II.—The Saxon Monastery of Whitby

Charles Peers; C. A. Ralegh Radford

doi:10.1017/S0261340900015101

II.—The Saxon Monastery of Whitby

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2011

Charles Peers and

C. A. Ralegh Radford

Article contents

Extract
References

Get access

Extract

It is not necessary, by way of introduction to the story of Whitby Abbey, to repeat the history of the conversion of Northumbria to Christianity in the seventh century, but the immediate causes of the foundation of the monastery may be shortly set down.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 89 , 1943 , pp. 27 - 88

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900015101 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1943

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

^{page 28 note 1} H.E., iv, 21.

^{page 28 note 2} H.E., iv, 22.

^{page 28 note 3} H.E., iv, 23.

^{page 30 note 1} Chartulary of whitty, I. Surtees Soc. LXIX (1979) p. 2.

^{page 30 note 2} Compare the reference to the ecclesia primitiva of Christchurch, Hants (MS. Cott. Tib. D. vi), which stood in a churchyard with nine other churches. These were, however, of later date and were still complete when the monastery was granted to Flambard by William the Conqueror. It is possible that such groups of churches may have suggested the description of the little stone buildings at Whitby (which must have been the ruined cellulae of the Saxon monastery) as chapels.

^{page 30 note 3} Ewald, P., ‘The Earliest Biography of Gregory I’, in Historische Aufsätze, 1886, pp. 17–55.Google Scholar

^{page 32 note 1} Lethbridge, T. C. and David, H. E., in Arch. Camb., 1930, p. 366.Google Scholar

^{page 32 note 2} R. C. H. M. Anglesey, i, 142.

^{page 32 note 3} Bryce, Thomas and Knight, G. A. Frank, Trans. Glasgow Arch. Soc., N. S., 1930, vol. viii, pt. ii, pp. 62–102.Google Scholar

^{page 34 note 1} Archaeologia, lxxiv, 265 and 270; pl. LV, I.

^{page 34 note 2} Antiquity, x, 64; pl. 11 B.

^{page 34 note 3} Bedae Vita Sancti Cuthberti, cap. 42 (Colgrave, p. 294) ‘… et involutum … corpus levique in theca reconditum supra pauimentum sanctuarii composuerunt’. Cf. ibid., ‘in levi area recondita in eodem quidem loco sed supra pauimentum … locarent’.

^{page 34 note 4} Bedae Historia Ecclesiastica, iv, 3 (Plummer, i, 212). ‘Est autem locus idem sepulchri tumba lignea in modum domunculi facta coopertus, habente foramen in pariete, per quod solent hi, qui causa deuotionis illo adueniunt, manum suam inmittere, ac partem pulueris inde adsumere.’

^{page 34 note 5} Kendrick, Anglo-Saxon Art, pl. LXXXVII; Yorkshire Arch. Journ., xix, 337.

^{page 34 note 6} Archaeologia, lxxvii, 223; pl. XXXIX.

^{page 35 note 1} Kendrick, Anglo-Saxon Art, pl. LXVII; V.C.H. Derbyshire, i, 284.

^{page 35 note 2} Fleming, St. Andrews Cathedral Museum, 7 and 8; Antiquity, xvi, 9.

^{page 35 note 3} Bedae Historia Ecclesiastica, iv, 19 (Plummer, i, 244–6).

^{page 35 note 4} Archaeologia, lxxiv, pl. LII, 1.

^{page 36 note 1} Symeon of Durham, s.a. 740 (Rolls Series 75, ii, 33): ‘Duaeque cruces lapideae mirabili celatura decoratae positae sunt, una ad caput alia ad pedes eius. In quarum una, quae scilicet ad caputest, literis insculptum est, quod in eodem loco sepultus sit.’

^{page 36 note 2} Bedae Vita Sancti Cuthberti, cap. xxxvii (Colgrave, p. 272), ‘Sepelite me in hac mansione iuxta oratorium meum ad meridiem contra orientalem plagam sanctae crucis quam ibidem erexi’.

^{page 36 note 3} Collingwood, Northumbrian Crosses, 58, figs. 72 and 73.

^{page 37 note 1} Baldwin Brown, Arts in Early England, VI, ii, 101; fig. 12.

^{page 37 note 2} Medieval re-use of these fragments of cross is further shown by moulds for buttons and other small objects cut into the face of one slab.

^{page 39 note 1} Westwood, Lapidarium Walliae, pl. 5; Arch. Camb., 1938, p. 48.

^{page 40 note 1} Owing to war conditions it was unfortunately found impossible to include a detailed commentary on the Runic inscriptions (pl. xxv) which were not available for examination at time of writing.

^{page 40 note 2} Pillar of Eliseg Conmarch (first half of ninth century), ‘pinxit hoc chirografum rege suo poscente’ (Arch. Camb., 1938, p. 43).Google Scholar

^{page 40 note 3} Cf. Chronicon S. Huberti Andaginensis (St. Hubert in the Ardennes). Among the list of monks (c. 1050) ‘… Falconem praecentorem … in illuminationibus capitalium litterarum et incisionibus lignorum et lapidum peritum …’ (Mon. Germ. Hist., Scriptores VIII, 572–3).

^{page 41 note 1} The date of this cross has been much disputed, but there seems no valid reason for rejecting Father Haigh's original identification (Yorkshire Arch. Journ., iii, 372) of the Oedilburga commemorated with the abbess present at the death of King Aldfrith in 705 (Eddius, Vita S. Wilfridi, 59, in Historians of Church of York, i, 88, Rolls Series).

^{page 41 note 2} Vita S. Gregorii, cap. xix, in Historische Aufsätze … G. Waitz gewidmet, p. 53.

^{page 41 note 3} Archaeologia, lxxvii, 203, and pl. xxx.

^{page 42 note 1} Bede, Hist. Eccl., iii, 24.

^{page 42 note 2} Ibid., iv, 26.

^{page 42 note 3} Bede, Vita Sancti Cuthberti, passim, and Vita S. Cuthbert auctore anonymo, passim.

^{page 42 note 4} Eddius, Vita Wilfridi Episcopi, capp. 43, 59, and 60, in Historians of the Church of York, i, 61 and 88–92, Rolls Series. Aeddi in his account of the synod by the River Nith refers to her as ‘beata Aelfleda abbatissa, semper totius provinciae consolatrix optimaque consiliatrix’ (ibid., cap. 60).

^{page 42 note 5} Bede, Hist. Eccl., iii, 24, ‘completo … LX annorum numero’ implies the latter; Ann. Lauresheim, in Mon. Germ. Hist., Scriptores I, 24, and Ann. Ult, both s.a. 713.

^{page 42 note 6} William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum, iii, 116, Rolls Series, p. 254.

^{page 43 note 1} Plummer, in Bede, Hist. Eccl., ii, 175.

^{page 43 note 2} Vita S. Oswaldi, cap. xi; apud Symeon of Durham, in Rolls Series, i, 349.

^{page 43 note 3} Hist. Eccl., ii, 7.

^{page 43 note 4} Op. cit., iii, 11.

^{page 43 note 5} Cf. Vita S. Gregorii, cap. 19, speaking of the translation of King Edwin ‘hec eadem sancta ossa cum ceteris conduntur regibus nostris’ in Historische Aufsätze, ut supra.

^{page 44 note 1} Baldwin Brown, Arts in Early England, v, pl. XXII.

^{page 45 note 1} e.g. the Lindisfarne Gospels: Lowe, Codices Latini Antiquiores, ii, no. 187; cf. p. xi.

^{page 46 note 1} Keary, British Museum Catalogue of English Coins: Anglo-Saxon Series, i, 143.

^{page 46 note 2} Ant. Journ., xx, 508.

^{page 47 note 1} Antiquity, vi, 161.

^{page 47 note 2} Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, i, 376: Pope Sergius, 687–701.

^{page 48 note 1} Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, ii, 13: ‘Predictus uero uenerabilis pontifex [sc. Leo III] fecit in basilica doctoris mundi beati Pauli apostoli calices maiores fundatos ex argento purissimo, ex ipsius apostoli donis, qui pendent in arcora maiora, numero xi, et alios qui pendent inter columnas maiores dextra leuaque numero xl pens, simul lib. cclxvii.’

^{page 48 note 2} Cf. the use of a bronze chalice by St. Columbanus; Vita S. Galli, by Walafrid Strabo in Mabillon, Acta SS. ord. S. Benedicti, ii, 229: ‘Nam preceptor meus Beatissimus Columbanus in vasis aeneis Domino solet sacrificium offerre salutis: quia fertur et Salvator noster clavibus aeneis Cruci confixus.’

^{page 48 note 3} e.g. that of Charles the Bald enthroned: Paris MS. lat. I, fol. 423; Omont, Peintures de la première bible de Charles le Chauve, pl. VIII.

^{page 48 note 4} Ibid., pl. IX-XVI.

^{page 48 note 5} Alcuin, Versus de sanctis euboricensis eclesiae, 280 sq., in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Poet. Lat. Medii Aevi, i, 176:

Sanctaque suspendit [sc. St. Oswald] varios per tecta lucernas,

Esset in templis caeli stellantis imago,

Christicolasque greges duxit devotus in illis,

Ut fierent domino laudes sine fine canentum.

^{page 48 note 6} e.g. Petrograd Qu. I. N. 13, fol. 3 b = Zimmermann, Vorkarolingische Miniaturen, pl. 88.

^{page 50 note 1} e.g. St. Jerome, Opera, Epistola XXII, vol. i, 117: ‘Aurum liquescit in literis, gemmis codices vestiuntur et nudus ante foras eorum Christus moritur.’

^{page 50 note 2} Venturi, Storia dell'Arte italiana, ii, 9, and fig. 78.

^{page 50 note 3} e.g. Vita S. Wilfridi, cap. XVII, in Historians of the Church of York, Rolls Series, i, 27.

^{page 52 note 1} e.g. the covers of the Lindisfarne Gospels made by Billfrith the anchorite: E. G. Millar, The Lindisfarne Gospels, p. 3.

^{page 52 note 2} Stokes, Early Christian Art in Ireland, p. 77.

^{page 52 note 3} Mahr, Christian Art in Ireland, i, pls. 57–8.

^{page 64 note 1} Regula Sci Benedicti, cap. LV, apud Migne, Patrologia Latina, lxvi, 772: ‘Et ut hoc vitium peculiare radicitus amputetur dentur ab abbate omnia quae sunt necessaria, id est cuculla, tunica, bracile, cultellus, graphium, acus, mappula, tabulae ut omnis auferatur necessitatis excusatio.’ Cf. the contemporary list of personal relics of St. Desiderius, who was murdered in the middle of the seventh century, in the Passio, cap. 10, apud Mon. Germ. Hist., Script. Rer. Meroving., vi, 62: ‘Vidimus et tabulas ipsius martyris et corneum graphium.’ Some were of costly materials (e.g. no. 80, cf. Epp. St. Bonifacii, 70, apud Mon. Germ. Hist., Epist. Aevi Merov. et Carol., i, 338, Lul to Abbess Eadburg of Thanet (745/6).: ‘Parva munuscula tuae venerandae dilectioni transmisi, id est unum graphium argenteum.’

^{page 64 note 2} e.g. Epp. Claudii Laurin. Episcopt, 2, apud Mon. Germ. Hist., ut supra, ii, 595, and Adamnan, de locis Sanctis prefatio apud Mabillon, Acta ord. St. Benedicti, III, ii, 456: ‘Arculfus … mihi Adamnano haec omnia … diligentius perscrutanti et primo in tabulas describenti … dictavit quae nunc in membranis brevi textu scribuntur.’

^{page 64 note 3} Antiq. Journ., xx, 506–7.

^{page 64 note 4} British Museum Guide, Anglo-Saxon, p. 112, fig. 138.

^{page 64 note 5} Cabrol and Leclerq, Dictionnaire d'Archéologie chrétienne et de Liturgie, vol. iv, s.v. Diptyque.

^{page 66 note 1} Cf. Radnoti, Die römischen Bronzegefässe in Pannonien.

^{page 72 note 1} Bede, Historia Abbatum, cap. V, edit. Plummer, i, 368: … nec solum opus postulatum (i.e. the windows of the church) compleuerunt, sed et Anglorum ex eo gentem huiusmodi artificium nosse et discere fecerunt; artificium nimirum uel lampadis aecclesiae claustris uel uasorum multifariis usibus non ignobiliter aptum.

^{page 72 note 2} Epp. S. Bonifatii, 116, in Mon. Germ. Hist., Epist. Karol. Aevi, i, 406.

^{page 75 note 1} A considerable quantity of late Roman pottery and coins was found on the site. The pottery includes many rims of types found in the Signal Stations of the Yorkshire coast. The material is fully discussed by Clark, M. Kitson, Gazetteer of Roman Remains in East Yorkshire (1935), pp. 138–9.Google Scholar

^{page 75 note 2} Proc. Cambridge Antiq. Soc., xxxiii, 137.

^{page 75 note 3} In a series of papers in Proc. Cambridge Antiq. Soc., viii, ix, xi, and xii; Arch. Journ., lix.

^{page 75 note 4} Proc. Prehistoric Soc. East Anglia, iv. 227; Antiq. Journ., iv, 371.

^{page 75 note 5} List in V.C.H. Cambridgeshire, i, 328.

^{page 75 note 6} Antiq. Journ., xvi, 396.

^{page 75 note 7} Antiq. Journ., xiv, 393.

^{page 75 note 8} Hull Museum Publications, nos. 193 and 198.

^{page 76 note 1} V.C.H. Durham, i, 216.

^{page 76 note 2} Antiq. Journ., xvii, 424; Antiquity, xi, 389.

^{page 76 note 3} Man, xxx (1930), no. 76.

^{page 76 note 4} Antiq. Journ., xv, 186.

^{page 78 note 1} For plain funerary pottery of the Pagan period, see Baldwin Brown, The Arts in Early England, iv, chap. X. Domestic pottery is best known from the Saxon village at Sutton Courtenay (Archaeologia, lxxiii, 176 and lxxvi, 78). Compare also pottery from hut sites on the Car Dyke at Waterbeach (Antiq. Journ., vii, 141) and at Bourton-on-the-Water (ibid., xii, 288).

^{page 78 note 2} R. G. Collingwood, Archaeology of Roman Britain, p. 242, type 66; see also Antiq. Journ., xvii, 409.

^{page 78 note 3} Antiq. Journ., xvi, 191, fig. 5, no. 15.

^{page 78 note 4} Derde Jaarverslag van de Vereeniging voor Terpenonderzoek, 1918–1919, p. 20, pl. iii, third row, second pot from left.Google Scholar

^{page 78 note 5} . H. Hofmeister, Urholstein (Glückstadt, 1932), 9. 60, fig. 25, nos. 4 and 10.

^{page 80 note 1} Oudheidkundige Mededeelingen, N.R., ix, 97 ff., figs. 17–21; comparative material from Mayen is illustrated in figs. 23–4. The date of Mayen ware is discussed in Germania, xxii, 118.

^{page 80 note 2} Germania, xxii, 180, pl. 34.

^{page 80 note 3} e.g. Lindenschmit, Altertümer u. h. Vorzeit, i, 4, pl. 5, no. 4; Veeck, Die Alamannen in Württemberg, pl. 17.

^{page 81 note 1} For the technique and Frankish examples, see Unverzagt, Terra sigillata mit Rädchenverzierung, pp. 16, 41.

^{page 82 note 1} Altertümer u. h. Vorzeit, v, 19, pl. 6, no. 106.

^{page 82 note 2} Nachrichtenblatt für Deutsche Vorzeit, xiv, 306; Oudheid. Mededeel., N.R., ix, 98, fig. 18, nos. 69 and 73. The pots have slight sagging bases, not correctly shown in the published drawings.

^{page 82 note 3} e.g. at Godlinze, Vierde Jaarverslag van de Vereeniging voor Terpenonderzoek, 1919–1920, pp. 49 ff., pls. III and v, nos. 2–8.Google Scholar

^{page 82 note 4} Third Richborough Report, p. 186, pl. XLII, 362.

^{page 82 note 5} Proc. Cambridge Antiq. Soc., xxxiii, 148, pl. 11, fig. 2.

^{page 82 note 6} Trierer Zeitschrift, xi, 84, pl. 3, no. 4.

^{page 82 note 7} Germania, xvi, 231; see also Arbman, Schweden und das Karolingische Reich, p. 96, pl. 19, no. 4.

^{page 83 note 1} Archaeologia, lxxiii, 180.

^{page 83 note 2} Antiq. Journ., xii, 290.

^{page 83 note 3} References given by R. E. M. Wheeler, London and the Saxons (London Museum Catalogues, no. 6), p. 154.

^{page 86 note 1} My grateful thanks are due to Mrs. Griffith for assistance in studying this textile.

^{page 86 note 2} The earliest evidence for the presence of the treadle loom in the North is given by the recent discovery of a harness pulley from Sigtuna, of the eleventh to twelfth century. See Geijer, A. and Anderbjörk, J. E., ‘Two textile implements’, Folk-Liv., 1939, no. 2–3.Google Scholar

^{page 87 note 1} A strong line is seen across this textile, both on back and front; if in the weave, this may be due to a tabby ‘stitch’ recurring at intervals, if not it is probably a fold.

^{page 87 note 2} Pfister, R., Nouveaux textiles de Palmyre, 1937, p. 24; L 43, 44.Google Scholar

^{page 87 note 3} Lillian M. Wilson, Ancient Textiles from Egypt, p. 17, no. 13, pl. 2.

^{page 88 note 1} Agnes Geijer, Birka III, pp. 22–6, figs. 2–4, pl. 4.

^{page 88 note 2} Dr. Geijer attributes the broken character of these diamond twills to some technical cause possibly connected with the class of border by means of which they were warped on to the warpweighted loom. Certainly border and weave do suit each other, but I am inclined to think that there may also be an aesthetic reason. The pattern made by the diamonds of these twills is oddly suggestive of a fret or simple key design quite in the vein of the diagonal designs, frets, swastikas, and the like, seen on the brocaded tablet woven bands, also found at Birka.

Article contents

II.—The Saxon Monastery of Whitby

Extract

Access options

References

Save article to Kindle

Save article to Dropbox

Save article to Google Drive

Reply to: Submit a response

Your details

You have entered the maximum number of contributors

Conflicting interests