachica congregatio defecit apud corpus Sancti Cuthberti” (p. 3). The duties of the monks, however, were takem up by the youths that had been brought up amongst them. ** Peremptis autem, ut dictum est, memoratæ ecclesiæ monachis, parvuli qui inter illos nutriebantur et instituebantur sub disciplina diligenter quoquo modo evadentes manus hostium, corpus quidem Sancti Confessoris comitati sunt : sed tradita sibi destrictione paulatim postposita, ecclesias- ticam disciplinam odio habuerunt remissioris vitæ illecebras secuti” (p. 3). They kept up the monastic custom of singing the office in choir, as they had been taught to do by the monks. ** Sed qui inter eos ab ætate infantili in habitu clericali fuerant nutriti atque eruditi, quocumque Sancti Patris corpus ferebatur secuti sunt, moremque sibi a. monachis doetoribus traditum in officiis duntaxat diurnæ vel nocturnæ laudis semper servarunt. Unde tota nepotum suorum successio magis secundum instituta monachorum quam clericorum consuetudinem canendi horas, usque tempus Walcheri episcopi, paterna traditione observavit, sicut eos sæpe canentes audivimus, et usque hodie nonnullos de illa progenie narrantes audire solemus. Nec tamen corpori ejusdem Patris Cuthberti Pontificis simul et monachi, monachorum unquam usque ad prædicti Walcheri tempora sedulitas defuit vel obsequium. Eardulfus denique Pontifex et sicut prædecessores ejus monachus, Eadredus quoque monachus et abbas, quoad vixerant, individuo comitatu ei semper adherebant: post quos Episcopi sequentes usque ad sæpedictum Walcherum THE MONKS QUIT LINDISFARNE. 101 Thus were the monks compelled to desert their monastery at Lindisfarne, in the 241st year of its existence, in the 22nd year of the episcopacy of Bishop Eardulf, and in the 875th year of the incarnation of our Lord.” Thus it was that the body of St. Cuthbert, that had lain 188 years in Lindisfarne church, was removed from its shrine ; and “Bishop Eardulf and Abbot Edred did take, carry, and bear away the body of St. Cuthbert from Holy Island southward, and fled seven years from town to town, for the great persecution and slaughter of the Paynims and Danes. And the men of the shire, when they saw that St. Cuthbert's body was gone, left their lands and their goods, and followed after.”” Thus were they forced to desert their noble church, the first that had been built in Ber- nicia, and that had been the nursing mother of many saints. Though compelled to abandon it, their hearts' affections still loved to cling to it; and wherever they went, they no doubt said with the Jews, who during their captivity sighed after their temple: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee ; if I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy.” " monachi sine duobus vel tribus monachis nunquam fuisse noscuntur” (Simeon Dunelm. p. 98). The ravages of Halfdene were the death-blow to the monastic institute in Northumbria. Within the space of seven years all the monasteries were destroyed, and the few surviving monks wanted either the will or the power to re-establish it. “With them the order of Northumbrian monks may he said to have expired. A constant Succession is, indeed, asserted to have watched at the shrine of St. Cuthbert ; but we are also assured that their number never exceeded three individuals at any one time, during the long lapse of 208 years. It was not till the reign of William the Conqueror, that the institute was revived by the industry of Aldwin, a monk of Evesham, who collected a small colony from the southern monasteries, and fixed his residence amid the ruins of Jarrow, from which he shortly after migrated to the new church at Durham.”—See Simeon Dunelm. pp. 99 and 270. * It may be well to add here the list of the Bishops of Lindisfarne, from St. Aidan, the first bishop, to Eardulf, the last that presided over the church. 1. Aidan . e . 635-652 9. Ethelwold . e . 724 2. Finan . e e . 652 10. Kynewulf . ſe . 740 3. Colman . º te . 661 11. Higbald tº e , 780 4. Tuda . º e . 664 12. Egbert . º e . 803 (Ceadda and Wilfrid.) 13. Heathured . s . 821 5. Eata . e s . 678 14. Ecgred. e g . 830 6. Cuthbert © e . 685 15. Eanbert e e . 845 7. Eadbert . º e . 688 16. Eardulf © tº . 854 8. Eadfrid . º e . 698 * Rites of Durham, p. 55. * Psalm czxxvi. CHAPTER II. THEY WANDER FROM PLACE TO PLACE FOR THE SPACE OF SEVEN * YEARS. “When the rude Dane burned their pile, The monks fled forth from Holy Isle ; O'er northern mountain, marsh and moor, From sea to sea, from shore to shore, Seven years St. Cuthbert's corpse they bore. They rested them in fair Melrose; But though alive he loved it well, Not there his relics might repose ; For, wondrous tale to tell, In his stone coffin forth he rides, A ponderous bark for river tides, Yet light as gossamer it glides Downward to Tillmouth cell. Nor long was his abiding there, For southward did the Saint repair ; Chester-le-Street and Ripon saw His holy corpse, ere Wardilaw Hailed him with joy and fear.” Marmion, ii. 14. IT is an interesting task to trace the course pursued by the holy fugitives with their precious treasure, from the time they left Holy Island till the time the remains of their Saint were finally deposited at Durham. There are few places in the north of Eng- land and the south of Scotland that were not visited by them, and hallowed by being the temporary resting-places of the body of so great and good a man. The whole of the ancient Northumbria is studded with churches and chapels dedicated in after times to St. Cuthbert. Tradition points these out as the spots where the monks lingered for a while with their precious deposit. The truth of this tradition is confirmed by Prior Wessington : * “Et dum * For a list of Prior Wessington's writings, see the Surtees Society's Historiae Dunelmensis Scriptores tres, Appendix, No. 228, p. 268. LIST OF RESTING-PLACES. 103 haec agerentur, Sanctus Cuthbertus a miraculis non cessavit, prop- ter quae, in partibus occidentalibus ubi dicti Episcopus et Abbas, rabiem Danorum declinantes, aliquando quietem habebant, plures ecclesiae et capellae in honore Sancti Cuthberti posterius sunt erectae, quorum nomina alibi sunt contenta.” " The word “alibi" evidently bears reference to the following list of places that was compiled by Prior Wessington (A.D. 1416), and placed over the choir-door of the church of Durham. A copy. is published in The History of the Cathedral Church of Durham, by Hunter, 2nd edition, Durham, 1743. “Ecclesiae in Anglia dedicatae in honore Dei et St. Cuthberti Lindisfarnensis Episcopi. In Dunelmensi comitatu : Ecclesia Cathedralis Dunelm. St. Mariae et St. Cuthb. de Cestria similiter. Collegiata de Darling- ton similiter. De Red Marshall St. Cuthberto. “In Clivelandia : Ecclesiae de Letham, de Kildale, de Merton, de Wilton, de Ormsby, omnes de St. Cuthb. “In agro Richmondiensi: Ecclesiae de South Couton, de Forset, Capella S. Cuthberti in Barton, in parochia de Stanwix. “In agro Eboracensi: Ecclesiae de Overton juxta Eboracum, de Fishlake, et Ackworth. “In Northumbria : Ecclesiae de Northam, Carram, Bedling- ton, Ellesden, Reddisdal, Capellae de Aidenbrige, et de Belting- ham. * “In Cumbria: In civitate Carleolensi, Ecclesia parochialis St. Cuthberti. Ecclesiae de Edinghall, de Salkeld, de Plumbland, de IBewcastle. “In Westmorlandia : Ecclesiae de Cleburne, et de Dufton juxta Appleby. “In Lancastrensi agro : Ecclesiae de Kirkby Perit in Fornesse, de Haxham, de Aldingham, de Lethom in Andernesse, de Meller Hassets, de Middleton juxta Manchester, Capella de Emmyldon, Capella de Lorton, Capella de Kellet in Lonsdale, Capellae de St. Cuthberto.”” Raine states that the Prior's list of churches and chapels dedi- cated to St. Cuthbert is imperfectly given in the above extract ; * MS. De Orig. Ord. Monach. fol. 30. 2 P. 162. 104 THE FIRST FLIGHT. and adds an accurate copy, from the original compilation in the handwriting of the Prior, preserved in the Loculus Secundus of the Durham Treasury. A church is occasionally placed in a wrong County. “Lancastrieschire. Furnes, Kirkby Ireleth, Haxeved, Lethom in Amundrenesse, Meler, Halsall, Birnsale in Craven," Emmyl- don in Coupeland,” Lorton,” Kelett in Lonsdall, Middleton near Manchester.” “Cleyuſland. Lethom, Kildale, Merton, Wilton, Ormisby. “Rychºmondeschir. Southcouton, Forsete, Overton near York, Barton (and I may add, upon the authority of Roger Gale, Marske, which the Prior has overlooked). “Yorke. In Pesholme, Fysshlake, Acworth. “Duremschir. Eccles. Cath. Dunelm., Cestre, Redmersell, Capella in Castr. Dunelm. (Hunter adds Darlington). “ Westmerlande. Cleburn (Hunter adds Dufton). “Commerlande. Church in Carlisle, Edynhall, Salkeld, Plumb- land (Hunter adds Bewcastle). “Northumberlande. Norham, Bedlyngton, Carram, Ellyden in Ryddesdale, Haydon Brigg, Beltyngeham.” This list is of great importance, as it affords almost the only clue to the course pursued by the fugitive monks. In the endea- vour to trace their steps, it is taken for granted that Prior Wes- sington is correct, when he states that the spots where churches were built in honour of St. Cuthbert were the very places that the monks visited with the body of their Saint. We have no doubt that, besides the churches and chapels, many crosses were erected in these counties, where the body may have remained a short time, or where the pious inhabitants could not afford to build a church. It was usual amongst the Anglo-Saxons, when a person was being carried to the grave, to erect a cross of stone, if the dis- tance was great, at every spot where the corpse had rested." Nor 1 In Yorkshire. * Embleton, in Cumberland. * Lorton, in Cumberland. * Middleton upon Leven, in Yorkshire. * St. Aldhelm died fifty miles from Glastonbury, and at every seven miles of the road, a cross pointed out the resting-place to later ages. All seven were still standing in the time of Malmesbury, and were called “Bishopstones”. (Lingard's Anglo-Sax. Ch. vol. ii. p. 51.) And in later times thirteen crosses, commonly known as Queen Eleanor's LIST OF RIESTING-PLACES. 105 may it be doubted that many crosses were erected to point out to future ages the temporary resting-places of St. Cuthbert's body. As soon as they landed on the coast of Northumberland, they would naturally fly to the hills, as well for security, as to watch there the motions of the Danes. Scarce had they left the island when the Danes arrived;" and probably the monks would have seen from the hills of Kyloe or its neighbourhood the Sacred structure enveloped in smoke and flame. From Kyloe they would probably proceed across the country to the Cheviot hills. There they would keep their eyes on the Danes, and in the shelter afforded by the hills would deliberate on their future course. The cortège consisted of Eardulf the Bishop, Eadred Abbot of Carlisle, who had been called to Lindisfarne at this crisis, the brethren of the monastery, and the laymen of Lindisfarne, who left the island to follow their Saint. “The Christian natives, with their children and wives, accom- panied the holy body of the blessed Confessor, thinking that as long as they had it with them, they possessed in his body alone, their country, their houses, their goods, and all that they had lost. They wandered from place to place, throughout the whole of Northumbria, like sheep fleeing from wolves, and confided to the care and guidance of their leader. The people were not indiscri- minately allowed to touch the coffin in which the holy remains were, nor the bier (vehiculum) on which it was borne ; but with a respect due to his sanctity, from the whole of them * seven were specially chosen for their task, so that whatever in them required care or attention was to be looked to by them alone. From this Crosses, were erected by Edward I. to the memory of his wife, on the spots where her body rested as it was conveyed in procession from Hareby to Westminster Abbey. Queen Eleanor died at Hareby, near Lincoln, in the year 1290; and the king caused a cross to be set up in every place where her body rested on the road to Westminster Abbey. Crosses were accordingly raised at Grantham, Woburn, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, Cheapside, and Charing Cross. * “Cum ergo episcopus una cum venerandis reliquiis fugiens, insulam praefatam et ecclesiam deseruisset, mox et insius loci et totius Northanymbrorum provincia sæva depopulatio est secuta, exercitu Danorum ductu Halfdene Regis crudeliter ubique debacchante. Qui etiam monasteria passim et ecclesias ignibus contradidit, servos ancillasque Dei ludibriis affectos interfecit,” &c.—Simeon Dunelm, p. 99. * These seven appear to have been laymen, and not monks. 106 TEIE FIRST FILIGHT. circumstance the seven were called by certain names given them from the duty they had to perform.” " e The names of the four chief ones among the seven were Hunred, Stitheard, Edmund, and Franco : and in after ages many persons in Northumbria were accustomed to boast of their being the de- scendants of those who had served St. Cuthbert so faithfully.” The Christians of Northumbria for several following generations were proud of tracing their descent to some of those who had helped to protect the wanderers, and especially to the true-hearted band who had guarded St. Cuthbert's bier. In the earlier part of their wanderings, the body seems to have been carried on the shoulders of these seven men. Simeon speaks “deportitoribus sacri corporis”; and Reginald speaks of it as “in humeris servorum deportatum ”: —afterwards we find the words “carrum ” and “vehiculum ” used, and a horse provided for its transport. When they left Lindisfarne, they could have little dreamt of the long and perilous and fatiguing journeys that were before them. During the whole of the seven years that the Danes continued their work of plunder and devastation, “the monks of Lindisfarne wandered from mountain to mountain, to elude the vigilance of their enemies: but their labours were sanctified in their eyes by the merit of preserving from insult the body of their patron ; and they fondly compared themselves to the Israelites, who conveyed through the wilderness, to the land of promise, the bones of the patriarch Joseph. The lot of the seven individuals who carried the shrine was the object of general envy; their families thought themselves ennobled by the privilege ; and their descendants, through many generations, claimed a superiority over, the rest of the natives.” ” Reginald relates the wanderings of the monks, without naming the localities in which they took up their temporary residence, the presents they received, and the sympathy everywhere shewn for them. “St. Cuthbert was carried about, for the space of seven whole years, to and fro, on the shoulders of pious men, through trackless. * Simeon of Durham, p. 106. * Ibid. p. 113. * Lingard's Anglo-Sax. Ch. vol. ii. p. 227. THE SEVEN CHOSEN TO BEAR THE BODY. 107 and waterless places; and when no house afforded him a hospitable roof, he remained under the covering of tents. How blessed were those dwellings of tents that sheltered such an illustrious guest how happy the shoulders that were worthy to bear such a sweet burden | Truly they that bore the weight of such a burden were perfectly initiated in the hope of heavenly sweetness. They who performed such a heavenly work of mercy were already made par- takers with him of heavenly glory. They might be called the lowing kine we read of in the book of Kings,” that bearing the ark of God on a cart, took it the straight way that leadeth from the land of the Philistines to Bethsames, where the Bethsamites were reaping wheat in the valley. For might not they be truly called the ‘kine that have calved’ (v. 7), who, for the love of St. Cuthbert, left their children and wives, and yoked themselves to carry his holy body? They lowed for the love of the pledges that they had left at home, and at the same time, daily and hourly, with entreaties and tears, begged the prayers of St. Cuthbert for their safety and well-being. Turning not aside either to the right hand or to the left, they came to Bethsames, i.e. the house of the Sun, bearing the coffin with his incorrupt body, according to the orders of the Bishop and his brethren, whithersoever he ordered them. For the house of the Sun of Justice is the monastery of the present holy church, which, in the valley of humility, possesses the blessed Cuthbert, while she keeps his precepts of meekness: and in the valley of humble conversation reaps the seed of the virtue of justice, whilst she imitates his example and teaching.”.” Nothing can exceed the poetry of this passage, either for beauty or tenderness. “During the time that the body of the blessed Cuthbert was being carried from place to place, and resting in tents, all the people, even strangers, everywhere shewed him the respect that Was due to him. For some, on bended knees, offered him money; others brought in his honour, and as a testimony to his sanctity, precious garments and silks; others gave linen and flax, woollen cloths, and fleeces of wool; and those who could contribute no more, contributed bread and cheese.” ” * 1 Kings vi. 12. * Reginald, chap. xiv. p. 20. * Ibid. chap. xv. p. 22. 108 THE FIRST FILIGHT. In Northumberland they visited" Norham, on the Tweed and seven miles from Berwick; Carham, also on the Tweed, west of Norham, and about three miles from Coldstream ; Tillmouth, a hamlet near Norham, and four miles and a half from Coldstream, where the river Till falls into the Tweed.” These places were not amongst the earliest visited by our Saint's remains. The tradition is, that after their attempted journey into Ireland, the Saint's body was brought to Melrose ; that it remained there some litttle time, and then was launched upon the Tweed in a stone coffin,” and sailed down to Tillmouth. The more probable version of the tradition is, that the whole escort conveyed the body in a boat, or on a raft, down the Tweed. In the same county they also came to “Elles- den,” “ or Elleyden, in Ryddesdale, now called Elsdon, eighteen miles to the west of Morpeth. This was probably one of the earliest places they visited in Northumberland : it would have af- forded them an excellent retreat, as it is concealed among the Redesdale hills. The place was formerly covered with a large forest, and a few years ago was little better than moor and mo- rasses. From Elsdon they probably followed the course of the Reed, passing what is now Bellingham, where the Reed falls into the North Tyne; then they would follow the North Tyne, and then the South Tyne to Haydon Bridge, On the Tyne, and six miles west of Hexham. From Haydon Bridge they would go to “Beltyngeham,” or Beltingham, a few miles west of Haydon * The places visited by the Saint's body are marked in the accompanying map of Northumbria by a cross on a triangle. * The Till is a dark, sullen river. Near its mouth still stands the old bridge, by which the English crossed the Till before the battle of Flodden. (See Marmion, canto vi.) The character of the two rivers is shown in a popular rhyme : “Tweed said to Till, What gars ye rin sae still ? Till said to Tweed, Though ye rin’ wi' speed, And I rin slaw, Yet, where ye drown ae man, I drown twa ” * “This boat is finely shaped, ten feet long and three feet and a half in diameter, and only four inches thick, so that with very little assistance it might certainly have swam. It still lies, or at least did so a few years ago, in two pieces, beside the ruined chapel of Tillmouth.”—Note to Scott's Poetry, Edinburgh, 1847, p. 154. * From ells, “waters,” and deme, “a woody dell’. THE COURSE PURSUED IN THE FIRST FILIGHT. 109 Bridge. Amongst the other places in Northumberland visited with the Saint's remains during the first flight, it is very probable that the cortège halted at Howburn, where, near the village that still bears the name, and on the southern slope of a long ridge of hills, there is a natural cave, that has always been known as St. Cuthbert's Cave, or Cuddy's Cove, from some tradition connected with the Saint. In Cumberland their resting-places were Bewcastle, ten miles north-east of Brampton ; Carlisle; Salkeld, or Great Salkfield, three miles south-west of Kirkoswald ; Edenhall, four miles north- east of Penrith ; Plumbland (so called, according to Reginald, from Plumbe, “a nemoris circumcinctu, quia silvarum densissima pleni- tudine undique circumsepta : Secundum idioma Anglicum “Lund,’ nemus paci donatum, cognominatur’”), six miles north-east of Cockermouth ; Embleton, three miles east of Cockermouth ; and Lorton, four miles south-east of Cockermouth. In Westmoreland they 'rested a while at Cliburn, seven miles north-west of Appleby; at Dufton, three miles north of Appleby —the retirement of Dufton Fells would afford them a very secure shelter ; and at Clifton, three miles south-east of Penrith. In Lancashire they rested at Haxheved, i.e. Hawkshead, situ- ated between Windermere and Coniston lakes, and where the hills would afford them the most perfect security; Kirkby Ireleth [called Kirkby, i.e. “a place near a church,” as many places that had gradually formed themselves round a church were called, and Ireleth, “the west,” to distinguish it from above twenty other Rirkbys], five miles north-west of Ulverstone; Aldingham, east of Furness, and six miles south of Ulverstone; Over-Kellet, eight miles north-east of Lancaster; Lytham, six miles south-west of Rirkham ; Mellor, about three miles north-west of Blackburn ; and Halsall, about ten miles north-west of Ormskirk. In Yorkshire, in what is now the West Riding, they stayed at “Birnsale in Craven,” i.e. Burnsal, eight miles north-east of Skipton ; Ackworth, three and a half miles south-west of Ponte- fract ; Fishlake, about twelve miles north of Doncaster, and four and a half west of Thorne ; and, at the junction of the three Rid- * Reginald, p. 275. 110 & TEIE FIRST FILIGHT. ings, Peasholme, then a suburb of York, and now known as Peas- holme Green, in the city of York. In Richmondshire, in the North Riding, are traces of them at Eorcett (probably they came from Cotherstone, on the Tees, and north of Barnard Castle, following the course of the river to For- cett), seven miles north-east of Richmond ; Barton, called Barton St. Cuthbert, five miles south-west of Darlington; South Cowton,” about five miles north-east of Catterick, and east of Richmond ; Marsk, about five miles west of Richmond—here they would be well protected by the high hills of Swaledale; and Overton, five miles north-west of York. In Clevelandshire, in the same Riding, they halted at Kildale, six miles east of Stokesley, in a wild and mountainous part of the country; Kirk-Leatham, south of Redcar, and five miles north- west of Guisborough ; Wilton,” three miles and a half north-west of Guisborough ; Ormesby, about six miles west of Guisborough ; Marton, i.e. Marshtown, six miles north of Stokesley and Middle- ton-upon-Leaven, four miles south-east of Yarm. In Durham county they visited, among other places, Darling- ton, Billingham, and Redmarshall, near Stockton; Chester-le- Street, six miles north-east of Durham ; and Durham. The order in which they visited the different places mentioned in the list already quoted * is nowhere set forth. We know that they traversed Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Lancashire, Durham, Yorkshire, and part of Scotland; but we do not know the course they took, or the Order in which the different places were visited. There is reason to believe that they did not at first proceed direct west to the coast to take shipping for Ire- land. Simeon of Durham states, that it was not until they had * Cotherstone is so called from “Cuthbert's stone,” possibly some cross having been raised in his honour. * The battle of the Standard, A.D. 1138, was fought here, and the Scots were routed with the loss of 11,000 IlleIl. * Wilton Castle was the property of Sir John Bulmer, Knight, who, after the pil- grimage of grace, was attainted for high treason. * The reader can follow the journey of the Bishop and his clergy on the map given in this volume. If he wishes to follow it on a map giving the natural appearance of the country, he can open the maps in Speed's Theatre of Great Britain ; or if he wishes to See the places on a larger scale, with their present means of communication, &c., he can make use of Walker's County Maps. THE ORDER OF THEIR FLIGHT. 111 wandered over the whole province with the Saint's body, and were quite worn out with fatigue, that this idea suggested itself to them.” Surtees is of opinion that they went direct to the sea- coast. Their journey again eastward, when they went from Melrose to Tillmouth, was probably after they had landed on the coast of Scotland. tº In the third year of their wanderings, A.D. 878, St. Cuthbert is said to have appeared to Alfred, to encourage him to meet the Danes, with the promise of victory. “In the meanwhile Alfred, king of the West Saxons, not daring to withstand the overpower- ing strength of his enemies, remained concealed for three years among the Glastonbury marshes. St. Cuthbert there appeared to him in a vision.” . . . Among other admonitions and promises, he promised the kingdom of Britain to him and to his sons. “I exhort you,' said he, ‘to hold in special love the virtues of mercy and justice, and to teach your children to cultivate them above all things; because, through the gift of God, at my request, the whole empire of Britain will be given to you to rule. And if you will remain faithful to God and me, you shall ever have me as a strong shield of defence, to destroy all the force of your enemies.’ There- fore the next day, according to the Saint's promise, five hundred of his best friends, well armed, came to him about the ninth hour; and after seven days the English army met at Assandune.” There Alfred gained the victory over his enemies; and sent gifts worthy of a king, by his son Edward, to St. Cuthbert.”* About this time, probably near the end of the sixth, or be- ginning of the seventh year of their wanderings, i.e. A.D. 881 or 882, they seem to have despaired of ever being able to live peace- fully in Northumbria, or even in England: add to this, that a famine was ravaging the country, and we need not wonder that they formed the resolution to cross over into Ireland with the remains of St. Cuthbert. Their plan was matured by Eardulf and * Simeon of Durham, chap. xxvi. p. 109. * Was the church of St. Cuthbert at Wells, near Glastonbury, erected upon the spot where the Saint appeared to Alfred, or can any connexion be traced between the church and the vision ? * Ashdown or Assington, north of Essex. Camden thinks the former. * Simeon Dunelm. p. 107. For a further account of the appearance of St. Cuthbert to Alfred, see Roger of Wendover, p. 211. 112 THE FIRST FILIGIFIT. Eadred, and then communicated to a few of the party. “When the Bishop Eardulf and the Abbot Eadred had wandered through almost the whole province with their treasure the body of the Saint, and were worn out with great fatigue by their lengthened labours, they discussed between themselves for some time the pro- priety of seeking in Ireland an end of their labours, and a resting- place for the body, especially as they had no hope of remaining in any part of this country. Then consulting a few of the more wise and aged in their retinue, they confided to them their secret plan. The idea pleased them. ‘It is very evident,’ say they, ‘that we are warned to seek a resting-place in a foreign land; for unless this was the will of God, and of the Saint himself, a fitting place would ere this have been provided for the Saint and for our rest.” Therefore the Bishop, the Abbot, and all the people assem- ble at the mouth of the river Derwent." There a ship is prepared for them to cross in ; the venerated body of their father is put on board; and whilst the rest were in ignorance of what was being done, the Bishop and the Abbot, with the few to whom the secret had been entrusted, enter into the ship. And what next 2 They bid adieu to their companions watching them on the shore : a favourable wind fills the sails, and they turn the prow in a straight line towards Ireland. What a cry of lamentation was then raised by the people ! ‘Alas,’ say they, “why were we born in these disastrous times? Behold, thou, Our father and our patron, as a captive, art led into exile, and we miserable captives are exposed to the fury of our raging adversaries, like sheep to the teeth of wolves 1’ They said no more: but at the moment the winds change, the swelling waves rise, and the sea, that just before was calm, becomes stormy; and the ship, no longer obeying the rudder, was tossed about upon the waves. All that were in it became motionless, like dead persons. At the same time, three enormous waves, rushing forward with a dreadful roar, half filled the ship, and by a frightful miracle, unequalled since the plagues of Egypt, were immediately changed into blood. While the ship was rolling on its side by the fury of the storm, the copy of the Gospels, adorned with gold and jewels, fell out of it into the 1 The Derwent falls into the sea at Workington on the coast of Cumberland. THEY SAIL FOR, IRELAND. 113 depths of the sea. When they had a little recovered from the shock, they kneel down, and prostrating flat before the feet of the Saint's body, ask pardon for their foolish attempt. Then, seizing the rudder, they turn back the ship to the shore and to their companions, and, with the wind blowing at their back, reach the shore without difficulty. Then they who before had wept for sorrow, now weep the more for joy; and the Bishop with his companions, shedding tears through shame and Sorrow, prostrate themselves on the ground and earnestly pray for forgiveness.” This stage of their flight is described in the Rites of Durham : “And so the Bishop, the Abbot, and the rest, being weary of travelling, thought to have stolen away, and carried St. Cuthbert's body into Ireland, for his better safety. And being upon the sea in a ship, by a marvellous miracle, three waves of water were turned into blood. The ship that they were in was driven back by the tempest and by the mighty power of God, as it would seem, upon the shore or land. And also the said ship that they were in, by the great storm and strong raging walls of the sea, as is aforesaid, was turned on the one side, and the book of the holy Evangelists fell out of the ship into the bottom of the sea.”” As soon as they landed, their first care was to search for the book they had lost. Their landing place was near Whithorn the ancient seat of Christianity in Galloway, and opposite Belfast.” * Simeon Durham, p. 109. * Rites of Durham, p. 59. * It was ealled “Candida Casa,” from the whiteness of the stone, and more com- monly “Whit-hern,” for the same reason. It was the first church built of stone in these kingdoms; whilst the next in order were York, Lincoln, Ripon, and Hexham. The church of Whithorn was the first Christian church built in the land of the Scots. “Bede relates that the first tribes of North Britain who turned from their idols to worship the true God, owed their conversion to the British Bishop St. Ninian. He had studied at Rome ; and on that headland of Galloway where he chose the chief seat of his mission, “he built a church of stone, in a way unusual among the Britons'. It was dedicated by him to St. Martin of Tours, from whom he obtained masons to shape its walls after the Roman fashion. In this white house, as it was named, the body of St. Ninian had its rest, with the bodies of many other saints; and for ages the place con- tinued to be famous, not only in North Britain, but throughout the Anglo-Saxon king- doms, and among the races of Ireland. Even from Gaul were letters sent to ‘the brethren of St. Ninian at Whithern,’ written by the most accomplished scholar of the age—Alcuin, the divine and philosopher, the historian and the poet. In more modern times the ancient shrine was renowned as a pilgrimage, whither kings and princes, churchmen and warriors, with people from many realms, came by sea and land to make their devotions. The reader will ask, “Do any remains of this famous church of the 114 THE FIRST FILIGHT. As they continued their search for it, they found it about three miles from the shore. If, when we add to the fact that the Bishop and a few others, wishing to steal away from the rest into Ireland with the Saint's body, had diminished their confidence and damped their ardour, the circumstance of there having been at that time a fearful famine in the land, we need not wonder that the band of true- hearted followers became much reduced in numbers. The famine was occasioned by the people not being able to cultivate the soil during the seven years that the Danes were ravaging the country. Reginald gives a most accurate description of the effect of the famine on the persons of the famishing people. “Fames etiam tunc temporis in tota terra praevaluerat universae Anglicae regionis. Unde videres homines ex pestilentiae morbo Subito morientes ; alios, pelle a carnis counitione dissiliente, turgentibus genis turpi genere inflantes. Nam tumor internae aegritudinis adeo pellem exterioris hominis extenderat, quasi calamus flatus (al. foetus) flablorum administrans folles extrahendo protendat. Pallor in ora consederat, macies totum corpus absumpserat, tumor Vero intercutaneus ex famis inedia a planta usque in verticem, corium, sicut in tentorio extenuabat.” Owing to these untoward circumstances, the greater part of their followers deserted them, after having for several years followed their Saint “in weal and in woe,” and having voluntarily shared his banishment. Up to this time, they had not allowed a brute beast to bear so precious a burden, but thought themselves too highly honoured in being allowed to carry so invaluable a treasure fourth century exist?’ Alas, this is a question which the Scottish antiquaries have never thought worthy of consideration. They have forgotten Whithern as utterly as if it had been the commonest spot of earth in their country; and it is to a contemporary English writer (Lives of the English Saints, No. xiii. St. Ninian, p. 147) that we owe the infor- mation that a roofless and ruined chancel, built about the end of the twelfth century, occupies ‘the site of much more ancient buildings, which had been the crypt, as it would seem, of an extensive church ; for there are large vaults of old and rude masonry around, which rise higher than the level of the chancel floor. These,’ he continues, ‘must have been part of the original church of St. Ninian, of the fourth century, or built by the Saxons in the eighth century; and it would be interesting to ascertain whether they are not really part of a church, the building and date of which are so marked in the eccle- siastical history of Scotland ” (Quarterly, vol. lxxxv, p. 108). * Reginald, chap. xv. p. 23. A CAR PROVIDED FOR THE RELICS. 115 on their shoulders. But when the greater part of their followers withdrew, other means were provided for its transport. “Famuli igitur Beati Cuthberti, qui eatenus corpus swum collo, humeris, brachiisque detulerant, ex longitudine temporis et pro fatigatione itineris pene defecerant : nec amplius quam quatuor onerarii, qui familiarius ei Semper inhaeserant, ad opus oneris superstites erant. Murmurando ergo musitare coeperant, et de laboris infiniti lassi- tudine persaepius adinvicem conquerendo dolebant.” " Simeon continues his narrative : “In the meantime, the band of followers, compelled by the long labour of several years, through the necessity of hunger and the want of everything, withdraw from the company of the holy body, and disperse themselves in uninhabited places, to live as they could. With the exception of the Bishop and the Abbot, and a very few others, all took their departure, excepting also those seven, who, as we have already stated,” always remained to wait upon the body of the Saint. They were those who, having been brought up and educated by the monks, when they left the Monastery of Lindisfarne, followed, with a determination never to abandon as long as they lived, the venerated body of the holy confessor. The names of the four principal ones were, Hunred, Stitheard, Edmund, and Franco. . . . . . When, therefore, at the departure of the rest, they were left alone with their great treasure, they suffered great trouble from everything being against them, and were not able to devise what course to follow, or how to cheer their drooping spirits. ‘What,’ say they to themselves, “shall we do? whither shall we bear the relics of our father ? In our flight from the barbarians, we have for seven years travelled through the whole country; and there is now no place left for us to fly to in our own country ; and, by a manifest chastisement, we have been forbidden to wander elsewhere in search of a resting-place. Moveover, a sad famine would compel us to seek the means of sustenance wherever we can, but the Sword of the Danes raging in every place does not allow us to travel with our treasure. Yet if we desert it to provide for ourselves, what shall we after- wards be able to answer the people when they ask us, Where 1 Reginald, p. 24. 2 See note to page 105. 116 THE FIRST FILIGHT. is their pastor and their patron 2 Could we say, that it was taken from us by stealth or by force,—that it was carried abroad, or left in some desert place 2 Truly, in such a case, we should at their hands meet the death we deserved, and would leave Our infamy to all future ages, to have the curses of all heaped on us.” At last, in their distress, they received the usual assistance from their sainted patron, and through it their minds were freed from trouble, and their bodies from fatigue; for ‘the Lord is become a refuge for the poor, a helper in due time in tribulation'." For, appearing in a vision to one of them, i.e. to Hunred, he ordered them at the ebb of the tide to search for the book that had fallen from the ship into the water; and that perhaps, contrary to their expectations, through the mercy of God, they might find it. Their minds had, indeed, been very much troubled at the loss of the book. To this order he added another : “Do you,' said he ‘hasten and hold up before the eyes of a horse that you will find at no great distance from this spot the bridle that you will see hanging on a tree; and it will immediately run to you to be bridled, and will ease you of your labour, by drawing the car (carrum) on which my body is for the future to be carried about ’. When he had heard this, he forthwith awoke from his sleep, and related the vision that he had seen, and immediately sent some of the party to the sea-shore, to search for the book that had been lost; for by this time they had come to the place called “Candida Casa,’ or more commonly ‘Whiteherne'. When they went to the shore they found that the sea had receded much more than usual; and, walking a distance of three miles or more, they found the book of the holy Gospels, that retained its original beauty, both as regards the jewels and gold that adorned its exterior, and the letters and pages of the interior, as if it had not been touched by the water.” This circumstance was a great relief to their uneasy 1 Psalm ix. 10. 2 This book, a copy of the Four Gospels, was in the handwriting of Eadfrid, the successor of St. Cuthbert. It is a singularly beautiful specimen of Saxon caligraphy. A note at the end of St. Matthew's Gospel mentions that it was written by Eadfrid, and it appears that he wrote it before he was made Bishop. The text is that of the Vulgate. The illuminations, exquisitely done, were added by Æthelwald, his successor. Its cover, of gold, silver, and gems, was the addition of Bilfrid; and at a later period a Lindisfarne monk named Aldred intellined it with a Dano-Saxon version. It remained at Lindis- THEY FIND THE BOOK OF THE GOSPELS. 117 minds, and removed all doubt concerning the other things that had been revealed to the man already named.” There is another description of the finding of the copy of the Gospels in the Rites of Durham. “The which book, being all adorned with gold and precious stones on the outside, and they being all troubled with great sorrow for the loss of the said book, one Hunredus, being admonished and commanded by the vision of St. Cuthbert (appearing), to seek the book that was lost in the sea three miles and more from the land ; and, as they were ad- monished, they found the book much more beautiful than it was before, both in letters and leaves, excelling the outer beauty of the cover, being nothing blemished by the water, as though it had been touched by some heavenly power.”” According to the vision of Hunred, the horse was found, har- nessed, and made to bear the bier of the Saint. “Therefore, going, as he had been instructed in the vision, he found the har- ness (frenum) hanging on a tree ; and then, looking around him On every side, at a little distance he saw a chestnut (ruft coloris) horse, that most unaccountably had come to this solitary spot; and when, raising his hand, he shewed it the harness, it immediately came and offered itself to be harnessed. When he led it to his companions, they from that time exerted themselves much more willingly in behalf of St. Cuthbert's body, because they knew for certain that his assistance was never wanting to them in the time of need. Therefore, yoking the horse to the vehicle that bore their heavenly treasure in his coffin, they were well able to follow it through the different places, because they employed the horse that God had provided to draw it.” " farme till the flight of the monks, was lost as above, and in due course came to Durham with the monks. When Lindisfarne was restored, it was carried back, and remained there till the dissolution. In the year 1623 Mr. Robert Bowyer owned it ; afterwards it fell into the hands of Sir Robert Cotton, and is now in the British Museum (Nero, D. 4). It is described by Selden, Mareschall, Smith, Wanley, and Astle. Facsimiles of the manuscript are given in Astle's Origin and Progress of Writing, plate 14, and in Strutt's Chronicle. * Simeon Durham, chap. xxvii. p. 112. * Rites of Durham, p. 56. “And the book of the holy Evangelists, which was lost in the sea as is aforesaid, was preserved and kept in the Abbey Church of Durham, where the body of St. Cuthbert doth lie, as a place most worthy of so precious a book, brought to light again through his revelation” (Rites of Durham, p. 58). * Simeon Durham, chap. xxvii. p. 116. 118 THE FIRST FILIGHT. The account of Reginald is more explicit. He adds some curious particulars, viz., that one of the seven found the harness, another the horse, and a third the vehicle. “In the meantime the blessed Cuthbert shewed himself in a vision to one of them (named Hunred, in the margin), and said, ‘To-morrow let each of you four (in the margin, Hunred, Stithear, AEdmund, Franco, for all had withdrawn except the seven who remained to serve him) go into the interior of the wood, and bring what he may find there to aid in bearing my body. For I do not require that you should labour and fatigue yourselves any longer: only I commit to you the care of my body, and the management of the journey.’ When they had heard this, they rose early in the morning, and set out on their search through the wood. The first saw a bridle hanging from a tree, and astonished his companions not a little when he brought it to them. On this account Stithard was called ‘Rap,' because he first found the harness (fraeni funicu- lum). The second, when he went farther into the wood, on shaking the harness so as to make it rattle, laid hold of a chestnut horse that was coming towards him, and handed it over harnessed to his third companion. On account of his having found it, he was always called “Coite,” which means a horse. The third also, as he ad- vanced a little with the horse, Suddenly found a very beautiful car (carrum), made of wood, of an appropriate form, and provided with everything necessary for the purpose. He soon yoked the horse to it, and with great joy led it to his companions. This man, Hunred, was afterwards named by his companions ‘Cretel,’” that is, in English, a car. Therefore after this time they placed the holy body of the blessed Cuthbert on the said car, and thus bore it about from place to place without fatigue to themselves.” 8 * * Rap, in Anglo-Saxon, means “a rope”; coite means “a colt”. Reginald, chap. xv. p. 24. “And also by the foresaid vision of St. Cuthbert (‘being upon the shore,’ interlined), they saw a bridle hanging on a tree, and looking about him, he did see a red horse, which, coming towards him by God’s provision, did offer himself to be bridled, to ease their travail in carriage of the bier whereon St. Cuth- bert's body lay.”—Rites of Durham, p. 56. * Cretel, from the Anglo-Saxan craet, “a cart”. Another of their number, called Eilaf, was changed into a fox for secreting a cheese for his own use ; and on being re- stored to himself again, was named Tod, “quod vulpeculam somat”. * See Reginald, chap. xv. p. 25. THEIR FOOD DURING THE FAMINE. 119 The devout servants of St. Cuthbert then continued their wanderings with renewed spirit and energy. They no longer had to bear the precious burden on their shoulders, but the horse drew from place to place the treasure of their Saint's body ; yet they suffered much from the famine that prevailed in consequence of the pillage made by the Danes. “They feared above all things that they would suffer from the famine, because there was no corn or other crops growing. At this time they happened to be in the extensive and wild country belonging to the Picts; and had no food in their possession except- ing the head of a horse and the cheese already mentioned; for a horse's head, at this time of destitution, could scarcely be pur- chased for five sicles of silver." For many days they had no bread to eat, but had to support life on horse-flesh and cheese; and of this they had only a very limited supply, because the famine had well-nigh exhausted the stock of every species of animal in the neighbouring country. All of them supported life on the horse's head, which they had salted, and on the cheese.”* Still they took their meals at regular hours, and made use of the ground for their table.” Eor many months more did the monks wander with their Saint’s body, from the time of the unsuccessful attempt to cross over into Ireland, till their arrival at Chester-le-Street, in the beginning of the year 883. The line of their journey was from Whithorn, probably to Kirkcudbright, a town in the county of the same name, called after St. Cuthbert. The Christians at Whithorn gave them a hearty welcome, and they remained there some time. But Bishop Eardulf was anxious to revisit his flock in Northumberland; and hearing of Halfden's death he returned. Many devout friends joined them whilst they continued wandering in the hills and hiding in the woods. It was the autumn of 882 when they arrived at Crake, north of York. Crake had been given to St. Cuthbert, on the day he was elected Bishop, by King Egfrid : a monastery had been estab- lished there, and though it had been disturbed by the Danes, it was now peopled by monks. The abbot Geve gave them a 1 Probably about ten silver pennies. * Reginald, chap. xv. p. 25. “Ibid. p. 26. 120 THE FIRST FILIGHT. shelter in his monastery, and they remained there four months with the Saint's body.” It was situated in the midst of deep woods. There was a saying about Crake, that “a Squirrel could hop from it to York from bough to bough ". * When they had stayed four months at Crake, they turned their steps northward to Chester-le-Street, and arrived there in the beginning of the year 883. 1 “His ita gestis,” says Simeon, “ad monasterium quod in sua quondam villa voca- bulo Creca fuit, illud venerabile corpus deferunt, ibique ab abbate, cui nomen erat Geve, benignissime suscepti, velut in proprio quatuor mensibus residebant.” Chap. xxviii. p. 118. CHAPTER III. THE BODY OF ST. CUTHBERT IS BROUGHT TO CHESTER-LE STREET, WHICH IS MADE THE BISHOP's SEE, AND REMAINS THERE CXIII. YEARS. WHEN the wanderers, after spending four months at Crake, arrived at Chester-le-Street, Bishop Eardulf, “vir ubique in pro- speris et in adversis St. Cuthberto adhaerens,” fixed there his episcopal see. This was in the early part of the year 883. The victories of Alfred had by this time restored peace to the Christians in the north.” “At the return of tranquillity, the survivors, de- scending from the mountains, solicited the protection of the con- querors. By the Danes it was willingly granted ; the body of the Saint was deposited at Conchester,” and new honours were paid to his memory.” " As soon as they had settled at Chester-le-Street, Alfred and Guthred gave the whole of the land between the Wear and the Tyne for a perpetual possession to St. Cuthbert, and to those who should serve his church.* When this property was given to the Church, she threw her mantle of protection over the patrimony of * After the death of Halfdene, leader of the Danes, St. Cuthbert is said to have appeared in a vision to Eadred the Abbot, to suggest to him to persuade the Danes to choose Guthred, son of Hardacnut, as their king. The negotiation was successful. See Simeon Dunelm. chap. xxviii. p. 119. * Called Conchester from the river Con running through it, but now Chester-le- Street, about six miles north of Durham. * * Anglo-Sax. Ch. vol. ii. p. 228. * “Memorato Abbati per visum astans ipse Sanctus, ‘Dicito, inquit, regi ut totam inter Weor et Tine terram mihi et in mea ecclesia ministrantibus perpetuae possessionis jure largiatur, ex qua illis me inopia laborent, vitae subsidia procurentur. Praecipe illi praeterea ut ecclesiam meam tutum profugis locum refugii constituat, ut quicunque qua- libet de causa ad meum corpus confugerit, pacem per xxxvii. dies nulla unquam occasione infringendam habeat.”—Simeon Dunelm. chap. xxviii. p. 120. This vision and grant of land was commemorated by a figure and inscription on the screen on the south side of the choir in Durham Abbey Church. See Rites of Durham, p. 118. 122 THE SEE REMOVED TO CHESTER-LIF-STREET. St. Cuthbert, and decreed that “has leges et haec statuta quicunque quolibet nisu infringere praesumpserit, eos in perpetuum, nisi emendaverint, gehennae ignibus puniendos, anathematizando sen- tentia omnium contradidit.” " The Bishop immediately set to work to build a church of wood;’ and from having been the sixteenth and last Bishop of Lindisfarne, became, A.D. 883, the first Bishop of Chester-le-Street. He also made the church a place of sanctuary, ordering that who- ever should fly to the Saint's body for protection should enjoy the privilege of sanctuary for thirty-seven days. Rings and Bishops strove, with honourable rivalry, to outdo each other in honours paid to St. Cuthbert and his church. King Guthred, on his death-bed, A.D. 894, confirmed for ever the immu- nities and privileges of the church of St. Cuthbert. King Alfred, after uniting Northumbria to the Heptarchy, on his death-bed, A.D. 900, left his dying injunction to his son Edward to love and honour St. Cuthbert and his church, through gratitude for what. the Saint had done for his father.” Edward laid the same order On his son Athelstan, who, on his road to Scotland, A.D. 934, visited the shrine of St. Cuthbert, and made to the church many presents” worthy of a king. Athelstan ordered his brother and Successor, Edmund, to love St. Cuthbert, and honour his church. Edmund visited the shrine of the Saint, and made suitable presents to it. The monks remained with their treasure at Chester-le-Street one hundred and thirteen years, during which time several bishops presided over the see.” 1 Simeon Dunelm. p. 122. * This wooden church remained till the year 1045, when Bishop Ægelric, who came to the see A.D. 1042, built a church of stone to commemorate this resting-place of the body of St. Cuthbert. See Simeon Dunelm. chap. xliv, p. 167. * Simeon, chap. xxx. * For a list of these presents, see Raine, p. 50. * The Bishops of Chester-le-Street were : 1. Eardulf ... deceased A.D. 900 6. Sexhelm ... e tº e deposed 2. Cutheard * & ſº * * * ... 915 7. Aldred ... deceased A.D. 968 3. Tilred ... tº e ſº tº º tº ... 928 8. Elfsig º e ſº tº e g ... 990 4. Wigred o e º tº ſº tº ... 944 9. Aldhune ... See removed in 995 5. Uhtred... tº º º tº & tº ... 947 CHAPTER IV. THE SAINT’s BODY AND THE EPISCOPAL SEE ARE REMOVED FROM CEIESTER-LIE-STREET TO DUREIAM. “For southward did the Saint repair; Chester-le-Street and Ripon saw His holy corpse, ere Wardilaw Hailed him with joy and fear ; And, after many wanderings past, He chose his lordly seat at last Where his cathedral, huge and vast, Looks down upon the Wear : There deep in Durham's Gothic shade His relics are in secret laid.” Marmion, ii. 14. WHEN the bishop's see and the body of St. Cuthbert had remained for one hundred and thirteen years at Chester-le-Street, the Danes again drove the Bishop and his clergy from their home. Still remembering the dying words of the Saint, they took his body with them, and fled from Chester-le-Street southward. The first place they stayed at was Ripon. “In the year of our Lord 995, the seventeenth year of the reign of King Ethelred, and the sixth year of his episcopacy, the bishop (Aldhune), by the advice of an Oracle from heaven, instructing him to fly with the incorrupt body of the holy father from the threatening ravages of the pirates, took it, in the 113th year after it had been settled at Chester-le-Street, and removed it, with all his people, to Ripon. One thing was remarkable in their flight, that no one of all that multitude, from the youngest to the oldest, suffered from any kind of illness, but all pursued their journey without any fatigue or inconvenience. Nor was this the case with the men only, but even the delicate and quite young animals, for it was the spring time of the year, walked the whole journey safe and sound.” 1 Simeon Dunelm. chap. xxxvi. 140. 124 TEIE SECOND FLIGHT. If we may believe the author of the manuscript in the Rites of Durham, it was Bishop Aldhune's intention, in taking the Saint's body to Ripon, to place it by the body of holy St. Wilfrid." At Ripon they remained four months. It was eminently suited by its situation for a place of Security against their spoilers. The next stage in their journey is a most important one, inas- much as it involves the history of their establishing themselves at Durham, and is the source to which must be traced the subse- quent magnificence of Durham Cathedral. “After three or four months, peace was restored, and they set out on their journey to carry back the much-respected body to their former abode (ad priorem locum). When they had come, in the eastern vicinity of Durham, to a place called Wrdelau (prope Dunelmum ad orientalem plagam, in locumv qui Wºrdelau dicitur), the vehicle on which the coffin with the body was borne could not be moved from the spot. They got others to help them, but all their efforts were unavailing. More persons still were put to work, but they could not move it from the place. The coffin in which the incorrupt body was contained remained immovable as a rock. At this all clearly perceived that he was unwilling to be carried to the place where he had been before, but knew not whither they should bear him ; for the spot where they then were, in the middle of the country, was uninhabitable. In an address made to the people, the Bishop ordered all, by fasting, watching, and prayer, to seek a manifestation of the will of God as to where they should turn their steps with the holy remains of their father. When this was done, a revelation was vouchsafed to a certain monk named IEadmer, to the effect that they were to bear the body to Durham, and make that his resting-place. When this revelation was made known to all, they returned thanks to God with joy, and imme- diately laying hold of it, a very few persons were able to lift the coffin, which before the whole multitude were not able to raise. Thus, with joy and praising God, they took the holy body to a place shewn them supernaturally, viz. Durham, and having speedily made a small chapel (ecclesiola) of branches, placed it there temporarily.” 1 Rites of Durham, p. 60. * Simeon Dunelm. p. 141. There is a legendary tradition that when the bearers of THEY SETTLE AT DUIREIAM. 125 A similar account, with the addition of the legend concerning the cow, is given in the Rites of Durham. “Four months after their arriving at Ripon, the Danes' wars did cease, and then, intending to bring him back again to Chester, and coming with him on the east side of Durham, to a place called Ward-lawe, they could not with all their force remove his body from thence, which seemed to be fastened to the ground. Which strange and unexpected accident wrought great admiration in the hearts of the bishops, monks, and their associates, and ergo they fasted and prayed three days with great reverence and devotion, desiring to know by revelation what they should do with the holy body of St. Cuthbert. Which thing was granted unto them, and therein they were directed to carry him to Dunholme. But being dis- tressed because they were ignorant where Dunholme was, see their good fortune: as they were going, a woman that lacked her cow did call aloud to her companion to know if she did not see her, who answered, with a loud voice, that her cow was in Dun- holme; a happy and heavenly echo to the distressed monks, who by that means were at the end of their journey, where they should find a resting-place for the body of their honoured Saint. And thereupon, with great joy and gladness, brought his body to Dun- holme, A.D. 999 (in marg. 995), which was inculta tellus, a bar- barous and rude place, replenished with nothing but thorns and thick woods, save only in the midst, which was plain and com- modious for such a purpose. Where they first built a little church of wands and branches, wherein they did lay his body (and thence the church was afterwards called Bough church), till they did build a more sumptuous church, wherein they might enshrine him.” 1 In this account two points require a little explanation. In the first place, it must be inquired, where is this Wrdelau, or Ward- St. Cuthbert's body journeyed northwards from Yorkshire, and came to Butterby, near Croxdale, they set down the coffin on the right bank before crossing the river, and im- mediately a saline spring burst out upon the spot. After fording the river, they again rested the coffin, and a spring of chalybeate water rose up where they had laid down the body. A third time the weary travellers, struggling up the rugged pass, were compelled to lay their precious burden on the ground, and a sweet stream of water gushed out of the rock to refresh them. * Rites of Durham, p. 60. 126 THE SECOND FILIGHT. lawe ? There are two places to which it may bear reference, viz., Warden-law, considerably to the north-east of Durham, near Houghton-le-Spring, and east of Chester-le-Street; from which place, as it is on a hill, Durham may be seen : and also Wardley, south of Jarrow, and a little to the east of Durham. To which of these does Simeon refer? This question depends on another. When speaking of the monks leaving Ripon to return to their former abode, does he refer to Chester-le-Street or to Lindisfarne? If he alludes to Chester-le-Street, as the writer thinks he does, then his Wrdelau must be Wardenlaw, as they could never have gone to Chester-le-Street by Wardley. If he alludes to Lindis- farne, then it may refer to Wardley; although this is improbable, for he would rather have said to the north than to the east of Durham. Leland was certainly of opinion that it referred to Wardley, as he says: “Nunc Wardele, ubi aedes olim monachis recreandi gratia concessa”.” And it is known that at Wardley there was a house belonging to the Priory of Durham. The reader desirous of further information on this question may read a paper on it in the Archæol. Ælian. i. p. 112. The second point has reference to the story of the cow. This story is not told by Simeon. There is now a monument at the north-west end of the eastern transept, of two women and a cow, that was placed there about seventy years ago, in the stead of an older one that had fallen into decay : which carving was, in its turn, but the renewal of the sculpture of two figures and the cow that adorned Bishop Aldhune’s cathedral.” Of this second monu- ment we read in the Rites of Durham : “And because those holy Bishops and monks would not be unmindful of the least favour that was done for them, and for the honour of their holy Saint, Aldwinus, on the outside of his church, and Ranulph Flambard, according to the intention of William Calipho, the founder, did erect a monument (made the portraiture, Dav.) of a milk-maid milking her cow, on the outside of the north-west turret of the nine altars, at the building of the new church, in a thankful remem- brance of that maid which so fortunately in their perplexity, * 1 Collect. vol. ii. p. 330. * A drawing of the cow, &c., that was at the north-west end of the eastern transept before the present one, may be seen in Hutchison's Durham. THE SCULPTURE OF THE COW. 127 directed them to Dunholme, where the body of their great Saint was to rest until the resurrection; which monument, though defaced by the weather, to this day is there to be seen.”.” But whether the tale gave rise to the sculpture, or the sculpture to the tale, it were not an easy matter to decide.” 1 Rites of Durham, p. 63. A short account of these two flights is given in the Irish poetical Life : “Ynguar et Ubba nota loca vastarunt pene tota: Tunc fuit inse situs Lindisfarne undique tritus, Plures trucidantur monachi, Dani dominantur : Septenis annis, a dictis nempe tyrannis, Sanctum portantes fuerant monachi fugitantes. Gretam venerunt, menses tetras requierunt. In Chester centum denis tribus et Scio tentum. Contigit hoc vere Sanctum non ultrojacere; Corpus sumebant, iterum Danos fugiebant. In Rypon penses jacuit per tres quoque menses, Angelus est pridem de quo susceptus ibidem. Inde reportare cupiunt, Chesterque locare, Wardlaw perveniunt, pernoctantes ibi fiunt. Mane micat clare, Sanctum properant relevare : Sed quot vixerunt hunc tollere non potuerunt. Alloquitur tacite quemdam Sanctae quia vitae, “Dunholme, tu care, mihi Sedem fac reparare.’ M. minus v. latum Dunholme fit corpus humatum.” * Since writing the above, it has occurred to the author, that the sculpture of the cow with the two figures, and the legend of the cow and milkmaid, may have originated in a legend of St. Cuthbert in the Irish Life. Speaking of the Bishop who had charge of the boy Cuthbert, it introduces the following incident : “Quadam vero die, dum epis- copus, more Hybernensium, armentorum suorum ovilia solitarius circuiret, contigit ut secum puerulum (Cuthbertum) spatiandi gratia conduxisset. Quibus dum vacca præg. mans occurreret, accidit ut puer obvius illi accurrens, et diutius illam intuens, saepius recedens et rediens ventris inclusa et onera admirando colluderet. Subridens episcopus itaque et puerum aliquid secreti rimantem contius (? contuems), ‘Age, inquit, puer, et patri tuo dicito quid occulti mysterii in praegnantis buculae videris utero. Cui puer, non pueriliter, ait, “ Hujus praegnantis vaccae uterum sollicite diutius conspiciens, video aliquid inesse mirabile, quod tamen matrici sobolis videtur prorsus naturam excedere: nam cum ipsa nigri coloris exterius tota compareat, nimis videtur esse mirabile qua causa latentis naturae dissimilem foetum concepisse praevalent. Vitulus quidem qui in- terius delitescit, totus rubiculo colore flavescit ; et tamen in frontis vertice instar stellae candentis formam praeferre cernitur, quae nivis recentis similitudini omnimodiscogequatur.” Ne mora, praegnans vacca foetus exposuit, et vitulum qualem puer praedixerat parturivit. Admiratus ergo episcopus prophetiae spiritum illius pectore inesse didicit, et quanti apud Deum meriti postmodum esset futurus ex miraculo instante praesensit.”—Biog. Misc. p. 71. It is very possible that the old carving with the two figures represented the Irish Bishop, the boy Cuthbert, and the cow here spoken of : but it has elsewhere been stated 128 THE SECONID FLIGHT. The names of a few of this band of devoted followers that escorted the body of St. Cuthbert to Durham, on the occasion of their second flight, are on record : “Amongst those who at that time came to this place with the body of the holy Confessor, was One called Riggulf, who lived to be 210 years old [is this a mistake for 1102], and spent forty years in the monastic state. He was the grandson of Franco, who, as above stated, was one of the seven who followed, without ever separating from, the venerated body of the holy father. For Franco was the father of Reinguald, from whom the town that he founded was called Reinington;' and Reinguald was the father of Riggulf, who had a son, Ethric ; and the daughter of this Ethric was the mother of Alchmund, the father of Elfred now living. Hunred, as before mentioned, was the companion of this Franco; his son was Eadulf, and Eadulf's son was Eadred : of him report says, that for the last six years of his life he could never speak out of the church, but in the church surpassed all in singing and psalmody; and some persons have thought that this was allowed to be the case with him, in order that nothing useless or unprofitable might defile the tongue of him who made use of it with such effect in prayer and singing. The son of Eadred was Collanus ; his son was Eadred, and Eadred’s son was Collanus. The sister of Collanus was mother of Eilaf, and of two others now living, Hemming and Wlfkil the priest.”” When they arrived at Dunholme, they found it a spot unin- habited, and surrounded by thick woods. It is described as “locum quidem natura munitum, Sed non facile habitabilem, quoniam den- sissima silva totum occupaverat”;* yet having in the midst a small plain that was under cultivation.* We know, that whilst the Saint’s body remained in the temporary chapel made of the that this Irish Life cannot be depended upon, as will be very evident to any person comparing the account given in it of St. Cuthbert with the genuine life of the Lindisfarne Monk and St. Bede. * Rainton. See Surtees' Durham, vol. i. * Simeon Dunelm. p. 142. * Ibid. p. 144. * There is a singular resemblance between the natural situation of Durham and that of Jerusalem. “He that hath seen,” says Hegge, “the situation of this city (Durham), hath seen the map of Sion, and may save a journey to Jerusalem. She is girded almost round with the renowned river Wear, in which, as a glass of crystal, she might once have beheld the beauty, but now the ruin of her walls.” THE BOUGH, THE WHITE, AND THE GREAT CHURCH. 129 branches of trees, the Bishop set to work, with the aid of the whole people, and the assistance of Uhtred, Earl of Northumber- land, to cut down all the wood, and make the place habitable ; that all the people from the Coquet to the Tees joined in the work, and ceased not till they had built a regular church; that when the wood was cut down, and dwellings had been made for all, the Bishop (having in the meantime removed the body of the Saint from the chapel made of the branches of trees into another church, called the White Church, where it remained three years, till a larger was built), for the love of God and St. Cuthbert, began to build a very splendid church of stone. How long the body of the Saint remained in the first-mentioned temporary chapel we do not know precisely. But from a passage in Simeon, where he describes the cure of a Scotch woman, who, having been a cripple from her birth, was all on a sudden cured after crawling to the spot where St. Cuthbert's body had rested before it was removed to the White Church, we may infer that it was only a few days, as he uses the words, ubi Sanctissimum corpus paucis diebus requieverat." The second building, called the White Church, seems to have been but the portion first completed of the stone church called the Great Church.” “They first built a little church of wands and branches, wherein they did lay his body (and thence the church was afterwards called Bough Church), till they did build a more sumptuous church, wherein they might en- shrine him; which they essayed to do with all their power, Uhtred, Earl of Northumberland, aiding them, and causing all the country to cut down the wood and thorn bushes which did molest them, and so made all the place where the city now stands habitable, and fit to erect buildings on ; which gave great encouragement to Alwinus the Bishop to hasten the finishing of his church ; which he accordingly did, and then did translate St. Cuthbert's body from the wanded (or bough, interlined) church to the White Chapel, for so it was called, which he had newly built, which was a part of the great church, which was not yet finished, where it lay four years.” ” Of these three churches, we read in another place : “Then the Bishop began to work, and build, and to make a 1 Simeon Dunelm. p. 146. * See Reginald, p. 29. * Rites of Durham, p. 61. 9 130 THE SECOND FLIGHT. mykle kirk of stone. And whilst it was in making, from the wanded kirk, or chapel, they brought the body of that holy man St. Cuthbert, and translated him into another, White Kirk so called, and there his body remained four years, while the More Rirk was being built." The stone church, called the Great Church, took only three years in building, and was dedicated on the fourth day of September, A.D. 999.” Thus was the episcopal see removed from Chester-le-Street to Durham by Aldhune,” and thus were the remains of St. Cuthbert brought to their resting-place at Durham. 1 Rites of Rurham, p. 57. * “Venerandus Antistes Aldhunus ecclesiam, tertio ex quo eam fundaverat anno, pridie nonas Septembris solemniter dedicavit, cunctisque gaudentibus et Deum collau- dantibus, sanctissimi Patris Cuthberti incorruptum corpus in locum quem paraverat translatum debito cum houore locavit.”—Simeon Dunelm. p. 148. * “But after the great church was finished and consecrated, upon the 20th of Sep- tember, he translated his body out of the White Chapel into the Great Church, which he made a CATHEDRAL.”—Rites of Durham, p. 61. The church built at Durham by Aldwine was called the white and the great church indifferently—Ibid. pp. 58, 62. “Also, Aldhunus did ordain and make the bishop's see to be only there in Durham continually for ever. King Oswald and Aidan first began the bishop's see in Holy Island, from which time, 361, to the coming of Aldhunus, who ordained the bishop's see of Durham, from the time that St. Cuthbert passed out of this world from them, it was 309 years. And then Aldhunus departed him out of this world, three years after that he had founded and established the bishop's see.”—Ibid. p. 57. CHAPTER V. THE THIRD FLIGHT WITH ST. CUTHBERT's BODY, A.D. MLXIX., WHEN THE BISHOP IS FORCED FOR A TIME TO LEAVE I) UREIAM. WHEN Harold, the last of the Danish kings, lost his throne, and William the Conqueror possessed himself of the throne of England, the men of Northumbria, who always opposed innovations, as well in state as in church, for three years refused him allegiance. Not being able to subdue them by means of his generals, the Con- queror undertook the task in person, in the year 1069. The same year he advanced as far as York with his army, laying waste all the country. The Bishop naturally became alarmed, and foreseeing the impending danger, recalled to his memory the Orders given by Cuthbert on his death-bed, and the fact of the holy remains having been carried from place to place, under similar circumstances, in consequence of his injunction. He believed it to be his duty, in order to preserve them from the hands of wicked men, again to remove the relics from Durham to some place of security. Lin- disfarne was chosen as the place of refuge, and the Bishop and his clergy took their flight to the island that had been deserted by the Saint's body 194 years before. “When King William came, the same year (1069), with his army to York, and laid waste the country round, Bishop Egelwine and the seniors held a consulta- tion on the subject, and took the incorrupt body of the holy Father Cuthbert, the seventy-fifth year after it had been brought to Durham by Aldhune, and began their flight to the church of Lindisfarne. The first night it rested in the church of St. Paul at Jarrow, the Second at Bedlington, the third at a place called 132 THE TEIIRD FLIGHT. Tuggal, and on the fourth day it, and the company that escorted it, arrived at the shore opposite the island.” They began their journey about the middle of December. The first day took them only to Jarrow. Probably the monks of Jarrow would have pressed them to remain, and they would have been too glad to have the accommodation offered them. They would, there can be little doubt, pass through Chester-le-Street on their road to Jarrow, and their journey that day would be nearly twenty miles. The next day they crossed the Tyne, would have passed the place now called Cramlington, crossed the river Blyth, and arrived that day at Bedlington, a little to the west of Blyth. The second day's journey would be about sixteen miles. Reginald supplies us with some information at this stage of their journey. He informs us that, at the time in question, the Cathe- dral of Durham was served by prebends, or secular canons. One of them, named Eliaf, was at this time in possession of the church of Bedlington. It happened on a certain occasion that a number of persons were met together, and after admiring the White Church, a rich nobleman of the neighbourhood said in their presence, “Would that it might be granted to me that the great St. Cuthbert, now in glory, would condescend some time or other to accept the hospitality of my house and the shelter of my roof. I protest before God, and by my faith, that for his coming I would adorn my house with hangings, would strew the floors thickly with the flowers of roses and sweet-smelling lilies, and would ornament the walls with shields glittering with gold. And more than this, joyfully and cheerfully should the butler attend to his followers with wine sparkling in large goblets, should serve them with horns overflowing with mead, and an innumerable number of cups. Below the curtains of my chamber and bed I would prepare him a couch; I would put him on the bed with my own hands, and would warm his feet in my bosom and lap.” The priest then said to him : “Take care to prepare properly for St. 1 Simeon Dunelm. p. 183. ‘‘Accidit ergo quod tempestas Saeva inquietudinis eccle- siam Beati Cuthberti perurgendo invaderet, eisque fugae praesidium inire una cum Beati Cuthberti corpore eis importunitatis necessitas imperaret. Qui nil dilationis inserere permissi, mox fugam arripientes ineunt, et apud insulam Lindisfarneam praesidia muni- minis se inventuros consulendo disposuerunt.”—Reginald, p. 30. THEY REST AT BEDLINGTON. 133 Cuthbert what you have promised, and let not your actions belie your words; for at no great distance of time you will have St. Cuthbert for your guest; but when the time comes, you will scarcely shew him any honour”. He was indignant at the accu- sation, and swore that he would not fail to redeem his promise. When they were obliged to fly from Durham, and had resolved to go to Lindisfarne, “they despatched messengers to the house of this man, and begged some outbuildings of his house as a shelter for the body of St. Cuthbert. He returned answer, that he could not allow any part of his house or outbuildings to the Saint or his followers, because he could not send away some guests whom he had before invited, and who were now drunk. Therefore his house and its outbuildings were filled with the drunken guests and their horses. But as the night was coming on, they re- doubled their entreaties, and with difficulty succeeded in obtaining the use of an empty end of a barn. There, as well as they could, they extended curtains, and raised a tent inside; and stretching a rope across the building, and forming a division by hanging linen cloths over it, they placed inside the body of St. Cuthbert. There they passed the night in great misery and want, not being able to obtain anything by their entreaties from the abundance of this rich man. He and his companions were eating to excess, and drinking out of gold cups, adorned with precious stones. But the servants of St. Cuthbert were nearly dead that night with the winter's cold and the severity of the snow and frost; because they were not allowed, even when the guests had retired, to warm their freezing limbs at the large fire burning in the hall before the rich man. The want of food and drink made their ears tingle, for they could scarcely get a drink of dirty water. As soon, therefore, as it was morning, they left this place as quickly as they could, and made the best of their way on their road to the island.”.” In a short time, they heard that all the property of this man, who had refused St. Cuthbert the hospitality he had promised, was destroyed by fire. But what was most remarkable, the barn was also all destroyed, except the part that had been 1 Reginald, chap. xvi. p. 29, who gives it on the authority of the venerable Father AEthelred, Abbot of Rievaux, who received it from his predecessors. 134 THE THIRD FLIGHT. separated by the rope for the service of St. Cuthbert, which was not touched by the flames, and the rope was not burnt. On the morning of the third day they left Bedlington, would cross the Wansbeck and the Coquet rivers, would look upon Coquet isle, and remember the visit paid by St. Cuthbert to the Abbess Elfleda, would pass through Alnwick, and cross the Alne, contrasting in their minds the former joyful reception of their Saint on the banks of the Alne, when he was chosen Bishop at Twyford, with their present lot; and in the evening arrived at Tuggall," near Ellingham. That day's journey would have been a distance of about thirty-five miles. The fourth day they again journeyed northward, verging a little to the west. They would pass near Bamborough Castle, close by Belford, and Budle,” &c., till the evening brought them to the coast opposite Holy Island, a distance of about sixteen miles. It was high water when they arrived at the shore; but as it had opened to afford the body of St. Cuthbert a passage on the occasion when it was forced to leave Lindisfarne, so, as it were to welcome it back again, the sea a second time opened a passage for it on its return : “As they arrived there about the evening, at the time it was high tide, the Bishop and the older and more delicate persons in the company began to sorrow and condole with One another at the prospect of the danger they would be exposed to during the night from the winter's cold (it being a little before the feast of the Nativity), that was more severe than usual. ‘What,’ say they, “shall we do? The high tide prevents our crossing over to the island, and we have no place to stay in to shelter us from the bitter cold.” Whilst they were thus sorrowing, the sea suddenly retired in that spot, whilst it was high water all around, and afforded them a dry path to cross on. All immediately went forward, singing praises to God and the holy Confessor, and with the body of their patron, reached the shore of the island dryshod. The most remarkable thing was the fact that, as the 1 A church was afterwards built upon the very spot where the Saint's remains rested for the night, and of which considerable ruins as yet remain. See Sect. III. The pro- prietors of Tuggall used, in remembrance of the temporary resting of the Saint on their estate, to present to the Durham monks resident on Farne Island five quarters of wheat annually. * A chapel was built at Budle in his honour. VISION OF EARN AN. 135 bearers of the shrine constantly affirmed, the waves of the sea followed their course, so as to make way for them as they ad- vanced, and to close on them after their steps.” Simeon relates a vision in connexion with the flight to Lindis- farne : “As soon as they had crossed the Tyne, a certain man in power, named by the rule of contrary, Gillo Michael, i.e. the son of Michael, for he might more correctly have been called the son of the devil, did great injury to the fugitives by obstructing their journey, by harassing them, by committing depredations on them, and annoying them in every possible way. But it was not with impunity. For when the holy body was conveyed to the island, one of the elder clergy was sent home by the Bishop, to see how matters were looking at Durham, and how it had fared with their church. On his road, at nightfall, he fell asleep in the open coun- try, and saw a vision of the death of the afore-mentioned person. This vision I have often heard him describe, and have thought fit to commit it to writing. ‘I seemed to be at Durham, and in the church, where I saw two men high in authority, standing by the altar, with their faces turned towards the east. The one was a man of middle age, vested in episcopal robes, and by his venerable manner and dignified countenance shewed himself to be a much-respected Bishop. The other, standing at his right hand, was robed in a scarlet cloak, and with a longish face, a thin beard, and a tall figure, seemed to be a very handsome young man. After a little time, turning their eyes from the altar to the other parts of the church, the Bishop, seemingly grieved at its being deserted, said, ‘Shame upon thee, Cospatrick | shame upon thee! Thou hast robbed my church of its property, and changed it into a desert.” For this man Cospatrick had been one of the chief 1 Simeon Dunelm. chap. 1. p. 183. Reginald describes this latter part of their jour- ney. “Illiigitur cum Beati Cuthberti corpore ad ripam fluminis jam pleni venientes, statim aquae ab alterutro latere divisae, sicci itineris viam per medium sui alveum aperue- runt, et Beati Cuthberti adventum cognoscentes, universum populum cum suis omnibus, iterata vice, post terga eorum recludentes, libere transire permiserunt ; et sic in insulam Lindisfarneam pervenerunt. Hiemis enim tempus simul cum noctis tenebris asperius inhorruerat, et idcirco Beatus Cuthbertus quam citius eis aditum aperire properabat. Haec omnia quae descripsimus (including the narration of what took place at Bedlington) sicut a venerabili patre nostro AEtheldredo Abbate Rievallensium audiwimus, ita, ipsius testimonio, membranulis inseruimus. Istaque sibi testificari, ut asseruit, ab atavis suis progenitoribus praecepta sunt, quia haec, ipsis videntibus, in veritate gesta sunt.”—P. 32. I36 THE THIRD FLIGHT. advisers of their flight, and of the abandonment of the church, and had then taken with him the greatest part of its valuable mov- ables. In the meanwhile I felt a wish to draw near to them ; but not daring, the young man made a sign to me with his finger, and in a subdued tone, calling me by my name, asked me if I knew who that Bishop was 2 When I answered that I did not know, ‘It is,” said he, ‘your master, the holy Bishop Cuthbert’. Imme- diately I fell down at his feet, beseeching him to succour his church in her misfortunes. After a while, they reverently bowed their heads to the altar, and walked away with a slow and mea- sured step. When they came to the door, the young man went out first, and walked forward a little ; but the Bishop halted at the door, and looking back called out to me, as I was following him at a distance : ‘Tell me, Earnan,’ said he, “do you know who that young man is ?’ ‘No, master,’ said I, ‘I do not know.’ Then he said, ‘It is St. Oswald’. After this they went forward a little farther towards the south part of the city, and took their stand at a place, where I joined them, by command of the Bishop. On being ordered to look below, I saw a valley of infinite depth, full of men's souls. There the famous Gillo Michael was punished with severe tortures, for he lay prostrate in a most horrible place, and suffered dreadful torture by being stabbed all over with a very sharp Scythe. The Wretched man shouted out, and howled dread- fully, and cried pitifully without ceasing; but there was no respite for the wretched man, not even of an hour. All the rest suffered similar torments. On being asked by St. Cuthbert whether I recognised any one there 2 I answered, that I recognised Gillo. ‘Truly,” said he, ‘that is he ; for he is dead and condemned to these punishments and sufferings.” “But,” said I, “master, he is not dead; for but a little while ago he was feasting, safe and sound, in his house, and at this very moment he is expected at a great banquet.' To which he answered ; “I tell you he is now really dead ; for he and the others whom you have seen with him are compelled to undergo these tortures and torments, because they have broken my peace, and have injured me in the persons of my servants’. As he said these words I awoke, and immediately mounting my horse, exhorted my companions to hasten with me. When they wondered at the reason of this great haste, I informed THEY RETURN TO DURELAM. 137 them of the death of this man, and gave them my authority for the news. They would not believe it, and laughed at my credulity. We travelled all the night, and in the morning turned aside to the nearest church for the purpose of hearing mass. The people, as usual, asked what news I brought ; and I informed them of the death of the above-mentioned person ; but as they knew that he was well the day before, they made answer that I was mistaken. But soon after some of his servants arrived, aud brought the news that their master had died that night. Immediately, in the pre- sence of all, I inquired the hour of his death, aud found that he died at the very hour of night at which he was pointed out to me by St. Cuthbert, condemned to excruciating punishments.” They remained nearly three months under the shelter of the half-ruined church at Lindisfarne. The troubles, however, that caused their flight from Durham were soon at an end ; and in the year following, A.D. 1070, they returned, probably by the same route, to Durham.” Simeon adds, “That it was about the begin- ning of Lent ;-that they solemnly reconciled their church, and entered it on the 24th of March, replacing the body of their Saint in its former resting-place ’’. Thus ended the third and last flight made with St. Cuthbert's body, and the wanderings begun in the year 875. Thus ended the pious labours and pilgrimages of the Haliworkfolk.” * Simeon Dunelm. chap. li. p. 186. * We can readily imagine, though no historian mentions such a circumstance, that many wonderful signs and miraculous appearances would have been allowed to those who carried the body, and to those who gave it shelter during this triple flight and mysteri- ous pilgrimage. St. Bede informs us, that when the relics of St. Oswald, with the exception of the head, were translated by Osthrida, queen of the Mercians and daughter of Oswald's brother Oswy, to her favourite monastery of Bardney, in Lincolnshire, a long pillar of light stretching to the heavens stood, during the night, over the tent where the car with his relics was placed. “When the waggon in which those bones were carried arrived towards evening at the aforesaid monastery, they that were in it refused to admit them. . . . Thus it came to pass that the relics were left in the open air all that night, with only a large tent spread over them ; but the appearance of a heavenly miracle shewed with how much reverence they ought to be received by all the faithful; for dur- . ing that whole night, a pillar of light, reaching from the waggon up to heaven, was seen by almost all the inhabitants of Lindsey. Hereupon the brethren who had refused it the day before began themselves earnestly to pray that those holy relics, so beloved by God, might be deposited among them.”—Bede's Eccles. Hist. p. 126. * It was the privilege of the men of the Patrimony of St. Cuthbert, or the Hali- workfolk, as they called themselves, not to go out of the bishopric to fight for either 138 TEIIE TEIIRID EILIGEIT. The illustrious St. Chrysostom loved and praised Rome, more on account of its possessing the bodies of SS. Peter and Paul, than on account of allits other thousand charms put together. He says: “ Ego et Romam propterea diligo, tametsi aliunde illam laudare queam, nempe a magnitudine, ab antiquitate, a pulchritudine, a multitudine, ab imperio, a divitiis, et a rebus in bello fortiter gestis. Sed his omnibus omissis, ob id illam beatam prædico, quod erga illos Paulus, dum viveret, adeo fuit benevolus, adeo illos amavit, et coram disseruit, et postremo vitam apud eos finivit ; Cuju8 8anctum corpus ipsi po88ident. Et propterea, civitas illa, hinc facta est insignis magis quam ab aliis rebus omnibus : et, tanquam corpus magnum ac validum, duos habet oculos fulgentes, sanctorum videlicet horum corpora. Non ita coelum splendescit quando radios sol demittit, quemadmodum Romanorum urbs duos istos fulgores ubique terrarum emittens. Hinc rapietur Paulus, hinc Petrus. Considerate et horrete, quale spectaculum visura sit Eoma: Paulum videlicet repente ex theca illa cum Petro resurgen- tem in occursum Domini sursum ferri. Qualem rosam Christo mit- tet Roma ? qualibus coronis duabus ornatur urbs ista ? qualibus catenis aureis cincta est? quales habet fontes? Propterea admiror hanc urbem, non propter copiam auri, non propter columnas, neque propter aliam quarìcumque rerum speciem, sed propter columnas illas ecclesiæ. Quis mihi nunc dabit circumvolvi corpori Pauli, affigi sepulchro, videre pulverem corporis illius," &c.* IDurham possesses, especially for the British and Northumbriam Catholic, am object Of similar attraction and admiration. Though Durham, unlike Rome, has but few charms, yet the British Catholic finds a strong source of attachment to her in the fact of her possessing king or bishop. See the charters of King Edward I. and III., declaring that the supply of men furnished for the Scottish war should not prejudice the right of the men of the bishopric not to go to war out of the bishopric. Surtees, vol. i. p. 129. Also when, in 1296, Bishop Beck led his troops with King Edward's against Scotland, they ** graviter ferentes, fecerunt partem contra episcopum, dicentes se esse Halworfolk, et terras suas tenere ad defensionem corporis Sancti Cuthberti, nee debere se exire terras episcopatus, sc. ultra Tinam et Teysam, pro rege vel episcopo.”—Grayst. c. xiii. Speed also speaks of this : ** Over Durham county the bishops have had the royalties of princes, and the inhabitants have pleaded privilege not to pass, in service of war, over the Tees or Tyne, whose charge (as they have alleged) was to keep and defend the corpse of St. Cuthbert their saint, and therefore they termed themselves the * Holy-werk-folkes'."—P. 83. * Church Office for July 4th. COMPARISON BETWEEN JOSEPH AND ST. CUTHEERT. 139 the body of St. Cuthbert, and in her church, which can now only be looked on as a grand sepulchral monument, worthy of the Apostle of the North, the Northumbrian Thaumaturgus. It must have occurred to the reader, that there are many points of comparison, both in their lives and their subsequent history, between the patriarch Joseph and St. Cuthbert. Joseph's future greatness was foretold to him in two dreams, when he was sixteen years old, and was feeding the flock with his brethren : Cuthbert was led to embrace the religious state by the vision he had, when, at the same age, he was tending the flocks. Joseph was made ruler of Egypt : and Cuthbert was made Bishop of Lindisfarne. Joseph foretold that Pharaoh’s butler would be restored to his place, and that his baker would be hanged : Cuthbert foretold future events to the holy Abbess and royal virgin Elfleda, and that his friend Herbert would depart this life On the same day with himself. Jacob, when he blessed his sons before dying, said of Joseph : “He came forth a pastor, the stone of Israel”: " Cuthbert came forth a pastor, the Apostle of Nor- thumbria. Joseph, before he died, said to his brethren, “God will visit you after my death. . . . And he made them swear to him, saying, God will visit you ; carry my bones with you out of this place: ”” Cuthbert foretold that God would visit the brethren of Lindisfarne, and ordered them, when compelled to fly, to carry his bones with them out of the place. Moses, when he led the Israelites out of Egypt, “took Joseph's bones with him ; because he had adjured the children of Israel, saying, “God shall visit you; carry out my bones from hence with you ’’: " Bishop Eardulph, when forced to fly away from Lindisfarne, took with him the body of St. Cuthbert. The Red Sea opened a path through its waves, and allowed Moses and the children of Israel, with Joseph's body, to pass over:” when the children of Lindis- farne fled with the body of St. Cuthbert, they “marched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and the left”. Moses and the Israelites journeyed through the desert of Sin, suffered both hunger and thirst, and in the third month came to Sinai: the fugitives from * Gen. xlix. 24. * Ibid. l. 23, 24. 3 Exod. xiii. 19. 4 Ibid. xiv. 29. 140 THE THIRD FLIGHT. Lindisfarne wandered through lonely and desert places, suffering hunger, thirst, and cold. After the death of Moses, Josue led the people of Israel, who still carried with them the bones of Joseph : after Eardulph's death, Aldhune and Egelwine headed those who, in the second and third flight, bore the body of St. Cuthbert. Not only the Red Sea, but the Jordan, opened its waters, and was miraculously dried up for the passage of the children of Israel: and for the return to Lindisfarne, the sea again divided its waters. After they had passed the Jordan, the children of Israel, at the command of Josue, took twelve stones out of the river, at the very spot where they crossed it, and set them up in the place of the camp as a monument of the miracle, “that it may be a sign among you; and when your children shall ask you to-morrow, saying, What mean these stones? you shall answer them, The waters of the Jordan ran off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, when it passed over the same ; therefore were these stones set for a monument of the children of Israel for ever”; not merely stones, but churches, were set up on the very spots where the body of St. Cuthbert had rested during their wanderings, that when future generations should ask, “What mean these churches?” the answer might be, “They were set up for a monument of St. Cuthbert for ever”. Joseph's body was buried by the Israelites in the land of promise; “And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had taken out of Egypt, they buried in Sichem ’’: " the body of St. Cuthbert was finally buried at Durham,” and to him are especially applicable the words spoken of the saints, “Their bodies are buried in peace, and their name liveth unto generation and generation ”.” * Jos. iv. 6, 7. * Jos. xxiv. 32. * Since writing the above, it has occurred to the author that the monks of Durham had this analogy in view, and wished to mark it by representing the history of St. Cuth- bert in the south window of the nine altars, and the history of Joseph in the north win- dow opposite to it. “In the south alley end of the nine altars there is a good glazed window, called St. Cuthbert's Window, which has in it all the history, life, and miracles of that holy man St. Cuthbert,” &c. “In the north alley of the said nine altars, there is another goodly fair great glass window, called Joseph's Window, which has on it all the whole history of Joseph, most artificially wrought in pictures in fine coloured glass, according as it is set forth in the Bible, very good and godly to the beholders thereof.”— Rites of Durham, p. 3. * Ecclus. xliv. 14. Section #3:. THE STATE OF ST. CUTHBERT'S BODY FROM THE TIME OF HIS DEGEASE TILL THE YEAR MDXLII, CHAPTER I. THE FIRST DISINTERMENT OF HIS BODY, A.D. DCXCVIII. THE body of St. Cuthbert was on several occasions taken from its resting-place and examined, in order to ascertain its state. It was always found incorrupt, even in the middle of the sixteenth century, as will appear from the sequel. The first disinterment, however, was not made from a motive of curiosity. The object of it was the quasi canonisation of the holy Bishop of Lindisfarne. It was customary in the Anglo-Saxon church to show a dis- tinguished honour to the remains of those who had the character of great Sanctity. The bodies of such holy persons were raised from their graves, and richly enshrined in the interior of the church. This was the canonisation of that time. “Generally, perhaps always, it was preceded by a petition to the Bishop, and Sanctioned with his approval. Ten or twenty years after the death of the man, the object of their veneration, when it might be presumed that the less solid parts of the body had been reduced to dust, the monks or clergy assembled to perform the ceremony of his elevation. A tent was pitched over the grave. Around it stood the great body of the attendants, chanting the Psalms of David. Within, the superior, accompanied by the more aged of the brotherhood, opened the earth, collected the bones, washed them, wrapped them carefully in silk or linen, and deposited them in a mortuary chest. With sentiments of 142 THE DISINTERMENT IN 698. respect, and hymns of exultation, they were then carried to the place destined to receive them; which was elevated above the pavement, and decorated with appropriate ornaments.” " This custom had been observed in the case of St. Aidan,” and was also followed in the present instance. The holy Bishop Cuthbert had been buried in a stone coffin, within the church of Lindisfarne. After the lapse of eleven years, his body, with the permission of Bishop Eadbert, was exhumed by the brethren, and placed in a wooden shrine over the spot where it had been buried. “After eleven years, at the suggestion of the Holy Ghost, they formed the resolution, with the advice of the chief persons in the monastery, and with the consent of the holy Bishop Ead- bert, to raise from the tomb the remains of the bones of the holy Bishop Cuthbert, the most illustrious man of their body. As soon as they opened the tomb, they found, what is wonderful to relate, the whole body as entire as when they had first buried it eleven years before. The body was not fixed and stiff, with the skin shrunk, and bearing the appearance of age, and the sinews dried up, but the limbs were pliant, with full vivacity in the joints. When they raised him out of the tomb, they were able to bend his neck and his knees, like those of a living person. All the vestments and the shoes that came in contact with his skin were undecayed. For when they took off the napkin that was bound round his head, they found that it still retained the beauty of its Original whiteness, and with the new shoes that he had worn, is to this day kept in witness thereof, among the relics in our church.” 8 Too much weight or importance cannot be given to this tes- timony, as the annonymous Monk, if even not present at the opening of the tomb, must have very frequently heard the account of the opening from those who were present. The description given by Bede is still more explicit. “Divine Providence, wishing to shew still further to what glory this holy man was exalted after death, whose life had been distinguished by so many signs and miracles, after he had been buried eleven years, suggested to the minds of the brethren to remove his bones, 1 Lingard's Anglo-Saxon Ch. vol. ii. p. 56. 2 Bede's Eccles. Hist. p. 136. * Lindisf. Monk, p. 123. THE BODY FOUND INCORRUPT. 143 which they expected to find dry, on account of the rest of the body being decayed and reduced to dust as in other dead persons, and to put them in a wooden coffin, on the same spot, but above the ground, that they might receive the veneration that was due to them. This wish they communicated to the holy Bishop Eadbert, about the middle of Lent; he approved of their design, and ordered them to put it in execution on the anniversary day of his decease, the twentieth day of March. They accordingly did so ; and opening the tomb, found his body entire, as if he were still alive, and the joints still flexible, as if he were not dead but asleep." Moreover, all the vestments that he wore were not only 1 This is not a solitary instance of the body of an English saint being found in a state of incorruption. Bede relates that the body of Queen Etheldreda, who became a nun at Coldingham, and was afterwards made Abbess of Ely, was found, A.D. 660, after she had been buried sixteen years, as free from corruption as if she had died that very day (Eccles. Hist. book iv. chap. xix.). Bede also relates that a holy man named Fursius, who lived in the middle of the seventh century, having just finished building a monastery, “and falling sick not long after, departed this life. Erconwald took his body, and deposited it in the porch of a church he was building in his town of Perrone, till the church itself should be dedicated. This happened twenty-seven days after ; and the body being taken from the porch to be re-buried near the altar, was found as entire as if he had just then died. And again, four years after, a more decent tabernacle or chapel being built for the same body to the eastward of the altar, it was still found free from corruption” (Eccles. Hist. p. 142). The body of St. Edmund, king and martyr, who deceased 12th December, A.D. 870, was found incorrupt, many years after his death. “After the lapse of many years, when the flames of war were wholly extinguished, the piety of the faithful began to re- vive, and from the number of miracles that were witnessed at the spot where the martyr's body rested, which is now called Hoxen by the natives, they built a very large church in a royal village called in the English tongue Betrischesworthe (now Bury St. Edmunds), which means the court or dwelling of Beodric ; and thither they translated the holy martyr with festivity and dancing. But, wonderful to tell, the martyr's most precious body, which all supposed to have rotted by length of time, was found entire and uninjured, insomuch that not only were the head and body reunited, but there was no appearance of wound or scar in any part.”—Wendover, p. 200. See also the account given by Jocelin of Brakelond, a monk of Bury St. Edmunds, who describes the state of the body at the opening of the shrine in 1198. The body of St. Waltheof, second Abbot of Melrose, who deceased August 3rd, 1159, and was buried in the chapter-house of the monastery, remained incorrupt after death. On the 2nd of May, 1171, his grave was opened in the presence of Ingelram Bishop of Glasgow, four abbots, a number of monks from neighbouring monasteries, and all the brethren of Melrose ; when not only the body, but also the robes in which it had been buried twelve years before, had suffered no decay. (See Chron. de Mailros.) We read that, on this occasion, “Bishop Ingelram, stooping down, touched the garments and different parts of the body, at first gently, and then with a stronger pressure of his hand, to assure himself that every joint and limb was flexible and sound. But Peter the 144 THE DISINTERMENT OF 698. undecayed, but seemed to have retained wonderfully their original freshness and colour. When the brethren saw this, they were so struck with fear and trembling, that they could scarcely speak, they could scarcely look at the miracle that was before them, and hardly knew what they were doing. “As a proof of the incorruption, they took a portion of the extremity of his robes, for they dared not touch those that were near his flesh, and hastened to relate to the Bishop what they had found. He was at that time remaining alone at a spot at some distance from the monastery, closed in by the flowing waves of the sea; for in this place it was always his custom to pass the precentor, who was among the bystanders, doubting the propriety of so minute a scrutiny, could not help saying, “In sooth, my lord bishop, begging your pardon, I think you handle the body of the holy man somewhat roughly ’. When some of the rest murmured their approbation of this remark, the Bishop thus addressed them : ‘Be not offended, my dear children, that I have scrupulously examined into this matter; but rather praise God, since I have thereby clearly ascertained and made manifest that this is indeed a miracle, which proves that you have now another Saint belonging to you, and that your venerated father Waltheof is become a companion to the holy Cuthbert, who also was a monk of Mailros’. At these words many of the brethren shed tears of joy; everybody present uttered some expression of thankfulness ; and, at the suggestion of the Abbot of Kelso, the Te Deum was solemnly chanted.” In the year 1206 the body was again found flee from corruption. When William, the ninth Abbot of Melrose, deceased, A.D. 1206, the brethren resolved to bury him, on account of his great sanctity, near his sainted pre- decessor, Waltheof. Whilst the grave was being prepared, they took the opportunity of examining the remains of St. Waltheof. They found the body still incorrupt, and clothed in robes apparently fresh and beautiful. The body of St. Alfege, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was martyred by the Danes in the year 1011, was also preserved from corruption. “After the lapse of ten years, the said body, free from every stain of corruption, was raised and borne to Canterbury to a more becoming resting-place, where, unto the present time, the blood continues fresh and the body untainted.” (Wendover, p. 279.) The metrical life by Bede describes the finding of St. Cuthbert's body in a state of incorruption as follows: “Conspicuique sacer solio patris inditus heres, Undecimi postguam cursum transcenderat anni, Complacuit cineres tumuli de sede beati Elatos coram gremio levis inderet arcae ; Sed, canit ut psalmus, quia mors pretiosa piorum, Ante Deum, retinet, calicem qui haurire salutis Non trepidant celsi tutati nomine regis. Rursus et ut summo resonat lyra mystica cantu, Nec sanctum dabis, Alte, tuum corrupta videre, Aurea lucifluae pandis cui limina vitae. Humanis divina nitent miracula membris, Et Domini celso fulget quae jure potestas, THE BODY FOUND INCORRUPT. 145 Lent, and to spend forty days before Christmas in great devotion, accompanied with abstinence, prayer, and tears. In this place, also, his venerable predecessor Cuthbert, before he went to Farne, as we have related, for some time served God in secret. The brethren brought with them also the portion of the robes that clothed the holy body. The Bishop received the gift thankfully, and listened with eagerness to their report of the miracle, and with great affection kissed the robe, as if it were still on the Saint's body. . ‘Put,” said he, ‘a new robe on the body, in the place of this which you have removed, and so place it in the coffin which you have prepared; for I am certain that the place will not long remain empty that has been sanctified with so great a miracle Participi fidis donatur munere servis. Intemerata sacro promuntur membra sepulchro, Nescia quam noxae, tam dirae immunia labis. Nec durum ac rigidum saeva ceu morte gravatum, Sed veluti placidum capiunt dum pectora somnum, Flexile jam tota corpus compage videtur. Nec minor eximiae retinebat gratia vestis Incorrupta solo, Sanctos quae texerat artus, Hanc findi placuit, medium pia membra receptant, Servatur medium signi memorabilis index.” The same account is given in different, though not less elegant words, in the Leonine life : “Ut sol undenos girando peregerat annos, Ex quo, pace Dei, tibi tempus erat requiei, Et cura multa fuerat caro sancta sepulta, Tunc animis fratrum fit, Christo judice, gratum, Ut tua de terra tollant sanctissima membra ; Quae cineres facta credunt putredine tacta, Haec ut humum supra servans nova colligat arca. Sed nil natura valet hic corruptio dura, Quam fuerat labis tam sunt immunia tabis, Corpus adest totum, nil carne vel osse remotum, Flexile vincturis, nervis compagine duris, Reddidit inventum ceu suscepit monumentum, |Ut requies somni, sic corpore paret in omni: Westibus et sacris corruptio defuit acris: Nulla quidem pannis undenis contigit annis, Quis tua Sancta caro fuit obsita munere claro. Quaeso, vir angelice, Patris omnipotentis amice, Quas detestaris, sordes mihi dilue carnis ; Ne male putrescat, si sordibus his requiescat ; Sed templum Christo sim corpore deditus isto.” —Biog. Misc. p. 114- 10 146 THE DISINTERMENT IN 698. of heavenly grace; and truly happy is he to whom Our Lord, who is the author and giver of true happiness, shall grant to rest therein.' . . . . . When the Bishop had said this, and much more to this effect, with a faltering accent, and with many tears and great compunction, the brethren did as he had ordered them ; and having wrapped the body in a new robe, and placed it in a wooden coffin, they placed it on the pavement of the Sanc- tuary.” “Soon after, God's beloved Bishop, Eadbert, fell grievously sick, and his distemper daily increasing, in a short time, that is, on the 6th of May, he also departed to Our Lord ; and they laid his body in the grave of the holy Father Cuthbert, placing over it the coffin, with the incorrupt remains of the Saint.” The same event is related by the describer of the ancient monuments, &c., connected with the church of Durham. “ Also eleven years after that he had been buried, and laid there in St. Peter's Church in Holy Island, he was taken out of the ground the 13th of the kalends of April, in the same kalends that he died in, whole, like to a man sleeping, being found safe and uncorrupted and * *, and all his mass-clothes safe and fresh as they were at the first hour that they were put on him. And they enshrined him in a feretory light (a little, Cos) above the pavement. And there he stood many a day.” Before closing the coffin of the Saint, the monks cut off some portion of his hair. “The brethren finding his body incorrupt, after having been many years buried, took some part of the hair, which they might, at the request of friends, give or shew, in testimony of the miracle.” From the accounts given by the difierent bio- grapher, we are to gather that, on this occasion, they took away the face-cloth from off his head—probably putting another in its * Bede's Life, p. 343. See also Eccles. Hist. book iv. chap. xxx. p. 232. * Eccles. Hist. p. 233. 3 P. 55. * Eccles. Hist, book iv. chap. xxxii. p. 235. See also Simeon of Durham, p. 59. For an account of a miracle, by which a young monk belonging to the monastery of Dacre, in Cumberland, was cured of a disease of the eye, when it was touched by a portion of this hair, in the possession of a priest of the monastery named Thridred, see Bede's Hist. p. 324. Three other miracles worked on the occasion of the opening of the coffin are related by the Lindisf. Monk. p. 124. THE EVIDENCE NOT TO BE DOUBTED. 147 place—exchanged the sandals on his feet for others of greater value, removed part of the exterior covering or chasuble," added a new cere-cloth, cut off a portion of the hair, and then enclosed the body in a wooden coffin, instead of the stone coffin in which it had been buried. From this account, it is very evident that the body of St. Cuthbert was whole, entire, and incorrupt, eleven years after his decease. The monks that opened his coffin could not have been deceived. Had they proceeded to disinter the body under the pre- possession that they would have found it entire, we might then have had some reason to regard their testimony with suspicion; but the contrary was the case. They expected to have found nothing but bones; so that they were much astonished when they found the body perfect—so much so, that they could scarcely speak. Moreover, had they not been perfectly unanimous in their account of the state of the holy bishop's remains, Bishop Eadbert would not have been satisfied without a personal examination of the body. Again, this account is written by Bede, who at that time would have been about twenty-one years old, and must have heard Over and over again, from the monks themselves, every little par- ticular connected with the disinterment. If he, who was so scru- pulous in receiving evidence, and who wrote the account when his judgment was matured by age, was satisfied of the fact of the body being incorrupt, we may rest quite assured that, on the occasion of the first opening of his tomb, the body of the Saint was found whole and entire. * See Reginald, chap. liv. p. 111. CHAPTER II. THE TRANSLATION OF ST. CUTHBERT's BODY INTO ALDHUNE’s CATHEDRAL, A.D. DCCCCXIX. THREE hundred years after the event just recorded, the body of St. Cuthbert was brought to Durham. During this interval the Danes had twice ravaged Northumbria, and had done their work most fearfully. They had driven the monks from their homes and had forced them to make, with the body of the mighty Cuth- bert, a long and mysterious pilgrimage from east to west, and back again to the east. When the body of St. Cuthbert was brought to Durham, a temporary chapel was made of the branches of trees, as a resting- place for the invaluable treasure." The spot where this chapel was constructed was most probably the exact spot where the church of St. Mary, in the North Bailey, now stands, at the east end of the cathedral. This chapel was soon superseded by a more substantial fabric, called the “White Church,” in which St. Cuthbert's body remained for three years. This “White Church” was a part of a larger church of stone that was being built by Bishog Aldhune.” Reginald gives the following description of this new stone church :—“Erant siquidem in Alba Ecclesia, in qua primitus re- quieverat, duaa turres lapideae, sicut qui videre nobis retulere, altius per aera prominentes, altera chorum continens, alia vero in fine ecclesiae Occidentali subsistens; quae mirae magnitudinis aerea pin- nacula in Supremo erecta gestaverant : quae omnium tam stuporem quam admirandi quantitatem excesserant : unde putabant consi- * See p. 124, and Simeon of Durham, p. 142. * See p. 129, and Simeon of Durham, p. 145. Simeon relates a miracle worked here on a Scotch woman who had been a cripple from her birth : chap. xxxviii. p. 146. * Rites of Durham, p. 61. THE TRANSLATION INTO THE GREAT CHURCH. 149 milis opus structurae nuSquam posse fieri; eo quod in finibus fini- timis proxima regionis Omnia necessaria in loco uno consimiliter nequaquam poterant reperiri.” In this “White Church’’ the body of St. Cuthbert remained for three years. Bishop Aldhune spent these three years in building a large church of stone called the “Great Church”. He had it much at heart to make this church worthy of the illustrious St. Cuthbert, and an outward expression of the esteem in which they held him.” On the 4th day of September, A.D. 999, the Saint's body was translated by Bishop Aldhune, from the “White Church’” to the church called the “Great Church ''. “After the great church was finished and consecrated, upon the 20th of September,” he trans- lated his body out of the ‘White Chapel’ into the ‘Great Church,' which he made a cathedral, erecting his bishop's see at Durham, where it still remaineth, about 377 (H. 361) years after it was first founded in the Holy Island by St. Aidan and St. Oswald, which was A.D. 635, and 333 (H. 309) years after the death of St. Cuth- bert, which was A.D. 684.” “ The feast of St. Cuthbert, that was formerly kept on the 4th of September, refers to this translation, and not to the one made, A.D. 1104, into the Abbey Church. This festival occurs in the old martyrologies, and his office was said, in the old Salisbury breviary, on the 4th of September. An old missal, kept at Rouen in Normandy, with a calendar dating from A.D. 1000 to 1095, has, under date September 4, “Translatio S. Cuthberti Episcopi”.” * Reginald, p. 29. 2 “Quam sublimia fuerint ejus (Sti. Cuthberti) interna virtutum cordis edificia, tantum, licet nulla comparatione, coacqualiter ipsius fabricae ecclesiarum excreverint fundamenta. Nam et illius virtutum magnitudo prominet ex murorum ecclesiarum ipsius praeeminentiori structura : ipsa vero artificiosa manuum caelatura ipsius conform- antur ad opera, pulchra, admiranda, et inenarrabili virtutum varietate distincta. Hinc est quod plerique prudentium, dum alta ecclesiarum ejus edificia sublimiori murorum fastigio porrecta conspiciunt, sagacioris animi ingenio, ad ipsius magnitudinis meritorum, et consideranda praemia illius beatitudinum animi acies mox convertunt.”—Reginald, p. 28. * A mistake for Sept. 4th. * Rites of Durham, p. 61; see also p. 57. The presents made on this occasion for the support of the church and the clergy attached to it are detailed by Simeon of Dur- ham, chap. xxxix. p. 149. 5 A fair used to be held at Durham on 4th September, the day of St. Cuthbert's Feast. Reginald speaks of this fair, and relates several events that happened on it, in chapters xxiv. and xlviii. 150 THE TRANSI/ATION IN 999. Aldhune's church was served by the secular clergy, who, how- ever, followed in the church services the ancient practices of the monastic church of Lindisfarne." There is no evidence to shew whether the coffin of St. Cuth- bert was opened or not, in order to ascertain the state of his body, on the occasion of this translation. It seems probable that it was not opened. Two circumstances having reference to St. Cuthbert require an especial mention here. Much has been said, in a work that forms a fit sequel in the nineteenth to the legend of Hegge in the seventeenth century, derogatory to the character of AElfred Westowe, the keeper of St. Cuthbert's shrine about the year 1022. In order to form a correct opinion of the real merits of the case, we must refer to the account given by Simeon, which is much older than that of Reginald. The two stories differ ; and Simeon’s account is older and more probable than that of Reginald. He states that Gamelo, a monk of much simplicity and humility, and who was then dead, often declared that AElfred was in possession of a single hair of St. Cuthbert, and that he had seen him put that single hair in the fire, and take it out again unconsumed. His words are : “He (AElfred) had one of the hairs of the holy Father Cuthbert, which he was accustomed to shew to his friends when they came to him, and thus raised to a still higher pitch their wonder at the sanctity of St. Cuthbert. He used to fill a 'thurible with burning coals, and place this very hair upon them, and after remaining on them for some time, it was not consumed, but used to glow and shine like gold in the fire; and when it was taken away, it returned by degrees to its natural appearance. Many of his disciples, and, in particular, a certain brother of this monastery —a man of much simplicity and humility—named Gamelo, who 1 “In illis enim diebus quibus in primordio Beatus Cuthbertus penes Dunelmum sibi quietis sedem elegerat, coetus clericorum qui usus in camendo monachorum eotenus tantummodo retinuerat, in eadem ecclesia, sub Episcopo, dominii privilegium obtinebat. De genere quidem et eadem nutritura fuerant qui primitus sacrum corpus ipsius de insula Lindisfarnea transvehendo transduxerant. Prebendas etiam de more Canonico- rum, qui nunc dicitur Secularium, de ecclesia possidebant, et exercitia monastica in officiis ecclesiasticis persolvebant.—Reginald, p. 28. AELFRED WESTOWE. 151 now sleeps in Christ, declared that they had often seen this miracle.”! That Ælfred the priest could not be suspected of practising any imposition regarding, or tricks with, the body of St. Cuthbert, may be gathered from the character given of him by Simeon of Durham : “Erat in Omnibus Sancto Cuthberto devotus, vir mul- tum sobrius, eleemosinis deditus, in orationum studio assiduus, lascivis et impudicis terribilis, honestis vero et Deum timentibus venerabilis, custos ecclesiae fidelissimus. . . . . Singulis noctibus psalterium decantare, quo completo ad vigilias nocturnas Solebat signum pulsare. Sed et in pueris in Dei servitium educandis mul- tum erat studiosus, quos quotidie cantu et lectione instituere et ecclesiasticis officiis curabat informare.” Reginald's account is very different, and rather fanciful. He had before him the account given by Simeon, and also the fact that, in 1104, after Simeon’s time, a pair of Scissors and a comb were discovered in the coffin ; and by weaving the two circum- stances together, he formed the account given in chap. xxvi. p. 57. With much simplicity and artlessness he conjectures the reason of the scissors and comb being among the relics. When the reader is further informed that Reginald Only gives the story as a tradi- tion, and in relating it uses the words “traditur '' and “sicut creditur,” and that he relates it as but an introduction to a story of a weasel bringing forth her young in St. Cuthbert's coffin— which story he again had only on hearsay—he will undoubtedly give the preference to Simeon's account of the miracle.” * Simeon of Durham, chap. xlii. p. 159. This miracle of St. Cuthbert's hair, that had been cut off, not by AElfred Westowe, but by those who closed the Saint's coffin after the first disinterment in 698, was not a solitary instance of the kind. At the middle of the 11th century, A.D. 1065, the same miracle was witnessed in the hair of St. Oswin. “As the bishop was on his way to make the above discovery (of the relics of St. Oswin), the Countess Judith, wife of Tosti, begged that some small portion of the sacred relics might be given her; and accordingly she received by his gift a large portion of the uncorrupted hairs of the holy martyr. Led by holy devotion, she wished to confirm in the faith some who were incredulous. Commanding, therefore, a large fire to be kindled in the middle of her hall, she boldly threw the hairs into it, when, so far were they from receiving injury from the violence of the flame, that they rather acquired greater beauty thereby. In admiration at this miracle, the countess took the holy martyr's hairs out of the fire, and, by the bishop's advice, laid them by with due honour.” (Roger of Wendover's Flowers of History, p. 321 ; see also p. 200.) * Simeon of Durham, p. 158. * See Remarks on Raine's St. Cuthbert, p. 19. 152 THE TRANSLATION IN 999. But if the coffin of St. Cuthbert was not actually opened about this time, it was very near being opened (A.D. 1072) to satisfy the curiosity of William the Conqueror. In the year 1069 the Con- queror sent a band of his Normans to establish his authority in the north of England. “At Durham the whole party, with the exception of one or two, were surprised and slain by the men of the bishopric. This success revived the spirit of independence in the country, and called the Conqueror to the siege of York. He took that city by storm, and in the beginning of the next year re- duced the whole district between York and Durham to the state of a wilderness. In 1072 he came to Durham, with no very friendly feeling towards the natives. There he laid the foundation of the castle to tame them into submission, Summoned the Earl Cospatric before him to answer for the late rebellion, and prepared to impose the feudal services on the inhabitants. They strongly objected ; the bishopric was the patrimony of St. Cuthbert ; they owed fealty and service to the Saint only; they had been freed from all services to others by the grants of preceding sovereigns. The Norman knew nothing of St. Cuthbert, or the immunities of the bishopric ; he refused to believe their account of the Saint's body, though confirmed by their oaths; he ordered the coffin to be opened, that he might convince himself of their truth or false- hood; and determined, if he found that they sought to deceive him, to put all the leading men among the people to the sword. A Mass was celebrated preparatory to the examination ; but just at the conclusion of the Mass, the monastic historian assures us that the king felt an unusual heat, he was covered with perspira- tion, and unable to bear what he felt, he precipately quitted the church, mounted his horse, and rode to the right bank of the Tees.” 1 Remarks, &c., p. 22. See also Simeon, chap. xliv. p. 194. Dun Cow Lane in Durham, a narrow street leading from the Place Green to the Bailey near St. Mary's church, occupies part of the site of the ancient “Kingsgate,” which led from Sidegate, at the south-east corner of the Green, traversing the Bailey to Kingsgate, Postern, and the old ford over the river. The name is said to be derived from its being the very track by which the Conqueror galloped in breathless haste to cross the Wear, on the occasion of his sudden retreat from Durham church, during the preparations made to satisfy his doubt concerning the body of St. Cuthbert. When King Canute went, in the years 1020 and 1023, to pay a devotional visit to the tomb of St. Cuthbert, he approached the monument with bare feet; so great, says Cressy, was the piety of those days. THE BENEDICTINE MONES BROUGHT TO DUPHAM. 153 Nothing could be more natural than the fear of the clergy on this occasion. Of the actual state of their Saint's body they knew only what they had received from the tradition of their predeces- sors. They had probably never opened the coffin to inspect its contents. But the circumstances attending the king's wish to open the coffin, and his being foiled in the attempt, tended to strengthen the belief in the tradition of the incorrupt state of St. Cuthbert's body. Before the close of the century a miracle was worked by St. Cuthbert on the person of Thomas, the Norman Archbishop of York. He had laboured for two years under a grievous indisposi- tion, that completely baffled the skill of his physicians. He came to Durham, and, as admonished in a dream, passed the night at the tomb of St. Cuthbert. During his sleep the Saint approached him, passed his hand over his limbs, restored him to health, and required of him to watch over the interests of the church of Durham.” The year 1082 witnessed the removal of the secular clergy, and the introduction of the monks of St. Benedict by Bishop Carileph into the church of Durham. Aldhune, who was himself a monk, would probably have never have called in the secular clergy if he could have supplied the church with monks. Bishop Walcher, a secular, formed the design of removing the secular clergy,” and introducing in their stead the monks of Wearmouth and Jarrow ; * but he did not live to accomplish it. His successor, Bishop Carileph, resolved to carry out the views of Walcher. In the first instance, he proposed to those who were already in pos- session of the church that they should become monks. On their refusal, he consulted the Pope, Gregory VII., the archbishops and bishops of England, and the king; and at last, with their approba- tion, brought the Benedictine monks of Wearmouth and Jarrow to the church of Durham. The community of monks was hence- * See the Archbishop's original charter, preserved under his seal in the Treasury of the Dean and Chapter of Durham, and printed in Dunelm. Scriptores, Appendix, p. 11. The charter is as perfect and legible as on the day it was written. 2 See the inscription of Bishop Walcher, Rites of Durham, p. 121. * The cause of the coming of the monks from the south of England to Wearmouth and Jarrow is described by Simeon of Durham, pref. p. 5. 154 TEIIE TRANSLATION IN 999. forth to be govermed by a prior, with all the privileges of am abbot.* Eis motives for making this change are clearly stated in one of his charters : it was done ** propter desolationem Dunelmensis ecclesiæ, et incorrigibilem vitam clericorum in præsentia reverendi confessoris Sancti Cuthberti minus honeste servientium, et multa, alia quæ ibi emendenda erant, propter scandalum etiam occisionis piæ memoriæ Walcheri episcopi, predecessoris nostri, quatenus nobis et successoribus nostris de simili casu imposterum salubrius provideremus, antiquum morem Lindisfarnensis monasterii in ecclesia Dunelmensi renovare curavimus, ut sicut aliquando illic, ita profecto modo, hic monasticus ordo servaretur.** Such was the cause and the manner of the foundation of the Order of the monks of St. Benedict in Durham church, by Bishop Carileph, in the year 1082. 1 Pope Gregory ** ex nostra petitione et concessione, omnes priores, una cum fratri- bus ceteris imposterum in ecclesia B. Cuthberti futuris, sub manu sua, auctoritate apostolica, suscepit : et prioribus sedem abbatis in choro sinistro concessit : quatenus, episcopis absentibus, ipsi synoda celebrent et cetera omnia Christianitatis officia per- solvant; et omnes libertates, dignitates, potestates, et honores, quas decani Eboracenses sub archiepiscopis obtinuerint, ipsi sub episcopis Dunelmensibus liberas et quietas teneant. . . . Præterea decrevit atque constituit, ut prior cum fratrum consensu et voluntate eligatur. . . . Qui primus post episcopum in omni loco sedeat, episcopi dexteram habeat, et ejus collateralis existat,” &c. &c.—(Charter of Bishop Carileph, Hist. Dunelm. Seriptores tres. Appendix, p. 2.) These privileges were confirmed by Thomas, Archbishop of York. See his charter, ibid. p. 11. They were also confirmed by King William, pp. 4 and 16 ; by Lanframe, Archbishop of Canterbury, p. 10 ; by Bishop Carileph, p. 14. The bull of Pope Gregory is givem at p. 7. In the year 1879 the prior amd monks of Durham petitioned the Pope for the privilege of mitre and pas- toral staff for the prior, which was granted the same year by Pope Urban VI. Both documents are given, p. 147. The privilege was recognised by Alexander, Archbishop- of York, p. 154 ; and again confirmed by Pope Martim V., p. 211. * Dunelm. Scriptores, p. xxiv. CHAPTER III. THE EXAMINATION AND TRANSLATION OF ST. CUTHBERT'S BODY IN THE YEAR, MICIV. IN the year 1093, ten years after the secular clergy had been removed from the church of Durham to make room for the Bene- dictine monks, Bishop Carileph pulled down the church that Aldhune had built A.D. 999.” His reason, no doubt, was to make the church suitable for his new colony of monks, and more worthy of the past glories of its parent at Lindisfarne. “William Carlipho being not well content with the smallness and homeliness of that building, did pull it all down seventy-six years after that Aldwine had finished it (it was finished in the year 1020), and instead thereof did erect the magnificent and famous building which is now to be seen : Malcolm, king of the Scots, Turgot, then prior of the church, and himself, laying the three first stones in the new foundation, upon the 30th day of July, as some say, or upon the 11th of August, as others affirm, A.D. 1093.”” However, before pulling down the old church, Bishop Carileph made a splendid tomb in the cloister-garth, on the eastern side of the present cloister, opposite the chapter-house, to receive the body of St. Cuthbert till the completion of the new church. For- tunately, there is a description of this temporary shrine. “And there was made a fair tomb of stone in the cloister-garth, a yard 1 Of Aldhune's church very few traces remain. One fragment (a carving in stone of a bird of prey) was found some years ago among the loose soil by the river side, below the Galilee, and is now preserved in the wall of a stable near the mill, See Raine, p. 73. The stone carving over the lintel of the door in the cottage by the gate, at the west end of the Prebend's Bridge, as also one over the fire-place of the entrance-room in the house belonging to the second stall, and another in the outside wall of that belong- ing to the fourth, are probably remains of Aldhune’s church. * Rites of Durham, p. 62. 156 THE TRANSILATION IN 1104. high from the ground, where that holy man was first brought to and laid (when he was translated out of the White Church, to be laid in the Abbey Church, H. 45), and a fair, great, broad, plain, through stone laid above the said tomb. Then afterwards there was a goodly, and very large, and great, thick image of stone, being the picture of that holy man, St. Cuthbert, very finely and curi- ously pictured, and wrought in the same stone with painting and gilding, marvellous beautiful, and excellent to behold, in form and fashion, as he was accustomed to say mass, with his mitre on his head, and his crozier staff in his hand. And the said picture was carried and laid above the said tomb of stone. It was reared up on either side, and at both ends above the said stonework, very close, with wood stanchels that a man could not have got in his hand between one stanchel and another, but have looked in and seen the picture of that holy man Saint Cuthbert lying therein, and covered over above all very finely and closely with lead, like unto a little chapel or church. Which did stand continually, unto the suppression of the house, as a memory and special monument of the first coming of that holy man St. Cuthbert.”" In the description of this monument, from the Cosin MS., it states that the slab over the “fair and beautiful tomb of stone in the cloister-garth '' was “a fair and comely marble”: that when his body was removed from this tomb to the feretory, a marble statue of the Saint was placed above the tomb.” This tomb was “over against the parlour-door, through which the monks were carried to be buried ”.” Bishop Carileph died A.D. 1095, two years after he had laid the foundation of the new church. “Ralph Flambard, his successor, favouring, and with all his might furthering, so good a work, did, in the twenty-nine years that he was bishop, build the said church from the foundation almost to the covering. But it was not fully finished till the time that Nicholas Farnam was bishop, and Thomas Melscome was prior, which two good men did arch it * Rites of Durham, p. 58. * See ibid. p. 63. * Dean Horne pulled down the monument, and placed the statue of St. Cuthbert on one side against the cloister-wall. Afterwards, Dean Whittingham broke the statue to pieces. THE ACCOUNT BY THE BOLLANDISTS. 157 over, A.D. 1242. But long before the church was finished, the body of St. Cuthbert was translated again out of the cloister-garth, where William Carileph, bishop, had made him a very sumptuous tomb to lie in, when he removed him out of the old church which Aldwine built for him, which was then taken down that this fair church, now extant, might be erected in the same place where that 'old church was.” - When the new cathedral was so far finished as to allow of it, the body of St. Cuthbert was translated from its temporary resting- place to the feretory prepared for it. Fortunately there exists a vast mass of information relating to this translation, and the examination of the body that accompanied it. There is, in the first place, the very important account given by the Bollandists, and which is a compilation from several manu- scripts. The account given there has been attributed to Simeon : whether his or not, it was undoubtedly written very soon after the event took place. The “historica narratio, ex variis codicibus MSS.” Of the Acta, Sanctorum, is as follows: “At the same time that many miracles were worked by him, there was a difference of opinion, both as to the place where the body of St. Cuthbert was buried, and as to its incorruption. For some conjectured that previous to this date it had been secretly removed to some other place, and that his tomb, though now deprived of him who had been buried in it, was still hallowed by the glory of his virtues, and was adorned with many miracles in testimony of its former possessor. Others contended that his holy remains were still there, but that it was unnatural to expect that a human body would remain incorrupt for so many ages; and that although the power of God can ordain whatever He wishes, and as He wishes it, yet that there was no evidence of such an exercise of His power in the incorruption of this body, from any one who had either touched or seen it : and that therefore it was difficult to believe a thing not proved concerning this body—although he had been a great saint—that which they knew was only granted to a very few of the bodies of Saints. While some conjectured that the * Rites of Durham, p. 62. I58 THE TRANSLATION IN 1104. body had been removed, and others would not admit its being in a state of incorruption, the credit of the brethren who maintained that it remained in the shrine, and was still incorrupt, began to lose ground, and a certain degree of fear was shewn. On this account the brethren had recourse to God in prayer, beseeching EHim who is wonderful in His saints, to shew Himself wonderful |by the manifestation of His great power, and giving glory to His own name, to remove the doubt by indubitable signs. “In the meantime the church, which the Bishop William had some time before founded, was to a certain extent completed; and the venerated body of St. Cuthbert was about to be translated into it, and there enshrined, to receive the veneration due to it, in a place prepared for it by the hands of clever workmen. Therefore, when the 29th day of August was at hand,-the day fixed for the solemn translation,-the brethren came to the resolution (as there was no one alive who could give them evidence on the subject), to examine, as far as God might allow them, how everything was placed and arranged about the holy body, and to prepare in due course whatever might seem fit and becoming for its translation on the day approaching : lest, when the time of the joyful proces- sion should arrive, some unforeseen difficulty might put an obstacle in the way, and the delay might disappoint the persons assembled together to assist at the solemn obsequies. Nine, therefore, of the brethren selected for this purpose, with Turgot, the prior of the church, added to their number, having already prepared themselves for it by fasting and prayer, on the evening of the 24th of August, prostrated themselves before the venerated tomb, and with tears, and prayers, and some degree of fear and trembling, commenced the work of opening it. When they had opened it with the aid of instruments of iron, to their astonish- ment they found a chest, carefully covered all over with leather (coria), fastened to it with iron nails. This chest, by its weight and size, and other marks, readily shewed that another coffin was placed within it. But, as fear caused them for some time to hesi- tate in opening it, when the above-named prior ordered them twice or thrice, trusting to the virtue of obedience, they again fall to the work already begun, and having broken the iron bands soon open the chest. Inside they see a coffin of wood, of a man's length, and THE WORDS OF THE MONE LEOFWINE. 159 covered with a lid of the same kind, completely enclosed within a rather coarse linen cloth of a threefold texture. For some time they. hesitated; for it was not very evident whether it was the resting-place of the body of the Saint, or whether it contained another coffin, having within it the holy relics. At length, recall- ing to their minds the words of Bede, who describes that the brethren of the church of Lindisfarne found the body of St. Cuth- bert incorrupt after it had been buried eleven years, and enshrined it above the floor of the church, where it might receive the venera- tion due to it, remembering his words, they perceive that this is the same coffin that for so many years had preserved deposited within it so great and heavenly a treasure. At the same time they fell upon the ground, and prayed earnestly that the blessed Cuth- bert, by his intercession, would avert from them the anger of an omnipotent God, if they had merited it by any presumption on their part. They felt a joy mingled with fear : for although they feared that they had offended by their boldness, yet they felt a great joy at the certainty of their undertaking. Their joy caused them to burst into tears, and thanking God they felt that their wishes were satisfied. After this it appeared to them rash to endeavour to examine further into the secrecy of the holy body, and they thought that the vengeance of God would overtake and punish such rashness. Therefore, abandoning their intention of making any further search, they began to discuss the manner in which the holy body should be removed on the day of its transla- tion, which was just at hand. “Amongst the other brethren there present, there was one, a man of great constancy in Christ, who, by the workings of grace, had effectually obtained that charity which his name signified; for he was called Leofwine, which in English means a dear friend ; for he was a dear friend to God, and God to him. For God shewed that He was his father by chastising him with a continual infirmity, and he shewed that he was a son of God by patiently bearing His scourges, and always giving Him thanks. Every one that knew the life and conversation of this man felt satisfied that the Holy Ghost dwelt in his breast. When he saw the brethren afraid to open the coffin they had found, and to search within it for the token of divine grace and of fresh joy that it might disclose to 160 THE TRANSLATION IN 1104. them, he stepped forward into the middle, and spoke in a more fervent manner than he was accustomed, saying, ‘What are you doing, my brethren? why do you fear? The deed will always merit a happy result that is begun by the inspiration of God. He who has given us the desire to search, also gives us the hope of finding the object of our search. The success that we have so far met with is a sign of the happy result that we may hope for from what remains to be done ; for our commencement would not have been so prosperous, if it had not been the will of God that we should persevere to the end : neither will God ever accuse us o rashness, in following out the dictates of a devout mind ; for it is not from a contempt of, or a distrust in, his sanctity, that we are undertaking to search for his relics, but to the end that the Lord of hosts, the King of glory, may be the more devoutly glorified by all men, in proportion to the greatness of the miracle shewn on the present occasion by His power. Therefore let us examine the interior of this holy chamber, in Order that we may bear witness with certainty to that which we shall have seen with our eyes, examined and touched with our hands, and that thus our certainty may remove every argument from those that entertain doubts on the subject.’ These words uttered by the devout man restored confidence to the brethren, and they removed the venerated body from behind the altar, where it had up to this time remained, into the middle of the choir, where a larger space afforded them the accommodation required. “Then they removed the cloth that had covered the coffin; yet they did not dare to open it immediately, but carefully examined it by the aid of candles, to ascertain whether it were possible, through any crevices, or by any other mark, to discover what was hidden within. But as they could see nothing in this way, they at last, with some degree of fear, removed the lid, and saw the book of the Gospels' placed upon an inner lid (supra tabulam) 1 An account of this book, communicated by the late Dr. Milner to the Society of Antiquaries, is printed in the Archæologia, vol. xvi. part i. p. 17. It is now in the possession of the English Jesuits. This book of the Gospels must not be confounded with the one mentioned in page 112, that fell into the sea during the flight made with the Saint's body. The book here spoken of is a manuscript copy of St. John's Gospel. It is evidently eleven or twelve hundred years old. If we examine the inscription at the beginning of the work, or the tradition, or the intrinsic evidence furnished by the THEY FIND AND EXAMINE THE BODY. 161 near the head. This lid, supported by three transverse wooden bars, covered the whole length and breadth of the coffin, and con- cealed everything that was beneath it ; and it had two iron rings inserted into it, one at the head and the other at the feet, by which it could easily be lifted. It now became very evident that the object of their search was there, but they still hesitated as to whether they should touch it with their hands; for they felt, through love, a desire of seeing and touching that which had been the object of their affections; but fear, rising from the knowledge of their sins, checked their courage : and thus, between the two, they remained so doubtful as scarcely to know to which to give the preference. “Whilst they were thus hesitating, they take courage at the order of the Prior and the exhortation of the brother above named, and at last raise the lid, and, removing the linen cloth that had covered the holy relics, directly beneath the lid inhale the odour of the sweetest fragrance. And lo! they find the object of their desires, the venerable body of the blessed father. It was lying on its right side, wholly entire (tota Sui integritate), and flexible in its writing, we cannot doubt that the MS. in question is the very book that was found on this occasion. The inscription on the leaf opposite the beginning of the Gospel is, “Evangelium Johannis, quod inventum fuerat ad caput Beati Patris nostri Cuthberti in Sepulchro jacens anno translationis ipsius ”. This inscription is in a very ancient handwriting, of later date than the character of Magna Charta, and probably as late as the reign of Edward I. or II. The words “Patris nostri” connect it with Durham, and the binding is composed of parchments relating to Durham. The characters of the manuscript, and the mode of writing, bear intrinsic evidence of an antiquity as high as the age of St. Cuthbert. The text is without chapters, verses, diphthongs, or points of any kind. The letters are all uncial or capitals, being for the most part Roman, with a mixture of the Saxon. From a comparison with the other MS. mentioned above, and which is certainly of the time of St. Cuthbert, the one in question seems the older. A facsimile of its first page is given in the Archaeologia. The text is the Latin Vulgate, and it agrees with the text of St. John in the other MS., both of which contain the his- tory of the woman taken in adultery. There is every reason to believe that it was St. Cuthbert's portable duodecimo copy of St. John's Gospel. It probably remained in the treasury at Durham till the dissolution, when, like the other MS. now in the Museum, it got into private hands, and became the property of the Lees, one of whom, temp. Charles II., became Earl of Lichfield. It was carefully preserved in that family as the undoubted manual or vade mecum of St. Cuthbert during his lifetime, and as having been buried with him at his death. The last Earl of Lichfield that had it gave it to the Rev. Thomas Philips, the author of the Life of Cardinal Pole. He gave it to the College of the Jesuits at Liege in 1769; and from this college, at its suppression, it was brought. to England. 11 162 THE TRANSLATION IN 1104. joints, and resembling rather a person asleep than one dead. At the sight of this they were seized with a great fear, and retiring to a little distance, dared not keep their eyes on the miracle that was before them. Falling on their knees they began to strike their breasts, and raising their eyes and hands to heaven, exclaimed frequently, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us”. In the meantime, each related to the other what he had seen, as if all had not been eye-witnesses of it. Then all fall flat upon the ground, and shedding copious tears, recite the seven penitential psalms, to beg of God not to rebuke them in His indignation, nor chastise them in His wrath. Having finished them, they again approach it, creeping on their hands and feet rather than walking, and find in it many Saints' relics; so many, that the small size of the coffin could not have contained them if the holy body of the Saint had not reclined on its side, as already stated, and allowed them room all along the coffin, to repose there with himself. It is evident that these relics, as we read in the old books, were the head of the glorious king and martyr Oswald, also the bones of the venerable confessors of Christ and priests, Aidan and Eadbert, Eadfrid and Ethelwold, successors of the venerable Father Cuth- bert. Moreover, the bones of the venerable Bede, contained in like manner in a linen bag, reposed with the body of St. Cuthbert, whose life he had written. . . . . . . Many relics of other Saints were also found in the same place. It was their wish, in the first place, to lay again on its back the holy body that had been turned On its side; but because they could not easily do this, on account of the number of relics that had been placed about it, they decided to remove from the coffin for a short while the Saint's body, to collect together the relics of the Saints and lay them together apart, and then to put back the incorrupt body into its own resting-place. But as they feared to touch it with their hands, the prayers of the brother above named inspired them with fresh courage to obey cheerfully everything that was ordered by their seniors. “When, therefore, the two to whom the order had been given, the one at the head and the other at the feet, raised the venerated |body from the place of its rest, it began to bend in the middle as if it had life, and the natural weight of solid flesh and bones caused it to sink to the bottom (carneque solidum et ossibus pondere naturali ad THE BODY EXAMINED A SECOND TIME. 163 'ma demergi). A third person immediately approaches, according to an order given, and supports the middle of the body in his arms; and thus they lay it down respectfully on the pavement upon carpets and cloths. How they then shed tears, through the greatness of their joy! What words of congratulation, what praises and exultations, did now burst from them, when they beheld this treasure of heavenly grace, in comparison with which gold itself would have been of little worth ! They thought that no- thing was now wanting to them, when they saw before them, as if alive, him through whom the Divine goodness would bestow upon them both the aids they required for their present life and the joys of the life to come. In the meantime the relics of the Saints having been removed, they again placed the body of their father in its coffin, intending to bury it in a more fitting and becoming manner the following night, because, as it was already the time for matins, they could not at that time remain there any longer. Therefore, having sung in a low voice the ‘Te Deum,” they carried the body back again, singing psalms to the Lord, to the place from which they had brought it. When it was morning, they related the wonders of God to a full assembly of the brethren, who, by the novelty of the event, were at first as it were stupified, and afterwards shewed their joy more by their tears than their words. On bended knees they returned thanks to Jesus Christ, who in His mercy had shewn them how great were the merits of their patron, and what they themselves might hope for from his merits.” Such is the account given in the manuscripts quoted by the Bollandists of the disinterment of St. Cuthbert's body on August 24, A.D. 1104. To satisfy the Bishop, Ralph Flambard, on the state of the body, it was again opened out on the following night. The same account goes on to say: “But the Bishop did not readily believe them, thinking it altogether incredible that a human body, however holy, should remain entirely free from corruption for so long a time as 418 years: and the oaths of men who would have considered it highly criminal not to tell the truth, even when not upon oath, could scarcely satisfy him. “On the night following, the same brethren who had been * Acta Sanctorum, p. 138. 164 THE TRANSI/ATION IN 1104. present upon the former occasion, in the spirit of humility and with contrite hearts, again bring out into the middle of the choir the venerable body, and lay it down upon cloths and carpets on the pavement. Its first outward covering was a robe (pallium) of a costly description, below this was a purple dalmatic, and then a linen sheet (linteamina), all of which were entire and clean, and without any stain of corruption, retaining their original freshness. But the chasuble which he had worn for eleven years in his grave, and was at that time taken away by the brethren, is now preserved in another place in the church as an Ostensible proof of his incor- ruption. When, therefore, by examining it with their eyes and touching it with their hands, by lifting it up and laying it down again, they had ascertained with certainty that the body was incorrupt and the flesh firm (nervis Solidum), and had perceived that it had been attended to with solemn care, in addition to the robes with which it had been before clothed, they added an Outer robe (ea abundanti pallio), the most precious they could find in the church, and a very fine linen sheet (sindonem). When they had wrapped it with great care in these robes, they replaced it, with many devout prayers and sweet tears, in its abode of peaceful rest. Moreover, they put back, as they were, the other things that had been found along with him, namely, the ivory comb and the scissors, still retaining their fresh appearance, and those things that are peculiar to a priest, namely, a silver altar, a corporal with a paten, and also a chalice, small indeed, but costly in its material and workmanship. Its lower part had the figure of a lion, of the purest gold, having on its back an onyx stone hol- lowed out with great beauty and art, and which, by the skill of the maker, was in such a manner attached to the lion, that it could easily be turned round in the hand without being separated from it. Of all the relics that had been found there, they put back only the head of the blessed King Oswald, as it had been before by the body of the glorious Bishop; for the other relics taken from the coffin, as above described, having been respectfully arranged, are preserved in another well-known part of the church. When the body of the blessed father was closed up in his coffin, they covered the coffin all over with a coarse linen cloth waxed over, and took it back to the place behind the altar where it had A TEIIRD EXAMINATION ASKED FOR. 165 before rested, blessing the Lord of hosts in His works, who alone does wonderful things, and whose great works are sought out according to all His wills.” " This second opening of the coffin, made on August, 25, 1104, was not the last investigation made into the state of the body, on the occasion of this translation. Four days later another was made, to remove from the public mind every shadow of doubt. The same account continues: “In the meanwhile the day of the approaching translation had been made known far and wide. A great concourse of persons, embracing many of all ranks and ages, as also of both lay and clerical profession, flocked from every direction to Durham. They had heard and believed in the miracle of the body’s having re- mained for so long a time incorrupt, and rejoiced much in the Lord, and praised and thanked Him, that in their days was seen the manifestation of such a wonder. One, however, among the abbots” that had arrived, made the somewhat rash charge (Calum- niabatur), that an injustice had been done him in what had taken place; accusing the brethren of the church of ill-judged rashness, in daring to undertake so important and so unusual a work with- out consulting or making use of him ; for he said, that as he was a neighbour, he ought to have been called in as a partaker of what they had been doing, in order that the testimony of its truth might be strengthened by his declaration. He said that it was probable that the brethren, who had not wished to call from any other church a witness of their secret proceedings, were saying rather what was false than what was true of what they had done. “Whence,’ said he, ‘reason appears to require that the truth of such an incredible thing should be investigated also by others, in order that what we shall have seen with our eyes we may declare with our testimony to the people who are here assembled in such numbers.’ Repeating frequently these remarks in the hearing of those that had assembled, he drew some over to his way of thinking. The day appointed for the translation was now at hand; and the brethren having heard of the calumnious accusation of the Abbot, were grievously scandalised, both because * Acta Sanctorum, p. 140. * Probably either the Abbot of St. Mary's at York, or St. German's at Selby. 166 THE TRANSI/ATION IN IIO4. the disgrace of having uttered a falsehood was laid to their charge, and because another examination of the holy body was asked for, which they did not dare to allow to strangers, or to repeat them- Selves. There was much disputing on both sides. The Abbot contended that the attestation of the brethren of the church alone, as to what they themselves had done, could not be admitted. The brethren, in trouble that their honesty should be suspected, cried out that he was aiming at either the ruin of their house, or their expulsion from the place, when, rejecting their testimony, given on oath, as false, he judged them to be sacrilegious and worthy of hate: “Far be it from us, then,’ said they, “to allow this man an opportunity of seeing the sacred remains, through whose means the suspicion of a grievous falsehood has fallen upon us: for of those who yesterday exulting sang, “ Glory be to God on high,” some to-day, through the calumny of this Abbot, suspect us of a falsehood.’ “Whilst this contention was running to great lengths, and there was no prospect of an end being put to it, Ralph,” a venerable man, at that time Abbot of the monastery of Seez, but afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, came forward to offer his services as mediator. As he was a man of great meekness and piety, and deeply versed in the holy Scriptures, he desired to restore peace between the parties that were at variance. ‘The words of the Scripture,” said he, “are very true : “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand ’’; therefore, how much more in the mouth of many, and those persons so worthy of credit, that reason should allow no one to doubt their testimony. We readily believe that God has manifested to you His power in the case of the body of St. Cuthbert. We believe,” said he, ‘and on that account my mouth speaks the praises of the Lord, and my soul blesses the Lord. But, since the evidence of this miracle is so great, I may perhaps appear rash, if I shall ask that we may be allowed to behold the incorrupt state of the holy body that you have seen. Yet this demand should not appear either rash or superfluous: because “perfect charity casteth out fear,” I pre- sume to ask this from your great charity, which I trust I may * Ralph, at that time Abbot of Seez in Normandy, was made Bishop of Rochester in 1108, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1114, and deceased in 1122. A THIRD EXAMINATION ALLOWED. 167 presume to do from the love I bear you. An additional argument in favour of what I beg is furnished by a circumstance that has just happened, viz. this doubt of our brother abbot, which, if it be not removed from his breast by the testimony of others, will cause him to think that he has just reason for suspecting you, and will afterwards cause many to agree with him. For it appears to me that this doubt has arisen providentially, in order that from the very thing whence you imagine a great scandal will arise, a. still greater glory may result, by the dispensation of God, to this place. For when you shall have consented, by favour, to our re- quest, and we ourselves shall have seen that which we have already heard of, the calumny of those that speak against it will be so much the sooner silenced, in proportion as the experiment shall have strengthened both your testimony and our own ; and the glory of God towards the blessed Cuthbert will be spread so much the wider: for we, when we break up and return home to different places, after having proved it with our own eyes, will take care that it shall be everywhere spread abroad.” “The Bishop would have immediately given his assent to the prayer of the venerable Abbot, had not the impropriety of imme- diately consenting to it suggested itself to the brethren, who feared that some serious judgment might fall upon them from God, if they again permitted any one unadvisedly to view the holy body. But, prevailed on by the advice of prudent friends, they at length, though with great reluctance, consented to this, viz. that, with the exception of the Abbot who had given his opinion that they were not worthy of credit, the humble and pious petitioner, with others who might be deemed worthy, should be admitted to a fresh inspection of the miracle. Further than this, they were per- suaded by their advisers to allow him especially to be present who was himself doubtful of their testimony, and had also been the cause of the doubts of others, in order that, when he witnessed the miracle with his eyes, he might believe that which he would not believe on their testimony. “When the dispute was settled in this manner, they enter the oratory, the Prior leading the way, vested in albs, viz. the above- mentioned Abbot of Seez, Richard abbot of the monastery of St. Albans, Stephen abbot of St. Mary's at York, and Hugh abbot of 168 THE TRANSILATION IN 1104. St. German’s at Ollesby (Selby). After them came Alexander, brother of Edgar king of Scotland, about to succeed his brother in the kingdom, and William, then chaplain to the Bishop of Durham, but Archbishop of Canterbury after the above-named Ralph. Then followed forty other persons of the clerical pro- fession, as well monks as secular clergy. In addition to these there were many of the brethren of the church; for some were assisting the Bishop, who at that very moment was consecrating an altar in the church. When, then, all had devoutly offered up a prayer, the holy body is brought into the choir, where the coffin is opened by the brethren who had just before closed it up. The Prior, raising his hand, strictly forbade any one, except the Abbot of Seez, to move a hand to touch either the body or any of the things about it. The rest he ordered to stand near, and ascertain the truth with their eyes, not with their hands. The brethren of the monastery he ordered to stand by all the time, and watch with vigilant eyes, lest any one should in any way abstract even a particle of thread from the robes that enveloped the body. His commands were obeyed. “The Abbot aforesaid unfolding, with the aid of the brethren belonging to the church, the coverings wrapped round the vene- rable head, raised it a little in both his hands in the sight of all, and bending it in different directions, found it adhering to the rest of the body, with all the joints in the neck perfect. Then taking hold of the ear, he moved it backwards and forwards with some degree of force. And after this, examining with a scrutinising hand the other parts of the body, found the body with its nerves and its bones solid, and covered with soft flesh. He also shook it, taking hold of the head, and raised it so high that it almost appeared to sit in its quiet abode. Moreover, in order that nothing might be wanting in his diligent investigation, he took care to examine into the perfect state of its feet and legs. But there were some who feared to look upon it any longer, and cover- ing their eyes with their hands, exclaimed that he had carried the proof of the truth, of which he had such certain evidence, even further than was required. When, therefore, the devout searcher had sufficiently, and more than sufficiently, examined the miracle of its incorruption, raising his voice in the midst, he ex- THE ACCOUNT BY REGINALD. 169 claimed, ‘Behold, my brethren, this body lies here, lifeless indeed, but as sound and entire as on that day on which the soul left it to wing its flight to heaven’. After this, all things were carefully arranged as they had been before. The brethren of the monastery are pronounced by all to have been truthful and worthy of credit: and he, who before had given it as his opinion that they were not to be believed, affirmed, molens volens, together with the rest, that what he had before denied could no longer be called in question.” There are also four chapters in Reginald that detail much very curious and interesting information about the body, the robes, and the coffins that contained it. His evidence is of much value, as the event of the translation took place just before his time; and its importance requires that it should be given in full. CHAP. XL OF THE BRETHREN THAT RAISED AND TOUCHED THE BODY of ST. CUTHBERT, &c. “We will detail in a few words, for the benefit of such as wish for information concerning the blessed Cuthbert, those things which we were able to gather from the older portion of those belonging to the church. For they undoubtedly had seen, had heard, and had learnt everything to the most minute detail, from those who touched with their hands, saw and examined with their eyes, and raised and held in their arms, the incorruptible body of the blessed Cuthbert. The names of these men are: Turgot the prior, Aldwine the subprior, Leofwine, Wiking, Godwin and Osbern the sacrists, Henry, and William (surnamed Havegrim), both of them archdeacons, Algar, afterwards prior, and Symeon. Osbern, lifting up in his hands the body of St. Cuthbert at the head, raised it from the place of its repose ; whilst Aldwine, taking hold of the body at the other end, raised up its holy feet. Algar also, when the body was bending in the middle, like that of a living person, took and supported in his arms the middle of the flexible body. He also assisted the Abbot of Seez in unfolding the cloths that were about the venerable head of the Saint. When the holy body was laid down upon the carpets and cloths prepared for it, Symeon, who held the wax candle and candlestick, con- *Acta Sanctorum, p. 140. 170 THE TRANSI/ATION IN 1104. tinued to kiss the holy feet, with tears streaming down. These men related to their hearers the mighty works of God, and un- folded to them many things that were secret ; but would not commit the whole to writing. But we have thought it meet to hand down these things, taking a great pleasure in knowing well those things which we have not seen, and to give to posterity Some information on those subjects which we know that some will call in question. “As soon as the holy body was raised from the place where it reposed, the coffin, in which it had up to this time lain on its right side, like a person asleep, sent forth in every direction a wonder- fully fragrant and sweet smell. Moreover, the coffin in which the very holy body reposed retained the original freshness of the wood, and appeared dry throughout. The rich silk material that had been put under the body shewed the bright appearance of recent texture in that portion of it that the body had covered. But that part of the material of silken cloth that appeared to be under the other Saints' relics, by his side, was all eaten by moths, and reduced to dust and ashes. Yet none of all the dried bones of any other Saint, that had been close to and in lateral contact with the incorrupt body, had by their dust or decay communicated any injury,.either of dust or moisture, to his holy robes. But, in the place where those Saints' relics had rested, the part of the coffin allotted to them had become black in its lower part, with the dust that remained after their putrefaction; and, from the effect of long contact with this dust, was injured, although not decayed. For the ashes, by their natural decay, generated a dirty and defiling dust; and thus, when the worm of corruption had dissolved those bones by a natural decay, the decomposition, accompanied by an increase of temperature, had produced beneath them a certain degree of moisture. On this account, that part of the coffin where a portion of these Saints' relics had rested appeared defiled, soiled, and rather damp. Wherefore they collected together all the dust, and cleansed the coffin of the blessed Cuthbert of these defilements; and putting together these holy ashes, placed them in certain Wooden coffers made for the purpose. These relics are kept, with all the honour due to them, in another part of the church, in a large chest made purposely; and with them are placed some of the THE COVERINGS OF THE BODY. 17L half-decayed envelopes that enclosed the relics. But because they could not by any means scrape off or remove from that part of the coffin the stain caused by the ashes and the moisture that had sunk into it, they took other means to remedy it. They wished, indeed, to make the stained part like the other more perfect part, if they were able to do so; but it was useless to attempt it any further. Then, hitting upon a new scheme, they prepare a wooden board, and make it fit in shape the bottom and sides of the coffin : this board they warm by a hot fire from the morning till evening; and cover it, and season it, as far as they are able, with melted wax. To its lower part they fasten feet on the four corners, like tressels, the height of which, together with the thick- ness of the board, was the measure of three fingers. It was placed at the bottom of the coffin; and thus every portion of the coffin, which before had been stained by the dust from the relics of the Saints, was covered by this board. So closely was it laid on to the bottom of the coffin, that it appeared a new bottom just made ; for the wooden feet beneath it supported it upon the old bottom, and it concealed all the old stains upon the lower part. Upon the top of this board the incorrupt body of the glorious Bishop was placed in his resting-place; and all the other relics were laid apart in another place. For this reason it is that this holy body rests not more than half-way down in the coffin, because it rests not at the bottom of the coffin, but on this board. CHAP. XLI. OF THE CoverINGs IN which THE HOLY Body was wrAPPEI, AND HOW THE LIMBS WERE HANDLED AND ARRANGED. “As he who knows in part desires still more to have a full knowledge, so let us continue that which is yet wanting in our narration, and begin with his holy body. This body, so wonderful for its merits and virtues, appears to be of a tall and manly stature; yet so that in height it is neither too tall nor too short. Its limbs are all firm, flexible, and in nothing deficient; such as we find in a perfect man : they are muscular in the sinews, flexible, with veins full of blood, and with sweet and soft flesh, so as to be rather characteristic of a person living in the flesh than of one dead in the body. His body is entirely enveloped in a very fine linen sheet, within which there is no other kind of covering. The Abbess & 172 THE TRANSI/ATION IN 1104. Verca gave this winding-sheet to him during his lifetime, and he always preserved it for this purpose. Above this he is clothed in the priest's alb, and the amice appears on his neck and shoulders. His cheeks and face, and all round his venerable head, is covered with a very fine cloth, that adheres as closely to all the parts under it, as if it were glued to his hair, his skin, his temples, and his beard. In no way could it in any part be lifted up, pulled off, or raised ever so little ; it could not, even with the sharp end of the nails, be in any place drawn off, torn away, or perceptibly pulled aside. On this account his nose and eyelids were well seen through it ; but yet the skin below and the tender flesh beneath could not be clearly seen. In like manner, the whole head and all the organs of the senses, as far as the junction of the neck, were covered in the same way, so that there was no means of seeing them. His nose at its extremity seemed a little curved upwards, and his chin appeared as if, in the lower bone, it were furrowed with a double division. This furrow extended to both sides, and a finger might have been put lengthways into it, because it extended over the end of the chin. Above all these there is a purple cloth, which conceals and covers the whole of the mitre on his head. It is not easy to ascertain its material or texture, as there is no such material in these days. On the forehead of the holy Bishop there is a plate, not of woven work of gold, but only gilt, which glitters with small gems of different kinds all over its surface. Some persons who had seen inside the holy coffin, prompted by devotion rather than curiosity, wished to see his bare flesh, and raised up a little the above-mentioned cloth. And thus, between the joints of his neck and the parts about his shoulders, saw and touched with their hands the soft flesh. They saw it, felt it with their fingers and hands, and found it equally consistent all over the body. Above the alb he was crowned with a stole and fanon,” the hinder extremities of which are visible a little * The word famon does not here mean the maniple. If he had worn the maniple, it would have been visible, and could not have been covered by the tunic and dalmatic. The word crowned evidently alludes to some ornament of the head. The famon is described by Gerbert, De Westibus sacris, as follows:—“Fanon est velum variegatum, quo Papa post albam ornatur, et circa collum et supra caput ad formam cuculli reflec- titur . . . . . habens fanonem sive orale in capite, et mitram super fanonem.” Du Cange describes it as “Subtilissimum sericum velum variegatum . . . . quod post THE EPISCOPAL ROBES. 173 above his feet; yet the nature of the texture cannot readily be known, for they are covered by the tunic and dalmatic that are over them, but the ends of their borders are seen to be of very costly workmanship. CHAP. XLII. OF HIS EPISCOPAL ROBES, AND OF THEIR VALUE, CoLouR, FoRM, ELEGANCE, BEAUTY, AND WONDERFUL TEXTURE. “As is usual with Catholic bishops, after the above-mentioned robes, he was vested in the tunic and dalmatic, both of which, being of the precious colour of purple, and of varied texture, are very beautiful and worthy of admiration; for the dalmatic, which being the outer robe is seen above the other, appears, to all acquainted with such things, to be of a reddish purple that is not known in these days. It still retains the full elegance of its origi- nal newness and beauty, and when handled, it crackles on account of the close and thick texture of its workmanship. Very fine figures of flowers and small animals, very minutely worked and separated one from another, are interwoven in it. For beauty of effect, its appearance is diversified with sprinklings of another colour, that is proved to be yellow (citrinus). The beauty of this variety is shewn to great advantage on the purple cloth, and makes by its spots fresh varieties of forms. This sprinkling of yellow seemed to have entered into it by drops ; and its effect is, to cause the reddish appearance of the purple to shine more clearly and brilliantly. The extremities of this dalmatic are edged all round with a gold border, like an orphrey, which, on account of the quantity of gold interwoven in it, cannot easily be bent; and even then with a crackling sound. It may be rolled or folded up, but yet, on account of its close and thick texture, of itself would return to its former rigid state. It is of the breadth of a palm, and seems to have been of very skilful workmanship. There is a similar border at the end of each sleeve round the hands or arms of the illustrious Bishop. But round the neck, where the head comes albam induitur. Circa collum ligatur ad modum caputii, ac Supra caput imponitur.” Thus we find it was a species of silk-cloth, which was put on over the alb, hung behind the shoulders, and was tied round the neck. To it, behind, was attached a small hood, which covered the back of the head, and was worn under the mitre. Hence we see why the body was said to be crowned with the fanon, and also why the hinder extremity of it was just visible near the feet. 174 THE TRANSI/ATION IN 1104. out, there is a border of gold, broader than the former, and of workmanship and value incomparably superior to the other. It covers the greater part of both shoulders both before and behind, because on both sides it is almost a palm and a half in breadth. “His hands, resting upon his chest, appear to extend their fingers raised to heaven, and to be always imploring the mercy of God for such as are devout to him. For he who before his death raised them on high in prayer for himself, now, for the expiation of our sins, has never since his death lowered his hands. They may be moved in any direction ; and every joint, like those of a living person, may be bent backwards and forwards, and moved any way by such as handle them. In like manner his arms may be raised up and lowered : and in the same way all his other members may be drawn aside, and restored to their place, at the pleasure of those that handle them. “The chasuble, which was taken off him after he had been buried eleven years, was never afterwards restored to him. Upon his feet he wears the episcopal shoes, commonly called sandals, which in front have many very small holes, evidently made on purpose. Further than this, as to whether he may have under these any soft linen vest (interulam), or a monk’s cowl, nobody possesses any information ; because no one has presumed to touch or explore the robes that are next to his skin. Again, nothing is known respecting his other garments, of linen or perhaps of wool; because no one has been allowed to search further into them. “Above the dalmatic the holy body is covered with other costly silk robes (palliis), of a kind that is not very well known. Above which had been put round him a sheet of about nine cubits in length and three and a half in breadth, in which the whole of the holy relics had been reverently wrapped. It had on its other side a fringe of a finger's length, of linen thread, and the sheet was un- doubtedly linen. But all round the edges of this sheet there was a border of an inch in breadth, ingeniously worked by its maker; upon this material some very small figures may be seen, rather in relief on the warp (stamine) of the thread, containing on its edge the figures of birds and beasts yet; always between every two pairs of birds or animals it is worked into the appearance of a branching tree, which here and there separates these figures, and ** THE ALTAR, CHALICE, PATEN, ETC. 175 divides them distinctly. This representation of a tree is so figured as to appear to bud forth its leaves, although small ones, on both sides. Under them, and close to them, in the next division, the figures of animals woven in relief again appear ; and both figures in like manner are continued throughout the whole border. This sheet was taken from the holy body at the time of its translation, and for a long time was carefully kept in the church, for the pur- pose of being given away as relics, which are daily given to the faithful. Above this sheet was placed another coarser cloth, said to have been of a threefold texture, with which the whole surface of the sheet itself, and all the body of relics placed beneath, were covered. Again, above this there was a third cloth, waxed all over, that had formed an outward covering for the inner coffin of the holy body, together with all the holy relics. It was ascertained not to have belonged to the inside of the coffin, but is thought to have been added for the purpose of excluding the troublesome defilement of dust. Now these three cloths were removed from the body of the holy Bishop, and in their place others, more elegant and much more costly, were substituted. The first of them, which is placed under the robes above described, is of fine and very delicate silk; the second is of an incomparably rich purple cloth ; the third, which is the outside one, and the last of all the coverings of his sacred body, is of the very finest linen. “Moreover, he has with him in the coffin a silver altar, a cor- poral, a gold chalice with the paten, and a pair of scissors (with which it is said that his hair was formerly cut), still retaining the |beauty of their original newness. These things are placed by his head upon a board laid across the coffin, where they are up to this time preserved, together with an ivory comb, which is perforated. in the middle, so that almost three fingers can be inserted a little way into it. In size it bears a reasonable proportion to its breadth; for the length is almost equal to the breadth, except that, for orna- ment’s sake, the one differs a little from the other. On account of its age it is tinged with a reddish colour, and its natural appear- ance of white bone is changed by its great age into a reddish tint. “Such is the nature of the robes with which the coffin of the blessed Bishop Cuthbert is furnished : and, of the other holy relics, * See p. 164. 176 THE TRANSILATION IN 1104. the head of the glorious king and martyr of Christ Oswald, alone is honourably placed therein. CHAP. XLIII. OF THE WONDERFUL AND VARIED WoRKMANSHIP IN THE MAKE AND CARVING OF HIS CoFFIN. “So far we have discussed the way in which Christ's illustrious bishop, Cuthbert, is placed in his coffin. We will now proceed to explain the nature of his inner coffin itself. In this inner coffin he was first placed at the island of Lindisfarne, when he was raised from the spot where he was buried ; and in this coffin his incorrupt body has always been preserved up to this time. It is quadran- gular, like a box. Its lid is not raised higher than its sides, and the top is quite level with the sides that support the lid, which is quite level and flat, like that of a box. The lid is a board, that is made to open at the top like a door. Two circular rings are inserted and fastened into it, one at the feet and the other at the head. By these rings the lid is raised up or lowered down ; for there is no other fastening on the coffin. It is made entirely of black oak ; but whether it has become black from old age, or was made so artificially, or was so naturally, is a subject that will admit of doubt. The whole of its exterior is admirably carved with such small and delicate work that excites rather wonder than admiration at the skill and power of the carver. The traces of the different animals, flowers, and images, that are inserted, carved, and engraved on the wood, are slight and delicate. This coffin is enclosed in another outer chest, that is covered all over with leather, and is strongly bound round and fastened with iron pins and hoops. Also a third, adorned with gold and precious stones, is superadded to them, which has indented hollows in its wood corresponding with similar ones in the wood of the second coffin, to which it is fastened and united by long iron pins. This coffin cannot by any means be separated from the others, because the iron pins cannot possibly be removed without being broken.” To this account, given by the anonymous author, probably Simeon the Durham historian,” and by Reginald, in their own * Reginald, pp. 84 to 90. * Simeon makes use of these words: “Nos gratias illi referamus, quibus incorruptum corpus ejus quadringentesimo et Octavo decimo dormitionis ejus anno, quamvis indignis divina gratia, videre, et manibus quoque contrectare donavit”. –Simeon Dunelm. p. 53. AN ABSTRACT OF THE PROCEEDINGS. 177 words, it may be well to add a short summary of their documents in the beautiful language of a most eminent historian : “William, the second Bishop of Durham after the Conquest, had collected for the service of his cathedral a society of monks; and, dissatisfied with the low and obscure church of his predeces- sors, had laid the foundations of a more spacious and stately fabric. In the year 1104 it was nearly completed; and the 29th of August was announced as the day on which the incorrupt body of St. Cuthbert would be transferred from the old to the new church. The nobility and clergy of the neighbouring counties were invited to the ceremony; and Richard, Abbot of St. Alban's, Radulfus, Abbot of Seez in Normandy, and Alexander, brother to the King of Scots, had arrived to honour it with their presence. But among this crowd of learned and noble visitors the whispers of incredulity were heard ; the claim of the monks was said to rest on the faith of a vague and doubtful tradition ; and it was asked, where were the proofs that the body of the Saint was entire, or even that his ashes reposed within the church of Durham? Who could presume to assert, that at the distance of four centuries, it still remained in the same state as at the time of Beda; or that, during its numerous removals, and the devastations of the Danes, it had never perished through the negligence or flight of its attendants? These reports alarmed the monks; and that alarm was considerably increased by the intelligence that the Bishop himself was among the number of the sceptics. With haste and secrecy the brotherhood was sum- moned to the chapter-house ; the advice of the more discreet was asked and discussed; and, after a long and Solemn consultation, it was determined that Turgot the Prior, with nine associates, should open the tomb in the silence of the night, and make a faithful report concerning the state of its contents. “As soon as their brethren were retired to rest, the ten visitors entered the church. After a short but fervent prayer that God would pardon their temerity, they removed the masonry of the tomb, and beheld a large and ponderous chest, which had been entirely covered with leather, and strongly secured with nails and plates of iron. To separate the top from the sides required their utmost exertions; and within it they discovered a second chest, of dimensions more proportionate to the human body. It was of 178 THE TRANSLATION IN 1104. black oak, carved with figures of animals and flowers, and wrapped in a coarse linen cloth, which had previously been dipped in melted wax to exclude the air and the damp. That it contained the object of their search all were agreed ; but their fears caused a temporary suspension of their labour. From the tradition of their predecessors they had learned that no man ever presumed to disturb the repose of the Saint, and escaped the instantaneous vengeance of Heaven. The stories of ancient times crowded on their imaginations: engaged in a similar attempt, they expected to meet each moment with a similar punishment. The silence of the night, the sacredness of the place, their veneration for their patron, aided these impressions, and at last an almost general wish was expressed to abandon so hazardóus an experiment. But Turgot was inflexible. He commanded them to proceed ; and, after a short struggle, the duty of obedience subdued the reluct- ance of terror. By his direction they conveyed the smaller chest from behind the altar to a more convenient place in the middle of the choir; unrolled the cloth; and with trembling hands forced open the lid. Instead of the remains of the Saint, they found a copy of the Gospels, lying on a second lid, which had not been fastened with nails, but rested on three transverse bars of wood. By the help of two iron rings, fixed at the extremities, it was easily removed ; and disclosed the body, apparently entire, lying On its right side on a pallet of silk. At the sight, they gazed on each other in silent astonishment; and then, retiring a few paces, fell prostrate on the floor, and repeated in a low tone the seven psalms known by the name of the penitential psalms. After this preparation, they approached the coffin ; and three of them, by Order of the prior, placing their hands under the head, the feet, and the middle of the body, raised it up and laid it down on a carpet spread on the floor. It was found to have been wrapped in a cerecloth of linen, probably the same which the Saint had received from the Abbess Verca, and had carefully preserved for that purpose. Over this appeared the usual episcopal vestments, the amice, alb, stole, famon, tunic, and dalmatic : the chasuble alone was wanting, which had been removed at the former trans- lation in 689. On the forehead lay a thin plate of gold, or metal gilt, thickly encrusted with small stones; and a mitre covered the AN ABSTRACT OF THE PROCEEDINGS. 179 head, round which had been wound a napkin of a purple colour. A cerecloth of the finest linen adhered so closely to the face, that no part of it could be loosened; but between the neck and the shoulders the skin was exposed to the sight and touch. The arms could be moved with ease ; the hands were joined over the lower part of the chest, and the fingers, which were still flexible, pointed upwards. With the body were found a chalice and paten, a port- able altar," a burse to hold the linen for the altar, and an ivory comb, with scissors of silver.” In addition, the coffin contained, in a separate mass, a collection of bones, the mortal remains of other bishops, which, to facilitate the conveyance, the monks had de- posited in the same chest, when they were compelled to leave their ancient monastery. These they collected, and transferred to a different part of the church; and as the hour of matins approached, hastily replaced the body in the coffin, and carried it back to its former situation behind the altar. “The following day was spent in Sacred preparation for the work of the evening. At dusk the same individuals repaired to the church, taking with them a loose bottom of oak to be placed within the coffin; because the spot where the other relics had lain was damp and discoloured.” On this, without the removal of any part of the episcopal garments, and with the addition of a new winding-sheet of silk, they replaced the body in its former posture; to it they added the reputed head of St. Oswald; and having de- posited the coffin once more within the shrine, hastened to impart the result of the investigation to their anxious and impatient brethren. “The next morning the monks announced the discovery of the preceding night, and a solemn act of thanksgiving was performed to publish their triumph, and silence the doubts of the incredulous. 1 This altar was the “Superaltare,” i.e. a portable substitute for the fixed altar, that the primitive bishops used to carry with them in the visitation of their flocks. Probably this was the very one used for such purposes by St. Cuthbert. Bede speaks of such in the 7th century (Ecclesiastical History, chap. x. book v.). See an interesting article on these altars in the Archaeological Journal, vol. iv. p. 239. * The scissors and comb were probably those which had been used at the Bishop's consecration. * This remark appears to explain the cause why the Saint was laid on his side, and not on his back. Probably he had been so placed, when the monks left Lindisfarne, to make room for the other relics. 180 THE TRANSI/ATION IN 1104. But their joy was soon interrupted by the rational scepticism of the Abbot of a neighbouring monastery. “Why,’ he asked, “was the darkness of the night selected as the most proper time to visit the tomb? Why were none but the monks of Durham permitted to be present 2 These circumstances provoked suspicion? Let them open the coffin before the eyes of the strangers who had come to assist at the translation of the relics. To grant this would at once confound their adversaries; but to refuse it would be to condemn themselves of imposture and fraud.’ This unexpected demand, with the insinuations by which it was accompanied, roused the indignation of the monks. They appealed to their character, which had been hitherto unimpeached; they offered to confirm their testimony with their oaths; they accused their opponents of a design to undermine their reputation, and then to seize on their property. The altercation continued till the day appointed for the ceremony of the translation, when the Abbot of Seez prevailed on the Prior Turgot to accede to so reasonable a demand. To the number of fifty they entered the choir : the chest which enclosed the remains was placed before them, and the lid was removed ; when Turgot stepped forward, and stretching out his hand, forbade any person to touch the body without his per- mission, and commanded his monks to watch with jealousy the execution of his orders. The Abbot of Seez, with Algar for his assistant, then approached, raised up the body, and proved the flexibility of the joints, by moving the head, the arms, and the legs. At the sight every doubt vanished; the most incredulous confessed that they were satisfied; the Te Deum was chanted; and the translation of the relics was immediately performed with the accustomed ceremonies.” " Of the state of the body at this translation,” there is also another account : “Four hundred and eighteen years after the decease of holy * Lingard's Anglo-Saxon Church, vol. ii. p. 74, &c. * There was a monument in the Cathedral to commemorate this wonderful event, viz. a statue of St. Cuthbert, in the screen on the south side of the choir-door, with the inscription: “Sanctus Cuthbertus, monachus, episcopus Lindisfarnensis, nunc patronus ecclesiae ac libertatis Dunelmensis, cujus corpus post 418 annos sepulturae suæ, incor- ruptum et flexibile, dormienti quam mortuo similius est inventum; et sic vitam inteme- ratam commendat corporis incorruptio”. –Rites of Durham, p. 120. THE CEREMONY OF THE TRANSLATION. ‘181 St. Cuthbert, upon occasion of a dispute that happened among certain prelates, some doubting or denying that the corpse of St. Cuthbert would continue uncorrupted for so many years, others affirming and avouching its incorruption . . . . the holy sepulchre was opened by a select number (above ten) of reverend monks, and the holy body, with all things about it, found whole, sound, uncorrupted, and flexible, having its natural weight and full sub- stance of flesh, blood, and bones. A most heavenly fragrant smell proceeded from it; and it was brought forth and strictly examined, and exposed to the view of above forty, in all, of noblemen and others of the clergy and laity, such as were deemed worthy and fit to be eye-witnesses of such a rare and reverend spectacle.”" The account of the ceremony of the translation itself is given by the first-quoted authors: “When all, in their exultation, had solemnly sung the Te Deum, and everything that was necessary had been prepared with due respect, the holy body of the Saint was raised upon the shoulders of the bearers, and the voices of the singers sounded, chanting heavenly hymns in honour of the Almighty God. Shrines, with the relics of the other Saints, were carried first in the proces- sion; last was borne the venerable body of the blessed Bishop Cuthbert. As it was carried through the door, with all the pomp of a splendid ceremonial, the crowd of people, who were waiting for it in the open air, burst into tears of joy, and all rushed towards it, so that the bearers of the holy body could scarcely move for the crowd; and the voices of the singers were drowned by the loud and mingling Sounds that proceeded from those that prayed, that exulted, and that wept for joy. When they had gone round the outside of the new church, they halted at its eastern end, and the Bishop preached a sermon ; and those that stood by him explained to all the assembled people that they had seen and had touched the miraculous body that had continued incorrupt for 418 years. With fresh joy they thanked God for vouchsafing to reward their devotion with so great a manifestation of heavenly grace. The day was now considerably advanced, and the Bishop, weaving into his discourse many things that had no reference to the occasion, wearied many with the length of his sermon. The sky * Antiquities of Durham Abbey, p. 62. 182 THE TRANSI/ATION IN 1104. had before this been so bright that there was no appearance of rain in the heavens; yet on a sudden the rain fell so copiously that the brethren interrupted the discourse, lifted up the coffin that contained the holy body, and carried it in haste into the church." When it was carried in, the rain immediately ceased, to shew that it was not God’s will that the holy body of his servant should be kept so long out of holy ground. Neither should it be passed over in silence, that, although the rain was so heavy, none of the ornaments belonging to the church that were exposed to it, nor the vestments of those that were very splendidly robed, received any injury. Finally, the body of the Sainted Bishop was placed in the spot that had been properly prepared for it, and a solemn Mass was celebrated, whilst the church re- sounded with the praises of God. When the holy mysteries, offered up for the benefit of the faithful, were concluded, all returned homewards with joy, glorifying and praising God for all those things that they had seen and heard.”” A further account of this translation is given by William of Malmesbury:—“No Small share of glory, however, was attached to his (Bishop Ralph Flambard's) name, from his connection with the new buildings of the monks and with the translation of the blessed Cuthbert. His celebrity was increased by the fact of his having raised up the holy body, and, when it was raised out of the coffin, by allowing all to see it that had the desire. Ralph, at that time Abbot of Seez and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, had the courage and happiness to touch it, and openly brought it forward incorrupt, because some persons had expressed a doubt * During this sermon the Bishop held in his hand and shewed to the people the MS. copy of St. John's Gospel, that Boisil, on his death-bed, used to instruct the young monk Cuthbert. The MS. was kept among the other relics at Durham, for the sake of both the master and the scholar. It had for its safe keeping “ex pelle rubricata, in modum perae, loculus habens ex serico, quod jam vetustas dissolvit, in fila suspendicu- lum, quo per colla, ut dicitur Sanctorum, i.e. beati magistri et post eum discipuli sui pii heredis, liber circumferebatur pendulus ”.—(Bolland.) A very curious and interest- ing account of this book, and its three red-leather bags, is given by Reginald, who describes Hugh, Bishop of Durham, as exhibiting it and the other precious relics of the church to William, Archbishop of York, on occasion of a visit made, through devotion, to the shrine of St. Cuthbert. The Bishop suspended it round the neck of the Arch- bishop, who examined its pages, and then put it round the necks of his friends and suite. See Reginald, chap. xci. p. 197. * Bolland, p. 141. THE CUPE OF ABBOT RICHARD. 183 whether the miracle of the incorruption of the body, so well established heretofore, still continued. All the robes also looked as fresh as when new. A chalice, the upper part of which was of gold, and the lower made of an onyx stone, was upon his breast; and a cerecloth adhered so closely to his face, that the Abbot failed in his attempt to remove it. The head of Oswald, king and martyr, was found between his arms; and the bones of St. Bede and St. Ceolwulf, who was a monk and saint of Lindisfarne, were found in separate linen wrappers. The scene in the cemetery- garth was a most imposing one. The air was calm ; no clouds darkened the heavens; all the monks were vested in their best robes; there was a long string of people going and returning, and a great crowd of persons pressing forward to get a second sight of what they had already beheld. But the Saint, as it is thought, considered it an indignity that he should be made a spectacle of, and a heavy shower of rain falling unexpectedly, drove them all into the church. Here again was a miracle 1 for the robes of the monks were not even wet, much less injured by the heavy rain. This was a wonderful miracle, O holy Bishop, worked by thy wonderful power, and worthy of thy sanctity | Indeed, not many days before thou hadst worked another. Everything was ready in the new church for the translation of the body, the choir for the monks, the altar, and tomb ; it was only necessary to wait till the frame of timber-work that supported the newly-made arch of the choir should be gently removed. Yet thou didst not suffer, O Saint, the holy wish of thy children to be deferred, but didst remove all at midnight. For who else could have done the deed? The prior, roused by the sound, ran to the spot, not caring for the timber-work, but full of fear for the altar and floor. But thou hadst not only preserved from injury those parts for which he was so afraid, but the timber was as whole as when first used. Nor is it without cause that thou art feared by thy monks; so much so, that no one conscious to himself of disobedience to the Prior, or of any serious fault, would dare to retire to rest without confessing his fault.” " On the occasion of this translation of the Saint's body, a miracle was worked in favour of an abbot that came to assist at ! William of Malmesbury's De Gestis Pontif. Angl. lib. iii. p. 278, edit. 1601. 184 THE TRANSI/ATION IN 1104. the ceremony. Richard, Abbot of St. Alban's (he was the fifteenth abbot, from 1096 to 1119), “qui beatum Cuthbertum multo semper excoluit amore, ejusque sepulchrum saepius solitus fuerat invisere,” had for a long time had something the matter with his left hand, that prevented him from celebrating Mass. The doctors had been unsuccessful in their attempts to cure it. Before the hour appointed for the ceremony, he got the brethren to join with him in prayer. They begged the intercession of St. Cuthbert, praying, “ut non Sua peccata sed fidem petentis aspiceret, et ad gloriam nominis Dei a Deo gratiam ei sanitatis obtineret”. Nor was his faith or their prayer in vain. At the close of the pro- cession already described, the coffin had to be raised on to the stone in the shrine, behind the altar that had been made fit to receive such a precious burden, and which, on account of its size, was supported on nine pillars, at some height from the ground. The Prior already spoken of got upon the stone; and as he needed assistance to receive the body from those that carried it, he called the Abbot Richard to get up quickly and help him. He got up, and, not thinking of his hand, helped to receive and lay down the coffin. When they had laid it down in its place, he turned his attention to his bad hand, but felt it cured, so that he could with ease move the fingers that he had not been able to move before; and never afterwards felt more pain in it. On his return home he made an oratory in his church in honour of St. Cuthbert, and ever afterwards felt a great devotion towards him." “This manifestation and translation of the incorrupt body of St. Cuthbert was made four hundred and eighteen years, five months, and twelve days” after his decease, i.e. in the year of the Incarnation 1104, the fifth year of the reign of King Henry, and the sixth of the episcopacy of Ralph, to the praise of God Al- mighty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.”” It must be borne in mind, that the eastern end of the church, begun by Bishop Carileph, and finished by Bishop Flambard, was * See Bolland, p. 142. * From the day of his decease, March 20, A.D. 687, to Aug. 29, A.D. 1104, there are 417 years, 5 months, and 9 days. * Bolland, p. 143. DUREIAM ABBEY CHURCH. 185 of a semicircular or aspidal form. The altar-screen, or reredos, Crossed the church at the spring of the apse. The foundations of this apse were discovered in 1827, a few feet below the level of the shrine, and in very perfect state. The line of the apse, and its relation to the original and the subsequent feretory, is given in a woodcut, p. 265, of Smith's Bede. Within the apse, and behind the altar-screen, was the original shrine of St. Cuthbert. Beyond the meagre account of Reginald, stating that the shrine containing the holy remains of our Saint was of stone, and was supported by nine stone pillars, nothing is known as to its form, size, or the costliness of its material." Lamps were perpetually kept burning around the shrine, in honour of him who was a burning and a shining light. And many of the wealthy men, both of that age and following ages, reasoned well when they thought that they could not do better than give a portion of their substance towards maintaining lights round the tomb of St. Cuthbert.” Ring Henry III. visited Durham, and made several offerings to the shrine of St. Cuthbert, in the year 1255. Such was the form of the eastern end of Durham abbey church,” and of St. Cuthbert's shrine, for 130 years, at the end of which time that part of the church began to decay ; and in A.D. 1235 preparations were commenced for the chapel of the nine altars, to form as it were an eastern transept to the church. * Reginald, chap. xlv. p. 92, throws some light on the shrine. Mention is again made of pieces of cloth hanging from the shrine, p. 161 ; see also pp. 165 and 279. *The Durham treasury charters shew us that one of the Lords of Dinsdale gave the churches of Rounton and Dinsdale to the church of Durham for the maintenance of lamps round St. Cuthbert's shrine; that another person gave 2 houses in Norham ; Eustace de Fenwick gave 1 lb. of wax yearly ; and Robert Fitz-Roger, Baron of Wark- worth, gave 20 shillings annually for the same purpose. The Liber Vitae also records that Gaufrid de Forset gave 5 lbs. of wax every Easter; and Gilbert de Forset gave 1 lb. ..every Easter. * Nothing certain is known as to whether the choir-aisles terminated in apses, as in Lindisfarne church, or not. Probably Billings is right in his conjecture that the aisles were carried round the apsidal ending of the choir; that the east wall extended to where the wall of the nine altars stands now ; and that its centre was then, as now, the site of the shrine of St. Cuthbert. CHAPTER IV. THE OPENING OF ST. CUTHBERT's COFFIN, AND THE STATE OF HIS BODY, A.D. MDXXXVII. THE east end of the cathedral church of Durham began to shew symptoms of decay about the year 1235.4 Richard Poor was then bishop, and Thomas Melsonby prior. The prior, in a document” not dated, but written either in 1233 or 1234, solicited the charity of the faithful to enable him to repair the fabric. The Bishop of Ely, in a document dated 1235, granted an indulgence of forty days to such as would aid the Bishop of Durham “apud orientalem supradictæ ecclesiae partem novum opus extruere, in quo ipsius Sancti Confessoris corpus Valeat tutius pariter et honestius collo- cari”.” The result of this appeal to the charity of the faithful was the magnificent eastern transept, known as the Chapel of the Nine Altars. Neither the date of the commencement of the work, nor that of its termination, is given; but it is known that it was not com- " Prior Melsonby's circular describes the “fissuras et fracturas ipsius ecclesiae ex orientali Sui parte prominentes et terribilem ruinam minantes”. * This document is kept in the Finchale box in the Treasury of the Dean and Chapter of Durham. It is printed by Raine (Appendix, p. 7), and contains a list of indulgences granted to the benefactors by the Pope and the Bishops of England and Scotland, and promises them the benefit of six masses daily in the church at Durham, and 3600 masses and a number of offices to be said at the Monasteries of Newminster, Blanchland, Hexham, Brinkburn, Tynemouth, Coldingham, Bolton, Finchale, Holy Island, Bambrough, Jarrow, Wearmouth, and Farne; and at the Convents of Nesham, Lamley, Berwick, Halistan, and Newcastle. * Ibid. p. 7. THE BISHOPS AND PRIORS OF DUFEIAM. 187 menced in 1243, and that it was being built in 1277. The new erection altered the form of the east end of the church, from the Norman apse to the early English parallelogram. This chapel is a most beautiful specimen of early English work, no less wonderful in the majestic effect of its clustering columns and vaulted roof, than in the exquisite perfection of its minor details. A more minute account of this chapel, in connection with the feretory and shrine of St. Cuthbert, will be given in Section III., Chap. I. Suffice it here to say, that its chief interest is, that it was built as a chapel to contain the incorrupt body of a Saint, over whose tomb. Once rose a canopied shrine, perhaps more gorgeous, assuredly not less so, than that of any Saint whose memory was ever cherished in Catholic England; and to which countless thousands of every grade, from the poor pilgrim to the monarch, came to beg the grace of God through the merits and intercession of His Saint. The tomb of St. Cuthbert, within the feretory, was improved A.D. 1372, by John Lord Neville, at an expense of £200 spent in marble and alabaster.” The work was executed in France, con- veyed from London to Newcastle by sea at the expense of the donor, and thence removed to Durham at the cost of the church. But this was only an instalment of the same nobleman's gene- rosity to the church of Durham. He afterwards gave 600 marks towards the reredos or altar-screen, a splendid specimen of de- corated work, though now but the skeleton of what it was before it was plundered of the hundred and seven figures that graced its niches. The screen cost 800 marks ; was carved in France, and conveyed from London to Newcastle by sea at the expense of Lord Neville. Seven masons were employed by the Prior for a whole year in setting it up ; and the work was finished in 1380, in which year the high altar was consecrated. It fared well with Durham church and monastery, under a succession of illustrious and zealous Bishops, and devout and ex- "See charters quoted in Raine, p. 101. About this time the whole of the church was roofed with stone, not according to the style of architecture of the period, but to match the rest of the building. * The reader should bear in mind that, to ascertain the amount of any sum mentioned in records of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as compared with the present value of money, he should multiply it by six. I88 THE OPENING OF THE COFFIN IN 1537. emplary Priors, till an event that forms a dark epoch in English history, and named, locus a non lucendo, the reformation. But at the commencement of the sixteenth century, “the kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord : * Bishops of Durham. . Aldhune ... . Eadmund ... Eadred Egelric Egelwine ... . Walcher ... tº e e . William Carileph . Ralph Flambard ... . Galfrid Rufus tº € $ . William de St. Barbara ... . Hugh Pudsey , Philip de Pictavia . Richard de Marisco . Richard Poor e . Nicholas de Farneham ... . Walter de Kirkham 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. '26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 995 1020 1041 1042 1056 1072 1082 1099 II.33 1143-1153 1153–1195 1195-1208 1217-1226 1228-1237 1241-1248 1249-1260 1260-1274 1274-1283 1284-1310 1311 1318–1333 1333-1345 1345-1381 1381–1388 1388-1405 1406-1437 1437-1457 1457-1476 1476-1483 1483-1494 1494–1501 1502–1505 Priors of Durham. . Aldwine 1083–1087 . Turgot 1087-1107 Algar 1109–1137 Roger 1137-1149 Laurence ... tº e e .... 1149-1154 . Absalom .. 1154-1162 Thomas 1162-1163 . German ... 1163-1186 . Bertram 1188 or 9-1209 . William of Durham ... 1209-1214 . Ralph Kernech 1214-1233 . Thomas Melsonby . 1233-1244 . Bertram de Middleton ... 1244-1258 . Hugh de Darlington 1258-1272 . Richard Claxton ... ... 1273-1285 . Richard de Houton 1290–1307 or 8 . William de Tanfield 1308-1313 . Galfrid de Burdon I313-1322 . William de Couton 1322-1342 . John Fossour 1342-1374 . Robert de Walworth 1374-1391 . John de Hemingburg 1391-1416 . John de Wessington 1416-1446 . William de Ebchester 1446-1456 . John de Burnaby 1456-1464 26. Richard Bell 1464-1468 . Robert Ebchester 1478-1484 . John Aukland 1484-1494 . Thomas Castell ... 1494-1519 . Hugh Whitehead 1524-1540 3 0 33. 34. 35. 36. some other writings in the volume B. iv. 24, in the Dean and Chapter library. Robert de Stichell Robert de Insula... Anthony Bek Richard Kellow ... Lewis Beaumont ... Richard Bury Thomas Hatfield ... John Fordham Walter Skirlaw ... Card. Thomas Langley ... Robert Neville Laurence Booth ... William Dudley ... John Sherwood ... Richard Fox William Lever Card. Christoph. Bainbrigg 1507-1508 Thomas Ruthall ... Card. Thomas Wolsey Cuthbert Tunstall I509–1522 1522-1528 1530-1559 It is not a little remarkable that, from the time of Bishop Carileph, there was an equal number of bishops and priors, and also that Cuthbert was the name of the last Catholic Bishop of Durham. The lists of the monks at Durham and her dependent cells, at different periods, are given in the Dunelm. Script. The obituary of the Priory of Durham is contained in the margin of an old copy of Bede's Martyrology, bound up with THE PILGRIMAGE OF 'GRACE. 189 and against His Christ”. If it be asked, “Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised foolish things?”* the answer is, that it was not the wickedness that excited the indignation, but the possessions of the Church that stimulated the avarice of a monarch, in whose breast lust, avarice, and pride struggled for the mastery. The history of the church of Durham, and of its bishops and monks, from the period described in the last chapter to the time spoken of in this, may be summed up and related in the account of a visit made by King Henry VI. to the cathedral. The king, on a pilgrimage of devotion to St. Cuthbert, arrived at Durham on the 26th September, A.D. 1448, was lodged by the bishop in his castle, and remained till the 30th of the same month. The feast of St. Michael the Archangel, September 29, fell on the Sunday, and the king attended the first vespers, the procession, the mass, and the second vespers, in the cathedral. What he thought of Durham church, Durham monks, and Durham people in those days, may be gathered from his letter to John Somerset, which is published in the Rites of Durham : “RIGHT TRUSTY AND WELL BELOVED,-We greet you heartily well, letting you wit, that, blessed be our Lord God, we have been right merry in our pilgrimage, considering three causes : one is, how that the church of the province of York and diocese of Durham is as noble in doing divine service, in multitude of ministers, and in sumptuous and glorious buildings, as any in Our realm. And also how Our Lord has radicate in the people His faith and His law, and that they are as Catholic people as ever we came among, and all good and holy, that we dare say the first commandment may be verified right well in them ; Diligunt Dominum Deum ºpSOrºm ea totis anºmis Suis et total mente sua. Also they have done unto us all great hearty reverence and worship as ever we had, with all great humanity and meekness, with all celestial, blessed, and honourable speech and blessing, as it can be thought and imagined ; and all good and better than we had ever in our lives, even as they had been coºlitus inspirati. Wherefore we dare well say it may be verified in them the holy saying of the prince of the apostles, St. Peter, when he saith, Deum timete, Regem honorificate,_qui timent Dominum et Regem honorificant cum, " Psalm ii. 2. 2 Ibid. v. 1. I90 TEIE OPENING OF THE COFFIN IN 1537. debita reverentia. Wherefore the blessing that God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, descend upon them all, &c. Written in our city of Lincoln, in crastino St. Lucas Evangelistae, 1448.” 1 It would have been well if the eighth king of that name had done the same justice to his subjects, who loved God and honoured their king. Instead of the blessing that his namesake had in- voked, the eighth Henry brought a curse both spiritual and temporal upon his subjects. Yet that the Lord had rooted in the people His faith and His law, and that they were truly Catholic people, could be as truly applied to the men of the North a century later, as in the time of the sixth Henry. To their everlasting credit be it recorded, that they resisted to the very last the effort made to uncatholicise the kingdom. And they who had been among the foremost to embrace were the last to forsake the faith of Jesus Christ. The royal edict had gone forth, and 376 religious houses, with incomes under 2200 a-year, were suppressed. “Still,” adds one who among modern local historians has earned for himself the first place, “the cathedral of Durham remained inviolate, nor was the palatine franchise as yet infringed; but the old religion remained deeply seated in the breasts of the northern people; and the monastics of both sexes, expelled from their habitations, and seek- ing food and shelter through the country, were objects well calculated to excite the popular indignation. In the autumn of 1536, a general insurrection broke out in Lancashire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Durham, Richmondshire, and Craven, under the conduct of Robert Aske, a gentleman of ancient family and large estates in Yorkshire. The rebels (insurgents would be a milder term) were joined by Lord Scroop of Bolton, Lord Latimer, Sir George Lumley, Sir Thomas Percy, and Sir John Bulmer. After reinstating the monks of Hexham and other dissolved houses, the chief power of the rebels marched southward, preceded by some of the wandering priests with crosses, and displaying on their ban- ners the crucifix, the five wounds of the Saviour, and the chalice. They styled their enterprise ‘The Pilgrimage of Grace,’ and pro- fessed its object to be the preservation of the king's person . . . . and the restitution of the Church. After reducing York and P. 103. THE BODY FOUND IN CORFUPT. 191 FIull . . . . the main body of the insurgents were dispersed at Doncaster by the policy of the Duke of Norfolk, who offered the king's free pardon to all that would immediately disband and return home. But the flame was repressed, not extinguished; the clergy of the North, in general wholly opposing the king's reformation, kept the rebellion still on foot, though outwardly Smothered for a while.” He adds, that there was no place in Pngland “where the first pale and struggling rays of the reforma- tion broke out with more unwelcome lustre than in the bishopric of Durham ”.” We may add, that it is a known fact, and much to the credit of that part of the patrimony of St. Cuthbert, that on the accession of the good Queen Mary, to whose memory future ages will do that justice which our age has denied, the proclama- tions issued by Edward VI., ordering a change of worship in the different churches, had never been heard of by the inhabitants of Houghton-le-Spring. The act 27th Henry VIII. passed in 1536, dissolving every religious house with an income under £200, had given the death- blow to Durham's branch houses at Holy Island, Farne, Jarrow, Wearmouth, Finchale, Lytham, and Stamford. The mother house Of Durham had calmly seen, like the mother of the Maccabees, her children destroyed before her eyes; in their fate she read her Own. Four years later her turn came ; and on December 31st, A.D. 1540, the Crown took possession of the church and its pro- perty, from the prior and convent of Durham. In 1553 an act was passed for the suppression of the bishopric of Durham. Never was a tardy act of justice done at a more fitting time than when an act of parliament, in Mary’s time, de- clared all the proceedings of the late reign in this matter ipso facto null and void. After this incidental mention of the fortunes of Durham Cathedral during the first half of the sixteenth century, it is time to speak of the state of St. Cuthbert's body during the same period. ! Surtees’ History of Durham, vol. i. p. lxix.—Robert Aske, the leader, was executed at York. Sir George Lumley, son and heir of Lord Lumley, and Sir Thomas Percy, brother and heir to the Earl of Northumberland, the Abbots of Fountains, Jervaulx, and Rivaulx, and the Prior of Burlington, suffered at Tyburn. Sir Robert Constable was hung in chains at Beverley Gate in Hull. 192 THE OPENING OF THE COFFIN IN 1537. Before the Crown took possession of the church and monastery of Durham, the royal commissioners, who went through the length and breadth of the land to destroy the monuments of Catholicity, had defaced the shrine of St. Cuthbert. The exact date of their visit is not given; but a marginal note in the manuscript of Harps- field assigns the date A.D. 1537. The commissioners sent to Durham were, Dr. Lee, Dr. Henley, and Mr. Blythman." Their evidence clearly proves that the body of St. Cuthbert was yet incorrupt in the year 1537. “The sacred shrine of holy St. Cuthbert, before mentioned, was defaced in the visitation that Dr. Ley (Lee H. 45), Dr. Henley, and Mr. Blythman, held at Durham, for the subverting of such monuments, in the time of King Henry VIII., in his suppression of the abbeys, where they found many worthy and goodly jewels; but especially one precious stone (belonging to the said shrine, IH. 45), which, by the estimate of those three visitors and other skilful lapidaries, was of value sufficient to redeem a prince. “After the spoil of his Ornaments and jewels, coming nearer to his sacred body, thinking to have found nothing but dust and bones, and finding the chest that he did lie in very strongly bound with iron, then the goldsmith did take a great fore-hammer of a Smith, and did break the said chest ; and when they had opened the chest, they found him lying whole, uncorrupt, with his face bare, and his beard as if it had been a fortnight's growth, and all his vestments upon him, as he was accustomed to say Mass, and his met-wand of gold lying beside him. Then when the gold- Smith did perceive that he had broken one of his legs, when he did break open the chest, he was very sorry for it, and did cry, * The names of two of these worthies are mentioned in the Camden Society's Sup- pression of the Monasteries. Dr. Thomas Legh, one of the Commissioners of the North, was in the North in 1537 and 1538, p. 251. William Blithman was at York and in the neighbourhood in December, 1537, p. 167. This iconoclast, called Dr. Lee, or Ley, or Legh, or Leigh, got for his share of the spoil the Priory of St. Oswald of Nostel, near Pontefract. The grant bears date 22 March, 31 Henry VIII., 1540. It was a large and magnificent estate, granted to him “for good and faithful services !!” and no doubt ... he thought himself well repaid for all the calumnies that he and Dr. Layton forged when they visited Nostel Priory. He had no son and only one daughter; and quitted * England in 1544, leaving his house, called St. Oswald’s, to his wife for her life, and then to his nephews, Thomas and William, in tail male, sons of his brother, William Leigh. After them it passed out of the family. THE BOI)Y FOUND IN CORRUPT. 193 ‘Alas, I have broken one of his legs l’ Then Dr. Henley, hear- ing him say so, did call upon him, and did bid him cast down his bones. Then he made him answer again, that he could not get it (them, H. 45) asunder, for the sinews and skin held it that it would not come asunder. Then Dr. Ley did step up, to see if it were so or not, and did turn himself about, and did speak Latin to Dr. Henley, that he was lying whole. Yet Dr. Henley would give no credit to his words, but still did cry, ‘Cast down his bones’. Then Dr. Ley made answer, “If you will not believe me, come up yourself and see him '. Then did Dr. Henley step up to him and did handle him, and did see that he laid whole (was whole and wncorrupt, H. 45). Then he did command them to take him down: and so it happened, contrary to their expectation, that not only his body was whole and incorrupted, but the vestments wherein his body lay, and in which he was accustomed to say Mass, were fresh, safe, and not consumed. Whereupon the visitors commanded that he should be carried into the vestry, where he was close and safely kept in the inner part of the vestry till such time as they did further know the king's pleasure what to do with him ;” and upon notice of the king's pleasure therein (and after, H. 45), the prior and the monks buried him in the ground, under the same place where his shrine was exalted (under a fair marble stone, which remains to this day, where his shrine was exalted, H. 45).”” There is still further evidence of the same kind in a M.S. at Durham, entitled “The Origin and Succession of the Bishops of Durham ”. “It is to be remembered that in the time of King Henry VIII. the sepulchre of St. Cuthbert, by certain commis- sioners of the said king, was opened, and the holy corpse of St. Cuthbert, with all things about the same, was found whole, Sound, sweet, odoriferous, and flewible. The same was taken up, carried into the revestry, viewed, touched, and searched by sundry per- sons, both of clergy and others, and afterwards laid in a new coffin * This evidence is strengthened by the fact, that if the body had not been found entire, the bones would have been burnt, as were those of St. Thomas, St. Edmund, &c., &c. * Rites of Durham, from MS. Hunter, No. 44, copied about 1650 from the original of A.D. 1593, p. 85. 13 194 THE OPENING OF THE COFFIN IN 1537. of wood, of which premises many eye-witnesses were of very late, and some are yet, living.” If further evidence were wanting, it is furnished in the testi- mony of Archdeacon Harpsfield.” “When, at the order of King Henry VIII. (A.D. 1537, in margin), the shrines of the Saints were plundered and broken to pieces in every part of England, and their holy relics were cast into vile places, the wooden chest, which was covered with white marble, was also broken. And when he whose task it was to destroy and break the tomb had broken the coffin with a heavy blow, the stroke fell upon the body of the Saint itself, and wounded the leg, and of the wound the flesh soon gave a manifest sign. As soon as this was seen, as also that the whole body was entire, except that the tip of the nose, I know not why, was wanting,” the circumstance was laid before Cuthbert Tunstall, at that time Bishop of Durham. He was consulted as to what he might order to be done with the body; and, at his order, a grave was dug, and his body was replaced in that spot where his precious shrine had been before. Not only the body, but also the vestments in which he was robed, were perfectly entire, and free and clear of all stain and decay. He had on his finger a gold ring,” ornamented with a Sapphire, which I once saw and touched, and which, as a holy relic more precious than any treasure, I earnestly laid hold of and kissed. When this holy body was brought out and exposed, there were present, amongst others, Dr. Whithead, the head of the monastery, Dr. Sparke, Dr. Tod, and William Wilam,” the keeper of the holy shrine. And thus * MS. C. iv. 14, in the Dean and Chapter Library. This original (of which this is a translation) was compiled about A.D. 1560. The document was printed by Mr. Allan, A. D. 1779. * Harpsfield lived when this event took place, and at the very time was a Fellow of New Hall, Oxford. His account is so minute, that it must have been compiled from the testimony of those who were personally acquainted with the transaction—perhaps from those belonging to Durham College, Oxford. During the reign of the excellent Queen Mary, he was Archdeacon of Canterbury. He wrote a work entitled Historia Anglicana Ecclesiastica a primis gentis susceptae fidei ad mostra fere tempora deducta. His original MS. is in the Cottonian Library.—Vitell. C. ix. 12. It was first printed at Doway, A.D. 1622. * See note in Remarks, &c., pp. 41 and 12. * See Section III. chap. ix. * Hugh Whithead was the last Prior of Durham, and first Dean ; Thomas Sparke was at the same time the Chamberlain ; William Wilam was the last Feretrar, and also Vice-Prior. THE ACCOUNT BY HARPSFIELD. 195 it is abundantly evident that the body of St. Cuthbert remained inviolate and incorrupt for 840 years.” This amount of documentary evidence proves two things: first, that the body of St. Cuthbert was found, at that time, entire, in- corrupt, and flexible; secondly, that it was again buried, under ground, beneath the very spot over which the shrine had been elevated. How long the body remained in the vestry prior to its re-inter- ment, is not exactly known. If we consider the date, 1537, given by Harpsfield, to refer to the visit of the commissioners, and not to the date of the order given by Henry VIII., it would follow that it remained there part of four years. The order for its re- interment, according to Harpsfield, was given by the bishop, according to the other document quoted, by the king. There is, however, evidence of the date of the removal of the marble shrine from the feretory, and of the re-interment of the Saint's body. A bundle of bills of the Durham treasury for 1542 (which year comprises the expenses of the church from Michaelmas, 1541, to Michaelmas, 1542) serves to throw light on the date as well as the expense of removing the marble shrine, and also of making the vault under the pavement of the feretory. With regard to the removal of the shrine, they state that it was removed in November, A.D. i541, by John Symson, who was paid two shillings for four days’ work.” With regard to the vault, they state that it was begun about December 28, A.D. 1541, and finished, together with the marble stone, soon after the Epiphany, at an expense of 13 shillings and 11 pence.” * Harpsfield, Hist. Eccles. Angl. p. 105. * “1542. Post festum Divi Michaelis die S. Andreae. Solut’ Johanni Symson pro ablacione Tumbae S. Cuthberti, &c., pro quatuor diebus iis. per me Robertum Dalton.”— Raine, p. 178. *The bill is given in the original Latin in Raine, p. 179. A translation of it is added here : “Concerning St. Cuthbert. 1542. After Michaelmas. Given to George Skeles, on January 1, for 2 days and a half's work at the vault of St. Cuthbert, 15d. Also given to the same, for John Paxton, John Williamson, and John Oxenet for two days and a half, at the rate of 3d. per day, 22d. Also given to the same, for William Taylor, for one day and a half, at the rate of 3d. per day, 4%d. 196 THE OPENING OF THE COFFIN IN 1537. Thus were the still incorrupt remains of St. Cuthbert buried, in a vault underneath the pavement of the feretory, 891 years after his first becoming a monk, 857 years after his becoming Bishop of Lindisfarne, 855 years after his decease at Farne, and his first burial in the church at Lindisfarne, 844 years after its first disinterment and elevation above the ground in the same church, 543 years after its first translation, and 438 years after its second translation, A.D. 1104. * The state in which the feretory was left, after the closing of the vault in 1542, was very much the same as we now find it. The spot over which the shrine was raised, and beneath which, after the destruction of the shrine, the Saint’s body was buried, is now marked only by a plain blue slab. And though the feretory be now stripped of its gorgeous shrine, the Catholic pilgrim, to whom such splendour is not an essential though a useful aid to devotion, still loves to frequent the church and visit this hallowed spot ; and on the very ground where St. Cuthbert's body was enshrined for so many centuries, begs of God all blessings, for the Sake of his servant, that holy man St. Cuthbert. Also given to Cuthbert Jonson, for two days and a half, 15d. Also given for a sheet of 5 ells of linen, at 8d. per ell, 3s. 4d. Also given for one load of lime, 4d. Also given to Stokell for nails and iron hoops, 46. Also given to George Skeles, for 4 days and a morning's work, about the feast of the Epiphany, at the tomb of St. Cuthbert, 2s. 2d. Also given to the same, for John Paxton, John Williamson, and John Oxenet, for 4 days, at 3d. per day, and for William Taylor, for 3 days, at 3d. per day, and for each for one morning, at 1d. and for Richard Yggle and Roland Robson, for half a day, 4d.,-4s. 5d. Also given to Cuthbert Jonson for himself at 6d. per day, and his servant, for 3 days’ work at the tomb of St. Cuthbert and at the marble slab, and at the church, on account of the wind, 2s. 3d. Also given to his wife, for sewing a sheet, 2d.” CHAPTER V. THE FORTUNES OF ST. CUTHBERT'S BODY AFTER MDXLII., AND THE OPENING OF THE WAULT IN THE FERETORY IN MDCCCXXVII. “There, deep in Durham's Gothic shade, His relics are in secret laid; But none may know the place, Save of his holiest servants three, Deep sworn to solemn secrecy, Who share that wonderous grace.”—Marmion. IT does not enter into the author's proposed plan to treat on the Subject of the state of St. Cuthbert's body after the year 1542. After that date its history is veiled under such obscurity as to leave no evidence of the state of his body, and but little as to its burial-place. Much has been said and written of a supposed disco- very of his remains in the year 1827; but it is very far from being proved that those were the bones of St. Cuthbert. Yet, though the want of sufficient evidence to put the matter finally at rest makes the Writer less willing to enter upon the subject, he cannot refrain from treating incidentally on it, as it is one of the very deepest interest. He will, therefore, give the state of the ques- tion, the chief arguments that have been used to endeavour to shew that the remains found were those of the Saint, together with the reasons for believing that they were not St. Cuthbert's relics, and then leave his readers to decide for themselves. One thing the reader must bear in mind during the course of these remarks, viz. that the grave in which St. Cuthbert was buried had been disturbed between the years 1542 and 1827. In 1827 an opening was found in the masonry at the end of the vault filled up with loose Stones—a fact which proves that the grave had been opened previously to the investigation in 1827. The reason of this Open- ing, and its probable date, will be given in the sequel. 198 THE OPENING OF THE WAULT IN 1827. The only statement that we possess of what was found in the vault of the feretory, when, with less good taste than curiosity, it was opened on the 17th of May, 1827, is from the pen of Mr. Raine, who was present at the time, and who went to the inves- tigation with his mind perfectly satisfied that the search would result in the discovery of the bones of St. Cuthbert. The reader would do well to contrast in his mind this investigation with that made A.D. 1104,” and even with that made A.D. 1537, when the prior and others were allowed to be present; and from the careful exclusion of Catholics in 1827, will know what value to attach to evidence collected during a search made in any spirit rather than that of a candid and honest examination.” The following is an abridgment of Mr. Raine's statement of the opening of the vault in the feretory. On Thursday, May 17, 1827, the vault was opened, in the presence of two prebendaries, the librarian of the cathedral, three officials of the cathedral, a master-mason and three men, four labourers, and two carpenters.” Their first step was to remove the slab, mentioned page 196, which then formed, as now, the floor of the feretory over the vault. It measured 8 feet 10% in length, by 4 feet 3% in breath, was of Frosterly marble, perfectly plain, and in thickness pro- portionate to its length. Under the slab was a layer of soil, eighteen or twenty inches deep, beneath which was another large grey stone nearly the size of the above. This slab was found to be reversed, and on its smooth lower side, the words “àſticharbug 3.jeguell ſtionachug," were cut in the characters used at the begin- * See pp. 157-190. 2 The authorities connected with York Cathedral shewed a much better spirit than the officials of Durham Cathedral, when, as there was considerable doubt concerning the burial-place of Archbishop Scrope, a full chapter was held on the subject, and it was determined to open the coffin supposed to be his at the east end of the choir. The coffin was opened on March 28, 1844; and during the opening, the Catholic incumbent of York, the Rev. T. Billington, G. Goldie, Esq., M.D., and Mr. Browne, were allowed to be present. See Browne's History of the Church of St. Peter's, York, p. 288. * Their names were: Rev. W. Darnell and Rev. W. Gilly, prebendaries; Rev. W. Raine, librarian ; Mr. John Leybourne, deputy-receiver; Mr. Edward Fairclough, clericus operum ; Mr. Anthony Tyler, verger ; Wm. Joplin, master-mason, with Francis Bulmer, George Fenwick, and Joseph Taylor, masons; Ralph Vasey, Thomas Blagdon, Robert Pearson, and George Herrin, labourers; and Peter Dryden and William Elliot, carpenters, and makers of the new coffin. THE COFFINS. 199 ning of the fifteenth century." The removal of this slab opened to view the vault. It was in the shape of a parallelogram, about seven feet long, four broad, and four to five deep; was built of freestone, well finished, and perfectly white and fresh. The highest course of masonry projected a few inches over the vault, and was bevelled off below. A cavity, however, at the foot of the grave was filled up in a careless manner. The description of what was found in the vault will be best given under four different heads:—the coffins—the robes—the skeleton—and the other things found in the coffin. A large high coffin of oak, in great decay, and in the form of a parallelogram, was found in the vault, extending almost from end to end, and from side to side. The boards of which it was made were 1% inch thick, and its bottom, sides, and lid were orna- mented with a mitred moulding.” The lid was detached from the body of the coffin, and bent up like a trough ; and the ends and sides were brittle, and in fragments. The removal of these fragments disclosed to view a second coffin, in a still more decayed condition. It had been made of oak, an inch in thickness. There were here and there clinging to it portions of some white adhesive substance—not linen, but probably decayed leather.” The lid of this coffin was even more decayed than the rest, and its fragments were mixed with a col- lection of human bones, loosely huddled together near the foot of the chest. These bones consisted of a skull and several bones of adults, and a skull and several bones of children.” 1 This Richard Heswell was a monk of Durham. He was bursar in 1405, Prior of Lytham in 1411, and died at Durham somewhere about 1440. As a matter of course, he would be buried in the cemetery gaith. The question here arises : Had this slab been taken from the grave of Heswell to serve as a covering to that of St. Cuthbert ; or had the remains of the monk been buried in the feretory, and those of the Saint, for greater security, removed to some other place Did the coffin in the vault below con- tain the remains of this Heswell or of St. Cuthbert 2 Apart from other considerations, the fact of the vault having been already opened (at least once) since it was originally built, makes it not unlikely that St. Cuthbert's body was removed on that occasion; and the inscription on the lower surface of the stone seems to confirm the idea that the bones of Heswell the monk were substituted for the body of St. Cuthbert. But more of this hereafter. e * This was the coffin made in 1541-2. See p. 193. * This was probably the coffin described p. 158 and p. 176. * The question may be asked, What were these bones ; Mr. Raine replies, that the bones of adults were the relics of the early Bishops of Lindisfarne, removed from 200 THE OPENING OF THE WAULT IN 1827. The removal of these bones disclosed below them the frag- ments of a third coffin, still more decayed than the other two. To- gether with this coffin were discovered an iron ring, and the skull of an adult in a somewhat imperfect state. This third or inner coffin was also of oak, for the most part of three-fourths of an inch thick, and of the form of a parallelogram. Its lid and sides were collapsed and much broken." The external surface of its lid, ends, the island with the remains of St. Cuthbert, A.D. 875, and found in his coffin in 1104, and then preserved in his shrine ; and that the bones of children were also other relics kept within the feretory, which, at the dissolution, would naturally be buried with the body of the Saint. “The answer is plausible : but it should also be observed that, though the authorities mention the opening of the shrine, the removal of the body to the vestry, the making of the new coffin, and the reinterment of the remains, they are all of them silent as to the burial of any other relics belonging to the church together with those of the Saint.”—Remarks, &c., p. 45. 1 Two questions of importance claim our notice here. First,-Did this skull belong to the collection of bones already mentioned, or had it been originally enclosed within the third coffin “If the first, it would prove nothing ; if the second, it would go far to shew that this was the very coffin of St. Cuthbert—(and the head, that of King Oswald)—for we know that the reputed head of King Oswald was enclosed in the coffin with the remains of the Saint. Mr. Raine is aware of this consequence, and assures us that ‘ the resting-place of the skull was evidently beneath the last-mentioned lid'. (p. 187.) But his assurance does not take away all doubt: for, according to his previous description, both that lid and the sides were so broken into fragments, and the fragments so intermixed with the bones and other remains, that it is difficult to conceive how the original place of the skull relatively to the lid could be satisfactorily ascertained. And after the discovery of the skull, we still find him and his assistants employed in removing ‘the fragments of the lid, sides, and ends,’ before they could obtain any sight of the dark mass lying at the bottom, which turned out to be the skeleton of a human body.” —Remarks, p. 45. Hence it is by no means certain that this was the skull of King Oswald, which is known to have been the only relic replaced in St. Cuthbert's coffin in 1104. Secondly,–Was this the original coffin of St. Cuthbert, described by Reginald, p. 176, and in which the Saint's remains were put, A.D. 698? Three things appear to Mr. Raine to shew that it was the identical coffin. First, the inner coffin of St. Cuthbert was found in 1104 to be enveloped in a covering of coarse cloth of a triple texture, and, after the investigation then made, was again covered with a coarse linen cloth waxed. See Reginald, and p. 175. And pieces of coarse cerecloth were found, in 1827, adhering to fragments of the coffin. Secondly, in 1104 there were two iron rings, one at the head, and the other at the feet of the lid of St. Cuthbert's coffin, for the purpose of raising it up (p. 161). Reginald also states that there was no lock or fastening to the lid (p. 176). In 1827 one ring was discovered, 4} inches in diameter; and the lower part of an iron loop by which the ring was held. It was also ascertained that the lid had always been loose. Thirdly, Reginald states that the whole of the inner coffin of St. Cuthbert was found in 1104 to be externally carved with engravings of minute and delicate workmanship, and that there were animals, flowers, and figures carved and engraved on the wood (p. 176). Mr. Raine conceives that the carvings found on the inner coffin in 1827 prove it to have been the coffin described by Reginald. Yet, however probable this may be, there is not proof enough to amount to an TEIE ROBES. 201 sides, and bottom was covered by various engravings. All the carvings appear to have been partly cut upon the surface of the wood by a knife or chisel, and partly by some other instrument. At first, many of the portions of the coffin raised from the vault were a foot and a half or two feet in length, but they did not continue long in that state. The fragments, great and small, were removed into the library, where they now remain, and are all now small pieces. A figure from one of the most perfect of the carved portions of the coffin is given and described by Mr. Raine in plate viii. It is the upper part of a figure of St. John, with the in- scription IOHANNIS at the side. The figure has the nimbus; the right hand is against the breast, and the left-hand holds a book. Other fragments had figures of St. Thomas, St. Peter holding the keys in his right hand, St. Andrew, St. Matthew, St. Michael, St. Paul, &c., &c. These figures Mr. Raine conceives to have belonged to the sides and ends of the coffin; those on the lid and bottom were larger, but in a more decayed state. There was a figure holding a sceptre, probably St. Oswald ; another probably of St. James; the lower part of a figure of St. Luke, with a nimbed bull; a por- tion of the lower end of the lid, a fragment having attached to it the lower part of the iron loop to which one of the rings was fastened, containing a short winged figure; a portion of a well- carved Virgin and Child; part of a lion and an eagle; and a figure of a bishop, probably St. Cuthbert himself." Having examined the coffins, they proceeded to examine the robes found with the remains. At the bottom of the vault they found a skeleton, lying with its feet to the east, swathed apparently in one or more shrouds of linen or silk. The whole was removed absolute certainty. Two rings ought to have been found, if it was St. Cuthbert's coffin. The explanation given by Mr. Raine, that “the other ring was overlooked amid the mass of broken wood and bones above mentioned,” is worse than none. Hence “it would be rash to infer with him that this is the identical coffin described by Reginald. The monk mentions engravings of ‘animals, flowers, and images (bestiarum, florwin, sive imaginum)”: those on the fragments appear to be principally of Saints, especially the Apostles and Evangelists. Of flowers there is no engraving whatever, and of animals only those four which almost always accompany the representations of the Evangelists. It is not probable that Reginald would have described the figures dis- covered on the fragments in the manner he has described those which were on the coffin of St. Cuthbert.”—Remarks, p. 47. * Raine, pp. 183-192. 202 THE OPENING OF THE WAULT IN 1827. from the grave, to be more easily examined. The robes were dis- covered to be in the last stage of decay. The first or outer envelope was a linen winding-sheet, of which only a few small portions were observable, and those much discoloured by time; it seemed to have gone twice or thrice round the body. The other robes beneath this winding-sheet were still more decayed; so much so that it was impossible to detach them one by one, or to preserve any accurate account of their shapes, or the order in which they had been put on." However, fragments of at least five robes, all of silk, were found with the body: 1. A robe of thinnish silk, with an amber-coloured ground. On it is worked a man on horseback, with a hawk on his left arm, and a dog below the horse; an Ornamental border surrounds the figure, and outside the border are several leaves; and lower down is a border of rabbits.” 2. A robe of thick soft silk, and evidently at one time a very splendid robe. The colours, now faded, must have once been very brilliant. What seems to have been the lower part of this robe was orna- mented with a circular worked pattern two feet in diameter. The ground within the circle is red; its lower part represents the sea; six porpoises or seals are represented in the Sea, and four ducks on its surface. On the sea is a pattern that cannot well be de- ciphered. The circular border is ornamented by alternate bunches of grapes and fruit. The colours of the sea and ducks are red, yellow, and purple; of the fishes yellow and red; the ground of the border is purple tinted with red; the fruit and foliage yellow, with red stalks, and the pattern round the border red.” 3. Of silk, the ground amber; round it was a woven border of thick lace an inch and a quarter broad. 4. Of silk, colours purple and crim- son, Ornamented with a cross often repeated. 5. Of silk, a rich damask pattern in ovals; colours crimson and purple.” * To this the writer will refer later. * See Raine, plate iv. * See Raine, plate v. * Raine, pp. 193-197. From these fragments of silk discovered with the bones no argument whatever can be drawn to prove that the bones beneath them were those of St. Cuthbert. In his remarks made upon these robes, Mr. Raine (p. 196) is under the idea that Reginald states that the three outer robes were removed from the Saint's body in 1104; whilst the anonymous Monk says nothing of such removal. The fact is, that none of the vestments in which the body was found were removed, but only three cloths (tres THE SKELETON. 203 The remains found in the coffin may now be described. They were found, at first sight, to consist of a skeleton lying with its feet to the east. The bones of the feet were disjointed and fallen flat. The remains were then raised in an undisturbed state from the bottom of the coffin, and placed upon tressels on the spot. “The bottom of the grave was found perfectly dry, and free from any offensive Smell; nor was there any, even the slightest, symptom that a human body had ever undergone decomposition within its walls.”.” “Every one who was present was convinced that the bones had been thoroughly dry when originally clothed in their numerous habiliments.” The bones of the skeleton, although disjointed and detached from each other, were all of them perfectly whole,” and in their places, with the exception of the fingers and feet-bones, which were in a state of confusion. It measured five feet eight inches from the crown of the skull to the ankle-joints. The skull was first examined. A yellow tint was observed on the forehead where the fillet of gold had been, and which “could never have been so imprinted if flesh and blood had ever intervened between its cause and the bone".” Pieces of fine cloth were found adhering to the skull. The eye-holes were found full of a whitish substance, pannae), viz. the lodex, or linen sheet wound round the body after it was dressed in its robes; the pannus grossior, or coarse' cloth, which was laid upon it as a cover under the lid : and the pannus tertius, undique cera infusus, the cerecloth that covered the out- side of the inner coffin. A second question may arise : Were these the robes that Reginald describes To state positively that they were, would be to state what is far from proved. * If this be correct, the question is set at rest for ever. The body of St. Cuthbert was whole and entire when buried first in the vault; if the body belonging to the skeleton found had never undergone decomposition in the vault, there is only one way of explaining it, viz. the body of St. Cuthbert must have been taken out, and this skeleton substituted in its place. * It has been already shewn, p. 192, that one of the leg-bones of St. Cutbbert was broken on the occasion of the opening of his tomb by the visitors. Both leg-bones of this skeleton being found whole is another proof, if proof were wanting, that it was not the skeleton of St. Cuthbert. * Reginald mentions, page 172, that in 1104 a fillet, or thin gilt plate, lay on the forehead of St. Cuthbert. If the skeleton of 1827 had a yellow tint on the forehead, it could not have been that of St. Cuthbert, because a cerecloth intervened between his skull and the gilt fillet. Would the yellow tint on the skeleton have been observed by a person not acquainted with Reginald's statement It was perhaps found because it was looked for See Remarks, &c., p. 63. 204 THE OPENING OF THE WAULT IN 1827. which was easily pressed into a powder between the finger and thumb." A medical gentleman made a hasty examination of the skull, and described it thus:—“Forehead flat and prominent ; parietal bones also very flat ; occipital bone protuberant ; Space from the angle of the eye to the base of the skull, measuring over the frontal and occipital bones, unusually long; very narrow across the forehead; orbitary processes of the cheek-bones very promi- nent; orbits deep; nasal-bone short, and turned upwards in a very singular manner; upper jaw very prominent ; the chin still more remarkably so ; distance from top of frontal bone to the insertion of the teeth remarkably short ; eight teeth remaining in the upper jaw, and six in the lower, sound and large; one of the canini, or eye-teeth, of the upper jaw, peculiarly large and projecting out- wards; the skull, upon the whole, rather small.” The ribs, although detached from the back-bone, were, in other respects, still in their proper places. The bones of the feet were disjointed and fallen flat. The various bones of the skeleton were, one after another, laid for the time in the stone coffin of Earl Cospatrick, which was standing empty in the shrine. When the examination had been completed, and all the crum- bled wood and decayed robes had been thoroughly searched, the skeleton and the other bones found with it were all placed in a new coffin that had been prepared for the purpose. The coffin Was, during the same evening, deposited in the bottom of the Original grave, upon a mass of broken wood, iron rings, and iron bars, the remnants of the two outer coffins. The slab of Heswell the monk was again placed over the vault, the soil was relaid, and * An attempt is made by Mr. Raine to prove the monks guilty of fraud, in filling the eye-holes with a composition, to give the face-cloth the projecting appearance of eyes. Whether the substance found were the natural decomposition of the eyes, or whether it was usual to fill up the eyes under a cerecloth with some composition, it is not easy to determine. The reader may bear in mind that when the body of Edward I. was exa- mined, A.D. 1770, 463 years after his interment, “some globular substance, possibly the fleshy part of the eyeballs, was moveable in their sockets under the envelope”. (Archaeo- logia, vol. iii. p. 381.) Whether this was a natural result, or a customary process in in- terments, or not, no argument can be drawn from it. * An endeavour has been made, but a futile one, to identify this skeleton from a comparison between the evidence of the medical gentleman and the description given by Reginald of St. Cuthbert. Even if the “nose turned up in a very singular manner,” and the prominent chin-bone, had not been observed, we should have been told that they could have been detected if looked for THE ARTICLES FOUND IN THE COFFIN. 205 the blue flag again covered the whole. Those portions of the inner coffin that could be preserved, including one of its rings, with the portable altar, cross, comb, stole, two maniples, bracelets, girdle, gold wire, the fragments of the five robes already described, and some of the rings of the Outer coffin made in 1542, were deposited in the library of the Dean and Chapter, where they are now preserved. The articles found in the coffin, together with the skeleton, remain to be described." They consisted of an ivory comb, a Small silver portable altar, a burse, a pectoral cross, a stole, two maniples, two bracelets, a girdle, and some gold wire. The comb was found among the folds of one of the outer robes of the body, upon the lower part of the breast. An engraving is given, of the size of the original.” On being touched, it fell into several pieces; they were, however, collected and carefully put together. It was of ivory, and of a reddish tinge.” The portable altar was found near the comb, but higher up on the breast of the body.” An engraving is given of it.” It was a * The reader must bear in mind that many things were found in the coffin of which no mention is made as having been placed with St. Cuthbert's body, and many things were not found that it is well known were buried with him. The abstraction of certain valuables may be accounted for by the visit of the commissioners; but the introduction of other articles must have occurred when the vault was entered after A.D. 1542, when it would have been as easy to remove the body of the Saint as to introduce any other thing. * Raine, plate vii. * The anonymous Monk states that the comb was replaced in the coffin in 1104 (see p. 164); Reginald also describes the ivory comb found with St. Cuthbert's body at the same period (see p. 175); but he describes it as not upon the body, but on a board at the coffin-head. It is very probable that this was the very comb described by the Monk and Regi- nald. There is no evidence of its having been a personal relic of St. Cuthbert. It is, however, possible that it was originally buried with him. It was usual to bury combs with bishops, if not with monks. In the list of the relics preserved in the feretory, A.D. 1383, we find “the ivory comb of St. Dunstan in a silken bag” (Raine, p. 125); “the comb of Malachias the Archbishop ; item, the comb of St. Boysil the Priest” (p. 127), &c., &c. The ridiculous story about AElfred Westowe the sacrist has been already refuted. “The scissors and comb buried with the body were probably those which had been used at the Bishop's consecration.” Anglo-Saxon Church, edition 1810, p. 268. * The silver altar found in St. Cuthbert's coffin in 1104 is described by the Monk (p. 164, and Reginald, p. 175). A similar altar, made of two pieces of wood, fastened with silver clasps, and bearing the inscription, “Alme Trinitate, agie Sophie, sancte Marie,” was found in the tomb of Acca, Bishop of Hexham, when it was opened about the year 1000. * Raine, plate vi. 206 THE OPENING OF THE WAULT IN 1827. square piece of oak, about one-third of an inch in thickness, covered with a thin plate of silver, fastened to it with silver nails. It has a cross in the centre, and an inscription, now imperfect and difficult to decipher, runs in a circle round the cross. The letters and ornaments on the silver plate are in relief, and stamped through the silver plate; the lower surface of the altar was also covered with a silver plate, that had on it the full-length figure of an ecclesiastic, with an inscription running from side to side, “P . . . OS . . . . . . . . s,” probably “Petros Apostolos,” a Greek inscription in Latin characters. The piece of wood beneath the silver plates had evidently been used as a portable altar before the addition of the plates, because an inscription was found carved upon it, “In honorem S. Petru" (in honour of St. IPeter). * A burse, or small linen bag, was found nearly in the same position. There was nothing in it. It was a little larger than a duodecimo book, was made of fine linen, and was brown or dusky in colour. Besides these things that were found in the coffin, and are mentioned by the Monk and Reginald as having been buried with St. Cuthbert, some other things were found that are not described as having been enclosed in the coffin of the Saint. A gold cross was found deeply buried among the robes on the breast." There is a large garnet in the centre, one in each angle, and twelve upon each of its branches. It is given at full size in plate i. 3. It weighs 15 pennyweights and 12 grains. The lower arm was found broken off. A portion of the silk cord, twisted with gold, by which it had been suspended, was found upon the breast. A stole was also found, broken into five pieces, which, joined together, make a perfect stole. Its groundwork is thread of real gold, as brilliant as when new, and figures are worked in the groundwork with silk. An engraving of part of it, full size, is given in plate ii. 1. The figures on it are of tapestry work, of the * There is no mention of a cross in the accounts of 1104—perhaps because it was concealed under the vestments But how, if it was there in 1537, it could have escaped the search of the visitors, especially if a silk and gold cord suspended it round the neck, is not so easily answered. OESOEZI ， EZ? 3，7 !ºſſeſs, };}}{{#. Sºgº №T@ %7f.）, & ſ><- QIhe Shrine3, Qombº, Skreeng, 30me fem of pe 49ainteb (5Iagg &#imbotug, and other furniture of 35urham. 3Abbey. 1. Anthony Beake, Bp. of Durham and Patriarch of Jerusalem, a Marble Tomb. 2. Richard de Bury, Bp. of Durham, a Rich Brass. 3. An *. wherein Singing-bread and Wine were placed. 4. Joseph's Window. 5. St. Cuthbert's Window. 6. Iron Railing or Skreen with Candlesticks, adorned with ye King of Scot's Ancient and Banner and divers Noblemen's Antients. 7, 7. Almeries, containing costly Relics and Jewels. 8. ST. CUTHBERT's Feretory and Shrine. 9, 9. The Laordose and French Peere. Io, Io. Sedilia. - A Fair Porch, called ye Anchoridge. II. 12. A Fair Rood in Silver, called the Black Rood of Scotland, won at battle of Durham. 13. The Goodliest Letterne of Brass in the country, a Petican. 14. Almeries to set the Chalices, Basins, and Cruets of ye High Altar in. 15. Ludovick de Bellomonte, Bp. of Durham, a Rich Brass. 16. Walter Skirlaw, Bp. of Durham, a very sumptuous Iſa SS. 17. Thomas. Hattfield, Bp...of Durham, a Tomb of Alabaster under ye Bishop's Seat. 18. Chamber of Two Men who cleaned ye church and locked ye doors. & 19. A marvellous Fair Letteron of Brass, an Eagle. 20. A Porch, with an Altar and Rood. 21. The Choir Skreen, with most excellent Pictures or Statues of the Kings and Queens of Scotland and England. 22. The Window of the four Doctors. 23. John Fossour, Prior, a sumptuous Brass. 24. Robert Berrington, Prior, a Brass from the waist upwards. - 25. John Washington, Prior, Epitaph in Brass. 26. A Square Stone, with 12 Cressets to light the Monks at Midnight when they came to Matins. 37. John Hemmynbrowghe, Prior, a curious Brass. 28. William Ebchester, Prior, his Epitaph in Brass. . 29. Robert Ebchester, Prior, in Brass from the waist upwards. 30. A Library well filled with Old Doctors, &c. A Trellice Door, to open and close with two leaves. 3I. 32. A High Stone Wall behind Jesus Altar, with the Story and Passion of our Lord, and the Story and Pictures of the Twelve Apostles, &c., and upon the wall the most famous Rood in the Land. 33. Almeries for Chalices, Westments, &c. 34. A curious Table, with two leaves to shut, having the Passion of Christ on them. 35. Thomas Castell, Prior, Brass from the waist upwards. 36. A Chamber for one that kept the Church and rung the Bells, having a little Stone Wall and Wains- cot behind the Nevil’s Altar. - 37. A Seat for ye Prior to hear Jesus' Mass. 38. John Awkland, Prior. 39. John Nevill and his Wife, their Figures in Alabaster. 40. Bishop Nevill, a rich Brass. - 41. An Iron Skreen on the North of the Nevill's Chantry. 42. Lord Nevill, a most rich Tomb in Alabaster and tone. 43. A little Stone Wall and an Iron Grate on the top thereof. - N.B.:-This Map, with all the accounts of Altars, Tombs, and the like, is gathered from the description of all the Ancient Monuments in the Monastical Church of Durham, before the suppression. Written Surtees Society, A.D. 1842. in 1593. Published by PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL. 221 architecture that we possess. The ground-plan of the church is in the usual form of a Latin cross, consisting of nave and aisles, transept with eastern aisles, and choir with aisles. The eastern extremity of the choir originally terminated in an apse, as in the accompanying illustration, but is now Superseded by an eastern transept, called the Chapel of the Nine Altars. There are no data to enable us to ascertain whether the choir and aisles each had apsidal terminations, as in the church at Lindisfarne, or whether the aisles were carried round the apsidal ending of the choir. There seems more probability in the latter supposition than the former; and we may imagine that the eastern end of the choir extended exactly to the wall of the nine altars, and that its centre was the place then, as it was afterwards, occupied by the shrine of St. Cuthbert. CH++ ,-\r-\f- º The elevation plan of the church consists of two western towers; these towers form what may be termed a western transept, extending across that end of the nave; central or lantern tower, rising above the junction of the nave and transepts; and an eastern transept, known as the Chapel of the Nine Altars. 8 But little is known of the nature of the shrine of St. Cuthbert in the Norman choir—i.e. before the completion of the Chapel of the Nine Altars. Reginald makes frequent allusion to it, but merely states that the tomb was of stone, and supported by nine pillars; that it was hung round with ornamental hangings, and adorned with silver, gold, and precious stones (chaps. xlv., lxvi., and lxxvii.); that the bishop's throne was near the altar (chap. lxxx.); that the shrine possessed many valuable treasures and relics (chap. lxxx.); that there was a bell hung overhead on the north wall of the choir (chap. lxxxix.), &c., &c. 222 DUREIAM CATHEDRAL. f The measurements of the building are as follows:–Length of the Galilee, 55 feet 5% inches, by 77 feet in breadth; length of the nave, 205 feet 4 inches; width of the nave and aisles, 81 feet 1 inch; length of the transept, 171 feet 9 inches, by 33 feet 7 inches in breadth; length of the choir, 127 feet, by 32 feet 8 inches broad; length of the eastern transept, or Chapel of the Nine Altars, 129 feet 5 inches, by 34 feet 2 inches in breadth. Length of the whole from east to west, 413 feet 10 inches, and including the Galilee, 502 feet. The height of the western towers is 148 feet, and of the central tower, 216 feet 8 inches. There are ten doorways at present in use in the church, and eight others are blocked up. Six greater staircases, besides a num- ber of smaller ones, gave access to the chief parts of the building. The following table, taken from Billings, will serve to shew the date and style of the different parts of the church, and by whom those parts were built or repaired:— DATE. BUILDER. STYLE. PARTS OF THE BUILDING. 1093-1095. Bp. Carileph. Norman. The foundation laid Aug. 11th. 1095-1099. | The Monks. 3 3 Built the choir, with its aisles and the transept. 1104. 2 3 3 3 Aug. 29th, St. Cuthbert removed into the new shrine. 1099-1128, Bp. Flambard. 5 5 Finished the nave to the vaulting, and the walls of the aisles. 1129-1133. | The Monks. 5 3 Roofed the nave, and vaulted the aisles. 1133-1140. Bp. Rufus. 5 5 The chapter-house. 1153-1154. Bp. Pudsey. 3 3 The north and south doorways of the nave. 5 5 Transition. The Galilee. 1233-1244. | Prior Melsonby. 9 3 The groining of the nave and south tran- Sept. . 1235. Bp. Poore. Early The chapel of the nine altars, completed English. about 1275. 1241-1249. Bp. Farnham. 3 2 The lantern of the tower. 1258-1274. | Prior Dertington. 2 3 The belfry above ditto. 1250-1300. Luceby, sacrist. 3 2 The vestry at the south-west angle of the choir. - 1289. Prior Houton. 2 3 Groined the choir in continuation of the nine altars. 1341-1374. | Prior Forcer. Decorated. The great west window of the nave. 1374. 2 3 9 3 The north transept window, afterwards restored by Prior Castell, 1494-1519. THE DATES OF THE I)IFFERENT PARTS. 223 I)ATE. BUILDER. STYLE. PARTS OF THE BUILDING. 1368-1370. 1345-1381. 1380. 1368. 1388-1405. 1406-1437. 1416-1445. 1437. 1478. 1494-1519. Prior Forcer. Bp. Hatfield. Lord Neville. 93. Bp. Skirlaw. Card. Langley. Prior Wessington. Bp. Neville. 2 3 Prior Castell. Decorated. 5 5 2 3 Perpendic. The prior's kitchen. The bishop's throne. The altar screen. He also spent £200 for a new tomb for St. Cuthbert in 1372. The cloisters commenced. Continued the cloisters. The dormitory. , Repaired and altered the Galilee : finished the cloisters. Repaired the church and abbey buildings, at an expense of £78818s. 3%d. i.e. Repairing eleven lower windows in the nine altars, £120. Repairing six upper windows. Desks for the low stalls in the choir, 3620. Repairing the great belfry after it was burnt, #233 6s. 8d. Making a window near the clock, 71s. 11d. Repairing the groining of nave, £910s. 6d. Building and repairing the altars of St. John the Baptist, St. Catherine, St. Gregory, St. John the Evangelist, and St. Faith, £71 2s. 4d. Making divers organs, £26 13s. 4d. New work (screen) at the door of the choir, 3.69 4s. Roofing the south part of the nave, £110. Buildings and repairs in the church made by the sacrist, £386 15s. Making a window in the south side of the nave, £30. For two windows in the library (the room | above the ancient parlour, between the transept and chapter-house), £90 16s. Wood and iron for the carrells (desks) in the cloister, #33. Work for the novices' cloister, #13 15s. Repair of the infirmary, £400. Building and repairing the prior's halls, £419 10s. 3%d. Building the southern chamberof the hostel, called the king's chamber, with new upper windows in the hall, £118 17s. 9d. Buildings and repairs in the office of the shrine-keeper, £30 5s. 4d. The bishop's exchequer on the place green. The central tower built, in the place of the old tower destroyed by fire in 1429. The college gateway. Wainscotted the frater-house. 224 - DURHAM CATHEDRAL. But though we can give here no further detailed account of the other parts of the Cathedral, yet there is one part of it that, from its close connexion with our subject, requires a more minute description, viz., the Choir, the Chapel of the Nine Altars, and the Feretory of St. Cuthbert. - The Choir is thrown open to the nave. It was in Catholic times entered through a noble stone screen, adorned with sculp- tures of prelates and sovereigns who had been benefactors to the Cathedral. It may be imagined somewhat similar to the choir- screen in York Minster. An accurate description of this west screen is given in the Rites of Durham: “On either side the west door, or chief entrance of the choir, without the choir-door, were placed in their several places, one above another, the most ex- cellent pictures, all gilt, very beautiful to behold, of all the kings and queens, as well of Scotland as England, who were devout and godly founders and benefactors of this famous church and sacred monument of St. Cuthbert ’’.” The statues were— Bdgar, King of the Scotch. William the Conqueror, King of Catherine, Queen of England. England. - David Bruce, King of the Scotch. Harold, King of England. Richard II., King of England. John, King of England. Alexander, King of the Scotch. Edward II., King of England. Henry IV., King of England. Ethelstan, King of England. Bichard I., King of England. Stephen, King of England. Alexander, King of the Scotch. Matilda, Queen of England. Matilda, Queen of England. Canute, King of England. David, King of the Scotch. Malcolm, King of Scotland. Edward III., King of England. | Duncan, King of Scotland. Henry II., King of England. EHenry III., King of England. Edward I., King of England. IEleanor, Queen of England. Henry V., King of England. Henry I., King of England. Alexander, King of the Scotch. Eleanor, Queen of England. Sibilla, Queen of the Scotch. Malcolm, King of Scotland. William Rufus, King of England. | William, King of Scotland. Richard III., King of England. In Hunter, mention is made of Only twenty-eight statues in the choir-door screen. * Rites of Durham, p. 17. THE ALTAR-SCREEN. - 225. The choir also had side-screens on the north and south, sepa- rating it from the choir aisles. On the north side there were eight statues of bishops, with inscriptions under them : St. Aidan. Eardulf. St. Finan. Cutheard. St. Eata. Aldwine. Ecgred. - Ldmund. And also eight statues of kings: Ring Oswald. Ring Ceolwulf. Ring Oswin. Ring Guthred. Ring Egfrid. Ring Edgar. Ring Aldfrid. - Ring David. On the South side there were also eight bishops: St. Cuthbert. Walcher. St. Eadbert. William Carileph. St. Eadfrid. Ranulf. St. Ethelwold. Hugh Pudsey. Also eight kings: Ring Alured. King Canute. Ring Edward. William the Conqueror. Ring Ethelstan. King William II. Ring Edmund. Ring Henry I." The date of the western screen is fortunately known. It was erected by Prior Wessington (1416–1446); and a roll in the Durham treasury (locell 2) has the following entry: “For a new work called the Rerdoose, at the door of the choir, 4369 4s.”. The choir ends with the altar-screen, a most elegant specimen of decorated work. Niche, and canopy, and crocketed pinnacle, rise above each other with airy lightness and elegance, producing an effect which is almost magical. Yet, though it forms the ter- mination of the choir, a division of fairy net-work could scarcely less obstruct the view of that which lies behind; for the eye takes in beyond, the branching roof of the eastern transept, and the lofty lancets and glorious marigold window of its central com- *See Rites of Durham, pp. 118-124. 15 226 DUREIAM CATHEIDRAL. partment, through which are poured such floods of orient light. The Norman character of the building ceases before reaching the altar-screen ; and beyond the pier of the arch, east of the bishop's throne, all is Early English. The magnificent decorated altar-screen was finished and erected in 1380. It cost 800 marks, 600 of which were given by John Lord Neville of Raby, whose shield, “silver saltire upon martial red,” appears in the spandrils of the doorways. It is of Caen stone, was probably carved in France, and was conveyed by sea from London to Newcastle at Lord Neville's expense. It consists of ten detached piers, ornamented on the west side with angular buttresses, and square ones on the east. Between these, on each side, are four small niches, above which the piers terminate with lofty pinnacles. The basement (otherwise solid) has two door- ways to St. Cuthbert's shrine, in the second space from each end. Above is a series of Open niches, five principal (octagonal), and four Smaller (hexagonal). On the west side, the front pillar of the niches was left out for displaying the statues. The central niche, wider than the others, had a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and in those on each side were statues of St. Cuthbert and St. Oswald. Above these niches is a second series, the five principal Ones being open, as before, for statues; but the minor ones have all the piers, being merely ornamented canopies terminated with pinnacles. Surmounting the second series of open niches is another range, with the piers complete, and lofty pinnacles terminating the elevation. The interiors of the canopies of the niches are beautifully groined with numerous small rib mouldings and bosses at their intersection, and all the subordinate detail of crocket and finial is worked out with elaborate richness and singular beauty. Yet this screen, though, as it stands now, it has few rivals, is only the skeleton of what it once was, when its hundred and seven statues, nine of which, in the lower range of canopies, were of the size of life, stood on their now vacant pedestals, and were, as well as the screen itself, enriched by an harmonious combination of painting and gilding. “Betwixt the said high altar and St. Cuthbert's feretory is all of French-pier, very curiously wrought, both on the inside and outside, with fair images of alabaster, most finely gilt . . . the THE HIGH ALTAR. 227 said curious workmanship of French-pier or Laordos, reaching in height almost to the middle vault, and containing the breadth of the choir in length; in the midst whereof, right over the said high altar, were artificially placed, in very fine alabaster, the picture of Our Lady standing in the midst, and the picture of St. Cuthbert On the one side, and the picture of St. Oswald on the other, being all richly gilt.” " In front of the altar-screen was the high altar. The date of the erection of the altar can be ascertained by the date of its con- secration: it was consecrated in honour of St. Mary, St. Oswald, and St. Cuthbert, A.D. 1380. This altar was the “goodliest and most stately altar in all the church, and a very rich thing, with many precious and costly ornaments appertaining to it, both for every principal day, as also for every one of our Lady's days. The daily ornaments, that were hung both before the altar and above, were of red velvet, wrought with great flowers of gold in em- broidered work, with many goodly pictures besides, very finely gilt ; but the ornaments for the principal feast, which was the Assumption of our Lady, were all of white damask, all beset with pearls and precious stones, which made the ornaments more rich and gorgeous to behold. “Within the choir, over the high altar, did hang a rich and most sumptuous canopy for the blessed Sacrament to hang within it, which had two irons fastened in the French-pier, very finely gilt, which held the canopy over the midst of the said high altar (that the pix did hang in it, that it could not move nor stir), whereon did stand a pelican, all of silver, upon the height of the said canopy, very finely gilt, giving her blood to her young ones, in token that Christ did give His blood for the sins of the world: and it was goodly to behold, for the blessed Sacrament to hang in, and a marvellous fair pix that the holy blessed Sacrament did hang in, which was of most pure fine gold, most curiously wrought of gold- Smith's work. And the white cloth that hung over the pix was of very fine lawn, all embroidered and wrought about with gold and red silk, and four great and round knobs of gold, marvellous and cunningly wrought, with great tassels of gold and red silk hanging at them, and at the four corners of the white lawn cloth ; * Rites of Durham, p. 6. 228 DUREIAM CATHEDRAL. and the crook that hung within the cloth that the pix did hang on was of gold, and the cords that drew it up and down were made of fine white strong silk.” " The chalices, basins, cruets, censers, candlesticks, vestments, processional crosses, &c., belonging to this altar, are described in page 8; the paschal candlestick, page 8; the sepulchre crucifix, page 9; and the almeries and lecterns, page 11 of the Rites. “Before the high altar were three marvellous fair silver basins, hung by chains of silver: one of them did hang on the south side of the choir, above the steps that go up to the high altar; the second, on the north side, opposite to the first ; the third, in the midst between them both, and just before the high altar. These three silver basins had latten basins within them, having pricks for serges or great wax candles to stand on, the latten basins being to receive the drops of the candles, which did burn continually, both day and night, in token that the house was always watching to God. There was also another silver basin, which did hang on silver chains before the Sacrament on the foresaid high altar, but nearer to the high altar than the other three, as almost depending or hanging over the priest's back, which was only lighted in time of Mass, and afterwards extinguished.”” Two books were generally kept upon the high altar—the Liber Vitae,” containing the names of the benefactors to the church, and another book containing a list of the relics, ornaments, and vest- ments presented to the church. “There did lie on the high altar an excellent fine (fair, H. 45) book,” very richly covered with gold and silver, containing the * Rites of Durham, p. 6. * Ib. p. 12. *The idea of the Book of Life was probably taken from the Scripture: “And I entreat thee also, my sincere companion, help those women that have laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement, and the rest of my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life”. Philip. iv. 3. And again: “I will not blot out his name out of the book of life”. Apoc. iii. 5. The monk-poet of Coldingham, speaking of benefactors to the church, has an allusion to the Book of Life : ſº tº “clarum et memorabile nomen In libro vitae per saecula longa vigebit.” —Gauf de Coldingham, cap. i. 4The Durham Book of Life is now in the British Museum, MSS. Cotton. Domitian, A. 7. The book begins at folio 12. The object of the book is described on the first page, and may be translated: “The order or object of this book is intended for the THE FERETORY, SHRINE, AND ALTAR. 229 names of all the benefactors towards St. Cuthbert's church from the first original foundation thereof; the very letters, for the most part, being all gilt, as is apparent in the said book till this day. The laying that book on the altar did shew how highly they esteemed their founders and benefactors; and the daily and quo- tidian remembrance they had of them, in the time of Mass and divine service, did argue not only their gratitude, but a most divine and charitable affection to the Souls of their benefactors, as well dead as living. Which book is as yet extant, declaring the said use in the inscription thereof. “There is also another famous book as yet extant, containing the relics, jewels, ornaments, and vestments, that were given to the church by all those founders, for the further adorning of God’s Service, whose names were recorded in the said book that did lie upon the high altar; as also they are recorded in this book of the aforesaid relics and jewels, to the everlasting praise and memory of the givers and benefactors thereof.” " Behind the altar-screen, of the same width—i.e. 37 feet in length by 23 in breadth—was the feretory of St. Cuthbert, the basement of which still remains. It is a quadrangular space, raised about six feet above the floor of the nine altars. Four doorways give entrance into it—two from the high altar, at each extremity of the reredos, and two from the chapel of the nine altars, one at the north and the other at the south side of the feretory. There was, a few years ago, an Open Screen of oak, of debased style, round the feretory: it was, however, removed in the year 1844. In the centre of the feretory the shrine of St. annual commemoration, in the sacrifice of the Mass, of the departed souls of all those who have benefited or deserved well of the monastical church of the blessed Father Cuthbert, as well seculars as regulars, as well emperors as priests, as well abbots as monks, as their respective names, written hereafter in this book, more plainly and fully declare’. The names of the benefactors are classed under the following heads:—Kings and Dukes, fol. 12; Queens and Abbesses, fol. 13; Anchorites, fol. 13 ; Abbots in Priest's orders, fol. 15b ; Abbots in Deacon's orders, fol. 16 b ; Abbots, fol. 17; Priests, fol. 18 b ; Deacons, fol. 23; Clerks, fol. 24; Monks, fol. 34. As far as fol. 34 the book is written in letters of gold and silver. It goes down to the year 1531. The age of the book is certainly of date about the commencement of the eleventh century. It was originally bound in a most costly manner, and adórned with gold and silver on its binding. The book has been published by the Surtees Society. * Rites of Durham, p. 14. 230 DUREIAM CATHEIDRAL. Cuthbert was raised. In the roof of the church may still be seen the holes through which the cords passed that served to raise the cover of the shrine. Of this feretory we read: “Next to the nine altars was the goodly monument of St. Cuthbert, adjoining to the choir and the high altar on the west; reaching towards the nine altars on the east ; and towards the north and south, containing the breadth of the choir, in quadrant form ; in the midst whereof his sacred shrine was exalted, with most curious workmanship of fine and costly (green, H. 45, and Dav.) marble, all limned and gilt with gold, having four seats or places convenient under the shrine for the pilgrims or laymen (lame or sick men, H. 45), sitting on their knees to lean and rest on, in time of their devout offerings and fervent prayers to God and holy St. Cuthbert for his miraculous relief and succour, which, being never wanting, made the shrine to be so richly invested, that it was estimated to be one of the most sumptuous monuments in all England—so great were the offerings and jewels that were bestowed upon it, and no less the miracles that were done by it (wrought at it, H. 45) even in these later days.”.” We are from this extract enabled to form an idea of the size and form of the feretory. Within the feretory stood the shrine containing the coffin. It was a tomb of green marble. Within the tomb his body was placed in a wooden coffin bound with iron. It was “a fair and Sumptuous shrine, about three yards from the ground, at the back of the great altar which was at the east end of the choir, where his body was solemnly placed in an iron chest within the shrine, where it lay quietly without molestation till the suppression of the church”.” This tomb was given by John Lord Neville, who paid £200 for it, in the year 1372. Over the shrine 1 The shrine is described as “having four seats or places convenient under the shrine, for the pilgrims or laymen sitting on their knees to lean and rest on in time of their devout offerings and fervent prayers to God and holy St. Cuthbert”. (See Rites of Durham, p. 3.) This description is singularly illustrated by an engraving in Shaw's Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages, taken from an illumination in a MS. history of St. Edward the Confessor, written in Anglo-Norman verse, representing the tomb of that Saint. The original MS. is now in the public library of the University of Cam- bridge. * Rites of Durham, p. 3. * Ib. p. 62. THE FERETORY, SHRINE, AND ALTAR. 231 was a rich cover of wood, and at its head was an altar within the feretory. “At the west end of this shrine of St. Cuthbert was a little altar adjoined to it, for Mass to be said on only upon the great and holy feast of St. Cuthbert's day in Lent," at which solemnity the whole convent did keep open household in the Frater-house, and did dine altogether on that day, and on no day else in the year. And at this feast and certain other festival-days, in the time of divine service, they were accustomed to draw up the cover of St. Cuthbert's shrine (being of wainscot), whereunto was fastened unto every corner of the said cover, to a loop of iron, a strong cord, which cord was all fast together over the middle of the cover. And a strong rope was fastened to the loops or binding of the said cords, which ran up and down in a pulley under the vault which was over St. Cuthbert's feretory, for the drawing up of the cover of the said shrine : and the said rope was fastened to a loop of iron in the north pillar of the feretory, having six silver bells fastened to the said rope; so that when the cover of the same was drawing up, the bells did make such a good sound, that 1 The vestments and furniture belonging to the altar within the feretory in the year 1417-8 are catalogued in an inventory of the period, viz. – One red vestment, complete, with curtains and cloths to serve before and above the altar, with towels and frontals. One green vestment, complete, with curtains and cloths for before and above the altar, with towels and frontals of the same set. One red vestment, with towels. One old green vestment, with towels and frontals. Two curtains, with one cloth before the altar, with divers arms. One pair of curtains of a bloody and sea-green colour. Two large cloths of a bloody colour, with the arms of the Lord Neville, for a decora- tion around the shrine. Two large ivory wands. Two pairs of pillows, of which one is of “Cuthbert down”. One ivory pix, ornamented with silver and gilt. One good missal, one chalice, and two phials of silver. One dish of pewter, three towels, five pipes of silver, with a cross of silver gilt for the banner of St. Cuthbert, with two silver bells. Three candlesticks, one of copper-gilt, and two of copper ingeniously wrought. One surplice for the clerk of the shrine. Two stoles, with a book for the holy water. Seventy-five pounds of wax. One girdle of green silk, ornamented with silver. One basin and ewer of silver, with the arms of the Lord of Hilton.—Raine, p. 142. 232 DUREIAM CATHEIDRAL. it did stir all the people's hearts that were within the church to repair unto it, and to make their prayers to God and holy St. Cuth- bert, and that the beholders might see the glorious ornaments thereof. Also the cover had at every corner two rings made fast, which did run up and down on four staves of iron, when it was drawing up ; which staves were fast to every corner of the marble that St. Cuthbert's coffin did lie upon: which cover was all gilt over; and on either side were painted four lively images, curious to the beholders; and on the east end was painted the picture of our Saviour sitting on a rainbow to give judgment, very lively to the beholders; and on the west end of it was the picture of our Lady, and our Saviour on her knee. And on the top of the cover, from end to end, was most fine (brattishing of, Ed. H.) carved work, cut out with dragons and other beasts, most artificially wrought; and the inside was varnished with a fine sanguine colour, that it might be more perspicuous to the beholders; and at every corner of the cover was a lock to keep it close (but at such times as was fit to shew it, H. 45), that the beholders might see the glory and ornaments thereof.” " Such was the feretory, and the shrine contained within it, and the altar beside the shrine. But it had also other furniture and other ornaments. “Also within the said feretory, both on the north side and the south, there were almeries of fine wainscot,” varnished and finely painted, and gilt finely all over with little images, very seemly and beautiful to behold, for the relics belonging to St. Cuthbert * to lie in. And within the said * Rites of Durham, p. 3. * There are traces of these almeries in the floor of the feretory to this day. The lowest division of the almery on the north side contained the professions of the monks. The form of their profession is given in the MS. B. iv. f. 4, Durham Library. H. “Ego Frater N. presbyter vel diaconus promitto stabilitatem meam et conversionem morum meorum et obedientiam Secundum regulam Sancti Benedicti coram Deo et Sanctis ejus in hoc monasterio, quod est constructum in honore Sanctæ Mariae semper Virginis et Sancti Cuthberti praesulis, in praesentia Domini N.”-F * There are three lists in existence of the relics preserved in the feretory. The oldest is contained in MS. O. iii. 35, in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, com- piled apparently between A.D. 1143 and 1154. This book formerly belonged to the Priory at Finchale. The next, of date perhaps between 1180 and 1200, is in the York MS. already described (p. 3). This list is printed in the appendix to the Dunelm. Scrip- tores, p. ccc.cxxvi. The third is the list of Richard de Segbrook, who was appointed the TEIE ALMIERIES. 233 almeries did lie all the holy relics (and gifts, H. 45) that were offered to that holy man, St. Cuthbert. And when his shrine was drawn up, then the said almeries were opened, that every man that came thither at that time might see the holy relics therein; so that the costly relics and jewels that were in the same almeries, and the other relics that hung about within the said feretory upon the irons, were accounted to be the most sumptuous and richest jewels in all this land; with the beauty of the fine little images that did stand in the French-pier" within the feretory; for great Were the gifts and godly devotion of kings and queens, and other estates at that time, towards God and holy St. Cuthbert in that church. ſº “Within this feretory of St. Cuthbert there were many fine shrine-keeper in 1383. His latin compilation is bound up at the end of MS. B. ii. 35, in the Durham library, and is printed in Dr. Smith's Bede, p. 740. We select from the list of Richard de Segbrook those having reference to St. Cuth- bert, and kept in the feretory:—“Upon the highest shelf in the south almery an image of St. Cuthbert, the gift of William the bishop. Upon the third and lowest shelf, in a small enamelled coffer, the chasuble of St. Cuthbert, in which he lay in the ground for eleven years. Item, a small coffer of ivory, containing a robe of St. Cuthbert, orna- mented with tassels. Item, the book of St. Boisil, the teacher of St. Cuthbert. Item, a piece of the sheet that St. Verca gave to St. Cuthbert, in which he lay for 418 years and five months. (This piece of the linen sheet was sent with John Walker, when, in 1432, he was commissioned by the Prior to collect money for the repairing the central tower, destroyed by fire in 1429.) A part of St. Cuthbert's chasuble. Item, an ivory casket, ornamented with gold and silver, containing the gloves of St. Cuthbert, the gift of Dom. Richard de Birtley, monk of Durham. Item, upon the highest shelf on the south, at its western end, the book of St. Cuthbert, with the copy of the Evangelists. (This was the book described p. 160, and found in the coffin in 1104.) Item, the skull of St. Boisil the priest, in a shrine ornamented with silver and gold and divers images. Item, a cloth dipped in wax, which had enveloped the body of St. Cuthbert in his grave, and one of his vestments. Item, in a green chest, a winding-sheet of a double texture, which had enveloped the body of St. Cuthbert in his grave, &c.” From the list of the relics belonging to the church of Durham given in the York MS. we select a few of those kept in the feretory:—The body of St. Cuthbert, with its flesh and bones whole and entire as if alive ; the head of St. Oswald, king and martyr, which was put in the coffin with the body of St. Cuthbert ; the bones of St. Aidan, Eadbert, Egfrid, and Ethelwold, bishops; the body of Venerable Bede, priest and doc- tor; the body and robes of St. Boisil, who was the master of Cuthbert, &c., &c.—Dun- elm Script. Appendix, p. ccccxxvii. The following relics were kept in ivory chests and glass phials, under the care of the feretrar, but out of the feretory of St. Cuthbert —Part of the chasuble of St. Cuthbert— of the hair of St. Bartholomew of Farne—of the sheet in which the body of St. Cuthbert was sewed up in his chasuble—of the tunic and hair-shirt of Venerable Bede, doctor—of the vestments and hair of St. Boisil, priest.—Ibid. p. ccc.cxxvii. * The altar-screen of Caen stone. 234 I)"URHAM CATHEIDRAL. little pictures of several sorts (saints, Ed. H.) of imagery work, all being of alabaster, set in the frontispiece (French-pier, H. 45) in their several places, the pictures being very curiously engraven and gilt, and the Neville's cross and bull’s head (for his crest, H. 45) being set upon the highest (on height, H. 45), and on either side of the two doors of the French-pier; which feretory and French-pier were made at the charges of John Neville. “At the east end of St. Cuthbert's feretory there were wrought upon the height of the irons, towards the nine altars, very fine candlesticks of iron, like unto sockets, which had lights set in them before day, that every monk might have the more light to See to read their books at the said nine altars when they said Mass, and also to give light to all others that came thither to hear and see the divine service.” " Within the feretory there was also a small library, probably for the use of the keeper of the feretory and for the use of the altar within the feretory, consisting of a book of the Gospels, three pontificals, &c.” The holy banner of St. Cuthbert was also kept there. “It was five yards in length. All the pipes of it were of silver, to be slung on a long spear-staff (and on the overmost pipe on the height of it was a fine little silver cross), and a goodly banner- cloth pertained to it. And the middle of the banner-cloth was all of white velvet, half a yard square every way, and a fair cross of red velvet over it. And within the said white velvet was the holy relic, the corporax (cloth) that the holy man St. Cuthbert did cover the chalice with, when he said Mass. And the residue of the banner-cloth was all of red velvet, embroidered all with green silk and gold.” The feretory also contained several banners taken from the Scots at the battle of Neville's Cross. “The King of Scots' ancient and his banner, with the Lord Neville's banner, and divers other noblemen’s ancients, were all brought to St. Cuthbert's feretory; and there the said Lord Neville did make his petition to God and that holy man St. Cuthbert, and did offer jewels and banners (and the holy rood-cross which was taken on the King of Scots, H. 45) to the shrine of the holy and blessed man St. Cuth- * Rites of Durham, p. 4. * Raine, p. 128. 3 Rites of Durham, p. 79. THE LIGHTS, BOOKS, AND BANNERS. 235 bert within the feretory. And there the said banners and ancients stood and hung till the suppression of the house. The Lord Neville's banner-staff was done about with iron from the midst upwards, and did stand and was bound to the irons on the north side of the feretory; and the King of Scots' banner was bound to the midst of the said irons, and did hang on (over, H. 45) the midst of the alley of the nine altars, and was fastened (with a cord, H. 45) to a loop of iron in a pillar under St. Catherine's window, in the east end of the church. And a little after the Suppression of the house, they were all taken down, spoiled, and defaced.” 1 There was an officer named the feretory-master, or feretrar, appointed to take charge of the feretory and shrine, and the relics, books, and other valuables therein contained. Of him we read:— “The master of the feretory's chamber was in the dormitory. He was the keeper of the holy sacred shrine of St. Cuthbert. His office was, that when any men of honour or worship were disposed to make their prayers to God and to St. Cuthbert, or to offer any thing to his sacred shrine, if they requested to have it drawn and to see it, then straightway the clerk of the feretory . . . did give intelligence to his master, the keeper of the feretory. And then the said master did bring the keys of the shrine with him, giving them to the clerk to open the locks of the shrine. His office was to stand by and to see it drawn, commanding the said clerk to draw it. Also it was ever drawn in the matins time, when Te Deum was in singing, or in the high Mass time, or at evensong time, when the Magnificat was sung. And when they had made their prayers, and did offer anything to it, if it were either gold, silver, or jewels, straightway it was hung on the shrine; and if it Were any other thing, as unicorn's horn, elephant's tooth, or such like thing,” then it was hung within the feretory, at the end of the * Rites of Durham, p. 5. * “It is remarkable to note the pious intention of our forefathers, even in Saxon or in Norman times, when, returning from distant pilgrimage, they sought to make demon- stration of their zeal for the enrichment of all that was connected with the fabric or the ceremonies of the Church. In their desire to bestow thereon the best of their possessions, they returned laden with the tissues of Baldak or Tarsus—the gems and Oriental rarities —the horn of the unicorn, or the egg of the griffin—to be offered at the altar, in token o devotion or grateful memorial of their preservation through manifold perils.”—Arch. Journal, No. 19, October, 1848, p. 201. 236 DUIBHAM CATHEDRAT1. shrine. And when they had made their prayers, the clerk did let down the cover thereof, and did lock it at every corner, giving the keys of the shrine to the vice-prior again.”” At the foot of the shrine—i.e. at its east end—stood a box to 1 Rites of Durham, p. 78. It would appear that the ſeretory-master, or shrine- keeper, was generally, if not always, the vice-prior or deputy-prior (Ibid. p. 78). A list is here added of the feretory-masters and the clerks, from the year 1333 till the dissolu- tion : — Feretory-masters or Shrine-keepers. Clerks of the Feretory. A.D. 1333. Peter de Hilton. 1372. John de Cornwall. 1375. Hugh de Hawick, gº tº ſº tº & © tº º ſº John de Alverton. 1378. John de Alverton, © tº º tº gº tº tº e º Robert de Blackburn. 1381. tº ſº tº ſº tº & ſº e Thomas Dautre. 1383. Richard de Segbrook. 1385. Thomas de Lyth. 1391. Robert de Langchester. 1402. William Pocklington. 1411. Robert de Crayk, e º 'º e is e tº ſº º John Durham. 1418. John Durham, ... tº e e © e tº tº gº º John Lethom. 1420. 5 5 tº tº dº tº $ to tº gº tº tº $ tº Roger de Langchester. 1421. 2 3 tº e g tº € $ gº tº º gº º º Thomas Hesilrig. 1423. 2 3 tº e º Thomas Ayre. 1425. 2 3 (Solus). 1427. 9 3 tº € $ gº tº tº tº º tº £ tº Thomas Hexham. 1428. 2 3 (Solus). 1433. 2 3 tº $ tº tº ſº º tº e e tº ſº tº John Gaytesheved. 1434. Richard Barton, gº tº tº tº cº º * : * * Thomas Lewyn. 1439. John Burnby, ... gº tº º & Q & gº º º Robert Emylton. ,, Richard Kellow. 1444. William Dalton, tº g tº tº e & tº tº e John Rypon. 1453. John Pencher, ... tº e tº tº º º e tº tº William Kellow. 1457. John Warner, ... tº gº & • * * tº e e Thomas Caly. 1458. 5 5 § tº tº tº £ tº tº e & © tº tº Richard Bylingham. 1459. 3 5 & © e e is $ e e is g g tº John Steylle. 1460. Richard Blacborne, tº $ tº & g tº 5 5 1480. John Lee, tº s e tº $ tº * † tº ſº a Richard Steylle. 1488. John Manby, ... Jºe & & gº tº gº & © º John Claxton. 1498. Richard Caly. 1501. Robert Werdal. 1513. John Haliwell, ... & © tº & 8 & * tº John Thrilkeld. 1538. William Watson, tº gº tº tº º ſº. e tº ſº George Bates. N.B. Watson lived to A.D. 1556.-See Raine, p. 144. Persons who went from the bishopric to join the Crusaders in fighting for the Holy Land against the Turks, were first marked with the cross with a hot iron on the right side of the breast: this ceremony took place within the feretory of St. Cuthbert. (See Dunelm. Script. Appendix, p. cccxc.) THE FERETORY. 237 receive the offerings made by the faithful to the shrine of St. Cuthbert ; it was called the Pix of St. Cuthbert." * The sums of money offered at the shrine in this box, from the year 1378 to 1513, are printed in Raine, p. 115. The yearly amount of the donations received was, on an average of sixty-nine years, £24 10s. 6d., equal to about £150 of the money of the present day. (See Remarks, p. 39.) This money was expended in divers ways, in promoting the interests of the church and monastery. The expenses and repairs of the feretory were met by it; and the different entries connected with the shrine serve to throw much light upon the feretory and shrine. We select a few from the entries published. Expenses connected with St. Cuthbert's Feretory, and paid from the pia, from A.D. 1378 to A.D. 1513, reckoning the year from and to St James's Day. A.D. 1378-9. To the feretrar, on the feast of St. Cuthbert's translation, 5s. To his clerk, 3s. 4d. To the feretrar on the deposition of St. Cuthbert, 5s. To his clerk, 3s. 4d. The expenses of the feretrar, 6s. 9d. 1379-80. Repairing rings at the shrine, 58. Decorating a figure of St. Oswald, 3s. 4d. 1380-1. Decorating one of St. Cuthbert's birds on the altar-screen, 12d. Repairing the tabulae round the shrine, 3s. 4d. Repairing the rings of the shrine, 3s. 1d. 1381-2. Repairing the shrine at different times, 23s. Rings bought for the shrine, 40s. A ladder for the shrine, 2s. 6d. 1382-3. A vestment for the altar in the shrine, 20s. 1383-4. A chain for the book of St. Cuthbert, with other things, 10s. 4d. A cord to draw up the cover of the shrine, 3s. Work done to the wheel of the shrine, the chair of the feretrar, &c., 9s. 5d. 1384-5. Repairing the ladder and other matters belonging to the wheel, and fasten- ing the images and pillars round the shrine, 3s. 5d. Fastening the rings to the shrine, &c., 17s. 5d. 1385-6. Goldsmith's work at the shrine, 2s. 6d. William Kay, working at the shrine, 6d. New keys for the shrine, 186. Curtains for the small altar of St. Cuthbert, 186. Expenses connected with the feretory, £4 11s. 8d. 1386-7. Goldsmith's work at the shrine, 186. Two locks for the shrine-doors, 38. Two locks, 186. 1387-8. A painter, 12d. 1389-90. Repairing the box (piazis) of St. Cuthbert, 6d. A cloth for the shrine, 6s. 8d. 1391-2. Goldsmith's work at the shrine, 3s. 6d. Repairing a broken statue of St. Cuthbert, 14d. 1397-8. To the feretrar and his clerk on the feasts of the deposition and transaltion of St. Cuthbert, 16s. 8d. * To the clerk of the shrine, 20s. 1398-9. Washing altar-linen for two years, 206. 1399-1400. Work done at the shrine, and silver hooks for the relics, 2s. 6d. 238 I) UEREIAM CATHEIDRAL. From the scattered notices that are met with of the feretory and shrine, we may gather that the feretory was enclosed on the 1399-1400. 1400-1. 1401-2. 1402-3. 1404-5. 1405-6. 1413-14. 1416-17. 1417-18. 1419-20. 1420-1. 1423-4. 1434-5. 1435-6. 1437-8. 1446-7. and convent Wax for lights at the shrine, 5s. 10d. Making a cross for St. Cuthbert's banner, and for hooks for the shrine, 4s. Four bells bought for the shrine, 11s. 8d. A cord for the shrine, 11s. 8d. A vestment, curtains, altar-cloths, alb, &c., for the altar in the feretory, 50s. 8d. Repairing the locks and keys, 4d. Two cushions for the shrine, 4s. 6d. For writing a prayer round the shrine, 6d. Cleaning the images and candlesticks round the shrine, 4d. Keys for the relics, 3d. A lock for the chamber near the shrine, 10d. N.B.—From this entry it would seem that there was a chamber within the feretory for the use of the shrine-keeper during the hours of attendance. A jewel for the shrine, 2s. 3d. A list of the furniture, robes, &c., see above. A vestment for the shrine, 46s. 8d. For writing prayers round the shrine, with tablets, 16d. Repairing two cushions, 38. Repairs round the shrine, and cleaning the altar-screen, 8s. Silver keys bought for the shrine, 10d. Writing and illuminating a tablet, 1s. 3d. Ditto, 9d. To a painter for repairing the shrine-cover, 3s. 4d. Jan. 10. Robert Rodes, a lawyer of Newcastle, and steward to the Prior of Durham, presented to the shrine of St. Cuthbert a cross of gold, after- wards suspended against the eastern gable of the shrine, near the feet of the Saint, set with five precious stones. In the midst was a Sapphire, and at each angle or corner a ruby, and other small gems arranged in circles at each extremity. Behind the cross, under a jewel, were portions of the pillar to which Christ was bound, and the rock in which His sepulchre was cut. 1447-8. 1448-9. 1450-1. 1453-4. 1457-8. 1458-9. 1459–60. 1480-1. 1488-9. 1513-14. Four tablets, with prayers in honour of St. Cuthbert, and illuminated, 10d. A great cord for the shrine, 4d. A cable-rope for raising the shrine-cover, 4s. A horse's hide for the shrine, and sewing it on, 186. Staples and crooks of silver made in the shrine, 4d. A mat for the bench near the shrine, 12d. A new key for the iron door before the relics on the south side, 3d. Repairing cords of the shrine, 4d. Rings for the curtains, 2d. A cord for the lamp hanging at the head of St. Cuthbert, 6d. Repairing a Missal belonging to the altar in the shrine, 16d. Repairing the lamp hanging at the head of St. Cuthbert, 7d. Repairing a lock of the box (pix) of St. Cuthbert at the foot of his shrine, 3d. Lock at the head of St. Cuthbert, for the cover of the Shrine, and ornament- ing a chain there, 166. Painting the staff of St. Cuthbert's banner, 10d. Repairing and fixing the images round the tomb of Cuthbert, 8d. Repairing the banner of St. Cuthbert, 13s. 4d.—See Raine, pp. 115-165. PRESENTS MADE TO THE CHURCH, 239 south, east, and north sides, with a screen-work of iron (this was superseded after the suppression by an open screen, of debased style, in oak, probably erected in Queen Mary's time, and which remained till the year 1844); that the shrine stood within the feretory east and west, the feet of St. Cuthbert being to the east ; and that on the north and south side there were closets for relics and other valuables belonging to the shrine. The shrine of St. Cuthbert within the feretory was probably destroyed in King Edward the Sixth's time. It is stated in the “Hunter” MS. that “in the first year of King Edward the Sixth there were certain commissioners appointed to deface all Popish Ornaments in parish churches, whose names were Dr. Harvey and Dr. Whitby'’.” “The said Dr. Harvey did call for the said shrine (the shrine belonging to St. Nicholas’ Church, called Corpus Christi shrine, that used to be carried in procession on Corpus Christi day into the Abbey Church); and when it was brought before him, he did tread upon it with his feet, and did break it all in pieces, with divers other ornaments pertaining to the church.”” These two worthies found a ready coadjutor in Dean Horne, “for he could never abide any ancient monuments, acts, or deeds that gave any light of godly religion,” “ and aided in the work of the destruction of Corpus Christi shrine.* This brief account of Durham conventual church cannot be better concluded than with the following extract :—“Many were the goodly rich jewels and relics that did appertain to that same church. It was accounted to be the richest church in all this land, so great were the rich jewels and ornaments that were given and bestowed on that holy man St. Cuthbert. Besides that, King Bichard did give his parliament-robe of blue velvet wrought with great lions of pure gold, a marvellous rich cope; and another cope of cloth of gold was given to the same church, in the worship of that holy man St. Cuthbert, by another prince : So great was the godly mind of kings, queens, and other great people, for the great devotion and love that they had to God and holy St. Cuthbert in that church.” " * Rites of Durham, p. 59. * Ibid. p. 90. 3 Ibid. p. 65. *Ibid. p. 59. * Ibid. p. 89. CHAPTER II. LINDISFARNE PRIORY CHURCH. AFTER Durham Cathedral, Lindisfarne Priory Church has the closest connexion with St. Cuthbert. Its remains stand upon the very spot where St. Aidan's Church stood, in which St. Cuthbert was Prior twelve years, and Bishop part of three years. The foundation of the episcopal see and the church at Lindisfarne by Bishop Aidan, in the year of grace 635, has been already described." . At a later period Bishop Finan rebuilt the church, and Bishop Eadbert repaired the church of Finan. It was destroyed by the Danes in 875, but rose again from its ashes. The see remained at Lindisfarne for 400 years, and was then removed to Chester-le- Street, owing to circumstances that have already been explained. At the time when the clergy fled from Durham to Lindisfarne with the body of St. Cuthbert, A.D. 1069, the church was in ruins. When Bishop Carileph brought the monks of St. Benedict to Durham, he bestowed upon them the church of Lindisfarne, that had been originally the episcopal see. His charter is dated 1082; and the monks had a colony at this island about the same year. In the year 1093 the monks changed the name of the island from Lindisfarne to Holy Island.” The date of the building of the priory church, now in ruins, though nowhere directly stated, can be easily ascertained. It appears, from the charters of Bishop Carileph, that there were remains of the old Saxon church upon the island in the years 1082 and 1084: it was then probably much in the same state it had been left in when the Bishop and his clergy returned to Durham in 1070. During part of the year 1093 there was no l P. 24. 2 “A nece monachorum et aliorum secularium per Danos ibidem facta, Insula Sacra, est nuncupata.”—Prior Wessington. º º | % 3.inaisſarur 9riurg Glºriº. ALE 2: P = ºr ſe rººt tºº. THE DATE OF ITS FOUNDATION. 241 church at all upon the island. The foundations for the priory church were perhaps dug in that year; and the Norman church, that now stands in ruins, but the wreck of the past glories of Holy Island, was begun in either 1093 or 1094. Bishop Carileph, who began it, departed this life in 1095; and his successor, Bishop Flambard, completed it. The architect was Ædward, a monk of Durham.” “He,” says Reginald, “built upon the island a church, new from the founda- tions, in honour of St. Cuthbert, which he finished with squared stones, by the labour of his industry and by the gift of the faithful, with very elegant workmanship.”” The same writer concludes his very interesting account of the building of this church, by relating two miracles in which St. Cuthbert supplied meat and drink for those who were working in his honour.” IFrom the time of the completion of the priory church till the time of its suppression, the mother church of Durham appointed for her branch house at Holy Islandaregular succession of priors and monks. In the year 1235 an order was made by the prior and convent of Durham that each of their dependent houses should send a yearly statement to the parent house of their receipts and expendi- ture. The earliest of these returns from Holy Island now in existence is of date A.D. 1326. The yearly account-roll from that date till the suppression is now kept in the Durham treasury, and has been printed at full length.* These documents serve to throw much light on the history of the priory, its inmates, and their * The character of the mediaeval priest-architect is well described by Reginald :— “In insula Lindisfarnensi quidam officialis frater, Ædwardus nomine, ex praecepto praela- torum Dunelmensis ecclesiae (Carileph et Flambard) fuerat, qui gratia religionis, exsecu- tione sui ordinis, et strenua urbanitate conversationis omnium gratiam obtinuerat; eo quod supra modum in omnibus se prudenter agebat. Hic benevolentiae omnium gratia ita accreverat quod omnibus tam venerandus quam gratus extiterat. Nempe monachis erat consocius ex honestatis gratia et sensibili morum disciplina: militibus conformatus ex copiosa dulcedinis eloquentia et largiori donationum munificentia; clericis compos in omni temperatae doctrinae sufficientia et facetae continentiae suavitate et moderantia ; rusticis conformis in omni longanimitatis sustinentia et humilitatis sive paupertatis sive abjectionis compassione et misericordia. Ita enim temperanter se in omnibus agebat, quod illud, quod de Beato Paulo legitur, quodammodo illi ex meriti Sui gratia conforma- retur: “Omnibus omnia factus sum, eo quod omnium moribus et necessitatibus consimilis in compassionum miserationibus inventus sum’.”—P. 44. 2 P. 45. * See Reginald, chapters xxi. and xxii. * Raine's North Durham, pp. 32-180. 242 LINDISFARNE PRIORY CHURCH. possessions, for the period of 200 years. They shew us that in its best days the priory had an income of £200 per annum, a sum equivalent to about £1200 of our money; that the monks culti- vated their land in a manner that would do credit to these days," in which we boast so much of our agricultural knowledge and agricultural implements. But their more earnest care was not to let the intellectual soil lie fallow; and while the monastic servants tilled the ground, the holy fathers instructed the youth in their neighbourhood, and taught the way of life to all around them, illustrating by their own example the precepts they inculcated. The priory was dissolved, together with the lesser monasteries, in 1536, during the priorate of Thomas Sparke.” Immediately * The tithe alone of the hamlets of Fenham, Fenwick, and Beal, in the year 1325, consisted of 90 quarters of wheat, 80 quarters of barley, and 120 quarters of oats. *The following is a list of the Priors of Holy Island, from the year 1217 till the dissolution, with the date of their appointment as near as can be ascertained:— A.D. A.D. Prior Ralph, tº tº ſº e tº º tº º ve 1217 William de Aslakeby, ... tº e ſº 1391 William, ... ge tº º e º g tº g tº 1234 John de Newburne, ... tº º tº 1394 Thomas, ... © º º tº ſº g tº tº o 1241 William de Aslakeby, ... tº º is 1395 Adam de Neusum, appointed, ... 1259 Robert Claxton, ... tº ſº e tº gº tº 1397 Ralph, ... e tº 4 e tº º tº a ºn John de Newburne, ... tº gº tº 1401 John, is a g tº e e tº tº gº * * * 1270 John Morys, tº a tº tº º º tº tº e 1417 Richard de Claxton, ... tº ſº tº 1272 William Ebchester, tº tº º © tº ſº 1430 Nicholas, ... tº e e tº ſº º © tº e 1275 Henry Helay, ... tº ſº º gº tº & 1437 Ralph, ... & © tº tº º º & e tº 1281 Thomas Ayer, ... tº tº $ ge tº º 1442 Ralph de Merley, tº e º tº e e 1285 Thomas Warde, ... & tº tº e tº º 1448 Roger, ... tº ſº tº tº e ºn & © tº Henry Rakett, ... tº e º & © tº 1457 William de Middleton, ... ë e John de Midelham, & ſº º tº º tº 1458 Henry de Luceby, tº e g e tº ſº 1300 John Eden, © tº e tº gº tº tº º ſº 1465 Stephen de Hoveden, ... © º º Thomas Halver, ... tº tº 6 tº gº tº 1472 John de Laton, ... e e º tº $ tº 1324 John Aukland, ... tº gº º tº tº e 1475 Gilbert de Ellewyk, ... ... 1828 || William Rodburne, ... ... 1482 Michael de Chilton, ... ... 1850 | William Brown, ... ... ... 1487 John de Goldesburgh, ... & 9 º' 1351 William Brown and John Manby, 1487 William de Bamburgh, ... is tº e 1352 (Joint Priors). John de Goldesburgh, ... e e Q I358 William Yowdell, tº tº º tº g tº 1490 Richard de Bekyngham, tº º ve 1362 John Danby, ... ... . ... 1491 John de Billesfield, tº º º tº gº e Galfrid Forest, ... * * * * * * 1492 John de Billesfield, • * * tº E tº 1364 William Cawthorne, ... ſº tº º 1501 William de Goldesburgh, tº ſº tº 1367 Henry Dalton, ... tº ºn tº tº & O 1506 Thomas de Herdwyk, ... tº e º 1374 Richard Tanfield, tº tº º * * * 1514 John de Normanby, ... © tº 1379 Robert Strother, ... ſº tº tº tº gº º 1517 John de Aclyff, ... tº º º tº & © 1381 Edward Hyemners, tº ſº tº tº gº e 1522 William de Trollop, ... tº 0 tº 1382 Henry Thew, ... tº º º tº e e I 525 John de Billesfield, tº º º tº tº º I383 John Castell, ... © º º tº s º 1531 William de Trollop, ... tº e $ 1385 Thomas Sparke, ... tº e e tº gº tº 1536 PRESENT STATE OF TEIE RUINS. 243 before its dissolution, Prior Whithead and the convent of Durham made it over to Thomas Sparke for his life. This lease was con- firmed by the crown on the 12th February, 1543. So that when the church and its offices were given by the crown, A.D. 1541, to the Dean and Chapter of Durham, the gift was subject to the life- interest of Thomas Sparke. On account of the wars between England and Scotland, the priory church was used in the year 1550 as a government store- house. In 1571 Thomas Sparke died, and the church fell into the hands of the Dean and Chapter. Later, however, A.D. 1613, the site of the priory, with its cemetery to the south-east, and its garth to the South-west, has belonged to the crown, and been held by lease from the crown. The present condition of the ruined Priory of Holy Island may be described in a few words. Durham church seems to have served as its model, and it may be called a miniature copy of those parts of Durham church of its own date—it being 150 feet in length, and Durham being five hundred. The resemblance between the two is especially observ- able in the columns of the nave, which are voluted and chevroned, and precisely similar in both buildings. With the exception of the choir, the church was entirely of Norman construction. The ground-plan is a cross, with aisles to the nave only, and the transepts terminating in an apsidal east end. The elevation-plan consisted of a central tower and two Western towers; and there was a clere-story to the aisles. The triforium, if we may judge from what remains at the west end, must have been remarkably fine. The proportions of the church are as follows:—Length from the west door to the chancel, 100 feet ; from the entrance of the chancel to the end of the original Norman chancel, marked by the dotted line in the plan, 35 feet; and to the end of the later chancel, 50 feet; total length, 150 feet. Breadth of the nave and aisles, 43 feet 7 inches; transept, 62 feet long by 17 feet 7 inches in breadth; breadth of chancel, 17 feet 7 inches. The proportions of the elevation were:—Height of the vaulted roof over the nave, 33 feet; height of the arches separating the nave and aisles, 20 feet 4 inches; height of the groining under the central tower, 44 244 LINDISFARNE PRIORY CHURCH. feet; height of the south transept-apse, 20 feet 2 inches; height of the western door arch—inside, 16 feet, and outside, 14 feet. The nave was separated from the aisles by 6 arches on each side. Only one or two remain on the south side, and none on the north side. The tower was standing in the year 1728. Its vault was higher, by eleven feet, than the tower arches—an arrangement effected by two strong groined ribs, stretching, one from the South-west to the north-east, and the other from the north-west to the south-east corner of the tower. Before the year 1784 the sides of the tower to the east, west, and north fell down : for Some time the southern side retained its position, but it has now fallen; and all that remains of the tower is the groined rib, 44 feet from the ground, and 24 feet in span, stretching from the South-east to the north-west, and bestriding the junction of nave, transepts, and chance]. It contained originally three bells. In the transept the apse on the south side still remains; the walls of the apse in the north transept have fallen, but the founda- tion can be traced. Of course they were both chapels. The original Norman chancel terminated externally as marked by the dotted line. The foundations of this termination were discovered in the year 1821, at which time the old floor of the choir, consisting of glazed tiles, was found. There are also two windows, one at each side, that belonged to the Norman choir. The Norman chancel, however, required repairing in the fifteenth century. In the receipts for the year 1431-2, we find donations received for this purpose: “Given to the new window in the choir by John Durham, Vicar of Norham, 13s. 4d. ; by John Gatesheved, 6s. 8d. ; by Thomas Sparthe, 38. 4d.”. Repairs are also entered among the other expenses in the year 1436-7 ; and under the year 1441-2, considerable sums are stated to have been paid for buildings and repairs, lead for the church, &c., to the slater, plumber, glazier, &c. The new chancel consisted of an addition of fifteen feet to the Norman one, and the Square termi- nation was substituted for the apsidal; a large window was inserted in each side of the new wall, and a still larger at the east end, measuring sixteen feet in breadth. The tracery of all these 1 See Buck’s view. PRESENT STATE OF THE RUINS. 245 windows is gone. The eastern wall is level with the ground; but the side walls of the choir still stand: in the south wall is a plain piscina. There were four staircases and four doorways in the church. The west elevation consisted of two towers, with the western doorway between them. The north tower fell many years ago: the south one was standing in 1817, but is now, for the most part, gone. These towers had no buttresses, and were divided into six stages, alternately pierced—to the north in One, to the south in the other, and to the west in both—with plain narrow windows. Many vestiges of a later style of architecture may be accounted for by the repairs that were made at different times. In the year 1363 a new roof was put upon the church and the central tower and several new windows were inserted into the south wall of the nave. In 1385-6 other alterations and repairs were made. In 1430 a large window was inserted in the north side, nearest the transept ; and in 1441 and 1452 other repairs were made. In the year 1821, when the ruins were cleared of the rubbish and debris that had been collecting for about three centuries, several interest- ing discoveries were made. Among the rest, the ground masonry of three altars was discovered between the piers nearest the transept, as marked in the plan. The arrangement of the monastery can easily be made out from the existing remains, from early drawings, and from that of its model at Durham. Four most excellent views of the priory, in its present ruined state, are given in Billing's Durham County; and there is a valuable engraving of it in Raine's North Durham, that shews the upper portion of the south-west tower of the nave, which is no longer standing. The church was dedicated in honour of St. Cuthbert. It was built chiefly of red sandstone, brought from the opposite coast; but the whinstone of the island was used to a certain extent, as stated by Reginald. Within the church was a cenotaph or monument on the spot where St. Cuthbert's body was originally buried. In the account- roll for the year 1374-5 there is the following entry:-‘‘For painting the statue of St. Cuthbert, 53s. 4d.”. It was marble or alabaster; and, from the sum of money spent on it, must have 246 IINDISFAIRNE PRIORY CHURCEI. been very splendidly decorated. An entry under date 1533 speaks of “an image of St. Cuthbert at his tomb "; from which we may gather that this statue was placed in a recumbent position over the cenotaph in the choir. The ruined Priory of Lindisfarne is well described by him who, though a stranger to the faith that gave it birth, was fully able to appreciate the beauty of Christian architecture:— “A solemn, huge, and dark-red pile, Placed on the margin of the isle, In Saxon (Norman) strength that abbey frown'd : With massive arches broad and round, That rose alternate, row and row, On ponderous columns short and low, Built ere the art was known By pointed aisle and shafted stalk The arcades of an alley'd walk To emulate in stone. On the deep walls the heathen Dane Had pour'd his impious rage in vain ; And needful was such strength to these, Exposed to the tempestuous seas, Scourged by the winds' eternal sway, Open to rovers fierce as they, Which could twelve hundred years withstand Winds, waves, and northern pirate's hand. Not but that portions of the pile, Rebuilded in a later style, Shew’d where the spoiler's hand had been ; Not but the wasting sea-breeze keen Had worn the pillars' carving quaint, And moulder'd in his niche the Saint, And rounded with consuming power The pointed angles of each tower; Yet still entire the abbey stood, Like veteran, worn but unsubdued.” —Marmion, 2-10. CHAPTER III. MELROSE ABBEY CHURCH. IT has already been stated that Mailros, or old Melrose, did not occupy the site of the present Melrose Abbey, but was two miles higher up the Tweed." It was situated on the sloping side of a peninsula on the south of the river, and the opposite banks are high, rocky, and overhung with wood. The church and monastery were founded by St. Aidan; and Eata, a Saxon monk, was its first Abbot. Under him as Abbot, St. Boisil and St. Cuthbert were Briors of Mailros. At a later period Odunald was Abbot of this monastery, and after him Ethelwald (696–724) and Thevuan enjoyed the dignity of Abbots. The abbey was destroyed by fire in the year 839, by Kenneth II., King in Scotland. It was rebuilt before the year 875; and the body of St. Cuthbert rested awhile at Mailros, during the first flight from Lindisfarne. In the beginning of the eleventh century William Douglass was its Abbot. It seems to have been again in a ruined state in the year 1073, about which time a few monks settled there from Jarrow, but left it in 1075 for Monk Wearmouth. After this date Mailros seems to have dwindled away to nothing more than a chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert. This chapel before 1136 was attached to the Priory of Coldingham; but King David obtained it from the Prior and Monks of Coldingham by giving Berwick church in exchange for it, and annexed it to the new foundation of Melrose. The chapel was destroyed by the English in the reign of Robert I. The Bishop of Galloway, in 1321, granted an indulgence of forty days to all persons making a pilgrimage to the chapel of St. Cuthbert at Mailros, or contributing of their substance towards its rebuilding.” Pope Martin W. (1417-31) also granted an indul- 1 P. 13. 2 Harl. MS. 3960, fol. 108. 248 MELROSE ABBEY CHURCH. gence of seven years, and as many forty days, to all who should visit the chapel or contribute to its support." The place where this chapel stood is still called “the Chapel Enoll”. The foundations of the old convent-wall, that ran across the narrowest part of the peninsula, were existing in 1743; and spots in the river yet called “the Haly Well,” and “the Monks' Ford,” serve to perpetuate the memory of the holy monks of the Anglo-Saxon monastery of Mailros. The Melrose Abbey that succeeded Mailros, and whose ruins present the finest specimen of Christian architecture ever raised in this kingdom, is beautifully situated on the south bank of the Tweed, at the base of the Eildon Hills, that rise into three finely shaped summits 1330 feet in height, and at the respective dis- tances of twelve, four, and fourteen miles from her sisters of Jedburgh, Dryburgh, and Kelso. The abbey was founded and endowed by David I., King of the Scots. The foundations were laid A.D. 1136; it took ten years in building, was completed A.D. 1146, and dedicated in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A colony of Benedictine monks, of the reform of Cisteaux in the year 1098, called Cistertians, was brought to it from Rivaulx, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The abbey was destroyed by the English, under Edward II., in the year 1322. In 1326 it was rebuilt, and King Robert I. gave the sum of £2000 towards it. The church now in ruins is the church of this date. It again suffered very much in the year 1385, when King Richard II, caused it to be set on fire. A third time it was destroyed by the English, A.D. 1544, and probably was never afterwards restored. The number of monks at Melrose varied at different times from 60 to 100, with about an equal number of lay brothers. These holy men were for four hundred 1 “Istae sunt gratiae et indulgentiae datae per Sanctissimum in Christo patrem Martinum Papam Quintum; concessae etiam viva vocis oraculo omnibus et singulis Christi fidelibus, qui capellam Sancti Cuthberti de Aldmelros, Glascuensi diocesi, quae devota et notabilis existit, devote visitaverint et pias elemosinas inibi largiti fuerint, et ad eandem manus porrexerint adjutrices. Widelicet, in Sancti Cuthberti diebus, in cujus honore fundata existit, et in singulis Domini nostri Jesu Christi ac Beatae Mariae Virginis festivitatibus; etiam nativitatis Johannis Baptists; apostolorum Petri et Pauli, ac aliis diebus et festivitatibus per cancellariam apostolicam dari consuetis. Necnon celebritate omnium Sanctorum, et per octavas dictarum festivitatum octavas habentium, septem annos et totidem quadragenas indulgentiarum de injunctis eis penitentiis, in Domino, misericorditer relaxare valeant.”—Harl, MS. 3960, fol. 111. PRESENT STATE OF THE RUINS. 249 years the light of Teviotdale, the instructors and spiritual guides of the people, as well as kind benefactors of the poor.” The ruins of Melrose Abbey form an imposing spectacle, in which beauty and grandeur make one of their happiest combina- tions. The background of the scene is formed by the Eildon Hills, naked in part, and partly clad with wood, and the grand vista of arches and columns in the ruins leaves nothing to be desired by the eye of the beholder. Yet the fairest daughter of the Tweed has become now, in her desolate magnificence, but a sad relic of her former beauty. The moral earthquake of the Beformation has rent this temple; and the luxurious vegetation on “The mouldering abbey's ivy-vested walls” serves to shew the alliance between nature and art, adorning the triumph of the one, and hiding the desolation of the other. The ground-plan of the abbey church is in the usual form of a Latin cross, consisting of nave and aisles, transept and aisles, and choir and aisles. The elevation-plan consisted of nave, transepts, and choir, with a central tower. The church stands due east and west. The proportions of the building are as follows:—Nave, 208 feet by 79, including the aisles; transept, 130 feet by 44; choir, 50 feet. The central tower, of which only the west side is stand- ing, is 84 feet in height. 1 The Abbots of Melrose, and the dates of their appointment, are known to the year 1273. After that period the names of several are lost; and though those given are known to have been the Abbots during the years mentioned, yet the dates of their com- mencing office are not on record. The Abbots were:— 1. Richard, ... 1136-1148 18. John de Ederham, 1267-1268 2. Waltheof, 1148-1159 19. Robert de Keldeleth, 1268-1273 3. William, ... 1159–1170 20. Patrick de Selkirke, 4. Josceline, 1170-11.75 * º * * 5. Laurence, 1175-1178 William de Foghou, 1310-1329 6. Ernald, ... 1179-1189 Thomas de Soltre, 1338 7. Reiner, 1189-1194 William, ... g 1342-1369 8. Ralph, 1194-1202 David Benyn, 1409-1423 9. William,... 1202-1206 John Fogo, 1425-1433 10. Patrick, ... 1206-1207 Richard Lundy,... 1440-1442 11. Adam, ... ... 1207–1214 Andrew Hunter, 1448 12. Hugh de Clippeston, 1214-1215 William, ... 1460 13. William de Curcy, 1215-1216 Richard, ... 1473-1476 14. Ralph, ... to tº tº 1216-1219 John Frazer, 15. Adam de Harkaris, 1219-1245 Bernard, ... 1490-1499 16. Matthew, e º 1246-1261 William, ... te 1504 17. Adam de Maxton, 1261-1267 James Stewart, ... 1541 250 MELROSE ABBEY CHURCH. The west end of the nave is entirely gone; but part of the nave, nearly the whole of the south aisle, and part of the north aisle, remain. The south aisle is double, and has in its wall eight beautiful windows, each 16 feet by 8, with rich tracery in their heads. They light eight small square chapels that run along the south aisle, and are separated from each other by thin partition- walls of stone." The west end of the nave, and five of these chapels included in it, are now roofless. The eastern half of the nave is arched over with a vaulted roof, thrown over it in 1618; and half of the south aisle and its chapels retain their original roofs. The transept contains now in its south gable the principal entrance into the church, through a richly moulded doorway. Above this doorway is a magnificent window, 24 feet by 16, divided by four mullions that interlace each other at the top in beautiful flowing tracery. The stonework of the whole window yet remains perfect. Over this window is a series of niches: the highest one in the centre is said to have contained a statue of Our Dlessed Saviour; the four on each side contained eight of the Apostles, and two within each of the window buttresses completed the number of the Apostles. Below the window is a figure of St. John the Baptist looking upwards to the figure of Christ; and the pedestal of the lower niche in the east buttress is supported by a monk bearing a scroll with the words—PASSUS : E : Q : IPSE : VOLUIT; and the same design in the west buttress has the words— CU : VENIT ; JES : SEQ : CESSABIT : UMBRA. This south transept presents on the buttresses and pinnacles of its east and west sides a variety of carvings of animals and plants. It still retains its roof, supported by light groined work, with keystones carved into figures and flowers. The north transept is roofless, and the north gable has in its head a beautiful circular window. The three pillars on the east side of this transept, forming the transept aisle, are remarkably light and elegant. Above the arches, in the east wall, are two double windows. A doorway in the north wall of the transept, unrivalled for elegance, communicates between the church and what remains of the cloisters, that were on the north- west side of the church. The foliage upon the capitals of the 1 One of these chapels was dedicated to St. Stephen, another to St. Bridget, &c. PRESENT STATE OF THE RUINS. 251 pilasters on each side of this exquisite doorway is so finely chiselled, that a straw can be made to penetrate through the interstices between the leaves and the stalks. The choir displays the finest architectural taste. The great east window is 36 feet by 16, and is divided by four mullions eight inches in thickness. On each side of the window, externally, are niches for statues, and a figure of St. Cuthbert, holding the head of King Oswald, remains in one of them. The original stone roof still covers the east end of the choir. At the junction of the nave and transept there remains a small portion of the lower part of the rood-screen. The central tower still has its west side standing; it terminates in a stone balustrade pierced with quatrefoils, and has a series of roses under them in relief. The monastic buildings were all on the north side of the church, and scarce any vestiges of them remain. The ruins of the church alone stand, in isolated grandeur, to attest the ancient magnificence of this abbey, to mock the hand of time, and to record to future generations the glories of the ages of faith. “The most beautiful of all the Northern fanes, of whatever time, is Melrose. The splendour of middle-age romance, which Scott has thrown round the place, has almost obliterated its older and holier renown, when it was described by Bede as the home of the meek Eata, the prophetic Boisil, the austere Cuthbert, when, with Coldingham, and Abercorn, and Tyningham, it was the lamp of that Anglo-Saxon Lothian, which, deriving its own faith from Iona, sped the glad gift to many an English province, and even sent a missionary across the seas to become the apostle of the Austrasian tribes on the Meuse, the Waal, and the Rhine. The light of Melrose had long been quenched, when, in the middle of the twelfth century, St. David bestowed the territory on a colony of white-robed Cistertians from Rievaux. The site of the ancient shrine, on a lovely bank almost encircled by the Tweed, was still marked by a chapel which bore the name of St. Cuthbert, and was the frequent resort of pilgrims. But the new monks chose their dwelling some little distance above, on the plain between the river and the skirts of “Eildon's triple height’. They dug the foundations of their church in the spring of 1136; and it 252 MELROSE ABBEY CHURCH. was consecrated before the summer of 1146 was at an end. This fabric was laid in ruins during the wars of the succession; the scourge of which fell so heavy on the border abbeys, that the monks and novices of wealthy Kelso, though their house escaped destruction, were driven to beg food and clothing among the more fortunate monasteries remote from the English march. The rebuilding of Melrose, as we now see it, received the especial patronage of Bruce, and occupied almost his latest thoughts. In 1326 he made a grant to the monastery, for the fabric of its new church, of all the feudal casualties and crown issues of Teviotdale, until they should amount to two thousand pounds sterling. ‘The good Sir James of Douglas’ was appointed steward and warden of the bequest; and the king, from his death-bed at Cardross, on the Clyde, addressed a letter to his son and successor, entreating him, in the tenderest terms and by the most Solemn adjurations, to see that the grant received liberal fulfilment; and that “all love, honour, and privilege be rendered for evermore to the monastery of Melrose, which he himself had in such pious affec- tion, that he had appointed his heart to be buried within its walls’. * The new building seems for a time to have proceeded slowly. The grant of King Robert was renewed by David II. in 1370, in terms which shew that no considerable portion of the two thousand pounds had then been received; and, indeed, it appears that the full amount of the bequest had not been com- pleted even in 1399. Great part of the edifice, however, must have been built before that time, by the help, doubtless, of the Opulent revenues which the abbey enjoyed from other sources. The character of its architecture, graceful symmetry, lavish pro- fusion of ornament, exquisite delicacy of workmanship, is familiar to every one. It is less generally remembered that, during most part of the century in which this glory of Scottish art was built, Teviotdale was an English county, and the monks of Melrose were liegemen of the English king.”.” The writer was one of a party of six when he went, in the year 1848, to visit the Abbey of Melrose. He arrived at Melrose a little before sunset on a fine spring evening, resolved to view the magnificent ruin under every varying effect of light and shade. * Quarterly, vol. lxxxv. p. 139. * PRESENT STATE OF THE RUINS. 253 He saw it first by the light of the setting sun; and trod, in thoughtful mood and silent admiration, the nave and aisles, flooded with the crimson halo of departing day. He saw it again after the last crimson streak had faded in the sky, and the moon had risen in such unclouded brightness as almost to rival day; for “Now is the pleasant time, The cool, the silent—save where silence yields To the night-warbling bird, that now, awake, Tunes sweetest his love-laboured song. Now reigns Full-orbed the moon, and with more pleasing light Shadowy sets off the face of things.” —Paradise Lost. He saw it a third time in the bright light of the morning sun, when “The sun had brightened Cheviot grey, The sun had brightened the Carter's side ; And soon beneath the rising day Smiled Branksome towers and Teviot's tide. “The wild birds told their warbling tale, And wakened every flower that blows; And peeped forth the violet pale, And spread her breast the mountain rose.” He lingered amid the lights and shadows of the far-famed pile, till the mid-day sun had bathed it in its light. And though he might not see, what every visitor in an age of faith would have seen, when “Around the screened altar's pale, And there the dying lamps did burn "; Or when “The silver light, so pale and faint, Shew'd many a prophet and many a saint, Whose image on the glass was dyed; * * * * * The moonbeam kissed the holy pane, And threw on the pavement a bloody stain”. Yet he saw in the cloisters nature's models carved in stone, and where the “Spreading herbs and flowerets bright Glisten’d with the dew of night; No herb nor floweret glisten’d there But was carved in the cloister arches as fair”: And from the cloisters, through the door in the north transept, entered 254 MELROSE ABBEY CHURCH. “The chancel tall; The darkened roof rose high aloft On pillars lofty, and light, and small: The key-stone that locked each ribbed aisle Was a fleur-de-lis or a quatrefoil; The corbels were carved grotesque and grim ; And the pillars with clustered shafts so trim, With base and with capital flourished around, Seemed bunches of lances which garlands had bound. “The moon on the east oriel shone Through slender shafts of shapely stone By foliaged tracery combined ; Thou wouldst have thought some fairy's hand 'Twixt poplars straight the osier-wand In many a freakish knot had twined ; Then framed a spell, when the work was done, And changed the willow-wreaths to stone.” If asked by the pilgrim, who, through love of the monuments of England's ancient faith, and through devotion to a spot hallowed by its associations with St. Cuthbert, contemplates a visit to the abbey church at Melrose, Under what aspect is it seen the best ? the writer would say, if further testimony be wanting to that of the poet : When the mid-day sun, as if to supply the former colours of its walls and glass, decks the ruins with a golden hue ; and to replace the missing incense, and the prayer of which it was the emblem, draws the perfume from the flowers that grow amid the ruins,—then is the ruin truly beauti- ful. But when the dim shadows of night have shut in obscurity these minor beauties, and when the bright moon silvers the columns and arches, and peeps in between the network of the windows, then the ruin is sublime. “If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright, Go visit it by the pale moonlight; For the gay beams of lightsome day Gild, but to flout, the ruins grey. When the broken arches are black in night, And each shafted oriel glimmers white ; When the cold light's uncertain shower Streams on the ruin’d central tower ; When buttress and buttress, alternately, Seem form'd of ebon and ivory; When silver edges the imagery, And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die; When distant Tweed is heard to rave, SEEN BEST BY MOONILIGHT. 255 And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave; Then go—but go alone the while— Then view St. David's ruin'd pile; And home returning, soothly swear Was never scene so sad and fair.’ —Lay of the Last Minstrel, canto ii. CHAPTER IV. OTHER CHURCHES BUILT IN HONOUR OF ST. CUTHBERT IN INORTHUMBRIA. THE other churches and chapels dedicated to St. Cuthbert in the different parts of ancient Northumbria claim a brief notice in this place. They are the still standing monuments of bygone ages to St. Cuthbert, and serve to shew how great, in England's palmy days, was the devotion to the Apostle of Northumbria. In the northern part of old Northumbria, the part in which our Saint was born, a whole county, Kirkcudbright, is called after his name. The chief town of the county is also called after him ; and in the town of Kirkcudbright there is a church dedicated in his honour. IN THE COUNTY OF KIRECTUDERIGHT. FIRKCUDBRIGHT, St. Cuthbert's. Reginald mentions this church, saying, “Wilula ipsa Cuthbrictis Khirche dicitur, quae a Beati Cuthberti memoria, quae in eaderm habetur ecclesia, nomen sortiri videtur”. He describes the church in his time as “de lapidibus compacta ecclesiola; ”” and also relates that Æthelred, Abbot of Rivaulx, spent the day of the feast of St. Cuthbert, A.D. 1164, at Rirkcudbright; that on the same occasion, some persons attached to the church undertook, in spite of remonstrances to the contrary, to bait in the churchyard a bull that had been given to the church, and that the leader of them was killed by the bull.” IN THE COUNTY OF MID-TIOTHIAN. EDINBURGH, St. Cuthbert's. This church is the oldest founda- tion of any church in Scotland. Chalmers supposes that it has 3 P. 178. 4 P. 179. * Chapters lxxxiv. and lxxxv. MELROSE—SINITRIG. 257 existed since the eighth century. There, is a record of donations made to it in 1052. In 1128 it was given by King David to Holy- rood Abbey. The present church is of very late date. IN ROXBTURGH OR TEVIOTDALE. MELROSE. There was formerly at Old Melrose, two miles farther east than the present abbey, after the destruction of the monastery in the year 839, a chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert, with the privilege of sanctuary. The place where this chapel stood is now called the Chapel-knoll. There was also formerly a chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert on the banks of the river Slitrig," that was a chapel-of-ease to the church of Cavers. The Slitrig rises at Cavers, and falls into the Teviot at Hawick. The holy-water stone placed in the burial- ground just outside the door of this church is mentioned by Reginald,” who also describes the devotions and the amusements of the people collected there on the feast of St. Cuthbert, and a miracle that took place at the church.” There was also an ancient church dedicated to St. Cuthbert at Ednam, in Roxburgshire, two miles north of Kelso, and on the river Eden. The following document, having reference to it, is published from a parchment in the treasury at Durham, of the date of the commencement of the twelfth century. “To the sons of holy Mother Church, Thor the Long, greeting in the Lord : Rnow that Ædgar, my lord, King of the Scots, gave to me AEdnaham, a waste ; that, with his help and my own means, I peopled it, and have built a church in honour of St. Cuthbert; and this church, with a ploughgate of land, I have given to God and St. Cuthbert, and his monks, to be possessed by them ever- more. This gift I have made for the soul of my lord, the King AEdgar, and for the souls of his father and mother, and for the * “Post pii patris Cuthberti obitum, multorum accendit animos devotio fidelium ejus honori sua territoria dedicare, et Deo in ipsius nomine plures ecclesias fundatas consecrare. De quarum numero infinito, quaedam capella ab antiquo ab atavis progeni- toribus in provincia quae Teviotdale dicitur, fundata fuit : qui locus a piscosi fluminis vicinitate, qui secus illum in proximo praeterfluit, Slitrith nomen accepit, quae matricis ecclesiae, Caveres vocatae capella existit.”—Reginald, p. 284. * Chap. cxli. 17 Chap. cxxxvi. 258 ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. weal of his brothers and his sisters, and for the redemption of my dearest brother Lefwin, and for the weal of myself, both my body and my soul. And if any one, by force or fraud, presume to take away this my gift from the Saint aforesaid, and the monks his servants, may God Almighty take away from him the life of the heavenly kingdom, and may he suffer everlasting pains with the devil and his angels. Amen.”” IN BERWICKSEIIRE. CoLDINGHAM, St. Cuthbert's. Bede mentions Coldingham as a double monastery at a very early period; that Etheldreda, wife of Ring Egfrid, became a nun at Coldingham in 660; and that the monastery was burnt down in 679. It is further stated by other historians that the Abbess Ebba, together with her nuns, disfigured themselves by mutilating their faces, in Order to escape the hands of the Danes, who burnt the monastery as well as the Abbess and nuns in the year 870. Edgar King of Scotland founded on the same spot a church in honour of St. Cuthbert, and a monastery, in the year 1098, and made it an affiliation of the mother house of Durham. A small fragment only of the priory church remains, consisting of the east end, measuring about thirty-five feet in width, and a portion of the north wall nearly ninety-five feet long. The character of its architecture is semi-Norman, i.e. partly Norman and partly early English. The north elevation has seven single-light lancet windows, divided from one another by broad shallow buttresses projecting only a few inches from the wall. The head mouldings of the windows are composed of half and three-quarters rounds, deeply undercut, rising from banded edge- shafts with floriated capitals. The lower part of the elevation is filled up with a Norman arcade; this arcade is arranged in couplets below the windows, and separated from them by a narrow string- course, that divides the buttresses about midway. The east end of the church is nearly entire, and is flanked by square turrets with cylindrical shafts sunk in their angles. The south turret is not perforated; but in the north turret each of the two stages formed by the string-course is pierced with a narrow lancet- headed slit. The east gable contains three windows similar to * North Durham, Appendix, p. 38, n. clxi. NORELAM. 259 those in the north wall, and divided by buttresses. The arcade below it has the chevron moulding. Inside the church, the details, such as the mouldings, capitals, &c., are much more finished than on the outside, and, indeed, more so than is usual in semi-Norman buildings. An open arcade, formed in the thick- ness of the wall, and resembling a triforium, is carried along the upper compartment so as to admit of free passage round the building. The orientation of the church is east-south-east. This beautiful fragment of early art, after having remained for many years in a ruined state, was, by the addition of a south and west wall, made into a Scottish church in the year 1670. If this act did in some measure tend to preserve the ruins, it was so far fortunate; but inasmuch as the restoration was unworthy of the ancient portion of the church, and was carried out to prepare a place of worship for a system that has no sympathy with the faith that had originally raised the church, the writer must say, in hoc mon lawdo." IN NORTHUMBERLAND.” NoRHAM, St. Cuthbert's. The original church at Norham was built as early as A.D. 840. Ecgred, who was made Bishop of Lindisfarne in 830, was the founder of this church. He translated St. Ceolwulf's body into it, and dedicated it in honour of St. Peter, apostle, St. Cuthbert, and St. Ceolwulf. The present church is chiefly Norman. Reginald speaks of the church, saying, “Est igitur in villa praedicta, ecclesia in Beati Cuthberti nominis honore ab antiquo fundata”.” He relates in the same chapter an incident connected with the key of the Norham church-door. f * “Lord John Stewart, natural son of James the Fifth, was prior of Coldingham at the Reformation. He changed with the times, kept his temporalities, and married. His eldest son, Francis, was created Earl of Bothwell, but was outlawed and forfeited. The abbey was next granted to John, one of the Maitlands of Lethington, who were all forfeited in 1571. In 1581, Alexander, son of Alexander Home of Manderstone, was made commendator, under several protests from persons who had previous claims upon the revenues. Why the abbey should have passed from the family we are not aware ; but in 1592 it was annexed to the crown, with a few exceptions. In 1606 it was given, along with Jedburgh, to Earl Home ; the fate of whose family we have seen. In 1621, John Stewart, son of the forfeited Earl of Bothwell above mentioned, obtained Colding- ham ; but the family declined, and soon became extinct.” (Spelman, p. 280.) * See pp. 104 and 108. * P. 149; see also chap. xx. 260 ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. The church had formerly three chapels, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Cuthbert, and St. Nicholas. The Norman chancel remains in its primitive beauty, with very elegant windows. The church was collegiate; but all traces of collegiate arrangement have long since vanished. A good engraving of the church may be seen in Raine's North Durham. CARHAM, St. Cuthbert's. There are no remains of the old church at Carham. The present church was built about the end of last century, and is a square room, with a little ugly belfry at one end. TILLMOUTH, St. Cuthbert's. There are still remains of the old chapel at Tillmouth. Beside the ruined chapel lie the remains of the boat-shaped coffin of stone spoken of in the first flight with St. Cuthbert's body. HOLY ISLAND, St. Cuthbert's. This church has already been described. ST. CUTHBERT's ISLAND, St. Cuthbert's. This island, with the remains of the old chapel on it dedicated to our Saint, have been described in page 33. It was called “the Chapel of St. Cuthbert in the sea”. An inventory of the furniture, &c., of this chapel occurs in the return given by John Castell, Prior of Holy Island, in 1533: “One altarcloth of diaper, nine altarcloths of linen, three towels for the altar, one set of vestments, with an alb, stole, and maniple for the chapel of St. Cuthbert in the sea. In the chapel in the sea an image of St. Cuthbert and one of St. Thomas.” FARNE ISLAND, St. Cuthbert's. This chapel was rebuilt a few years ago. Several courses of the old masonry remain at the base of the north wall. The author has in his possession several draw- ings of the old ruins of this chapel, copies from drawings in the British Museum. BUDLE, St. Cuthbert's. A chapel dedicated to our Saint formerly existed at Budle, near Belford. There were remains of it within TUGGAL–BELLINGEIAM. 261 the memory of persons now living; but every trace above ground has disappeared. TUGGAL, St. Cuthbert's. The remains of this chapel shew it to have been of very early Norman. They consist of the chancel- gable, chancel-arch, part of the walls of the chancel, part of the stone vaulting of the recess at the east end of the chancel, and traces of the foundations of the walls of the nave. The dimensions of the chapel were: nave, forty-one feet long by about twenty-two broad; chancel, twelve feet long by seventeen broad; and eastern recess, seven feet long by fourteen broad. There are no remains of the nave save the mound that marks the foundations. The chancel-arch is perfect, with the indented and embattled mould- ings. The whole of the lower part of the north wall of the chancel remains, to the height of about ten feet; but only broken portions of the south wall remain. The vaulted recess at the east end is rather singular. The vaulting is not as high as the chancel- arch, but about nine feet high ; it extends nearly across the chancel, being about fourteen feet broad, and its eastern wall is flat. The chapel and the burying-place attached to it cover about an acre of ground. It seems to have been surrounded by a wall; and a number of old broken tombstones lie scattered about it. ELSDON, St. Cuthbert's. The present church was built about the time of Richard II. (1377). It is a cruciform building, with aisles; the nave, with the aisles, is forty feet long by thirty-two broad, and the chancel forty-five feet by thirty-nine. It has a north and South porch, each about twenty-one feet square. BEDLINGTON, St. Cuthbert's. There was a church here before the Conquest. The present church is chiefly a bad repair, of date 1813. Before this date the church consisted of a nave fifty-two feet by twenty-four, west tower sixteen feet by nine and a half, and chancel thirty-two feet by seventeen. All that remains of this old church is some work on each side of the chancel-arch, and a well moulded window on the west side of the tower. BELLINGHAM, St. Cuthbert's. This church is small, and consists 262 ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. of nave and chancel, with a south chapel and a bell-turret; it has a groined roof. In the same village there is also a holy well dedi- cated to St. Cuthbert. Reginald speaks of the small church of his time, and describes a miracle that took place at the well." HAYDON BRIDGE, St. Cuthbert's. BELTINGHAM, St. Cuthbert's. A church of perpendicular cha- racter. In the churchyard is a remarkably fine old yew-tree. There was formerly a chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert at CAWSEY PARK, near Longhorsley. The chapel of St. Cuthbert, super le Cause, in 11 Henry VI., is mentioned as in the advowson of Henry Percy of Athol and Elizabeth his wife, who at that time were proprietors of the barony of Mitford. It is possible that this chapel was raised on the spot where the monks made their first halt, at the distance of eleven miles from Bedlington, on the day they journeyed from Bedlington to Tuggal, in their third flight. The exact site of the chapel is not known.” IN CUIMIBERLAND. BEWOASTLE, St. Cuthbert's. The churchyard contains a cross of very early date, of a single stone, with Runic inscriptions, and said to be commemorative of the conversion of the Danes to Christianity, and to mark the place of interment of one of their kings. CARLISLE, St. Cuthbert's. The original church was destroyed by the Danes in the ninth century. After the Norman Conquest it was rebuilt. The present church is a rebuilding of date 1778. SALKELD, or GREAT SALKFIELD, St. Cuthbert's. It is stated, but the author has not had an opportunity of verifying the statement, that beneath the tower of this church there is a dungeon. EDENHALL, St. Cuthbert's. A small, but elegant early English * Chap. cviii. p. 244. * See Hodgson's History of Northumberland, vol. ii. part ii. p. 132. PLUMBLAND–HALSALL. 263 church, with a small tower. It was repaired in 1834, at an expense of £2,500. PLUMBLAND, St. Cuthbert's." EMBLETON, St. Cuthbert's. The present chapel is a rebuilding, of date 1816. * LORTON, St. Cuthbert's. IN THE COUNTY OF WESTMORELAND. CLIBURN, St. Cuthbert's. A small church, with a low tower. DUFTON, St. Cuthbert's. The church was rebuilt in 1784. CLIFTON, St. Cuthbert's. A small church, with a low tower. IN THE COUNTY OF LANGASHIRE. ALDINGHAM, St. Cuthbert's. RIRKBY-IRELETH, St. Cuthbert's. A church with several ancient monuments and some stained glass. OVERKELLET, St. Cuthbert's. HALSALL, St. Cuthbert's. An elegant church with a lofty spire, partly of decorated and partly of perpendicular character. * See p. 109. Reginald gives a very interesting chapter connected with this church. When William King of Scotland was laying waste the country round Carlisle, the parishioners and others fled to this church for safety, lodging their treasures in the church, and themselves in the churchyard. Their gold, silver, and other valuable movables, they deposited within the church, and built huts covered with straw for themselves in the churchyard. Among the rest, Cospatrick, son of Ulf, a rich knight, placed a chest, well secured with locks, full of money, in the church. At night-time a man entered the church, and with a false key picked the locks, and stole a bag of money, which he hid under a heap of straw in an empty hut. He had, however, taken some money out of the bag, and offered to the mistress of an alehouse a Scotch penny. She refused the coinage of a king that was at war with England. A servant of Cospatrick's happened to be present at the time, and recognising his master's money, discovered the thief. He was, however, pardoned at the request of the rector of the church. See Reginald, chap. cxxix. p. 275. 964 ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. LYTHAM, St. Cuthbert's. This church is described by Reginald to have been originally of timber, and afterwards built in stone." The church was given by Richard Fitz-Roger to the Prior and Convent of Durham, who made it a branch house of their order, governed by a prior. The yearly account-rolls of this church that were sent to the parent house at Durham, containing an inventory of its property, receipts, and expenditure, are still preserved. MELLOR, St. Cuthbert's. IN THE COUNTY OF YORKSHIRE. IN THE WEST RIDING, ACKWORTH, St. Cuthbert's. FISHLAKE, St. Cuthbert's. The splendid porch of this church is a remnant of the old Norman church; the rest is of the close of the fourteenth century. Part of the chancel-screen remains; each of the sides of the fine octagonal font has a figure of St. Cuthbert. This church belonged to the Priory of Durham ; and in the Durham treasury there is much curious information re- specting it in connexion with Durham College in Oxford, to which it was appropriated.” IPEASHOLME, St. Cuthbert's. St. Cuthbert's Church at York is situated in Peasholme Green; it was a parish church at the time of the Conquest, and is mentioned in the Doomsday Book as in the patronage of the ancient family of the Percys. It is a small, plain, late perpendicular church, without aisles; it has a good open timber roof, covered and panelled, with a wide span of thirty feet. * See Reginald, chaps. cxxxii. and czxxiii. In chap. cxxxiv. he describes the custom then prevalent of laying a person about to die upon the ground on sackcloth, and in some cases of taking them into the church to die there. This is a most interest- ing chapter, and illustrates the strong faith our Catholic ancestors had in the intercession of the Saints. * See Hunter's Doncaster, vol. ii. Fishlake Church was appropriated to Durham College, Oxford, by Alexander, Archbishop of York, Aug. 8, 1387, reserving out of the fruits foe annnal pension of 138. 4d. to the Piioi aud. Chapter of Durham. The appro- priation was ratified by Urban VI, in 1387, and on July 1, 1388, by the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of York. BURNSAL–ROLTON. 265 The old font is good early English; the door and window of a crypt under the chancel are visible on the exterior, though blocked up; the windows of the church contain several fragments of per- pendicular glass, and the arms of England, York, and Neville. BURNSAL, St. Wilfrid's, or St. Cuthbert's (?)." EMBSAY, St. Mary's and St. Cuthbert's. At Embsay, two miles north-east of Skipton, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, there was formerly a monastery and church dedicated in honour of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert; it was founded, A.D. 1121, by William de Mes- chines and Cecilia his wife, as a priory for Augustinian canons. The priory remained at Embsay for only about thirty years, and was then removed to a locality four miles farther east, on the banks of the river Wharf, named Bolton. The removal is said to have been effected by Adeliza, the daughter and heiress of the founders, in the year 1154. The popular tradition regarding the cause of the removal is given in Whittaker's History of Craven, p. 324. All that remains of Embsay Priory is a spring behind the house built on the site of the Priory, called St. Cuthbert's Well. BOLTON, St. Mary's and St. Cuthbert's Priory. Bolton Priory was founded about the year 1154, at which date the Priory that bad been originally founded at Embsay was removed to Bolton. It is in a lovely situation on the banks of the Wharf, six miles Inorth-east from Skipton. The situation is, indeed, unique. Whittaker justly observes: “Fountains, as a building, is more entire, more spacious and magnificent ; but the valley of the Skell is insignificant and without features. Furness, which is more dilapidated, ranks still lower in point of situation. Kirk- stall, as a mere ruin, is superior to Bolton; but though deficient * This church is generally said to be dedicated to St. Wilfrid; but, together with Bawkshead, it is stated by Prior Wessington to have been dedicated to St. Cuthbert. Whether these churches were dedicated also to St. Cuthbert, or there were formerly churches in the same places dedicated to him, does not appear very evident. 266 ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. neither in water nor wood, it wants the seclusion of a deep valley, and the termination of a bold, rocky background. Tintern, which perhaps most resembles it, has rock, wood and water in perfec- tion, but no foreground whatever.” The river Wharf flows through a magnificent and romantic district; and on a beautiful curvature of the river stand the remains of St. Mary’s and St. Cuthbert's Priory of Bolton, once the glory, as now the pride, of the West Riding of Yorkshire. The vale in which it stands is surrounded by bold and majestic high grounds, and enclosed by acclivities in some parts richly wooded, while in others masses of rugged rock rise precipitously from the bed of the river, that flows almost under the east window of the church. In the distance are seen the aged oaks of Bolton Park, planted by the hands of the monks, and the craggy heights of Simonseat and Bardonfell, finely contrasting with the softer beauties of the luxuriant vale. On the south the eye reposes upon rich pas- tures and the tranquil surface of the river; and on the north is a verdant expanse of level lawn, studded at intervals with clusters of ash and elm of stately growth, and skirted by a thick wood of oak. So that, for picturesque effect, Bolton Priory is perhaps without a rival in England. There is every reason to believe that there was a Saxon church on the site of the present ruins, because the chapelry of Bolton is to this day called “The Saxon Cure,” and because some appear- ances in the priory church seem to belong to the period before the Conquest. The priory church was begun A.D. 1154, and its shell is to this day nearly entire. The ground-plan consists of nave, with north aisle," north and South transepts and choir. The elevation- plan consists of central and western towers. The dimensions of the church are as follows: length of the nave, 88 feet 6 inches, and breadth, 31 feet 3 inches; breadth of the north aisle, 11 feet 7 inches; length of the transepts, 121 feet 5 inches; length of the choir, including the width of the transepts, 145 feet 5 inches, and breadth, 30 feet 9 inches. The total length, internally * Like Lanercost Priory in Cumberland, Brinkburn Priory in Northumberland, and most of the old Craven churches, it had no south aisle. BOLTON PRIORY. 267 measured, is 233 feet 11 inches; externally measured, 261 feet 7 inches. * The nave is the only part that is perfect. Its west front is extremely beautiful, and much resembles the gable of the south transept of York Cathedral. There is the base of a west tower, with an inscription stating it to have been begun by the last prior. The nave was re-roofed about the same time with flat oak-work, covered with lead. The corbals that support the principals are Ornamented with figures of angels. At the dissolution, the nave was appropriated as a church, and is still used for such. The tower was over the transepts, as is proved from the men- tion of bells belonging to the church, and also from the pointed roof of the choir; but there are no remains of this tower. The choir is the oldest part of the building, and is of transition Norman, with later insertions and decorated windows. The east window was an insertion of decorated work. On the north side, within a mural recess, is the rich canopy of a tomb. There are but very few remains of the conventual buildings. The abbey gateway has escaped the general wreck: it is a strong Square castellated building, of late date. The outer and inner arches are now walled up, to make a room within. The enclosure of the priory buildings cannot now be traced ; but it must have extended from the gateway north and south, on one side to the river behind the churchyard, and on the other to the “Prior's Pool”. Part of the boundary-wall remains, of strong and well- constructed ashler. The cloister quadrangle, containing the chapter-house, refectory, dormitory, kitchen, &c., with the ex- ception of a few fragments, is destroyed. A school now occupies One of the oldest offices of the monastery, and the schoolmaster's house stands on the site of the kitchen. Much curious and valuable information concerning the priory and its history is given in the account-book of Bolton Priory—a folio of a thousand pages, beginning with A.D. 1290, and continuing to A.D. 1325. It is in the possession of the present owner of Bol- ton, the Duke of Devonshire; and a series of extracts are given from it by Whittaker, pp. 325-341, in his History of Craven. The priory was dissolved in either January or June, 1540, at which time there were fourteen monks, with Richard Moone, 268 ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. their prior." The revenue of the house at the dissolution was £302. IN THE NORTH RIDING. EoRCETT, St. Cuthbert's. BARTON, St. Cuthbert's. SouTH COWTON, St. Cuthbert's. & OVERTON, St. Cuthbert's. A small plain church of transition Norman, with decorated windows inserted. The roof extends over the nave and aisle, and the aisle-wall is not more than five feet high. The chancel has a decorated square-headed east window, and the south windows are foliated lancets. A north door, by the side of which the niche for the holy water stoup remains, is blocked up. There is a good font, and an ancient bell in a wooden bell-cot. MARSKE, St. Cuthbert's. The original Saxon church gave place to a Norman building in the middle of the twelfth century, which again gave way to the present church, a rebuilding, of date 1821. RILDALE, St. Cuthbert's. A plain church, for the most part rebuilt in 1714. Four or five elegant coffin-lid crosses are walled up in the porch and steeple. RIRK-LEATHAM, St. Cuthbert's. A rebuilding, of date 1763. WILTON, St. Cuthbert's. A small Norman church, without aisles. The chancel is of rather later date. The nave has been 1 The priors of Bolton were: 1. Reginald . . . . . . . . 1120 | 11. Robert de Otteley, sub-prior. 2. John . . . . . . . . . 1180 | 12. Robert Catton . . . . . . 1416 3. Walter . . . . . . . . . 1186 13. John Farmhill . . . . . . 1430 4. Robert . . . . . . . . . 1222 14. Thomas Boston . . . . . . 1456 5. Richard de Burlington . . . 1274 || 15. William Man, sub-prior. 6. William Hogg . . . . . . 1274 | 16. Christopher Lofthouse . . . . 1471 7. John de Land . . . . . . 1275 | 17. Gilbert Marsden. 8. Thomas de Copeley. . . . . 1330 | 18. Christopher Wood . . . . . 1483 9. Robert de Halton . . . . . 1340 | 19. Thomas Ottelay . . . . . . 1495 l(). John Farnhill . . . . . . 1369 | 20. Richard Moone . . . . . . 1513 ORMESBY-DARLINGTON. 269 repaired in the decorated style; but the Norman south door, together with two round-headed windows on the north side, have remained. Wilton chapel has an early Norman porch. Two noble effigies of the Bulmers, male and female, stand outside on the south wall of the church. There is near the altar a large slab, that had a brass in it originally; and a third effigy of Sir William Bulmer, Rnight, who died in 1531, is over the parish clerk's grave. ORMESBY, St. Cuthbert's. The earliest portion of the church is early English ; the east windows and other repairs are per- pendicular. MARTON, St. Cuthberts. The old church consisted of nave, aisles, and transept (Norman), and chancel (early English); it was rebuilt in 1843 on the model of the old church. MIDDLETON-UPON-LEVEN, St. Cuthbert's. IN THE COUNTY OF DUREIAM. DURHAM, the Cathedral. See Chap. I. Ditto. The Norman chapel in the castle. There is every reason to believe that this chapel was dedicated to St. Cuthbert. See Prior Wessington's list, p. 104. DARLINGTON, St. Cuthbert's. A large, handsome, early English church, consisting of nave with aisles, transepts, chancel, and central tower, with a good spire. It is very early in the style. The east end is quite Norman, with four round-headed windows, arranged two and two, and square turrets at the angles. The nave is entered by three doorways; it consists of four bays, with transition Norman arches. The west front is a very fine composi- tion of early English work. The west doorway is very elaborate. Over the doorway is an arcade of five lancet arches, two of which open as windows; over these again is a triplet, with the centre only opened. The aisles have square-headed decorated windows inserted. The south door had formerly a porch attached to it, which is now destroyed; on one side of this door is the remnant 270 ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. of a benatura. On each side of the chancel in the interior are two arcades, one over the other, of transition Norman work. The transepts are fine early English, with the same arrangement as the chancel; but the south transept is richer work, with small circular sunk panels, as at Rivaulx and York. The chancel has stalls, an Easter sepulchre of perpendicular work, a double piscina in the east wall of decorated work, and three good early decorated sedilia. Under the chancel-arch is a massive stone gallery, which is part of the old rood-screen. The whole church has a clerestory. The font is plain transition Norman. The tower arches are fine early English, but the east arch rests upon Norman piers. Round the tower are early English arcades, with decorated tracery inserted in the windows. All the ceilings are flat inside; but the original timber roofs remain perfect underneath, with their lead coverings, except the chancel-roof. It was formerly a collegiate church. REDMARSHALL, St. Cuthbert's. A church with a massive west tower and Norman chancel-arch. On one side of the chancel is the Easter sepulchre, and on the other three sedilia. It was much injured in 1806 by modern repairs, part of which consisted in removing the lead roof, but still possesses features of great antiquity. DILLINGHAM, St. Cuthbert's.-There was a church here in Saxon times, and the threshold of the south door has a slab inscribed with Saxon characters. The present church consists of a nave, with a lofty plain early Norman west tower, aisles, south porch, and chancel. The walls of the nave are Norman; but the columns and arches, as well as the chancel, are early English. CHESTER-LE-STREET, St. Cuthbert's. The original church was a wooden fabric; a church of stone was afterwards built by Bishop AEgelric, who came to the see in 1042. In the year 1286 Bishop Bec made it a collegiate establishment : the collegiate buildings are all destroyed. The church consists of nave, with a west door; and aisles, with a south porch and north door; a western tower and spire, and chancel. The tower, from its base to the octagonal OFFERTON. 271 part, is the work of Bishop Bec ; the rest of the tower and the spire are of date about 1400; both together are 156 feet high. The west window of the nave, in the tower, has three lights. The aisles are uniform, each divided from the nave by three pillars supporting five arches. The chief entrance is through the south porch, though there are smaller doorways at the west end and on the north side. Within the church that stood on the same site the body of St. Cuthbert was enshrined for 113 years. In the chancel of the present church there used to be a cenotaph in his honour upon the spot where his remains rested, with a recumbent effigy of St. Cuthbert. Leland, who travelled as topographer to Henry VIII., speaks of it in his time, saying, “In the body of the church is a tomb, with the image of a bishop, in token that St. Cuthbert once was buried or remained in his feretory there’”. The very statue is still in existence, though in a mutilated state ; it used to be in the churchyard, but is now in the church by the chancel-door. OFFERTON. At Offerton, a town four miles south-west of Sunder- land, there was formerly a chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert, together with a holy well. It is the Ufferton of the Saxons—i.e. “Higher town,” being situated on a high brow of ground that overlooks the vale of the Wear. “An ancient deed,” says Mr. Hodgson, “in my possession, and by which William Basset conveyed to John de Staindrop a messuage and lands in Offerton, in the county of Durham, mentions ‘the chapel of the blessed Cuthbert in Uffer- ton,’ and ‘the well of St. Cuthbert’ in that village.” The monks, in their third flight, may have made Offerton their mid-day halt- ing-place between Durham and Jarrow ; and the church may have been erected in commemoration of the event. Besides the above list of churches on the soil of the ancient Northumbria, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, there were many side- chapels dedicated to him in the other large churches of North- umbria. John, Abbot of Furness, in the time of the second Henry, through the devotion he bore St. Cuthbert, dedicated to him a side-chapel in the abbey church, saying, “Tam pio Con- fessori altare aliquod in hac ecclesia nostra pro singulari ipsius 272 ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. reverentia dedicemus, ubi nulla die ipsius memoriam celebrem intermitti, quamdiu hoc coenobium perduraverit, praefigamus”." In York Cathedral there was a chantry placed under the pro- tection of St. Cuthbert. There was no altar in York Cathedral specially erected or endowed under the patronage of St. Cuthbert; but a chantry was endowed for the benefit of the soul of Walter Skirlaw, Bishop of Durham, in the early part of the fifteenth century, and placed under the protection of St. Cuthbert ; but the duties were per- formed at the altar of St. Andrew, Apostle, in the nave on the south side of St. William's tomb. There was a side chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert in St. Nicholas’ church, Newcastle-on-Tyne. But the devotion of Catholic England to St. Cuthbert was not limited within the boundaries of the ancient Northumbria, nor confined by the Mersey and the Humber; there were several churches dedicated to him in other counties. IN TELE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. GLEN MAGNA, St. Cuthbert's. A village church, six miles from Leicester. IN BEDEORDSEIIR.E. BEDFORD, St. Cuthbert's. A rebuilding, of date 1847, in imita- tion of the Norman style. IN NOTTINGHAMSEIIRE. ARDEN, St. Cuthbert's. “Erat enim inibi B. Cuthberti praecipue memoria quotidiana, quia ad ipsius honoris reverentiam hac ipsa. ecclesia fuerat Solemniter dedicata.” ” IN WATWICKSHIRE. SHUSTOKE, St. Cuthbert's. 1 Reginald, who also gives the reason why the Abbot dedicated this chapel to St. Cuthbert, chap. lv. p. 112. 3 Reginald, p. 127. He describes the manner in which the octave of St. Cuthbert used to be spent in the time of King Stephen, chapters lxiv, and lxv. WELLS-OXFORD. 273 IN SOMERSETSHIRE. WELLs, St. Cuthbert's. A large church, consisting of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a chapel on each side of the chancel. At the west end is a lofty tower with six bells, and on the nave-roof are the armorial bearings of different benefactors to the church.” IN CORNWALL. CUBERT, St. Cuthbert's. Near this church is a well called “Holy Well,” much resorted to for the diseases of children. IN OXFORDSHIRE. OXFORD, DURHAM CoILEGE CHAPEL, The Holy Trinity, St. Mary's, and St. Cuthbert's. What is now Trinity College was for- merly known as Durham College; it was a college in connexion with Durham Monastery. The land on which the college and chapel stood was given, about A.D. 1286, “To God and our Lady and St. Cuthbert, and to the Prior and Convent of Durham ”. The chapel was built about the year 1340. A curious drawing of it, from Loggan's, made in 1675, is given in vol. ii. p. 13 of Ingram's Memorials of Oxford. In the ante-chapel were two altars, that of St. Nicholas and that of St. Catherine. On the screen were the words— “Terras Cuthberti quinon spoliare verentur, Esse queant certi quod morte mala morientur”. Durham College was suppressed at the Reformation; and Sir Thomas Pope” purchased the site and buildings, and converted it, A.D. 1555, into Trinity College.” * See Athenaeum, No. 1095, 1848. * Sir Thomas Pope was fond of abbey lands. He was one of the commissioners for the surrender of St. Alban's Abbey, and obtained for himself Tittenhanger, the abbot's country house. “He was,” says Spelman, “thrice married, and left only one daughter, Alice, who died very young. His third wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Walter Blount. Thomas Blount, the heir of her brother William, inherited Tittenhanger from his uncle, Sir Thomas Pope, and called himself Pope-Blount. Of this family, Sir Henry Blount was a sceptic, and pulled down the house. His son, Charles Blount, inherited his father's philosophy, and was the notorious infidel author of the Anima Mundi and Oracles of Reason. After his wife's death this wretched man shot himself.”—History of Sacrilege, p. 285. * Prior Richard de Houton (1290-1307) and the convent of Durham, under the influ- ence of two learned and munificent bishops, Richard Bury and Thomas Hatfield, had 18 274 ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. IN CHESHIRE. LIXTUNE, St. Cuthbert's. Reginald describes Lixtune as on the coast of Cheshire, and its small church built of timber, and dedi- cated to St. Cuthbert. He also relates several miracles worked in this church through the prayers of St. Cuthbert." IN NORFOLK. THETFORD, St. Cuthbert's. Thetford, a town thirty miles south- west of Norwich, is the Sitomagus of the Romans, and the Theod- ford of the Saxons. It was the metropolis of East Anglia. In the time of the Conqueror it was made an episcopal see. In the reign of the third Edward it contained twenty churches, six hos- pitals, and eight monasteries. The church of St. Cuthbert consists of a nave with south aisle, chancel, and an embattled tower. The patronage is in the hands of the Duke of Norfolk. In addition to the above churches and chapels, the monastery Church of St. Alban's had a side-chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert. The screen, called St. Cuthbert's screen, still remains across the east end of the nave, and against it was the people's high altar.” This side-chapel was dedicated by Richard, fifteenth Abbot of St. Alban's, at the commencement of the twelfth century, in gratitude for a miraculous cure he received at the translation of St. Cuth- bert's relics.” In all these churches the feast of St. Cuthbert would have formed the intention of founding and endowing a college at Oxford for the education of their youth. Hegge, who, however, is but an indifferent authority on such matters, states that, besides Durham College Chapel in Oxford, the Chapel of University College was dedi- cated to St. Cuthbert ; and that it had an ancient window, wherein King Alfred and St. Cuthbert were painted together, the King bespeaking the Saint in a pentameter, “Hic in honorem tui collegium statui,” and St. Cuthbert, thus replying in a hexameter, “Quod statuisti in eo pervertentes maledico”. (Hegge, p. 204, edit. Durham, 1846). He also states, p. 220, that in the chapel of Corpus Christi College there was an altar dedicated to St. Cuthbert. * See Reginald, chapters lxviii.-lxxii. 2 See Ecclesiologist, No. 71, April, 1849. * See p. 184. HIS FEAST IN MARCH AND IN SEPTEMBER. 275 been annually kept with great solemnity, according to the capa- bilities of the church. At Durham, his feast in March, and also his feast in September, were kept with great devotion. They were also the seasons of unbounded hospitality, and all the patrons, benefactors, and friends, as well as the retainers of the monastery, were then most liberally entertained. There is in the bursar's roll of accounts, under date 1344, the following entry : “To divers persons, for carrying letters from the Prior to the chief people (proceribus) of the bishopric, to invite them to the feast of St. Cuthbert in March, 6d.”. The cellarer's account for “the week of the feast of St. Cuthbert, A.D. 1313,” makes mention of an ample provision of fish, flesh, and fowl: “8 horseload of fish, 28s. ; 4500 herrings, 268. 10%d. ; plaice, soles, and sparlings, 118. 9d. ; 3 Salmon and 6 salmon trouts, 38. ; 1 ox and three quarters, 12s. 2d.; 13 porkers, 58. ; 327 geese, 738. 16d. ; 340 chickens, 438. 8d.: 40 ducks, 58. ; 18 capons, 58. 6d.; 8 dozen curlews, 28. ; 6 dozen plovers, 4s. 2d.; 3000 eggs, 20s. ; 3 stone of lard, 68. ; and milk, 3s. 4d.”. The account for “the week of the feast of St. Cuthbert, A.D. 1326,” contains the following entries: “ 1700 herrings, 10s. 10d. ; 9 horseload of white fish, plaice, and sparlings, 458. 11%d. ; 1 ox and a-half, and 8 sheep and a-half, 30s. 11d. ; 39 porkers and brawn, 20s. 7d. ; 164 geese and 44 ducks, 468.9%d. ; 518 chickens, 100 pigeons, and 18 capons, 388. 4d. ; 2 stones and 4 pound of lard, 6 stones of cheese, 9 flagons of milk, 7s. 8d.: 2180 eggs, 138. 11%d.”. A third cellarer’s account, of a later date, for the week of the feast of St. Cuthbert, is printed by Mr Raine." Upon the feast of St. Cuthbert in March, the whole monastery dined together in the Frater-house, now the library of the Dean and Chapter. “In the south alley of the cloisters is a fair large hall, called the Frater-house, wherein the great feast of St. Cuth- bert's day in Lent was held. And within the said Frater-house, the Prior and the whole convent of monks held their great feast of St. Cuthbert in Lent, having their meat served out of the dresser window of the great kitchen into the Frater-house, and their drink out of the great cellar. Upon the great and holy feast of St. Cuthbert's day in Lent, the whole convent did keep open 1 P. 158. 276 ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. house in the Frater-house, and did dine all together on that day, and on no day else in the year.”” The unbounded hospitality shewn by the prior and convent of Durham to all grades, both rich and poor, was proverbial through all the land. “There was a famous house of hospitality, called the Guest-hall, within the abbey-garth of Durham, on the west side towards the water; the Terrer of the house being master thereof, as one appointed to give entertainment to all states, both noble, gentle, and what degree soever that came thither as strangers; their entertainment not being inferior to any place in England, both for the goodness of their diet, the sweet and dainty furniture of their lodgings, and generally all things necessary for travellers. And withal, this entertainment continuing, not willing or commanding any man to depart, upon his honest and good behaviour. This hall is a goodly, brave place, much like unto the body of a church, with very fair pillars supporting it on either side ; and in the midst of the hall a most large range for the fire. The chambers and lodgings belonging to it were sweetly kept, and so richly furnished, that they were not unpleasant to be in ; especially one chamber, called the king's chamber—deserving that name, in that the king himself might very well have lain in it, for the princeliness thereof. The victuals that served the said guests came from the great kitchen of the prior, the bread and beer from his pantry and cellar. If they were of honour, they were served as honourably as the prior himself; otherwise, according to their several callings. The Terrer had certain men appointed to wait at his table, and to attend upon all his guests and strangers; and, for their better entertainment, he had evermore a hogshead or two of wine lying in a cellar appertaining to the said hall, to serve his guests with. “The prior, whose hospitality was such, as that there needed no guest-hall, but that they were desirous to abound in all liberal and free alms-giving, did keep a most honourable house, and very noble entertainment; being attended upon both with gentlemen and yeomen of the best in the country, as the honourable service of ...his house deserved no less: the benevolence thereof, with the relief and alms of the whole convent, was always open and free, 1 Rites of Durham, pp. 68, 69, and 4. HIS FEAST IN MARCH AND IN SEPTEMBER. 277 not only to the poor of the city of Durham, but to all the poor people of the country besides.”” The usual formalities observed at Durham at the feast of St. Cuthbert in September are detailed in the Dunelm. Script. tres.” There was also, Reginald states, a fair held at Durham on the 4th of September, the day of the translation of the Saint. It was always the occasion of an immense concourse of people gathering at Durham, some for purposes of devotion, and others on account of the fair held there.” The manner in which the feast of the Saint was observed at Lindisfarne is described by Reginald, chapter xxii.; at Arden, in Nottinghamshire, in chapters lxiv, and lzv.; at Rirkcudbright, in chapters lxxxiv. and lxxxv.; and at Slitrig, in chapters cxxxvi. and cKxxvii., where he states that St. Cuthbert's chapel at Slitrig, even when in a roofless state, was much frequented by those of mature age for devotional purposes, and by the young and thoughtless for dancing and other amusements. The Feast of St. Cuthbert, March 20th, is now kept by the Benedictines resident in the county of Durham as a double of the first class, though without an octave, in consequence of its falling in Lent. The rest of the Benedictine congregation keep it as a duplex majus: the secular clergy in England keep it as a double. * Rites of Durham, p. 76. * Appendix, p. ccccxxx. * See Reginald, chapters xxiv. and xlviii. CHAPTER V. CHURCHES AND CHAPELS ERECTED IN HIS HONOUR SINCE THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. l THE same spirit that gave birth to these numerous and, at least many of them, very splendid churches in honour of the Apostle of Northumbria, has revived in these our days, and raised a noble church in his honour, well worthy of its predecessors, at a distance of but four miles from “Where his cathedral huge and vast Looks down upon the Wear”. St Cuthbert's college at Ushaw was founded some seventy years ago, as an episcopal seminary for the north of England. Till the year 1844 it had not a chapel worthy of its importance as a collegiate establishment, nor of the very effective manner in which all the Church ceremonies are there carried out. In that year, however, a collegiate chapel was commenced; on the 23rd of April, 1844, the foundation-stone was laid, and on the 27th of September, 1848, it was consecrated and dedicated in honour of St. Cuthbert. St. Cuthbert's collegiate chapel at Ushaw consisted of an ante- chapel, with a bell-turret at its north-east angle, a choir, and a Sanctuary: it has been arranged after the models remaining in the collegiate chapels of Oxford. This chapel was pulled down to make way for a larger one, designed by Messrs Dunn & Hanson, and opened on 29th July, 1886. - Near the altar is kept the Liber Vitae, a book in which are registered the names of the benefactors to St. Cuthbert's chapel. It is a richly bound quarto manuscript, elegantly written, and richly decorated and illuminated. The Lady Chapel also has its Liber Vitae. ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCHES. 279 There are five other churches of modern date dedicated to St. Cuthbert on the soil of the ancient Northumbria:—St. Cuthbert's at Durham; St. Cuthbert's at North Shields; Our Lady and St. Cuthbert at Crook; St. Cuthbert's at Wigton, on the west coast; and, on the east coast, St. Cuthbert's at Cowpen; Sacred Heart and St. Cuthbert's at Amble ; St. Mary's and St. Cuthbert's at Berwick, the representative of the old churches of Carham, Norham, and Melrose; St. Cuthbert's at Chester-le-Street; and SS. Joseph, Cuthbert, and Patrick at Cornforth. CHAPTER VI. SCULPTURED MONUMENTS IN HONOUR OF ST. CUTHBERT. ST. CUTHBERT is nearly always represented, in sculpture as well as in stained glass and on Seals, as holding in his hand, or support- ing on his arm, the head of the sainted King Oswald. He is so represented for several reasons: because King Oswald established Christianity in the northern province of his kingdom; because he founded the see of Lindisfarne, of which St. Cuthbert was bishop ; because his head, that was cut off by the tyrant Penda after the battle of Maserfeld, was put into the coffin of St. Cuthbert when the monks fled with it from Lindisfarne, and was found in the coffin in 1104; and because, when the relics of the other saints were removed from the coffin of St. Cuthbert, the head of St. Oswald was suffered to remain. Very few ancient statues of St. Cuthbert remain at present. Durham, however, possesses two, that are interesting as monu- ments of ancient piety, and specimens of ancient art. One Originally graced a canopied niche in the central tower of the cathedral, from which it was removed about forty years ago. It then stood for many years in the feretory, but is now stowed away in a vaulted chamber under the dormitory, on the west side of the cloister. It is about five feet in height, has the head of St. Oswald in the right hand, and an elegant pastoral staff in the left hand. The other is in the castle, in a room that originally formed part of Bishop Hatfield's great room of state. It is about the same height as the other, but has the head of St. Oswald in the left hand, and the pastoral staff in the right, and the folds of the chasuble and other vestments are more gracefully disposed. In the tower of Fishlake church in Yorkshire there is also a statue of St. Cuthbert with the head of St. Oswald. The figure of DUREIAM AND HOLY ISLAND. 281 St. Cuthbert is also carved on each of the sides of the octagonal font in that church. At Melrose Abbey there is a statue of St. Cuthbert vested in the chasuble, and with King Oswald's head in his left hand, in a niche on the exterior of the east end. In the church at Chester-le-Street there is in the chancel a mutilated statue of St. Cuthbert. It is the recumbent figure that formerly belonged to the cenotaph raised over the spot where the Saint's remains had rested above a hundred years. A small statue of St. Cuthbert, with the head of King Oswald in his left hand, and his crosier in his right hand, was discovered in 1835 in the garden of F. Swineard, Esq., in a part of the Cathedral Close of York, called “Precentor's Court’”. It is very probable that it will be added to the collection of Christian antiquities belonging to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society." It is much to be regretted that many statues of St. Cuthbert have been either destroyed or suffered to fall into decay. Many of them must have been exquisite works of art. There was formerly in the centre of the reredos in Durham Cathedral an alabaster figure of St. Cuthbert. “In the midst, right over the high altar, were artificially placed, in very fine alabaster, the picture of our Lady standing in the midst, and the picture of St. Cuthbert on the one side, and the picture of St. Oswald on the other, all richly gilt.”* There was also on the south screen of the choir a figure of St. Cuthbert, with the inscription, “Sanctus Cuthbertus, monachus, Episcopus Lindisfarnensis, nunc patronus ecclesiae et civitatis ac libertatis Dunelmensis, cujus corpus post 418 annos sepulturae suæ, incorruptum et flexibile, dormienti quam mortuo similius est inventum ; et sic vitam intemeratam commendat corporis incorruptio’’.” When the body of St. Cuthbert was removed from the tomb in the cloister to his shrine in the new church, the tomb was not removed, but kept as a cenotaph. “Then afterwards there was a goodly and very large and great thick image of stone [marble, C. M.S.], being the picture of that holy man St. Cuthbert, very finely and curiously pictured and wrought in the said stone with painting * A drawing of it is given in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxii. p. 38 * Rites of Durham, p. 6. * Ibid. p. 120. 282 CARVED FIGURES OF ST. CUTHBERT and gilding, marvellous beautiful and excellent to behold, in form and fashion as he was accustomed to say Mass, with his mitre on his head, and his crosier staff in his hand. And the said picture was carried and laid above the said tomb of stone. It was reared up on either side and at both ends above the said stone-work very close with wood stanchels, so that a man could not have got in his hand betwixt one stanchel and another, but have looked in and seen the picture of that holy man St. Cuthbert lying therein, and covered over above all very finely and closely with lead, like unto a little chapel or church. Which did stand continually unto the suppression of the house, as a memory and special monument of the first coming of that holy man St. Cuthbert, being only made and placed there to that end. Which did stand in the cloister garth, over against the parlour-door, through which the monks were carried to be buried, which is now made a register house. And also it did continue to the suppression of the house, as is aforesaid, and after, unto the time of Dean Horne; and then he caused the said monument to be pulled down [yet left the image of St. Cuthbert perfect, C. MS.], and converted the leads and all to his own use: and the said image of St. Cuthbert was set on one side, against the cloister wall, over against the parlour-door, as they go through into the centry-garth. And after, when Whit- tingham came to be dean, he caused the said image to be defaced and broken all in pieces, to the intent that there should be no memory nor token of that holy man St. Cuthbert.”" The Cosin MS. adds that Dean Whittingham “caused that image, as he did many other ancient monuments, to be taken down and broken in pieces, being religiously loth, as it would seem, that any monument of St. Cuthbert, or of any man who formerly had been famous in this church, and great benefactors thereunto, as the priors his predecessors were, should be left whole and undefaced, in memory or token of that holy man St. Cuthbert, who was sent and brought thither by the power and will of Almighty God, and who was the occasion of the building the said monastic church and house”.” In the inventory of the property belonging to the Priory of FIoly Island, under date 1553, there is mention of one alabaster * Rites of Durham, p. 58. * Ibid. p. 64. AT I)URHAM AND HOLY ISLAND. 283 figure of St. Cuthbert—probably a statue in a niche in the church —also of a statue of him over his tomb or cenotaph; also a statue of St. Cuthbert is mentioned as belonging to “the chapel in the sea.”—i.e. the chapel on St. Cuthbert's Island. The seals of almost every Bishop of Durham from the middle of the thirteenth century till the dissolution had the figure of St. Cuthbert with St. Oswald’s head.* The veneration in which St. Cuthbert is held in these days has caused several statues to be raised in his honour. On the outside of St. Mary's Cathedral at Newcastle, in a canopied niche above the west door and at the right side of the west window, is a statue of the Saint, with St. Oswald's head in his right hand, and the pastoral staff in his left hand. In the interior of St. Cuthbert's Chapel at Ushaw there is an exquisitely carved figure of the Saint in the ante-chapel, over the north-east door; and in the choir, in the front of the brass lectern, there is a brass image of St. Cuth- |bert. In the dining-hall, over the fire-place, there is also another statue of St. Cuthbert. * Many of these episcopal seals are engraved in Surtees' History of Durham. CHAPTER VII. PICTURED MONUMENTS OF ST. CUTHBERT. THE paintings of St. Cuthbert that exists now, or that did exist formerly, may be divided into three classes:—paintings on glass, on wood or stone, and illuminations in manuscripts. In the Abbey Church of Durham there were formerly many figures of St. Cuthbert in the stained glass of the windows. A full description of these windows is given in an appendix to the Rites of Durham. In the north aisle of the church, in the third window from the transept, of two lights, the first light had a figure of St. Catherine, underneath her a figure of St. Oswald, and below him a figure of St. Cuthbert; and the second light had the “arms of St. Cuthbert and St. Oswald set forth in coloured glass”. In the South aisle in the second window from the cloister-door, a window of five lights, there was, in the fourth light, “the picture of St. Cuthbert in his episcopal attire ". The next, or third window, of two lights, had in its second light “pictured St. Cuthbert, with certain arms of the Nevilles, finely done". In the South transept, in the window of three lights towards the cloister, west of the clock, there was in the first light, under the picture of our Lady, “the picture of St. Cuthbert with St. Oswald’s head in his hand”. In the north aisle of the choir, in the second window, having four long lights, there was, “in the fourth light, St. Cuthbert with King Oswald's head in his hand, and above him written, ‘Sanctus Cuthbertus’”. In the third window, of four lights, there was, “in the second light, St. Cuthbert, with ‘Sanctus Cuthbertus’ written under him; and in the fourth light, a monk travelling to the sea-side, and washing his feet, found St. Cuthbert standing in the sea above his shoulders, holding up his hands, and saying his prayers; also another monk lying on the top of a rock, leaning his head on his hand, and be- STAINED GLASS AT DURELAM. 285 holding holy St. Cuthbert where he stood in the sea at his prayers”. The fourth window, also of four lights, had in the second light a figure of St. Cuthbert. In the south aisle of the choir, the first window had, in the first of its four lights, St. Cuthbert with King Oswald’s head in his hand. The vestry” also, in the Second window from the east, had in its third light the picture of St. Cuthbert with St. Oswald's head in his hand. In the chapel of the nine altars, the centre altar was the altar of St. Cuthbert and St. Bede, “above which there is a fair long window (with stone-work partitions), with a cross division towards the midst; in the first light is St. Cuthbert, with King Oswald's head in one hand, and his crosier staff in the other, in his habit as he used to say Mass, viz. his alb and red vestment; in the second light is St. Bede: these two are in a higher light. . . . In the lower light is the birth of St. Cuthbert, and the picture of St. Oswald blowing his horn, and St. Cuthbert appearing to St. Oswald.” The meat window on the South had, in its lower lights, the history of St. Oswald's decapitation, and repre- sented him on his bier, accompanied by St. Cuthbert and others; and the second window on the north of St. Cuthbert's altar had, in the second of the four little turret windows, a picture of St. Cuthbert.” Other notices of monuments of this kind in the church are given in the body of the work already quoted. “In the South alley end of the nine altars there is a good glazed window, called St. Cuthbert's window, which hath in it all the story, life, and miracles of that holy man St. Cuthbert from his birth—of his nativity and infancy— unto the end; and a discourse of his whole life, marvellously fine, and curiously set forth in pictures in fine coloured glass, according as he went in his habit to his dying day; being a most godly and fine story to behold of that holy man St. Cuthbert.”* Also, “in the north end of the alley of the lantern there is a goodly, fair, large and lightsome glass window, having in it twelve fair, long, pleasant and most beautiful lights . . . called the window of the four Doctors of the Church. . . . And therein is pictured our blessed Lady, with the picture of our Saviour Christ in her arms, and the * This vestry was attached to the south aisle of the church, with a lean-to roof; but was pulled down about the year 1810. * See Appendix, p. 91. 3 P. 3. 286 PAINTINGS OF ST. CTUTEIBERT. picture of holy St. Cuthbert on the west side of her; both which pictures stand in the middle of the said window, in most fine coloured glass.” ". In addition to these, in the second window on the south side of the Galilee, “containing six fair lights of glass severed by stone, the three above and three beneath, the middle light above hath the picture of St. Cuthbert most lively, coloured in glass, in his ordinary episcopal apparel to say Mass, with his mitre on his head, and a crosier or pastoral staff in his left hand, having the image of St. Oswald's head painted upon his breast, upholden with his right hand, all in fine coloured glass; under whose feet, at the lowest part of his picture, is drawn or written in glass, ‘Sanctus Cuthbertus, quondam Lindisfarnensis Episcopus, et hujus ecclesiae et patriae maximus patronus’”.” Besides these representations of the Saint in the windows of the church, there were several stained-glass windows in the east cloister commemorative of St. Cuthbert. There was, “from the cloister-door to the church-door, set in glass in the windows, the whole story and miracles of that holy man St. Cuthbert, from the day of his nativity and birth unto his dying day. And there you could have seen and beholden his mother lying in her child-bed; and how, after she was delivered, the bright beams did shine from heaven upon her and upon the child, where he did lie in the cradle, that to every man's thinking the Holy Ghost had over- shadowed him. For every one that did see it did think that the house had been all on fire, the beams did shine so bright all over the house, both within and without. And also the Bishop baptised the child. . . . He was blessed of God from his mother’s womb, so that every miracle that he did after from his infancy was set there by itself, and under every miracle there were certain verses set forth in Latin, that did declare the contents and meaning of every miracle and story by itself, in most excellent coloured glass, most artificially set forth and curiously wrought, being lively to all the beholders thereof.” The object of these windows was “to be annexed and adjoined with the said tomb,” or cenotaph, in the cloister; and also “to be a memorial of the said holy man St. Cuthbert, that every one that came through the cloister might see all his life and miracles, from his birth and infancy unto his 1 P. 27. 2 P. 41. STAINED GLASS AT YORK. 287 dying day”." These cloister-windows were destroyed by Dean Horne ; “for he could never abide any ancient monuments, acts, or deeds that gave any light of godly religion ”. Of the whole of this stained glass not one square foot remains to this day in Durham Abbey. York Cathedral still retains the stained glass in its “St. Cuth- bert's window’. It is the magnificent window, of five long lights, at the south end of the transept of the choir, opposite to St. Wil- liam’s window. In the centre light of the window there is a full- length representation of St. Cuthbert, bearing in his left hand the head of St. Oswald, and holding his right hand in the attitude of benediction. Beneath his feet is written, “S . . . t Cuthberte ’’. The window originally contained seventy representations of cir- cumstances illustrating the life and miracles of St. Cuthbert, about thirty of which can yet be made out. On each side of the large figure of the Saint, in the lower part of the centre light, are the principal male personages of the house of Lancaster, and some prelates, among whom is the donor, Bishop Langley, and also John, Duke of Lancaster, Henry IV., Henry V., Henry VI., and the Duke of Gloucester. The inscription that remains at the bottom shews that the window was given by Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham. It is “-F Orate pro aja Th. Langley, Epi Dunelm. qu istam fenestra fieri fecit ’’.” 1. Rites of Durham, p. 65. * Thomas Langley was elected dean of the Cathedral Church of York, Jan. 25, 1401, and was installed August 8, 1403. He was so friendly to the house of Lancaster, that the Duke of Lancaster made him one of the executors in his will. He was appointed Lord High Chancellor of England in 1405. He was elected Archbishop of York in the same year: this election, however, fell through, and he was made Bishop of Durham May 17, 1406, was created a cardinal in 1411, and deceased November 20, 1437. He presided over the see of Durham for the space of thirty-one years. “His public works,” says Surtees, “were munificent and numerous. He repaired the beautiful western chapel of the Galilee, and he joined with the prior and convent in completing the struc- ture of the cathedral cloisters. He built the whole of the old gaol, with its massy gate- way; and he founded two schools on the Place Green, the one for grammar, the other for plain song. At Howden, he built the western gateway leading to the orchard, and a fair lodge adjoining. He was a benefactor to the public libraries of Cambridge and Oxford, and to those of Durham House in Oxford, St. Mary's of Leicester, and the col- lege at Manchester.”—Surtees’ Durham, vol. i. p. 56. He was buried in the Galilee, according to the wish expressed in his will. His tomb is part of the raised floor of the chantry which he founded. The only portion ornamented is the head of the tomb, on which three shields of his arms (paly of six, argent and vert, diapered, with a mullet, or, on the third pierced) are carved in bald relief. The window of St. Cuthbert in York 288 PAINTINGS OF ST. CUTHEERT In Edenhall Church, Cumberland, there was till 1808, in the north window of the chancel, a painting of St. Cuthbert giving his blessing with his right hand, and holding his pastoral staff in the left, with the head of St. Oswald resting on his left arm." The Church at Marton, in Cleveland, has a figure of St. Cuth- bert in the south-east window of the chancel. In the library of Trinity College, Oxford, formerly Durham College, there is a figure of St. Cuthbert in glass, together with figures of the four evangelists, King Edward III. and his Queen Philippa, that formerly belonged to the chapel of Durham College. The revival in this country of the art of painting on glass bids fair to equal, perhaps even to surpass, the ancient specimens that remain. And nowhere can be found a more successful instance of this revived art than in one of the windows of St. Cuthbert's Chapel at Ushaw. The window contains the life of St. Cuthbert. He is depicted in the centre light with his mitre and pastoral staff, hold- ing the head of St. Oswald in his left hand, and standing under a high canopy, in which is represented the Eternal Father receiving the soul of the Saint. The tracery above contains angels holding torches. The four lights of the window are divided into eight canopied panels, containing subjects from the life and history of St. Cuthbert ; namely, St. Cuthbert's vision of St. Aidan carried up to heaven; his washing the feet of pilgrims at Ripon, in which monastery he was guest-master; his interview with the Abbess IElfleda at Coquet Island; his consecration at York; his miracle, in healing the daughter of a Mercian nobleman ; his decease at |Farne Island; the miracles wrought at his tomb; the translation of his body to Durham. The lowest part of the window contains groups of the superiors and students of the college invoking the intercession of St. Cuthbert, the patron of the college. Besides these ancient and modern representations of St. Cuth- bert in stained glass, there are others in existence painted on both wood and stone. A series of very interesting paintings commemorative of St. Cathedral was a mark of Cardinal Langley's zeal for the Church, love for the patron Saint of his diocese, and attachment to the house of Lancaster. For a further account of it, see Browne's History of the Metropolitan Church of St. Peter, York. * See Lyson's Cumberland, p. 192. STAINED GLASS. , 289 Cuthbert, on panel, remain to this day in Carlisle Cathedral. They consist of seventeen compartments, containing the history of St. Cuthbert. They were probably executed by the order of Bishop Bell, who had been a monk of Durham, and was made Bishop of Carlisle in 1478. A description of them, with the inscriptions beneath them, is given in Hutchinson, though some- what incorrectly.” The legends explain the subject of each painting: they are behind the stalls in the choir aisles. Another series, opposite the north door, has illustrations of the life of St. Anthony. In the next arch eastward are illustrations of the Apostles' Creed. In the third arch are the illustrations of the life of St. Cuthbert. They are the most defaced, and are scarcely legible. A copy of the legends was made in 1778, and is copied here from Jefferson’s Carlisle.” 1 Her Cuthbert was forbid layks and plays As S Bedei hys story says 2 Her the angel did hym . . . . . . le And made hys . . for . . . . . . * 3 Her saw he Myda . . . . soul up go To hevyn blyss wº angels two 4 Her to hym and hys palfray God send hym fude in hys jornay. 5 . . . . . . Melross . . . . . . º 6 The angel he did as gest refresh W* met and drynk and hys fete weshe 7 Her noble told hym wº he must de And after yt he . . . . . suld be 8 Her to hys breder two . . . . . eke He prechyd Godys word myld and mek 9 Her stude he naked in ye see To all David psalms sayd had he 10 He was gydyd by ye egle fre And fed wº yº delfyne as ye see 11 Fresh water God sent owt of ye ston To hym in Farn i he for . . . . . OIl 12 Consecrate byshop yai made by her Off Lydisfarne both far and nere 13 Her by prayers sendys out farne glad And w' angel . . . . hys hous in . . 14 To thys child God grace . . . he Through his prayers . . . as ye may see 15 Byshop two yerys when he had beyn * Hutchinson's Cumberland, vol. ii. p. 600. * Page 175. 19 290 PAINTINGS OF ST. CUTHBERT. Lyndisfarne he died both holy and clene 16 The crowys yt did his hous unthek Yt for full law fell at hys fete 17 Xi yere after yt beryd was he Yai fand hym hole as red may ye. In the Galilee of Durham Cathedral, on the north side of the ancient west doorway of the church, over the spot where stood the altar of “our Lady of Pity,” or, as it is now called, the altar of the “Pieta,” there is an arched recess adorned with beautiful specimens of distemper painting. The arch of the recess is Nor- man, with the zig-zag ornament, and its Soffit is beautifully painted with a running pattern of leaves. The colours are principally brown and yellow upon a bright ultra-marine ground, and the blending of the whole is most harmonious. The back of this recess has a representation of drapery, and on the wall above the arch are seen the nearly obliterated traces of other paintings. On the sides of this recess are two stately figures, also of Norman character, and in very perfect condition. They are commonly said to be figures of Richard I. surnamed “Coeur de Lion,” and Bishop Pudsay." But the author has no doubt whatever that the one on the right hand is the figure of St. Cuthbert, and the one on the left that of St. Oswald.” It is probably the earliest pictorial repre- sentation of St. Cuthbert, and bears a very close resemblance to the one that forms the frontispiece to the Brough MS. ; so much so that it is very probable that the illumination in the MS. was copied from the Norman painting in the Galilee ; if so, it will account for the absence of the head of St. Oswald in the frontis- piece to the manuscript. A few of the representations of St. Cuthbert that remain to us in the illuminated works of the Middle Ages deserve an especial mention. The Scriptorium of Durham Convent was a school of illumination that supplied an infinite number of exquisitely em- bellished works. A manuscript, A. i. 3, belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Durham, containing part of Lyra's Commentary on the Scriptures, and “writtten by William de Stiphel by order of William Black- * See Ornsby's Sketches of Durham, p. 87. * Both these Norman paintings are engraved and coloured in Scott's Antiquarian Gleanings in the North of England. THE BROUGEI MS. 291 law, subprior of the monastery of Durham, A.D. 1386,” has a glorious illumination of St. Cuthbert. It is the initial letter H, which has within it a full-length figure of St. Cuthbert, having in his left hand his crosier, and on his left arm the head of King Oswald, whilst with his right hand he is giving his benediction to Stiphel, the writer, kneeling before him and saying, “Confessor vere Cuth- berte, mei miserere’’. The background is gold; St. Cuthbert's dalmatic is scarlet ; his chasuble is blue with Scarlet spots, and lined with green ; his mitre, his crosier-head, and the crown of Ying Oswald are gold. The monk is vested in his black habit, with the drapery admirably disposed. The page measures twelve inches by nine, and, with its border, &c., forms one of the best possible specimens of the art of illumination. The Brough MS. contains a series of brilliant illuminations, of very early character, of St. Cuthbert. It is a duodecimo book, written about the date 1200," and is the property of Sir William Lawson, of Brough Hall. The book consists of 398 pages, and contains forty-four illustrations,” and two initial letters, one at the beginning of the preface, and another at the commencement of the work itself. It is divided into four chief parts. First, a transcript of Bede's life of St. Cuthbert, in forty-five chapters, and pages 1-160, with three extracts from Bede's history. Second, the history of the translation of St. Cuthbert, A.D. 875, pp. 169-327.” Third, the translation, A.D. 1104, pp. 329-352. Fourth, Miscellanea — Some miracles of St. Cuthbert, p. 352; the book of Boisil, 352; the Durham bell, 354; the cure of the Scotch women, 358; the vision of Earnan, 359; another vision, 364; the Danes at Lindis- farne, 368; the arrival at Durham, 376; the date of St. Cuthbert's consecration, 389; and the lands belonging to the patrimony of St. Cuthbert, 390. * Sir F. Madden (Curator of the MSS. in the British Museum) pronounces this manuscript to be of the date of the twelfth century, or very early in the thirteenth—not later than 1210; and its value he considers to be one hundred guineas. * An illustration belonging to the first chapter has been cut out ; it was an illustra- tion of the scene described in p. 6, i.e. of children standing on their heads, &c. Several of the illuminations have been feebly copied in Raine's St. Cuthbert. * This is published by the Bollandists, and from the text of the Bollandists is printed in Stevenson's edition of Wenerabilis Bedae Opera historica minora, Appendix No. X., pp. 285-291. The editor was not aware of this copy in the Brough MS. ; for he states, “No copy of the MS. is known to exist in the English libraries,” p. 285. 292 PAINTINGS OF ST. CUTHBERT. The frontispiece is a figure of St. Cuthbert in his episcopal robes on a red and gold ground. His right hand is raised in benediction, and the left holds the pastoral staff. The shoes are red; the stole and maniple are purplish red; the dalmatic is green, and red apparels; and the chasuble is blue. A Benedictine monk is bending down to kiss his right foot. The vignette represents Bede writing his life of the Saint. This MS. belonged to, and was written in, the Monastery of Durham, as may be proved from the heading of page 329: “Quo- modo corpus Beati Cuthberti incorruptum sit inventum, et in nostram ecclesiam, translatum”. The whole series of illuminations forms an invaluable authority for drawings for stained glass of early character. An illumination of St. Cuthbert, in a manuscript no longer in existence, deserves a passing notice. When King Athelstan visited the shrine of St. Cuthbert, A.D. 938, he made several presents to St. Cuthbert ; and among the rest, a copy of the Evangelists. The book was in existence among the Cottonian MSS., and classed Otho, B. 9, till it was destroyed by fire in 1731. It was a small folio copy of the Gospels, that seems to have been written in France. A painting of St. Cuthbert was prefixed to the Gospel of St. Matthew. It represented the Saint in a sitting position, with the nimbus round his head, holding in his left hand a book, and giving his blessing with his right hand; the king was kneeling before him, offering with his right hand the book in question, and holding his sceptre in the left hand. Below was a Latin inscrip- tion, to the effect that “Athelstan, the pious king of the English, presents this copy of the Gospels to St. Cuthbert, bishop”." 1 See Wanley, Supp. to Hicke's Antiq. Litt. Septentr. p. 238. CHAPTER VIII. POEMS IN HONOUR OF ST. CUTHBPRT. IN addition to the different lives of St. Cuthbert that have been written in prose, others have been written in metre ; and whilst the sculptor and the painter have exhausted the treasures of their art in his honour, the poet has also made his noble art tributary to the praises of the Saint. The place of honour among these poetical lives must be given to Bede's metrical life of St. Cuthbert. It was composed by Bede before his prose life of the Saint ; it is written in regular hexameters, and as a composition stands very high in the scale of merit. Passages have been occasionally quoted from it in the first part of this work." Bede dedicated the poem to a friend of his, a priest named John, partly as a sign of friendship, and partly that, as his friend was about to visit Rome, he might be edified on his journey with the account of the life of the Saint. The preface to it has all the appearance of a private letter. A second poetical life of St. Cuthbert has been written anony- mously, in leonine verses. It seems to have been compiled solely from the information supplied by Bede, and is an admirable speci- men of leonine versification. It has been published by the Sur- tees Society, in the volume Miscellanea Biographica, pp. 91-117, from a manuscript (I. 21-165) belonging to University College, Oxford.” The MS. is in the writing of the end of the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century. There is no other copy of this life known to exist. A third poetical life of St. Cuthbert is preserved in the library * See pages 5, 28, 81, and 83. The best edition is published in the English Histo- rical Society's Wenerabilis Bedae Opera historica minora, 1841. * A passage has been quoted from it in p. 81. 294 POEMS IN HONOUR OF ST. CUTHBERT. of Lincoln's Inn, to which library the manuscript containing it was bequeathed by Sir Matthew Hale. It is also in leonine verse, and has never been published. Like the second poetical life, it seems to have been founded on the life by Bede. The author has had part of it copied, from which he gives the following extract as a specimen : “Beda, satis notus doctor, describere motus Cuthberti vitam per plurima . . . . politam Metro perscripsit, in prosam postea fixit, Lingua vexatus hanc scribens est meditatus. Infans Cuthbertus ludis solet esse repertus, Palmam contors gerit hic agilis socors. Cum fuit octennis hortatur ab ore triennis Frivola vitare, se firma mente locare : ‘Linque tuos lusus, presul Cuthberte futurus, Trans . . . . capite vestes non flectere scite'. ... sparnebat qui talia acerba ferebat ; Infans sic spretus nimisest dolore repletus, Tota choros praesto praevisit solatia moesto. Hunc amplexatur Cuthbert et sic si fatur; * Ploras, mi care ; jam mihi dicito quare'. Responsum flentis gradui contraria sentis. Voce novi vatis linquit ludum levitatis, Semper ab hinc Christo stat firmo corde magistro.” A fourth poetical life of St. Cuthbert, written in leonine verse, is known as the “Irish leonine life”. It bears the same relation to the Irish prose life, published in the Miscellanea Biographica, that the leonine life just mentioned bears to Bede's metrical life, i.e. it is the Irish prose life rendered into leonine verses. This poem has never been published. There are two copies of it among the manuscripts in the British Museum : among the Cottonian MSS. Titus, A. ii. 2, and among the Harleian MSS. 4843. The Cottonian copy is imperfect. A note at the foot of p. 151 b, states, in the words of its owner: “Hear wants fyve leaves, for wiche Iwold geve fyve oulde angels”. The Harleian MS. follows on the same as the Cottonian ; so that the deficiency in the Cottonian does not seem to be supplied by the Harleian. The author has had both these lives copied and carefully collated. The Cottonian MS. commences with the verses quoted p. 3– ‘‘Si cupis audire, Cuthberti miraque scire,” &c., and ends with the verses— A DUREIAM MANUSCRIPT. 295 “Terras Cuthberti qui non spoliare verentur, Esse queant certi quod morte mala morientur”.* The Harleiam MS. commences the same as the Cottoniam, and where it ends the Harleian continues : ** Præsul sancte, bone noster Cuthberte patrone, Participes pone summæ nos esse coronæ ” ; and ends with the verses— ** Flos monachorum, laus et eorum, sume precatus, Regula morum, lima malorum, terge reatus. Instrue mentes, respice flentes, pure patrone, Dirige gentes te recolentes religione. Redde juvamina, pelle gravamina cuncta ruinæ, Sume precamina, coelica lumina da sine fine.” Eesides Bede's metrical life, the leomine life from Bede, the Lincoln's Inm leonine life, and the Irish leonine life, there are Other poems in honour of St. Cuthbert. The Church of Durham could boast of its six historians, Bede, Symeon, Turgot, Galfrid de Cold- ingham, Robert de Graystanes, and William de Chambre. She could also boast of her poets. Laurence, the Prior of Durham in 1149, was a poet of no meam capacity. Among his other Works, there is a, poem of fifty-two verses, that contains a brief outline of the life and miracles of the Saint; it concludes with the following beautiful verses and prayer:— “Salve pater patriæ, Cuthberte vir inclyte salve ; Salve dans mmiseris sæpe salutis opem ; Salve dulce decus, salve spes magna tuorum. Virtus nostra vale ; vir pietatis age. Sit tibi laus ; tibi dignus honor, tibi gratia detur, Qui licet indigno das bona sæpe mihi. Tu mihi magna salus, mihi gloria sæpe fuisti; Tu me dulcifluo semper amore foves. O quot sæpe malis, quibus hostibus atque periclis Me, pater, ereptum prosperitate foves ! Et tibi quid dignum reddam, pater, o pie præsul, O pater, o clemens pastor ! Adesto mihi Ut placet et nosti pater, auxiliare petenti, Quæso memento mei, dulcis amice Dei.” * The following poem, written by a Durham monk, has been already published from a Durham manuscript :—* * These two verses were inscribed on the screen of Durham College Chapel, Oxford. * Durham Library, MS. Hunter, No. 2. * In Allan's edition of Hegge's legend. 296 POEMS IN HONOUR OF ST. CUTHBERT, “Splendor Christi Sacerdotis Et vicinis et remotis Praeeminet cum gloria. Lux Cuthbertifulget late Corporis integritate, Nec est transitoria. “Incorrupta vernat caro, Quam decore Rex praeclaro Coelestis magnificat ; Cujus festum coelum plaudit, Cujus terra laudes audit. Aspicit, et praedicat. ‘‘Parvuli triennis ore Pontificali decore Ornandus asseritur ; Angelo docente Dei Coelo missa salus ei In genuedocetur. “Pene mersos in profundo Prece sancta, corde mundo Littori restituit. Animam ad coelos vehi Aidani, viri Dei, Cernere promeruit. ‘‘ Panes nivei candoris De supernis dedit oris Tribus allatoribus coelitus, Quos' per angelum de coelis Ministrari vir fidelis 'Applaudit meditullitus. “Belluae dum de profundis Gradiuntur maris undis Illi dant obsequia; Futuri diem sereni Praedicit sermone leni Vi praecludens noxia. “Lympham sibi Deus dedit Heremita quo resedit Ex humi duritia ; Regem cito moriturum, Seque praesulem futurum Certa dat indicia. “Quem ab arbore cadentem Coelos widit ascendentem Ejus narrant praemia; Christi mysticis refectus Sacramentis et protectus Transit ad coelestia. TEIIE IBIARIjEIAN MIS. 297 ** Sunt miracula perplura, Obsistente quæ natura Per hunc fiunt inclyta ; Hæc ad laudem Dei crescunt, Ablati nec delitescunt Sancti viri merita. ** Integris in urna pannis Quadringentis decem annis Et octo dormierunt ; Nec putredo nec vetustas, Imo splendor et venustas Illum circumdederunt. ** Caput tuum, rex Oswalde, (Vir dilecte Deo valde) Hæc theca, servaverat ; Et Bedæ sancti doctoris, Qui coelestis est odoris, Ossa, recondiderant. ** Fragrans odor balsamorum Hos perfundit supernorum Qui præsentes aderant, Qui im carne Dei virum Incorruptum (dictu mirum !) Cernere meruerant. ** Odor ergo nos coelestis Comat moribus honestis, lUt fruamur coeli festis In Sanctorum gloria. Amen.” In the time of the last Prior of Durham, Prior Castell, a monk named John wrote a poem in honour of St. Cuthbert, which the author has had copied from a MS. in the Harleiam collection ; and as it has never been printed, he ventures to add it here. ** AD DIVUM CUTHBERTUM JoHANNIS ALTI ORATIUNCULA INCIPIT. ** Salve certa salus monachis, sanctissime præsul, Confugium lapsis præsidiumque bonis. Per te quisque potest sub lucem carpere callem, Quisque potest per te pergere tutus iter. Non piger ipse venis nostris succurrere rebus, Et desperatis tu quoque rebus ades. Lampas inextincta radias in culmine coeli Cum superis, præsul inclyte, sancte sedes, Lætior est multo numerus te consociato, Illis sanctorum tu jubar ante thronum. Est tibi contexta vestis radiantior auro ; Ornatum gemmis est diadema tuum. 298 POEMS IN HONOUR OF ST. CUTHBERT. Lilia candore tibi cedunt, et rosa fragrans Perdit odoriferum te renitente decus. Lumina sideribus certant et labra corallis, Collaque non tacta candidiora nive. Undique splendescis, ex omni parte mitescis, Denique splendidius fulgure quidquid habes. Gloria qua frueris non est reserabilis ulli: Inter coelicolas coelica dona tenes. Nos Sumus in misera lacrymarum valle gementes, Et tibi glorifica turba sodalisadest. Es pastor verus, non mercenarius ipse; Ergo, pastor, oves protege, pasce tuos. Dirigis ad portun, quite colit almae salutis. Seu foret in terra, seu foret ille mari. Sed licet infensus lapsis pro crimine judex, Assiduis precibus flectitur ipse tuis. Ne fuge cum videas venientem dente cruento, Sancte, lupum, sed eis auxiliare, pater. Praevenias illum, non insidiabitur agnis; Id petit, id balat pastor et agnus ovis, Ah, succurre gregi, ne supplantetur ab hoste, Ne dispergatur, adveniente lupo. Ut cadat agnellus, lupus circumdat anhelus, Quem sic defendas, spicula parvifacit. Non ope destituis quenquam te, dive, vocantem, Te multum quamvis laeserit ipse prius. Tu legislator monachorum, carpetuorum Causas, juridicus jura vetusta tene. Balsama non tantum mittunt nec nardus odorem Quantum tu simplex, sancte Cuthberte, dabas. In te nostra fides, in te spes unica nostra Pendet ; quaecumque feceris ecce placent. Excuto naufragii fluctum, concede salutis Portum, depressis propiciare viris. Tu libertates nostras defende vetustas; Quid dixi nostras protege dico tuas. Sancte gregem Cuthberte tuum sine te superari Sis memor, et nunquam tu tolerare soles. Consolare queror, retine trahor, erige labor, Respice seducor, auxiliare premor. Cum fueras terrae cultor, tua vox penetrabat Coelos, jam propiorest situs ipse locus. Spiritus in coelo tuus est gaudens sine fine, Hic tamen in magno corpus honore jacet. Cum lacrimis fundendo preces lustrabimus almum Corpus, quae petimus donec adepta ferent. Quae petimus, si justa forent, concedito nobis ; Quid justum, quid non, pectora nostra doce. Deficio refice, languesco medere, putresco Ablue, delinquo corrige, tardo trahe. Nos Sumus in mundo, tu regnas Rege superno ; TEIE HARLEIAN MS. 299 Nos tibi clamare teque juvare decet. Nunc ostende tuis famulis suffragia prisca; Wires antiquae non tibi deficiunt. Captivo succurre, malo miserere, gravato Compatiare, pigro consule, surge reo. Scimus quaecumque petis, haud paciare repulsam ; A Domino poscas, et dabit ipse tibi. Nuncius angelicus Petrum de carcere solvit Nos in stipitibus angelus esto Dei : Facut cum Petro valeamus dicere were, A Domini cippis eripuere majus. Aspires fragili, faveas humili, domineris Subjecto, remove flebile, tolle malum. Tu monachos defende tuos et jus monachorum, Jusque monasterii protege, magne pater. Tu flos perpetuus quitoto vernat in anno, Lilia vincebas purpureasque rosas. Utgue viret laurus Semper mec fronde caduca Carpitur, aetelna munera laudes habes, Ad te confugimus, in te confidimus omnes, In te nostra fides maxima semper erat. Facut dicatur, noli grex parve timere; Tu parvus, magnus regmat ubique Deus. Te laudant acies viltutum, sancte Cuthberte, Omnis militiae te sacer ordo colit. Surgite tres patres, numero Deus impari gaudet, Surgite veloces, ne lacerentur oves. Cuthbertus, Beda, pater excellens Benedictus. Hitres in coelo terna lucerna micant. Tu praesul Sanctus, abbas altus reverendus, Tertius est doctor inclytus ore Dei. Ora tu Patrem, tu Natum, tu quoque . . . . Scimus quod vobis nulla negare volunt. Conquerimur vobis quotiens nos damna feremus ; Nos exaudite, fundimus ore preces. Tu radios Phoebi vincis, tu cornua Phoebes, Lucifero praestas, et super astra micas; Quinetiam dixi, Sanctorum maxime sancte. Posce Patrem quid vis, et dabit ipse tibi; Nomine, Christe, tuo nos Patrem poscimus omnes, Ut nos et nostra cum pietate regat. Non quod nos volumus, sed quod tu reddito nobis, Patris coelestis Filius ista docet. Sis procurator pro nobis et mediator Coram, Cuthberte, omnipotente Deo. Tunc cum psalmista laeti cantabimus omnes, Est laqueus tritus, praeda deinde volat. Non vis, sancte, tuos omnino suppeditari, Ad tempus pateris, postea tollis eos. Splendidior gemmises, fulvo pulchrior auro, |Utres conferri non valet ulla tibi. 300 POEMS IN HONOUR OF ST. CUTHBERT. § Clarior es multo quam possit fingier arte, Nec potes angusta, maxime, mente capi. Quicquid nempe mali patimur culpae meruerunt, Augustinus ait, ponderis ecquid habent : Cum patribus nostris certe peccavimus omnes, Criminis est expers nullus in orbe datus. Deficient vatum mentes et tota poesis, Si pergant laudes velle referre tuas. O pater, in melius scelus emendabimus omne, Ora pro nobis, Sancte patrone pie. Namgue lavat culpam fletus contritio cordis, Det veniam nobis dextera larga Dei. Quandocumque gemit peccator parcitur illi; Quinon mentitur sic docet ore sacro. Nos tibi ploramus, nos flemus, nos lacrimamus, Sancte pater, nostro compatiare gregi. Nos tibi solvemus solitaque munera laudis, Et si quid fieri multiplicentur ea. Suscipe vota, pater, non clamantum sedamantum, Non clamor sed amor insonat aure tua. Tot verbis quid opus 2 tibi vulnera dira patescunt, Sis medicus, medice, vulnera nostra vides. Quis non denudat medico sua vulnera laesus? \ Sis medicus nobis, sis medicina, pater. Sancte, tuis licet indignis immitte vigorem, Lædere ne possit turba rebellis eos. Heus celer accuras plagis medicamina nostris, Impiger apponas nunc opus arte tua. Tu melius nosti quam nos, sanctissime praesul, Omnia quae nobis expedienda forent. Idcirco curas jactamus te super omnes Nostras, tu solve vincula nostra, pater. Sancteque Cuthberte nos serves a truce morte, Nosque tua lege, sancte Cuthberte, tege. O utinam tandem possem te cernere coram, Et quem contemplor post mea fata fruer Non sine te tuti per tot discrimina mundi Tendimus; o nostras sume, Cuthberte, preces ! Interius multi laquei tenduntur ab hoste, Major in egressu tenditur arte dolus. Nos rege, Cuthberte, silvas erramus opacas; Et rege cum tristis exitus ejus erit. Tu cum consociis pro nobis, sancte Cuthberte, Ora, libertas me tua prisca cadat. ‘‘DIVI CUTHBERTI ORATIUNCULA HIC FINIT, ‘‘Inconcinna licet quae scripsimus accipe, quaeso ; Possumus ingenii munera sola dare. Carmina qui scripsit illum memorare, Cuthberte, In precibus sacris, aliud nil exigit abste. “Ad divum. Cuthbertum distichom Johannis Alti misswºm Magistro Thomas Castel Priori Ecclesiae Cathedralis Dunelmensis, anno Domini milles, quingentesimo if.”” 1 MS. Harl. 4843. CHAPTER IX. PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTHEERT. THERE are several personal relics of St. Cuthbert, the former existence of which is only known to us by tradition, as well as others that have been handed down to these our days. His corporax cloth, his staff, gloves, and girdle, his bell, his tooth, his chasuble, and his winding-sheet, may now be numbered among the things that were; but his book of the Gospel, his portable copy of St. John's Gospel, his gold ring, his comb, and his portable altar, have remained to this day, with scarcely any traces upon them of the ravages of time. Of those things that were personal relics of the Saint, and that have perished, may be mentioned : 1. His corporal, or, as it has been termed, his “corporax cloth,” which was converted into a banner. Mention is made of more than one corporal belonging to St. Cuthbert. In the Holy Island inventory for 1533, we find “in the vestry, two corporals of St. Cuthbert”. The one in question, however, was one belong- ing to the monastery at Durham. The cause of its being con- verted into a banner is stated thus: “In the night before the battle of Durham' was begun, the 17th day of October, A.D. 1346, there did appear to John Fosser, then Prior of the Abbey of Durham, a vision, commanding him to take the holy corporax cloth, which was within the corporax, wherewith St. Cuthbert did cover the chalice when he used to say Mass, and to put the same holy relic, like unto a banner, upon a spear-point, and on the morrow after to go and repair to a place on the west part of the city of Durham, called the Red Hills, and there to remain and abide till the end of the said battle”.” The battle was fought, and the brave English won the day. 1 The battle of Neville's Cross. * Rites of Durham, p. 20. 302 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTHEERT. The conquering general was Lord Neville of Raby; and on the field of battle there was erected a stone cross, known to this day as Neville's Cross. How far the success of the victory was owing to the holy relic and the prayers of the monks, may be learned from the same author: “To which vision the prior obeying, and taking the same for a revelation of God's grace and mercy by the mediation of holy St. Cuthbert, did accordingly, early in the next morning, together with the monks of the said abbey, repair to the said place called the Red Hills; there most devoutly humbling and prostrating themselves in prayer for the victory in the said battle. And after many conflicts and warlike exploits there had and done betwixt the Englishmen and the King of Scots and his company, the said battle ended, and the victory was obtained, to the great overthrow and confusion of the Scots their enemies. And then the said prior and monks, accompanied with Ralph Lord Neville and John Neville his son, and the Lord Percy, and many other worthy nobles of England, returned home and went to the Abbey church, there joining in hearty prayer and thanksgiving to God and the holy St. Cuthbert for the conquest and victory achieved that day.” It is recorded that on this occasion, whilst some of the monks remained with the relic by the hill on which the battle was fought, the rest of the brethren took their station on the centre tower of the cathedral, and when they saw that success attended the arms of the English, they sang the Te Deum. To commemorate this event, it was the custom for the choir of the abbey every year to sing the De Teum on the top of this tower. This custom was kept up till the year 1811; it was then dropped, but revived again in 1828. The day on which the Te Deum is sung is May 29th ; but it undoubtedly has reference to the event of October 17th, A.D. 1346. The holy cross of Holyrood House, that had been preserved in Holyrood Abbey from the year 1128 till the date of this battle, and which was brought to the battle by the King of Scotland, together * Rites of Durham, p. 20. For a very minute description of the stone cross set up in the same place, see p. 23; and of the wooden cross set up on the spot where the monks prayed for the success of the English arms, see p. 25. HIS CORPORAL. 303 with the black rood of Scotland, was won by the English on this occasion from the Scotch, and deposited in Durham Cathedral." This relic of St. Cuthbert was shortly afterwards converted into a sumptuous banner. It is stated that, “shortly after, the said prior caused a goodly and sumptuous banner to be made; and with pipes of silver to be put on a staff five yards long, with a device to take off and on the said pipes at pleasure, and to be kept in a chest in the feretory when they were taken down; which banner was shewed and carried in the said abbey on festival and principal days. On the height of the overmost pipe was a fair pretty cross of silver, and a wand of silver having a fine wrought knob of silver at either end, that went across the banner-cloth, whereunto the banner-cloth was fastened and tied, which wand was of the bigness of a man's finger; and at either end of the said wand there was a fine silver bell. The wand was fast by the middle to the banner-staff, hard under the cross. The banner-cloth was a yard broad, and five quarters deep ; and the nether part of it was indented in five parts, and fringed and made fast withal about with red silk and gold. And also the said banner-cloth was made of red velvet, on both sides most sumptuously embroidered, and wrought with flowers of green silk and gold. And in the middle of the said banner-cloth was the said holy relic and corporax cloth enclosed and placed therein; which corporax cloth was covered over with white velvet, half a yard Square every way, having a red cross of red velvet on both sides over the same holy relic, most artificially and cunningly compiled and framed, being finely fringed about the edge and skirts with fringe of red silk and gold, and three little fine silver bells fast to the skirts of the said banner-cloth, like unto sacrying bells, and so sumptuously finished and absolutely perfected, was dedicated to holy St. Cuthbert, with the intent and purpose that the same should be always after present at, and carried to, any battle, as occasion should serve; and which was never carried to or shewed at any battle, but, by the especial grace of God Almighty and the mediation of holy St. Cuthbert, it brought home the victory.” * See Rites of Durham, p. 21, and The Religious Antiquities of Edinburgh, pp. 49 to 100. t * Rites of Durham, p. 23. 304 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTEIBERT. This banner-cloth was. afterwards burned by Dean Whitting- ham and his wife. A further description of this banner is given in the same work; and the account is so complete as even to give the manner in which the banner was carried in processions : * “Also whensoever it was borne, it was the clerk of the fere- tory's place to wait upon it (with his surplice on), with a fair red painted staff, with a fork or cleft on the upper end of the staff, which cleft was lined with soft silk, and soft down under the silk, for hurting or bruising the pipes of the banner, being of silver, to take it down and raise it up again, for the weightiness thereof. (There was also a strong girdle of white leather worn by him who carried St. Cuthbert's banner when it was carried abroad; and it was made fast to the said girdle by two pieces of white leather, and at either end of the two pieces of white leather a socket of horn was made fast to them, that the end of the banner-staff might be put into it, to ease him who carried the said banner of St. Cuthbert, because it was so heavy.) There were four men always appointed to wait upon it, besides the clerk and him that did bear it.” ” Sir William Bulmer headed the men of the bishopric at the battle of Flodden Field. Lord Surrey repaired to Durham for the banner of St. Cuthbert— “Where he devoutly did hear Mass, And worship'd God his Maker dear ; Then prayed the prior of that place St. Cuthbert's banner for to bear”. This banner “was at the winning of Bancks Field (Branxton or Flodden Field) in King Henry the Eighth's time, and did bring home with it the King of Scots’ banner”. It was also carried to many other places. It was borne in solemn state at the processions made by the church of Durham. “It was thought to be one of the goodliest relics that was in England, and it was not borne but on principal days, when there was a general procession, as Easter-day, Ascen- 1 Rites of Durham, p. 79. From this very minute description, Mr. Nash was enabled to compile his engraving, in which he represents the banner as carried by a monk in the procession down the north aisle of the church. The picture, however, is very far from being a correct representation of either the banner of St. Cuthbert or of a procession of the monks of Durham. 2 P. 80. HIS STAFF, GLOVES, AND GIRDLE. 305 sion-day, Whitsunday, Corpus Christi day, and St. Cuthbert's day. And on other festival-days it was set up at the east end of the shrine, because it was so weighty.” " It must truly have been a splendid sight to have seen one of their glorious processions on those great days. Highly favoured were they who were allowed to see such sights; to see the jewelled cross brought out, and the holy banner, while the incense floated in the breeze, and the voices of holy men chanting hymns and psalms filled the air. Of us it may be said, that many have de- sired to see the things that they saw, and have not seen them. In those processions “there were two crosses borne before them, the one of the crosses the staff and all of gold, the other of silver and parcel-gilt, both the cross and the staff, with St. Cuthbert's banner, that holy relic which was borne foremost in the proces- sion, with all the rich copes that were in the church; every monk had one, and the prior had a marvellous rich cope on, of cloth of fine pure gold . . . with his crosier in his hand, which was of silver, and double gilt, with a rich mitre on his head. Also St. Bede's shrine, that holy relic, was carried in the said pro- cession by four monks on their shoulders; and certain other monks did carry about with them, in the said procession, divers other holy relics, as the picture of St. Oswald, of silver and gilt, and St. Margaret's cross, of silver and double gilt, &c.”” Teginald describes this relic of St. Cuthbert as often used suc- cessfully to check the flames when the city of Durham was on fire.” 2. His staff, gloves, and girdle. The staff of St. Cuthbert is twice mentioned in the inventories of the priory of Holy Island. In the one for the year 1401, amongst other items kept in the vestry, is mentioned, “Item, among the relics, the staff of St. Cuthbert (baculus Sancti Cuthberti)"; * and in that for the year 1533, “In the vestry, St. Cuthbert's staff’’.” The gloves of St. Cuthbert are mentioned as having been kept first at Durham, and afterwards at Holy Island. In the list of relics preserved in the feretory during the time that Richard de Segbrok was feretory-master, the following entry occurs: “Item, * Rites of Durham, p. 80. ” Ibid. p. 88. * Reginald, chap. xxxix. p. 82. - 4 North Durham, p. 114. * Ibid. p. 125. 20 306 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTEIBERT. an ivory casket, ornamented with gold and silver, containing the gloves of St. Cuthbert, the gift of Richard de Birtley, monk of Durham”. The Holy Island inventory of the year 1533 mentions “A bag with the relics of St. Cuthbert, viz. a pair of gloves,” &c. St. Cuthbert's girdle was kept with his gloves at Holy Island, as the same entry shews: “A bag with the relics of St. Cuthbert, viz. a pair of gloves and the girdle of the Saint”. 3. His sandals. The Lindisfarne monk mentions that, on the occasion of the disinterment of the Saint’s body in 698, “all the vestments, and the shoes, that came in contact with his skin were undecayed; for when they took off the napkin that was bound round his head, they found that it still retained the beauty of its original whiteness, and, with the new shoes that he had worn, is to this day kept, in witness thereof, among the relics in our church ''.” These sandals were preserved in the church at Durham. In the year 1410 one of the monks was sent on a tour of two years through the counties of Northumberland and Cumberland to collect the alms of the faithful. His passport was a cross of silver gilt and one of the sandals of St. Cuthbert. The following is a copy of the document he carried with him : “Universis sanctae matris Ecclesiae filiis pateat per praesentes quod nos Johannes Prior ecclesiae cath. Dunelm. ad petendum, colligen- dum et recipiendum nomine nostro fidelium elemosynas nobis ac fabricae ecclesiae beati Cuthberti Dunelm. pia fidelium devotione datas, dandas, assignandas infra comitatum Northumb. et Karlel Cummerland, necnon ad impetrandum literas ac indulgentias Christi fidelibus hujusmodi elemosynas nobis ac fabricae dictae ecclesiae devote conferentibus a venerabili Dei gratia Archiepiscopo IEbor. ceterisque prelatis et Ordinariis locorum praedictorum, et ad sibi substituendum procuratorem seu procuratores, nuncium vel nuncios, coajutorem seu coajutores ad eosdem et eorum potestatem revocandos et ad faciendum omnia et singula quae ad officium quaestoris pertinent quoquomodo etiam et mandatum exigunt speciale dilectum nobis in Christo Willielmum de Hexham latorem praesentium procuratorem nostrum et nuncium specialem unam crucem argenteam et deauratam cum imagine beatae Mariae Virginis in medio, et unum de Sotularibus quibus Sanctus Cuthbertus * Raine's St. Cuthbert, p. 123. * See p. 142. HIS TOOTH AND BELL. 307 7tti Solebat in celebratione divinorum, secum vobis deferentem ordina- mus, facimus et constituimus per praesentes: Ratum habentes et firmiter quicquid per praedictum Willielmum seu coajutorem ejusdem actum, gestum seu procuratum legitime fuerit in prae- missis. In cujus, &c., sigillum nostrum fecimus his apponi per duos annos duraturis. Datum Dunelm. in vigil. Apost. Petr. et |Pauli, anno D. MCCCC decimo.” 4. His tooth. A tooth of St. Cuthbert's is mentioned by Alban Butler as being in the possession of the English canonesses of St. Augustine, at Paris, Rue Fossée St. Victoire. But this tooth is no longer in existence. In the year 1793, a number of papers and documents belonging to the nuns were seized and carried off by order of the revolutionary authorities; and amongst the rest was the authentication of this relic. “On this account,” says the Reverend Mother, in a letter to the author, dated 16th October, 1848, “I am sorry to say that we were obliged, very reluctantly, to destroy it, some years ago, with other relics (for which the papers had been lost), by Order of our superiors. It was apparently a front tooth, and I have myself seen it, set in a small silver case. It was believed to have come to the nuns through the hands of Dr. Smith.” The loss of this tooth is much to be regretted, as, in addition to its value as a relic, it might easily have been the means of proving that the skeleton found in the vault of the feretory in 1827 was not that of St. Cuthbert. It is known that the skull of the skeleton found had eight sound and large teeth remaining in the upper jaw, and six in the lower. Now, if the tooth in question was not wanting in the skull found in 1827, or, by comparison with the other teeth, could have been shewn never to have belonged to that skull, the fact of the skeleton not being the bones of St. Cuthbert would have been thereby most fully and satis- factorily established. 5. His bell. A small bell was kept at Durham that was supposed, according to the tradition of the house, to have belonged to St. Cuthbert. Reginald describes it thus: “Est in refectorio Fratrum Dunelmensium tintinnabulum moderata par- vitatis quantitate perspicuum, decenti et tornatili modulamine, prout condecet, expolitum, ne nimietate superflua maximum, nec 308 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTHEERT. exili quantitatis informitate permodicum. Hoc schyllam quidam Vocant, quam Beato Cuthberto Viventifuisse propriam ex seniorum traditione asseverant.” It had been ornamented with gold by Turgot, the Prior of Durham from 1087 to 1107, in honour of St. Cuthbert. Its use was to call the monks to the refectory at meal hours, and it was rung by means of a cord attached to it. Brass was the chief ingredient in its composition, and its tones were sweet and clear." * See Reginald, chap. lxxxi. p. 168. He adds a curious treatise on the symbolism of bells, which is here quoted entire, in the original Latin, as a specimen of Reginald's ingenuity and Latinity. “Typum quidem Beati Cuthberti spirituali quadam praeroga- tiva specialiter innuit, qui eos (Fratres Dunelmenses) interius et exterius informando et irudiendo instruit. Tintinnabulum etenim forma justorum est, quod superius rotunda- tur, dum Deo Soli conscientia, justitia, quae omnibus est ex compassione coacquabilis, demonstratur. Ansa superioris circuli qua innectitur est contemplationis dilectio, quando in coelestibus foederatur: funiculos quo innexus suspenditur virtus est fidei, quae Sacrae Trinitatis confessione multimoda Sacramentorum varietate medullitus connexa tri- plicitate involvitur. Trabes de qua funis confixa per inferius per devexa demittitur, Christus est, quo utriusque populi paries in unius ecclesiae societate concordi devotione constringitur. De ipso enim omnium virtutnm plenitudo descendit, et ad ipsum pro- vecta redeundo conscendit. Clavus, qui trabi infigitur et cui funiculus colligatur, sermo immutabilis Deiest, quipraedestinationis præscientia et electionis suae misericordia semper enconvertibilis invenitur. Sicut funiculus ergo clavum non deserit, sic Christi sermo cordibus electorum omnimodis non recedit. Plectribatellus, quiferreusest, linguæ eorum ministerii est effectus, qui praedicationis dulcedine sonorus est, ferreus per constantiae perseverantiam, percutiens per praedicationis instantiam et verborum Dei abundantiam. Batellum, qui linguæ effectum denunciat, interius semicirculus corrio forato consociat: grossior inferius prominet, quia carnalium et temporalium redargutione gravius et emi- mentius apparet : Sed quo subtilius Spiritualibus inhaerendo proficimus, eo minus carnalia. sapientibus innotescimus. Superius tamen debet batelli plectrum recurvari, quia semper in omnibus ex compassionis misericordia debet omnibus conformatus adaquari: corioque forato et reflexo inseri, quia de propria miseriae fragilitate ex Sedula debet praemedita- tione communiri. Duo corii foramina geminae mortis subsequentis horrenda praetendit judicia. Corium quod detrahitur fragilitatis humanaº et corruptionis significat dispendii detrimentum. Reflectitur corium per partes duplices, dum mortis severitas dubitando timetur propter cordis et operis et propter infinitas fragilitatis humanae transgressiones. Semicirculus, qui supra locatur interius, spes est coelestis misericordiae, quae nos manet in coelestibus. Hic semi scinditur, quia dum diu vivitur in vita praesenti, non perficitur. Ictus plectri de regione in regionem translatus ducitur, et sic sonus resonans duplicatur, quia quod ore depromitur operibus exacquari percipitur. Et quod interius meditando eructat, exteriori operum documento approbando edoceat. De aere vero et stagno confi- citur, quia competenti mysterio ipsius figuratio praesentatur. As enim, quod perpetuo ejusdem status perseveratet non laditur, stabilitatem animi sanctorem significare videtur. Stagnum vero, quod modulaminis dulcedinem temperando lenificat, discretionis est moderantia, quae omnium exercitia laborum sua pietate serenat. Discretio igitur cum stabilitatis virtute conjungitur, ut quicquid intenditur summo discretionis modulamine verbo praedicantium expleatur. Merito ergo auribus reficiendorum talis exempli figura et sonitus intonat, ut unusquisque de meritis Beati Cuthberti, quid sentiendum fuerit advertere valeat.” P. 170. HIS CHASUBLE AND WINDING-SEIEET. 309 6. His chasuble. On the occasion of the first opening of St. Cuthbert's coffin (A.D. 698), eleven years after his decease, the chasuble in which he had been buried was taken off the body. It was kept with great veneration, as a valuable relic of the Saint. In the time of Reginald, when the Bishop of Durham wished to collect the alms of the faithful for his Cathedral church, he sent some of the clergy with a select portion of relics to every part of his diocese. They carried them in an ivory chest ; and among the rest was “ipsa Beati Cuthberti casula, per undenos annos cum corpore illius incorrupto in Sepulchro posita.”.” In the list of Bichard de Segbrok, who was feretory-keeper in 1383, it is men- tioned as being kept in the feretory: “Upon the third and highest shelf, in a small enamelled coffer, the chasuble of St. Cuthbert, in which he lay in the ground for eleven years”. But the list pre- served in the York MS. mentions this chasuble as kept under the care of the feretory-master, but out of the feretory.” 7. His winding-sheet. The winding-sheet is often mentioned among the relics of St. Cuthbert. Yet it is not very evident which of the winding-sheets is meant by it. We know that there was a winding-sheet given him by St. Verca the Abbess, and that there was a sheet taken off the body in 1104, i.e. the lodex or linen sheet that had been wound round the body after it was dressed in its Tobes. These were two different robes; for Reginald states that the Abbess Verca's winding-sheet enveloped the body meat to the skin. Probably both sheets were kept at Durham. The list of the Durham relics, compiled in 1383, mentions, as kept within the feretory, a robe of St. Cuthbert ornamented with tassels; a particle of the cloth which St. Ebba (Verca?) gave to St. Cuthbert, in which he lay for 418 years and five months; a cloth dipped in wax, which had enveloped the body of St. Cuthbert in his grave, and one of his vestments; and a winding-sheet of a double texture, which had enveloped the body of St. Cuthbert in his grave.” Reginald describes three miracles worked through this winding- sheet at the village of Mitford in Northumberland.” Portions of the Abbess Verca's winding-sheet were in great request as relics of St. Cuthbert. A letter sent on the 14th June, * Reginald, chap. xxxv. * Dunelm. Script. p. ccccxxviii. * Raine, pp. 121, 123, 128. 4 Reginald, chap. liii. 310 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTHBERT. 1348, by the prior and convent of Durham, together with a por- tion of this sheet, to the Abbot of Leicester, who had asked for a relic of St. Cuthbert, is in print. “Wobis,” says the letter, “quandam portiunculam cujusdam panni in quo Sanctissimum corpus dicti Confessoris per quadringentos decem et octo annos et quinque menses et xii dies erat involutum, per dictum confratrem vestrum transmittimus.” In 1432, John, the prior of Durham, sent a person named John Walker to collect the offerings of the faithful towards the fabric of Durham Cathedral, and sent with him, among other valuables, “unam particulam panni albi in quo corpus Sancti Cuthberti fuerat involutum per quadringentos annos”.” Bishop Pudsey's architect Richard, surnamed from his skill in his profession Ingeniator, and who was employed by the bishop to repair Norham Castle about the year 1170, carried always about with him a small portion of this winding-sheet that had been given him by one of the monks of Durham.” The same illustrious prelate sent a monk named Alan and others to receive the offerings of the faithful for St. Cuthbert's church. They took with them “non modicam de Beati Cuthberti panno particulam, in quo sacratissimum sancti confessoris corpus per ccc.cxviii annos involutum fuerat ”. While they were at Perth in Scotland, a. merchant named Rodbert was cured of a long-standing malady through this relic of the winding-sheet.* This is perhaps the most fitting place to introduce the question of St. Cuthbert's cross. No part of this work presents a greater difficulty to the author than the discussion of the question of St. Cuthbert's cross. It involves two separate considerations: first, was there any peculiar form of cross anciently known as St. Cuth- bert's cross; and if so, what was that form of cross? Secondly, can the cross found in 1827 be considered a personal relic of St. Cuthbert, or can its form throw any light upon the shape of the Cuthbert’s cross 2 In the first place, it is necessary to consider how many crosses have been connected with St. Cuthbert, and borne his name. a. St. Cuthbert himself raised a stone cross at Farne Island. He alluded to it on his death-bed, when he expressed his wish to * See Dunelm. Script. Appendix, letter cxvi. p. cxxxv. * Ibid. letter cci. p. ccxxiv. * See Reginald, chap. liv. * Ibid. chap, cvii. ST. CUTHBERT's CROSS. 311 be buried “over against the eastern side of the holy cross which I have erected ”." This was a devotional cross. º b. Another cross, called the cross of St. Cuthbert, stood on the altar of the church at Norham (Lindisfarne?). It was made of the wood of the table at which the Saint used to eat his meals. Reginald describes it : “Crux ista de mensa Sancti Cuthberti, quam vivens in corpore coram se refectionis tempore habere con- sueverat, desecata est”.” c. A large stone cross was set up by Bishop Ethelwold, the friend of St. Cuthbert, and his successor in the see (A.D. 724), near the church at Lindisfarne. Ethelwold had his own name carved upon the cross. This was the cross that was carried about with the relics of St. Cuthbert ; and when his body found a resting- place at Durham, this cross was raised on the south side of the Cathedral. Simeon of Durham describes Ethelwold's cross : “Fecerat iste de lapide crucem artifici opere expoliri, et in sui memoriam suum in eo nomen exarari; cujus summitatem multo post tempore dum ipsam ecclesiam Lindisfarnensem pagani devas- tarent, fregerunt : sed post artificis ingenio reliquae parti, infuso plumbo, ipsa fractura est adjuncta, semperdue deinceps cum cor- pore Sancti Cuthberti crux ipsa circumferri Solebat, et a populis Northanhymbrorum propter utrumque sanctum in honore haberi, quae etiam usque hodie id hujus, in est, Dunelmensis ecclesiae cimeterio stans sublimis, utrorumque pontificum intuentibus ex- hibet monumentum ”.” It is very probable that this cross would be known as St. Cuthbert's cross. Leland speaks of it, and describes its removal to Durham in the tenth century: “A stone cross which is in the cemetery of Durham Cathedral was brought from Lindisfarne along with the body of St. Cuthbert, on which was engraved the name of the bishop who made it, namely St. Ethelwold. It had been broken by the pagans; but afterwards * See p. 74. * Upon this cross the people were accustomed to swear, when an oath was adminis- tered. “Secularijudicio praeordinante, praefinitum est quendam in regione de Northam, quasi se expiaturum ab impetito crimine, certamina dira committere. Qui de more cacteris hactenus usitato, innocentiam suam sacramento purgaturus, ad altare Beati Cuth- berti accessit, et cruce sibi sub manu subposita, se reus conscientia pejeravit." See Reginald, chap. lvii. p. 115. * Libellus, &c., chap. xii. p. 62. 312 BERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTHEERT. its limbs were carefully fastened together again with lead. The Saint had constructed this cross of stone, and caused the workmen to adorn it most elaborately, and in memory of himself to grave upon it his name. Tuong time after, when the pagans devastated the church of Lindisfarne, they broke the head of it off. But subsequently the fragments were reunited by the skill of a clever workman with plugs of lead. And ever afterwards this cross used to accompany the body of St. Cuthbert, and was venerated by the Northumbrians in honour of either saint. To this day it stands erect in the cemetery of Durham Cathedral, a monument of both bishops to all beholders.” It seems probable that this most interesting relic was destroyed by Dean Whitlingham of puritan and sacrilegious memory, who committed other enormities of a similar nature upon the ancient manuscripts belonging to the library, and upon the tombs and ashes of the saints belonging to Durham Cathedral. d. There was also a cross, with the crucifix on it, given during the episcopacy of Bishop Egelwine (1056) to the church of Dur- ham, by Tosti, Earl of Northumberland, who, “in veneratione Semper ecclesiam Sancti Cuthberti habuit,” and his wife Judith, a Woman “honesta Valde ac religiosa, multo plus Sanctum Cuth- bertum diligens”. By them it was also ornamented with silver and gold. When the clergy fled from Durham with the body of St. Cuthbert, they were forced to leave this cross behind them, on account of its size and weight. On their return to Durham, March, 1070, they found the cross and crucifix thrown down, and robbed of the costly ornaments of Tosti and his wife. But a short time afterwards, during the episcopacy of Bishop Walcher, the con- queror Sent a great quantity of gold, silver, and precious stones, to Ornament this cross.” It may also have been known under the designation of St. Cuthbert's cross. e. Another “St. Cuthbert's cross” is mentioned in the descrip- tion of the ancient monuments of Durham. It was a wooden Cross, set up near the large stone cross known as “Neville's cross,” On the West side of the city of Durham. It remained there till about the year 1558. * Leland's Itin. i. 52. Reginald mentions this cross, p. 266. * See Simeon of Durham, chaps. xlvi. and 1. ST. CUTHBERT's CRoss. 313 “In the said place, called the Red Hills, lying on the north side of the said Neville's cross, a little distance from a piece of ground called ‘the Flash,” above a close lying hard by North Chilton Pool, and on the north side of the hedge where the Maid's Bower had wont to be, where the said prior and monks, standing and making their prayers to God with the holy relic of St. Cuth- bert, during the time of the said battle, and after the said battle was finished, and victory achieved, was erected and set up by the said prior and monks a fair cross of wood, in the same place where they, standing with the holy relic, made their prayers, in token and remembrance of the said holy relic of St. Cuthbert, which they carried to the battle; which being a fair cross of wood, finely wrought and very large, in height two yards, which there long stood and continued, by the remembrance of many now living; where the said prior and monks ever after, in memory of the said holy relic, after the victory achieved, did in their times of recrea- tion, as they went and came to and from Bear Park to the monastery and abbey of Durham, make their humble and solemn prayers to God and holy St. Cuthbert, at the foot of the said cross, in perpetual praise and memory for the said victory and recovery of the said battle ; till was now of late, within these thirty-five years, suddenly defaced and thrown down by some lewd-disposed persons, who despised the antiquity and worthiness of monuments after the suppression of abbeys. And the collection of this memorial antiquity was in the year of our Lord 1593.” f. The cross of blue marble that still stretches across the nave of Durham Cathedral, from the pillar facing the north door to the corresponding one on the south side, would also have been known as St. Cuthbert's cross. It was a boundary cross, to shew that females might venture in the church “thus far and no farther ”. The cross measures 25 feet in length, and 12% inches in breadth. The arm of the cross, at its centre, is 2 feet 10 inches long, by 94 broad. “There is,” says the author so often quoted, “betwixt the pillar on the north side, that the holy water stone did stand against, and the pillar that standeth over against it on the south side, from the one of them to the other, a row (line) of blue marble, and in the midst of the said row there is a cross of blue * Rites of Durham, p. 25. 314 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTHIEERT. marble, in token that all women that came to hear divine service should not be suffered to come above the said cross.”” g. A cross, called the cross of St. Cuthbert, was worn, in yellow cloth, on the left shoulder of such as sought sanctuary within the church or churchyard of Durham Monastery. “In the old time, long before the house of Durham was suppressed, the Abbey church, and all the churchyard, and all the circuit thereof, was a sanctuary for all manner of men that had done or committed any great offence, as killing a man in his own defence; or any prisoners had broken out of prison, and fled to the said church- door, and knocking and rapping at it to have it opened. There were certain men that did lye always in two chambers (in a room (H. 45) over the said north church door, for the same purpose, that when any such offenders did come and knock, straightway they were let in, at any hour of the night; and did run straightway to the Galilee bell and tolled it, to the intent that any man that heard it might know that there was some man that had taken sanctuary. And when the prior had intelligence thereof, then he did send word, and commanding them that they should keep themselves within the sanctuary, that is to say, within the church and churchyard; and every one of them to have a gown of black cloth made, with a cross of yellow cloth, called St. Cuthbert's cross, set on the left shoulder of his arm, to the intent that every one might see that there was such a privilege granted by God and St. Cuthbert (unto St. Cuthbert's shrine) for every such offender to fly unto for succour and safeguard of their lives, unto such time as they might obtain their prince's pardon; and that they should lye within the church or sanctuary on a grate, which grate is remaining and standing still to this day, being made only for the same purpose, standing and adjoining to the Galilee door on the south side; and likewise they had meat, drink, and bedding, and other necessaries, at the cost and charge of the house for thirty-seven days, as was meet for such offenders, unto such time as the prior and the convent could get them conveyed out of the diocese. This freedom was confirmed, not only by King Guthred, but also by King Alured.”” h. Besides these, there were two crosses belonging to the * Rites of Durham, p. 30. * Ibid. p. 35. ST. CUTHBERT'S CROSS. 315 banner of St. Cuthbert—one a small silver cross above the banner- staff, and the other a red velvet cross on a white ground. “There was a banner that belonged to the said shrine in the keeping of the said master, the vice-prior, called ‘St. Cuthbert's banner,’ which was five yards in length. All its pipes were of silver, to be slung on a long spear-staff; and on the overmost pipe on the top of it was a fine little silver cross, and a goodly banner-cloth belonged to it; and in the middle of the banner-cloth was all of white velvet, half a yard square every way, and a fair cross of red velvet over it, and within the said white velvet was the holy relic, the corporax cloth that the holy man St. Cuthbert did cover the chalice with when he said Mass. And the rest of the banner- cloth was all of red (crimson, H. 45) velvet, embroidered all with green silk and gold most sumptuously.” 7. The monastic seal of Durham is still in existence, and has On its obverse a peculiar form of cross, with the words “H. Sigil- lum Cudberhti Presulis Scti’’. The reverse is lost; but many fac- similes of it remain that have been taken and multiplied by en- gravings and the electrotype. It was of a smaller size than the obverse, and contained the head of St. Oswald, with the words, “Hº Caput Sancti Oswaldi Regis’’.” A wood engraving of the i Rites of Durham, p. 79. * The Durham seal, “Sigillum Sti Cuthberti Praesulis,” is supposed to be long anterior to the settlement of the monks at Durham, and was probably made for them whilst as yet their abode was Lindisfarne. Its peculiar characters, corresponding so closely with those in the celebrated Lindisfarne Gospels (Nero, D. iv.), warrant this conclusion. Its legend is not local, but personal ; so that if the monks had ever left Durham to return to Holy Island, the seal would have been equally applicable. It may have been used at Lindisfarne; but there is no evidence of its having been used there. Its use is to be proved only by the aid of such documents as remain with it affixed to them ; and these are no earlier than the establishment of the monks at Durham. As soon as the monks established themselves there, we find the seal in use. It is used in the very earliest documents which remain, and is appended to all strictly chapter documents from the foundation of the monastery at Durham under William I. till the suppression. The head of St. Oswald formed the reverse of the seal. The cross-seal was sometimes used without the head-seal ; but the head-seal was never used without the cross-seal. The writer has been kindly favoured with an electrotype impression taken of both reverse and obverse. From the shape of the reverse, it would seem that the matrix of it was an ancient intaglio, of an oval shape, that they inserted into a metal plate, of a size smaller than the obverse, and on this metal border inscribed the words “Hº Caput Sancti Oswaldi Regis”. It was not an uncommon practice in the middle ages to form a seal by inserting an antique intaglio into a rim or border of metal, and inscribe the legend on the metal. See the Gentleman's Magazine, 1849, p. 521. 316 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTHEERT. obverse of the Seal, taken from a gutta percha impression, is given here : This seal was kept in the treasury of the monastery. “In the west alley of the cloisters, towards the north end, underneath the dormitory, is the treasure-house, where the best evidences and the chapter-seal are kept, of very strong perfect workmanship, belong- ing to the prior and convent.” " The characters of this seal prove it to be of very ancient date. The reverse was of a later date, and added to the obverse as already described. This seal was used by the chapter till the dissolution. After these preliminaries, the question may be asked, Was there a peculiar style of cross known formerly as St. Cuthbert's cross?—if so, what was that style of cross? To the first part of the question it may be readily conceded that there was a species of cross known as St. Cuthbert's. Yet if any one felt inclined to call this in question, he might support his position by not unten- able arguments. It is a fact that, in the Liber Vitae, in the Brough illuminated manuscript, and in the York window, there is no form of cross introduced in any of the illuminations or pictures; which would be not a little singular, if there was a certain species of cross known as St. Cuthbert's cross. Allowing, however, that there was a St. Cuthbert's cross, two opinions seem probable as to its character and kind : first, that it was called St. Cuthbert's * Rites of Durham, p. 71. ST. CUTHBERT'S CROSS. 317 cross, not from its peculiar form, but from its colour; secondly, that it was known as such from its characteristic shape. If the “ St. Cuthbert's cross" was known from its peculiar colour, then the cross would be a “ St. George's cross, gold, on a field, blue ". It is well known that this cross formed the basis of the seals, both civil and ecclesiastical, belonging to Durham. The old city seal is azure, a cross, or ; the old seal of the see is azure, a cross, or, between four lions rampant, argent ; the old monastical seal is azure, a cross between four lions rampant, or. A specimen of this last-described shield remains in one of the clerestory win- dows of St. Martin's church, Coney Street, York, of date about 1430, in which there is the field, blue, charged with a St. George's cross, gold, and four rampant lions, gold. If the St. Cuthbert's cross was known from its shape and form, as is perhaps more probable, the question is still involved in difficulties. There are so few data to reason from, that it would be hard to determine whether the “Cuthbert cross,” the cross worn by such as sought sanctuary, was modelled after the cross raised by the Saint himself at Farne, or the cross made of the wood of his table, or the crosses of Ethelwold, Earl Tosti, at North Chilton Pool, on the floor of Durham Monastery church, above Or on his banner, or on the chapter-seal. Yet, as far as we can judge, the cross on the convent-seal must be the form of the cross of St. Cuthbert. The shape is certainly Anglo-Saxon ; and a similarly-shaped cross was found in an Anglo-Saxon tomb at Wingham in Kent." Still it is but just to remark that this form of cross is not directly called the cross, but the Seal of St. Cuthbert, and has been thought to be St. Oswald's cross: “Adeo celebris erat crux illa Sancti Oswaldi, ut conventus Dunelmensis olim ea in sigillo suo utebatur. Ex una enim istius parte, caput Sancti Oswaldi, et crux ejus ex altera exhibebatur.”” The description of the stained glass in the windows of Durham Cathedral mentions that the third window in the north aisle had in its second light “the arms of St. Cuthbert and St. Oswald set forth in coloured glass”.” Bede relates that King Oswald erected a large cross, before 1 See Archaeological Album, plate iii. fig. 8. * Smith's Bede, Appendix, No. 13. * Rites of Durham, p. 91. 3.18 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTHBERT. which he and his army knelt and prayed before the battle of Heavenfield: that it was the first cross raised in Northumbria ; and that after the death of St. Oswald a church was built upon the spot." Nobody will doubt that the form of the red velvet cross on St. Cuthbert's banner was the same as the yellow cross on the cloak of such as sought Sanctuary in the church ; but whether the latter cross was called St. Cuthbert's cross from its shape, or from the fact of its being of a peculiar colour, and worn on the shoulder of the black sanctuary cloak by those who sought the protection of St. Cuthbert, is a question involved in no little obscurity. The second question claims a brief notice. Was the cross found in 1827 a personal relic of St. Cuthbert ; or can any proof be drawn from its shape of the form of St. Cuthbert's cross 2 The writer has little hesitation in saying that it did not belong to St. Cuthbert. In the very accurate account given by the Lindisfarne monk of the manner in which the Saint's body was prepared for burial, there is no mention of a cross.” No cross was added when the body was again buried after the first disinterment in 698. At the examination made of the body and its coffins in 1104, preparatory to its translation into the new monastery church, the monks found in the coffin an ivory comb and scissors, a silver altar, a corporal with a paten, and a chalice; these they replaced with the body. But no mention is made of a cross having been found, or even added, at that time. There was no gold cross in the coffin of St. Cuthbert in the year 1537, or it would never, if there had been one, have escaped the keen eyes and cunning search of the visitors. The first thing they would have looked for in a bishop's coffin would have been the pectoral cross; and though the folds of a bishop's robes might have concealed such a treasure from their eyes, they could have afforded little security against their manipulation. St. Cuthbert's ring was taken off his hand at that time; and it is not to be imagined that a gold cross, if there had been one, would have escaped those to whom gold was what carrion is to the vulture. If it be asked, How came the cross found in 1827 into the 1 See Ecclesiastical History, p 109. * See p. 86. ST. CUTHBERT's CROSs. 319 coffin of the Saint ? the answer may be given, that it is probable enough that when the body of St. Cuthbert was removed from the vault, some time after 1542, this cross, as well as the stole and maniples spoken of before," may have been deposited in the coffin; and this for a double purpose : first, for security, in case the vault were never opened by hostile hands; and secondly, to serve the purpose of making such as might open the vault believe that the bones were the remains of St. Cuthbert. In both cases the cross would serve a good end; it would either be kept safe itself, or, if found, by blindfolding the profane searcher, would tend to the security of the body of St. Cuthbert. A drawing of the cross found in the vault in 1827 is given, of the actual size, in plate xix. of Akerman's Archaeological Index; a full-sized delineation is also given, plate i. fig. 3, of Raine's St. Cuthbert. A friend of the author's years ago minutely examined the cross, and had favoured him with the following account : “In the centre at the back two rivets have been driven, either for the purpose of uniting together the four arms of the cross, Or, it may be, for some other purpose. The jewel, a garnet, in front of the cross, forming the boss, is movable, and is, with the frame in which it is set, very considerably less in diameter than the space which is left for it. To hold it in its position, the entire cavity 'between the front and back of the cross has been filled with a sort of cement. The cavity is, however, regularly formed, and has been originally, I should suppose, for some other purpose. I should be inclined to pronounce the loop for suspending it more recent than the cross; the colour of the metal is deeper.” But what more than anything would mark this is the condition of the metal at the back of the cross. A very perceptible rim, produced by the sinking of the metal beneath the cavity, or by the bending Outwards of the four members of the cross, is found at the back.” The Writer may add that it has been submitted to a test, show- ing it to be of gold. * Page 206. * Mr. Raine also states that “the loop by which it has been suspended is of bright yellow gold in its purest state” (p. 211). The loop, being more recent than the rest of the cross, bears out the author's conjecture that it was one of the crosses that had been given to the shrine of St. Cuthbert, and then hung upon the shrine. Portions of the silken cord, twisted with gold, by which it had been suspended, are said by Mr. Raine to have been found in the vault. 320 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTEIBERT. Should it be further asked, Whence came the gold cross found in 1827? it may suffice to remind the reader that there were many such crosses belonging to the church at Durham. St. Margaret, queen of Scotland, gave on her death-bed to the monks of Durham, in proof of her love for St. Cuthbert, a cross set with gems and precious stones: “Ecclesiam siquidem B. Cuthberti multi orna- mentorum pulcritudine decoraverat . . . . et crucem praemirifice unionibus et margaritis expolientibus radiatam, quam etiam mo- riens in manu sibi tenuerat, Beato Cuthberto transmisit ’’." In the year 1434, Hugh Evewood gave to the Prior of Durham a cross of gold suspended by a gold chain, to be hung up upon the shrine of St. Cuthbert.” In 1447, Robert Rhodes presented to the shrine of St. Cuthbert a cross of gold that was suspended against the eastern end of the shrine near the feet of the Saint. In the middle it had a Sapphire, a ruby at each arm, and several other small gems; and contained relics of the pillar and sepulchre of our Lord.” Mention is also made in the Holy Island inventory for 1533, of a cross with ten precious stones, in a cover of black satin. At the suppression of the monastery at Holy Island, this cross may have been sent to Durham. In Richard de Segbrok’s list of the relics and articles of value kept in St. Cuthbert’s feretory, we find mention of a cross of gold set with precious stones; a small gilt cross set with stones, having enclosed in it a particle of the cross of Our Lord ; a small cross of silver gilt, with a crystal and other precious stones of divers colours; a cross of silver gilt, set with stones; a cross of silver gilt, set with precious stones, in which are contained a portion of our Lord's cross, &c.; a cross of silver gilt, containing the bones of St. Hippolytus, martyr, &c. Hence it may readily be believed that the cross found in 1827 was one of the crosses that belonged to the church, and found its way into the coffin at the time the vault was opened between 1542 and 1827. The personal relics of St. Cuthbert that exist now consist of his book of the Gospels, his book of St. John's Gospel, his ring, his comb, and his portable altar. 1. His copy of the four Gospels. This book has already been described in page 116. It is the book that fell into the sea during * Reginald, p. 218. * See Raine, p. 149. 3 Ibid. p. 157. EIIS COPY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 321 the first flight with the body of the Saint. It is commonly known as “the Durham Book,” or “the Saxon Book of the Gospels,” or “ St. Cuthbert's Gospels”; and is mentioned in the inventory of the property of Holy Island, A.D. 1348, as “the Sea-book of the Gospels”. The book was written by the monk Eadfrid for St. Cuthbert, whom he afterwards succeeded in the see of Lin- disfarne. Ethelwold, who was bishop in 721, caused the book to be illuminated with various figures in the inside, and to be magni- ficently bound, with gold and precious stones on the outside." The chief features of its ornaments and letters are extreme delicacy and intricacy of pattern, the most ingenious interlacing of birds, knots of various geometrical forms, composed of bands crossing each other in all directions, sometimes terminating in the heads of serpents or birds, to which may be added the use of red dotted lines round the edge of the larger letters. These intricate initial letters are divided into compartments filled with rich interlacing work, formed by coloured threads and slender * The art of illuminating manuscripts arose as soon as the rolled MSS. were super- seded by those in the book form, There are no specimens of illumination in the rolled MSS. ; but the earliest in the book form, adopted probably about the second century, have illuminations. As early as the fourth century, St. Jerome complains of the abuse of this art, inasmuch as many books were filled with decorated capital letters of large size. Through several stages, this art arrived at its perfection in the fourteenth century. In the earliest stage, miniature pictures were the chief feature. About the seventh cen- tury decorative ornament formed the leading style. In France and Italy these orna- ments were of a Roman character ; but in England the Saxons formed their style upon the Irish. Ornament attained its full development in the twelfth century. In the thirteenth century figures and birds were much used in the interlaced work of initial letters and foliage. In the fourteenth century the illuminated border was used, that gradually enclosed the whole page. The first style used in this country is known as Anglo-Saxon, or more correctly Anglo-Hibernian or Hiberno-Saxon. It originated in Ireland in the sixth and seventh centuries, at a period when Ireland was much in advance of England. From Ireland it was introduced into England about the end of the seventh century, probably passing with St. Columba and his disciples to Iona, and from Iona to Lindisfarne, where the Durham book was written. The “book of Kells,” kept in Trinity College, Dublin, is undoubtedly the most magnificent specimen of the style in existence, both for grandeur, intricacy of design, and perfection of execution. Second only to it is the Durham book, that has on a much larger scale the small style of illuminations. Contemporaneously with it, the Franco-Gallic style was adopted in France, and the Byzantine at Constanti- nople. About the tenth century, the Anglo-Hibernian style merged into one peculiarly English, known all over the Continent as Opus Anglicum, and supposed to have been practised only in England. It flourished till the end of the Saxon dynasty. The design on the cloth cover of this book is an elegant specimen of the Opus Anglicum. 322 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTHRERT. attenuated animals. The four pages opposite the commencement of the four Gospels are almost inconceivably elaborate, yet most pleasing in effect, both from excessive beauty and accuracy of execution, and from the judicious arrangement of colours. The chief illuminations consist in a most beautiful representation of each of the Evangelists at the beginning of their Gospels, and a tesselated cross executed in a most elaborate manner. The large letters at the commencement of each Gospel are most elegantly illuminated. About the year 950, Aldred, a Lindisfarne monk, interlined it with a Saxon version of the text of St. Jerome, of which the original manuscript is a copy. The MS. contains 258 double-columned folio pages, and the illuminations of the Evan- gelists each occupy an entire page." The beauty of the hand- writing of this manuscript, and the brilliant colours and chaste execution of its illuminations, prove that the Saxon cloister at Lindisfarne was no mean School of copyists and illuminators. This manuscript was perhaps the choicest volume in their library; and is interesting to us as one of the earliest attempts made to translate the Gospels into the vernacular tongue.” This copy of the Gospels was written for the use of St. Cuthbert, probably at his order, by the monk Eadfrid. Simeon of Durham speaks of the book as follows: “Liber memoratus in hac ecclesia, quae corpus ipsius Sancti Patris habere meruit, usque hodie servatur, in quo nullum omnino per aquam laesionis signum mon- stratur. Quod plane et ipsius Sancti Cuthberti, et ipsorum quoque meritis qui ipsius libri auctores extiterant gestum creditur, Eadfridi videlicet venerandi memoriae Episcopi, qui hunc in honorem beati Cuthberti, manu propria Scripserat, successoris quoque ejusdem venerabilis AEthelwoldi, qui auro gemmisque perornari jusserat, sancti etiam Bilfridi anachoratae, qui vota * The characters used in the “Durham Book” (Nero, D. iv.) are given in plate xiv. p. 96 of Astle's Origin and Progress of Writing; it is headed “Exemplar literarum tam capitalium quam minorum, in libro quatuor Evangeliorum, circa A.D. 686 scripto, et nunc in Bibl. Cotton. asservato”. See also p. 100 of the same work, and a note to Simeon of Durham, p. 309. * For a further account of this MS. see Selden, praef. ad Hist. Angl. p. 25 ; Marshall Observat. in Vers. Sax. Evang, 491 ; Dibdin's Decameron, p. 53 ; Smith's Bibl. Cotton. Hist. et Synop. p. 33. (? HIS COPY OF ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 323 jubentis manu artifici prosecutus, egregium opus composuerat; erat enim aurificii arte praecipuus.”” 2. His copy of St. John's Gospel. In addition to the folio copy of the Gospels, St. Cuthbert possessed a portable duodecimo copy of St. John's Gospel. When but a young monk, his master Boisil taught him to prize and study the Gospel of St. John in an especial manner. This book was found buried with him in 1104, and is now preserved in the library of the college at Stonyhurst. It has been already described in page 160. Perhaps this was the book described by Reginald, as shewn to William Archbishop of York by Hugh Bishop of Durham, and as kept in three bags.” 3. His ring. When the visitors opened St. Cuthbert's coffin, A.D. 1537, they found on one of his fingers a gold ring, ornamented with a sapphire stone. This ring came into the possession of Thomas Watson, the Catholic dean appointed when Horne, the Protestant dean, was dismissed. Dean Watson gave the ring to Sir Robert Hare : he gave it to Anthony Brown, created Viscount Montague by Queen Mary in 1554. This nobleman gave it to Dr. Richard Smith, Bishop of Chalcedon, in partibus infidelium, and Vicar Apostolic of the Northern district, whom he had for a long time sheltered in his house from the persecution.” Bishop Smith gave the ring to the Monastery of the English canonesses of St. Augustine at Paris, Rue Fossée, St. Victoire. He was the founder of their house, spent the last thirteen years of his life with them, and deceased there in 1655, esteemed and beloved for his piety and learning. The ring was kept enclosed in a small case or reli- quary. It is something above the ordinary size, and evidently a pastoral ring. It is of dark-coloured gold, with a large Sapphire in it. It was preserved and highly valued by the English nuns, “because,” as the reverend Mother wrote in a letter dated Octo- ber 16, 1848, “it came to us from our holy and venerated founder, as a legacy to his dear children, and as such we treasure it doubly’’. * Simeon Dunelm. p. 117. * See Reginald, chap. xci. p. 198. * Bishop Smith relates, in his life of Margaret Lady Montague, that Queen Eliza- beth, out of regard for her, ever since she had been lady of honour in the court-of Queen Mary and Philip, would never allow her house to be searched, and that sometimes sixty priests were concealed in it at a time. Bishop Smith wrote his Flores Historiae Angli- canae, a thin folio, in the reign of Charles I. 324 PERSONAL RELICS OF ST. CUTEIBERT. The ring is now at Ushaw College, and is used by the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle when he ordains priests. 4. His comb. A comb, together with a pair of silver scissors, were found in the coffin of St. Cuthbert in 1104. They were both replaced in the coffin. The scissors were probably abstracted when the coffin was opened by the visitors of 1537. The comb was found in the vault in 1827, and is now kept in the Durham library. The comb has been already described, and the story of Reginald concerning it has been satisfactorily explained. The scissors and comb, if even not originally buried with the Saint in 687, were probably buried with him in 698. “The scissors and comb buried with the body were probably those used at the bishop's consecration.” " 5. His portable altar. A portable altar was also found in the coffin in 1104. The account given of this altar by the anonymous monk and Reginald is one of the earliest evidences of the use of the portable altar in this country. They describe it as a silver altar. In 1827 a portable altar of oak, covered with a silver plate, was found in the vault, measuring six inches by five inches. The writer must now take leave of his readers. His has been the delightful task of conducting them through that fair portion of our native land known as Northumbria, over which St. Edwin and St. Oswald held temporal sway, and St. Paulinus, St. Aidan, St. Wilfrid, and St. Cuthbert held spiritual rule. He has told them the history of St. Cuthbert's life, and allowed them a glance at the workings of ages of faith. He has shewn the introduction of Christianity into Northumbria, its progress and increase, and how, like the mustard-seed, from small beginnings, it grew into a flourishing tree, and filled the whole kingdom with its lovely flowers and life-giving fruit. It would be unavailing to contrast the present with the past * Lingard's Anglo-Sax. Church, second edition, p. 268. Many instances are known of combs having been found in Anglo-Saxon tombs. See Journal of Archaeological Asso- ciation, vol. ii. p. 328. CONCLUSION. 325 state of Northumbria. Still, we may regret that, comparing its present with its past condition, it is “tantum mutatus ab illo”. Northumbria is no longer the land of royal monasteries, sacred shrines, splendid temples, ennobling traditions, or Catholic unity. It is a region of ecclesiastical ruins, of upbraiding memorials of the past. It is a land that has borne awful witness of how much easier it is to pull down than to build up, and in which a few years did more than suffice to destroy the spiritual fabric that it took nine hundred years to rear. It is a land that is now cursed with the confusion of Babel, that before “was of one tongue and of the same speech”. In parts, the face of the land is literally dark- ened, the sun in perpetual eclipse, the verdure destroyed, and the waters dyed. The chief town in the northern part of the ancient Northumbria is entered through, and surrounded by, a series of pits, that day and night pour out their whirlwinds of thick and black smoke, to pollute the air and intercept the rays of the sun, that in this northern clime is ever chary of his light and warmth. And yet this is only an outward manifestation of the moral dis- order, civil discontent, and religious blight within. Whatever may be the physical condition of the inhabitants of our large towns, their spiritual destitution knows no bounds. A person coming into England from a Catholic country would imagine that it was under a perpetual interdict. “You have led me,” says a foreigner to a modern English author, after traversing with him from Canterbury to the Tweed, “through a land of closed churches and hushed bells, of unlighted altars and unstoled priests. Is England beneath an interdict 2" “An interdict” (we quote a work just published) “was usually announced at midnight by the funeral toll of the church-bells; whereupon the entire clergy might presently be seen issuing forth in silent procession by torchlight, to put up a last prayer of deprecation before the altars for the guilty community. Then the consecrated bread that re- mained over was burnt ; the crucifixes and other sacred images were veiled up ; the relics of the Saints carried down into the. crypts; every memento of holy cheerfulness and peace was with- * Gen. xi. 1. 326 CONCLUSION. drawn from view. Lastly, a Papal legate ascended the steps of the high altar, arrayed in penitential vestments, and formally pro- claimed the interdict. From that moment divine service ceased in all the churches; their doors were locked up, and only in the bare porch might the priest, dressed in mourning, exhort his flock to repentance. Rites, in their nature joyful, which could not be dispensed with, were invested in sorrowful attributes: so that baptism could only be administered in secret, and marriage cele- brated before a tomb instead of an altar. The administration of confession and communion was forbidden. To the dying man alone might the viaticum, which the priest had first consecrated in the gloom and solitude of the morning dawn, be given; but extreme unction and burial in holy ground were denied him. Moreover, the interdict, as may naturally be supposed, seriously affected the worldly as well as religious cares of society; so that trade suffered,”’ &c. &c. Such was the nature of the interdict the whole of England was under from the vigil of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, A.D. 1207, till July 8th, A.D. 1213. Gaufrid of Coldingham, the Durham monk and historian, de- scribes the reason that led to the interdict, and its sad effects: “Then,” adds he, “the glory of the house of the Lord was taken away, and the appearance of its beauty was changed; the altars stood stripped, shewing the sorrowful desolation; the devout melody of the accustomed chants was hushed, and the consoling Sweetness of the bells was no longer heard; the holy solemnities could no longer be attended; all the public services for the praise of God were suspended; the dying were deprived of the great benefit of the holy viaticum, and the dead were denied Christian burial”.” Such was the interdict that our illustrious countryman, Pope Adrian IV., put the city of Rome under, from Palm Sunday till Maunday Thursday, A.D. 1155, when Arnold of Brescia threw the Papal states into disorder, by the mad attempt to introduce the republican institutions of pagan Rome in the place of the paternal government of the Pontiffs. The state of Northumbria and of all England for 300 years has been that of England under interdict. We can only by reading realise the ancient glories of our country; but we can now Satisfy * Life of Adrian IV., p. 36. * Dunelm. Script. p. 25. CONCLUSION. 327 ourselves by ocular demonstration of what she was when under interdict. In taking leave of his readers, the author, remembering that the Venerable St. Bede, in return for the life that he had written of St. Cuthbert, in the prologue addressed to Eadfrid, Bishop of Lindisfarne, and to the brethren of the monastery, begs that they would enrol his name amongst those in that society for whose souls after death the holy Sacrifice was to be offered ; and reminds Eadfrid that, in testimony of this future aid, he had already given orders that his name should be inscribed in the register of their holy congregation, saying, “When you read this book, and in loving remembrance of our most holy father, raise your minds in earnest desire of the kingdom of heaven, do not forget to beseech the Divine clemency in behalf of my littleness, in order that I may now long for with a pure mind, and afterwards in perfect bliss may see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living; and also after my death do me the favour of praying for my soul, as your friend and servant, of offering up masses for me, and of enrolling my name among your own,”—ventures to solicit a share in the prayers of such as feel a devotion to St. Cuthbert, whose body is buried in peace, and whose name liveth unto generation and generation. APPENDICES. APPENDIX (A). SEARCH FOR THE REMAINS OF ST. CUTHEERT IN DUREIAM CATHEDRAL.1 DURING the past week some excavations of an extraordinary nature have been carried on in the Cathedral, which have created no little excitement in the city and neighbourhood. The life and somewhat curious history of the Patron Saint, whose remains lie buried in the massive Norman pile which forms such a prominent object of interest in the city, have, from the very earliest period, been, as it were, house- hold words—not only in the county of Durham, but in the north generally. The traditionary lore recorded and handed down, century after century, has, in the lapse of time, become a familiar subject to all who have even the slightest acquaintance or knowledge of the events which preceded the foundation of the Cathedral, in the remote period when the Saxon monarchs held sway, and the people were subject to that semi-barbarism characteristic of the age. We find that St. Cuthbert died, in the year 604, after a life, if we are to believe the records of history, accompanied by vicissitudes and difficulties of a most extraordinary nature. The earlier traditions which remain as to his shepherd's life, his appointment to the priesthood, and the wonderful influence he wielded throughout the county of Northumberland even at that time, form some of the most curious incidents of his career. His influence was wide, and his society courted by the Saxon court of wild Northumbria; but, alone and without companionship, he preferred his sea-girt cell on the rocks of Holy Island to the pomp and circumstance of the neighbouring court. As he lived so he died, at peace with all, and beloved by all; and, therefore, the anxiety which afterwards prevailed among his surviving brethren to preserve his Saintly remains 1 Durham Chronicle, 24th September, 1867. 332 SEARCH FOR THE REMAINS OF ST. CUTHBERT from the destruction of those wild Danish pirates, whose excursions carried death into many a secluded village on the coasts of Durham and Northumberland, is not surprising. We may pass over the removal of his remains from the secluded cell of Lindisfarne, the wonderful incidents which are stated to have occurred to the faithful monks who sought a resting-place for the saintly relics in their custody, and the revelations made to them as to their final deposition, for they form a portion of that lore which still lingers in many a family amid the picturesque landscape of Northumberland, and the scattered towns and villages of the county palatine. It is a subject which has furnished ample material to the historian and poet in all ages, and, therefore, in the excavations which have been carried on for the past few days, we find that earnest desire existing, which has prevailed during the past three centuries, to fathom a secret supposed only to be in the keeping of a limited number of pious persons. The widespread influence of the Patron Saint of the Norman pile whose shadow rests upon our ancient city was, in mediaeval ages, unlimited, and the recorded homage and munificent donations which were made to his shrine, from many a Crowned monarch and belted knight, form a theme upon which even the county historians, and more especially our esteemed townsman and Jacºle princeps in archaeological matters, the late Dr. Raine, dwelt and cast a halo of interest. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the various circumstances which preceded the dissolution of the monastic houses throughout the country during the reign of the Eighth Henry, but we may refer more especially to the circumstances which caused the destruction of St. Cuthbert's shrine. Whether true or not, it would seem that Henry's commissioners, Dr. Lee, Dr. Henley, and Mr. Blithman, were satisfied that they had found the Saint's remains on the spot where his shrine was exalted, and with it many precious stones, which, in the quaint language of the period relating to the event, were of value sufficient to redeem a prince. The details of this disinterment are a matter of history, and the subsequent burial of his remains under the spot is a recorded fact. But to refer more especially to the circumstances which have caused the explorations carried on during the past week, we may mention that the final resting-place of the Saint was, it has always been stated, known only to three persons belonging to the Roman Catholic persuasion, and which Scott has embodied in the following passage from Marmion:— “There, deep in Durham's Gothic shade, His relics are in secret laid : But none may know the place, Save of his holiest servants three, Deep sworn to solemn secrecy, Who share that wondrous grace’. IN DUREIAM CATHEIDRAL. 333 It would seem, however, that a gentleman belonging to Gateshead, occupying a public appointment, was one of the parties acquainted with this traditionary secret, said to have been given to him by his father when fifteen years of age, and this secret he maintained until the present time. He is a member of an old Roman Catholic family, but, we understand, some time ago became a Protestant ; and, finding recently that the secret deposited with him was known to others, he determined to reveal it. He therefore put himself in communication with the Ven. Archdeacon Prest, and gave to that gentleman an ancient document, of which the following is a copy:—“Infra Saxeos gradus tertio et secundo ducentis et ascendentis ad clochim turram jacet thesaurus pretiosus corpus Sancti Cuthberti,” which, freely rendered, means that beneath the stone of the second and third step as you enter and ascend the clock tower lies the precious treasure of the holy body of St. Cuthbert. On receipt of this information, the authorities of the Cathedral at once set about the discovery of the precious treasure spoken of, and gave orders for an excavation to be made at the place indicated in the document. Accordingly, on Monday morning, a body of masons were employed in removing the concrete flooring under the stones adjoining the second step leading into the present bell tower. This work was continued to the extent of several feet downwards, but the solidity of the material impressed many persons with the idea that it had not been interfered with since the original foundation of the tower was laid. In addition to this, a door was opened out in the left side of the entrance, and a stone stair-case exposed, which originally led to the clock or the rooms which are stated to have existed, in earlier times, behind it. Some of those stones were removed, but neither there nor under the floor was any discovery made. The work was continued until Wednesday evening without any results, and the efforts, at least in that direction, were feared to be hopeless. The Dean, therefore, considered it unnecessary to pursue the investigation further, and the place is now again being filled up. Much interest, however, has been evinced in the work of exploration, and the operations have been keenly scrutinised by large parties of ladies and gentlemen, of different religious denominations, during the week. In whatever light the above document may be regarded, it may be mentioned that in earlier times, and before the dissolution, the bells originally hung in the north- western tower, adjoining the Galilee, and whether the second or third steps leading into it is the place indicated may be conjectured. On this point we may lay before our readers the report of Mr. Ebdy, architect, who has examined not only the place now opened under the central tower, but the steps leading into the western tower. With respect to the one on the north side, he gives it as his opinion that the concrete 334 SEARCH FOR THE REMAINS OF ST. CUTEIBERT foundation now being cut away at the base of the tower is the original foundation, and has not been interfered with since the tower was built, and that there is not sufficient space for the interment of a human body, unless buried in a vertical position. In the year 1540, about the time when the remains of St. Cuthbert were supposed to be removed, the bells were hung in the western towers, and, forty years after, they were removed and hung in the central tower. The description, therefore, could not apply to the present central bell tower. In earlier ages, the time was taken from the dial, and chimed upon the bells, therefore the term clock tower may apply to the place described. The stairs leading to the north-western tower are approached by two external steps, about 11 inches by 9. The first step is now on a level with the present pave- ment. Both of these steps have been cut away in the centre, evidently for some purpose, and afterwards inserted, and the joints appear to have been cut by an unskilled hand, in haste. In some places there are as much as two inches filled in with cement, and the steps shew indications of rough cutting. The floor between the second and third steps does not correspond with the concrete floor in the south-western tower. In the walls of the north-western tower, about four feet from the floor level, there are two holes, about six inches Square, which may have been used for the purpose of lowering some heavy body, such as an iryn or stone coffin. Although corresponding holes occur in other parts of the tower, it is unusual to find scaffold holes so near the ground. The staircase, being immediately below the bell or north-western tower, and the fact of the first and second steps having been cut away and after- wards roughly inserted by unskilled hands, he considers it the most likely place to find the remains of St. Cuthbert, as the space between the second and third steps is not sufficient for the interment of a body without cutting away the first and Second steps; and he has no doubt that the removal of the bells to the central tower, after the interment, has originated the impression, even in the mind of the communicator of the secret, that the present bell tower was the tower inferred, and, if the secret communicated be true, the remains of St. Cuthbert lie exactly where stated. If not, this alleged secret is a fabrication. With respect to the supposed secret removal of the Saint's body, it is probable that, during the events which preceded the final dissolution of the monastic houses, the inhabitants of the Cathedral, with the view of preventing any desecration of the body, have secreted it in the portion of the building pointed out. On the other hand, however, we have the record of the opening of the tomb by Dr. Raine, in 1826, at which there were present Drs. Darnell and Gilly and two vergers, and the following workmen —W. Jopling, Francis Bulmer, J. Gillespie, Ralph Vasey, Joseph Taylor, and a man named Blagdon, two of whom—Joseph IN IDUREIAM CATHEIDRAL. 335 Taylor and Blagdon—are still living. The result of that search, and the various articles found in the coffin, are fully described in Dr. Raine's work. It was a question, therefore, whether this was the Saint's remains or not. The probability is that an investigation of the spot pointed out by Mr. Ebdy may either set at rest for ever the truth of the secret as to the disposition of the remains, or lead to the discovery of the lost communion plate belonging the Cathedral in ancient times. Whether the Dean will prosecute a search at the place indicated is not yet known. APPENDIX (B). WHERE IS ST. CUTHEERT BURIED 21 INTERESTING INVESTIGATION AT THE CATHEDRAL. IT has long been a disputed question as to the precise spot where the bones of the Patron Saint of Durham Cathedral repose. The belief pretty generally entertained is that his remains are buried under the place “where his shrine was exalted,” but devout Roman Catholics have for generations contended that this is not the case. They say that, in the reign of Queen Mary, the body was secretly conveyed away and placed in another part of the Cathedral, where it still remains. It has always been understood that the exact place of St. Cuthbert's present burying-place has for ages past been known only to three monks of St. Benedict, and when any of the three died another member of the order was entrusted with the secret. It has recently been stated, however, that the secret was known also to the heads of certain Roman Catholic families; and Mr. Swinburne, the Town Clerk of Gateshead, who is now a Protestant, has made a statement to Archdeacon Prest, to the effect that his father communicated to him, when he was a boy of about fifteen years of age, the place where the body of the Saint is laid. The spot was indicated by the following Latin lines:– “Infra saxeos gradus tertio et secundo Ducentis et ascendentis ad clochim turrim Jacet thesaurus pretiosus Corpus Sancti Cuthberti”. The accepted translation is: “Beneath the second and third steps as you enter and go up the clock tower lies the precious treasure of St. * Durham Advertiser, 4th October, 1867. INTERESTING INVESTIGATION AT THE CATHEIDRAL. 337 Cuthbert's body”. At the request of several members of the chapter, the Dean gave his consent to the place indicated being searched; and excavations, at the foot of the clock tower in the south transept, have been made during the present week. Nothing, however, has been discovered to support the prevalent belief of the Roman Catholics, the hard mass of concrete, found down to a depth of seven feet, shewing that no disturbance had previously taken place. A large number of the Roman Catholic priesthood were present during the investigations. It may be interesting, at this period, if we refer to what has been stated by ancient writers respecting St. Cuthbert, and what was discovered when the tomb beneath the shrine was opened by Dr. Raine and Dr. Gilly, in May, 1827. An ancient writer, who has graphically described the state of the shrine before its spoliation, thus refers to the opening of St. Cuthbert's coffin in the reign of King Henry VIII. :— “The sacred shrine of holy St. Cuthbert was defaced at the visitation held at Durham, for demolishing such monuments, by Dr. Lee, Dr. Henley, and Mr. Blithman, in King Henry the Eighth's reign, at his suppression of religious houses. They found many valuable and goodly jewels, especially one precious stone, which, by the estimate of those three visitors, and their skilful lapidaries, was of value sufficient to redeem a prince. After the spoil of his ornaments and jewels, they approached near to his body, expecting nothing but dust and ashes; but, perceiving the chest he lay in strongly bound with iron, the gold- Smith, with a Smith's great fore-hammer, broke it open, when they found him lying whole, uncorrupt, with his face bare, and his beard as of a fortnight's growth, and all the vestments about him, as he was accustomed to say Mass, and his met wand of gold lying by him. When the goldsmith perceived he had broken one of his legs, in breaking open the chest, he was sore troubled at it, and cried, ‘Alas! I have broken one of his legs'; which Dr. Henley hearing, called to him, and bade him cast down his bones: the other answered he could not get them asunder, for the sinews and skin held them so that they would not separate. Then Dr. Lee Stept up to see if they were so, and, turning about, spake in Latin to Dr. Henley that he was entire, though Dr. IHenley, not believing his words, called again to have his bones cast down : Dr. Lee answered, “If you will not believe me, come up yourself and see him ': then Dr. Henley stept up to him, and handled him, and found he lay whole ; then he commanded them to take him down ; and So it happened, contrary to their expectation, that not only his body was whole and uncorrupted, but the vestments wherein his body lay, and wherein he was accustomed to say Mass, were fresh, safe, and not con- Sumed. Whereupon the visitors commanded him to be carried into the revestry, till the King's pleasure concerning him was further known ; 22 338 WHERE IS ST. CUTHBERT BURIED 2 and, upon the receipt thereof, the prior and monks buried him in the ground, under the place where his shrine was exalted.” In addition to these statements, we must add that the visitors removed from the coffin of Cuthbert a few articles of value which more immediately attracted their attention, such as his met wand of gold, his precious ring, &c. This ring, when last heard of, was in the possession of the English canonesses of Paris. The bill for making the grave of Cuthbert, after it was determined to bury his remains within the shrine, in 1542, is preserved in the library. It speaks of the marble stone under which they were interred, and other interesting particulars. This marble stone was disturbed for the first time from that period, on Thursday, May 17th, 1827, and such discoveries were then made as proved that the grave which it covered contained the reputed remains of the sainted patron of the church of Durham. The blue stone was found to rest upon soil eighteen or twenty inches in thick- ness, beneath which was a large slab of freestone of nearly a similar size, containing upon its lower face the name of Richard Heswell, a monk, who is known to have died before the year 1446, and which must have been removed, in 1542, from the cemetery garth on the south side of the church, the only burial place of the monks, to serve as a cover to the vault below it. Its surface was purposely turned downwards, to shew that it was converted to a use for which it was not originally intended. In a walled grave beneath this stone, of the form of a paral- lelogram, appeared a chest of a similar shape, in great decay, made strong originally by rods of iron, with iron rings on its sides and ends. This was the new coffin made in 1542. The remains of an earlier coffin next appeared, probably that described in the investigation of 1104 as covered with skins, for there were observed upon it evident traces of Some such envelope. In connection with the fragments of the lid of this second coffin, were discovered, towards its lower extremity, in a confused state, numerous human bones, some of them those of children. These were probably the relics preserved in the shrine at the dissolu- tion, which might naturally enough have been enclosed in the new coffin prepared for the Saint in 1542. The discovery of the remains of children seem to warrant this supposition, as the monks are known to have been in possession of bones which they passed off as relics of children slain by Herod. After these bones were removed, a third coffin presented itself, which, although in great decay, was of a character materially different from those already described. The character and decorations of this third chest proved it to be the self-same coffin so minutely described in 1104; and, in consequence, the identical coffin in which the remains of Cuthbert were placed at Lindisfarne, in the year INTERESTING INVESTIGATION AT THE CATHEDRAL. 339 698. Its lid, and sides, and bottom, and ends, exhibited rude delinea- tions, in lines carved apparently with the point of a knife, of evangelists, apostles, Saints, &c., and the inscriptions in connection with each figure were in characters used at the time of St. Cuthbert's death, and of a period long anterior to the settlement of the monks at Durham. In the lower end of this third coffin, and apparently originally placed beneath its lid, which was mych broken, was discovered a full-grown skull in a Somewhat decayed state. This was probably the reputed skull of Oswald, King of Northumberland, the only human relic which was suffered by the investigators of 1104 to remain in the coffin of Cuthbert. When the fragments of the lid, and sides, and ends of this last-mentioned coffin had been removed, its contents, along with the bottom on which they rested, were raised from the grave, and placed by its side; and then it was discovered that the dark, dingy mass of matter before the eyes of the investigators consisted of a human skeleton swathed in robes originally of great beauty, but most of them in great decay. The outer envelope, portions of which were found adhering to the coffin, had apparently been of linen; and such was the outer envelope in which Cuthbert had been swathed in 1104. The other robes were so tattered, and torn, and confused, that the exact situation of each could not be ascertained. One was of thin amber-coloured silk, ornamented with the pattern of an armed knight riding on a richly-caparisoned steed, and other decorations, especially a border of rabbits. These ornaments had been covered with leaf gold, portions of which still remained. A second was of thick, soft silk, decorated with a pattern representing the sea, with porpoises and water-fowl (perhaps the eider duck, still called Cuthbert's duck upon the Farne Islands), disporting themselves in its waves, in colours of red, yellow, and purple. The decorations of these two robes seem apparently to have reference to Lindisfarne, and its history. A third, of silk, had a ground of amber, with a diaper pattern of a lighter tint, the whole surrounded by a border of thick lace of a Roman pattern woven in the loom. A fourth, of silk—colours purple and crimson, ornamented with crosses; and a fifth, of silk also—colours, purple and crimson, embellished with a pattern in oval of an urn Sup- ported by griffins, &c. These robes seem to correspond with the general description of those in which the Saint was enveloped in 1104. Amid these decayed robes were found other relics of greater interest. 1. A coarse comb of ivory, which corresponds most minutely with the description of the ivory comb found and left in the coffin in 1104. This comb had been fabricated by Elfred, the sacrist, about the year 1022, for the purpose of assisting in cutting the hair of the Saint, which was reported to require that operation periodically; and as often as it was performed, a portion of the hair which was removed was 340 WHERE IS ST. CUTHBERT BURIED 2 exhibited to the spectators glittering like gold, and miraculously triumphing over the fire to which it was applied. Will it be believed that this pretended hair was in very reality gold wire itself, a quantity of which was found in connection with the skull of the skeleton during the investigation of which we are writing? 2. A small tablet of wood covered with silver, probably the silver altar spoken of as contained in the coffin in 1104. The thin covering of silver was so much broken during its removal, that a few letters only of an inscription upon its surface could be preserved. The tablet of wood, upon which the plating of silver had been laid, had apparently been previously used in its unornamented state for the same purpose of an altar, as it also con- tained an inscription in the characters of the seventh century, proving that it had been fabricated in honour of St. Peter. 3. A small sacra- mental burse of the size of an octavo book, made of fine linen, and reduced by time to a dusky brown colour, as if it had been tanned. 4. A rich stole, woven with flattened threads of pure gold, and ornamented with inlet figures, in tapestry work, of prophets, and apostles, and evangelists, with the name of each in legible letters of silk, and an inscription in similar characters, proving that it had been made by command of Ælflæd, for the pious Bishop Frithestan. 5. A maniple of the same materials, similarly ornamented, and containing a similar historical inscription. These splendid specimens of ancient art and munificence could not be removed from the skeleton in an entire state, but the greater part of both was saved; and thus a most valuable addition has been made to our knowledge of the Saxon art of weaving and embroidery. Frithestan, for whose use these robes were made, was consecrated Bishop of Winchester in 909 or 910, nearly a century before Durham was pitched upon as the final resting-place of Cuthbert ; and at that period there were three AElflaeds, one the daughter of King Alfred, and the wife of Ethelbert, Earl of Mercia, a princess of great wisdom and resolution, and intimately connected with the civil and military history of her times; another, Alfred's daughter-in-law, the wife of Edward the elder, his son and successor; and the third, his grand-daughter, a nun in the abbey of Winchester, and in all probability, from her connection with that place, the princess by whose command these gorgeous habiliments were made. At all events, they were brought to Chester-le-Street, then the seat of our northern See, in the year 934, by King Athelstan, and offered to St. Cuthbert. 6. A girdle and two bracelets, woven with threads of pure gold and Scarlet silk— the former flattened like those of the stole and maniple above described. 7. A maniple of gold and scarlet silk of the most ingenious and orna- mental texture, but from its shape and character belonging to a period a full century posterior to the year 1104; and, therefore, placed within INTERESTING INVESTIGATION AT THE CATHEIDRAL. 341 the coffin after that period. 8. A cross of pure gold, as has been ascer- tained by investigation, found upon the breast-bone of the skeleton, slung from its neck by a cord of silk and gold thread, running through a bright loop of the latter material, and set with fifty-three stones, apparently garnets. The cross, with the stones, weighs 15 dwts. 12 grs. When the skeleton of the Saint was laid bare, the bones, although no longer connected by sinews and ligaments, were found to be perfect, and smooth, and dry, and in their respective places. Those of the right arm were in an elevated position, as if giving the benediction. The length which they occupied upon the bottom of the coffin measured five feet eight inches from the extremity of the skull to the ankle. The ribs and the bones of the feet had fallen from their places. A portion of the front of the skull was faintly marked with a tint of gold, of the breadth of a ribbon or fillet. In 1104, there was observed a fillet of gold, set with precious stones, upon the forehead of the Saint. Portions of the face-cloth, which at that time was not permitted to be raised, were also discovered; and two round artificial balls, of a whitish colour, were found in the cavities once occupied by the eyes. It strictly corresponds with the description of the skull of Cuthbert, as it was seen through its cere-cloth, in 1104. The bone of his nose was then observed to turn rapidly outwards, and the tip of his chin was furrowed with a line of such a depth that a finger might almost be laid in the cavity. The result of this investigation, observes Dr. Raine, proved that these were the reputed remains of St. Cuthbert, and that the story of his incorruptibility was the invention of the monks of Lindisfarne, at a time when almost every other cathedral and monastery in the kingdom was pretending to make similar discoveries of tutelar saints sleeping in all the odour of incorruptibility. Lindisfarne, of course, kept pace with the debased opinions and practices of the period, and hence St. Cuthbert, and all the real and pretended veneration, all the imposture and romance (for he has been made to take a part in numerous highly poetical tales), which were connected with his name and pretended in- corruptibility for many a century, and which still form the subject of many a long winter evening's conversation in many a village in the palatinate. It is no easy task to dissipate the mist of popular belief in matters of tradition or legendary lore. But let the truth be once told, and it will make its way, although its progress may for a while be slow. With the exception of the bones already mentioned, the inner coffin appeared to have at no period contained animal matter, as no traces of flesh and blood were found, even in their most decomposed state. The dust and ashes, in connexion with the skeleton, were those of the various robes in which it had been clad from time to time, to give it the bulk and appearance of a body in a state of preservation; and, still 342 WHERE IS ST. CUTHBERT BURIED 2 further, to keep up that appearance, the cavities of the eyes had been purposely stuffed with a composition, that the face-cloth, which, as we have already stated, was not suffered to be raised in 1104, might be fitly supported, and exhibit externally the form of eyeballs underneath. The bones of Cuthbert, and the other human relics found in his grave, were re-interred the same evening, in a new coffin, with the various fragments of the two external coffins already mentioned, and the grave was closed as before. Such portions of the inner coffin as were preserved, including one of its rings, with the fragments of the silver altar, and that of wood, together with the cross, the ivory comb, the stole, the two maniples, the bracelets, the girdle, the gold wire from the skull, the remains of the five outer robes, and some of the rings of the outer coffin made in 1542, were removed into the Manuscript Closet of the Library, where they are now carefully preserved. The following is a copy of a report made by Mr. T. C. Ebdy, architect of this city, in reference to the recent investigations:– “I have this morning inspected the Newel staircase leading to the central tower of the Cathedral, now being explored for the purpose of discovering the remains of St. Cuthbert. I am of opinion that the concrete foundation, now being cut away, is the original foundation, and has not been interfered with since the tower was built; and, secondly, that there is not sufficient space for the interment of a human body— unless buried in a vertical position. In the year 1540, about the time when the remains of St. Cuthbert were discovered, the bells were hung in the western towers. About forty years after the interment, the bells were removed from the western towers, and hung in the central tower. Therefore, the words, which are supposed to be written at the time of the interment, could not apply to the present central bell tower. The word clochim is a French term, which means a bell or clock tower. The time was taken from the dial and chimed upon the bells; therefore, ‘clock tower’ may mean ‘bell tower’. I have also inspected the entrances to the western towers, and find that the stairs to the north tower are approached by two external steps. These steps are about 11 inches by 9 inches. The first step is now on a level with the present pavement. Both of these steps have been cut away in the centre, evidently for some purpose, and afterwards the pieces inserted, and the points, which are not the work of a mason, appear to have been cut by an unskilled hand, done in haste. In some places the points are as much as two inches wide, filled in with cement, and the steps shew indications of rough cutting. The floor between the second and third step does not correspond with the concrete floor in the south tower. The steps in the South tower are executed in two stones, in a workman, like manner, quite different from the steps in the north tower. In the INTERESTING INVESTIGATION AT THE CATHEIDRAL. 343 walls of the north tower, about four feet from the floor level, there are two holes, about six inches square, which may have been used for the purpose of letting down some heavy body, such as an iron or stone coffin. Although corresponding holes occur in other parts of the tower, it is unusual to find scaffold holes so near the ground. I am of opinion that this staircase, being immediately below the bell tower, and the fact of the first and second steps having been cut away, and afterwards roughly inserted by unskilled hands, goes far to prove that this is the most likely place to find the remains of St. Cuthbert, being that the space between the second and third steps is not sufficient for the inter- ment of a body without cutting away the first and second steps, and I have no doubt that the removal of the bells from this tower to the central tower after the interment has been the cause of the impression, or misunderstanding, in communicating the Secret that the present bell tower was the tower inferred; and I am certain, if the Secret com- municated be truthful, that the remains of St. Cuthbert lie exactly where I have stated. If not, the supposed secret is a fabrication.” There is much to support the argument of Mr. Ebdy. The word clochim, as we learn on the authority of a profound classical Scholar, was used in the monastic Latin of the period to signify a bell, and never a clock; and we find, in an old book written by Mr. P. Sanderson, and published in 1747, on The Antiquities of the Abbey or Cathedral Church of Durham, that the bell tower was, at the time when the removal of St. Cuthbert's body is said to have taken place, over the Galilee door, where the steps appear to have been cut away in the manner Mr. Ebdy describes. Sanderson says:– “In the west end of the church, and of the north alley, over the Galiley door, is a belfry, called the Galiley steeple, wherein hung four great bells, which were never rung but at principal feasts, or when the bishop came to town. Every Sunday a sermon was preached in the Galiley, from one to three in the afternoon; previous to which, at twelve, the great bell of the Galiley tolled three quarters of an hour, and rung the fourth quarter, till one o'clock, that the people might have warning to come and hear the word of God preached. There were certain officers of the said house, who were always charged, whenever the bells were to be tolled, to be in readiness to ring them, viz. two men of the kitchen were charged with ringing one bell, and four men of the church, who lay always in the church, were charged with the third bell, and six others were to ring the great bell, viz. two of the bakehouse, two of the brewhouse, and two of the kiln. But in the latter days of King Henry VIII, the house was suppressed, and after that time the bells were never rung. In Queen Elizabeth's reign, Dean Whittingham, perceiving them to have been useless long before his time, 344 WHERE IS ST. CUTHBERT BURIED 2 intended to have them taken down and broken ; when Thomas Spark the bishop's suffragan, residing at Durham, and keeping house there at that time, having notice of the Dean’s purpose, sent directly into Yorkshire for a workman, and caused three of the bells to be taken down, and hung up in the New Work, called the Lanthorn, where he made a fine set of chimes, which cost him thirty or forty pounds; which chimes continue to this day.” If, as it is reasonably conjectured, the word clochim meant bell, the steps leading to the western bell tower may cover “the precious treasure of St. Cuthbert's body,” or the precious communion plate, which, it is said, disappeared from the Cathedral about the time referred to. We hope, now that the investigation has been commenced, it will be so far pursued as to see whether or not anything has been deposited beneath the western bell tower. If nothing is found, it will tend still further to strengthen the belief generally entertained that the dry bones found in the grave opened in 1827 were the remains of the alleged incorruptible body of St. Cuthbert. APPEN DIX (C). CONTAINING ADDITIONAL NOTES. PAGE 4. A DEFENCE of the position that St. Cuthbert was of Irish parentage, and born in Ireland, may be found in “Bishop Moran's Irish Saints in Great Britain,” 1879, pp. 270-277. What can be said on this question is well summarised in W. F. Skene's Celtic Scotland. “The only Life which professes to give his earlier history is ‘The Book of the Nativity of St. Cuthbert, taken and translated from the Irish'. According to this Life, Cuthbert was born in Ireland, of royal extraction. His mother Sabina, daughter of the king who reigned in the city called Lainestri, was taken captive by the king of Connathe, who slew her father and all her family. He afterwards violated her, and then sent her to his own mother, who adopted her, and, together with her, entered a monastery of virgins which was then under the care of a Bishop. There Sabina gave birth to the boy Cuthbert, and the Bishop baptised him, giving him the Irish name Mullucc. He is said to have been born in ‘Kenanus,” or Kells, a monastery Said to have been founded by Columba on the death of the Bishop who had educated him. His mother goes with him to Britain by the usual mode of transit in these legends, that is, by a stone which miraculously performs the functions of a currach, and they land in ‘Galweia, in that region called Reunii, in the harbour of Rintsnoc, no doubt Port- patrick, in the Rinns of Galloway. Then leaving their stone currach, they take another vessel and go to ‘a harbour called Letherpen, in Erregaithle, a land of the Scots. This harbour is situated between Erregaithle et Incegal, near a lake called Loicafan.’ A harbour between Argyll and the Isles must be on its west side, and the inlet called Lochmelfort may be meant, near the head of which is the lake called 346 APPENDIX CONTAINING ADIDITIONAL NOTES. Loch Avich ; or, if Loch Awe is meant, it may have been at Criman, near which was Dunadd, the capital of Dalriada. Here they landed, the mother and son and three men, and wishing to warm themselves, they collect for the purpose dry branches, and heap them up to light a fire. The place, however, was much exposed to robbers, and the glitter of the golden armlets of the mother attracted the notice of some, who rushed upon her with lances, and would have slain her, but were discomfited by the prayers of the holy boy. From that day to this, when that spot is covered with branches or pieces of wood, they ignite of themselves, which the inhabitants attribute to the merits of the boy. Then they go to the borders of Scotia, where Columba, the first Bishop of Dunkeld, receives the boy and educates him with a girl, a native of Ireland, named Brigida, who tells him that the Lord destines him for the Angles in the east of the province, but reserves her for the western population of the land of the Irish. Here he excites the envy of three southern clerics from the region of the Angles. They then go to the island which is called Hy, or Iona, where they remain some time with the religious men of that place. Then they visit two brothers-german of the mother, Meldanus and Eatanus, who were Bishops in the province of the Scots, in which each had an episcopal seat ; and these take the boy and place him under the care of a certain religious man in Lothian, while the mother goes on a pilgrimage to Rome. In this place in Lothian a church was afterwards erected in his honour, which is to this day called Childes- chirche; and here the book of the nativity of St. Cuthbert, taken from the Irish histories, terminates. “Childeschirche is the old name of the parish now called Channel- kirk, in the upper part of the vale of the Leader; and the Irish Life thus lands him where Bede takes him up. “It is certainly remarkable that Bede gives no indication of Cuth- bert's nationality. He must Surely have known whether he was of Irish descent or not. He is himself far too candid and honest a his- torian not to have stated the fact if it was so, and it is difficult to avoid the suspicion that this part of his narrative was one of those portions which he had expunged at the instance of the critics to whom he had submitted his manuscript. Unfortunately, Bede nowhere gives us Cuthbert's age. He elsewhere calls him at this time a young man, and he says that his life had reached to old age. Cuthbert resigned his Bishopric in 686, and died in 687. He could hardly have been under sixty at that time, and it was probably on his attaining that age that he withdrew from active life. This would place his birth in the year 626, and make him twenty-five when he joined the monastery at Mailros. The Irish Life seems to have been recognised by the monks APPENDIX CONTAINING ADDITIONAL NOTES. 347 of Durham as early as the fourteenth century, and it is perfectly pos- sible that these events may have taken place before Bede takes up his history, though they are characterised by the usual anachronisms. Dunkeld was not founded till more than a century after his death ; and, as it was dedicated to St. Columba of Iona, he no doubt appears here as its Bishop half-a-century after his death. The Brigida there mentioned is also obviously intended for St. Bridget of Kildare, who belongs to a much earlier period; and the Bishop Eatanus, his mother's brother, is surely no other than Eata, Abbot of Melrose, and afterwards Bishop of Lindisfarne. The truth may possibly be that he was the son of an Irish kinglet by an Anglic mother ; and this would account for her coming to Britain with the boy, and his being placed under a master in the vale of the Leader.”—Vol. II., pp. 203-206. Would it not rather prove that he was born in the country of his mother ? PAGE 14. The endeavour to prove that St. Augustine was a Benedictine monk is ably set forth by a son of St. Benedict, in the article “Was St. Augustine of Canterbury a Benedictine 2'' (Downside Review, Vol. III., pp. 45-61 and 223-240. |PAGE 205. Where is St. Cuthbert buried ? (p. 336). IN DE X OF PERSONS PLACES, AND SUBJECTS. IND EX OF PERSONS, PLACES, AND SUBJECTS. Abbess Elfleda, 62 Abbess Werca, ... 61 her linen sheet, ... 74, 309 Abbots: Cudda, 74 of Dacre, © tº º 92 Eadred of Carlisle 100 Geve of Crake, ... g º e 119 Herefrid of Lindisfarne, 73 of Seez, ſº e 166 of Leicester, 310 Ackworth Church, 264 Adeliza, tº 4 tº tº gº tº tº dº & 265 AEdward, monk of Durham, 241 AElfred Westowe, 150 his character, ... e º 'º ... 151 Agnes cured at St. Cuthbert's shrine, 90 Aidan, St., his connexion with Mail- ros and Lindisfarne, .. 8 sent to convert Bernicia, 9 founded the see of Lindisfarne, 10 ,, the monasteries at Lin- disfarne and Mailros, 10 his passage to heaven, ... ... 8, 10 his bones put into St. Cuthbert's coffin, ... ge & O 98 Alan, monk of Durham, 310 Alban's, St., chapel at, e 274 Alcuin's letter to Ethelred, ... 95 35 to the Lindisfarne monks, 95 Aldingham church, ... 263 Aldhune's church, tº $ tº 150 pulled down, ... * > * * ... 155 flies with St. Cuthbert's body to Ripon, tº º ſº tº gº tº ... 123 Aldred's Saxon version of Gospels, ... 322 Alfred's donation to St. Cuthbert, ... dying orders regarding, Almeries in the feretory, Altar, silver, found, ... portable, St. Cuthbert's, Altar-screen at Durham, Angel entertained by St. Cuthbert at Ripon, Antoninus' wall, tº gº & tº gº tº e tº wº Appearance of St. Cuthbert to Alfred, Hunred, Eadred, 33 5 5 3 2 5 3 3 3 2 3 164, 175, 187, 121 122 232 205 324 225 15 111 118 121 329 185 272 321 321 321 111 122 20 23.4 303 304 304 304 234 268 33 Appendices, ... & ſº tº tº º º Apse at Durham Cathedral, ... Arden church, 9 g tº Art of illuminating, ... † - tº Anglo-Hibernian style, Opus Anglicum, Assandune, ... & © tº Athelstan's dying orders, is a g Austerities of St. Cuthbert at Cold- ingham, IB Banner of St. Cuthbert, how made into a banner, how carried, was at Flodden, ... carried on festival days, Banners taken in battle, Barton church, e Beads, St. Cuthbert's, Bede, St. Cuthbert's biographer, attends Cuthbert in his last illness, Bedford church, Bedlington, 76 272 132 352 INDEX. Bedlington, flight to, church, ... * * tº tº e ºt Bell, Bishop, ... tº tº ºr ,, of St. Cuthbert, Bellingham church, ... & a tº tº º º Beltingham church, ... tº tº º e is e Benedictine monks brought to Durham, 3 5 tradition, 5 5 Order revived, Bergen, in Norway, ... Bernicia, converted by Aidan, Berwick chapel, 3ethwegen cured, Bewcastle church, Bier of St. Cuthbert, Billingham church, ... tº g tº Bishops of Chester-le-Street, 2 3 Durham, ... 22 Lindisfarne, tº ſº tº Black rood of Scotland, ſº tº e tº e g Blue marble cross in Durham Cathe- dral, Blythman, * tº º g tº º {_* < * > Body of St. Cuthbert taken to Lindis- farne, • ? leaves Chester, 2 3 taken to Durham, taken to Lindisfarne, 2 3 disinterred first time, 5 5 translated in 1104, 2 3 examined on Aug. 24, .. again, Aug. 25, 25 2 3 again, Aug. 29, 2 3 re-interred in 1542, Boisil receives St. Cuthbert at Mailros, his love for Cuthbert, ... e e is teaches Cuthbert St. John's Gospel, tº º ſº. tº gº tº tº $ tº prophecy concerning Cuthbert, dies of plague, ... & Cº º e & ſº Bollandists' account of translation in 1104, Bolton Priory, state of ruins, Priors, tº gº & tº is tº Bones of St. Bede, ... e is g tº gº º Saints Oswald, Aidan, Ead- bert, Eadfrid, and Ethel- wold, put into St. Cuth- bert's coffin, found in 1827, 2 3 ?? 2 132 | Book of the Gospels, ... s tº e 113, 261 ,, St. John's Gospel, ... 160, 289 | Bosa, Bishop of Deira, 307 || Bracelets, two, 261 || Branches, chapel of, ... 262 | Brough manuscript, ... tº a º tº a tº 153 | Buckley, last Prior of Westminster, 209 | Budle chapel, & 134, 211 Buildings at Farne, ... 90 | Burnsal church, 9 | Burse, found in coffin, 279 | Butterby, legend concerning, 92 262 105 C 270 | Carileph, Bishop, & 4 tº e º I22 removes the secular clergy, 188 and brings monks to Dur- 101 ham, & © tº tº $ tº & Cº º 302 pulls down Aldhune's church, Cardinal Langley, 313 | Carham church, gº º ſº & is tº is e (; 192 || Carlisle cathedral, panel painting in, , church, tº e & g 4 * * 86 Catholicity rooted in the North-men, 123 Cavers chapel, & E & tº e º 4 124 Cell of St. Cuthbert at Farne, 133 3 2 repaired by Ethelwold, 142 Ceremony of the translation in 1104, 157 | Chalice found in St. Cuthbert's 158 coffin, 164, 163 | Chapel Knoll, 167 | Chapel of the nine altars, tº g 195 || Character of St. Cuthbert, ... * * * 12 | Chasuble, St. Cuthbert's, 142, 164, 174, 13 | Chester-le-Street, See fixed at, 3 5 church of wood, 18 5 3 driven from by Danes, 18 Church, Green, at Lindisfarne, 18 ,, White, at Durham, ,, Great, 157 ,, Jarrow, tº ſº tº tº e g tº dº e 265 Churches, ancient, dedicated to St. 266 Cuthbert : 268 Prior Wessington's list of, 162 In Scotland : Kirkcudbright, Edinburgh, * * * Mailros, 247, 98 Melrose, 248, 200 Cavers, 320 323 51 208 148 291 211 260 40 265 205 124 26 I53 155 287 260 289 262 J 90 257 37 40 181 175 248 186 90 309 121 122 123 64 129 129 131 103 256 256 257 257 257 Churches: In Berwickshire : Coldingham, ... In Northumberland : Norham, Carham, Tillmouth, ë tº tº º St. Cuthbert's Island, Farne Island, Budle, ..., Tuggal, Elsdon, Bedlington, Bellingham, ... Haydon Bridge, Beltingham, ... In Cumberland : Bewcastle, Carlisle, Salkeld, Edenhall, Plumbland, Embleton, Lorton, In Westmoreland : Cliburn, Dufton - Clifton, In Lancashire : Aldingham, Kirkby-Ireleth, Overkellet, Halsall, Lytham, Mellor, In Yorkshire, West Riding: Ackworth, Fishlake, Peasholme, Burnsal, Embsay, tº º º Bolton, © tº e tº e e In Yorkshire, North Riding: Forcett, Barton, South Cowton, Overton, Marske, Kildale, Kirkleatham, .. Wilton, 353 269 269 269 269 269, 270 270 270 271 272 272 272 272 273 273 273 274 274 271 272 274 278 279 279 279 279 279 279 279 279 279 63 43 153 74 98 147 176 200 20 63 14 INDEX. Churches: Ormesby, º 258 Marton, tº gº º # * * Middleton-upon-Leven, 259 In Durham : 260 Durham, 260 Darlington, 260 Redmarshall, ... 260 Billingham, 260 Chester-le-Street, 261 Offerton, 261 In other counties: 261 Glen Magna, ... 261 Bedford, 262 Arden, 262 Shustoke, Wells, ... tº º is 262 Cubert, tº it tº tº dº ſº 262 Durham College Chapel, 262 Lixtune, tº ſº tº tº gº º 262 Thetford, 263 Chapels in churches: 263 Furness, 263 York, ... St. Albans, 263 Modern churches: 263 Ushaw, 263 Durham, s North Shields, 263 Crook, 263 Wigton, 263 Cowpen, 263 Amble, 264 Berwick, & 264 Chester-le-Street, Cornforth, ..., e tº gº tº e º 264 | Churches of St. Cuthbert not entered 264 by women, ... gº tº 264 Churn on Farne Island, * † tº 265 | Clergy, secular, removed from Dur- 265 ham, e tº wº tº & tº tº ſº q tº tº e 265 | Coffin, Abbot Cudda's, tº gº tº tº e e ,, St. Cuthbert's, carried fro 268 Lindisfarne, tº tº º tº tº e 268 ,, wooden substituted for stone, 268 || Coffins, St. Cuthbert's, 268 ,, found in 1827, a tº gº 268 || Coldingham, St. Cuthbert visits, ... 268 2 3 irregularities, ... 268 Columba's (St.) rule,... tº º º tº gº tº 268 Comb, St. Cuthbert's, 164, 175, 205, 324 23 354 INDEX. Comparison between St. Cuthbert and the Patriarch Joseph, 139 Con, river, e - e. º 121 Conclusion, tº e • * - ... 324 Consecration of Durham high altar, 227 Coquet Island, 49 Corman, monk of Iona, 9 Corporal and paten, ... 164 Corporal, & º º tº dº º tº º a 301 Course pursued by monks, ... I02 Cove, Cuddy's, • tº e tº a tº 33, 43 Cover of St. Cuthbert's shrine, 231 Coverings of St. Cuthbert's body, ... 171 Cow on east transept, º, º e 126 Crake, St. Cuthbert's body at, 119 11 12 12 13 14 15 15 16 16 17 18 Cross, St. Cuthbert's, at Farne, 42, 310 2 3 2 3 Lindisfarne, 311 Ethelwold's, 311 Tosti's, * * - tº º - 312 wooden, on Red Hills, ... 313 blue marble, 313 Sanctuary, 6. e tº º 314 on St. Cuthbert's banner, 314 on Durham seal, 315 St. Oswald’s, 317 red velvet on banner, ... 318 found in 1827, ... ... 205, 318 St. Margaret's, ... 320 Evewood’s, 320 Rhodes', ... 320 Holy Island, 320 Feretory crosses, 320 Cruelty of the Danes, 96 Cuthbert ducks, 46 their plumage, ... tº e º ... 46 habits described by Reginald, ... 47 9 3 ,, Galfrid, 48 Cuthbert, St. : his biographers, ... • * I the Irish life rejected, ... 3 his birthplace 5 etymology of his name, 5 probable date of his birth, 5 as a boy, tended sheep, 5, 11 his personal appearance, 5 his love of boyish sports, 5 check he received, 6 cured of lameness, tº c e 7 vessels saved by his prayers, ... 7 his vision of St. Aidan's passage, 8, 10 chose Mailros Monastery, 11 Cuthbert, St. : miraculously fed on his road to, received by Prior Boisil, 5 § Abbot Eata, signs of his future sanctity, Boisil teaches him Scripture, ... he is removed to Ripon, made Guest-master entertains an angel returns to Mailros, recovers from plague, ... © tº - studies St. John's Gospel under Boisil on his death-bed, succeeds Boisil as Prior of Mail- ros, tº e - e his life as Prior, ... - G - tº tº e visits Abbess Ebba at Colding- ham, ... tº a tº his austerities there, miracles worked by him, removed from Mailros to Lindis- farne, ... © a º e e e made Prior of Lindisfarne, his life at Lindisfarne, ... draws up a rule of life, ... his spirit of prayer, his example, sº tº tº º º retires from Lindisfarne A.D. 676, goes to St. Cuthbert's Island, ..., removes to Farne, his cell there, e - e. obtains water miraculously, his solitary life, ... cultivates grain, ... tº e e * - © visited by the Lindisfarne breth- Tell, ... - - - - © tº his affection to the ducks, visited by people, e tº º * * * cures Elfleda and a nun by his girdle, ... tº e - • * tº tº e - meets Elfleda at Coquet Island, is chosen Bishop of Hexham, ... takes see of Lindisfarne, consecrated at York, interview with Bishop Eata, cures King Egfrid's servant, advises Egfrid, ... e sees Egfrid's death n spirit, his life as Bishop, his missionary zeal 4 is 19 19 20 20 20 24 24 28 28 29 31 32 33 33 37 38 44 45 45 46 48 49 49 51 51 52 53 54 54 54 55 56 INDEX. Cuthbert, St. : his prophecy to Herbert, visit to Carlisle, ... e tº º tº tº º restores the wife of Earl Heunna, cures Ethelwald's sister, ,, Hildemer’s wife, ... cures a young man in fever, ,, a dying child, changes water to wine, ... foretells death of Hadwald, his character cleared of miso- gyny, ... tº $ tº tº . . . forbids women his churches, the reason why, his appearance as bishop, retires from active life to Farne, his last illness, ... gº º º tº $ tº his instructions concerning his burial, ... he leaves his cell, and goes into the hospitium, his food for five days, ... Bede waits on him, ... tº $ tº monks ask his leave to bury hi at Lindisfarne, & ſº tº tº g tº conditions on which it is granted, returns to cell from hospitium, Walhstod only goes with him, 2 3 is cured, he receives the last sacraments, his last discourse, his decease, * & tº º ſº tº g & Herbert departs at same time, ... his body removed to Lindisfarne, ,, is prepared for interment, devil expelled by the water in which the body was washed, he is buried at Lindisfarne, his character, ... tº º tº tº º & he is patron of Northumbria, and especially of Durham, ... a leper cured at his shrine, compared with St. Edmund and Etheldrith, ... tº tº ſº tº º e compared with St. Edmund and St. Thomas, a paralytic cured, woman named Agnes cured, a Lindisfarne monk cured a monk cured of paralysis by his shoes, 58 59 60 60 60 60 60 61 63 63 64 65 66 72 73 74 76 76 76 77 78 79 79 79 79 80 82 84 86 87 87 87 89 89 89 90 90 90 90 91 91 355 Cuthbert, St. : Felgeld cured, 91 Bethwegen cured, tº ... 92 Dacre, monk, cured by his hair, 93 First flight. Body removed, A.D. 875, 96 Sea opens to let it pass, ... 99 people follow it, ... e is tº ... 101 the cortège halts at certain places marked by churches dedicated to St. Cuthbert, 103, 104, (See Churches dedicated to St. Cuthbert.) seven chosen to bear the body, journey through Northumber- land, .. tº tº e tº º tº º ſº journey through Cumberland, ... 2 3 Westmoreland, 2 3 Lancashire, 3 2 Yorkshire, 9 3 Durham, he appears to Alfred, g they resolve to fly into Ireland, sail from Derwent, are driven back to land, provide a car for the body, he appears in a vision, ... they arrive at Crake in 882, body deposited at Chester-le- Street, and see fixed there, ... Second flight. they are driven from Chester, ... fly to Ripon, remain four months, remove to Durham, the Bough chapel, the White church, the great church, Third flight. they leave Durham, go to Jarrow, , Bedlington, ,, Tuggal ,, Lindisfarne, he appears to Earnan, ... they return to Durham, compared with patriarch Joseph, First disinterment, A.D. 698. state of his body, the body found entire, ... napkin taken off head, ... 129, 129, 129, 108 105 108 109 109 109 109 110 III 111 112 112 115 116 119 121 123 123 124 124 148 148 149 131 132 132 134 . 134 135 137 139 141 142 142 356 INDEX. Cuthbert, St. : shoes off feet, chasuble removed, hair cut off, tº o º body put in a wooden coffin, ... First translation. translation to great church, his hair, ... & e - tº º º e tº º he cures the Archbishop of York, Second translation. his tomb in cloister-garth, translation to Carileph’s church, Second eacamination. the body examined, found whole, examined again, ... • examined a third time, ... the nine who touched it, its coverings, the episcopal robes, workmanship of the coffins, the translation, ... the shrine, Norman, 2 3 improved Third eacamination. his coffin opened, A.D. 1537, ... the body found entire, ... his leg broken, ... gold ring on finger, - tº gº the body re-interred, ... tº tº ºn the vault in St. Cuthbert's fere- tory opened in 1827, ... coffins found, robes, skeleton, ... comb, portable altar, burse, CrOSS, stole, two maniples, two bracelets, girdle, ... e - - tº tº º - - - tradition regarding the removal of St. Cuthbert's body, proved a priori, ,, a posteriori, Monuments in his honour: Ancient churches. Durham Cathedral, .. (See Durham.) 160, 193, 142 143 146 147 149 150 153 155 157 170 161 163 163 169 171 173 176 181 185 187 186 193 194 I94 195 197 199 201 203 205 205 205 205 205 205 205 205 209 217 217 221 Cuthbert, St. : his feretory, his shrine, his banner, his pix, to tº º his shrine defaced, Lindisfarne Priory church, ... (See Lindisfarne.) Melrose Abbey church, (See Melrose.) in Scotland, in Berwickshire, in Northumberland, ... in Cumberland, in Westmoreland, ... in Lancashire, in Yorkshire, ... in Durham, in other counties, Chapels in churches: Furness, York, ... St. Alban's, Modern churches. Ushaw Collegiate Chapel, Durham, tº e tº tº $ tº North Shields, Crook, Wigton, Cowpen, Amble, Berwick, e e Chester-le-Street, Cornforth, Sculptured monuments. two statues at Durham, at Fishlake, at Melrose, ... e - - *...** at Chester-le-Street, ... at York, e tº º • e - ancient ones destroyed, modern ones, ... Pictured monuments. On glass: formerly in Durham Cathe- dral, ... * * * - * * * * * formerly in Durham cloisters, now in York Cathedral, On panel and on walls : in Carlisle Cathedral, in Durham Galilee, 229 229 234 237 239 240 247 256 258 259 262 263 263 264 269 272 271 272 274 278 279 279 279 279 279 279 279 279 279 280 280 281 281 281 281 283 284 286 287 289 290 Cuthbert, St. : in manuscripts, Poems in his honour: Bede's Metrical life, ... . the Leonine life, the Lincoln's Inn life, the Irish Leonine life, Prior Laurence's life, anonymous life poem by the monk John, Personal relics of That once eacisted : his corporal, ... tº g tº St. Cuthbert's banner, his staff, gloves, and girdle, his tooth, tº € g ſe his bell, his chasuble, ... his winding-sheet, his Sandals, tº º o St. Cuthbert's cross, ... cross at Farne, Cross at Lindisfarne, ..., Ethelwold's cross, Earl Tosti's cross, tº e e wooden cross on Red Hills, ... blue marble cross, Sanctuary cross, banner crosses, cross on the chapter-seal, King Oswald's cross, ... red cross on banner, ... cross found in 1827, ... Now eacisting : his copy of the Gospels, or “the Durham book,” & his copy of St. John's Gospel, his comb, tº a tº tº 9 tº tº e tº his ring, e º ºs his portable altar, © tº º Cynemund, priest at Lindisfarne, ... ID INDEX. 290 293 293 293 294 295 295 297 301 303 305 307 307 309 309 306 310 310 311 311 312 312 313 314 315 315 317 318 318 320 323 324 323 324 73 Date of St. Cuthbert's decease, Dacre monastery, Decease of St. Cuthbert, Dedication of Great Church, Deira, province of Northumbria, Derwent river, tº $ tº Derwent Water Island, Description of Farne Island, Description of Lindisfarne, ... St. Cuthbert's Island, ... tº tº 0 St. Cuthbert's body in 1104, ... Durham Cathedral, tº tº º Disinterment of St. Cuthbert's body, Doubts concerning it, tº £ tº Dufton church, Durham : Book of the Gospels— lost, tº º found, ... described, tº e tº tº e º book of life, e - © e tº º tº tº º body of St. Cuthbert arrives at prebends, or secular canons, 132, flight from, return to, , church reconciled, like Jerusalem, .. e like Rome, tº gº tº tº e tº gº tº her branch houses suppressed ... monastery suppressed ... Cathedral— mass restored in, made a prison, described, ground-plan, ... elevation-plan, Norman shrine, measurements, doorways and staircases, date and style of parts, west screen, ... e tº º altar screen, tº e e high altar, ... tº dº tº * - sº canopy for Blessed Sacrament, plate and lamps, liber vitae, ... © & tº tº º ſº. book of relics, vestments, &c., feretory of St. Cuthbert, shrine in feretory, altar in ditto, ... cover of shrine, 117, Danes on the coast of Northumbria, they sack Lindisfarne in 793, ... 3 5 2 3 in 875, ... they set fire to Lindisfarne, they drive bishop and clergy from Chester-le-Street, Darlington church, ... tº ſº wº tº tº º Date of St. Cuthbert's profession, ... 94 95 96 96 123 269 12 187, 357 82 146 82 129 112 58 34 25 33 171 220 141 165 263 112 114 320 228 124 150 I31 137 137 128 138 191 191 216 216 220 221 221 221 222 222 222 224 225 227 227 228 228 229 229 229 231 231 358 INDEX. Durham : almeries in feretory, ... 232 relics in almeries, 233 library in feretory, 234 banner in feretory, 234 master and his chamber, 235 pix of St. Cuthbert, ... 236 expenses offeretory, ... 237 shrine destroyed, 239 Norman wall-paintings in, 290 St. Cuthbert's feast at, ... 275 fair held at, 277 chapel in castle, ... 269 College chapel, Oxford, 273 Catholic chapel, ... 278 IE Eadbert— repairs Lindisfarne, 26 is made Bishop, ... tº 9 tº ... 88 allows St. Cuthbert's body to be taken up, & ... 142 his decease, tº e & ... 146 Eadfrid, Bishop, Bede's life dedi- cated to, tº a º tº gº & e tº wº I Eadmer, & & tº tº gº tº 124 Eadred advises Bishop Eardulf, 97 Eardulf suggests flight, ... 96 fixes see at Chester-le-Street, ... 121 last bishop of Lindisfarne and first of Chester-le-Street 122 Earnan's vision of St. Cuthbert and St. Oswald, ... tº º ſº. tº ſº e ... 135 Eata, Abbot, receives St. Cuthbert, 12 removes him to Lindisfarne, ... 24 Bishop of Bernicia, ... ... 51 Ebba of Coldingham visited by St. Cuthbert, e ſº tº & e º ... 20 Edenhall church, 262 stained glass in, ... 288 Edinburgh church, ... 256 Edmund, 106, 118 Edward’s last orders, º ºg & ... 122 Egfrid's servant cured by St. Cuth- 'bert, ... tº e tº tº & º ... 54 neglects St. Cuthbert's advice, and is killed, ... 54 Eider, or Cuthbert duck, 46 Eilaf, ... 118 Eistan at Farne, 39 Elfleda, abbess, and a nun, cured by St. Cuthbert's girdle, 49 has interview with St. Cuthbert, 49 Elsdon church, 261 Embleton church, gº tº tº ... 263 Embsay Priory church, tº e e ... 265 Episcopal robes of St. Cuthbert's body, gº º º tº £ tº 173 Ethelwald at Farne, ... tº gº tº ... 39 sister of, cured by St. Cuthbert, 60 Bishop, cross at Lindisfarne, ... 311 Evewood's cross, e e tº 320 Eugenius, an Irish bishop, ... tº º e 3 Eye cured by St. Cuthbert's hair, ... 92 F Fair on St. Cuthbert's feast, 277 Famine during flight, ſº ... 114 Farewell discourse of St. Cuthbert, 80 Farne Island : Cuthbert removes to, 33 described by Simeon, 34 Cuthbert's cell there, 37 two wells on, tº tº te e & ... 38 inhabited by Ethelwald, 40, 91 3 2 ,, Felgeld, 40 2 3 , , Ælric, ... ... 40 5 5 , Bartholomew an AElwin, ... 40 its state in the twelfth century, 40 ,, in Leland's time, 42 cross there, 42, 310 its present state, 42 fort at, .. tº e tº g º º 43 St. Cuthbert's return to, 72 chapel, tº e g º º tº ... 260 vision of St. Cuthbert at, 66 Farnham, Bp., finishesDurhamchurch, 156 Fate of Lindisfarne monks, ... 100 Feast of St. Cuthbert, Sept. 4, 149 9 3 in March and Sept., 274 5 5 how formerly kept, 275 Felgeld at Farne, ... tº a tº ... 40 Feretory of St. Cuthbert, 229 screen round, 238 shrine in, 230 altar in, ... tº $ tº 231 masters and clerks, 236 how left in 1542, 196 vault in, opened in 1827, 197 crosses, 320 359 Herefrid relates last illness of St. Cuthbert, tº & C tº g tº ... 73 waits on him, ... tº e Q ... 76 washes his ulcer, ... 76 obtains leave to bury him at Lindisfarne, ... tº º tº ... 78 gives last Sacraments to him, ... 79 Heswell, Richard, monk, ... ... 199 Heunna, Earl's wife cured by St. Cuthbert, ..., g tº tº * tº e ... 60 Higbald returns to Lindisfarne, ... 96 Hildemer's wife cured by St. Cuth- bert, is e tº e is tº 23, 60 Holy Island, ... e is tº tº ſº tº ..., 26 Holyrood cross, e tº º tº ſº tº ... 302 Horse to carry bier, ... tº g tº ... 117 Horseflesh and cheese eaten durin famine, tº tº tº tº tº º * 6 it ... 119 Howburn, St. Cuthbert's cave, 33, 109 Hugh, Abbot of Selby, tº tº e ... 167 Hunred, 106, 115, 117 I, J Illness, last, of St. Cuthbert, ... 73 Illuminations in MSS. of St. Cuthbert, 291 Ingwald, monk of Wearmouth, ... 12 Interview between St. Cuthbert and Elfleda, tº ſº tº tº º tº * g e ... 49 2 3 3 2 ,, and Eata, ... 53 2 3 3 3 ,, and Herbert, 59 Iona, ... tº ſº tº g is º © º º tº tº e 9 monks invited to convert Ber- nicia, ... is tº tº * * * tº it a 9 Ireland, flight towards, tº a tº ... 112 Irish Life of St. Cuthbert, ... * * * 3 Poetical Life, ... g º º e ſº tº 3 Island, St. Cuthbert's, * g ſº ... 33 chapel on, * { } { } tº e tº 33, 260 Jarrow church, g & tº g is wº ..., 131 flight to, ... e ‘º tº & ... 132 John, monk of Durham's poem, ... 297 K INDEX. Fern islands, ..., & tº e e tº e ... 35 Finan, Bishop, rebuilds Lindisfarne, 26 Fire at the Bedlington nobleman's, 133 Fishlake church, tº º ſº tº $ & ... 264 statue of St. Cuthbert at, ... 280 Flambard, Bishop, continues Durham Cathedral, ... is e & © tº º ... 156 Flight with St. Cuthbert's body: first, tº ſº tº tº g tº tº tº º ... 102 Second, ... e g tº g is a ... 123 third, ... gº tº * tº $ tº ... 131 Forcett church, e º 'º tº a g ... 268 Fosser, Prior of Durham, ... ... 301 Foundation of Durham Cathedral laid, 155 Franco, tº g e tº º º tº tº e 106, 115 Frithestan, ... i 207 Furness, St. Cuthbert's chapel at, ... 271 G. Galilee at Durham, ... tº e e ... 65 Gamelo, & © & tº is tº # E & ... 150 Gillo-Michael, tº º º tº º gº ... 135 Girdle of St. Cuthbert, ... 49, 205, 305 Glass, stained, of St. Cuthbert, ... 284 Gloves of St. Cuthbert, & G e ... 305 Glen-Magna church, ... & a tº ... 272 Gospels, Book of, falls into sea, ... 113 found again, ... tº º e ... 116 described, * tº g tº º 116, 321 St. John's, tº ſº tº tº a º ... 323 2 3 studied by St. Cuthbert, 18 Grave of St. Cuthbert disturbed, ... 197 Great church, tº gº º tº ſº º ... 129 Green church, tº sº e º, º º ... 64 Guest-house at Farne, tº s º ... 42 EI Hadwald's death foretold by St. Cuthbert, tº º & & © tº ... 63 Hair of St. Cuthbert, ...93, 146, 150 Halfdene, leader of Danes, ... ... 96 Haliworkfolk, ë tº tº e tº º ... 137 Halsall church, tº e e © tº º ... 263 Harpsfield, 192, 194 Hartlbrecins, ... tº ſº tº tº $ tº g is tº 3 Haydon Bridge church, ... ... 262 Henley, Dr., ... e tº gº ... 192 Henry VI. visits Durham Cathedral, 189 Herbert of Derwentwater, 58, 84 Herefrid, priest, corrects Bede's Life, 2 abbot of Lindisfarne, ... ... 17 Kells in Meath, & e º tº tº º 3 Kenspid, St. Cuthbert's foster-mother, 22 lived at Wrangholm, ... ... 23 Kildale church, tº º º tº e e ... 268 Kirkcudbright church, * g e ... 256 Kirkby-Ireleth church, tº tº e ... 263 Kirk-leatham church, tº e ſº ... 268 360 INDEX. I. Lameness, St. Cuthbert cured of, ... 7 Langley, Cardinal, 287 Laurence's, Prior, poem, 295 Leader, river, gº ºn tº 11 Lee, Dr., • * * * - e. - © tº ... 192 Leicester, Abbot of, receives portion of winding sheet, ... 310 Leofwine, - - - e e - 6 º' g ... 159 Leper cured at St. Cuthbert's shrine, 89 Libellus de ortu S. Cuthberti, 3 Liber Vitae, ... e - e. 228 Life of St. Cuthbert : by the Lindisfarne monk, 1 Bede, • a tº tº º 0. º 1 Bede's metrical life, 293 Leonine life after Bede, 293 Irish leonine life, ... 294 Lingard’s account of the translation, 177 Lindisfarne : - yellow plague at, g 17 St. Cuthbert made Prior of, 24 described, * - - 25 by Reginald, 25 Bede, - e ºl 25 Prior Wessington, ... 26 Simeon, 26 called Holy Island, 26 church rebuilt by Finan, 26 repaired by Eadbert, 26 the see preferred to Hexham, ... 53 Green church, ... - - - ... 64 vision of St. Cuthbert at, 66, 68 St. Cuthbert consents to be buried at, 78 his body taken to, 86 sacked by Danes in 793, 94 burnt by Danes in 875, 97 abandoned by monks, ... 101 bishops of, - - 101 flight from Durham to, 13} sea opens to receive them re- turning, tº º 0. 134 Priory church at, 240 its date, 240 architect, 241 priors, ... 242 dissolution, tº 4 tº 242 present state of ruins, 243 ground and elevation-plan, ... 243 measurements, 243 Lindisfarne : arrangements, tº dº e tº c 6 St. Cuthbert's cenotaph at, ... Cross at, ... gospels, ... List of : bishops of Lindisfarne. bishops of Chester-le-Street, bishops and priors of Durham. feretory masters and clerks, priors of Holy Island, abbots of Melrose, priors of Bolton, Lixtune in Cheshire, Lorton church, Lytham church, M Mailros, or Old Melrose : St. Cuthbert born near, enters monastery there, described, St. Cuthbert, Prior of, ... - - - interview between St. Cuthbert and Eata at, ... Maniples, e G e • e - - © tº e - - Manuscript illuminations of St. Cuth- bert, * - - Margaret's, St., cross, Marske church, Marton church, stained glass in, • * * tº a tº Mass in Durham Cathedral in 1569, Mellor church, Melrose, tº º º its situation, ... - tº º foundation and destruction, ground and elevation-plan, proportions, state of the ruins, author's visit to, when best seen, ... tº e º statue of St. Cuthbert at, Melsonby, Prior, © º º tº e ºs Middleton-on-Leven church, Milner, Bishop, s e e © tº e Miracle by St. Cuthbert's hair, Missionary zeal of St. Cuthbert, Mitford, miracle at, ... Monks brought to Durham, Montague, Wiscount, 13, 247, 245 246 311 320 101 122 I88 236 242 249 268 274 263 264 291 320 268 269 288 216 264 247 248 248 249 249 250 252 254 281 186 269 210 146 56 309 153 323 INDEX. 361. Monument of the cow, 126 Parentage of St. Cuthbert, ... 5 Muriadach, King, 3 | Patrimony of St. Cuthbert, ... 121, 137 Mulluçe, • * * 3 Peasholme church, e e * 264 g Pegnaleth, ..., tº e is tº gº º ... 17 N Personal appearance of the boy Cuth- Names of the escort during the second bert, e = * 5 flight, tº tº gº tº gº gº ... . . . 128 53 ,, the Bishop Cuthbert, 67 Names of the nine that touched St. Personal relics.of St. Cuthbert, 301 Cuthbert's body, tº º º 169 || Pilgrimage of grace, ... tº e º ... 190 Napkin taken off the head, ... 142 Pix of St. Cuthbert, ... e g tº ... 237 Nero, D. 4, tº gº º 117 | Places visited by St. Cuthbert's body, 103 Nevilles, e e ſº © º e 215 Plumbland church, ... tº e º ... 263 Niduari, miracle worked at ... 22 || Poems in honour of St. Cuthbert : Norham church, * * 259 Bede's metrical life, 293 Norman wall-paintings, ... ... 290 the leonine life, ... 293 Northumbria, St. Cuthbert's birth- the Lincoln's Inn life, ... 294 place, tº e ſº tº e e 5 the Irish leonine life, 294 5 * kingdom of, described, 8 || Portable altar, St. Cuthbert's, 324 Preparation of St. Cuthbert's body O for burial, ... tº ſº tº tº º is ... 86 Offerings made to St. Cuthbert, 107 | Present state of Farne Island, 42 Onions, St. Cuthbert's food for five 2 3 ruins of Lindisfarne, 243 days, gº tº º º º te e & ... 76 2 3 ,, Melrose, 249 Opening of St. Cuthbert's grave, A.D. 3 * ,, Bolton, 266 698, ... 142 | Prior of Durham's privileges, 154 2 3 2 3 coffin, A.D. 1104, 158 ,, Laurence's poem, 295 9 3 . 32 5 2 1587, 186 | Priors of Durham, list of, 188 ,, the vault in feretory, 197 Order of Lindisfarne and Mailros monks, 14 g R. Ormesby church, 269 || Ralph, Abbot of Seez, * ... 166 Oswald, King, ſº tº tº © tº e 8 Re-interment of St. Cuthbert's body, 195 his youth spent at Iona 9 || Reginald, writes concerning St. Cuth- gave Lindisfarne to Bishop Aidan 9 bert, ... is 3 & e e ſº gº & & l beheaded by Penda, ... ... 280 his description of Lindisfarne,... 25 his head put in St. Cuthbert's his account of the translation in coffin, ... & g tº tº º e ... 98 1104, ... tº º º tº tº º ... 169 found in ditto, ..., 162, 175 | Removal of St. Cuthbert's body: replaced in ditto, 162, 175 from Farne to Lindisfarne, 86 vision of, ... I36 from Lindisfarne, 101 his cross, ... 317 from Chester-le-Street, ... 123 Overkellet church, 263 from Durham, g 131 Overton church, 269 tradition concerning the, 209 2 3 argued a priori, 213 g P 2 5 ,, a posteriori, ... 217 Paintings of St. Cuthbert, ... 284 Revival of Benedictine congregation, 211 22 2 3 on glass, ... 284 Rhodes' cross, ſº tº g tº tº tº 320 2 3 2 3 on panel and wall, 289 || Richard, Abbot of St. Albans, 167 3 5 2 3 in illuminated MSS. 291 his hand cured, ... ... 184 Paralytic cured at his shrine, 90, 91 || Ring of St. Cuthbert, 194, 323 22, 5 2 Bethwegen, 92 | Ripon monastery, 15 362 INDEX. Ripon monastery founded, ... ... 15 Statues of St. Cuthbert : St. Cuthbert made guest-master, 15 destroyed, given up to Wilfrid, ... ... 17 modern ones, St. Cuthbert's body at, 123 Stephen, Abbot, tº E & Robes found in the vault in the fere- Stitheard, 106, tory, A.D. 1827, 201 called Rap, Rodbert, cured, tº º ... ... 310 | Stole, ... ... tº e tº & e º Rule of St. Columba, ... ... 14 | Stonyhurst Gospel of St. John, 53 Cuthbert, & º ºs ... 28 || Storm prevented the brethren from leaving Farne, 2 3 3 3 from going to Farne, § 3. S Suidbert, Abbot of Dacre, Sabina, gº tº º tº tº e & S g & ſº º 3 wife of Muriardach, ... tº tº º 3 * T Salkeld church, & ſº tº tº tº º 262 | Te Deum, sung on Durham tower, ... Sanctuary at Chester-le-Street, 122 | Theodore, Archbishop : 5 5 Durham, 314 dedicates Lindisfarne church, ... 2 3 Cross, * tº e e ... 314 consecrates St. Cuthbert, Saxon book of Gospels, tº $ tº ... 320 | Thetford church, & ſº tº tº dº & Sea opens to allow the body to pass, 99 || Thomas, Archbishop of York, cured 2 3 35 2 3 return, 134 by St. Cuthbert, ... tº tº gº g & © Seal of Durham, 315 | Thridred possesses a hair of St. Cuth- Sea-book of Gospels, ... 320 bert,... tº a tº tº e ºs 93, Secular canons, tº º º gº tº e ... 212 || Thurold, Durham monk, See established at Lindisfarne, ... 53 Till, river, removed to Chester-le-Street, ... 121 Tillmouth church, 2 3 Durham, ... 123 || Tomb in cloister-garth, Servant of Egfrid cured, ... ... 54 Tooth of St. Cuthbert, Seven chosen to carry the bier, 105 || Tosti's cross, ... gº tº © e º tº ſº º Shoes of St. Cuthbert, gº tº e. tº e º 8 || Tradition regarding the removal of work a miracle, ... e a e ... 91 St. Cuthbert's body, taken off him, © tº e ... 142 Milner's account of Shrine of St. Cuthbert removed from Lingard’s, tº º º tº tº º Lindisfarne, ... tº $ tº ... 95 how far to be credited, ... the original at Durham, ... 185 proved a priori,... defaced in 1537, ... I92 ,, a posteriori, ... * * * Shustoke church, & º º ... 272 | Translation of St. Cuthbert's body : Sigfrid, monk of Lindisfarne, ... 12 to the Great Church, Simeon, writes concerning St Cuth- to the Priory Church, ... bert, ... tº º & tº e º & © º f e e I Simeon’s account, Sister of Ethelwald cured, ... ... 60 Lingard’s, Situation of cell and hospitium, ... 38 ceremony of, Skeleton found in 1827, 203 miracle at, Skull of ditto, 204 || Trinity College, Oxford : South Cowton church, 268 was Durham College, St. Cuthbert : stained glass in library, a dº tº his life and history (see Cuthbert). Troubles of Lindisfarne after th his churches (see Churches). decease of St. Cuthbert, ... Staff of St. Cuthbert, 305 | Trumwine, Bishop of Picts,... Statues of St. Cuthbert : his anecdote concerning St. Cuth- existing now 280 bert, 281 283 167 115 118 205 323 73 75 92 302 26 53 274 153 146 90 108 260 155 307 312 209 210 211 212 213 217 149 155 176 177 181 183 273 288 87 51 INDEX. Tuggall, St. Cuthbert's body at, ... 131 chapel at, * : * * * * * * ... 134 Tuda, fourth Bishop of Lindisfarne, 17 Tumbert, Bishop of Hexham, ... 51 Turgot, Prior of Durham, ... ... 188 examines St. Cuthbert's body, 158, 169 adorned St. Cuthbert's bell, ... 308 Twyford, tº gº tº tº º ſº © º 'º ... 51 Tyne, miracle at mouth of, ... ... 7 U Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria, ... 128 Ushaw collegiate chapel, ... ... 278 life of St. Cuthbert in west window, tº º º * * * ..., 288 V Werca, abbess, tº º º tº e 9 61, 171 her winding-sheet, * * g. 75, 309 Vision of St. Aidan's passage, tº a º 8 of St. Cuthbert at Ilindisfarne, 66 2 3 Farne, ... 67 3 2 Lindisfarne, 68 2 3 Lixtune, ... 70 2 3 to Earnan ... 135 Visit of St. Cuthbert to Abbess Werca, 61 2 3 to Elfleda, 62 ,, Henry VI. to St. Cuthbert's shrine, & º sº tº gº ºf ... 189 W Wagele, & º & t 17 Walhstod, monk of Lindisfarne : goes with St. Cuthbert into his cell, ... tº gº tº tº s 2 ... 79 is cured of dysentery, ... ... 79 THE END. Wanderings with St. Cuthbert's body, first flight, second, third, Wardenlaw, Wardley, Wells church, º Wessington's list of churches, Westowe, Ælfred, White church, tº $ tº ... 129, Whitehead, prior and dean, ę Whitehorn, St. Cuthbert's body lands at, ... e º & C & G Wife of Hildemer cured, Wigton chapel, Wilfrid, Bishop, William the Conqueror at Dur- ham, tº ſº tº e tº º tº º º 131, Wilton church, Wall-paintings in Durham Cathedral, Walker, John, monk of Durham, ... 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