^IX
 
 1" «.e Life of H„„ „ .COMIIGENDA.
 
 (T^ti^'-
 
 d ol. 
 
 THE 
 
 %mnti of Bt Cutpert 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 ANTIQUITIES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH OF DURHAM. 
 
 HEVISED AND CORRECTED, WITH EXPLANATORY 
 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 TO WHICH IS PREFIXED 
 
 A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF ROBERT HEGGE, 
 
 THE AUTHOR, 
 BY 
 
 JOHN BROUGH TAYLOR, F. S. A. 
 
 SUNDERLAND : 
 
 Printed hij George Garhitl, 
 
 AND SOLD BY NICHOLS, SON, AND BENTLEY, AND LONGMAN, 
 HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, LONDON. 
 
 181G.
 
 oner 
 URL 
 
 ocji'^eis^ 
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 QF 
 
 ROBERT HEGGE. 
 
 All I can say concerning Robert Hegge, the 
 
 author of this entertaining book, amounts to 
 
 little more than has already been published by 
 
 Anthony a Wood, in his History of Oxford 
 
 Writers. 
 
 He was undoubtedly the Son of Stephen 
 
 Hegge, IS'otary-public in Durham, and Anne 
 
 Daughter to Robert Swyft, L. L. D. (a native 
 
 b
 
 viii 
 counted, considering his age, the best in the 
 university, for the Mathematical faculty, His- 
 tory, and Antiquities, as afterwards for his ex- 
 cellent knowledge in the sacred Scriptures. 
 
 His learning and industry soon attracted the 
 notice of that amiable man, Mr. Thomas Alien, 
 of Gloucester Hall, by whose communication 
 and advice, he became eminent in all manner 
 of academical learning. 
 
 On the 27th December, 1624, being then 
 M. A. he was admitted Probationer Fellow of 
 his college ; which honour he did not long sur- 
 vive, for on the 11th of June, 1629, having 
 scarcely attained to the thirtieth year of his 
 age, he died suddenly of apoplexy, to the very
 
 IX 
 
 great regret of those who were acquahated with 
 his admirable parts. 
 
 Hegge's works are not very numerous. He 
 wrote a Treatise of Dials and Dialling, in which 
 book is the representation of a dial in Corpus 
 Christi College Garden, made by Nicholas 
 Kratzer, with a short Discourse upon it, 
 
 Mr. Thomas Hall, of Gray's Inn, a very in- 
 timate friend of (if not allied to) Hegge, pub- 
 lished in four or five sheets 4to, anno 1647, 
 " In aliquot Sacrae paginae loca lectiones," with 
 a promise, that if they took and were approved 
 by scholars, he had more lying by him to pub- 
 lish. This John Hall was eldest son and heir of 
 Michael Hall, of Conset Hall, and of Durham^.
 
 Esq. (and elder brother of Michael Hall^ Esq. 
 who married Margaret Belasyse, lineal ancestor 
 of Hilkiah Hall, Esq. of Bishopwearmouth.) 
 From the distracted state of the country at 
 that period, it is probable that Hegge's Lec- 
 tions met with little encouragement, for they 
 seem never to have been continued. 
 
 He has also left behind him four or five 
 Sermons, fit for the press ; Learned Supposi- 
 tions in C. C. C. Chapel ; Verses ; a Catalogue 
 of Scholars and Fellows of Corpus Christi 
 College ; many of which are at this day in the 
 library of the said college. 
 
 His chief work is the present publication, 
 The Legend of St. Cuthbert, with the An-
 
 xi 
 
 I 
 
 tiquities of the Church of Durham ; written, 
 according to Wood, in the year 1626, and left 
 in MS. behind him at his death ; so exactly and 
 neatly written, that many have taken it to be 
 printed. Afterwards a copy of it, under the 
 author's hand, coming into the possession of 
 Thomas Lord Fairfax, was by him reposed as 
 a precious monument in his library of MSS. 
 At length one who writes himself R. B. Esq.* 
 sometime of the retinue of the said lord, pub- 
 lished it in London, anno 1663, in a very bad 
 letter, and worse paper, and not without some 
 
 * Richard Baddeley, Esq. a native of Staffordshire, who 
 accompanied Bishop Morton from Litchfield to Durham, as his 
 Private Secretary. He afterwards wrote the life of his patron, 
 with the same initials subscribed to his preface. 
 
 d
 
 xu 
 derogation to the memory of the author, by 
 conceahng his name, and putting the two first 
 letters of his own, with the writing a prologue 
 to it. 
 
 "The truest copy," continues Wood, is now in 
 the possession of Dr. Edward Pocock, Can. of 
 Ch. Ch. and the King's Hebrew Professor of 
 this University, having an Epistle to the Keader 
 before it, vmder the author's own hand, dated 
 1st July, 1626, which the printed hath not. Be- 
 twixt this MS. and the printed copy, I find much 
 difference ; there being in the latter many 
 omissions, some additions, besides literal mis- 
 takes, (especially in names of men and places) 
 and several passages transposed."
 
 xiii 
 
 A very correct edition was printed in quarto 
 by George Allan, Esq. at his press in Darling- 
 ton, in the year 1777. But as this was con- 
 fined entirely to private circulation, a copy is 
 seldom to be met with. 
 
 The present edition is printed from a MS* 
 
 which bears the autograph of Frevile Lambton, 
 
 Esq. of Hardwick. From the title-page (of 
 
 which the present is a fac-simile) it would seem 
 to have been written in 1625, but whether by 
 
 the author himself, or some more Immble 
 amanuensis, I am unable to determine ; al- 
 though it certainly agrees with the foregoing-^ 
 description of Lord Fairfax's MS. being writ- 
 ten in imitation of print, and executed with 
 great skill.
 
 XIV 
 
 As the writer could have no object in de- 
 ceiving posterity, I take this to be an earUer 
 MS. than had fallen in the way of that inde- 
 fatigable and industrious collector Anthony a 
 Wood. There is also, I think, strong presump- 
 tive proof that it is an original, as Mrs. Anne 
 Swyft twice mentions the worthy family of 
 Frevile in her will, and terms dame Elizabeth 
 Frevile, of Hardwick, the wife of Sir George 
 Frevile, Knight, her cousin. Now from the 
 brother of this Sir George Frevile did lineally 
 descend Frevile Lambton, Esq. of Hardwick. 
 It is therefore not improbable that Hegge was 
 induced to present a copy of his work to his 
 kinsman Sir George Frevile, or rather to his
 
 XV 
 
 lady, who survived till 1639 ; a deduction, 
 which will very much tend to authenticate the 
 Lambton MS. as proceeding immediately from 
 the author himself. 
 
 It has been carefully collated with Mr. Allan's 
 reprint ; and though there is no essential va- 
 riation, I have preferred adhering to the MS. 
 where any little diiference occurred. Some 
 pains have been taken to preserve the old or- 
 thography as uniform as possible, which much 
 enhances the value of such quaint compositions. 
 As the work is certainly not without some por- 
 tion of local interest, and now very difficult to 
 procure, further apology for the present edition, 
 
 it is conceived, will be deemed vmnecessary. 
 
 J. B. T. 
 
 Bishopwearraoutb, Nov. 29th, 1816.
 
 THE 
 
 LEGEND OF ST. CUTHBERT, 
 
 Sfc.
 
 THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. 
 
 XHINGS once done and past, are not left 
 for Invention, but the Judgement of after 
 Ages ; and Theft (without a Paradox) in Wri- 
 ters of Histories is plain dealing, and an Ar- 
 gument of Trueth : Only it is Ingenuity in 
 the Historian, and Satisfaction to the Reader, 
 to confesse from whom he tooke hisStorie upon 
 Trust. In my Journey therefor through this 
 Historic, I first light into Companie of St. 
 Beda, who told me he was an eleaven yeares 
 
 old at St. Cuthbert's death, and upon good in- 
 
 b
 
 IV 
 
 formation had writ his Life. A little further 
 I met with Turgotus, Prior of Dvirham, one 
 that was an eye witnesse of St. Cuthbert's In- 
 corruption, and had made diligent searches 
 into the Antiquities of Lindisfarne and Chester, 
 who brought me forward a great part of my 
 way, 'till I overtook one Laurentius, a Monke 
 of Durham, who continued to me the discourse 
 of St. Cuthbert, where Turgotus had left off. 
 And travailing on, I fortuned to happe upon 
 my Country-man Simeon of Durham, but Roger 
 Hovenden told mee the same taile. After- 
 wards I had the companie of Malmesburiensis, 
 Neubrigensis, Parisiensis, Westmonasteriensis, 
 and Hygden, who all travail'd the way I was 
 to goe, and could tell me stories of St. Cuth-
 
 bert ; but Capgrave, a Monke of Bury, passed 
 all for telling Wonders, and one JSTicliolas, of 
 Finchale, cosen'd some few myles with a rela- 
 tion of Saint Godrick : Harpsfeild alsoe stood 
 mee in stead by his direction, when I had al- 
 most lost my way, with many others I mett 
 besides, of whom I asked the way to my 
 Journey's end, where I rest. 
 
 ROBERT HEGGE, 
 
 DUNELM. 
 
 1st July, 1626.
 
 ISTORIE and Propliecie (setback to 
 back) make up the true image of Ja- 
 nus : whose two faces Time past and 
 future, honour as their overseers. In 
 History Time Uves after she is dead ; 
 in Prophecie before she is borne : in 
 the one, she beholds what she was ; in the other, what 
 she shall be. But sith the theorie of time to come, is 
 the prerogative of a Deitie : man must be modestly 
 content with this blessing bestowed by historic upon 
 mortality, that throvgli our grandfathers' eyeny we may 
 see what hath been ; This is all our sublunarie eternitie, 
 if at the funerall of things, Historic become the P^pitaph, 
 and reskue their memories from the grave, that entombs 
 their ashes ; And this dutie I owe to that countrey, 
 where I had my cradle, to renew the decay'd epitaphs 
 
 vpon the Toumbstonne of her Antiquities. 
 
 B
 
 2 
 
 EOGRAPHERS deal with countries 
 as Astronomers with their Asteris- 
 mes, and fancie them into shapes, 
 and resemblancies : So that by the 
 Hke Ubertie of phantase, (that Italy is 
 compared to a man'sleg, Spayneto an 
 Oxhyde, Britain to an hatchet); I may liken the forme 
 of this Bishopprick to the letter a, and Durham to 
 a crab; supposing the citlie for the belly, and the sub- 
 vrbs for the claws. This countie lyeth in the bosome 
 of the German ocean, and is embraced in the armes 
 of two crystall rivers, Teese and Derwent, which 
 lengthens his reach by falling into the Tine, and with 
 the losse of his name, comes unknown to the ocean. 
 
 et fama majoris in amnem 
 
 Lapsus ad sequorias nomen non pertulit undas. 
 
 The ancient inhabitants in the time of the Romans, 
 were the Brigantes ; but in the Heptarchie of the Sax- 
 ons, were called Deiri.* F'or the honour of which pro- 
 
 • On the establishment of the Heptarchy, the province of Durham (not then 
 known by that name) became a part of the kingdom of Northumberland, which, 
 besides this county, included, as the name implies, the whole of England north of 
 the Humber, as it was gradually wrested from the Britons, together with a con- 
 siderable portion of the south of Scotland. Northumberland was itself generally 
 subdivided into the two petty states of Bemicia and Deira, the precise boundaries 
 of which are not very accurately ascertained, and probably frequently varied- 
 Durham, however, seems to have been included in the limits of Deira, the 
 southern kingdom. Surtees's Hu. Dur. V. I. p. ii.
 
 vince, the children thereof in the reigne of K. Ella, being' 
 to be sold att Rome,* gave occasion of the replanting 
 of Christianitie by Augustine the English Apostle, 
 sent hither by Pope Benedictus, at the entreatie of 
 Gregorie then Archdeacon of Rome, who facetely al- 
 luding to the names of their nation, Province, and King 
 concluded ; vt Angli, Angelis, similes, De ira Dei : 
 eruerentur, et allelv-iah can tare docerentur. 
 
 The first of the Saxon Kings (who had made con- 
 quest as well of religion as men) that in this province 
 was dipt in the sacred Laver of Baptisme, was the re- 
 nowned Oswald, qui genti suje primitias sanctitatis, 
 dederit ; and is observed by INIalmesbury to be the first 
 of the English race, that was illustrious by miracles, 
 who attributing his victory over Cedwalla, to the ver- 
 tue of the crosse, which in the battell of Denisburne he 
 used for a standard ; after which, that he might conquer 
 his people likewise to Christianitie, he sent for a learned 
 Monk out of Scotland, named Aidainus, and seated him 
 in theEpiscopall chayre in Lindisfarne, in the year of X 
 6"35, where whiles the Bishop taught the people in the 
 Scotish tongue, the king vnderstanding both languages, 
 stood and interpreted his sermons in Enghsh. 
 
 • See Bede, 1. ii. p. 78, for a more circumstantial account of this story. Sd,
 
 4 
 
 This great monarch, the pious founder of that churchy 
 (to whose wombe all the churches c^ the North owe 
 their birth) in a battle with a Pagan Prince, lost his 
 life, and the day ; but with this advantage, that whiles 
 Penda left him not a head to wear a diadem, he received 
 a more glorious crowne of martyrdom. And a" furie 
 prosecuting revenge after death, toare his body in 
 pieces :* so the devotion of the time dispersed his re- 
 liques to several places. Nempe jacere vno non potuit 
 tanta ruiha loco. For whose sepulcher there was as 
 great a contention among the English churches, as in 
 old time among the Grecians, for the cradle, and birth 
 of Homer. Part of his corps were entomb'd in Bradny 
 Abby in Lincolnshire, and afterwards translated to 
 Glocester, where of late, not without some devotion 
 to antiquitie, I view'd his shrine between two pillers at 
 the upper end, and north side of the chancell. 
 
 His bead was brought to Lindisfern, and from thence 
 translated with St. Cuthbert's bodie to Durham Abby. 
 
 • This long and bloody battle was fought at Maserfield in Shropshu-e, on the 
 5th August, Ann. Dom. 642. The Northumbrian forces being totally routed, 
 and Oswald their king slain in the field, the sanguinary Penda caused his body to 
 be mangled and cut to pieces, and hung upon poles near the place, which losing 
 its former name of Maserfield, was in consequence called Oswalds-tree, or Oswes^ 
 try, which name it retains to this day. Editvr.
 
 Lastly, his arm was preserved in a silver casket, at 
 Beburga, or Bambrough, not farre seated from the Holy 
 Island, and at that time the metropolis of those parts. 
 
 This sacred relique retain'd the blessing of Aidanus, 
 and was honour'd as a monument of incorruption : an 
 history to this effect is related by Bede ; that upon an 
 Easter day, as the King sate at dinner, his servant tolde 
 him of some poore people, that expected almes at his 
 gate : who forthwith bid him, both carry them the 
 meate and divide the platter (which was of sylver) and 
 distribute it among them : with which fact of charitie, 
 Aidanus, who sate by him, much delighted, tooke him 
 by the hand, with this hearles wish ; Never let this 
 arme perish. This glorious martyr's death, was the end 
 of Aidanus his life ; and the Pagans at one blowe kild 
 a Prince with the sword, and a Bishop with sorrowe, 
 who thought it a sin to live, after so good a king was 
 dead : The soul of which Bishoppc, St. Cuthbert (ai 
 that time a shepheard) in the dead of the night, saw 
 carried up with great melodic, by a quire of angels into 
 heaven. Which vision so deeply seized upon his affec- 
 tions, that resolving upon an holyc course of life, he 
 
 betook himselfe to the monasterie of Mailrose, built bv 
 
 c
 
 6 
 
 Aidanus, upon the banke of Twede. In his journey 
 thither he shewed a great specimen of his humilitie, 
 devotion, and gratitude. For being overtaken both by 
 night and hunger, he was forct to enter into an emptie 
 cottage, where he found no other hoste for entertainment 
 then an horse, who eating and turning up the hay, dis- 
 covered part of a loafe, which (belike) some shepheard 
 had hid, at which the Saint right glad, said grace, and 
 thankfully giving the horse one half, he satisfied his 
 hunger with the other ; and there lodging that night, 
 came to Mailrose the next day, where he no sooner had 
 entred, but Boysilus prior of the said Abby, as if he 
 had read in his forehead a propheticall physiognomic of 
 his future sanctitie, ran and embrac'd him in his arms, 
 and presented him to Eata the Abbat, who committed 
 him to Boysilus for his tutor ; with whom I leave him, 
 teaching him to read St. John's Gospell in that book, 
 which in honour of the schollar was kept in Durham 
 in Prior Turgofs time, called Codex Sancti Cuthberti : 
 on which, after so many centuries of years, no moth 
 ever durst presume to feed. 
 
 Thus Lindisfarne, by the royaU charter of K. Oswald, 
 became the mother church, and nurcerie of religion
 
 among the Bemicians under Aidanus, from whom the 
 Episcopall race of the prelates of Durham, reckon then- 
 succession. 
 
 In ancient description, it was an Hand but twice a 
 day, embraced by Neptune, only at full tyde, and at the 
 ebb shakt hands, with the continent,* for so I may call 
 the voluminous He of Great Brittain, in proportion to 
 this little Hand, which in a Monk's of Durham topo- 
 graphic was in compasse only eight miles. 
 
 In this Holy Hand (so christned in after ages for St 
 Cuthbert's sanctitie) founded by K. Oswald, when Fi* 
 nanus, St. Aidan's successor built after the ancient po- 
 vertie a Cathedrall church of wood, thatched with reeds, 
 which resembles those times when 
 
 Juppiter augusta vix totus stabat in sede, 
 Inque Jovis dextra fictile fulmen erat, 
 Frondibus oniabant cum jam capitolia gemmia 
 Pascebatque suas ipse senator oves. 
 
 But it was not long till Eadbert, St. Cuthbert's suc- 
 cessor, instead of this consecrated thatch, apparelled over 
 
 • " For, with the flow and ebb, its stile 
 Varies from continent to isle ; 
 Dry-shod, o'er sands, twice every day. 
 The Pilgrims to the shrine find way ; 
 Twice every day the waves efftce 
 Of staves and sandaled feet the trace." 
 
 ScotVt MarmUm, Ca», ii.
 
 B 
 
 the whole church, with a roab of lead : a work both of 
 devotion and cost ; though it is not the mason, but the 
 worshipper, that makes a church. 
 
 In this Hand 14 Bishops successively ascended the 
 Episcopall seat, among whom St. Cuthbert was ac- 
 counted as a glorious star of the first magnitude in the 
 firmament of that church : who after he had lived in the 
 perfection of a monasticall life 15 years, in the Abby of 
 Mailros, was preferr'd by Eata the Bishop, to thePriorie 
 of Lindisfarne, which dignitie he bare 12 years in such 
 sanctitie, that the Devill (as I cannot blame him) was 
 much grieved at his vertues, who (among other cheats 
 with which the monks make the Devill a foole) in a 
 certain village as St. Cuthbert was preaching, set an 
 house on fii'e, to draw the people from his sermon : 
 which when the countrie folk marvelled they could not 
 quench it ; was discovered to the saint to be only phan- 
 tastical fire, and the Devill's collusion. 
 
 But after 12 years (as before) he resigned up his 
 Priorship, to become aHermitc, choosing the Hand 
 Fame, seated in the main ocean, for the place of his 
 Hermitage, in the year of X. 676. This lie, as voide 
 of men, as full of Devills, became the scene and stege
 
 whereon St. Cuthbert acted all his miracles. For at his 
 arryvall, the spirits that had frequented this lie, and 
 had made it as it were their o\\ n fee farme, were now 
 glad to fly and forgoe their title. The rocks poured out 
 their water, and the earth (as if there had been a retume 
 of the golden age) brought forth com without tillage ; 
 And here he consecrated 9 years to contemplation ; so 
 wholy devoted to heaven, that he remembered not he 
 was upon earth, and for a whole year forgot to put off 
 his shoes. And though he wanted men for his auditors, 
 yet he ceased not to preach to the birds that ate his 
 come, who so confuted them out of the text, with non 
 ALIENA coNcupiscES, that they never after would touch 
 his harvest. In like manner he reclaimed two crows 
 from steahng and rapine, that pluckt of his thatch from 
 his anchorage, to build their nest ; and made them so 
 penitent, that they lay prostrate at his feet for absolution; 
 and the next day brought him apeece of pork, to make 
 him satisfaction, with many moe wonders, if they might 
 be related upon the credit of a Legend. But these are 
 enough to shew, what advantage the Monks took of 
 the blinde devotion of that age : whose whole practice 
 was to devise, and relate miracles of their saints : which 
 
 D
 
 10 
 
 (as superstition is allways credulous) were as easily be- 
 lieved. Thus to gaine a reverend opinion from the 
 Pagans, of Christianitie ; they thought it but a pious 
 fraud, to cosen the people with legends of wonders, who, 
 whiles they defended truth by falsehood, and their im- 
 postures discovered to wiser ages, have made religion 
 rather suspected, than any way advanced it. For truth 
 never needed the protection of forgerie ; but will carrie 
 away the victorie without hypocrisie. 
 
 But St. Cuthbert recalls my digression to his Hand, 
 where he had so many combats with the Devill, that if 
 you will borrow an optick glass from Superstition, you 
 may see the prints of the DeviU's cloven foot in many 
 places there to this day. If any landed at his Hand in de- 
 votion to see liim, he forthwith ran into his Hermitage,* 
 
 • Bede gives the follo^ving description of the habitation erected here hy St. 
 Cuthbert. " Est autem aedificum situ pene rotuiidum, et a muro usque ad mu- 
 rum, mensurse quatuor femie sive quinque perticarum distentum, raurus ipse de- 
 foris altior longitudine stantis hominis ; nam intrinsecus vivam caedendo rupem 
 multo ilium fecit altiorem, quatenus ad coliibendam oculorum simul et cogitatuum 
 lasciviam, ad erigen(!am in supema desideria totam mentis intentionem, plus in- 
 cola nil de sua mansione praeter ccelum possit intueri. Murum non de secto lapi- 
 de vel latere et oemento, sed impolitis prorsus lapidibus et cespite composuit, 
 cubnina de lignis informibus et faeno superposuit. Duas in mansione habuit do» 
 BIOS : oratorium scilicet et aliud ad communes usus aptum habitaculum. Ad 
 portum insulae major erat doraus in qua visitantes eum fratres suscipi et quiescere 
 possiut." Bed. Vit. Oith. c. 19.
 
 11 
 
 » 
 
 and discoursed only out of his window. Only in love 
 he bare to the vertues-of Ebba, Abbatisse of Colding- 
 ham, at great entreatie, he sayld to her to Cocket He, 
 and there foretold her of K. Egfrid's death, who should 
 first make him bishop, and of the raigne and victories of 
 Alfrid. There while he remained, everie night, as his 
 custome was, he went down to the shore to pray : where 
 it was observed by one that watcht him, how that two 
 sea monsters came kneeling to him, and worshipping 
 him ; who when they had received their blessing, re- 
 turned into the deep ; and he again to his anchorage, 
 where whiles he imprisoned himself, and more obscurely 
 lived in his cell, the more illustrious was his fame 
 abroad ; and in a Synode at Twiford upon Aln. in the 
 prescence of King Egfrid, and Archbishop Theodore of 
 Canterbury, he was chosen Bishop.* This dignitie was 
 prophecied to him when he was a boy, by an infant of 
 3 years old, who gravely told him that it became not a 
 Bishop to play among children. But St. Cuthbert had 
 so wedded his affection to a solitarie life, that neither 
 
 • He vas chosen Bisliop of Hexham at this Synod at Twj'ford, in the place ol 
 J'nimbcrt, \v'ho for sonie reason had been deposed ; but retaining a predelection 
 for his former residence, he exchanged «wiih Eata, and was consecrated Bl-^hop "'. 
 Lindisfunie at York, nn the Easter followiiifr. Fd.
 
 12 
 
 letters, nor embassadours from the Synod, conld either 
 commande or perswade him, to take upon him the 
 government of the church : till the king himselfe at- 
 tended with the Lords of the nobilitie, sayld to his He, 
 and with the same companie, might have besieged and 
 taken a city, whiles they were conquering his resolution. 
 Thus (tho' the ease be altred in these times) honour 
 pursued him who fled from her ; and preferment found 
 him out, that had hid himself from it. 
 
 The Bishoprick of Hexham was then voyd : to which 
 Eata removing, gave place to St. Cuthbert to be in- 
 stall'd in Lindisferne, King Egfrid also to enlarge his 
 diocesse, gave St. Cuthbert a great part of the Cy ttie of 
 Yorke, and the village of Creca, with three miles com- 
 passe ; and also the Cittie of Luel, [Carlisle] with 
 15 miles circuit about it, where St. Cuthbert built a 
 nunerie ; besides other royall donations as the Abby of 
 Mailros and Rippon. 
 
 But St. Cuthbert's minde was still on his Anchorage, 
 whither shortly he betook himself; and in his cell ended 
 his life,* and began his miracles Ann. Dom. 687. 
 
 • Bede gives an account of his illness, and of his last exhortations, from 
 Herefred, an eye witness. " Inveni eum recumbentem in angulo sui oratorii 
 contra altare, adsidens ccepi, et ipse, &c. Nee plura loquebatur quia pondus
 
 13 
 
 But if I were to make his funerall oration, I would 
 not insert among his prayses that he was an Anchorite, 
 For thus to unman himself, to contemplate himself into 
 a Deitie, argued more pride than religion. 'Tis true 
 " that an Hermite is either a god or a beast ;" yet sitli 
 man is more symbolicall with the one, than the other, 
 it is easie to suspect which way the metamorphosis will 
 tend. For if you would have the lively picture of an 
 Hermite, truely represented, look upon Nebuchad-nez- 
 zar, in his curse ; when he was driven from man, and 
 did eat grass as the oxen : when his body was wet with 
 the dew of Heaven, till his heares became as eagle's 
 feathers, and his nails as the claws of birds. Thus there- 
 for for an Hermite to excommunicate himself from 
 being a citizen of the world, what is it else, than to 
 sinne against the common weal, and definition of a man ? 
 to whom society is as naturall, as to be a creature. So 
 that whiles others thinke it is devotion in him, I shall 
 deem it a melancholic distemper. 
 
 tEgritudinis, & c. Arreptus infimiitate subita temporalis igiie doloris ad pei-petuifc 
 aepit beatitudinis gaudia praeparari. Tribus hebdomadibus continuis inftrtnitnte 
 decoctus sic ad extrema pervenit." Vit. Cuih,
 
 14 
 
 St. Cuthbert's last will and testament, directed to his 
 Monks, was to bury him on the east side of his oratory, 
 in a coffin that the venerable Abbat Cudda gave him, 
 which they should find hid in the ground at the north 
 side of his cell, and for to wrap or winde his corps in 
 the sheet that Verca Abbatisse of Tinmouth once sent 
 him for a token : which for the reverence of that holy 
 woman, in his life time he had never worne. And lastly, 
 that if they should be invaded by Pagans, to carry his 
 bones away with them. Thus St. Cuthbert sainted 
 himself in his life time, and gave them notice^ what a 
 precious Relique he should be when he was dead. 
 
 All these petitions were duly performed, only at the 
 weeping request of the Monks, he permitted that his 
 body should be transported to Lindisfearne : where in 
 St. Peter's Church at the right side of the high altar he 
 was solemnly lay'd in a tombe of stonne, Anno Do- 
 mini 687. 
 
 Now were the times when the doctrine of miracles 
 began to build churches: and religious houses so to 
 swarme and multiplie, that all England seem'd but one 
 great monastrie, and called by the Pope, Terra sacer- 
 dotum, the land of priests. But time that hath the
 
 15 
 
 sublunary ^vorld for her contiuuall banquett, hath so fed 
 upon these ancient buildings, that some she hath quite 
 devoured, others pickt to the bones ; and what she left 
 for standing dishes, hostilitie hath quite eaten up, and 
 defaced : besides that gTeat chmactericall year, and death 
 of churches, when Henry 8th durst incurre those thun- 
 dering Anathemata, which (by the appointment of 
 Monks) attended the violation of Abby-landes, 
 
 Si de tot lassis sua numina quisque deorum. 
 Vindicet ; in pjenas not satis uiius erit. 
 
 But 1 must bewayle those Abbies, whose names are 
 buried in their ashes, and their verie mines suffer the 
 death of a sepulcher and die twice, because they want 
 ^ monument that they once lived. 
 
 Of these monuments of devotion that live the life of 
 memorie, and belong'd once to St. Cuthbert, stood 
 Coldingham, seated between Lindisfarne and Berwick, 
 both given to St. Cuthbert's Monks by Edgar, King of 
 Scotland, at the time of the Conquest. This monasterie 
 consisted of Monks and Nuns ; over whom Ebba some- 
 time was Abbatisse, who received her vayle from 
 Finanus, the second bishop of the Holy Island.
 
 16 
 
 Among the Bernicians likewise was the episcopall 
 seate of Hagustaldum, or Hexham, bestowed by K 
 Alfred upon St. Cuthbert : which Malmesbiiry (some- 
 what mistaken in the scale of miles) placeth but 50 miles 
 from Yorke; and commendeth it for beauty of structure, 
 before any building on this side the Alpes. This sum- 
 tuous worke was built by St. Wilfride, anno 675, and 
 endowed with lands by Queene Etheldred, wife to 
 King Egfrid. In this church sate 9 Bishops, among 
 whome the learned John of Beverly* (not to be named 
 by an Oxford man, without a preface of honour) was 
 advanced to that dignitie by King Egfrid ; and there 
 swaid the pastorall staff, till he was translated to Yorke. 
 In his younger years, he was brought up (according to 
 the nobilitie of his birth) under Hilda, Abbatisse of 
 Strenshall, or Wliitby in Yorkshire, (of which she was 
 also founderesse.) Afterwards he was scholar to that 
 genius of learning, Theodorus, Archbishop of Canter- 
 
 • John of Beverley was Bishop of Hexham A. D. 685, of noble extraction, 
 bom at Harpham in Yorkshire, or as some say Beverley, for authors have not 
 agreed in this point. He was a scholar of St. Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, and a 
 student at Oxford ; was translated to York A. D. 687. He performed many 
 miracles in liis time. By making the sign of the cross on a dumb youth, who had 
 also a scalled head, be not only restored speech and hair, but eloquent discourse, 
 and beautiful curled locks. £d>
 
 17 
 
 hnry, ivho born at Tarsus in Cilicia, was the first that 
 brought learning into England, as well as religion, who 
 bringing over with him Homer (the first we read of in 
 this Isle) and other good authors, instructed manie fa- 
 mous scholars in the Greek tongue and Mathematicks ; 
 whome among the rest I find St. Beda, Herebald, Wil- 
 frid, and this John of Beverly ; who at the translation 
 of the Scheie at Creklade (which Theodorus had there 
 planted) to Oxford, was the fii-st Master of Arts in the 
 Universitie : as it appears out of an ancient window 
 in Salisburie Librarie, under John of Beverly's picture. 
 And he that goeth higher to fetch the antiquitie of 
 Oxford than from this time, will but grope in the 
 dark. 
 
 This age of 800 years is enough to prove Cambrige 
 the younger sister : tiU Leland's deduction will follow 
 that Sigebert King of the East Angles founded that 
 Universitie, because Bede and after him Malmesburie 
 relate, that he erected divers schooles in his kingdom. 
 But in neither author Granta or Cambrige is men- 
 tioned, (nor in any writer since for 400 yeares after) to 
 be «n ITniversitie. 
 
 F
 
 IS 
 
 But to return with pardon for this digression (if a 
 Cambrige man be the reader) to St. Cuthbert, who 
 now had an eleeven years lyen in his sepulcher, when 
 the Monks thought to take his bones, by this time dis- 
 roab'd of flesh, and put them among other reliques, for 
 kisses and adoration. But whiles they opned his coffin, 
 they start at a wonder : they look't for bones, and found 
 flesh, they expected a Skeleton, and saw an entire 
 bodie, with joynts flexible, his flesh so succulent, that 
 there only wanted heate to make his bodie live without 
 a soul, and his face so dissembHng death, that elsewhere 
 it is true, that sleep is the image of death ; but here 
 death was the image of sleep. Nay his very funerall 
 weeds were so fresh, as if putrifaction had not dar'd to 
 take him by the coat. This was rather to pay his debt 
 to heaven than to nature ; that after he should restore 
 his soul to God, should keep back the payment of his 
 bodie from corruption. 
 
 This miracle of incorruption St. Bede reports ; (who 
 was 1 1 yeare olde at St. Cuthbert's death) : in relating 
 whereof he made no lye, but tolde one : the historic of 
 whose life, and death, he writ and took upon trust from 
 the information of the Monks of Lindisfarne ; who had
 
 19 
 
 defloured all the miracles of Saints in holy ^vrit, and be- 
 stowed them upon their St. Cuthbert, so barren-brained 
 Monks they were that could not invent new ones, but 
 such as were writ before to their hands ; For Adam 
 eould not be the commander of the creatures, in the 
 state of innocencie : but St. Cuthbert also must have 
 the savage beasts to do him homage. Abraham could 
 not entertain 3 Angells under an Oak ; but St, Cuth- 
 bert must have angells for his guests, at the monasterie 
 of Rippon ; nor the children of Israeli eat manna, and 
 angells' food ; but St. Cuthbert must have three loaves 
 bestowed upon him by an angell, which were baked in 
 Paradice. A raven could not bring Elias flesh, but an 
 egle must bring St. Cuthbert fish. And if I be not de- 
 ceived, this miracle allsoe hath an idea in the Scripture ; 
 that when his mother sayl'd with him from Ireland into 
 Scotland, the Book of the Psalmes fell into the sea, 
 which forthwith was swallowed up by a sea calf, and by 
 tlie same fish delivered to them at their landmg. Take 
 but the Psalter for a man, and the sea calf for a whale, 
 and here you have the historic of Jonas ; with manie 
 such histories of wonders, with which the Monks de- 
 lighted the superstition of the times.
 
 20 
 
 This illustrious miracle of St. Cuthbert's bodie incor- 
 ruptable after death, raised that church to such height 
 of renowne, that King Coelwolphus in opinion of St. 
 Cutlibert's sanctitie forsook his Royaltie to become a 
 Monke in Lindisfarne ; bringing with him such kingly- 
 treasures and donations of lands ; that he seemed rather 
 to resigne his kmgdome to the church, than to his suc>f 
 cessor, and became aMonke to makeSt.Cuthbert a kinsr. 
 bestowing upon him all the land between the Rivers of 
 Teese and Weer, and manie Towns and Lordships, as 
 Warkworth Castle, Ileclif, Billingham, (where Ecgred the 
 Bishop built a church) Wodcestre, Huntingham, Edul- 
 ingham, Elingham, towns that (for aught I know) haA^e 
 either outUved their names, or names that have survived 
 their townes. But above all, he was a full welcom man 
 to their monastrie ; that for his sake, it was gmnted the 
 Monks of Lindisfarne to drink wine or aile, who before 
 were only to drinke milke or water, though they that 
 drinke after St. Cuthbert in his cupp, found sometimes 
 water turned into wine, without a miracle. ^ 
 
 This devout Prince, after he had divers years instead 
 of Royal roabs, worne a Monk's Coole, was entomb'd 
 in Norrham, the church built by Bishop Egfride, anno
 
 21 
 
 SI 9 : which town Ranulphus, Blshopp of Durham, for- 
 tified with a castle, anno Dom. 1099. 
 
 After this miracle of incorruption, Eadfride the 
 Bishopp caused him to be laid in a new sepulcher, and 
 to be placed for more state and reverence above the 
 pavement in the sanctuarie : for 'twas not fit that he 
 should have his grave among the dead, whose bodie 
 seemed to live without a soule, and with a sleep to cheat 
 mortalitie of a death. 
 
 By this time the veiy ground that St. Cuthbert had 
 trod on, was accounted holy : who made every place he 
 frequented a church. In honour of whose presence, 
 Bishopp Eadfrid built up his hermitage, where (as if after 
 St. Cuthbert a genius of sanctitie had frequented that 
 place) Ethelwald a Monke of Rippon lived an Her- 
 mite 12 years. 
 
 Thus for a long time flourished the Monkes of this 
 church, till the Danes disturbed their peace and pros- 
 perity, who now began to make incursions upon the 
 frontiers of this land : continuing their pyracies and in- 
 vasions, till they had made a complete conqueste in K. 
 Herald ; which monarchic shortly after yielded to the 
 Norman victorie. Thus England was twice conquered 
 in 70 years.
 
 82 
 
 These were the times when so many monasteries, 
 which the devotion of former ages had erected, had 
 their funeralls, and entomb'd themselves in their owne 
 ashes. 
 
 Then perished that famous emporeum of Hartlepool, 
 where the religious Hieu built a nunry, of which towne 
 I may say as Hildebert of Rome, 
 
 ♦• Q,uam magni fueris Integra fracta daces. 
 
 Her ruins shew how great she was in her glorie : but 
 now remains to passingers, both as a monument of de- 
 votion and hostilitie. 
 
 Then were demolished the two monasteries of St. 
 Peter, and St. Paul, at Wermouth and Jarro, built by 
 two Abbats Celfride and Benedict, where the famous 
 Weer pays his tribute to the ocean. These two socie- 
 ties mutuall fraternitie had so firmly united, that they 
 seem'd but one monastrie in two places, and shall ever 
 be famous, whiles the memorie of venerable Bede shall 
 be honoured of the learned : for in these monasteries 
 under Benedictus, he had his first education : a reverend 
 Abbat, and one whome antiquitie defrauds not of those 
 due prayses, that he procured choice books from beyond 
 sea, for his monasterie, and was the first that brought
 
 
 into England the use of giasse windows into clmrches. 
 which before were glazed with cloth. In his riper 
 years he was instructed both in sacred and secular 
 learning (as I said) by Theodore, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, under whom he attained to that maturitie of 
 judgment, that never writer since hath brought greater 
 honour to his nation. Whiles he confined himself to 
 his ceU, his fame had travelled to Rome, whither Pope 
 Sergius, in a letter to Celfrid the Abbat, earnestly en- 
 treated him to come in person, but for aught I read, 
 without accepting of the Pope's courtesie, he dyed in 
 liis monasterie, which in memorie of his presence, after 
 it had been lay'd waste by the Pagans, was reedified by 
 Aldwin a JNlonke, and there revived those monasteries 
 till they were translated to Durham. 
 
 The furie of the Danes still increasing, continued by 
 the sea coast to Tinmouth, (where sometime Verca, 
 of St. Cuthbert's acquaintance had been Abbatisse) so 
 that it was high time for the Monks of Lindisfarne, to 
 look about them, for they began to vmderstand by the 
 overtlu'ows of their neighbouring abbys, that the Danes 
 would not (like the Devill) be affrighted away with 
 holy water, and saw by the bad successe of other
 
 iJ4 
 
 monasteries, that it was not safe trusting to the protec- 
 tion of a saint. And so they conduded, (according to 
 St. Cuthbert's will) upon jflight, and putting all their re- 
 liques into St. Cuthbert's coffin, left the Pagans the 
 spoyl of an emptie church, anno Dom. 893. 
 
 Now it wasEardulphus* his fortune to be Bishopp in 
 these troublesom times; who with his whole clergie 
 and fomilies of people, followed St. Cuthbert's bodie, 
 carried by the Monks, (as esquires of the bodie) besides 
 whome, none was to presume to touch the coffin under 
 danger of Uzzahs' punishment. These miseries had 
 been enough to have unsainted St. Cuthbert, in the 
 opinion of his followers : when pursued both by for- 
 reigne foes and overtaken by an home-bred enimie 
 Famine, he could afford them no relief, they were now 
 driven to the Irish sea, and might complaine (as the olde 
 Britains to Aetius the Consul,) Repellunt nos barbari 
 
 • Warned by former calamities, Eardulph and his ecclesiastics determined on 
 leaving a residence which could no longer afford security ; and taking with them 
 the holy body of St. Cuthbert, and the other reliques and treasures of the church, 
 deserted for ever the Cathedral of Lindisfarne. Their wanderings during seven 
 years of distress are not very distinctly related. Deterred by a storm from their 
 first purpose of seeking the coast of Ireland, they fled from place to place, as fear 
 or chance directed, and at length found a secure and hospitable retreat in the 
 Abbey of Craike. On the re-establishraent of peace, Chester on the Street, less 
 exposed than Ldndisfame to predatory or maritime invasion, was selected for the 
 future residence of the Ecclesiastics. Surteet' Hist. Dur. V. I. p. viii.
 
 25 
 
 ad mare ; repellit mare ad bai'baros ; inter bsec oriuntur 
 duo genera funerum, aut jugulamur, aut mergimm% 
 The Bishopp, with some few of his Monks, determined 
 privately to sayl over into Ireland, hoping to find rest 
 for St. Cuthbert's tombe, where he first had his birth. 
 But not farr had they sayled from the shoar, when both 
 the winds and the sea were up in amies against their 
 Pinnis, which both Aeolus and Neptune out of devotion 
 might have worship'd, for her sacred carriage of aBishopp 
 and his clergie, and so many reliques, that it might have 
 seemed rather a Cathedrall church, than a ship : But 
 the sea had not that religion to hear their prayers, 
 threatening them so near with shipwreck, that they had 
 not that confidence in their saint to encourage the ma- 
 riners, as Caesar did ; ne metuas, Cuthbertum vehis . 
 who now himself wanted some other saint, to invocate 
 fbr help, and was in danger to be drowned after he was 
 dead. O where had then been the church of Durham ; 
 and the devotion of Kings to his sepulcher ? Where had 
 then been the tutelary Deitie against the Scots ; and 
 the lands of the church called St. Cuthbert's patrimonie? 
 How then should St. Cuthbert Hallywarke folke bene 
 freed from tribute, and service in war ; and the fatt 
 
 H
 
 26 
 
 Monks fed so manie years with ease and plentie : if now 
 their saint had been entomb'd in the sea, and erected 
 his episcopall seat among the fishes ? This sacrihgious 
 storme strook this ship with such a palsie, that it shakt 
 out the text of the Evangelists into the sea. 
 
 This book Eadfrid Bishop of Lindisfarne, in honour 
 of St Cuthbert, had writ with his owne hands, and Bel- 
 frid the Anchorite had curiously paynted ; in which art 
 of drawing, the IMonks were admirably expert ; who 
 with such pictures, were not ignorant how the}' in- 
 chanted vulgar eyes. The art itself, I deney not, is both 
 ingenuous and commendable ; only it argues that the 
 Monks had great leasure. 
 
 Thus whether the sea envying the land such a pre- 
 tious Jewell, as St. Cuthbert, and strove to have it herself; 
 or whether he himself raised this tempest, to shew, that 
 their attempt for Ireland was against his minde, forth- 
 with both the sea and the winds conspired, and brought 
 them to the shoar, to their companie, where you must 
 imagin there was much joy for their arryvall; and great 
 sorrow for the drowned book : till Hundredus, one of 
 the 7 esquires of his bodie, was bid by St. Cuthbert in 
 his sleep, to seek on the shoar at AVhiterne : where he
 
 27 
 
 founde it in its former splendour and beautie, without 
 the blemish of a letter, which booke was kept in the 
 church of Durham, m Prior Turgot's time, in memorie 
 of the miracle when the water seem'd to runn out of 
 herself, to do homage to St. Cuthbert, and would rather 
 loose her nature, than wett his booke. 
 
 If this be true, then sure I am that St. Cuthbert's 
 books had twice better fortune in the sea, than they 
 have now in his hbrarie at Durham, which once was a 
 little Vatican of choyce manuscripts, but now rather a 
 Bibliotaphion than a librarie, rather a sepulcher of books, 
 than a place to conserve them. For since the Arte of 
 Printing was invented, whereby men could attaine, 
 after a more cheap and easie way, to s6me superficial 
 learning ; old manuscripts were stright bequeath'd to 
 the moths : and pigeons and Jack-daws became the only 
 students in church libraries, the books wounded for 
 their pictures, with penknives, with as great crueltie as 
 Cassian, or Johanns Scotus Erigina, martyr'd by their 
 scholars. 
 
 But to return : The foresaid INIonke Hundrcdus had 
 also another night oracle from St. Cuthbert, that he 
 shoidd repair to a tree, on which he should finde a
 
 28 
 
 bridle, at the sight whereof a dun horse should proffer 
 his service to draw the waine, on which they should 
 lay St. Cuthbert's coffin. The conduct of this horse 
 as guided by St. Cuthbert, they followed, whither so- 
 ever he drew the cart, and at length by the providence 
 of the horse, or St. Cuthbert, they came to Creca, where 
 for 4 months they were kindly entertain'd by the Abbat 
 and his convent, and had leasure to tell stories of their 
 travails. 
 
 And hear, again in a vision, St. Cuthbert play'd the 
 Pope, and sent Eadred, Abbat of Luel, and one of his 
 followers, upon an embassage to the camp of the Danes, 
 that they should crown Guthred King, whome they had 
 solde to a widdow.* But what authoritie St. Cuthbert 
 had to nominate a King, or what reason the armie had 
 to believe a dream, must be ranked among St. Cuth- 
 bert's miracles. 
 
 • The command of St. Cuthbert was to the following purport. •* Say to the 
 people, that I have sent thee, commanding them to bring forth Guthred the son 
 of Hardiknut, whom they sold to a widow woman as a slave. Allien he is dis- 
 covered, and the price of his redemption paid, let him be shewn to the multitude ; 
 and it being my will, and I rejoicing therein, bind the armillaf on his right arm, 
 and let him be proclaimed king." Guthred reigned ten years, and departed this 
 Efe anno Dom. 894. 
 
 ^ A royal gem or insignia, used in those days to distinguish the prince elect. 
 It was fonued like the modem bracelets.
 
 29 
 
 Now for Guthred thus to be made a king, what was 
 it else than to become St. Cuthbert's subject, and to 
 obhge his royaltie to those Monks, that as impudently 
 encroacht upon so fair an advantage. For first they 
 obtaine the restau ration of their episcopall sea in Cun- 
 cacestre, or Chester on the Street, where Eardulphus 
 first ascended the pontificall chayre, under the protection 
 of this new king, to whome once more the foresaid Ab- 
 bat must bring a message from St. Cuthbert, in a dream j 
 and bid him give all the lands between Weer and Tine 
 for ever to his church, which modest request must be 
 granted, or else the jMonks would be ready to upbrayd 
 him with ingratitude. 
 
 Thus was this poor prince rob'd of his kingdome and 
 received a diadem, to sett it upon St. Cuthbert's head. 
 They proceeded also further to demande the freedom of 
 a sancturie for St. Cuthbert's church ; that whosoever 
 upon any crime should fly to his sepulcher, should 37 
 days have reskue, that neither the magistrate nor justice 
 should curb the freedom of offending either against 
 heaven or the state, for no other use was commonly 
 made [of asylums, than that men might sm more se- 
 curely, and disloyally appeal from the king and his laws, 
 to the protection of a saint.
 
 30 
 
 Thus I say was this prince cheated of his soveraignitie 
 by these Monks, who had now got the arte of inslaving 
 the devotion of kings to their private ends, and false 
 purposes. For at this time also the great Alfredus 
 swore fealtie to St. Cuthbert and his clergy, anno 872, 
 by whose help he was persuaded, he had got the vie- 
 torie over the Pagans : and not only confirm'd to them, 
 by his royall charter, the priviledges King Guthred had 
 granted them, but also freed the inhabitants in the lands 
 of St. Cuthbert from tribute to the king, and service in 
 warr, with a fearfuU anatbemata to any of his success- 
 sours, that should dare to infringe any of the said liber- 
 ties : what else was this then for a king to be a traytor 
 to his owne majestie, and deprive himself of that service, 
 which even by the law of nature is due from a subject 
 to his prince ? 
 
 In what reverend esteem this saint was to King Al- 
 frid, I gather from the consecration of the chapell to 
 St. Cuthbert, in Universitie Coll. in Oxford, whereof 
 he is said to be the first founder. In an ancient window 
 in which college I have seen King Alfi-id and St. Cuth- 
 bert paynted together, the King thus bespeaking the 
 Saint in a Pentameter ;
 
 $1 
 
 Hie in honore tui coUegium statui. 
 
 And St. Cuthbert thus replying in an Hexameter ; 
 
 Quod statuisti in eo pervertentes maledico. 
 
 For I observe that either St. Cuthbert was an angrie 
 Saint, or the Monks used much to curse in his name, as 
 it appears by that distick, yet to be seen engraven in a 
 woden beam, over the hall dore in Trinitie College in 
 Oxford, (sometimes called Durham College) builded for 
 a fratemitie of Monks by Thomas Hatfield, Bishopp of 
 Durham, 1343, who also built Durham House in 
 London. 
 
 Terras Cuthberti, qui non spoliare verentiir ; 
 Esse qucant certi quod inorte mala morientur. 
 
 But to returne to King Alfrid's devotion to St. Cuth- 
 bert, whome he made to share with him in his so- 
 veraigntie, and honour'd his name upon his own coyne, 
 as it is proved by the true purtraytures (I have seen) of 
 some silver monie dig'd up anno Dom: 1611, in Little 
 Crosby, in Lancashire ; and sent to the learned Anti- 
 quarie, and my honoured friend Mr. Thomas Allen, of 
 Gloucester Hall, in Oxford, stampt upon one sld«
 
 32 
 
 with Alfrid, on the other witli Cuthbert, m thi^ 
 form ; 
 
 Thus after the aged Cardulphus (the last bisliopp of 
 Lindisfarne, and the first of Chester) had shared with 
 St. Cuthbert, both in his prosperitie and adversitie, and 
 had seen the flourishing state of this new church sprung 
 up, hke a Phoenix, out of the ashes of the former; full of 
 days and honour, yielded to nature, and was entomb'd at 
 Chester, anno X. 894. In which year also died the vic- 
 torious Alfrid, who on his death bed bequeathed the love 
 he bare to St. Cuthbert as a pretious legacie to his sonne 
 Edward, chardging him to be as well heire to his devo- 
 tion to that saintj as to his kingdomes. King Edward 
 also, zealous in the propagation of pietie, (as if it had 
 been ex traduce to these princes to honoiu- St. Cuthbert) 
 left his son Athelstan executour of his love to that 
 church. 
 
 In this high and mightie prince Athelstan, the 
 Heptarchie compleatly expired : who was the first ab-
 
 38 
 
 solute monarch of this land after the Saxon conquest, 
 which was great joy to St. Cuthbert's INIonks, that they 
 had the countenance of a king, that was as willing as 
 able to protect them, of wliome they give this report : 
 that never any king so dearly loved St. Cuthbert, or 
 bestowed upon his church more princely donations* 
 whome the ISIonks had brought to that obedience of 
 unseemly devotion, that he came in pilgrimage bare foot 
 to St. Cuthbert's shrine. 
 
 How could not the Monks but (like magicians when 
 they meet together) laugh one at another, to see royaltie 
 so captivated under superstition, and majestic so de- 
 jected, when the end of their pretended sanctitie was 
 only slothe, and fattnesse. 
 
 This devout prince leading an armie into Scotland, 
 divirted aside to St. Cuthbert's sepulcher, imploring his 
 aid, and patronage in his warrs, and with many princely 
 giftes bought the good wislies of the IMonks in his 
 jomey. The souldiers allso at the king's command, 
 offered in sylver at St. Cuthbert's tombe 96 pounds, 
 when it had been more fit, that St. Cuthbert out of his 
 church treasure, should have bestowed as much on them, 
 who in service to their prince, with their sword and 
 
 K
 
 34 
 
 tlieii' bloud, obtain'd the victorie, yet St. Cuthbert and 
 the benedictions of his lazie, idle Monks, must have the 
 glorie of the conquest. Which opinion made King 
 Edmund allso (King Athelstan's brother) in a like oc- 
 casion into Scotland, take St. Cuthbert in his way, 
 honouring his sepulcher with many kingly offerings, 
 and renewing to them the charters of his predicessovu'S, 
 with Vulcan's pott, and everlasting brimstone to the 
 breakers. And here I will not denie ; but as it may be 
 expedient for the commonwealth, by way of policie, 
 that some men (though altogether guiltlesse of that art) 
 be thought by the vulgar people skilfuU magicians, or 
 counjurers ; that they who will rather trust God, with 
 their unlawfull secrets, then men ; might be more afraid 
 to offend, least they should be bewray'd : So a King 
 might make some good use of that opinion of St. Cuth- 
 bert's being a tutelary Deitie against the Scots, in con- 
 ceit of whose protection, certainly the English soldiers 
 were much encouraged, and animated, to the great dis- 
 advantage of their enimies, and the obtaining of the 
 victorie ; as allso this persuasion kept those parts from 
 more frequent incursions ; when the Monks had in- 
 vented so many fearful! miracles, that befell those, that
 
 35 
 
 attempted either by hostilitie, or stealth, to wrong any 
 thmg that belong d to that saint. But I only wonder 
 how the ISIonks could maintaine this imposture so many 
 ages ; when men growing wiser began to suspect the 
 falshood of the INIonks, as devisers of miracles for their 
 own gaine. 
 
 And it seems the INIonks were put to a great shift, to 
 maintaine the Saintships of St. Thomas of Becket, and 
 St. Cuthbert, when they pretended such amitie between 
 these 2 Saints, that by way of exchange, they that be- 
 long'd to St. Thomas, must go and be heald by St. 
 Cuthbert ; and they that belong'd to St. Cuthbert, must 
 be made whole by St. Becket, a small journie for a sick 
 or deseased man, to travaill between Canterbury and 
 Durham. But the Monks knew full well, that some 
 would not be able to undertake the pilgiimage, others 
 rather to use the saintship of a physition ; some again 
 to be content rather to dye at home ; others to recover 
 by the way ; lastly some to dye on their journey, or else 
 (to save the credit of their saint) they would take such 
 order with them, that they should never come thitlier. 
 
 But to returne to the Monks in Chester, who witli 
 their Bishopps enjoyed sucli quiet, and calm of ease.
 
 S6 
 
 that they make no noise in histories, till the rumour of 
 the landing of the Danes once more troubled their rest. 
 This was the 115th year after they had seated them- 
 selves in Chester ; when Aldwin their Bishopp, and 
 Schol master to Edward the Confessour, was warned by 
 St. Cuthbert in his sleep, to avoyd the furie of the Pa- 
 gans, and flye with his bodie to Rippon : but after 
 6 months, and peace concluded ; in their return from 
 thence, there hapned a weightie miracle, for at Warde- 
 law, east from Durham, St. Cuthbert's coffin was so 
 heavie, that all the companie that attended the corps 
 could not draw the waine, whereon it lay ; by which 
 they perceived so much of St. Cuthbert's minde, that 
 he would not be carried again to Chester. At length 
 after the preparative of 3 days fast, it was revealed to 
 Eadmarus, a devout Monk, that Dvnholm was the 
 place of his perpetuaU rest, and then two or three could 
 draw the cart, which before, the whole diocesse of people 
 could not so much as move : now concerning the vul- 
 gar fable of the dun cow and the milk maid that di- 
 rected them ta Dunholm ; I finde nothing in the 
 histories of this Church, who would not leave out any 
 thing that might concerne St. Cuthbert by way of 
 miracle.
 
 37 
 
 The topographic of Dunholm at that time was, that 
 it was more beholden to nature for fortification, then 
 fertilitie, where thick woods both hindered the stars 
 from viewing the earth, and the earth from the prospect 
 of heaven. Here the Monks with extemporarie devo- 
 tion, made with boughs, and branches of trees, rather 
 an arbour then a church, for to place St. Cuthbert in ; 
 But from this chappell of boughs, they translated him 
 into another church called Whitkyrk, where he rested 
 (for three years) as in a chappell of ease, till Aldwinus 
 the Bishopp (anno 990) had raised up no small building, 
 of stone work for his cathedrall church, where all the 
 people between Coqued and Teese were at worke 
 3 years ; and were payd for their pains, with expectation 
 of treasure in heaven : a very cheap way to pay work- 
 men, for their wages. 
 
 Into this ne^v Basilica St. Cuthbert's restless bodie, in 
 the 309th year after his first buriall in Lindisfame, was 
 with great solemnitie inshrined, in the presence of 
 Vthred, Earl of Northumberland. 
 
 Among the Monks that attended St. Cuthbert to 
 Dunliolme, was one Regulfus, who was 200 and 10 
 years old : an historic to be rank'd under the samr
 
 38 
 
 common place with the wandering Jew : a poor monu- 
 ment to be remembered by : sith he gives no account 
 to posteritie, how he spent so many years, and where 
 extended age is the only commendation of a man, I may 
 well grant, he had a long being, but not a long life. 
 
 Another of St. Cuthbert's followers,* was Eadred, a 
 Monke, that for six years before he dyed could never 
 speak but in the church, where (as if religion had then 
 lent him a tongue) no man was more vocall to sing his 
 part. 
 
 These were the beginnings of the Church of Durham, 
 where Aldwinus (the last Bishopp of Chester and the 
 first of Durham) first ascended the episcopall chayre, 
 anno Dom. 996, in the reigne of King Etheked, who 
 (whiles St. Dunstan was baptizing him) defiled the hally 
 fant with the fruit of his weamb ; at which St. Dunstan 
 sware by God, and his mother, that he would prove a 
 lazie fellow. 
 
 • The body of St. Cutbbert was supported by seven stout bearers, selected 
 from the religious of their attendants. To be connected with any of these was, 
 in the subsequent ages of the church, considered as highly honourable. In his 
 36 Chap. Simeon has given us the names of four of these bearers : Hunred, 
 Stitheard, Edmund, and Franco ; and has also enumerated several of their de- 
 scendants. One of these, he further tells us, a Monk named Eadred, excelled so 
 much in cathedral chaunting, that St Cuth bert, lest be should ever employ bis 
 talent to a worse purpose, kindly deprived him of the power of utterance beyond 
 the limits of the church. E4.
 
 39 
 
 However to maintaine the lazines of the MonlvS of 
 Durham, he gave St. Cuthbert Darhngton with the ap- 
 purtnances : where afterwards Hugh Pudsay built 
 both a Mannour and a Church. 
 
 To these possessions, Snaculfus, one of the nobilitie, 
 added Bridbyrig, JNIordun, and Socceburge. So ready 
 was the devotion of those times to give all to the church 
 and to become poor, to be made rich in the world to 
 come, as if forsooth, the Monks were only the men. 
 that must be happie in both worlds. 
 
 Aldwinus dying in the 24tli year after his removal! 
 to Durham, left only the west towre of the church for 
 Edmundus his successour to finish : who was chosen 
 Bishopp by a voyce out of St. Cuthbert's tombe ; or 
 perchance by a Monke his good friend, that lay hid 
 under it : for I do not read that St. Cuthbert ever drank 
 in his pottage that (by the proverb) he should speak in 
 his grave : but without jesting he (Edmund) was a 
 reverend prelate, whose days had the honoure which 
 his predecessours attained not ; that now the Danes be- 
 came worshipers of St. Cuthbert in Durham, who had 
 burnt his church in Lindisfarne, who now from Pagans, 
 turn'd Christians in that excesse of devotion, that Ca-
 
 10 
 
 nutus their King came five miles bare-foot to St. Cuth- 
 bert's tombe in Durham, and as if he ment to make 
 satisfaction for the wrongs his ancesters had done to 
 that saint ; he gave to his church so many toTvns as 
 would breath a fatt Monke to repeate them : Wacar- 
 feild, Evenwood, Aclif, Lutington, Ingleton, Middle- 
 ton, Staindrop, and Raby, where the predecessors of the 
 Nevills (who lye entomb'd in Staindrop Church) built 
 the Castle ; and held it of the Church of Durham, for 
 the annuall rent of 4/. and an Hart. 
 
 The Monks of Durham bare now that state, and had 
 so fair a church for their saint to rest in ; that they 
 were ashamed that ever he had lyen in Chester : where 
 the church made of wood, seem'd to remaine a monu- 
 ment of their former povertie ; til Egelric the Bishopp 
 took away this eye sore ,* and built in honour of St. 
 Cuthbert a church of stone, which, methinks, was but a 
 posthumous dignitie to St. Cuthbert : and like as if a 
 man should suffer his guest to lye meanly, and when 
 he is gone to provide him a better lodging. 
 
 In digging the foundations of this church, he found 
 such a masse of coyne, that resigning his prelatship to 
 Egelwin his brother, he returned to his Abby at Peter-
 
 41 
 
 burie. But the king hearing of his wealth, took oc- 
 casion to pick a quarrell with him, and seazing upon his 
 riches, he imprisoned him at Westminster. This king 
 (if you desire his name) was Duke WiUiam the Con- 
 querour, who approaching York w4th an armie, so af- 
 frighted the Monks of Durham, that once more they 
 must have St Cuthbert upon their backs ; and flie with 
 him to Lindisfarne : coming the first night to Jarro, 
 the second to BedUngton, the third night to Tugahala,* 
 and the fourth night to the Holy Hand, whither they 
 entered in drie foot, it being then by chance the time ol' 
 the low ebb, though the Monks compar'd it to the mi- 
 racle of Jordan or the Red Sea, as if the water in ho- 
 mage to their Saint, had fled back to give them enter- 
 ance. But the Plonks, as more affraid than hurt, 
 shortly repayr'd home againe to Durham, where the 
 Conquerour, returning out of Scotland, would needs 
 see the incorruptible Saint so magnified. And never 
 were the Monks so affraid to have their imposture dis- 
 cover'd, for now they had not leasure to cheat the 
 spectators, with a living Monk, instead of dead St. 
 
 • This Tugaliala Is, I presume, the vUhge of Tu^'geU, near EUinffhain-, 
 Xortbuuiberland. JSd. 
 
 M
 
 4g 
 
 Cuthbert, but made so many delays and entreaties to 
 the contrary, that the king in a fever of anger was 
 strook with such an heat, that hastening out of the 
 church, and taking his horse, the Monks (in their his- 
 toric) make him never stay his course till he passed 
 over the Teese, and out of the presincts of the bishop- 
 prick, where he received his former temper.* King 
 William shortly after, to be revenged on the Monks, 
 went about to abrogate the charters of former kings, 
 and requiring tribute from St. Cuthbert's Hally-wark 
 folks, sent thither his exactor, whome St. Cuthbert, in 
 a sleep, so beat with his pastorall staff, that the next 
 morning, not able to rise, he was glad to send his cloak 
 to St. Cuthbert's sepulcher, (which was kept by the 
 Monks in memorie of the fact) and to ask pardon before 
 
 • According to Simeon, the first troops of William proceeded no further than 
 Northallerton, where being enveloped in a thick fog, they spent their time in 
 listening to the various legends of the fate which had overtaken former violatei-s 
 of the holy patrimony, by which means they frightened each other so effectually, 
 that as soon as it cleared up they marched back to York. It appears, however, 
 that the spells which St. Cuthbert hurled through the musty air, were not suffi- 
 ciently potent to unnerve the arm of the Norman Tyrant, who soon after ad. 
 vanced in person to chastise the rebellious province. From York to Durham, a 
 tract of sixty miles, the march of the Norman army was traced in characters of 
 blood ; the inhabitants were devoted to indiscriminate slaughter ; the villages 
 were left smoking in ashes ; and even the convents and monasteries were involved 
 undistinguished in the common destruction. Surtees' Hist. p. xiii.
 
 43 
 
 he could receive any ease. After this the king had a 
 reverend opinion of St. Cuthbert, and restored Bilhng- 
 ham to the church, and other villages, and created 
 Walcherus (Bishopp of Durham) Earl of Northumber- 
 land. Thus the Plonks had the victorie over the 
 Conquerour ; and brought him under their religion, 
 who had subdued the land under his sword. 
 
 All this while the church of Durham was but grow- 
 ing to her acme, and hight of her glorie, which she ob- 
 tained under that magnificent Prelate, Wilham of 
 Carilef ; who thought the church that Aid win built 
 too little for so great a Saint : therefor in the 100th 
 year after it was built, it was plukt downe, and the 
 foundations of a more ample church layd, such as we 
 see at this day : Malcolmus King of Scotland, the 
 Bishop himself, and Prior Turgot laying the S first 
 stones, Aug. 11, 1093. For which famous worke, 
 Anthony Beak, one of his successours, with a great sum 
 of money, got him to be canonized and enrolled among 
 the saints. 
 
 This reverend aged Abby, advanced upon the 
 shoulders of a mountanous atlas, is so envyroned again 
 with hilles, that lie tliat hath seen the situation of this
 
 u 
 
 city, hath seen the maj)p of Sion, and may save a jour- 
 ney to the Holy Land. She is girded almost round 
 with the renowned river of Weer, in which, as in a 
 crystalline, she might once have beheld the beautie, 
 but now the ruins of her w-alls. 
 
 Into this sumptuous church was the last and great 
 translation of St. Cuthbert : the tradition of whose in- 
 corruption Prior Turgot and his brethren had great de- 
 sire to confirme with their eyes : and if it were yet true, 
 to shew him publick to the people, at the day of his 
 translation. At night therefor the Prior, with 7 of his 
 brethren, mett at his tombe, and reverendly taking of 
 the stone, they found a chest covered with leather, w^ell 
 fortified with nayles, enclosed in another coffin with 
 2 covers, wrapt in a cloth thrice double, in which they 
 found the booke of the Evangelists, which had fallen 
 into the sea, a Uttle sylver altar, a goblet of pure gold, 
 with an onix stone, and an ivoiy combe ; lastly, opening 
 the third chest, they beheld the flesh and bodie of their 
 saint, lying on his right side, to give place to the rest of 
 the reliques, which were so many, that his coffin seem'd 
 a chamell house of bones. For besides his owne bodie, 
 there w ere the bones of venerable Bede ; the head of
 
 45 
 
 Saint Oswald ; part allso of the Bones of Aidanus, 
 Eadfrid, and Ethehvaldus, bishops of Lindisfarne : all 
 which rehqiies with due reverence they took out and 
 placed them in other parts of the church, only laying 
 St. Cuthbert upon his back, they placed St. Oswald's 
 head between his hands.* At the day of his transla- 
 
 • I subjoin the following beautiful nan-ative from the Kev. John Lingard's 
 Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, which has been transmitted to posterity 
 by the pen of an eye witness, probably Simeon the historian : besides the general 
 interest it must excite, it serves to illustrate the ancient customs of the Anglo- 
 Saxons in the interment of the dead. 
 
 *• William the Second bishop of Durham, after the conquest, had collected 
 for the service of his cathedral a society of monks, and dissatisfied with the low 
 and obscure church of his predecessors, had laid the foundations of a more 
 stately fabric. In the year one thousand one hundred and four it was nearly 
 completed : and the twenty-ninth of August was announced as the day on which 
 the incorrupt body of St. Cuihbeit would be transferred from the old to the new 
 church. The nobility and clergy of the neighbouring counties were invited to 
 the ceremony ; and Richard, abbot of St. Albans, Radulfus, abbot of Seez in 
 Normandy, and Alexander, brother to the king of Scots, had arrived to honour 
 it with their presence. But among this crowd of noble and learned visitors the 
 whispers of incredulity were heard ; the claim of the monks was said to rest on 
 the faith of a vague and doubtful tradition ; and it was asked, where were the 
 proofs that the body of the saint was entire, or even that his ashes reposed in the 
 church of Durham ? Who could presume to assert, that at the distance of four 
 centuries, it still remained in the same state as at the time of Bede ? or that du- 
 ring its numerous removals, and the devastations of the Danes, it had never 
 perished by the negligence or flight of its attendants ? These reports alarmed 
 the credulity of the monks; and that alarm was considerably increased by the 
 intelligence, that the bishop himself was among the number of the sceptics. 
 
 N
 
 46 
 
 lation, 4th Sept. Ranulfus the bishop instead of a fu- 
 nerall, he preached his resurrection sermon, and pub- 
 
 Wtih haste and secracy the brotherhood was summoned to the chapter house ; 
 the advice of the more discreet was asked and discussed ; and, after a long and 
 solemn consultation, it was determined that Turgot, the prior, with nine asso- 
 ciates, should open the tomb in the silence of the night, and make a faithful re- 
 port concerning the state of its contents. 
 
 As soon as their brethren were retired to rest, the ten visitors entered the 
 church. After a short but fervent prayer that God would pardon their temerity, 
 they removed the masonry of the tomb, and beheld a large and ponderous chest, 
 which had beenjentirely covered with leather, and strongly secured with nails, and 
 plates of iron. To separate the top from the sides, required their utmost exertions; 
 and within it they discovered a second chest of dimensions more proportionate 
 to the human body, and wrapped in a course linen cloth, which had previously 
 been dipped in melted wax. That it contained the object of their search, all 
 were agreed : but their fears caused a temporary suspension of their labours. 
 From the tradition of their predecessors they had learnt, that no man had ever pre- 
 sumed to disturb the repose of the saint, and escaped the instantaneous vengeance 
 of heaven. The stories of ancient times crowded on their imaginations : en- 
 gaged in a similar attempt, they expected to meet each moment with a similar 
 punishment; the silence of she night, the sacredness of the place, the superior 
 sanctity of their patron, aided these impressions, and at last an almost general 
 wish was expressed to abandon so dangerous an experiment. 
 
 But Turgot was inflexible. He commanded them to proceed ; and, after a 
 short struggle, the duty of obedience subdued the reluctance of terror. By his 
 direction they conveyed the smaller chest from behind the altar< to a more con- 
 venient place in the middle of the choir ; unrolled the cloth; and with trembling 
 hands raised up ' he lid. But instead of the remains of the saint they found a copy 
 of the Gospels, lyii gon a second lid, which had not been nailed, but rested on three 
 transverse bars of wood. By the help of two iron rings, fixed at the extremities, 
 it was easily removed, and disclosed the body lying on its right side, and apparently 
 entire. At the sight they gazed on each other in silent astonishment; and then,
 
 47 
 
 lished to the people, the incorruption of St. Cuthbert's 
 bodie, which after 418 years, was yet flexible : and now 
 
 retiring a few paces, fell prostrate on the floor, and repeated in a low voice the 
 seven psalms of penitence. Gradually their fears were dispelled : they arose, 
 approached the body, lifted it up, and placed it respecifully on a carpet spread on 
 the floor. In the coffin they found a great number of bones wrapped in linen, the 
 mortal remains of the other bishops of Lindisfarne, which to facilitate the con- 
 veyance, the monks had deposited in the same chest, when they were compelled 
 to leave their ancient monastery. These they collected and transferred to a dif- 
 ferent part of the church ; and, as the hour of matins approached, hastily re- 
 placed the body in the coffin, and carried it back to its former situation behind 
 the altar. 
 
 The next evening, at the same hour, they resumed the investigation ; and the 
 body was again placed on the floor of the choir. They discovered that it had 
 been originally dressed in a linen robe, a dalmatic, a chasuble, and a mantle. 
 With it had been buried, a pair of scissors, a comb of ivory, a silver altar, a 
 patine, and a small chalice, remarkable for the elegance and richness of its or- 
 naments. Having surveyed the body, till their veneration and curiosity were 
 satisfied, they restored it to the tomb in which it had formerly reposed, and 
 hastened to communicate the joyful intelligence to their anxious and impatient 
 brethren. 
 
 The following morning the monks were eager to announce the discovery of 
 the preceding nights, and a solemn act of thanksgiving was performed, to 
 publish their triumph, and silence the doubts of the incredulous. But their joy 
 was soon interiupted by the rational scepticism of the abbot of a neighbouring 
 monastery. Why, he asked, was the darkness of the night selected as the most 
 proper time to visit the tomb ? Why were none but the monks of Durham 
 permitted to be present ? These circumstances provoked suspicion. Let them 
 open the coffin before the eyes of the strangers who had come to assist at ths 
 translation of the relics. To grant this would at once confound their adversaries): 
 but to refuse it, would be to condemn themselves of imposture and falsehood. 
 Tbis unexpected demand, with the insinuations by which it was accompiniecl,
 
 48 
 
 might plead prescription with the grave to be immor- 
 tall. And thus in great solemnitie they inshrin'd him 
 behind the High Altar, in the presence of the Abbat of 
 St. Albans, the Abbat of Sagium, the Abbat of St. 
 Maries of Yorke, and the Abbat of St. German with 
 thousands of people, spectators of the miracle. 
 
 This was his place of rest, where so many treasures 
 were dayly offer' d, that the Monks needed not to studie 
 Alchymie for gold, having such a Philosophers stone 
 to convert money into their purses : who had that re- 
 pute of sanctitie and frequencie of worshippers that in 
 his shrine, at this day, you may see the pious delapidation 
 
 roused the indignation of the monks. They appealed to their character, which had 
 been hitheito unimpeached : they offered to confirm their testimony with their 
 oaths : they accused their opponent of a design to undermine their reputation, 
 and then to seize on their property. The altercation continued till the day appoint- 
 ed for the ceremony of the translation ; when the Abbot of Seez prevailed on the 
 Prior Turgot, to accede to so reasonable a demand. To the number of fifty 
 they entered the choir : the chest, which enclosed the remains, was placed before 
 them, and the lid was removed ; when Turgot stept forward, and stretching out 
 his hand, forbade any person to touch the body without his permission, and com- 
 manded his monks to watch with jealousy the execution of his orders. The 
 Abbot of Seez then approached, raised up the body, and proved the flexibility of 
 the joints, by moving the head, the arms, and the legs. At the sight every doubt 
 vanished; the most incredulous confessed that they were satisfied ; the TeDeum 
 was chaunted, and the translation of the relics was immediately performed with 
 the accustomed ceremonies." P. 265 et seq.
 
 49 
 
 of ancient devotion, the verie stonnes gutter'd and 
 wonie out with kneeling : Here St. Ciithbert for 400 
 years slept without disturbance : excepting that once 
 he complained in a dream to a JNIonke, of a mouse that 
 troubled his rest, which had made her nest in his tombe: 
 Here he lay in honour and peace, till Henry the 8th 
 sent that earthquake among monasteries, and sepulchers 
 of the saints, which he caused to be opened, to find 
 treasures. Among which (saith HarpfFeild) the tombe 
 of this saint was allso broken up, with that irreverence, 
 that "vWth the violence of the blow upon the coffin, they 
 wounded his legg.* Finding his whole bodie entyre, 
 
 • The sacred shrine of St. Cuthbert was defaced at the visitation held at Dur- 
 ham, for demolishing such monuments, by Dr. Lee, Dr. Henley, and Mr. Blyth- 
 man, in king Henry the Eight's reign, at his suppression of religious houses. 
 They found many valuable and goodly jewels, especially one precious stone, which, 
 by the estimate of those three visitoj-s, and their skilful Lapidaries, was of value 
 sufficient to redeem a prince. After the spoil of his ornaments and jewels, they 
 approached near to his body, expecting nothing but dust and ashes ; but perceiving 
 the chest he lay in strongly bound with iron, the Goldsmith with a great fore- 
 hammer broke it open, when they found him lying whole, incorrupt, with his face 
 bare, and his beard as of a fortnight's growth, and all the vestments about him, as 
 he was accustomed to say mass, and his metwand of gold lying by him. "When 
 the Goldsmith perceived he had broken one of his legs, in breaking open the chest, 
 he was sore troubled at it, and cried, "Alas ! I have broken one of his legs ;" which 
 Dr. Henley hearing, called to him, and bade him cast down his bones : the other 
 answered, he could not get them asunder, for the sinews and skin held them so 
 
 O
 
 50 
 
 save the tipp of his nose, which was wanting ; a small 
 matter in a carkas that had wanted a soid above 800 
 years. His verie grave clothes were so free from cor- 
 ruption, as if they had rather been kept in a wardrob, 
 then a sepulcher. Upon his finger he had a ring with 
 a saphyre stone in it, an unusual ornament for other 
 dead men, but well befitted him, as the mamage ring 
 of incorruption, which for reverence of the saint, they 
 durst not take of, but at the commande of Bishop Tun- 
 stall, shut up his tombe as it was before. 
 
 that they would not separate. Then Dr. Lee stept np to see if it were so, and 
 turning about, spake in Latin to Dr. Henley, that he was entire, though Dr. 
 Henley not believing his words, called again to have his bones cast down. Dr. Lee 
 answered, «' If you will not believe me, come up yourself and see Jiim." Then 
 Dr. Henley stept up to him, and handled him, and found he lay whole : then he 
 commanded them to take him down ; and so it happened contrary to their expec~ 
 tation, that not only his body was whole and uncorrupt, but the vestments wherein 
 his body lay, and wherein he was accustomed to say mass, were fresh, safe, and 
 not consumed. "Whereupon the visitors commanded him to be carried into the 
 Revestrj', till the king's pleasure concerning him was further known ; and upon 
 the receipt thereof, the prior and monks buried him in the ground under the place 
 where his shrine was exalted. Antiquities (f Durliam, p. 87. 
 
 «' There, deep in Durham's gothic shade. 
 His reliques are in secret laid ; 
 
 But none may know the place. 
 Save of his holiest sen^ants three. 
 Deep sworn to solemn secrecy, 
 • Who share that wond'rous grace." 
 
 Scott's Marmkn. Canto II.
 
 51 
 
 At this spectacle were present Doctor Whithead 
 prior of Durham, accompanied with WiUiam Witam, 
 the keeper of his shrine. Doctor Spark, Doctor Tod, 
 and others of the Abby. All this might be true, and 
 vet St. Cuthbert more beholden to the art of his monks, 
 then to his own sanctitie for his incorruption. For 
 it was ancient among the Egyptians to embahne the 
 bodies of their dead kings, and with ceercloths to pre- 
 serve their carkases for manie ages from putrefaction ; 
 and yet they were thought no saints, as St. Cuthbert 
 was, in honour and reverence of whose saintshipp, till 
 Edward the First's time, none presumed to be buryed 
 in the same church with him, as thought unworthie to 
 lye under the same roofe with such an incorruptable 
 saint. 
 
 The most ancient monuments, therefor, and antiqui- 
 ties on tombe stones, are to be searched out in the 
 Chapter House, where Bishop AValcher, Earl of North- 
 umberland, and first Count Palatine of Durham, lyeth 
 entomb'd, who erected those ancient Buildings called 
 the Fermarie, for the Monks of Jarro, wliome with 
 licence from Grcgorie the 7th, he translated to Durham; 
 but was miserably slaine in Goats-head Church, whose
 
 52 
 
 death occasioned Odo, bishop of Bayeux, to be sent 
 thither to take revenge, (Sed excessit medicina modum,) 
 for he both depopulated the countrie, and rob'd the 
 church of divers ornaments, among which was the 
 Bishops Crosier staff; so curiously sumptuous, that the 
 matter and the arte seemed to strive for victorie.* 
 
 • Walchcr did not long enjoy the honours heaped upon him : however 
 blameless his own personal conduct might be, the extensive powers with which 
 he was invested as Earl or Prelate were by no means exercised with moderation 
 or discretion by those to whom he had delegated their execution. The Arch- 
 deacon Leofwin, and Gilbert, Walchei's kinsman, to whom the secular adminis- 
 tration was entrusted, are alike accused of malversation in their respective offices. 
 The former plundered the treasures of the church, and the country groaned 
 under the tyranny of the latter. Liulph, a Saxon noble, connected with the 
 blood of Siward and Gospatric, and not less popular from his virtues than his 
 rank, shared the confidence of the Prelate, to whom he dared to remonstrate 
 against the oppressive measures of his officers : he soon after fell a sacrifice 
 to their revenge, together with a part of his family, by nocturnal assassina- 
 tion. His death raised the irritation of the people to its highest pitch, and the 
 impunity of his murderers caused the Bishop to be regarded as the tacit author 
 of the crime. With a view of appeasing the popular feeling, Walcher ap- 
 pointed a general council or assembly to be held at Gateshead^ whither confiding 
 either in his innocence or the sanctity of his character, he imprudently trusted 
 himself with a slender body of attendants. But the hour of conciliation was 
 put, and the offer of delivering up to justice offenders already in the power of 
 the enraged populace was treated with contempt. The barbarous cry of 
 ♦« Good rede short rede, ska ye tJie Bishop,^'' echoing on every side, was the signal 
 of a general assault. The few attendant guards were overpowered and murdered- 
 The church afforded a temporary refuge, but the avenues were beset, and every 
 one who ventured forth to address the populace in terms of conciliation fell
 
 5S 
 
 In the said Chapter House lyeth WilHam of CariUf, 
 that built the Church ; and between them both lyeth 
 the learned Prior Turgotus, Archdeacon of Durham, 
 and afterwards Bishop of St. Andi'ews in Scotland, a 
 polite writer of the histories of this church. 
 
 Lastly, to omitt others (because I write only out of 
 my memorie, and therefor must leave this part of my 
 historie imperfect till 1 take a more acurate view) the 
 monument of the magnificent Hugh Pudsay, King 
 Stephens nephew, the founder of the Priorie of Fincha- 
 lie in honour of St. Godrick, who there had lived an 
 hermite ; who because he was one of my countrey 
 saints, I will shew you what he was, out of an old ma- 
 nuscript, writ by one Nicholaus a Monke of the same 
 Priorie. St. Gk)drick in his younger years was a Pedlar, 
 and carried his moveable shop upon his back, from fair 
 to fair. Afterwards to make a better fortune, he ventre'd 
 
 successively the victim of their fury- The building was at length fired : and 
 Walchcr in avoiding the flames met his fate from the swords of his rebellious 
 vassals. His death did not satiate their revenge, his body, mangled and insulted, 
 was found naked on the spot by the Monks of Jarrow, who conveyed it by 
 water, first to their own monastery, and after to Durham, where it was prirately 
 interred in the Cathedral. Surtecs' Hist. p. xvii. 
 
 P
 
 54 
 
 into Flanders, Denmark, and Scotland, and by the way- 
 used to visit the Holy Island, much delighted to hear 
 the Monks tell stories of St. Cuthbert, ■which so deeply 
 affected him, that he would needs, in heat of devotion, 
 undertake a pilgrimage to the holy land ; and again 
 after his returne into England, by the advice of St. 
 Cuthbert in a dream, he repayred to the holy sepulcher, 
 and washing his feet in Jordan, there left his shoes, 
 vowing to go bare foot all the days of his life after. 
 
 At his second returne, he was admonished by St. 
 Cuthbert in his sleep, to build him an anchorage at 
 Finchalie, nere Durham, where he lived in that heat of 
 devotion, that he used to stand praying up to the neck 
 in the river which ran by his cell, which holy custome 
 so anger'd the Devill, that once he stole away his 
 clothes, as they lay on the bank. But Godi'ick spying 
 him, back he straight brought him with an Ave-Marie ; 
 and forcing the Devill to be just, against his will, made, 
 him restore them, which were so course, that I think 
 he that stole them would scarce have worne them. For 
 his Jerkin was of iron, of which suits of apparell he 
 wore out three in the time of his Hermitage, a strange 
 coat, whose stuff had the ironmunger for the draper.
 
 55 
 
 and a smith for the taylour : neither was his lodging- 
 much unsuitable to his clothes, who had the ground for 
 his bed, and a stone for his pillow : His tutelarie angell 
 oft play'd the sexton, and rang his bell to awake him to 
 his Nocturns, who for want of Beads used to number 
 his prayers with peble stones. His dyett was as course 
 as his coat, and as his shu*t was of sackcloth, so half the 
 meale that made him bread was ashes. 
 
 The Devill used to act Proteous before him, and with 
 his shapes, rather made him sport than affrighted him. 
 Only once as St. Godrick sate by the fire, the Devill 
 came behind and gave him such a box of the eare, that 
 had fel'd him down, if he had not recovered himself 
 with the sisne of the crosse. He had the Psalter con- 
 tinually hanging on his little finger, which with use 
 was ever after crooked. Thus after he acted a legend 
 of miracles, he ended his sceen and his life anno Dom. 
 1170, Uttle deserving this honour, to be bestowed upon 
 his cell by this Bishop Hugh, who had tolde him he 
 should be 7 years blinde before his death, so that the 
 Bisliop believing the holy Hermitc, and defening his 
 repentance till the time of his blindncsse, (which God- 
 rick ment of the eyes of his understandhig) dyed un*
 
 56 
 
 provided for death. But if good deeds be satisfactorie, 
 then dyed he not in debt for his sinnes. Who repayr'd 
 many of the Episcopall mannors, builded Darlington 
 Church, founded the Hospitall at Allerton, and the 
 famous Sherburne Hospitall nere Durham. Who built 
 likewise Elvet Bridge over the Weere, with two Chap, 
 pells upon it. Who bought of King Richard the first 
 the Earldom of Sadbury for his successours, and lastly 
 built that beautiful worke the Galilee or our Ladies 
 Chappell, now called the Consistorie ; into which he 
 translated St. Bede's bones, which there lies interr'd, 
 under a tombe of black marble, without an inscription. 
 From this place I conjecture the great Bell in the Abby 
 hath its name, and perchance is the same which in an 
 old manuscript I finde to be drawne from London to 
 Durham by two and twenty oxen. 
 
 Under the Consistorie table lyeth entomb'd Cardinall 
 Langley, Bishop of Durham, and Lord Chancellour of 
 England, who built both the Musick and the Grammar 
 Schools. In the Quire before the high Altar lyeth 
 Bishop Beaumont, under a spacious marble inlay'd with 
 brasse, to whome some referre the building of the citty 
 walls. Besides him lyeth the famous Bishop Anthony
 
 57 
 
 Beak, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and who had the princi. 
 palitie of the lie of INIan. He built, saith Leland, the 
 mannour of Aukland, and repayr'd Bernard, and An- 
 wick Castles, and made Chester a Collegiate Church. 
 
 No ancient monuments of women are to be seen 
 in this Abby. For till of latter ages no female was 
 to enter into any church that belong'd to St. Cuth- 
 bert,* .since that on a time, as he was a preaching, 
 
 " A storv is related, that the daughter of some Xorthern king had been se- 
 duced by a relative and thereby l^ecome pregnant. The father perceiving it, was 
 anxious to discover the author of her disgrace. After some entreaty she replied, 
 " That solitary young man who dwelleth hard by hath overcome me, and by his 
 beauty I am thus deceived." The king furiously enraged, rejiaired to the solitary 
 place with his devoured daughter, attended by many knights. He saluted thus 
 the servant of God, " What ! art thou he, who under the colour of Religion pro- 
 phanest the temple and sanctuary of God ? Art thou he, who under the title 
 and profession of a solitary life, exercisest all filthiness of the world in incest ? 
 Behold my daughter, whom tliou by thy deceits hast corrupted. Declare there- 
 for plainly before this company, in which manner thou hast seduced her." The 
 daughter hearihg the fierce speeches of her father, imprudently stept forth, and 
 boldly atiirmed, that he alone was guilty. At which St. Cuthbert much amazed, 
 and perceiving this forgen,- to proceed from tlie instigation of the Devil, applied 
 Jiis whole heart to God, exhorting him to make manifest this work of iniquitVf 
 by some divine oracle. When he had finished his ejaculation, the earth suddenly 
 opened where she stood with a hLssing noise, and swallowed her up. The king 
 much troubled in his mind, humbly craved pardon of Almighty God, and jjeti- 
 lioned tliat good man St. Cutlibert, that by his praj'ors, his daughter might be 
 .-igain restored. ^\liich petition the holy father granted upon condition, that 
 from thence no woman shoul<l have resort to him. Whence it formerly was, that 
 no woman was suffered to enter into any church dedicated to that saint .Ed. 
 
 Q
 
 58 
 
 the Devill came to his sermon in the shape of a most 
 beautiful woman, who so drew away the attention of 
 his auditours, by gazing upon her, till St. Cuthbert 
 throwing holy water at her, found she was a Devill. 
 But as for St. Cuthbert himself, I observe his nature 
 did not much abhorre the companie of his holy sisters ; 
 For Hilda, Elfleda, Verca, Ebba, and other Abbatisses, 
 were his intimate acquaintance ; and if he had distasted 
 that sex, he had not built a nunnerie at Luel, (Carlile.) 
 But to returne ; in the Quire at the north side lyeth 
 under a faire monument of brasse, Bishop Skirlaw, who 
 built the cloysters, and two great bridges over the Weer 
 at Newton and Shinkley ; and a third over the Teese at 
 Yarum, he built allso the steeple at Holm Church, and 
 lastly a great part of the Lanterne of Yorke Minster. 
 He bestowed moreover 200Z. in building the Diribitorie, 
 at Durham, which I conjecture is the checker over the 
 Abby gates. 
 
 The reliq.ues of that Abby were as many as there are 
 saints in the Pope's almanack. For from hence will 
 St. Gyles fetch his tooth at the resurrection, St. Zachary 
 his legg, another his hip-bone, another his skull, another 
 his knuckle-bone, besides a whole wardrob of saint's
 
 59 
 
 apparrell, both coats and hoods, and stockins of the 
 Apostles, with divers fractions of the crosse, and the 
 sacred sepulcher. And now if you will know the 
 price reUques were at, in those days, ask IVIalmesburie 
 what Egelnothus, Archbishop of Canterburie, gave as 
 he came from Rome, for St. Augustin's arme, which 
 he bought at Pavia, and he will tell you, that it cost him 
 an hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold ; by 
 which bargain he hath made himself by record a foole 
 to posteritie, and these that have read that in Pliny ; 
 Mala emptio semper ingrata, eo maxime quod domino 
 exprobrare stultitiam videtur. But of all reliques to 
 make merry with, this is one ; Elfrid a INIonke had got 
 one of St. Cuthbert's hairs, which layd upon the coles 
 would be red hot, but retunie again to its former colour. 
 Thus not so much as the verie haire of St. Cuthbert 
 could escape the INIonks without a miracle. 
 
 Among other monuments of this Abby, the brazen 
 Desk is not the least ; which was the joynt gift of a 
 reverend Prebend* of this church, and his sonne wlio 
 added the Globe and the Eagle to that sumptuous 
 Columne, and basis, which was the twelft part of a great 
 
 • llolc'rt SwiCt, Sjiirllurvl C'liancoHor;
 
 60 
 
 candlestick, found hid in a vault of the church : they 
 both lye buried under two marble stones inlay'd with 
 brasse, as you enter into the Quire dore on your left 
 hand, which parte of the church is allmost paved with 
 the grave-stones of my neer friends. 
 
 The subterraneous passages under this church, as in 
 other abbys, are manie ; but what end these substruc- 
 tions under ground should have in the maker's intent, 
 whether to conceale their treasure in time of invasion, 
 or for worse purposes, I cannot determine. By those 
 caverns it is certain, that the abby and the castle shake 
 hands under ground. This castle was built by William 
 the Conquerour for the defence of the citie. The iron- 
 gate whereof was set up by Bishop Tunstall, who allso 
 built the Tolbooth. The towre (in which Philip Poy- 
 tier, Bishop of Durham, had licence from Richard I. 
 to set up a mynt-house, and coyne monie) was repayr'd 
 by Richard Fox, afterwards Bishop of AVinton, the 
 honourable founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 
 whereof at this time I am a member. In the chappell 
 of which college were two altars, the one called Ara 
 Trinitatis, the other Ara Sancti Cuthberti, which argued 
 that St. Cuthbert was Bishop Fox his saint. But to
 
 61 
 
 conclude, the whole castle is generally repayr'd and 
 beautifully adorn'd and inhghten'd with many win- 
 dows, by the reverend Bishop now incumbent. Under 
 whom the Church of Durham seems to renew her age, 
 and to take a new lease of eternitie, who for the inter- 
 nal beautie of her high Altar, Cathedral Music, and 
 sacred Laver and other ornaments, may challenge her 
 sister churches for prioritie. Thus, like one that at 
 once salutes a multitude, I have taken a confused sur- 
 vey of the monuments of this church, with that dis- 
 tracted methode and brevitie, that 1 have rather seem'd 
 to take an Inventorie of her antiquities, than 
 to have compyl'd an Historic. As it is 
 I offer it upon one of the Altars 
 Avhich the Romans used to 
 erect with this inscrip- 
 tion, — Diis 
 Patriis. 
 To my Countrie Genius. 
 
 R
 
 Here followeth a list of the Bishopps, 
 from the foundation of the Church at Lindis- 
 fame, to the present day ; with the respective 
 dates of their promotion.
 
 es 
 
 BISHOPS OF LINDISFARNE. 
 
 Anno Doui. 
 
 1 Idanus .... .... .... .... 634< 
 
 2 Finanus — .... 651 
 
 3 Colman .... .... .... .... 661 
 
 4 Tuda .... .... .... .... 664 
 
 From this period for 14 years, Lindisfarne wanted 
 its proper Bishop. 
 
 5 Eata .... .... 678 
 
 6 Cuthbert 685 
 
 7 Eadbert 688 
 
 8 Eadfrid 698 
 
 9 Ethelwold 724 
 
 10 Cynewolf 740 
 
 11 Higbald 781 
 
 12 Egbertus 803 
 
 13 Heathured 821 
 
 14 Egfridus .... .... .... .... 830 
 
 15 ' Eanbert .... 845 
 
 16 iErdulfus 85^
 
 64 
 
 BISHOPS OF CHESTER. 
 
 Anuo Doni. 
 
 1 ^rdulfus 8821 
 
 g| Cutheard 900 
 
 5 Tilredus 915 
 
 4 Wigred - - - ^ - - 928 
 
 6 Ulitred 944 
 
 6 Sexhelm, (held the see but six months) 947 
 
 7 Aldred - - - - - - 947 
 
 8 Elfsig ...-.- 968
 
 &5 
 
 BISHOPS OF DUKHAM. 
 
 Anno Doui. 
 
 1 Aldune - - - - - - 990 
 
 At the death of Aldune the see remained vacant 3 years. 
 
 1020 
 
 104.1 
 
 104a 
 
 1056 
 
 1072 
 
 - 1080 
 
 - 1099 
 
 113.'j 
 
 The see was usurped by WilHam Cumin for nearly 3 years. 
 
 lU William de St. Barba - - - - 1143 
 
 11 HughPudsey 1153 
 
 12 PhiUp de Poicteu - - - - 1197 
 The see was vacant nine years and a half, in which time 
 
 John Gray was nominated, but died before his con- 
 firmation. 
 
 13 Richard IMarisco - . - - 1217 
 
 After the death of Marisco, the see continued vacant 
 2 years and upwards. 
 
 2 
 
 Eadmund - 
 
 3 
 
 Eadred 
 
 4 
 
 Egelric 
 
 5 
 
 Egelwin 
 
 6 
 
 Walcher - 
 
 7 
 
 William de Carilepho 
 
 8 
 
 Ralph Flambard 
 
 9 
 
 GalfridRufus -
 
 66 
 
 Anno Doni. 
 
 14 Kichard Poore - - - - 1228 
 
 15 Nicholas Fernham - - - - 124.1 
 
 16 Walter Kirkham - - - - 1249 
 
 17 Robert Stchill ... - 1260 
 
 18 Robert de Insula - - - - 1274 
 
 19 Anthonie Beake - - - - 1283 
 
 20 Richard Kellow - - - - 1311 
 
 21 Ludov. Beaumont - - - - 1317 
 
 22 Richard Bury - . - . 1333 
 
 23 Thomas Hatfield - - - - 1345 
 
 24 Johannes Fordham . - - - 1381 
 
 25 Walter Skirlaw - - - - 1388 
 
 26 Thomas Langley - - - - 1406 
 
 27 Robert Nevill ... - 1438 
 
 28 Laurence Booth - - - - 1 457 
 
 29 William Dudley - - - - 1476 
 
 30 John Sheerwood . - - - 1483 
 81 Richard Fox - 1494 
 
 32 William Siveyer - - - - 1502 
 
 33 Christopher Baimbridge - - - 1507 
 
 34 Thomas Rutholl - . - - 1509 
 
 35 Thomas Wolsey - - - - 1523 
 
 36 Cuthbert Tunstall - - - - 1530
 
 67 
 
 Anno Dom* 
 
 37 James Pilkington - - - - 1560 
 
 38 Richard Barnes - - - - 1575 
 
 39 jNIathevv Hutton . * - - 1589 
 
 40 Tobius IMatthew . - . . 1595 
 
 41 AVilliam James - - - - 1606 
 
 42 Richard Neile - - - * 1617 
 
 43 George JMonteign - - - - 1628 
 
 44 John How son - - . - - 1628 
 
 45 Thomas ]Morton - - - - 1632 
 
 46 JohnCosin 1660 
 
 47 Nathaniel Lord Crew - - - 1674 
 
 48 WiUiam Talbot . . - . 1721 
 
 49 Edward Chandler - - - - 1730 
 
 50 Joseph Butler - - - - 1750 
 
 51 Ricliard Trevor - - - - 1752 
 
 52 John Egcrton - - - - 1771 
 
 53 Thomas Thurlow ... - 1787 
 
 54 Hon. Shute Barrington ... I791 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 G. Garlutt, Printer, Sunderland.
 
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