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St. Cuthbert, His Cult and His Community to AD 1200
'Very fine collection of essays - a rich feast of scholarship with many discoveries and new interpretations of greatest value for Anglo-Saxon history.' SPECULUM
St. Cuthbert is known to many as the the saintly bishop of Holy Island inthe 7th century, but he was also a figure of great political and territorial power. The book is divided into four sections, each dealing with different aspects of Cuthbert and his milieu. Among the topics investigated are the early Lives of the Saint, two by Bede himself, and his cult; Lindisfarne, its scriptorium and of course the famous Gospels; the sumptuous treasures gathered round the coffin, such as a portable altar and elaborately-worked silks, many of which are still preserved at Durham; and St. Cuthbert's community at Chester-le-Street and Durham.
Contributors: J. CAMPBELL, CLARE STANCLIFFE, MICHAEL HERITY, BENEDICTA WARD SLG, MICHAEL LAPIDGE, WALTER BERSCHIN, ALAN THACKER, DEIRDRE O'SULLIVAN, CHRISTOPHER D. VEREY, MICHELLE P. BROWN, JANET BACKHOUSE, R. BRUCE-MITFORD, DAIBHI CRINN, NANCY NETZER, ROSEMARY CRAMP, RICHARD N. BAILEY, J.M. CRONYN, C.V. HORIE, R.I. PAGE, JOHN HIGGITT, ELIZABETH COASTWORTH, HERO GRANGER-TAYLOR, CLARE HIGGINS, ANNA MUTHESIUS, ERIC CAMBRIDGE, GERALD BONNER, LUISELLA SIMPSON, DAVID ROLLASON, DAVID HALL, A.J. PIPER, VICTORIA TUDOR
St. Cuthbert is known to many as the the saintly bishop of Holy Island inthe 7th century, but he was also a figure of great political and territorial power. The book is divided into four sections, each dealing with different aspects of Cuthbert and his milieu. Among the topics investigated are the early Lives of the Saint, two by Bede himself, and his cult; Lindisfarne, its scriptorium and of course the famous Gospels; the sumptuous treasures gathered round the coffin, such as a portable altar and elaborately-worked silks, many of which are still preserved at Durham; and St. Cuthbert's community at Chester-le-Street and Durham.
Contributors: J. CAMPBELL, CLARE STANCLIFFE, MICHAEL HERITY, BENEDICTA WARD SLG, MICHAEL LAPIDGE, WALTER BERSCHIN, ALAN THACKER, DEIRDRE O'SULLIVAN, CHRISTOPHER D. VEREY, MICHELLE P. BROWN, JANET BACKHOUSE, R. BRUCE-MITFORD, DAIBHI CRINN, NANCY NETZER, ROSEMARY CRAMP, RICHARD N. BAILEY, J.M. CRONYN, C.V. HORIE, R.I. PAGE, JOHN HIGGITT, ELIZABETH COASTWORTH, HERO GRANGER-TAYLOR, CLARE HIGGINS, ANNA MUTHESIUS, ERIC CAMBRIDGE, GERALD BONNER, LUISELLA SIMPSON, DAVID ROLLASON, DAVID HALL, A.J. PIPER, VICTORIA TUDOR
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First published January 1, 1989
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October 18, 2020
St Cuthbert, his cult and community to AD 1200, 1989, Bonner, Rollason and Stancliffe (eds), 467 pages plus plates
This is a series of papers presented at a conference in 1987 and they cover Cuthbert and all things pertaining to him very well. It comes in Four parts:
St Cuthbert, the Lives and early cult
Lindisfarne and its Scriptorium
The coffin and its treasures
St Cuthbert's community at Chester-le-Street and Durham
There are 31 (count 'em!) papers within this volume. They cover a wide range of topics with a lot concentrating on the physical aspects, such as manuscripts, silk, coffin and other artistic gubbins. As I've got marzipan that won't eat itself, I naturally read only the ones that interested me and skipped those that didn't. In a way I almost feel embarrassed about skipping so many and I probably haven't really had value for my money, but in any compilation there will be some that don't tickle everyone's fancy. There are untranslated quotes in Latin, Old English and French, which are a pain.
These are the ones that I read:
Elements in the background to the life of St Cuthbert and his early cult – J Campbell, 16 pages
This is a wonderful paper with plenty of interesting elements to it. It's the sort of thing you read and find yourself saying, 'ah, that's so obvious now that you mention it.' The quotes are in Latin, sans translation, which is a pain, but that aside, it's a fun read. Campbell points out that although Northumbria may have become a backwater after Nectansmere, it wasn't laid tribute by its southern neighbours and remained independent. The cultural achievements occurred at a time of apparent political turmoil and it's possible that high level skulduggery had a limited effect on the actual day to day functioning of the kingdom. There's a lot more in this, but it's so tightly written that a full account of the 16 pages would probably run to a lot of words.
Cuthbert and the polarity between pastor and solitary, C Stancliffe, 23 pages
This paper looks at the various Lives of Cuthbert and the motives and models behind them. There's a nice little table that shows all of this at the end. The different treatments given to Aidan (relegated to obscurity, but for Bede) and Cuthbert (lauded as the saint par excellence) is looked into, with the resulting idea being that Cuthbert was (or could be made to be) safely Roman, instead of Ionan in rites.
Lindisfarne and the origins of the Cult of St Cuthbert, Alan Thacker, 19 pages
In this paper Thacker looks as the rationale for the production of three Lives so soon after Cuthbert's death. He concludes that it was the result of tensions within the Northumbrian church between the supporters of Wilfrid and those who weren't in his party. Due to Wilfrid's unpopularity Cuthbert became a figure whom the Northumbrian 'establishment' chose to support.
Why did the community of St Cuthbert settle at Chester-le-Street? E Cambridge, 19 pages
The short answer is that they probably already had an establishment within the Roman fort there and it was a Roman fort and so pretty safe. Cambridge spends a lot of time discussing the church there, carvings and estates owned by Lindisfarne. He demonstrates the likely ownership of Chester-le-Street and this strengthens that side of the rationale for locating there. Beyond that, it was well positioned to manage their estates.
St Cuthbert at Chester-le-Street, G Bonner, 8 pages
This is an enjoyable short paper that examines the history of the community during its sojourn there. It contains the unimprovable line, 'being a landowner affords little security in the presence of a neighbour who disputes one's title and carries a battle-axe.'
St Cuthbert and Wessex, the evidence of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS183 by D Rollason, 11 pages
I found this to be quite a narrow paper. I enjoyed the general points made about how the community of St Cuthbert and the West Saxon kings used each other, but the specific attempts to link that work with the south weren't particularly fascinating. It was good to see the point made that the West Saxon bods favoured St Cuthbert over York.
The Sanctuary of St Cuthbert, D Hall, 11 pages,
This is a splendid paper that went in a different direction to what I was expecting. Instead of tales of sanctuary breakers and divine retribution, it goes into the distance from the frithstol that someone may claim sanctuary, the fines levied in proportion to this and the methods of resolving issues here. There is a short breakdown of who received parts of the fines for breaking the protection of the sanctuary. Interestingly these fines appear to have varied with how close someone was to the frithstol. At Hexham the outer boundary was a mile around the church itself and it seems possible that these outer boundaries of the divine were perhaps marked by crosses and the like.
This is a series of papers presented at a conference in 1987 and they cover Cuthbert and all things pertaining to him very well. It comes in Four parts:
St Cuthbert, the Lives and early cult
Lindisfarne and its Scriptorium
The coffin and its treasures
St Cuthbert's community at Chester-le-Street and Durham
There are 31 (count 'em!) papers within this volume. They cover a wide range of topics with a lot concentrating on the physical aspects, such as manuscripts, silk, coffin and other artistic gubbins. As I've got marzipan that won't eat itself, I naturally read only the ones that interested me and skipped those that didn't. In a way I almost feel embarrassed about skipping so many and I probably haven't really had value for my money, but in any compilation there will be some that don't tickle everyone's fancy. There are untranslated quotes in Latin, Old English and French, which are a pain.
These are the ones that I read:
Elements in the background to the life of St Cuthbert and his early cult – J Campbell, 16 pages
This is a wonderful paper with plenty of interesting elements to it. It's the sort of thing you read and find yourself saying, 'ah, that's so obvious now that you mention it.' The quotes are in Latin, sans translation, which is a pain, but that aside, it's a fun read. Campbell points out that although Northumbria may have become a backwater after Nectansmere, it wasn't laid tribute by its southern neighbours and remained independent. The cultural achievements occurred at a time of apparent political turmoil and it's possible that high level skulduggery had a limited effect on the actual day to day functioning of the kingdom. There's a lot more in this, but it's so tightly written that a full account of the 16 pages would probably run to a lot of words.
Cuthbert and the polarity between pastor and solitary, C Stancliffe, 23 pages
This paper looks at the various Lives of Cuthbert and the motives and models behind them. There's a nice little table that shows all of this at the end. The different treatments given to Aidan (relegated to obscurity, but for Bede) and Cuthbert (lauded as the saint par excellence) is looked into, with the resulting idea being that Cuthbert was (or could be made to be) safely Roman, instead of Ionan in rites.
Lindisfarne and the origins of the Cult of St Cuthbert, Alan Thacker, 19 pages
In this paper Thacker looks as the rationale for the production of three Lives so soon after Cuthbert's death. He concludes that it was the result of tensions within the Northumbrian church between the supporters of Wilfrid and those who weren't in his party. Due to Wilfrid's unpopularity Cuthbert became a figure whom the Northumbrian 'establishment' chose to support.
Why did the community of St Cuthbert settle at Chester-le-Street? E Cambridge, 19 pages
The short answer is that they probably already had an establishment within the Roman fort there and it was a Roman fort and so pretty safe. Cambridge spends a lot of time discussing the church there, carvings and estates owned by Lindisfarne. He demonstrates the likely ownership of Chester-le-Street and this strengthens that side of the rationale for locating there. Beyond that, it was well positioned to manage their estates.
St Cuthbert at Chester-le-Street, G Bonner, 8 pages
This is an enjoyable short paper that examines the history of the community during its sojourn there. It contains the unimprovable line, 'being a landowner affords little security in the presence of a neighbour who disputes one's title and carries a battle-axe.'
St Cuthbert and Wessex, the evidence of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS183 by D Rollason, 11 pages
I found this to be quite a narrow paper. I enjoyed the general points made about how the community of St Cuthbert and the West Saxon kings used each other, but the specific attempts to link that work with the south weren't particularly fascinating. It was good to see the point made that the West Saxon bods favoured St Cuthbert over York.
The Sanctuary of St Cuthbert, D Hall, 11 pages,
This is a splendid paper that went in a different direction to what I was expecting. Instead of tales of sanctuary breakers and divine retribution, it goes into the distance from the frithstol that someone may claim sanctuary, the fines levied in proportion to this and the methods of resolving issues here. There is a short breakdown of who received parts of the fines for breaking the protection of the sanctuary. Interestingly these fines appear to have varied with how close someone was to the frithstol. At Hexham the outer boundary was a mile around the church itself and it seems possible that these outer boundaries of the divine were perhaps marked by crosses and the like.
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