Few individuals received such adulation in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History as St Cuthbert (c. 634–687). In fact, the historian wrote two separate works, one in prose and one in poetry, on the life of this famous Northumbrian bishop. For Bede, Cuthbert brought together the most important elements of Christianity in the north during the tumultuous seventh century. The two men are now buried together in Durham Cathedral, the remains of early medieval Northumbria’s most famous bishop and historian huddled together in the grave.
