II.—On an Examination of the Grave of St. Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral Church, in March, 1899

J.T. Fowler

doi:10.1017/S026134090001136X

II.—On an Examination of the Grave of St. Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral Church, in March, 1899

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 November 2011

J.T. Fowler

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Our Fellow and Local Secretary, Canon Greenwell, has recently devoted much time, thought, and labour to the piecing together of the broken portions of St. Cuthbert's coffin that were removed from the grave in 1827. Special attention having thus been directed to the matter, it was thought desirable that another examination of the grave should be made in order to recover, if possible, some of the missing fragments. For Dr. Raine expressly states that the new coffin provided in 1827 was “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 of the Saint, which had been thrown into the grave.” It was further considered that an examination of the human remains might throw some light upon the longdisputed question of the identity of the body that was placed in the grave in 1542 with that of St. Cuthbert, which had for nearly 840 years been enclosed in the coffin. After many delays, caused by the strong feeling in the minds of some whose objections rightly carried great weight, it was decided that the grave should be opened, the coffin of 1542 carefully raised, the other contents of the grave taken out, and the coffin returned to its place with its contents undisturbed.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , 1900 , pp. 11 - 28

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S026134090001136X [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1900

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^{page 11 note a} See Raine's, St. Cuthbert, 180–216.Google Scholar

^{page 11 note b} For a full account of the remains of the coffin, abundantly illustrated, see the recently published Catalogue of Sculptured Stones in the Cathedral Library, 133–156.

^{page 11 note c} St. Cuthbert, 216.

^{page 11 note d} A local term. See Rites of Durham (Surtees Society 15), 30, 32, 33, etc. This lapis marmoreus is mentioned in Durham Account Rolls (Surtees Society 100), 743.

^{page 11 note c} There were present the Dean, Canons Tristam, Farrar, Kynaston, Fowler, and Greenwell, Rev. W. Brown, R. C. priest (author of Where is St. Cuthbert buried), Rev. E. S. Taylor, F.S.A., Rev. J. Haworth, Mr. Brown, the clerk of the works, and two or three labourers. Mr. C. Hodgson Fowler, F.S.A., the cathedral architect, was asked to be present, but was unfortunately absent from Durham at the time.

^{page 13 note a} Archaeologia, xlv. 390, 391, 403.Google Scholar

^{page 13 note b} St. Cuthbert, 183.

^{page 14 note a} Cf. Rites of Durham, ch. ii., and see below, p. 17.

^{page 14 note b} It has been suggested that these chamfered stones may have formed the plinth of Heswell's tomb.

^{page 14 note c} St. Cuthbert, 184.

^{page 14 note d} Notes and Queries, No. 286, April 21, 1855, 304.

^{page 14 note e} Strictly speaking, the translation of a saint's body is the removal from a grave into a shrine either over the grave or in some other place.

^{page 15 note a} Present, the Dean, Canons Fowler and Greenwell, Rev. W. Brown, the clerk of the works, and the labourers.

^{page 15 note b} On St. Oswald's head, see Bæda, Hist. Eccl. III. xii., Symeon, Hist. Eccl. Dunelm. I. ii., and Reginaldi Vita Oswaldi in the Rolls edition of Symeon, I. App. III. xlv-li.

^{page 15 note c} The Ushaw Magazine, July, 1899, 127. In the March and July numbers of that magazine may be seen a full account, with illustrations, by Mr. Brown, writing as an eye-witness.

^{page 15 note d} Vol. ii. 425.

^{page 15 note c} See Catalogue of Sculptured Stones, 153–6.

^{page 19 note a} See Notes and Queries, xi. 225, 304.Google Scholar

^{page 19 note b} St. Cuthbert, 344.

^{page 19 note c} Chiefly from Dr. Plummer, Selby's notes in the Northumberland and Durham Medical Journal, July, 1899, 231–245.Google Scholar

^{page 20 note a} I should say that it was rather brown than “greyish.” I believed it to be the dried-up remnant of some part of the brain. J. T. F.

^{page 21 note a} I believed that I could distinguish, not only the exsiccated muscles diverging from a point at the back, but the circular form of the iris, and the rows of the roots of the eyelashes. And, speaking for myself, I have no doubt that the “plug” was a shrivelled eyeball, including the lids, which had sunk deep into the orbit. The impressions of the Rev. W. Brown coincide with mine. Whatever it was, it was observed on March 2nd, but was not examined until it fell out some days later while the skull was being handled. The other eyeball must have been lost at some earlier period. The “whitish composition” mentioned by Raine (St. Outhhert, 214) must have been some time put in on the top of the true eyeballs. J. T. F.

^{page 22 note a} Raine, , St. Cuthbert, 214.Google Scholar

^{page 23 note a} The description here referred to is from Reginald's account of the body as it lay dead in 1104, and we must not attach too much importance to it. It occurs in the Libellus de admirandis Beati Cuthberti Virtutibus (Surtees Society 1), cap. xli.

^{page 23 note b} There are countless instances of bodies being preserved in an exsiccated condition for long periods. And the cere-cloths in which the body of St. Cuthbert was swathed would keep it in shape when the limbs and body were found to be flexible in 1104 (Reginald, cap. xlii., Historica Narratio in Acta SS. Boll, xx Martii), and again at the opening of the coffin in 1537, when “Docter Ley did speke Latten to Docter Henley, that he was lieing holl ” (Rites, ch. li. p. 86). Raine found small portions of the cere-cloth in 1827 (St. Cuthbert, 197), but we found none in 1899. Among examples of bodies “found whole “may be mentioned those of our Kings Edward I. and Charles I.; of Thomas Gray, Marquis of Dorset; of Bishop Lyndwode, the canonist; of Braybroke, Bishop of London; of Thirlby, Bishop of Ely; besides the bodies of Capuchin monks now exhibited in Rome, and other bodies at Palermo, Bordeaux, and Dublin. J. T. F.

^{page 26 note a} See Durham Account Bolls (Surtees Society 100), 425–440.

^{page 26 note b} For this list I am responsible. J. T. F.

^{page 26 note c} Probably the result of some rough and unskilful separating of the limb from the body after death; for the dismembering of St. Oswald's body see Bæda, Hist. Eccl. III. xii.

^{page 27 note a} Arm-bones of St. Lucy and St. Giles are mentioned in the Liber de Reliquiis, the record referred to in subsequent notes.

^{page 27 note b} There was a relic “de pectore Sanctre Gracianæ inter mamillas.”

^{page 27 note c} There were ribs of St. Oswald, St. Laurence, St. Margaret, St. Remigius, St. Maurice, and St. Edward the king.

^{page 27 note d} There were finger-bones of St. Stephen, St. Firmin, St. Maurice, St. Andrew, and St. Jerome.

^{page 28 note a} These, the children's calvaria, and perhaps some of the other small bones, may have been imagined to be bones of the Holy Innocents.

^{page 28 note b} Liber de Reliquiis, 433.

^{page 28 note c} See above, p. 13.

^{page 28 note d} Durham Account Rolls, 451.

^{page 28 note e} Possibly the fossil shells of Gryphæa incurva, otherwise known as “Miller's thumbs “or ” Devil's toe-nails.”

^{page 28 note f} Perhaps ostrich's or other foreign birds' eggs, or even coco nuts.

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II.—On an Examination of the Grave of St. Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral Church, in March, 1899

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