Book contents
- Frontamtter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- List of abbreviations
- Map
- Introduction
- 1 The Origins of Historical Writing in the Community of St Cuthbert to c.750
- 2 Preserving the Past at Chester-le-Street, c.882–995
- 3 Establishing a New Cult Centre at Durham, c.995–1080
- 4 Constructing a Monastic Past and Future at Durham, c.1083–1115
- 5 Reinterpreting the Past in the Light of the Present, c.1080–1130
- 6 Placing Durham in Time: Writing Annals and Chronicles, c.1100–1130
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Historical writing within the community of St Cuthbert, c.700–1130 211
- Bibliography
- Index of Manuscripts Cited
- Index
- Writing History in the Middle Ages
- Frontamtter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- List of abbreviations
- Map
- Introduction
- 1 The Origins of Historical Writing in the Community of St Cuthbert to c.750
- 2 Preserving the Past at Chester-le-Street, c.882–995
- 3 Establishing a New Cult Centre at Durham, c.995–1080
- 4 Constructing a Monastic Past and Future at Durham, c.1083–1115
- 5 Reinterpreting the Past in the Light of the Present, c.1080–1130
- 6 Placing Durham in Time: Writing Annals and Chronicles, c.1100–1130
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Historical writing within the community of St Cuthbert, c.700–1130 211
- Bibliography
- Index of Manuscripts Cited
- Index
- Writing History in the Middle Ages
Summary
This venerable church derived its status and its divine religion from the fervent faith in Christ of the former glorious king of the Northumbrians and estimable martyr Oswald. In praise of God and under his perpetual guardianship it preserves those relics of devout veneration, the undecayed body of the most saintly father Cuthbert and the venerable head of the same king and martyr Oswald, both lodged within a single shrine. Although for various reasons this church no longer stands in the place where Oswald founded it, nevertheless by virtue of the constancy of its faith, the dignity and authority of its episcopal throne, and the status of the dwelling-place of monks established there by himself and Bishop Aidan, it is still the very same church founded by God's command.
Composed between 1104 and 1115, Symeon of Durham's introductory commentary to the first book of his Libellus de exordio atque procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie (Tract on the Origins and Progress of this the Church of Durham) encapsulates the ways in which one author from the community of St Cuthbert used the past to explain the place of his institution within the landscape of local, regional and world events. Although the Benedictine priory to which Symeon belonged had only existed since 1083, Symeon nevertheless claimed that his community was the rightful inheritor of the entire historical, cultural, intellectual and financial legacy of the Anglo-Saxon church in Northumbria. Symeon interpreted the Anglo-Saxon past for an Anglo-Norman present, narrating the foundation and subsequent history of Cuthbert's cult within the island community of seventh-century Lindisfarne in 635, recounting the journey of this community through self-imposed exile and itinerant existence across northern Britain after 875, temporary stability at Chester-le-Street in the tenth century, translation to Durham in 995, and the final triumphant adoption of Benedictine rule under Bishop William of Saint-Calais in 1083. Depicting this story as an unbroken chain of inheritance, Symeon explained the importance of the cathedral priory within the secular and ecclesiastical history of northern England.
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- Writing History in the Community of St Cuthbert, c.700–1300From Bede to Symeon of Durham, pp. 1 - 18Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2020