THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 i
 
 DIOCESAN HISTORIES, 
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 BY 
 
 J. L. LOW, M.A., 
 
 VICAR OF WHITTONSTALL, NOETHUMBERLAND. 
 
 WITH MAP AND PLAN. 
 
 PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE. 
 
 LONDON -. 
 SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, 
 
 NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, S.W. ; 
 
 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. ; 48, PICCADILLY, W. ; 
 
 AND 135, NORTH STRBET, BRIGHTON. 
 
 NEW YORK : E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. 
 1881.
 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. The Roman Mission i 
 
 II. The Scottish Mission 7 
 
 III. St. Cuthbert 40 
 
 IV. Monkwearmouth — ^Jarrow — Bede 65 
 
 V. LiNDISFARNE — HeXHAM — ChESTER-LE-StREET 92 
 
 VI. Durham 109 
 
 VII. Norman Bishops — Walcher to de Insula 127 
 
 VIII. Scottish Wars — Bek to Bury 165 
 
 IX. Scottish Wars — Hatfield — The Nevilles 188 
 
 X. Reformation — Tunstall — Pilkington ... 207 
 
 XI. Bernard Gilpin — Barnes to James 232 
 
 XII. Great Rebellion — Neile to Morton ... 249 
 
 XIII. The Restoration— CosiN to Talbot 270 
 
 XIV. The Wesleys— Chandler 297 
 
 XV. Butler to the Present Day 310 
 
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 DURHAM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ROMAN MISSION. 
 
 The present diocese of Durham consists of the 
 counties of Durham and Northumberland, and the 
 parish of Alston in Cumberland. It extends from 
 Sockburn on the Tees to Berwick-upon-Tweed, about 
 88 miles. Its greatest width, from east to w^est, is 
 about 47 miles, and its area is about 3,100 square 
 miles. These dimensions are the result of many 
 changes, the last of which took place so late as 1S36. 
 These will be noticed as the narrative proceeds. It 
 is sufficient here to say that the Bishop of Durham 
 represents the ancient bishops of Lindisfarne ; and 
 that these for a time were the only Christian prelates 
 in the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, 
 which extended from the Humber to the Frith of 
 Forth, a territory now distributed among six dio- 
 ceses.^ Subsequently the district to the south of 
 the Tees was assigned to the see of York, and the 
 northern portion was divided into two dioceses — that 
 
 1 York, Ripon, Durham, Carlisle, Glasgow (the greater part), 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 B 
 
 H
 
 2 DURHAM. 
 
 of Hexham, which reached from the Tees to the Aln, 
 and that of Lindisfarne, which extended from the Aln 
 to the Forth. During the troubles caused by the 
 Danish invasions the see of Hexham came to an end, 
 the diocese was re-annexed to that of Lindisfarne, 
 and the bishop removed to Chester-le-Street, whence, 
 in A.D. 995, the see was transferred to Durham. 
 Soon after this the Lothians, which had not perhaps 
 occupied much of the attention of the bishops at 
 Chester-le-Street, were ceded to Scotland, and came 
 under the rule of the Scottish bishops. The see of 
 Carlisle was founded in the twelfth century, and thus 
 the diocese at last became nearly what it now is. 
 
 It is well Jcnown that during at least the latter part 
 of the time of the Roman occupation, there was a 
 Christian Church in Britain ; but it seems to have 
 been chiefly confined to the Roman settlements, and 
 though there are abundant traces of the Roman sway 
 in the counties of Durham and Northumberland, in 
 the remains of roads, of numerous encampments, and 
 notably of the great wall which reached from the 
 estuary of the Tyne to the Solway Frith, yet there is 
 no reason to believe that the Romans ever made any 
 permanent settlement to the north of the Tees. It is 
 vain, therefore, to inquire after any traces of Chris- 
 tianity before the Anglo-Saxon conquest. 
 
 The kingdom of Northumbria, in early times at 
 least, might fairly claim, on many accounts, to be the 
 foremost in the Heptarchy. Out of seven princes who 
 ruled the whole of Britain as Bretwaldas, the three 
 last were kings of Northumbria. The Northumbrian 
 Church, as this history will show, did far more for the
 
 THE ROMAN MISSION. 3 
 
 spread of the gospel in England than the Roman 
 mission in Kent, and it is to a presbyter of that 
 Church, the Venerable Bede, that England is indebted 
 for the earliest and most trustworthy history both of 
 her ecclesiastical and civil state. Northumbria was 
 divided into two provinces, which were sometimes 
 separate kingdoms — Deira, the southern portion, 
 reaching from the Humber to the Tees ; Bernicia, 
 the northern, from the Tees or the Tyne to the Frith 
 of Forth. The latter was the first settled. In a.d. 
 547 Ida, a chieftain among the Angles, landed in the 
 far north with forty chiules or keels, a name for 
 barges still familiar on the Tyne, and fixed his 
 head-quarters on a precipitous rock overhanging 
 the German Ocean, about sixteen miles south of 
 Berwick. A castle, afterwards long the capital of 
 Bernicia, \vas built by Ida's son and successor, 
 Ethelric, and named after his wife, Bebbanburgh, a 
 name which it still retains in a shortened form — 
 Bamburgh. A few years later another chieftain, 
 named Ella, settled in Deira. The reader will re- 
 member that the name both of Deira and Ella occur 
 in the oft-told and very beautiful story of PoiDe 
 Gregory and the English youths in the slave market 
 at Rome, ^^'hen Ella died his son Edwin was a 
 minor ; and Ida's grandson, Ethelfrith, a fierce and 
 sanguinary warrior, who had married Ella's daughter, 
 drove his brother-in-law, Edwin, into exile, and took 
 possession of Deira. 
 
 The interesting and picturesque story of Edwin 
 tells us how, with the help of Redwald, King of the 
 East Angles, and the fourth Brctwalda, he gained 
 
 B 2
 
 4 DURHAM. 
 
 possession, not only of his paternal kingdom, but, by 
 the fall of Ethelfrith in battle, of the whole of North- 
 umbria — how he married a Christian princess, Edil- 
 berga, daughter of Ethelbert, King of Kent, who had 
 been converted by the Roman missionary, St. Augus- 
 tine — how he himself received the faith, and was 
 baptised by Paulinus, a Roman missionary and bishop 
 who had accompanied his wife to the North — but all 
 this belongs rather to general history and the history 
 of the Diocese of York, than to these pages. Paulinus 
 fixed his head-quarters at York, where, with King 
 Edwin's help, he built a church, the original of the 
 present magnificent minster ; but he did not neglect 
 the northern province of Bernicia. In the train 
 of .he king he extended his missionary journeys 
 nearly as far north as Berwick. Edwin had a 
 residence at Yevering, at the foot of the Cheviots, 
 and there, we are told by Bede, on one occasion 
 the bishop tarried for thirty-six days, occupied 
 solely in the work of catechising, and baptizing in the 
 river Glen. The memory of Paulinus still survives 
 in the name of Pallins-burn, near the Tweed, and 
 there still lingers a tradition of his baptizing also at 
 Halystone on the Coquet, where, by the side of a pool 
 near the site of an ancient nunnery, there now stands 
 a rude statue supposed to represent the saint. Bede 
 gives, on the authority of a priest named Deda, "a 
 most truthful man," who had been baptized by Paulinus 
 in the presence of King Edwin, a description of his 
 person : " a tall man, slightly bent, with black hair, 
 a thin face, a very slender aquiline nose, venerable, 
 yet awful in countenance." He had in attendance on
 
 THE ROMAN MISSION. 5 
 
 him " James, a deacon, an active labourer, and noble 
 as regards Christ and his Church." 
 
 Edwin became the fifth Bretwalda, and Bede gives 
 a glowing account of his power and magnificence, and 
 of the unwonted peace and prosperity which England 
 enjoyed under his reign. Unhappily for Northumbria 
 and for England, his time was short. Ceadwalla, a British 
 prince and a Christian, joined in an unhallowed 
 alliance with Penda, a fierce warrior of the race of the 
 Mercian kings, who long continued the champion of 
 paganism in England. They rose against the Bret- 
 walda, and Edwin fell in battle on Hatfield Moor, on 
 the borders of Lincolnshire. The Christian host, it 
 is said, was far the more cruel and relentless of the 
 two. After Edwin's death Paulinus, despairing of the 
 cause as it would seem, returned with the widowed 
 queen and her son and daughter to Kent, where he 
 afterwards became Bishop of Rochester. Edilberga 
 built for herself a nunnery at Lyminge, near Hythe, 
 and devoted herself to a religious life. Such was the 
 close of the attempt made by the Roman missionaries 
 to establish Christianity in the North. It seemed as if 
 a premature end had come on Northumbrian Chris- 
 tianity ; but He who is Head over all things to the 
 Church, so ordered it that there should be a speedy 
 renewal of the work, though not before two further 
 failures had occurred. 
 
 Note to Chapter I. 
 
 It is wonderful how the belief, that England owes 
 its Christianity, mainly if not entirely, to St. Augustine
 
 6 DURHAM. 
 
 and the Roman Mission, holds its ground. We have 
 been recently told that a place in Kent was " the 
 starting-point of the two great missions by which the 
 conversion of the whole of northern England ^ was 
 brought about ;" and even in the North itself, a foolish 
 little legend prevails at Alston in Cumberland, that 
 the neighbouring mountain of Cross Fell was origin- 
 ally Fiends' Fell, that St. Augustine by prayers and 
 benedictions drove away the iiends, and planted the 
 cross on its summit, and that Alston church is conse- 
 quently named after him." A member of the church 
 of St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert may be suspected of 
 partiality ; but the late A. W. Haddan, an East Saxon, 
 ought to be above suspicion — One passage out of 
 many from his writings may suffice : — 
 
 "Every Christian man north of the Thames (with the most 
 petty exceptions), owed his restoration to, and confirmation in 
 the faith, and except those of the eastern shires from York 
 downwards, his conversion also, to teachers directly or indirectly 
 Scotch .... The record of tlie sixty years' labours of 
 the entire Italian Kentish mission is summed up, after the 
 Kentish success, in three failures to extend their limits — in 
 Middlesex, York, and East Anglia, — in the permission accorded 
 to one of another race and church to make a more successful 
 effort in the last-named of the three, and in a simple abstinence 
 from any effort at all to convert the little county of Sussex, 
 which remained pagan at their very doors after the last Italian 
 prelate had been laid in St. Augustine's porch." ^ 
 
 ' It is not easy to understand what is meant here. 
 
 '^ See "Davie Armstrong," S.P.C.K., p. i8, a charming little 
 tale, clearly the work of one who understands the " North 
 Countrie," and its inhabitants well. It is hardly needful to say 
 that Augustine was never in the North at all. 
 
 ^ " Remains," pp. 316, 317. See also pp. 266, 267, 304, 305.
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. 
 
 In the sixth century there was in Ireland a most 
 flourishing Church, full of life and energy — an energy 
 which led it, in that and succeeding ages, to send 
 forth missionaries all over the continent of Europe, 
 to the distant Faroe Islands, and even to Iceland. 
 Ireland was then most truly the " Island of Saints," 
 and learning still flourished there when it had been 
 banished from England, and almost all Europe, by 
 the inroads of the barbarians. The inhabitants of 
 Ireland were then called Scots, and their country 
 Scotia. The greater part of North Britain was in- 
 habited by the Picts or Caledonians, though in the 
 north-western parts a colony of Scots had settled as 
 early as the fourth century. In process of time 
 the Scots got the upper hand, the very name of 
 Pict disappeared, and North Britain became, what it 
 is now called, Scotland. The southern Picts had 
 been converted to Christianity early in the sixth 
 century, but the northern Picts remained pagans. 
 
 In 563, seventy years before the death of Edwin, 
 CoLUMBA, a priest, who is said to have been of royal 
 blood, crossed over from Ireland to Britain, accom- 
 panied by twelve disciples, with the view of preaching 
 the gospel among the northern Picts. He obtained
 
 8 DURHAM. 
 
 from the Scottish king a grant of the very small 
 island of Hy, since more frequently called lona, and 
 there he founded a monastery destined to become a 
 centre of light and Christian influence, not only to 
 the northern parts of Britain, but indirectly to all 
 England. Columba was a most holy and devoted 
 man, and his preaching, with the Divine blessing, 
 met with great success. He is not known to have 
 composed any written Rule for his monks ; but there 
 is a document extant under that name, probably the 
 composition of a monk of his community, at a later 
 period, which in all likelihood fairly represents it. 
 Considering how great an influence it was to exercise 
 in Northumbria, it may be well to give it here — it 
 is too brief for abridgment : — 
 
 " Be alone in a separate place near a chief city, if thy con- 
 science is not prepared to be in common with the crowd. 
 
 Be always naked,' in imitation of Christ and the evangelists. 
 
 Whatever little or much thou possessest of anything, whether 
 clothing, or food, or drink, let it be at the command of the 
 senior, and his disposal, for it is not befitting a religious to 
 have any distinction of property with his own free brother. 
 
 Let a fast place, with one door, enclose thee. 
 
 A few religious men to converse with thee of God and His 
 testament ; to visit thee on days of solemnity ; to strengthen 
 thee in the testaments of God and the narratives of the 
 scriptures. 
 
 A person who would talk with thee in idle words, or of the 
 world, or who murmurs at what he cannot remedy or pre- 
 vent, but who would distress thee more should he be a tattler 
 between friends and foes, thou shalt not admit him to thee, but 
 at once give him thy benediction, should he deserve it. 
 
 Let thy servant be a discreet religious, not tale-telling man, 
 
 ' Bare of worldly goods.
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. 9 
 
 who is to attend continually on thee, with moderate latour of 
 course, but always ready. 
 
 Yield submission to every rule that is of devotion. 
 
 A mind prepared for red martyrdom [i.e. to the effusion of 
 
 blood]. 
 
 A mind fortified and stedfast for white martyrdom [i.e. severe 
 
 penitential exercises]. 
 
 Forgiveness from the heart to every one. 
 
 Constant prayers for those who trouble thee. 
 
 Fervour in singing the Office for the Dead, as if eveo' faithful 
 dead person was a particular friend of thine. 
 
 Hymns for souls to be sung standing. 
 
 Let thy vigils be constant, from eve to eve, under the direc- 
 tion of another person. 
 
 Three labours in the day, viz., prayers, work, and reading. 
 
 The work to be divided into three parts, viz., thine own 
 work and the work of thy place, as regards its real wants ; 
 secondly, thy share of the brethren's [work] ; lastly, to help 
 thy neighbours, viz., by instruction or writing, or sewing gar- 
 ments, or whatever labour they may be in want of, as the Lord 
 saith, 'Thou shalt not appear before me empty.' 
 
 Everything in its proper order ; for no one is crowned unless 
 he strive lawfully. 
 
 Follow almsgiving before all things. 
 
 Take not of food till thou art hungry. 
 
 Sleep not till thou feelest desire. 
 
 Speak not except on business. 
 
 Every increase which comes to thee in lawful meals or in 
 wearing apparel, give it for pity to the brethren that want it, or 
 to the poor in like manner. 
 
 The love of God with all thy heart and all thy strength. 
 
 The love of thy neighbour as thyself. 
 
 Abide in the testaments of God throughout all times. 
 
 Thy measure of prayer shall be until thy tears come ; 
 
 Or thy measure of work of labour till thy tears come ; 
 
 Or thy measure of thy work of labour or of thy genuflexions 
 until thy perspiration often comes if thy tears be not free."' 
 
 ' Haddan and Stubbs, "Councils," vol. ii. pp. 119-121.
 
 lO DURHAM. 
 
 Their labour comprehended tilling the ground, 
 working at the anvil, plowing, baking, and all domestic 
 occupations. Their dwellings, which were of the sim- 
 plest character, their churches, constructed of oak- 
 trees split in two, and thatched with reeds — these, to- 
 gether with their garments, were all the work of their 
 own hands. Writing included making copies of the 
 Holy Scriptures, the Works of the Fathers, Service 
 Books, and devotional works ; and not only were their 
 manuscripts most scrupulously faithful copies, but 
 they were often most exquisite works of art in their 
 ornaments and illuminations. Some of these have 
 been preserved to this day, and are still the objects 
 of the highest admiration. 
 
 Such societies, imbued with such a spirit of de- 
 votion and self-sacrifice, became the sources, not 
 only of religious light and life, but of education and 
 civilization wherever they were planted. The land 
 was cultivated, and thus the chances of famine greatly 
 diminished ; useful arts were introduced, and the 
 words of the prophet were realized, _" The wilderness 
 and the solitary place became glad for them ; the desert 
 rejoiced, and blossomed as the rose." Modern refine- 
 ment may wonder, perhaps smile, at their simple 
 asceticism, but it must respect their consistency of life, 
 which Bede never omits an occasion of mentioning; 
 and it is further to be considered that in modern 
 times, with all our boasted light and civilization, 
 kingdoms are not converted nor are nations born at 
 once. Before he came into Britain, Columba had 
 founded a famous monastery in Ireland, at a place 
 which Bede calls Dearmach, supposed to be Durrow,
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. II 
 
 in King's County, and from this house and his later 
 foundation at Hy, his institute spread far and wide, 
 both in Ireland and Britain ; but among all his 
 foundations, Hy or lona, where he died, held the 
 chief place. It was governed by an abbot, who was 
 only a presbyter, and yet by what Bede calls "an 
 unusual arrangement," the whole province, and even 
 the bishops were subject to him. In fact, he and 
 his successors were for some centuries the primates, 
 to all intents and purposes, of the British Scots. 
 
 When Ethelfrith lost his life and his kingdom, his 
 sons, accompanied by a considerable number of 
 youthful nobles, took refuge in Scotland. Ethelfrith 
 had seven sons and one daughter, but only three of 
 the sons and the daughter appear on the page of 
 history,— Eanfrid, Oswald, Oswy, and their sister Ebba. 
 It is not certain, though it is not unlikely, that Hy 
 itself was their place of refuge ; but it is quite certain 
 that they received the faith from the disciples of St. 
 Columba, and were baptized by them. When King 
 Edwin fell in battle they returned to Northumbria. 
 Edwin left no son old enough to take his place, 
 and the kingdom was again divided. Deira, which 
 was more particularly Edwin's own kingdom, fell to 
 the lot of Osric, his cousin, who had been baptized 
 by St. Paulinus, while Eanfrid, the eldest of the 
 sons of Ethelfrith, obtained possession of Bernicia, so 
 that notwithstanding the flight of the bishop, the suc- 
 cession of two Christian princes promised well for the 
 cause of Christianity. But again there was a failure. 
 No sooner had these young men attained the royal 
 dignity than each of them renounced his baptism, and
 
 12 DURHAM. 
 
 apostatized to paganism. If they thought by this 
 step to render their tenure of power more secure, they 
 were disappointed. Both of them, ere a year had 
 elapsed, " by the just vengeance of heaven, fell by the 
 wicked hand of Cead walla." Osric rashly besieged a 
 town, perhaps York, in which the British king had 
 taken up his quarters, and was cut off in a sally made 
 by the besieged; Eanfrid went with twelve companions 
 to sue for peace, and he and all the rest were mur- 
 dered. *' It was a luckless^ year," says Bede, " hateful 
 to all good men even to this day, both on account of 
 the apostasy of the princes and the insane tyranny of 
 the British king. Therefore, by common consent, it 
 was agreed that in reckoning the years of the kings 
 the memory of the apostates should be dropped, and 
 that year counted to the next reign, that of Oswald, 
 beloved of God." 
 
 Oswald could only muster a small army, but it was 
 one which was strong in the faith of Christ, and he 
 hesitated not to march against the oppressor, whom 
 he met beside a brook called Deniseburn, near 
 Hexham. Here he hastily, mainly with his own 
 hands, erected a cross, and proclaimed with a loud 
 voice, " Let us bend our knees, and with one voice 
 beseech the Lord Almighty, the Living and True, to 
 defend us by His mercy from our fierce and proud 
 enemy; for He knows that we have undertaken a 
 just war for the deliverance of our nation." They all 
 knelt in prayer, and with the dawn joined in battle 
 with the enemy. Notwithstanding great inferiority in 
 numbers, by the blessing of God, they gained the 
 
 ' Infaustus.
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. 1 3 
 
 victory. The place bore the auspicious name of 
 Heavenfield, and King Oswald's Cross long remained 
 as a place of devotion. Afterwards, according to 
 Bede, the brethren of Hexham Abbey erected a 
 church on the spot, and "with good reason," he adds, 
 " for, so far as we can learn, there was no sign of the 
 Christian faith, no church, no altar in the whole 
 kingdom of Bernicia before King Oswald, moved by 
 his piety, erected this standard of the Holy Cross 
 when about to join battle with his most cruel enemy." 
 This, then, was the first permanent symbol of Chris- 
 tianity in what we now call Northumberland. The 
 place was immediately to the north of the wall, not 
 far from the confluence of the North and South Tyne. 
 This victory established King Oswald's power, and 
 the first use he made of it was to take measures for 
 the re-cstablishment of Christianity. For this purpose 
 he applied to the elders of the Scots,^ from whom he 
 himself had learned the faith, and requested them to 
 send bishops to instruct his people. The brethren at 
 Hy readily assented. But there was yet to be one 
 more failure. Their first missionary was a man of 
 severe character, and, finding he could make no way, 
 he returned home in despair. A council was held to 
 deliberate what further steps could be taken. They 
 were anxious to persevere, but were disconcerted with 
 their failure. A brother named Aidan was present, 
 and on hearing the report of the returned missionary 
 he spoke thus : — " It seems to me, brother, that you 
 have been harder than was meet with your ignorant 
 hearers, and have not, according to the teaching of 
 
 ' "Misit ad majores natu Scottorum." Bede, II. E. iii. 3.
 
 1 4 DURHAM. 
 
 the apostles, offered them first the milk of gentle 
 teaching, till, being gradually nourished by the Divine 
 Word, they had become capable of receiving more 
 perfect instruction, and of fulfilling the higher pre- 
 cepts of God." Immediately the eyes of all were 
 turned to the speaker, his words were earnestly 
 weighed and discussed, and all agreed that he should 
 be ordained bishop, and sent' to carry out his more 
 discreet views among the untutored Northumbrians. 
 Bede represents him as a man of the utmost meekness, 
 piety, and moderation, having a zeal for God though 
 not (as he seems reluctantly to add) in all respects 
 according to knowledge. The chief point in which 
 he was deficient was, after all, not his own. The 
 Scottish Christians, both in Ireland and North Britain, 
 used a defective computation for finding the time of 
 Easter. The fact is that, in the imperfect state of 
 astronomical science, the whole Christian world could 
 only be said to be groping their way to a satisfactory 
 mode of finding Easter. Since the conversion of the 
 Scots, improvements had been adopted by the Church 
 of Rome and Continental Christians generally, but 
 the Scots had for a long time been in a great measure 
 shut out from intercourse with the Continent, and so 
 adhered to the computation they had first received, 
 which frequently caused a great discrepancy between 
 them and others in the time of obsemng the great 
 Christian festival. Besides this, the Scots varied from 
 the Romans in the form of their tonsure, that is, in 
 the manner in which the heads of ecclesiastics were 
 shaved. 
 
 On his arrival in Northumbria King Oswald as-
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. 1 5 
 
 signed to Aidan, at his own request, the Island of 
 Lindisfarne as a place of residence, — a memorable 
 spot, the first dwelling-place of Christianity to the 
 north of the Tees. It lies opposite the coast of 
 Northumberland, three or four miles to the north of 
 Bamburgh. It is but half an island, for twice a day 
 it is joined to the mainland as the tide recedes ; twice 
 a day the flood-tide makes it an island. It contains 
 about looo acres, half of which are barren sand ; an 
 unattractive place in itself, yet dear to the heart not 
 only of the people of this northern diocese, but to 
 that of every well-instructed Englishman, as the seat 
 of a mission which eventually had far more to do with 
 the evangelization of his native land than Canterbury 
 itself 
 
 Various reasons may have moved Aidan in his 
 choice of Lindisfarne as the seat of his mission. No 
 doubt the neighbourhood of Bamburgh, the royal 
 residence, had some weight, but probably the chief 
 motive was because like lona, the isle of saints from 
 which he had been sent forth, — it was an island. It 
 must also have been more secure than any spot on the 
 mainland from the disturbances of those unquiet times. 
 Hence, then, Aidan and his monks went forth to preach 
 the word of truth. " The king," says Bede, " listened 
 gladly and humbly to the admonitions of the bishop 
 in all things, and with great diligence took measures 
 for building up and extending the Church of Christ 
 in his kingdom; and the fair sight might often be 
 seen of the prelate, who had but an imperfect know- 
 ledge of English, preaching in his own tongue, and 
 the king, who in his long exile had perfectly learned
 
 f6 DURHAM. 
 
 the language of the Scots, explaining the heavenly 
 word to his officers and servants. Thenceforward," 
 continues the historian, " every day numbers of the 
 Scots began to come into Britain, and to preach the 
 word of faith with great devotion, and, as many as 
 were graced with the priestly function, to minister the 
 grace of Baptism in the provinces over which King 
 Oswald ruled. Churches were everywhere built, and 
 multitudes gladly flocked to hear the word ; endow- 
 ments were granted by the munificence of the king ; 
 and the children of the English along with their elders 
 were instructed by their Scottish teachers in the 
 precepts and observances of monastic discipline." 
 
 Aidan himself was a pattern of primitive simplicity. 
 "He seemed neither to seek nor to love anything of 
 this world. Whatever was bestowed on him by the 
 king, or by the wealthy, he gave to the poor. He 
 was wont to travel on foot through all places in town or 
 country, never riding on horseback unless compelled 
 by urgent necessity. Wherever he met with any per- 
 sons in his journeys, whether rich or poor, he presently 
 entered into discourse with them, inviting them, if 
 unbelievers, to receive the sacrament of the faith ; or, 
 if believers, encouraging them in the faith, and 
 stirring them up, both by word and deed, to good 
 works and almsgiving." It was, in truth, the chief 
 recommendation of his teaching, that his life and his 
 doctrine were in exact agreement. " So far," says 
 Bede, who died about a hundred years after St. 
 Aidan's arrival in England, " was he from the in- 
 dolence of our times, that all who travelled with 
 him, whether clergymen or laymen, were required to
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. ' 17 
 
 occupy themselves in meditation, in reading the 
 Scriptures, or in learning psalms. This was his own 
 daily employment and of those who were with him. 
 If ever, which w^as but seldom, he accepted an invita- 
 tion to eat with the king, he came in with one or two 
 of his clergy, and, after a slight refreshment, hastened 
 to retire to read or pray with his attendants. After 
 his example all religious persons at that time, whether 
 men or women, Avere accustomed, through the whole 
 year, excepting the fifty days after Easter, to fast on 
 Wednesdays and Fridays till three in the afternoon. 
 He was never induced either by respect or fear to be 
 silent when rich men needed reproof ; but he could 
 rebuke them sharply if it was needed. He was never 
 wont to give money to men in power, but only food 
 when he entertained them ; and the gifts which he 
 received from the rich he either gave to the poor or 
 bestowed for the release of such as were unjustly held 
 in bondage. Many of those whom he thus redeemed 
 he made his disciples, and some of these, after proper 
 training, he promoted to the priesthood." Such is 
 the attractive and, beyond all doubt, faithful picture 
 of a primitive bishop, drawn by the affectionate hand 
 of one who had abundant means of knowing the 
 truth, and could administer blame as well as praise, 
 when blame rather than praise was due. 
 
 And his royal disciple was worthy of his master. 
 " Not only did King Oswald and his people learn to 
 hope for a kingdom in heaven of which their fore- 
 fathers knew nothing, but God also endowed him with 
 an earthly kingdom greater than that of his ancestors." 
 Like Edwin he bore the title, and wielded the power 
 
 c
 
 1 8 DURHAM. 
 
 of Bretwalda or Lord of Britain. The four nations 
 of Britain owned his sway, the Britons, the Scots, 
 the Picts, and the Angles. But notwithstanding his 
 earthly greatness he was ever humble, kind, and 
 bountiful to the poor and the stranger. A story is 
 told of him that one Easter day he and the bishop 
 were seated at dinner, and a silver dish was brought 
 in filled with royal dainties. Hands were raised to 
 bless the meat, when his almoner entered to say that 
 a great multitude of poor persons were seated without, 
 asking for alms. Tlie king immediately commanded 
 the silver dish to be carried out, the meat distributed, 
 and the dish broken in pieces and given to the poor. 
 The bishop, delighted with his piety, laid hold of his 
 right hand and said, " May this hand never grow old." 
 
 When his kingdom was fully established, King 
 Oswald repaired to the court of Cynegils, King of 
 Wessex with the view of obtaining his daughter in 
 marriage. Here he found Birinus, a bishop who had 
 been sent by Pope Honorius to help forward the 
 cause of Christianity in England. By the united 
 efforts of Birinus and Oswald, Cynegils was led to 
 embrace Christianity, and King Oswald was his god- 
 father when he was baptized by the bishop. The two 
 kings (Oswald was Bretwalda) gave Birinus as his see 
 Dorchester in Oxfordshire, whence in after times it 
 was transferred to Winchester. 
 
 Eight years King Oswald reigned, remarkable alike 
 for his piety and his power, an uncommon con- 
 junction. At length he fell in battle with Penda of 
 Mercia, who had formerly slain King Edwin, at a place 
 called Maserfield, but whether in Shropshire near
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. 1 9 
 
 Oswestry or in Lancashire near Winwick historians 
 are not agreed. He died praying for his people, so 
 that it passed into a kind of proverb, " Lord have mercy 
 on the sou-Is of my people said Oswald, when he fell." 
 He was succeeded by his brother Oswy both as king 
 of Northumbria and Bretwalda, but this prince never 
 attained so great power as his brother. The union 
 between the two provinces of Deira and Bernicia was 
 never cordial, and the men of Deira preferred to have 
 a king of their own. Oswin, the son of Osric, the 
 traitor, and grandson of a brother of Ella, Edwin's 
 father, obtained Deira as his inheritance, and Oswy 
 was obliged to admit the claim. For some years the 
 two princes lived in peace, but at length discussions 
 arose, and they went to war. Oswin, seeing that he 
 could not cope with his rival, disbanded his army, and 
 with one attendant retreated to the house of a 
 thane named Hunwald, whom he believed to be his 
 friend, at Gilling, near Richmond. But Hunwald 
 treacherously gave up Oswin and his faithful atten- 
 dant, who were both put to death by the command 
 of Oswy. Bede paints the character of Oswin in 
 very glowing colours. He was tall and handsome in 
 person, pleasant in speech, affable in his manners and 
 bountiful to all, whether noble or not. These qualities 
 both of person and character won for him the esteem 
 and love of all, and especially of the good Bishop 
 Aidan, who was much attached to him on account of 
 his piety and many virtues. A remarkable instance 
 is given of his wonderful humility. He had given 
 the bishop a very fine horse that, though he was 
 accustomed to go everywhere on foot, he might use
 
 20 DURHAM. 
 
 him when waters were to be crossed, or in any 
 great emergency. Shortly after Aidan, meeting a poor 
 man who asked for ahns, gave him the horse with its 
 costly trappings. When he next went to the royal 
 residence, the king asked what he meant by giving 
 such a horse to a beggar — one of far less value, he 
 thought, might have sufficed. "What say you, O 
 King ? " the bishop replied " Is the son of a mare 
 dearer to you than a son of God ? " Oswin was silent 
 and stood warming himself at the fire. After a time, 
 when he had pondered the bishop's words, he ungirt 
 his sword, fell at Aidan's feet and asked his pardon, 
 promising never again to question or even form a 
 judgment on what the bishop thought fit to do with 
 what belonged to him. The bishop was deeply moved, 
 and declared that he feared Oswin would not live 
 long, for that such a king was too good for this world. 
 It was very soon after this that Oswin was put to death ; 
 and in twelve days more x\idan followed his friend and 
 went to his reward, having been Bishop of Lindisfarne 
 seventeen'years. He was succeeded by Finan another 
 monk from lona, who held the see for ten years. 
 
 The cruel murder of Oswin did not serve the 
 purpose of consohdating King Oswy's poAver. The 
 people of Deira were still disinclined for a complete 
 union with Bernicia, and made Oidilvvald, the son of 
 Oswald, their king. Oswy had married Eanfleda, the 
 daughter of King Edwin and Edilberga, who, when 
 just born, was the first in Northumbria to receive bap- 
 tism from St. Paulinus. She afterwards founded a 
 monastery at Gilling, where prayers were offered both 
 for Oswy and Cswin, for the repose of Oswin's soul
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. 21 
 
 and for the remission of Oswy's guilt in slaying him. 
 Oswin was buried at Tynemouth, where a church had 
 been built by King Oswald. It may be hoped that 
 Oswy sincerely repented of the murder of Oswin, 
 but any how there are other and better things to be 
 told of him. Penda of Mercia, though now advanced 
 in age, kept up the same hostility towards Oswy that 
 he had entertained against Edwin and Oswald. Oswy 
 was anxious by every means in his power to put an end 
 to this harassing warfare, and, among other measures 
 which he took for the purpose, he sought Penda's 
 daughter Cyneburga as a wife for his son Alchfrid. This 
 led for a time to friendly intercourse, and Peada, the 
 son of Penda, came to visit Alchfrid and Cyneburga. 
 While on this visit he was attracted by Alchfleda, 
 Osuy's daughter, and sought her in marriage. The 
 answer he received was that a Christian maiden must 
 not marry an idolater} He was induced to listen to 
 Christian instruction, and then he asked for baptism, 
 declaring that, whether he might have the princess or 
 not, he was resolved to be a Christian. He was bap- 
 tized by Bishop Finan at a place called by Bede 
 Ad Munim, that is, By the ^^'all, supposed by some 
 to be Walbottle, by others a place, now marked only 
 by a farm-house and a tower, named Welton or Wall- 
 town. When Peada returned to Mercia, four mis- 
 sionaries, three of them Saxons and one a Scot, 
 accompanied him. One of them was the brother of 
 the abbot of a monastery which already existed at 
 Gateshead, and Diuma, the Scot, was afterwards bishop 
 
 ' The same answer had been given to Edwin when he sought 
 for Edilberga, the daughter of Ethelbert of Kent in marriage.
 
 2 2 DURHAM. 
 
 of the Middle Angles. Old Penda made no objection 
 to the conversion of his subjects, he only shrewdly 
 remarked that he hated those who, professing Chris- 
 tianity, would not live in obedience to its precepts. 
 Here again we find Northumbrian Christianity exten- 
 ding itself into other regions. And this was not the 
 only such instance in Oswy's time. Christianity had 
 been introduced into Essex by the Roman mis- 
 sionaries sent by Pope Gregory, but on the death of 
 Sabert, of Essex, who founded St. Paul's in London, 
 they had been expelled, and with the sons of Sabert 
 the East Saxons relapsed into idolatry. Sigebert, the 
 nephew of Sabert, was now king, and, being a friend 
 of Oswy, frequently came to visit him. Oswy en- 
 deavoured, Bede tells us, to persuade his friend that 
 " they could be 7io gods which ivere made by men^s 
 hands ; God could not be made of matter, such as wood 
 or stone, the residue of which was either burned or 
 formed into vessels for men's use, or perhaps cast out and 
 trodden render foot : — that we must rather think of God 
 as incomprehensible in majesty, i?ivisible to human eyes, 
 Almighty, Eternal, the Creator of heaven and earth, 
 and of 7nanki7id, whose eter?ial seat we must believe to 
 be not in vile and perishing metal, but in heaven ; and 
 that all who learn and do the will of their Maker may 
 with good reason expect to receive from Him eterfial 
 reiuards." These and many such like arguments 
 Oswy urged with friendly and even brotherly solicitude. 
 Sigebert took counsel with his friends, and finding 
 them all favourable and assenting, he and they were 
 baptized by Finan, as Peada had been, at Oswy's 
 residence, By the Wall. So that this spot has the
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. 23 
 
 honour of being the spiritual birthplace of two 
 southern princes, both of whom became the means 
 of introducing Christianity into their own dominions. 
 Sigebert's death proved the reality of his conversion, 
 being indeed a kind of martyrdom. He was mur- 
 dered ; and the only reason the murderer had to give 
 for his crime was that he could not bear to see a king 
 so humble, meek, and forgiving. 
 
 The friendship of Oswy and Penda was of short 
 duration. Before long the fierce old warrior was 
 again in the field, and it appears that Oidilwald, 
 Oswy's nephew, was in alliance with him. Oswy tried 
 to buy Penda off with presents — but to no purpose ; 
 nothing would content him short of the extinction of 
 the Northumbrian kingdom. Seeing no hope of 
 earthly help, for his force was very much inferior to 
 Penda's, Oswy turned to a higher quarter. " If the 
 Pagan will not accept our gifts, let us offer them to 
 Him who will." Accordingly, like another Jephthah, 
 he vowed that if God should give him the victory, he 
 would dedicate his infant daughter Elfleda to His 
 service, and give land for the erection of twelve 
 monasteries. He had no one with him but his son 
 Alchfrid. His younger son Egfrid was a hostage in 
 the hands of Penda's wife. His nephew, Oidilwald, 
 the king of Deira, was on Penda's side, though when 
 the time came for fighting he did not join^against his 
 uncle, perhaps ashamed of the part he had taken. 
 Oswy gained a complete victory, and Penda was 'at 
 last slain. 1 With him fell Paganism, for never again 
 
 ' Many perished in the river, then very much flooded by 
 heavy rains.
 
 24 DURHAM. 
 
 did any one take up arms in England professedly in. 
 defence of Paganism.^ Oswy established Christianity 
 in Mercia, and shared the temporal dominion with 
 Peada, his son-in-law, who, however, did not long 
 enjoy it, being slain soon after it is said by the treachery 
 of his wife. 
 
 After the victory Oswy hastened to fulfil his vows 
 by giving his daughter Elfleda, then only a year old, to 
 Hilda, Abbess of a monastery at Hartlepool, which 
 had been founded in the time of St. Aidan. He also 
 gave the land for twelve monasteries, six of which 
 were to be erected in Bernicia, and as many in Deira. 
 The early Saxon monasteries were of course set up 
 after the model of lona. At Lindisfarne, the mother 
 church, the bishop and his clergy lived in common. 
 Besides Lindisfarne, St. Aidan founded another at 
 Melrose — for it must be remembered that the great 
 Northumbrian diocese extended northward to the 
 Frith of Forth as well as southward to the Humber, 
 until the see of York was restored, some time after 
 this period. At Melrose, Aidan placed as Abbot, 
 Eata, one of his disciples already mentioned. He also 
 founded a monastery at Gateshead. 
 
 Hilda, to whom, as the reader has just seen, King 
 Oswy entrusted his infant daughter, was a very re- 
 markable woman. She was the daughter of Hereric, 
 a nephew of King Edwin, and was one of the first 
 fruits of Northumbria unto Christ, having been bap- 
 tized by St. Paulinus when she was thirteen years of 
 
 ' Five Christian princes had been slain by Penda — Edwin, 
 and Oswald of Northumbria, Egric and Sigebert and Anna 
 of East Anglia. They were now avenged.
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. 25 
 
 age, at the same time as King Edwin. From this 
 time she was very remarkable for her piety. She went 
 from her friends into East Anglia, intending to pass 
 over into France, where her sister was leading a 
 religious life in the monastery of Celles, but St. Aidan 
 prevailed upon her to return and remain in England. 
 He first set her over a small nunnery on the banks of 
 the Wear, the site of which is not now known : but 
 soon after she was made Abbess of the monastery at 
 Hartlepool. Two years after King Oswy's daughter 
 was put under her care, having obtained possession of 
 ten folclands at Streangeshalch, a name which Bede 
 interprets the Bay of the Lighthouse — now known as 
 Whitby, the name given to it afterwards by the Danes 
 — she removed thither. The house there consisted 
 both of monks and nuns, and flourished greatly under 
 Hilda's government. Bede remarks that five of her 
 monks became bishops, and another was elected, but 
 died before he was consecrated. Three of these were 
 bishops in Northumbrian Bosa and Wilfrid II. bishops 
 of York, and John (commonly called St. John of 
 Beverley), bishop of Hexham.^ 
 
 ' Hilda died in 680 at the age of sixty-six. For six years 
 before her death she was afflicted by continual fever, but she 
 never ceased exhorting those under her charge to serve God 
 while they were in health, and ever faithfully to give Him thanks 
 in adversity and sickness. On the night of her death we are 
 informed by Bede that Begu, one of the nuns in a daughter 
 house at Hackness, thirteen miles from Whitby, had a dream in 
 which she heard the sound of the passing bell in the air and 
 then saw Hilda's soul carried up by angels into heaven. When 
 she awoke she was aware it was a vision. In great terror she 
 went to the superior, and informed her what she had seen. The
 
 26 DURHAM. 
 
 Hilda was not the only high-born lady who founded 
 a monastery of this kind. Ebba, the sister of the two 
 kings, Oswald and Oswy, retired from the world, and 
 first, it is said, gathered a small community together 
 among the ruins of a Roman camp on the banks of 
 the Derwent, where she has left her name to the little 
 town of Ebchester. She next founded a double 
 monastery at Coldingham in Berwickshire, where her 
 memory still survives in the name of St. Abb's Head. 
 Here Etheldreda, the wife of King Egfrid, Ebba's 
 nephew, took the veil, and here Ebba was visited by 
 Egfrid and his second wife Ermenburga, and also 
 by St. Cuthbert. Bede tells us that this monastery 
 was destroyed by fire on account of the wickedness 
 of the inmates, but not before they had been 
 warned. A brother who had been leading a severely 
 penitential life, had gone to some distance from 
 the monastery. Returning in company with another 
 monk, he stopped when he came in sight of the 
 buildings, and foretold their destruction. This was 
 related to the Abbess, and on her inquiring 
 further, he told her that in a vision one had stood 
 by him who told him of the careless, or worse 
 than careless, lives many were leading — that he was 
 the only one amongst them who cared for his soul, 
 and that the judgment of God would fall upon them 
 for their sins. He added that the calamity would 
 
 sisters were called up, and passed the rest of the night in prayer 
 for the repose of Hilda's soiil. Next morning came the news of 
 Hilda's death. The sisters at Hackness answered the messenger, 
 "We know it ;" and it appeared that at the very time of Begu's 
 vision her soul had passed to God .
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. 27 
 
 not come in her time. This produced a temporary 
 reformation ; but after Ebba's death, they returned to 
 their old ways, and the prophecy was fulfilled by the 
 burning of the house to the ground. Coldingham 
 was destroyed by the Danes, and afterwards rebuilt, 
 and was long a cell to the great monastery of 
 Durham. 
 
 In the time of Bishop Finan the paschal contro- 
 versy began to attract more attention. While St. 
 Aidan lived, all men patiently bore with his singu- 
 larity in regard to the observance of Easter, and his 
 unwillingness to change the customs which he had 
 been taught by those from whom he had received his 
 mission. " He was loved by all who thought diffe- 
 rently, because he was careful to follow the saints in 
 faith, piety, and love ; and he was held in veneration 
 not only by ordinary men, but by such bishops as 
 Honorius of Canterbury." In thus making a tacit 
 comparison between Aidan and Finan, Bede clearly 
 implies that the latter, though a most excellent 
 man, did not quite rise to the standard of his prede- 
 cessor. Ronan, a Scot by birth, who had learned 
 the Catholic usage at Rome and in France, de- 
 bated the point with Finan, but with little success, 
 for one at least, if not both of them, had a warm and 
 positive temper. James, the deacon of St. Paulinus, 
 who still remained at York, celebrated Easter after 
 the manner of his master. So also did Romanus, 
 the chaplain who had come from Kent with Eanfleda 
 the queen, while Oswy himself, having learned the 
 faith among the Scots, whose language he understood 
 well, adhered to their custom, and thus in the royal
 
 28 DURHAM. 
 
 household itself there were sometimes two Easters 
 kept in one year. Such was the state of things when 
 Finan died in 66 1. 
 
 He was succeeded by Colman, another bishop sent 
 by the Scots. In his time things came to a crisis. 
 Alchfrid, the king's son, was much attached to Wilfrid, 
 a young Saxon priest, who had travelled to Rome 
 and had resided some time at Lyons, where he had 
 learned the Catholic usage on this as well as on 
 other points. Alchfrid had founded a monastery at 
 Ripon, where he had settled Scottish monks, among 
 whom was Cuthbert, afterwards Bishop of Lindisfarne ; 
 but after a time they had the choice offered to them, 
 either to conform to Catholic usages or to leave 
 Ripon. They chose the latter alternative, and the 
 care of the monastery was committed to Wilfrid. 
 About this time also Agilbert, Bishop of the West 
 Saxons, came to the north, accompanied by a pres- 
 byter named Agatho, and they too gave their support 
 to the Catholic side. It was at length resolved to 
 hold a synod at Hilda's monastery at Whitby, and 
 the selection of this place gave some small advantage 
 to the Scottish party, for she held to their side. 
 
 The Synod of Whitby took place in 664. King 
 Oswy opened the proceedings, and after some remarks 
 on the necessity of unity among Christians, called 
 upon Colman to state his case. This he did ; after 
 which Wilfrid replied ; and although he had certainly 
 the best case, his arguments were not entirely sound, 
 any more than the bishop's. Among other pleas, one 
 was that St. Peter must be right, to whom our Saviour 
 had committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION, 29 
 
 This arrested the king's attention, and he inquired 
 whether the Bishop of Lindisfarne and his friends 
 admitted that our Lord had given such a charge to 
 St. Peter. Cohnan replied that it was so. The king 
 next asked whether any such charge had been given 
 to St. Columba? The bishop answered, "No."' 
 "Then," said the king, "I shall yield to the au- 
 thority of St. Peter, lest when I come to the gates of 
 heaven, he who keeps the keys should refuse to admit 
 me." Thus the matter was settled. Colman was 
 silenced, but not convinced ; and, resigning his see, 
 he returned to Scotland. It is curious and interesting 
 to think that the very same thing has occurred again 
 since the Reformation. In 1 5 8 2 Pope Gregory effected 
 a much-needed reform of the calendar, including 
 among other things a more accurate mode of finding 
 Easter. Our insular pride kept us from acquiescing 
 in the change for 170 years. It was only in 1752 
 that we accepted the Pope's emendations. The bishop 
 and monks of Lindisfarne were profoundly ignorant of 
 science, but the time during which we refused to accept 
 the Gregorian calendar was that of Sir Isaac Newton. 
 Such was the end of the Scottish supremacy at 
 Lindisfarne. Colman was succeeded by Tuda. He 
 had been educated and ordained amang the southern 
 Scots {i.e., in the south of Ireland), who held the 
 right computation of Easter, and used the proper 
 ecclesiastical tonsure — a good man and a diligent 
 teacher, who had come to Northumbria during the 
 episcopate of Colman. Colman departed, accom- 
 panied by many of the monks ; and in parting with 
 the Scottish bishops, Bede gives a most lovely pic-
 
 30 DURHAM. 
 
 ture of their holiness and zeal for God. " The very 
 place which Colman and his predecessors ruled bore 
 witness to their frugality and self-denial ; for there 
 were very few houses to be seen except the church, 
 only such as were quite indispensable for social life. 
 Their wealth consisted only of their flocks. If they 
 received any money from the rich, it was forthwith 
 given to the poor. There was no need to gather 
 money or to provide houses for the entertainment of 
 the wealthy, for such never came to the church, save 
 for prayer or to hear the word of God. The king 
 himself, when occasion required, came with only five 
 or six attendants, and departed when church prayers 
 were finished. If it happened that they got any 
 refreshment, they were content with the simple daily 
 fare of the brethren, and sought nothing more. For 
 these teachers were bent on serving God only, not 
 the world ; all their care was to keep their hearts in 
 order, not to pamper their belly. Hence at that time 
 the religious habit was held in great veneration ; so 
 that whenever any clergymen or monk came, he was 
 gladly welcomed by all as a servant of God. When 
 any of them were met with on a journey, people ran 
 to him, and bent their necks to receive the holy sign 
 from his hand, or a blessing from his lips ; and they 
 heard with diligent attention his words of exhortation. 
 Moreover, on the Lord's Day they flocked in troops 
 to the church, or to the monasteries ; not seeking 
 refreshment for the body, but eager to hear the word 
 of God. When a priest arrived in a village, the 
 people of the place immediately assembled, earnestly 
 desiring to hear the word of God from him; for
 
 THE SCOTTISH MISSION. 3 1 
 
 neither clerg}-men nor monks ever went to any place 
 but to preach, to baptize, to visit the sick, or, iu 
 short, to care for souls. They were so perfectly free 
 from any taint of covetousness that, unless forced by 
 the wealthy, no one accepted lands or possessions for 
 the building of monasteries. This way of life in all 
 respects prevailed in the churches of Northumbria 
 for some time after this. But enough of these things." 
 It is quite clear that in this beautiful passage, Bede 
 is silently contrasting this state of things with that 
 which prevailed towards the close of his life, seventy 
 years later. It will receive illustration and confirmation 
 when we come to speak of St. Boisil and St. Cuth- 
 bert, at ]\Ielrose. Eata, who had been one of twelve 
 disciples of St. Aidan, and at this time Prior of Mel- 
 rose, was, at Colman's request, set over the monks 
 who chose to remain at Lindisfarne. 
 
 The episcopate of Tuda lasted a very short time. 
 He fell a victim to an epidemic which then raged in 
 the country. On his death, by the influence of 
 Alchfrid, whom Oswy had made sub-king of Deira, 
 Wilfrid was chosen to succeed him. This very 
 remarkable man is generally spoken of as Archbishop 
 or rather Bishop of York, but on account of his con- 
 nection with Lindisfarne and Hexham, it is necessary 
 to give a short account of him here. He belonged 
 to a noble family in Northumberland. At the age of 
 fourteen, at the instance of Queen Eanfleda, he was 
 committed by his father to the care of the monks of 
 Lindisfarne. After some years he expressed a desire 
 to visit Rome for the sake of improvement. The 
 brethren of the monastery gave their consent, and his
 
 32 DURHAM. 
 
 patroness, Queen Eanfleda, not only encouraged him 
 in his intention, but gave him letters to her cousin 
 Earconbert, King of Kent, desiring him to forward 
 Wilfrid on his journey. He stayed some time at 
 Canterbury, and there Earconbert found a suitable 
 companion for him in another young Northumbrian 
 noble who was on his way to Rome, Benedict Biscop, 
 whom we shall meet with afterwards as Abbot of 
 Wearmouth. They proceeded together as far as 
 Lyons. Here Annemund, the archbishop, was so 
 charmed with Wilfrid that he offered to adopt him as 
 his son, and to give him his niece in marriage, if he 
 would remain with him. But Wilfrid was not to be 
 moved from his resolution to lead a monastic life. 
 He stayed, however, with Annemund some time, while 
 hiscompanion,being impatient to see Rome, proceeded 
 on his journey. At length, provided with a guide by 
 the archbishop, Wilfrid went on to Rome. Here he 
 studied for some time, and then returned to Lyons, 
 where he resided three years with the archbishop. 
 But Annemund having for some reason incurred the 
 displeasure of the queen, was put to death. Wilfrid 
 would gladly have died with his benefactor, but he 
 was not so far gratified. He now returned to Eng- 
 land, where he gained the confidence and friendship 
 of Alchfrid, who first gave him land to build a 
 monastery at Stamford, near York, and then set him 
 over the monastery at Ripon, which the Scottish 
 monks had left. Here he remained for some years. 
 We have seen him at the council of Whitby, the 
 leader of the Catholic party, for his education at 
 Rome and Lyons had no doubt confirmed him in his
 
 ST. WILFRID. 33 
 
 zeal for Catholic practices. Very soon after this he 
 was elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by Tuda's 
 death. For thirty years — since the departure of Paul- 
 inus, there had been no bishop at York — the North- 
 umbrian prelates had lived at Lindisfarne, but now 
 it was intended to restore the see to York. There 
 happened to be then no bishops in England from 
 whom Wilfrid would consent to receive consecration, 
 and he proceeded to France for that purpose. His 
 consecration was attended by circumstances of great 
 splendour. Twelve bishops assisted, and he was 
 carried on a golden chair to the altar. But he lin- 
 gered for a long time in France, doubtless finding 
 himself in congenial scenes and pleasant society. In 
 the meantime Oswy became impatient ; perhaps, with 
 his old Scottish associations, he had never been very 
 cordial in the business of Wilfrid's promotion ; and 
 Ceadda, Abbot of Lastingham, was chosen to be 
 Bishop of York. He was consecrated at home by 
 Wini, Bishop of Winchester, assisted by two British 
 bishops, ^\'hen Wilfrid returned, and found the see 
 filled by another, he quietly retired to his abbey at 
 Ripon, whence he was frequently called to discharge 
 episcopal functions in Mercia. In the meantime 
 Theodore of Tarsus had been appointed Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, and consecrated at Rome by Pope 
 Vitalian. He was gladly received in England, and 
 was "the first," says Bede, "of the archbishops to 
 whom all the churches of the English submitted." 
 Two or three years after Wilfrid's return, he visited 
 Northumbria. He decided that Ceadda's consecra- 
 tion was irregular, and, unwilling to degrade him, 
 
 D
 
 34 DURHAM. 
 
 offered to complete his consecration. But Ceadda 
 was only too happy to retire, and withdrew to his 
 beloved retreat at Lastingham. He afterwards be- 
 came Bishop of Lichfield, where the name of the fair 
 cathedral still preserves the memory of that meek 
 and holy bishop. Wilfrid now obtained the North- 
 umbrian see, and continued in it nearly ten years, 
 during which he built and consecrated the minster of 
 Ripon, where he was afterwards buried, and a shrine 
 was erected to his memory. 
 
 But now a change came over the fortunes of 
 Wilfrid. Oswy was dead, and, Al(^frid having died 
 before him, had been succeeded by his younger 
 son, Egfrid. His queen, Etheldreda, was bent on 
 leading a monastic life. Wilfrid joined with the 
 king in trying to dissuade her, but finding her 
 resolute, he gave her the veil at Ebba's nunnery 
 of Coldingham. This displeased the king to begin 
 with. His second wife, Ermenburga, was a vain, 
 haughty woman, and being annoyed by the freedom 
 of Wilfrid's expostulations, she endeavoured to inflame 
 the mind of the king against him. She objected to 
 the splendour of the bishop's retinue and the extent 
 of his power ; and it may be that there were some 
 grounds for her complaints, for Wilfrid was a very 
 different prelate from the bishops to whom the North- 
 umbrians had been accustomed — the simple-minded 
 Scottish bishoiDs, and Ceadda, the first Saxon bishop, 
 who was as unassuming in his habits as they had 
 been. Theodore was called in, and on the plea that 
 Wilfrid's diocese was too large, he divided it without 
 consulting Wilfrid. Wilfrid, refusing his consent, was
 
 ST. WILFRID. 35 
 
 deposed, Bosa, one of St. Hilda's monks, was conse- 
 crated Bishop of York in his stead. Eata, abbot of 
 Lindisfarne, was made Bishop of Bernicia, to be ruled 
 either from Lindisfarne or Hexham, and Eadhaed for 
 the Lindiswaras, in Lincolnshire, at that time, as part 
 of Egfrid's dominions, subject to the see of York. 
 Two years after a fourth bishop, Tunberct, was conse- 
 crated for Hexham, Eata being restricted to Lindis- 
 farne; and a fifth for the Southern Picts, then under 
 Egfrid's rule. These proceedings could hardly be 
 defended. However necessary the division of the 
 ciocese might be, it was a very arbitrary exercise of 
 power to effect it against Wilfrid's will, and without 
 eve?i consulting him. It was also a very unhappy 
 circumstance that such a step should be mixed up 
 with court intrigues and jealousies. 
 
 Wilfrid now took an unheard-of step. He set off 
 to Rome for the purpose of laying his case before the 
 Pope. This was not really so strange a proceeding 
 as it may appear in these days. If it be considered 
 that all England had accepted the archbishop whom 
 the Pope had sent — that it was this very archbishop 
 who had deposed Wilfrid — that, moreover, a century 
 had not yet elapsed since Pope Gregory had taken 
 the first steps for the conversion of England, and that 
 the first Bishop of York to whom, though after an 
 interval of thirty years, Wilfrid was the next in 
 succession, was also a Roman missionary — the appeal 
 to Rome ceases to look so very strange. Pope 
 Agatho heard the cause at a synod in the Lateran 
 church, and his decision seems to have been an 
 equitable one — it was to the effect that it was right 
 
 D 2
 
 36 DURHAM. 
 
 that the Northumbrian diocese should be divided, 
 but that it had not been done in a right way — 
 Wilfrid was to be first restored, and then to 
 appoint his assistant bishops. Wilfrid returned home 
 triumphant, but obtained no redress. He was 
 accused of having obtained the papal decision by 
 misrepresentation and bribery, he was spoiled of 
 everything but the clothes he wore, and committed 
 to prison. The queen appropriated his reliquary, and 
 testified her faith in it by keeping it constantly in her 
 chamber. Wilfrid was first confined at Brunanburg, 
 a place which cannot now be identified ; but, aston- 
 ished at his piety, the reeve of the fortress begged to 
 be relieved of his charge. He was transferred to 
 Dunbar, near Coldingham, where Ebba's monastery 
 was. The king and queen came to visit the abbess 
 — the queen fell sick — the abbess expostulated on 
 their usage of Wilfrid — the reliquary was restored, 
 and Wilfrid suffered to depart — and the queen was 
 restored to health. 
 
 Wilfrid first retired into Mercia, where he was 
 most kindly received at first, but before long was ex- 
 pelled at the desire of the Northumbrian court. He 
 proceeded to Wessex, but thither Ermenburga's 
 relentless hostility followed him, and he was obliged 
 to leave. He next went to Sussex, the only one of 
 the Saxon kingdoms which was still in heathen dark- 
 ness, although it was so very near to Canterbury. 
 In his return from France after his consecration 
 Wilfrid had been wrecked on the Sussex coast, and 
 hardly escaped from the natives with his life. He 
 now returned good for evil, for he came among them
 
 ST. WILFRID. 37 
 
 as a missionary to lead them to eternal life. They 
 were suffering from a famine of terrible severity, 
 and many were throwing themselves from the cliffs 
 into the sea in sheer despair. They were so ignorant 
 as to know nothing of fishing, except for eels. He 
 taught them to fish with nets in the sea, and thus 
 preserved the lives of thousands. After this we need 
 not wonder to hear that he had great success in his 
 preaching. He presided as bishop among them, and 
 founded the see of Selsey, which was afterwards trans- 
 ferred to Chichester. 
 
 In course of time Archbishop Theodore began to 
 find himself near his end. He had arrived at the age 
 o£ sixty-six when he was consecrated, and he was now 
 a very old man. He began to reflect that he had been 
 too harsh, and he now professed so great an esteem for 
 Wilfrid that he desired, before his death, to recom- 
 mend him as his successor at Canterbury. Wilfrid 
 declined, saying, that when the time arrived such a 
 matter ought to be decided in a proper assembly. 
 Theodore then sent letters to the kings of Mercia 
 and Northumbria recommending Wilfrid's restora- 
 tion. Egfrid had by this time fallen in battle with 
 the Picts, and had been succeeded by his illegitimate 
 brother Aldfrid, a prince who, having spent a great part 
 of his life among the Scots for the purpose of study, 
 was accounted a very learned man. On the receipt 
 of these letters Wilfrid was invited to the North, 
 and Hexham having become vacant by the death of 
 Eata, he administered the diocese for a year until the 
 appointment of John (of Beverley). In 686, Bosa, 
 whether voluntarily or not, retired from York, and
 
 38 DURHAM. 
 
 Wilfrid was reinstated. The following year Cuthbert, 
 of Lindisfarne died, and in like manner as he had 
 administered Hexham he took charge of Lindisfarne 
 for a year, until the appointment of Eadbert. He 
 continued at York for five years, when troubles 
 broke out again, and ended in a second expulsion in 
 691. He retired once more into Mercia. A synod 
 was held at Easterfield, in 702, when an attempt was 
 made to arrange matters, but the terms proposed to 
 Wilfrid were such as he could not accept, and^at the 
 age of seventy he again carried his appeal to Rome. 
 Again he returned successful, and now, John of 
 Beverley being transferred to York, he was allowed 
 to take charge of the see of Hexham, where he con- 
 tinued until his death in 709. His career was truly a 
 wonderful one. His wealth was very great, and his 
 liberality unbounded. Besides Hexham and Ripon, 
 he founded several other monasteries. If he is 
 chargeable with ambition it is certain that he was 
 very severely and unfairly dealt with, and it is not 
 very consistent with the charge of ambition when 
 we find him, at the beginning, quietly retiring 
 when he returned from France and found Ceadda 
 at York. His apostolic labours in Frisia and 
 Sussex point him out as a true and devoted servant 
 of God. He seems to have been in a great 
 measure the victim of court jealousy and intrigue, 
 aided by a time-serving disposition on the part of 
 many of his brethren, though, on the other hand, 
 when we see such men as Bosa, St. Cuthbert, 
 St. John of Beverley, and his early friend Benedict 
 Biscop, acquiescing in the measures of the court
 
 ST. WILFRID. 39 
 
 and holding sees separated from his without his 
 consent, we cannot but beHeve either that they were 
 deceived, or that they had reasons which are not now 
 discernible by us. Bede is very reticent as to his 
 troubles, and our chief source of information is his 
 life by Eddius, which bears very strong marks of 
 partiality in his favour.
 
 40 DURHAM. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 
 
 We now come to a very different person from 
 Wilfrid, yet concerning whom, though on entirely 
 different grounds, there may have been almost as 
 great a difference of opinion — St. Cuthbert, sixth 
 Bishop of Lindisfarne. We have seen that, in 68 1, 
 Tunberct was appointed Bishop of Hexham. For 
 some unexplained reason he was deposed in 685, and 
 Cuthbert, at that time a recluse in the Island of 
 Fame, was elected to fill his place. But we must 
 look back on the previous life of this illustrious 
 bishop. 
 
 Scarcely anything is known of the birth or origin of 
 St. Cuthbert. Ireland and Scotland both claim him. 
 It has even been said that he was of princely extrac- 
 tion in Ireland. But the most probable account is 
 that he was born on the north side of the Tweed, not 
 far from Melrose, and that his parents were of humble 
 condition. He lost them, it appears, when he was 
 only eight years of age, and the orphan boy was em- 
 ployed in tending sheep on the banks of a little river 
 called the Leader Water, which falls into the Tweed 
 about two miles below Melrose. It is said that his 
 appearance when a lad was most attractive, that he 
 was distinguished by grace and beauty of person.
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 4 1 
 
 and had a most sweet and engaging expression of 
 countenance, which won the love and admiration of 
 every one. 
 
 Considering the eminence which he afterwards 
 attained in self-denying holiness, no less than in 
 ecclesiastical dignity, we are prepared to find that the 
 incidents of his boyhood and youth were carefully 
 treasured up, and even came to be invested with 
 more or less of the marvellous. We learn that from 
 early youth he was of a devout frame of mind, and 
 took great delight in witnessing the holy life of the 
 brethren at Melrose, imitating their example in 
 nightly watching and j^rayer. At the same time he 
 was fond of play, and one day, while he was engaged 
 in some rude sport with other boys, a little child 
 addressed him as priest and prelate, whom God had 
 called to be an instructor of others, and reproved 
 him for indulging in amusements so unbefitting his 
 dignity. This Avas of course remembered afterwards 
 as a presage of what was to come, and meanwhile it 
 had the effect of rendering Cuthbert more thoughtful. 
 
 One of his knees was seized with violent pain, 
 accompanied with swelling, till at last he was unable 
 to walk. One day, when he had been carried out 
 into the open air and left alone, a horseman rode 
 up and accosted him. Seeing he did not move, the 
 stranger asked if he could give him some refreshment. 
 Cuthbert answered that he would have been glad 
 to do so, but was unable to walk. The horseman 
 dismounted, examined his knee, recommended an 
 application of flour boiled with milk, and rode off. 
 His directions were obeyed, and the knee was cured.
 
 42 DURHAM. 
 
 It was the simple application of a poultice, but after- 
 wards in legend the horseman became an angel. 
 
 A strong wind had blown out to sea five rafts laden 
 with fuel for the use of a monastery at the mouth of 
 the Tyne. They were dancing on the crest of the 
 waves like sea-fowl, and the men upon them, no 
 doubt some of the monks, were in great danger. A 
 rude crowd was jeering at those who were bringing in 
 a strange religion, when Cuthbert came on the scene. 
 He reproved the rustics, telling them they ought 
 rather to pray for those who were in such danger 
 than mock them. They rudely answered that they 
 would neither pray for, nor help, them who were 
 teaching new modes of worship, such as no one knew 
 how to observe. Cuthbert knelt in prayer — the 
 storm ceased, and the rafts came safe to land. It 
 may have been the turn of the tide, but why should 
 any Christian man refuse to believe that there was 
 some efficacy in the prayer of faith ? The ignorant 
 Pagans did not do so ; they were quite ashamed, and 
 began to praise the faith of Cuthbert as loudly as 
 they had denounced it. 
 
 But, another occurrence, of which we are able to 
 fix the date, had the effect of leading him to embrace 
 the monastic profession. He and some others were 
 keeping watch over their flocks by night, far away 
 among the hills. The others were asleep, Cuthbert 
 was watching and praying. Suddenly, a bright light 
 broke the darkness — he seemed to see a company of 
 angels come down and immediately return, bearing 
 with them a spirit of surpassing brightness. Cuthbert's 
 mind was deeply stirred. He first gave thanks to God,
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 43 
 
 and then awoke his fellows and told them what he 
 had seen. It is not unUkely that Cuthbert was in a 
 state between sleeping and waking, and had a dream, 
 but in the morning it was found that St. Aidan had 
 passed to his reward. There are so many well- 
 authenticated modern instances of a similar nature 
 that, though it was wonderful, it cannot be said to be 
 incredible. The date of St. Aidan's death was 
 August 31st, 651 — and Cuthbert has been supposed 
 to be then fourteen or fifteen years of age, but it is 
 more likely he was older. 
 
 There were two religious houses open to Cuthbert's 
 choice — Lindisfarne and Melrose — both of them 
 under the same head, Eata. As we have seen, he was 
 already familiar with the life of the brethren at Melrose. 
 Boisil, the Prior, was a man of very eminent piety, 
 and a most diligent preacher all over the surrounding 
 country. His name still survives in that of a parish 
 near Melrose, St. BosweU's. The Abbot Eata, and 
 Boisil had been fellow-scholars under St. Aidan ; and 
 it requires little stretch of fancy to imagine that Boisil 
 and Cuthbert were already acquainted. At any rate, 
 when the vision had determined his choice, it was to 
 Melrose that he betook himself 
 
 When he arrived at the monastery he leaped from 
 his horse, and gave the horse and his spear, which, 
 not having yet laid aside the secular habit, he still 
 held in his hand, to an attendant, and was about to 
 enter the church to pray. Boisil was standing before 
 the door, and was the first to see the stranger. As if 
 he foresaw in spirit what manner of man Cuthbert 
 would prove to be, he said to one who stood by :
 
 44 DURHAM, 
 
 " Behold a servant of the Lord." The Abbot was 
 from home, but on his return Cuthbert was received 
 into the community. 
 
 The neophyte entered on his new duties with great 
 fervour. In reading, working, watching, and prayer, 
 he was pre-eminent. Like Samson of old he care- 
 fully abstained from any kind of intoxicating drink, 
 but his biographer adds, with great simplicity, that "he 
 was not so able to abstain from meat, lest he should 
 become less fit for labour, for his frame was robust, 
 and his strength unimpaired, apt for any kind of work." 
 
 In this peaceful seclusion about ten years of Cuth- 
 bert's life passed away, when Alchfrid, the sub-King 
 of Deira, made a donation of a piece of land at 
 Ripon to the Abbot Eata, for the foundation of a 
 new monastery. For this establishment Eata chose 
 a number of brethren out of the community at Mel- 
 rose, and among the rest Cuthbert, who thereupon 
 removed to Ripon. Here he had the charge of 
 receiving the guests, a duty which he discharged with 
 so great assiduity and kindness that, according to his 
 biographers, he was rewarded by having the honour 
 on one occasion of entertaining an angel unawares. 
 
 But the sojourn of the Scottish monks at Ripon 
 was short. They held to their national usage in 
 respect to the time of celebrating Easter and the 
 clerical tonsure, and Alchfrid was entirely under the 
 guidance of Wilfrid. By his advice, shortly after the 
 foundation of the monastery at Ripon, the Scottish 
 monks had the alternative offered them to conform 
 or to resign. Although at a later period Cuthbert 
 became convinced of the duty of conformity, he and
 
 ST, CUTHBERT. 45 
 
 his brethren were not as yet ripe for the change, so 
 they chose the latter alternative, and returned to 
 Melrose. 
 
 Three or four years afterwards came the pestilence, 
 which carried off the bishop Tuda, and both Cuth- 
 bert and his friend Boisil the prior were attacked. 
 The brethren of the monastery were much concerned 
 on Cuthbert's account, and devoted a whole night to 
 prayer for his recovery. When he heard of this in 
 the morning he cried out, "Then why am I lying 
 here? It is impossible that God should disregard 
 your prayers. Give me my stick and my shoes." He 
 rose, and, leaning on his staff, attempted to walk. 
 His strength gradually returned, and he was restored 
 to health, though some of the effects of the disease 
 continued to trouble him through life. 
 
 It was otherwise with the prior. He died, though 
 not for some time after Cuthbert's recovery. Hearing 
 that his beloved pupil was restored to health, Boisil 
 sent for him and said to him, " I have now but seven 
 days to live, you must make the most of the short 
 time that remains to learn all you can from me." 
 Cuthbert asked what he would advise him to read 
 that could be finished in seven days. Boisil replied 
 " John the Evangelist. I have a copy in seven parts, 
 we can, with God's help, read and meditate on one 
 of these ever>' day." They did so, avoiding, it is 
 added, curious and subtile questions, seeking only 
 that "simple faith which worketh by love." During 
 these seven days it is said that Boisil foretold many 
 things and, among others, that Cuthbert would be a 
 bishop. Cuthbert kept this prophecy to himself He
 
 46 DURHAM. 
 
 was wont to say that if he might have a habitation 
 on a rock in the midst of the sea, he would not even 
 then regard himself as secure from temptation. 
 
 On Boisil's death Cuthbert was appointed prior, and 
 we have a most edifying account of his zeal and dilig- 
 ence in his new office. He not only instructed the 
 brethren of the monastery by precept and example, but 
 he did all that he could to lead the minds of the common 
 people of the neighbourhood to the love of heavenly 
 joys. It seems that their Christianity was still very 
 imperfect, and in the time of the plague many forgot 
 it so far as to have recourse to heathen charms with a 
 view to recovery. To remedy these errors, Cuthbert, 
 following in the steps of Boisil, his predecessor, went 
 out to all the neighbouring villages, and preached the 
 way of truth to the people. In those days there were 
 no parish churches, and it was the custom, when a 
 clergyman entered a village, for the people to flock 
 round him to hear him, and so great, we are told, 
 was Cuthbert's skill and zeal, so angelic the aspect of 
 his countenance, that no one could venture to con- 
 ceal anything from him. They believed it to be 
 impossible to deceive him, and they trusted by an 
 honest confession to be put in the way of forgive- 
 ness. Nor did he confine his labours to the villages, 
 wherever there were souls to be saved, however great 
 the poverty of the people or the natural difficulties 
 of the country, he would travel into the remotest 
 corners, far up in the hills, and sometimes remain 
 days and weeks, and even a month at a time, teaching 
 the people both by the word of truth and by the 
 holiness of his life.
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 47 
 
 About thirteen years after his first profession, 
 Cuthbert was called upon to leave Melrose. Lindis- 
 farne and Melrose, as we have seen, were both under 
 Eata's government, and he now desired Cuthbert to 
 remove to Lindisfarne and undertake the charge of 
 that monastery. It was in 664, on the death of Tuda 
 and the temporary abandonment of the see of Lin- 
 disfarne, that Cuthbert entered on his new office. 
 His mode of life was the same as at Melrose. He 
 continued to enforce his teaching by the mute yet 
 powerful eloquence of a holy life. He drew up a 
 rule or code of monastic laws for the guidance of the 
 brotherhood, and this was ever after observed in his 
 monasteries in conjunction with the Rule of St. 
 Benedict, which was added to it in after times. He 
 constantly preached with diligence and zeal in the 
 neighbourhood, " striving to lead his hearers to seek 
 after the heavenly reward." 
 
 His mode of dealing with gainsayers in the monas- 
 tery is particularly worthy of notice. " There were 
 certain brethren in the monastery," says Bede, "who 
 preferred rather to follow their own customs," probably 
 in the matter of Easter and the tonsure, " than to 
 submit to regular discipline. These he overcame by 
 the gentle force of patience, and by daily exercise 
 gradually brought them to a better system. Frequently 
 in their disputes, when wearied with the bitter re- 
 proaches of his opponents, he would rise up suddenly, 
 and with a placid look and an unruffled temper, dis- 
 miss the assembly and walk out. Next day, as if the 
 day before he had met with no opposition, he would 
 make the same proposals to the same hearers until by
 
 48 , DURHAM. 
 
 degrees he turned them to be of his own mind. For 
 he excelled above all in the virtue of patience, and 
 was invincible in bearing bravely all adversities of 
 body or mind, showing always a cheerful countenance 
 under vexation, so that it was plain that the inward 
 comfort of the Holy Ghost enabled him to despise 
 outward trials." 
 
 When the brethren were displeased if accidentally 
 awakened at night or at the time of their noonday 
 rest, he would say " No one can ever displease me by 
 waking me out of sleep : he rather gives me pleasure, 
 for he rouses me from inactivity to do or to think of 
 something useful." Bede particularly remarks the 
 intensity of his devotion in saying Mass, which he 
 never could do without shedding abundance of tears. 
 " He imitated the Lord's passion which he commemo- 
 rated, offering himself up to God in humble contrition 
 of heart. And it was by raising his soul rather than 
 his voice, by his groans rather than by his singing, 
 that he exliorted those who stood by to 'lift up their 
 hearts ' and ' to give thanks to the Lord God.' " 
 
 Thus passed away twelve years of Cuthbert's life 
 as Prior of Lindisfarne. At the end of that period, 
 still aiming at higher degrees of Christian perfection, 
 he resolved to retire from his office, and betake him- 
 self to a solitary life ; a design which it appears he 
 had long cherished. We may suppose that it would 
 not be without difficulty that he would obtain the 
 consent of his abbot ; but he did obtain it, and with- 
 drew in the first instance to a place not far from the 
 monastery. The exact locality is not certainly known ; 
 most probably it was an islet close to the south-west
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 49 
 
 comer of the Island of Lindisfarne, still called St. 
 Cuthbert's Island. There are still to be traced the 
 ruins of a Chapel, and there abound the entrochi 
 which are still called St. Cuthbert's Beads. But this 
 was soon exchanged for another retreat, more remote 
 and lonely. This was the Island of Fame, one of 
 a group which lie off the coast, about six miles from 
 Holy Island, and nearly opposite Bamburgh. These 
 islands have become famous in our time for two very 
 melancholy shipwrecks, and for the heroism of a girl 
 of lowly birth. The name of Grace Darling will not 
 soon be forgotten in those regions. There are a 
 considerable number of islets, but most of them are 
 mere rocks. That to which Cuthbert retired is the 
 one nearest the shore, called the House Island, and 
 in ancient times Fame — now inhabited by three light 
 keepers and their families. There is a Chapel named 
 after St. Cuthbert, which, till forty or fifty years ago, 
 lay in mins, but was carefully restored and fitted for 
 divine service by the pious care of the late Arch- 
 deacon of Durham, Dr. Charles Thorp. Before St. 
 Cuthbert's time this island had afforded a place of 
 occasional retreat to St. Aidan, but if any permanent 
 building had been erected for his use, it was no 
 longer available, and Cuthbert had to begin by pro- 
 viding a habitation for himself The island was said 
 to be the haunt of evil spirits ; " but," says St. 
 Cuthbert's biographer, " when this soldier of Christ 
 came armed with the helmet of salvation, and the 
 the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, all 
 the fiery darts of the wicked were quenched, and 
 that evil one with all his train was put to flight." 
 
 E
 
 50 DURHAM. 
 
 The writer adds, in somewhat turgid language : 
 " Christ's soldier, when the army of the tyrant had 
 been subdued, and he had become the monarch of the 
 land, built a city fit for his empire and houses therein 
 fitted to the city." The buildings thus magnificently 
 described consisted of a hut which he constructed 
 with his own hands. " The outer walls were higher 
 than a man ; but within he made it much deeper by 
 cutting away the rock, that he might restrain as much 
 as possible the wandering of the eye and of the 
 thought, and raise the whole bent of his mind to 
 meditation on heavenly things." The wall was con- 
 structed of rough stones and turf, and the roof of 
 rough poles covered with straw. The stones of the 
 wall were of great size, and the loving simplicity of 
 his followers believed that he had been assisted in his 
 work by angels. The house contained two chambers, 
 one for ordinary use, the other for an oratory. 
 Besides this, he built a larger house near the landing 
 place, as a hospitiiim for the brethren who might 
 come to see him. Near this was a well : his own 
 dwelling had none, but by digging in the floor with 
 the help of his brethren, a plentiful supply of water 
 was obtained, in answer, it was believed, to Cuthbert's 
 prayers. 
 
 When all his buildings were finished and he needed 
 no longer the help of others, he shut himself up more 
 completel}'. At first he would come to meet the 
 brethren who visited him, and wash their feet ; and 
 they in turn insisted sometimes on rendering the 
 same service to him, which was no more than was 
 needful, for so indifferent had he become to his bodily
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 51 
 
 comfort that he never took off his shoes. As his zeal for 
 perfection increased, he increased his seclusion, and 
 never left his cell to receive visitors, only leaving his 
 ^mdow open, that they who came might see him and 
 he them ; but, by and by he shut up the window 
 also, and never opened it save to bestow his blessing 
 or for necessary purposes. His time was passed in 
 watching, fasting, and prayer, and in labour for the 
 supply of his bodily wants. At first he was indebted 
 for the slender allowance he required to the brethren 
 of the monastery, but afterwards he thought it more 
 fitting that he should support himself. Accordingly 
 he requested them to bring him implements of 
 husbandry, with which he tilled the ground. He 
 first sowed wheat, but it did not come up. He next 
 tried barley, and, though sown out of season, it 
 yielded a plentiful crop. So he passed his time in 
 solitary meditation and communion with God. 
 
 For the most part the only companions of the 
 anchoret were the birds which frequented these 
 islands in great numbers ; and there is something 
 very pleasing in the sympathy which seems to have 
 existed between Cuthbert and his feathered neigh- 
 hours. The crows, we are told, attacked his barley, 
 and on another occasion began to pull off the thatch 
 of his house to build their own nests. In both cases 
 they were restrained by his mere prohibition. The 
 eider duck, whose only breeding place in England is 
 in these islands, has been named after him — St. 
 Cuthbert's duck, and the beautiful down which it 
 yields, St. Cuthbert's down. They became so tame that 
 they would never stir when he came near ihem, and 
 
 E 2
 
 52 DURHAM. 
 
 it is said that in later times they used to nestle near 
 the altar in the chapel afterwards built on the island, 
 and would sometimes peck the priest with their bills 
 as he said Mass. A stronger and wilder inhabitant 
 of the island is the solan goose. Its flesh is rank 
 and fishy in flavour, yet it was by no means despised 
 as food at a feasting time by Cuthbert and his 
 visitors. St. Cuthbert is not the only holy man of 
 whom such things have been told — St. Francis, for 
 example. Sympathy with the lower animals seems 
 almost a mark of saintliness, and it is just what Holy 
 Scripture would lead us to expect. " Behold, happy 
 is the man whom God correcteth. . . Thou shalt 
 not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For thou 
 shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and 
 the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee." 
 It is to be the characteristic of the happy times when 
 " the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
 Lord as the waters cover the sea;" that "the suck- 
 ing child shall play upon the hole of the asp, and 
 the weaned child shall put his hand on the cocka- 
 trice's den. They shall not hunt nor destroy in all 
 My holy mountain." 
 
 In this seclusion Cuthbert was by no means useless 
 to others. To say nothing of the value of the 
 prayers he was continually offering up on behalf of 
 the whole Church, and specially, we may be sure, for 
 the Church of the English, he was of great service to 
 very many in the way of comfort and instruction. 
 " Many," says Bede, " came to the man of God, not 
 only from the immediate neighbourhood, but even 
 from the more remote parts of Britain, attracted by
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 53 
 
 the fame of his virtues." They came, "either con- 
 fessing their sins, or the temptations by which the 
 devil had assailed them, or to lay open the afflictions 
 common to mortals which had overtaken them," in the 
 hope of receiving comfort from a man of such 
 eminent holiness. Nor were they disappointed, " for 
 no one ever left him without the joy of consolation ; 
 no one ever returned burdened with the grief which had 
 led him thither, for he knew how to comfort the sad 
 with loving exhortations, to recall to the memory of 
 those who were in straits the joys of the heavenly 
 life, to show how fleeting and unsubstantial are all 
 earthly things, whether prosperous or adverse. He was 
 skilful in laying bare the manifold wiles of the old 
 enemy, whereby the mind which is destitute of the 
 love of God and of the brethren is so easily 
 ensnared." 
 
 Nor do his biographers attempt to conceal that he 
 felt his own weakness, in the face of his ghostly 
 enemies. " How often," he would say, " have they 
 miserably cast me headlong from the high rock ! 
 How have they, as it were, cast stones at me to slay 
 me ! Yea, they sought to affright me again and again 
 by various trials of apparitions, and endeavoured to 
 drive me from this place of conflict ; yet were they 
 never able to injure my body, or to terrify my mind." 
 
 On one occasion he was induced by the Abbess 
 Elfleda, the sister of King Egfrid, to visit her at a 
 monastery on Coquet Island. Here, it is said, he 
 foretold that the king would only reign one year 
 longer, and would be succeeded by his illegitimate 
 brother, Aldfrid. Elfleda knew that the king wished
 
 54 DURHAM, 
 
 to make Cuthbert a bishop, and desired to know 
 whether this would take place. He professed his 
 sense of his entire umvorthiness of such a dignity, but 
 said at the same time that it would not be for him to 
 resist the will of God if that were made plain to him. 
 He added that he believed if such a thing should 
 happen, his Lord would, after two years, send him 
 back to his solitude. 
 
 It was not long after this that Cuthbert was made a 
 bishop. At a synod held at Twyford, on the Alue, 
 Tunberct, Bishop of Hexham, was deposed, and 
 Cuthbert chosen to fill his place. But neither mes- 
 sengers nor letters were able to draw him from his 
 seclusion, until King Egfrid himself, accompanied 
 by Bishop Trumwin and other holy and religious 
 men, sailed over to Fame and adjured him, in the 
 name of God, to yield to their desire. Convinced 
 that it was the will of God, Cuthbert gave way ; but, 
 as he entertained a decided and reasonable preference 
 for Lindisfarne, an arrangement was effected by which 
 Eata went to Hexham and Cuthbert became Bishop 
 of Lindisfarne, being the sixth from Aidan, the first 
 bishop. He was consecrated at York on Easter Day, 
 26th March, 6S5, seven bishops assisting. Thus was 
 fulfilled the prediction of his beloved master, Boisil, 
 twenty-one years before. The fulfilment of Cuthbert's 
 own prediction as to the length of Egfrid's reign 
 very speedily followed. Contrary to the advice of 
 his friends, and especially of the Bishop of Lindis- 
 farne, Egfrid had engaged in war with the Picts, 
 The Queen — the haughty Ermenburga — had gone to 
 Carlisle, and was there residing in her sister's monas-
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 55 
 
 ter}', awaiting the result of Egfrid's expedition. 
 There the bishop, who believed that the time of her 
 widowhood was at hand, came to ^■isit her. The day 
 after his arrival some of the citizens led the bishop 
 out to view the walls of the city and a remarkable 
 fountain of Roman workmanship. He was leaning 
 on his staff, his countenance bent sorrowfully to the 
 ground, when suddenly he raised himself and lifted 
 up his eyes to heaven, exclaiming, " Perhaps even now 
 the contest is decided." A priest who was standing 
 by hastily inquired, " How do you know ? " The 
 bishop, who probably could not himself explain his 
 presentiment, drew his attention to the circumstance 
 that the air was wonderfully changed and disturbed. 
 " But," he added, " who among men is able to search 
 out the judgments of God?" He immediately en- 
 deavoured to persuade the Queen to leave Carlisle 
 for her own residence, lest perhaps something had 
 happened to the king, promising to follow her as soon 
 as his engagements would permit. A day or two 
 after a man who had escaped from the battle brought 
 the sad news that the king was slain. 
 
 Cuthbert's manner of life as a bishop was such 
 as might have been expected from what we know of 
 him as prior both at Melrose and Lindisfarne. His 
 activity seems to have been unbounded. The diocese 
 was of immense extent, reaching from the North Sea 
 to the Solway, and northward to the Frith of Forth ; 
 yet he went everywhere, preaching the word, laying 
 hands on the baptized, ordaining priests, and conse- 
 crating churches. The author of one of his lives 
 thus describes his preaching, and his dealing with
 
 56' DURHAM, 
 
 individuals : — " His discourse was pure and explicit, 
 serious and candid, full of sweetness and grace, 
 whether he spoke on the ministry of the law, the 
 doctrines of the faith, the virtue of temperance, or 
 the discipline of righteousness. His instructions were 
 varied, and suited always to the person whom he 
 addressed, for he always knew what to say, to 
 WHOM, WHEN, AND HOW TO SAY IT." We hear also of 
 his abounding in works of charity and alms deeds. 
 
 In those early days churches were very few and 
 far apart. Upon one occasion the bishop and his 
 attendants came to a wild mountain district, where 
 there were no houses. Yet there was a vast concourse 
 of people from remote hamlets, who had come for 
 instruction and confirmation. They pitched tents for 
 the bishop on the road, and cut down branches from 
 the trees to make such shelter as they could ; and 
 there he continued two days ministering the rite of 
 confirmation. He could not be deterred even by the 
 pestilence from his labours of love. Having on one 
 occasion visited and comforted, so far as he knew, all 
 the sick in an infected village, he said to his chaplain, 
 " Think you any one else remains who stands in need 
 of our ministrations ? — or have we now seen all the 
 sick, so that we may go elsewhere ? " 
 
 His episcopate was of very short duration. In less 
 than two years it came to an end. A short time 
 before his last illness he was invited to Carlisle to 
 ordain priests, and to give his blessing to Queen 
 Ermenburga, who, since her husband's death, had put 
 on the religious habit. Cuthbert had a friend named 
 Herebert, who had taken up his abode in one of
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 57 
 
 the islands of Lake Denventwater. He had been ac- 
 customed to pay Cuthbert an annual visit, and now 
 hearing that the bishop was at Carlisle, he came to 
 meet him. Cuthbert desired him at once to put any 
 question to him to which he wished to have an answer, 
 for, he said, they would never meet again in this 
 world. Herebert begged that he would remember his 
 old friend, and entreat the Supreme Goodness that 
 they should leave the world at the same time. The 
 bishop applied himself to prayer, and presently 
 announced to his friend that he knew that his prayer 
 would be granted. And so it turned out. The two 
 died at the same time, each in his own solitude. 
 
 About Christmas, 686, being persuaded that his 
 end was drawing near, Cuthbert laid aside his episco- 
 pal functions, and retired to end his days in his 
 beloved solitude of Fame. A great number of monks 
 accompanied him to the boat. One asked him when 
 they might look for his return. " When you bring 
 my body back hither," was the answer. Nearly three 
 months he lived on the island at that wintry and 
 inclement season. For two months he was sufficiently 
 strong to be able to leave his cell to meet the brethren 
 who came to see him ; but about the end of February 
 he became so much worse that he could no longer do 
 so. He was frequently visited by Herefrid, Abbot of 
 Lindisfarne, to whom on one occasion he gave direc- 
 tions as to his funeral. His body was to be wrapped 
 in the linen cloth which had been given him by the 
 Abbess Verca, enclosed in a stone coffin, the gift of 
 the Abbot Cudda, which, he said, would be found in 
 his oratory, and buried in the island beside a cross at
 
 58 DURHAM, 
 
 the east end of the oratory. After this conversation 
 Herefrid returned to Lindisfarne, and for five days 
 the stormy weather would not permit a boat to 
 put out to sea. When Herefrid returned, he found 
 the bishop had been much worse. He had managed 
 to creep from the cell to the Hospithun^ and, when 
 asked how he had subsisted, he showed five onions, 
 one of which was half eaten ; with these he said he 
 had moistened his mouth when parched with fever. 
 The abbot conveyed to him the earnest desire of the 
 brethren at Lindisfarne that he would permit them to 
 have his body among them in the church. With 
 some difficulty his consent was obtained ; he feared 
 his tomb would become a place of sanctuary for evil- 
 doers, and so cause trouble to the community. He 
 W9S now prevailed on to allow two brethren to remain 
 with him, and chose one named Bede,^ and Walstod, 
 one who had been long afihcted. He was conveyed 
 back to his cell, and permitted Walstod to go in with 
 him. The good man afterwards declared his belief 
 that as soon as he touched the bishop to support him 
 his malady was cured. This took place about the 
 third hour of the day (nine a.m.), Tuesday, 19th 
 March, 687. Six hours afterwards AValstod came out, 
 and told the abbot that the bishop desired to see him. 
 Herefrid found him in the oratory, lying in a corner 
 before the altar. He sat down by his side, and in- 
 quired what farewell message he had to send to the 
 brethren. Cuthbert was now very weak, and could 
 not speak long at a time. He exhorted them to keep 
 
 ' Not, of course, the historian, who was a monk, not of 
 Lindisfarne, but of Jarrow.
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 59 
 
 peace among themselves ; to attend carefully to the 
 duties of hospitality ; but to have no communion 
 with any who, by keeping Easter at a wrong time or 
 by an evil life, broke the unity of the Church. If at 
 any future time they were compelled to choose 
 between two evils, they were rather to take up his 
 bones and leave the monastery than give way to 
 schismatical courses ; they were to be diligent in 
 their studies, to observe most carefully the Catholic 
 rules of the fathers and their own monastic in- 
 stitute. 
 
 Having finished his broken and interrupted instruc- 
 tions, Cuthbert spent the rest of the day in looking 
 forward to his end and the future glory. The night 
 he gave to watching and prayer. About midnight he 
 received the last rites of religion from Herefrid, and 
 strengthened himself for his passage by partaking of 
 the body and blood of the Lord. Then, lifting up 
 his eyes and stretching out his hands towards Heaven, 
 in the early morn he breathed out his soul to God, 
 on the Wednesday after Mid-lent Sunday, 20th 
 March, 6S7. 
 
 Herefrid immediately communicated the sad news 
 to the two brethren who were watching outside. At 
 that moment they were saying the Psalms of the oftice 
 for matins, and had come to the one beginning, '■'Deus 
 repulisti nos, et destruxisti 110 s ; trains es, et inisertus 
 es nobis.'" " O God, thou hast cast us out." (Ps. lix., 
 = our Ix.) According to an arrangement previously 
 agreed on, one of them lighted two torches, went up 
 to an elevated spot, and made a signal to the brethren 
 at Lindisfarne that the blessed spirit of their father
 
 6o DURHAM. 
 
 had passed to God. The brother who was watching 
 at Lindisfarne saw the signal and hastened to the 
 church. They were assembled for matins, and at the 
 moment the messenger entered the choir were singing 
 the same psalm, ^^ Deus repulisti" The coincidence 
 was afterwards remembered as if it had been prophetic 
 of troubles— of what precise nature we are not in- 
 formed — which followed immediately on the death of 
 their bishop. 
 
 St. Cuthbert's body was wrapped, according to his 
 request, in Verca's linen cloth, enclosed in Cudda's 
 stone coffin, and conveyed to Lindisfarne. It was 
 met there by a great concourse of people, amid the 
 chants of the brethren. When the needful prepara- 
 tions had been completed, it was carried to its place 
 of rest, on the right side of the altar in the church of 
 St. Peter at Lindisfarne. 
 
 It is to be observed, that in the case of St. Cuth- 
 bert many of the most ordinary causes of posthumous 
 fame were absent. He was not, like Augustine of 
 Canterbury, the founder of the church over which 
 he presided. He did not suffer martyrdom for the 
 faith which he preached. He does not seem even to 
 have been exposed to persecution — on the contrary, 
 he appears to have enjoyed the good will and esteem 
 of all with whom he came in contact, including the 
 fierce and headstrong King Egfrid, with whom his 
 contemporary, Wilfrid, was called to maintain a life- 
 long dispute. There is no evidence that he was in 
 any way eminent for learning, and he has left no 
 writings behind him. Yet he who began life as a 
 poor orphan shepherd boy, was raised to the dignity
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 6 1 
 
 of a bishop, and for almost twelve centuries his name 
 has been a household word in the North. He only 
 sat for a year and three quarters as Bishop of Lindis- 
 farne, yet the Prince-Bishops of Durham have always 
 been spoken of as his successors, rather than of Aidan, 
 the founder of the see. He was never, so far as 
 appears, canonized at Rome, yet the Church, which 
 once contained his shrine, is one of the most glorious 
 temples in our land. But, on the other hand, no one 
 can read the simple and affectionate tale of his life by 
 the Venerable Bede without feeling that he was 
 unquestionably a man of great natural ability, and — 
 no mean advantage — of a most attractive personal 
 presence, a man of most loving and tender disposition, 
 of ardent zeal for holiness, for the highest good of his 
 fellow-men and for the glory of God, of unwearied 
 diligence in his Master's cause. He had no selfish 
 aims, he was content to spend and to be spent for the 
 sake of others. There are evident tokens of great 
 simplicity of character, and yet of consummate skill. 
 Consider his judicious treatment of contentious 
 brethren at Lindisfarne (p. 47). In him patience 
 and meekness stood in the place of tact, — it was " the 
 wisdom which is from above." Consider also his skill 
 and efficacy as a preacher and director of souls, both 
 as prior of Melrose and as bishop (pp. 46 and 56). 
 " No one could conceal anything from him, and 
 he always knew beforehand — What to say, to 
 WHOM, WHEN, AND HOW TO SAY IT." Bedc, more- 
 over, never misses an opportunity of mentioning 
 his consistency. It cannot have escaped the reader 
 how constantly the phrase occurs, "teaching by
 
 62 DURHAM. 
 
 precept and example," "as well by his life as by 
 his doctrine," &c. Can we wonder, then, that one 
 so wise, yet so loving, so holy in his life, even in 
 his asceticism so free of all taint of Pharisaical 
 pride in himself, should have won the esteem and 
 the love of all good men, and even compelled the 
 veneration of the inconsistent and the bad ? And so 
 it was ; in him were fulfilled the true sayings, " The 
 memory of the just is blessed," " The righteous shall 
 be had in everlasting remembrance." Nearly seventy 
 churches in Scotland and England, from Edinburgh 
 to Wales, and even, it is said, in Cornwall, bear his 
 name. 
 
 In later ages, women were jealously excluded from 
 the churches of St. Cuthbert. At Durham the Galilee 
 was built for their accommodation, and at Lindisfarne 
 they attended divine service in a separate church, 
 which now serves as the parish church of Holy Island. 
 It was alleged that this was done by command of the 
 saint, and a reason is found in the disorders of Ebba's 
 monastery at Coldingham.^ But there is not the 
 smallest satisfactory proof that St. Cuthbert ever 
 made such a regulation. The first writer who men- 
 tions it is Symeon of Durham, in whose time the 
 restriction was undoubtedly in force; but he lived 
 and wrote four centuries after St. Cuthbert's death. 
 Bede, who lived in the adjoining diocese of Hexham, 
 who survived the saint forty-eight years, and died in 
 the eleventh year of his third successor, is quite silent 
 on the subject, and so also is the Monk of Lindis- 
 farne, who wrote hislife. 
 
 ' Symeon Dunelm, Ed. Bedford, p. loo.
 
 ST. CUTHBERT. 63 
 
 Many miracles were attributed to St. Cuthbert by 
 the loving credulity of his contemporaries. ^ While he 
 is preaching, the devil, to distract his hearers, makes 
 a neighbouring house appear to be in flames ; he 
 detects the imposture, and removes the illusion — a 
 real fire is extinguished by his prayers — the sea casts 
 up timber for his use during his residence in Fame 
 — the Abbess Elfleda is cured of an infirmity by 
 wearing his girdle. It is obvious that some of these 
 miracles can easily be explained. The simple-minded 
 Christians of those days expected miracles, and when 
 such are looked for, every unusual occurrence, every 
 providential interposition, especially if it appears to 
 be an answer to prayer, will assume the guise of a 
 miracle. 
 
 " In this respect the caution of Bede is worthy 
 of notice. He relates several wonderful events, 
 but not one of them on his own knowledge. To 
 
 ' Some of these are picturesque if not poetical — He is going 
 to a distance to preach, with a boy for his companion, — while 
 yet far from their destination they begin to be hungry, but 
 know of no one on their road who can offer them hospitality — 
 " Learn, my son," Cuthbert tells his companion, "to have faith 
 in God, for he that serves Him never perishes with hunger " 
 (clearly alluding to Ps. xxxiv. 9, 10). An eagle flies past, and 
 Cuthbert says that it is in the power of God to make her 
 minister to their wants. Presently the eagle alights by the side 
 of a river— the boy is sent to see if she has provided anything, 
 and returns with a fish of some size— he is reproved for bringing 
 the whole — their minister must have her share — the fish is cut 
 in two and half left for the eagle : the rest is taken to the nearest 
 dwelling, where it is roasted, and they feast on it, sharing it with 
 the people of the house, while Cuthbert preaches the Word of 
 God to them, and praises Him for all His bencf.ts.
 
 64 DURHAM. 
 
 some he gives full credit on the personal authority 
 of men whose names he mentions, and of whose 
 veracity he can entertain no doubt ; of the others he 
 is careful to state that they come to him at third 
 or fourth hand, or from the tradition of certain 
 churches ; and with this information he leaves them 
 to the judgment of his readers." "It is singular 
 that though his life of St. Cuthbert abounds with 
 such narratives furnished by the monks of Lindis- 
 farne, yet his lives of the five first abbots of his own 
 monastery contain no notice of a single miracle." ^ 
 
 ' Lingard, "Anglo-Saxon Church," vol. ii, p. 103.
 
 DURHAM. 65 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MONKWEARMOUTH — JARROW — THE VENERABLE BEDE. 
 
 One of the most remarkable of the early Northum- 
 brian monasteries was the joint foundation of Wear- 
 mouth and Jarrow. We have the history of the founda- 
 tion from Bede himself, who, during nearly the whole 
 of his most useful life, was a member of the house 
 at Jarrow. Benedict Biscop was a Saxon of noble 
 descent, who held office under King Oswy, and had 
 been endowed by him with an estate suitable to his 
 dignity. At the age of twenty-five he "renounced the 
 secular life, despising the service of this world, with 
 its corruptible and fading rewards, that he might 
 engage in the service of the Heavenly King, and so 
 attain to an eternal kingdom in heaven. He left 
 home, kindred, and country, for Christ's sake and the 
 Gospel's, declining marriage in the flesh that he might 
 follow the Virgin Lamb to the heavenly country." 
 
 In the year 653 he went to Rome to visit and 
 worship at the tombs of the Apostles. Setting 
 out in company with Wilfrid, who was some years 
 younger, the two travelled together to Lyons, where 
 Benedict, eager to be at Rome, left Wilfrid, and pro- 
 ceeded on his journey alone. He returned full of 
 love and veneration, and was ever speaking to all 
 whom he met about what he had seen. Alchfrid, 
 
 F
 
 66 DURHAM. 
 
 the son of King Oswy, was smitten with Benedict's 
 enthusiasm, and wished to accompany him on a 
 second journey to the threshold of the Apostles, but 
 his father could not spare him; and in 665 Benedict 
 went to Rome alone. Having again taken deep 
 draughts there of sacred knowledge, he retired to 
 Lerins, a small island lying off the south coast of 
 France, where there was a famous monastery. Here 
 he received the tonsure, and remained for two years, 
 for the purpose of becoming acquainted with monastic 
 rules. From Lerins he returned to Rome, just at the 
 time when Wighard had been sent by Egbert, King of 
 Kent, and Oswy of Northumbria, to be consecrated 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. Wighard died at Rome 
 before he could be consecrated, and Pope Vitalian 
 selected for the Primacy Theodore of Tarsus, a man 
 versed in the Greek and Latin tongues, and skilled 
 alike in secular and ecclesiastical learning. He 
 gave him as his colleague and counsellor the Abbot 
 Hadrian, and seeing Benedict to be wise, industrious, 
 and religious, he persuaded him to return with the 
 new Archbishop to his own country, that his know- 
 ledge of England and the English tongue might be 
 a help to Theodore and Hadrian in their new under- 
 taking. Benedict went to Canterbury with them, and 
 undertook the charge of the monastery of St. Peter, 
 of which Hadrian afterwards became abbot. 
 
 After two years in Kent, he took a third journey 
 to Rome, where he acquired many books of sacred 
 learning. On his return to his native Northumbria, 
 he gave Egfrid, who was now king, an account of his 
 adventures, displayed before him all his books and
 
 MONKWEARMOUTH. 67 
 
 relics, and acquainted him with his desire to lead a 
 religious life. Egfrid made him a grant of seventy 
 folclands on the north side of the mouth of the river 
 Wear, on which to build a monastery. Benedict, with- 
 out loss of time, repaired to France to find masons, 
 and such was their diligence, that in about a year 
 their work was nearly completed. He now sent to 
 France for workers in glass, from whom the English 
 learnt the art of glazing windows, and making vessels 
 of all kinds of glass. Vessels for the altar, and other 
 things which could not be had in Britain, he pro- 
 cured from abroad. What could not be obtained 
 in Gaul must be fetched from Rome, so thither he 
 went a fourth time, and returned with a great store 
 of books and relics, accompanied, too, by John the 
 precentor of St. Peter's and abbot of St. INIartin's, 
 whom he had begged from the Pope, that he might 
 teach the English the true ecclesiastical chant. At 
 the instance of King Egfrid, he obtained from Pope 
 Agatho letters of privilege for his monastery, and 
 brought with him pictures to adorn his monastery, — 
 The Blessed Virgin, — the twelve Apostles, — and scenes 
 from the Apocalypse ; so that, wherever men turned 
 their eyes, they might behold the lovely countenance 
 of Christ and His saints. With all this King Egfrid 
 was so highly delighted, that he made Benedict an- 
 other grant of forty folclands at the mouth of the 
 Tyne, to build a second monastery. This was Jarrow. 
 Twenty-two brethren, ten of whom had received the 
 tonsure, were told off to form the new society under 
 the presidency of Ceolfrid. 
 
 Ceolfkid, like Benedict Biscop, was of noble 
 
 F 2
 
 68 DURHAM. 
 
 extraction, and born of devout parents. At the age of 
 eighteen he made choice of the monastic Hfe, and 
 entered the monastery of Gilling, then under the care 
 of Cynefrid, who had been set over it by Tunberct, 
 afterwards Bishop of Hexham. Here Ceolfrid became 
 remarkable for his devotion, which seemed greater than 
 even that of his devout naster, and for his assiduous 
 attention to reading, manual labour, and the dis- 
 cipline of the monastery. From Gilling he went 
 with Tunberct, at the invitation of Wilfrid, to Ripon. 
 There, in his twenty-seventh year, he was ordained 
 presbyter. His desire for further improvement now 
 led him to Kent and to the country of the East Angles, 
 that he might profit by the teaching and example of 
 St. Botulf. Though Ceolfrid excelled all in his 
 knowledge of ecclesiastical and monastic discipline, 
 yet he excelled still more in humility. He chose the 
 humble office of baker to the community, and might 
 be found perfecting himself in his knowledge of his 
 priestly functions while heating the oven. 
 
 Benedict Biscop heard of him, " and (says his 
 biographer) as Barnabas, a good man, full of the 
 Holy Ghost and of faith, when he was about to preach 
 at Antioch went to Tarsus to seek Saul, so Benedict, 
 when about to found his abbey at AVearmouth, sought 
 and obtained the help of Ceolfrid." But wearied out 
 by the intractability of some of the better born in the 
 monastery, before long Ceolfrid retired in disgust. 
 Benedict, however, succeeded in recalling him, and 
 chose him for his companion in the journey which he 
 took to Rome, after the completion of the monastery. 
 At Rome Ceolfrid profited much by what he saw and
 
 MONKWEARMOUTH. 69 
 
 learned, and returned in company with Benedict and 
 John the Precentor. Such was the man whom 
 Benedict chose as the superior of his new house at 
 JaiTOw, and the manner in which he discharged his 
 duties there fully justified his choice. 
 
 At the same time, in view of his frequent absence 
 from home, Benedict appointed Easterwin, who had 
 been left in charge during Benedict and Ceolfrid's 
 journey to Rome, as joint abbot with himself at 
 Wearmouth. Easterwin was a near relation of 
 Benedict, and, like him, had left the service of 
 King Oswy for a religious life. Notwithstanding 
 his noble birth, so great was his humility, that he 
 shrank from no kind of labour, but would take 
 his turn in the barn or the mill, in the bakehouse, 
 the garden, and the kitchen, and in looking after 
 the sheep and the calves. After his promotion to the 
 office of assistant abbot, he would have no separate 
 lodging, no distinction in food from the brethren, 
 but shared with them in everything. If, on visiting 
 another monastery, he found the brethren at work, he 
 would join in their labour at the plough or the anvil, 
 or in winnowing corn. 
 
 Having made these appointments, Benedict went a 
 fifth time to Rome, whence he came back, as before, 
 loaded with books and sacred pictures, for the adorn- 
 ment of the church of St. Mary, which they had built 
 in the larger monastery, and of that of St. Paul, at 
 Jarrow. For St. Paul's there was a series of the Old 
 Testament types, with the fulfilment of them in the 
 Gospel History, such as Isaac carrying the wood, 
 with our Saviour bearing the cross, the brazen
 
 70 DURHAM. 
 
 serpent, with the Lord hanging on the cross, and so 
 forth. 
 
 But much sorrow awaited Benedict on his return. 
 King Egfrid, his patron, had been slain in battle, 
 and the pestilence had been busy both at Wearmouth 
 and Jarrow. At Wearmouth, Easterwin had been 
 carried off; but it was some comfort that a very fit 
 successor had been found in Sigfrid, the deacon, 
 whose election in his absence met with Benedict's 
 entire approval. At Jarrow all who were able to 
 chant the service had been taken away, save Ceol- 
 frid and one little boy. The two struggled on, as best 
 they might, to perform the daily offices, only for a 
 time omitting the antiphons at matins and vespers. 
 But when, with many tears, they had gone on in this 
 way for one week, they returned to the usual manner 
 of reciting the office, though it cost Ceolfrid and the 
 boy much labour before the survivors were able to 
 take their part. 
 
 Benedict, it has been said, was highly pleased with 
 the appointment of Sigfrid ; but Sigfrid was in a very 
 weak state of health, being afflicted with an incurable 
 disease of the lungs ; and it was not long before 
 Benedict himself was smitten with paralysis. Three 
 years he survived in entire helplessness, the whole 
 lower part of his body being, as it were, dead. But 
 both he and Sigfrid studied in all things to give 
 thanks to God, and to mingle the praises of God with 
 brotherly exhortations. Benedict enjoined on his 
 brethren the strict observance of their rule ; he com- 
 mitted to their anxious care the noble library which 
 he had collected at Rome, lest it should be injured
 
 MONKWEARMOUTH. 7 T 
 
 by neglect or, through want of care, gradually dis- 
 persed. He particularly advised them with regard to 
 the election of his successor, who was to be chosen 
 solely with a view to his qualifications for the office, 
 without regard to birth or kindred ; — he would rather 
 have the monastery broken up, than committed to the 
 charge of his own brother, who, as they knew, had 
 not entered the way of truth. In the election, they 
 were to be mindful of the rule of St. Benedict, and 
 of the regulations laid down in the letters he had 
 obtained from the Pope, and then to seek for the 
 blessing of the bishop. 
 
 In his sleepless nights Benedict sent for a reader 
 to comfort him with the story of Job, or with some 
 other part of Holy Scripture, and as he was no 
 longer able to rise for the nocturnal service, he would 
 have some of the brethren take their turn in reciting 
 the office at his bedside, while he endeavoured, as 
 well as he could, to accompany them with his voice, 
 though even this was a great trial to him. Long 
 were these two — Benedict and Sigfrid — afflicted ; and 
 when the end drew near, as neither could move, 
 Sigfrid was brought in his couch into Benedict's 
 cell, laid on the same couch, and their heads were 
 brought together that they might kiss each other. 
 Ceolfrid, in the meantime, ruled as sole abbot in both 
 monasteries. 
 
 Two months after this, Sigfrid was " released from 
 the furnace in which he had been tried," and entered 
 into his rest. Benedict lingered four months longer. 
 It was a cold and stormy night in January, when it 
 became clear that the end was at hand. The brethren
 
 72 
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 met in the church to solace their grief by singing 
 psalms, while some remained with the dying father. 
 All the night through, to soothe his pain, the Gospel 
 was read by a presbyter. When the hour of his 
 departure drew near, he received the sacrament of 
 the Body and Blood of the Lord, as provision for his 
 last journey. Then he quietly passed away. It was 
 hailed as an indication that his exit had been guarded 
 from the assaults of evil spirits, that, at the moment 
 of his death, they were singing in the church the 
 eighty-second Psalm (our Ixxxiii.), in which we see 
 the enemies of God, plotting against the Church and 
 every believing soul, put to utter confusion by the 
 Lord, to whom none is to be compared, who only is 
 the Most High over all the earth. Benedict had 
 ruled the monastery for sixteen years ; eight alone, 
 four with the help of Easterwin, three with that of 
 Sigfrid, and one with that of Ceolfrid. 
 
 Ceolfrid governed the monasteries, or rather the 
 one monastery in two places, for twenty-seven years. 
 He was remarkable for his skill in psalmody, for his 
 prudence in correcting the erring, and in comforting 
 the weak, for his spareness in diet beyond what is 
 usual with governors ; for almsgiving and kindness to 
 the poor. He enlarged and beautified the monastery, 
 he added largely to the vessels for the altar and the 
 church, and doubled the valuable library which 
 Benedict had taken so much pains to found. Three 
 copies of the entire Scriptures in Latin were written 
 out ; one for the church of St. Peter at Wearmouth, 
 another for the church of St. Paul at Jarrow, " that all 
 who should wish to read any chapter of either Testa-
 
 MONKWEARMOUTH. 73 
 
 ment might be able readily to find what they desired." 
 The third he destined as an offering to the Prince of 
 the apostles at Rome. " A Codex of the Cosmo- 
 graphers, of marvellous workmanship, bought by 
 Benedict at Rome, he gave to King Aldfrid," who, we 
 have seen, was a learned man, " in exchange for eight 
 folclands for the monastery." In the time of Pope 
 Sergius he sent two monks to Rome, and obtained a 
 charter of privileges for his own monastery (Jarrow) 
 similar to that obtained from Pope Agatho by Bene- 
 dict. When this was brought to England and 
 laid before a synod, it was confirmed by the sig- 
 natures of the bishops who were present, and of 
 "the magnificent King Aldfrid." 
 
 At length Ceolfrid found himself too old for the 
 work of his station, and resolved to resign and betake 
 himself to Rome, there to prepare for his end. It 
 was with difficulty and only after many tears and en- 
 treaties to remain wuth them that he could win the 
 consent of the brethren. The account of his depar- 
 ture is so interesting and picturesque that we must 
 linger for awhile over it. Very early in the morning 
 on the 4th of June, the Thursday before Pentecost, 
 716, mass was said in the two churches of St. Mary 
 the Virgin, and St. Peter at Wearmouth, when all who 
 were present communicated. Then followed the pre- 
 paration for his departure. All meet in the church of 
 St. Peter — Ceolfrid offers incense and says a prayer at 
 the altar — he stands on the steps where he was wont 
 to read, with a thurible in his hand, and gives the kiss 
 of peace to most of them — for his own weeping and 
 theirs prevent him giving it to all. They go out.
 
 74 DURHAM. 
 
 singing Litanies, as well as they can for weeping. On 
 their way they enter the Oratory of St. Laurence in 
 the Dormitory — the last farewell is said, the Abbot 
 exhorting all to preserve mutual love and to observe 
 in correcting delinquents the rule of the Gospel (St. 
 Matt, xviii. 15-16)3 on his own part he offers for- 
 giveness and reconciliation to all who may have 
 offended him ; he commends himself to their prayers, 
 asking pardon if he should have reprehended any 
 with undue severity. Thereupon they take up the 
 psalm with the antiphon, and proceed to the shore. 
 Once more the kiss of peace is given to all, again 
 he says a prayer, all kneeling. He enters the boat 
 with his companions, and two deacons, one bear- 
 ing two lighted tapers, the other a golden cross, of 
 Ceolfrid's own workmanship. From the shore he hears 
 the chant blended with weeping ; he himself, over- 
 come with tears and sobbing, can only say — " Christ, 
 have mercy on that company : Lord Almighty, pro- 
 tect that band. I am sure I have never seen better 
 men, or men more ready to obey." He lands, adores 
 the cross, mounts his horse, and departs, leaving in 
 the two monasteries about six hundred monks. 
 
 The monks immediately proceeded to the election 
 of a new abbot. Their choice fell on Hutetberct, one 
 of the monks who had been sent by Ceolfrid to Rome. 
 In the meantime Ceolfrid proceeded on his journey 
 slowly, accompanied by a large retinue consisting of 
 eighty persons. He got as far as Langres on his way 
 to Rome, and died there at the age of seventy-four. 
 
 But the great glory of this illustrious brotherhood
 
 THE VENERABLE BEDE. 75 
 
 was one \Yho was the most distinguished ornament of 
 the Northumbrian Church, one who is even now to 
 be regarded as one of the most distinguished of the 
 English race, the Presbyter Beda, most commonly 
 known in later times as the Venerable Bede, a man 
 in whom the deepest piety and consequently the 
 deepest humility appeared in combination with the 
 most profound learning : " the saint, the scholar," 
 the expounder of Holy Writ, the man of science — 
 there seemed to be nothing that in his age could be 
 known, that he did not know. "Who," says Mabillon, 
 " ever applied himself to the study of every branch 
 of literature and also to the teaching of others, more 
 than Bede ? Yet who was more closely united to 
 heaven by the exercises of piety and religion?" "To 
 see him pray," says an ancient writer, "one would have 
 thought he left himself no time for study ; and when 
 we look at his books, we wonder he could have found 
 time to do any thing else but write." Yet, as he 
 passed his whole life from the age of seven in the 
 monastery of Jarrow, it is not to be wondered at that 
 the notices of his life are after all very scanty. 
 
 Nothing is known of his parentage, which probably 
 was humble, but in the most valuable autobiographical 
 notice appended to his " Ecclesiastical History of 
 the English Nation," he tells us that he was born in 
 the territory of the Abbey of Wearmouth. At the 
 age of seven he was given up to the Abbot Benedict 
 Biscop for education, and by him transferred to 
 Ceolfrid whom, when he was about ten years old, 
 he accompanied to the newly-founded Abbey at 
 Jarrow.
 
 76 DURHAM. 
 
 There can be very little doubt that he was the little 
 boy who, with Ceolfrid, was the only survivor who 
 could sing the service when the plague desolated 
 Jarrow about the year 686. It is particularly men- 
 tioned that this boy with whom alone Ceolfrid con- 
 tinued to sing the daily office was afterwards a pres- 
 byter in the same monastery. In Benedict and 
 Ceolfrid he had the advantage of very able and very 
 learned teachers. Both of them had had the advan- 
 tage of lengthened intercourse with the Archbishop 
 Theodore and the Abbot Hadrian, and through them 
 it doubtless was that Bede made his acquaintance 
 with the Greek tongue, while John the Precentor was, 
 perhaps, his instructor in Psalmody. And he failed 
 not to turn these advantages to good account. " I 
 spent the whole of my life," he tells us, " in the same 
 monastery, and bestowed all my pains on the study of 
 the Scriptures ; and amid the observance of regular 
 discipline, and the daily duty of singing in church, 
 I have always held it sweet either to learn, or to teach, 
 or to write. I received the diaconate in my nine- 
 teenth year, in the thirtieth the degree of the priest- 
 hood, both by the ministry of the most reverend 
 Bishop John, at the desire of Ceolfrid." The bishop 
 was John, Bishop of Hexham, commonly known as 
 John of Beverley, in whose diocese Jarrow was 
 situated. 
 
 Hitherto he seems to have written nothing, but 
 now, after being advanced to the priesthood, he began 
 to write at the command of his Bishop and the 
 Abbot. " From the time that I was ordained priest 
 until the fifty-ninth year of my life it has been my
 
 THE VENERABLE BEDE. 77 
 
 care, for my own benefit and that of those connected 
 with me, to make short notes from the writings of the 
 fathers, and occasionally to add something after the 
 pattern of their sense and interpretation." Thus 
 modestly does he speak of a long catalogue of com- 
 mentaries on the Holy Scriptures, which have ever 
 been held in high esteem in the Church, and quoted 
 with deference by the most acute and learned com- 
 mentators of later times. If a large part of them, as 
 he says himself, is collected from the Fathers, let it 
 be remembered that to make a judicious selection 
 demands no small amount of learning and judgment 
 as well as industry. Besides his comments on Holy 
 Scripture, he wrote on every science that was then 
 known, particularly arithmetic, geography, and as- 
 tronomy, so that his works are really a kind of 
 Encyclopaedia, which is truly marvellous for that age. 
 But the work of his which is best known, and 
 which is indeed a most inestimable treasure, is his 
 " Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation." To 
 this we are indebted for all we know of the introduc- 
 tion of Christianity into Great Britain, and the early 
 history of the English Church. Our civil historians also 
 are under very great obligations to its author, for, not 
 to mention that the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons 
 was in itself an event most important as a social 
 revolution even in matters purely civil, it is a treasury 
 of most valuable information respecting the various 
 revolutions of the different kingdoms and the history 
 of their kings. The design was taken up at the sug- 
 gestion of Albinus, Abbot of the Church of Canterbury, 
 a disciple of Theodore, and of Hadrian the Abbot.
 
 78 DURHAM. 
 
 From Albinus he derived his information concerning 
 the affairs of the Church of Canterbury, transmitted 
 partly by letters and partly by word of mouth, through 
 Nothelm, a priest of the Church of London, who was 
 afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. Nothelm 
 also had been to Rome, and had been permitted to 
 search the archives of the Roman court for the tran- 
 sactions of Gregory the Great in connection with 
 Britain. As to the rest of England, Bede derived his 
 information from the various bishops and monasteries. 
 He particularly mentions Daniel, Bishop of Winches- 
 ter, who was still alive when he wrote. As to North- 
 umbria he wrote either from personal knowledge, or 
 from very recent tradition. This work was dedicated 
 to King Ceolwulf, who was himself a learned man. 
 A century and a-half afterwards, considerable portions 
 of it were translated into English by the great King 
 Alfred for the instruction of his countrymen. 
 
 Almost the last act of Bede's life was to write an 
 epistle to Bishop Egbert, soon after Archbishop of 
 York, a prelate of considerable eminence. A Pon- 
 tifical under his name, the oldest or one of the oldest 
 known, has come down to us, besides a Penitentiary, 
 certain canons called the Excerpts of Egbert, and 
 one or two other works. He was the instructor of 
 the great scholar Alcuin, afterwards tutor of Char- 
 lemagne, the emperor. He founded a magnificent 
 library at York. The Archbishopric had been in 
 abeyance ever since St. Paulinus left the North, but 
 Egbert recovered it in the very year of Bede's death. 
 When this epistle was written, therefore, he was only 
 a bishop. The letter is extremely interesting, not
 
 BEDE — EPISTLE TO EGBERT. 79 
 
 only as illustrating the character of the writer, but also 
 as throwing light, not always very pleasant, on the state 
 of the English Church at the close of Bede's life. 
 
 It begins by saying that the writer had ^■isited 
 Egbert the year before, and had spent some time with 
 him in study. The bishop wished him to return this 
 year, but increasing infirmity preventing him, this 
 letter was written instead. He proceeds to offer some 
 very earnest and affectionate counsel to the bishop 
 respecting his own life. Teaching and Practice 
 ought to go together. Neither is of avail without 
 the other. If a bishop lead a good life, but neglects 
 to teach, or if he teach well, but is careless in 
 his life, he will come short of the reward. He 
 cautions him especially against idle talking, and other 
 excesses of an " untamed tongue." Let him occupy 
 his mind and tongue in speaking of divine things 
 and meditating on the Holy Scriptures — specially St. 
 Paul's epistles to Timothy and Titus, the Pastoral 
 Rule of St. Gregory, and some of his homilies on the 
 Gospels. If it be indecent that the vessels of the 
 altar and sanctuar}' should be applied to common or 
 vile uses, so is it that the hands and lips employed 
 in the celebration of divine mysteries should be used 
 for what is frivolous or even offensive to God. It is 
 a great help in guarding the tongue to keep good 
 company — one may help the other. But he has 
 heard of some bishops who delight in the society of 
 those who are full of laughter, jests, and merry 
 stories, and more inclined to pamper their bodies than 
 to feed their souls with heavenly sacrifices. He 
 holds out the examples in the Acts of Paul and Bar-
 
 8o DURHAM. 
 
 nabas for the company they kept, and their diligence 
 in preaching. Wherever he goes he should collect 
 the people together and preach the Word to them. 
 As his diocese is so extensive that he cannot go 
 through all the hamlets this way in a year, he is to 
 call in help by ordaining presbyters to preach, 
 celebrate divine mysteries, and, especially, to baptize 
 when occasion require. All ought to know the 
 Belief and the Lord's Prayer — those who do not know 
 Latin — among whom were some clergymen and monks 
 — in the vulgar tongue — he himself had purposely 
 translated them into English. It is a great sin when 
 men look after the emoluments of their office and 
 neglect its duties. He has heard of wild and woody 
 places, where no bishop or preacher was ever seen, 
 where yet the dues were collected. The gospel ought 
 to be preached without charge ; but what when men 
 exact a charge but do not preach ! How different the 
 example of Samuel ! (i Sam. xii. 2 et seq.) If there be, 
 as we believe, a benefit in the laying on of hands (in 
 confirmation), since hereby the Holy Spirit is re- 
 ceived, there must be a loss when it is withheld. The 
 root of this evil is covetousness. When a prelate 
 from covetousness undertakes the charge of a diocese, 
 which he cannot go through in a year, preaching 
 everywhere, he is guilty of mortal sin. Large 
 dioceses ought to be divided. He believes Egbert 
 would find the pious king Ceolwulf anxious to help 
 him. The plan of St. Gregory, by which there were 
 to be twelve bishops in our nation, with York for a 
 metropolitan, ought to be carried out. But by the 
 foolish grants of former kings hardly a place could be
 
 BEDE — EPISTLE TO EGBERT. 8 1 
 
 found for a new see. A great council ought to be held, 
 and, with the consent of the bishop and the king, 
 some of the monasteries ought to be applied to this 
 purpose : and if opposition should be offered, let oppo- 
 nents be soothed by being allowed to appoint some 
 one, either of themselves, or, if there were no one 
 amongst themselves qualified, some one from without, 
 to preside both over the monastery and the diocese. 
 If this were done, Egbert would more readily recover 
 the metropolitan pall for York. 
 
 Many are monasteries only in name, where there 
 is no regular life ; so many needless grants have been 
 made that no way is left by which the sons of nobles 
 or veterans can be provided for. Hence young men 
 are unable to marry, and either leave the country or 
 take to evil living. By a greater abuse still, laymen 
 have purchased land for the erection of monasteries, 
 got it made hereditary, and filled these houses with 
 irregular monks, or even their own servants. There 
 are few who have been in office under the king who 
 have not done this. They remain laymen, but call 
 themselves abbots, though they know nothing, and 
 do not care to know anything of a religious life. 
 They even bring in their wives, and beget children — 
 often making their wives rulers (rectrices) over houses 
 of women. Such places are profitable neither to God 
 or man, for they neither advance the glory of God 
 by exhibiting patterns of holy life nor do they pro- 
 vide soldiers for the defence of the country against 
 the barbarians. There ought to be no scruple about 
 revoking such reckless and mischievous grants. The 
 difficulty was that bishops and abbots themselves had 
 
 G
 
 82 DURHAM. 
 
 been found to confirm them. All this had been 
 going on for thirty years, since the death of King 
 Aldfrid. 
 
 He enjoins on Egbert to be very careful in the 
 appointment of rulers, and to visit them to see that 
 they execute faithfully the duties of their charge. 
 He is to take care for the instruction of the laity, that 
 they be taught what works they must do, what sins 
 they who desire to please God must shun, with what 
 sincerity of heart they must believe in Him, with 
 what devout humility they are to implore His mercy, 
 with what frequent diligence they ought to fortify 
 themselves and all that is theirs by the sign of the 
 holy Cross against the wiles of unclean spirits, how 
 salutary for all sorts of Christians is the daily receiv- 
 ing . of the body and blood of the Lord after the 
 custom of the Church of Christ in Italy, Gaul, 
 Africa, Greece, and all the East. Such devotion has 
 become in our province so rare among the laity 
 though the carelessness of their teachers, that very 
 few communicate oftener than at the Nativity, the 
 Epiphany, and Easter, whereas there are many 
 persons of all ages and both sexes of sufficiently 
 good life to communicate at least every Sunday 
 and on every festival, as Egbert must have seen 
 done at Rome. 
 
 Bede concludes his letter by a denunciation of 
 covetousness ; those who, under pretence of religion, 
 
 k for worldly possessions are guilty of the sin of 
 Ananias and Sapphira; yet they did not seek after 
 what was not theirs, but only kept back what was 
 their own. The Gospel rule is, " Sell all that thou
 
 LAST DAYS OF THE VENERABLE BEDE. 83 
 
 hast ; " the modern one is, " Get all that thou canst." 
 Again, since the Lord has solemnly declared that the 
 wide gate and the broad way lead to destruction, what 
 hope can be entertained as to the salvation of those 
 who plainly walk in the broad way all their life, who 
 are restrained from no indulgence either of mind or 
 body by the thought of final retribution ; unless it can 
 be thought that the alms which they give amid all 
 their sinful pleasures may procure forgiveness, whereas 
 no offering is acceptable to God which does not come 
 from a clean hand, a pure conscience ; or that those 
 who have lived unworthy of the mysteries of the most 
 holy oblation can hope that these mysteries cele- 
 brated by others after their death will avail to their 
 redemption. Covetousness, he subjoins, in a very 
 eloquent passage, ruined Balaam, Achan, King Saul, 
 Gehazi, Judas, Ananias, and Sapphira ; nay, to 
 mount higher, the rebel angels and our first parents 
 themselves. 
 
 The story of Bede's death has been preserved in 
 a letter from a monk in the monastery of Jarrow, 
 named Cuthbert, to a friend whose name was Cuth- 
 win ; and always when the story is told, which it has 
 been many times, it has been told in Cuthbcrt's 
 words, translated from the Latin, though sometimes 
 abridged. 
 
 "To his dearly-beloved in Christ and fellow- 
 student Cuthwin, his fellow-disciple Cuthbert — health 
 in the Lord. The little present sent by thee I 
 received with much pleasure, and I have read with 
 much gratification the letter of devout and learned 
 
 G 2
 
 84 DURHAM. 
 
 friend, in which I find what I most especially- 
 desired, that you are most diligent in celebrating 
 masses and holy prayers for Bede, our father and 
 master, beloved of God. Wherefore I have the 
 greater pleasure, at your request, in telling shortly, 
 according to my ability, the manner of his departure 
 from this world. About a fortnight before Easter, he 
 began to be much troubled with quick breathing, yet 
 without pain, and from this time until the Ascension 
 of the Lord, that is the seventh of the calends of June 
 (May 26) he spent his time in joy and gladness, night 
 and day at all hours giving thanks to God. He gave 
 lessons to us, his scholars, every day ; the rest of the day 
 he employed in singing psalms ; the whole night, with 
 short intervals of sleep, he watched with joy and 
 thanksgiving. On waking he rehearsed the customary 
 offices, and ceased not with outstretched hands to 
 give thanks to God. Oh, truly blessed man ! He 
 sang that sentence of the blessed apostle, Paul, ' It 
 is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
 God,' and many other passages of Holy Writ. In 
 our English tongue also he sang many things, for he 
 was well acquainted with our songs. It was then 
 that he composed in English verse, and sang with 
 compunction, ' Before the needful departure, no man 
 is more wise than needs, to search out, ere his going 
 hence, for what of good or evil his soul may be brought 
 into judgment after his death.' He sang also an- 
 thems according to his and our custom, one of which 
 was, ' O King of glory, Lord of Hosts, who hast 
 this day ascended in triumph above all heavens, leave 
 us not orphans, but send upon us the promise of the
 
 LAST DAYS OF THE VENERABLE BEDE. 85 
 
 Father, the spirit of truth. Alleluia.' ^ When he 
 came to the words, ' Leave us not orphans,' he 
 burst into tears and wept much. An hour after, he 
 commenced to say over again what he had said 
 before, and we, as we heard him, mourned with him. 
 In turn we read, in turn we wept, indeed, we ever 
 wept as we read. In such gladness we passed the 
 Quinquagesimal days^ until the Ascension, and he, 
 with much joy, gave thanks to God that he was 
 worthy to be so afflicted. He often repeated, ' God 
 scourgeth every son whom He receiveth,' and other 
 such texts — also the saying of St. Ambrose, ' I have 
 not so lived that I am ashamed to live among you ; but 
 neither do I fear to die, seeing that we have a good 
 God.' In those days, besides the lessons he gave 
 us, and singing of psalms, he went on with the com 
 position of two little works, — most worthy to be 
 remembered — the rendering of the Gospel of St. 
 John into our language for the benefit of the church, 
 and some extracts from the Notes of Isidore the 
 Bishop. ' For,' said he, ' I am not willing that my 
 scholars should read falsehoods, or labour fruitlessly 
 in this, after my death.' On the third day of the week 
 (Tuesday) before the Ascension of the Lord, he began 
 to be more severely distressed by shortness of breath, 
 and some swelling began to appear in his feet ; but 
 
 ' The reader will here recognise the Collect for the .Sunday 
 after Ascension in the Prayer Book, introduced in that place at 
 the Reformation. It was previously an anthem sung at Vespers, 
 before and after the Magnificat on Ascension Day. 
 
 * This means the fifty days between Easier and Pentecost, 
 forty of which had elapsed at the Ascension.
 
 86 DURHAM. 
 
 he spent the whole of that day in teaching, and dic- 
 tated to us cheerfully, sometimes saying, ' Make haste 
 to learn ; I know not how long I may live ; it may 
 be my Maker will soon take me away.' To us, 
 however, it seemed as if he well knew when he should 
 depart He passed the whole night awake, in 
 thanksgiving. When morning broke on the fourth 
 day (Wednesday) he directed us to write diligently 
 what we had begun. After this, we walked in pro- 
 cession until the third hour (9 a.m.) with the relics of 
 the saints, as the custom of the day requires ; but 
 one of us remained with him, who said to him, 
 ' Dearest master, there is yet one chapter wanting ; 
 does it seem difficult to you to answer any more 
 questions?' 'It is easy,' he said, 'take thy pen, 
 be quiet, and write quickly.' The scholar complied. 
 At the ninth hour (3 p.m.), he said to me, 'There 
 are some valuables in my little box — pepper, hand- 
 kerchiefs, and incense. Run quickly, and bring the 
 presbyters of our monastery, that I may distribute 
 among them some little presents, such as God has 
 given me. The rich in this world aim at giving gold, 
 silver, and other precious things ; but I, with much 
 love and joy, will bestow on my brethren w^hat God 
 has given me.' He spoke to every one, entreating 
 that masses and prayers should be diligentlyoffered 
 for him. This they willingly promised ; but they all 
 wept, and sorrowed most of all for the word which he 
 spake, that they should see his face no more in this 
 world. Yet they rejoiced, because he said, ' It is 
 time that I should return to Him who made me, who 
 created me, who formed me out of nothing. I have
 
 LAST DAYS OF THE VENERABLE BEDE. 87 
 
 lived a long time — my kind Judge has well ordered 
 my life for me. The time of my departure is at 
 hand ; I desire to be dissolved and to be with 
 Christ.' Speaking thus, and with other like words, 
 he passed the day in joy until the evening. Then 
 the youth before-mentioned said, ' Now the writing 
 is finished.' Bede replied, ' Well ! Thou hast said 
 truly ; all is finished. Take hold of my head, for it 
 pleases me much to sit over against the holy place, 
 where I was wont to pray, that so sitting I may call 
 upon my Father.' Thus sitting on the pavement of 
 his cell, singing ' Glory be to the Father, and to the 
 Son, and to the Holy Ghost,' when he had named 
 the Holy Ghost, he drew his last breath, and passed 
 to the heavenly kingdom. Then all who witnessed 
 the departure of the blessed Father declared that 
 they had never seen any one finish his life in so great 
 devotion and tranquillity. For, as thou hast heard, 
 so long as the soul was in the body, he ceased not to 
 say, ' Glory be to the Father,' and other spiritual 
 words, and with outstretched hands to give thanks to 
 God, the Living and True. Know, then, dearest 
 brother, that there are many more things which I 
 might tell about him ; but at present want of skill in 
 the tongue causes brevity of speech. Still I mean, 
 with the help of God, some time to write more fully 
 of what I have seen with my eyes and heard with 
 my cars." 
 
 With Bede and his contemporaries the golden age 
 of the Northumbrian Church may be said to have 
 closed. This seems, therefore, not an unfitting occa-
 
 88 DURHAM. 
 
 sion to endeavour to form some estimate of the re- 
 sults of the introduction of Christianity amongst them. 
 The tribes who subjugated Britain after the de- 
 parture of the Romans were doubtless fierce and 
 covetous, but they cannot be regarded as altogether 
 savages. They had among them the elements of 
 social life — first of the family, then of the tribe — and 
 they were amenable to law and order. They were 
 therefore less unprepared than many other nations 
 to rise to higher things. After the failure of the 
 attempt made by St. Paulinus, the Roman missionary, 
 the Gospel was preached among them by the Scottish 
 teachers from Hy, and the reader has learned what 
 manner of men they were. Under them idolatry 
 was abolished, and the Church of Christ estabUshed. 
 What then was the result of the change ? 
 
 1. They learned the true secret of their being — 
 the true doctrine of a future state and of final re- 
 tribution — the unspeakable love of God in sending a 
 Saviour and Redeemer to his guilty creatures. They 
 were taught by men who exemplified in their own 
 conduct all that they enjoined on others, to deny self, 
 to despise the world, and to set their heart on things 
 above — to love God above all, and each one his 
 neighbour as himself. 
 
 2. The monasteries were not only the homes of 
 the preachers, but places of education for the clergy 
 and for the young nobility, and the training they 
 imparted was of a most practical character. We find 
 English-born men, like Bede and Acca, familiar with 
 the classics and the fathers of the Church within a 
 few years after the arrival of St. Aidan ; and men of
 
 LAST DAYS OF THE VENERABLE BEDE. 89 
 
 noble birth, like Ceolfrid and Easterwin, freely giving 
 themselves up to a life of hardness, and not dis- 
 daining manual labour of all kinds, thus practically 
 teaching the fierce warriars among whom they lived 
 the dignity of labour. Agriculture was promoted, 
 and thus not only the chances of famine diminished, 
 but a new and peaceful source of wealth opened up. 
 Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop introduce architecture 
 with all its kindred arts, such as working in metals 
 and in glass. Nor must we forget the proficiency in 
 art displayed in their manuscripts, of which we shall 
 presently meet with a remarkable instance in a book 
 which survives to the present time. 
 
 3. By such journeys as those of Wilfrid and 
 Benedict Biscop intercourse with the continent was 
 opened up, and just as it is characteristic of the 
 Anglo-Saxon race, both in England and America in 
 the present day, to be great travellers, so in these 
 early times pilgrimage to Rome, and even to much 
 more distant places, speedily became a passion both 
 with men and women, often, it is to be feared, with- 
 drawing men from their duties at home, and not 
 seldom proving fatal to the virtue of women ^ — thus 
 becoming one source of the demoralizing influences 
 which led to decay. 
 
 4. ]\Iany instances have come under the reader's 
 notice of what was the great glory of the Northumbrian 
 Church — its missionary character — but this has been 
 already so much enlarged upon that it is needless to 
 say any more here. 
 
 ' " Epist. Bonifacii ad Culhberlum." Haddan and Slubbs, 
 vol. iii., p. 381.
 
 90 DURHAM. 
 
 . 5. There is no reason to believe that the Anglo- 
 Saxon Church differed from the rest of Christendom, 
 or from Rome itself, either in doctrine or worship. 
 The prominence given to the controversies respecting 
 Easter and the tonsure sufficiently prove this ; for if 
 there had been any other difference it must have been 
 mentioned, and the same argument will suffice against 
 any surmise of a different system of government 
 drawn from the peculiar constitution of the monastery 
 at Hy, — if the system of government had been dif- 
 ferent from that of the rest of the Church, it must have 
 become the subject of debate. It is almost certain, 
 from the narrative of St. Cuthbert's death, that in the 
 use of the Psalter they agreed with the Church of 
 later times. The brethren outside the bishop's cell 
 were saying their office — it was Wednesday morning 
 — and had begun the psalm, '■'■Dens repidisti Jios," 
 when they were informed of his death. At Lindis- 
 farne they were saying the same psalm in church, 
 and this is exactly what both would have been doing 
 if they had used the breviary of Sarum, York, or 
 Rome. 
 
 Nothing can be more absurd than to talk of the 
 adoption of the Roman Easter and tonsure as the 
 surrender of an independent position and submission 
 to a usurping power. Men like Cuthbert and Bede had 
 the good sense to see that the Scottish Easter was an 
 indefensible singularity, founded upon a pure mistake, 
 and producing needless difference between them and 
 the rest of Christendom. It might as well be said 
 that, in 1752, George II. and the English Church 
 and nation submitted to the Pope, when they adopted
 
 LAST DAYS OF THE VENERABLE BEDE. 9 1 
 
 the Gregorian Calendar— it has already been pointed 
 out that the two cases are very much alike. The 
 tonsure was a mere fashion, and it is nothing uncom- 
 mon for Englishmen to adopt continental fashions. 
 
 The early days of the Northumbrian Church were 
 full of glory, but it is manifest that before Bede's 
 death her love had begun to wax cold. In the letter 
 to Egbert he hints, not obscurely, of careless, avaricious, 
 and ambitious bishops, of laxity in real monasteries, 
 and of monasteries set up merely that those ^yho 
 originated them might be freed from public burdens. 
 All this pointed to disorder and decay and things did 
 not improve till by and by the avenger came.
 
 92 DURHAM. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LINDISFARNE— HEXHAM CHESTER-LE-STREET. 
 
 Wearmouth and Jarrow and the venerable Bede 
 have taken us far from the bishops of Lindisfarne 
 and Hexham. Nearly fifty years elapsed between the 
 death of St. Cuthbert and that of Bede. We now 
 return to the bishops, and it may be well to take 
 those of Hexham first, as that see came to an end 
 about eighty-five years after Bede's death. 
 
 Eata, we have seen, was appointed to Hexham 
 when Cuthbert was consecrated for Lindisfarne. His 
 time at Hexham was very short, for he died soon 
 after his appointment. AVilfrid then administered 
 the see for a year, and then John, afterwards known 
 as St. John of Beverley, succeeded. John was one 
 of the five monks under St. Hilda at Whitby whom 
 that holy woman saw raised to the episcopate. In 
 his early youth, in order to qualify himself for the 
 service of God, he had gone to Canterbury, where he 
 became a pupil of the Abbot Hadrian, in the famous 
 school founded by Archbishop Theodore. Here he 
 made great advances, both in learning and in piety. 
 He was probably still an inmate of the monastery at 
 Whitby when he was called to be Bishop of Hexham. 
 Here his life was such as was to be expected from his 
 previous history. Like St. Cuthbert, he spent much
 
 HEXHAM, 93 
 
 of his time, particularly in Lent, in retirement for 
 the purpose of devotion. His favourite retreat was 
 a solitary place about a mile-and-a-half from Hexham, 
 called Earnshaw, the Eagle's Mount, where there was 
 an oratory of St. Michael. But here he was not 
 always alone. He was wont to take with him some 
 poor or afflicted person to whom he might minister. 
 On one of these occasions his companion was a poor 
 boy who could not speak, and was also afflicted by 
 a skin disease on his head which seems to have 
 resembled ring-worm. The bishop prayed for him, 
 and made the sign of the cross on his tongue, upon 
 which, as we are told, he gained the faculty of speech. 
 He then proceeded to instruct him how to use his 
 newly-acquired power, teaching first to say "gae," 
 meaning in Saxon, "yes," and then the different 
 sounds represented by the letters of the alphabet. As 
 to his head, he consulted a physician, and the result 
 of the treatment prescribed was that he was completely 
 cured, and his hair, which formerly had a most re- 
 pulsive appearance, became beautiful and luxuriant. 
 
 Another anecdote serves to illustrate not only the 
 tender and loving spirit of the good bishop, but also 
 the estimation in which he was held. One day, when 
 he was riding with a number of attendants, both laymen 
 and clergymen, some of the younger members of the 
 party asked and obtained the bishop's permission to 
 try the metal of their horses by breaking out into 
 a gallop. A young clergyman was forbidden by the 
 bishop to follow their example ; but being very well 
 mounted, and the ground level and smooth, he was 
 tempted to transgress. He was thrown, and severely
 
 94 DURHAM. 
 
 injured. The bishop was very much concerned for 
 him, and instead of staying that night, as usual, with 
 his clergy, he watched and prayed beside the sufferer 
 all night. In the morning he asked him if he knew 
 who was speaking to him. "Yes," he answered, 
 "you are my beloved bishop." The young man 
 speedily recovered. 
 
 It was John, as we have seen, who ordained Bede 
 both deacon and priest. Jarrow was in the diocese 
 of Hexham, which, we are told, extended from the 
 river Tees to the 'river Aln. John presided eighteen 
 years at Hexham, and on the death of Bosa, in 706, 
 was translated to York. The same love of retirement 
 . for the purpose of devotion followed him here. He 
 founded a monastery at a place about twenty-seven 
 miles from York, then called Deira-wood, and after- 
 wards Beverley. In 717 he consecrated Wilfrid 
 Junior, as his successor in the see of York, and retired 
 altogether to Beverley to prepare for his end. He 
 died in 721, and after his death was reverenced as a 
 saint. To his intercession the famous king Athelstane 
 ascribed his victory at Brunanburg in 937, and nearly 
 seven centuries after his death Chicheley, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, in a synod in 14 16, ordered the 
 two festivals — that of his death on June 7, and that 
 of his translation on October 25 — to be observed as 
 holy days all over England, on the ground that it was 
 to his merits that King Henry V. was indebted for 
 the famous victory of Agincourt. 
 
 John was succeeded at Hexham by the famous 
 Wilfrid, after his final reconciliation with King 
 Aldfrid. When he was bishop at York he had built a
 
 HEXHAM. 95 
 
 very magnificent minster at Hexham, said by those 
 who had travelled to Rome to be the goodliest church 
 on this side of the Alps. A minute description of 
 it is given by an early historian, Richard, Abbot 
 of Hexham ; but it is not very intelligible at the 
 present day. AVilfrid died in 710, after an episcopate 
 of four years. So ended his struggle, continued 
 over a space of so many years, in resisting the division 
 of the enormous diocese of York, which then reached 
 from the Humber to the Forth — including also for a 
 time a great part of Lincolnshire — more than 180 
 miles from north to south. It is hardly possible that 
 Bede could have failed to have this in his mind 
 when he speaks so severely of over extensive dio- 
 ceses in his epistle to Egbert of York, the prelate who 
 succeeded Wilfrid Junior, at York, the year before 
 Bede died. 
 
 Wilfrid was succeeded as Bishop of Hexham by 
 AccA, Abbot of Hexham. Acca was a man of great 
 learning and of zeal for the truth, and, in every respect 
 a very accomplished man. In his early days he re- 
 sided as a scholar with Bosa, afterwards Bishop of 
 York ; but he subsequently attached himself to the 
 fortunes of Wilfrid. He was with him in his last 
 journey to Rome, where, as we are told, he learned 
 much that he had no opportunity of learning elsewhere. 
 After his return ]ie became Abbot of Hexham, and 
 on Wilfrid's death succeeded him as bishop. It fell 
 to his lot to complete the churches which Wilfrid had 
 begun, and he adorned them with lights and sacred 
 vessels, besides many relics of the saints. Acca also 
 collected a very ample library, containing many
 
 96 DURHAM. 
 
 histories of the sufferings of the saints. He was him- 
 self well skilled in sacred song, and brought to 
 Hexham one Maban, who had learned the ecclesias- 
 tical chant from the successors of the scholars of 
 Pope Gregory at Canterbury, and retained him there 
 twelve years, as well to teach the inmates of the 
 monastery what they did not know, as to restore the 
 knowledge of what had been partially forgotten. 
 
 As Bishop of Hexham Acca was Bede's diocesan, and 
 there existed a very intimate friendship between them. 
 It was at the instance of Acca that Bede wrote many of 
 his commentaries on Holy Scripture. His commentary 
 on St. Mark was dedicated to the Bishop of Hexham, 
 and when Bede, in his modesty, hesitated to proceed 
 with St. Luke, because it had been already treated by 
 St. Ambrose, Acca wrote a letter of encouragement. 
 Many of the Fathers, he reminded Bede, had written 
 commentaries on parts of the Scriptures which had 
 beenhandledby others; and with regard to St. Ambrose, 
 his writings were so learned and profound that only 
 the learned could understand them. He points 
 out that St. Augustine, in his Epistle to Paulina on 
 the Vision of God, makes a lengthened quotation 
 from St. Ambrose on St. Luke, and spends the rest of 
 the epistle in explaining it. This letter of Acca's, 
 which he requested Boeda to prefix to his commentary, 
 is a very remarkable one, showing an intimate 
 acquaintance, not only with the Fathers, but also with 
 classical authors, both of whom he quotes freely, yet 
 without any parade of learning. Acca is said to have 
 been expelled from his see in 732, but we are not told 
 why or how. It is scarcely possible that one who was
 
 HEXHAM. 97 
 
 SO much revered both before and after his death 
 should have been driven away for any fault of his own ; 
 but he had held the see for twenty years, and must 
 have been advanced in age. He survived his expul- 
 sion eight years. 
 
 It was one of the first acts of Egbert at York, after 
 he received the pall as archbishop, to consecrate 
 Acca's successor, Frethbert. Little is recorded of 
 him but that for some time he administered the see of 
 Lindisfarne during the temporary suspension by the 
 king of Cynewulf, the bishop. He was succeeded by 
 Alchmund, who, as well as his successor Tilbert 
 was reverenced as a saint after his death. The next 
 bishop was Ethelbert. To him and to his monk 
 Alcuin wrote one of his characteristic letters about 
 the time when Lindisfarne was sacked by the Danes, 
 exhorting them to faithfulness in the discharge of their 
 duties, and reminding them of those who had gone 
 before them, such as Wilfrid and Acca. Three other 
 bishops, Eadred, Eanbert, and Tidferth, ruled 
 at Hexham, and then about 820 in some way, not 
 explained by historians, the see of Hexham came 
 to an end. 
 
 We now return to the Bishops of Lindisfarne. St. 
 Cuthbert died March 20, 687 ; after a year, during 
 which Wilfrid had charge of this diocese, he was suc- 
 ceeded by Eadbert, " a man," Cede says, " illustrious 
 for his knowledge of the Divine Scriptures, for his 
 observance of heavenly precepts, and especially of 
 almsgiving, so that he not only, according to the law, 
 gave tithes of four-footed animals, and of corn and 
 
 H
 
 98 DURHAM. 
 
 fruit, but also of clothing, to the poor," He stripped 
 off the thatch with which his predecessor Finan had 
 covered his wooden church, and put on a new roof of 
 lead — covering the walls also, which were formed of 
 split oak, with plates of lead. At the very end of his 
 episcopate he directed the grave of St. Cuthbert to 
 be opened on the eleventh anniversary of his death. 
 The brethren expected nothing else than that the body 
 would be entirely decayed, and that they would find 
 nothing but bones. But to their great surprise and 
 even terror they found that the body was quite entire, 
 and the joints flexible. All the garments were quite 
 fresh. The bishop was at the time in a sequestered 
 part of the island, to which he was wont to retire for 
 fasting with prayer and tears during Lent, and for 
 forty days before Christmas, after the example of St. 
 Cuthbert, at Fame. The brethren hastened to tell 
 him of their discovery. By his direction the body 
 was arrayed in new vestments, enclosed in a new 
 chest, and placed upon the floor of the church. 
 Eadbert died soon after. He had prayed fervently 
 that he should not be taken away by a sudden death, 
 but after a long illness, and his prayer was heard. 
 He lingered for six weeks, and died on May 6, 698, 
 He was buried in the tomb out of which St. Cuth- 
 bert's body had been taken. 
 
 The next bishop was Eadfrid, another disciple of 
 St. Cuthbert. It was to him that Bede dedicated his 
 prose life of St. Cuthbert. The cell which the saint 
 had occupied in Fame did not long remain untenanted. 
 Ethelwold, a monk of Ripon, took up his abode in it, 
 and lived there twelve years, Felgild, another solitary,
 
 LINDISFARNE. 99 
 
 succeeded, but by this time the cell had fallen into a 
 very dilapidated state, and Eadfrid rebuilt it from the 
 foundation. This bishop was a very skilful penman. 
 In honour of St. Cuthbert he made a copy of the 
 four gospels in Latin, which has come down to our 
 time and is now in the British Museum. It is still 
 quite fresh, and a work of surpassing beauty, both 
 for the writing and the illuminations. Ethelwold, 
 the successor of Eadfrid, caused it to be adorned 
 with gold and gems, by Bilfrid, an anchoret, who 
 was a very skilful worker in gold. It was pre- 
 served in the church at Lindisfarne with great care, 
 and when, a century and a half later, the community 
 were forced by the Danish invasions to desert their 
 church and monastery, and fly with St. Cuthbert's 
 body, they took this book with them. In an abortive 
 attempt which they made to cross into Ireland, it fell 
 into the sea, but was recovered perfectly uninjured. 
 It accompanied the community to Chester-le-Street 
 and Durham, and was given after the Conquest to 
 the restored monastery of Lindisfarne, the inmates of 
 which were obliged to transmit to Durham every year 
 an attestation of its safe custody. The original 
 manuscript is the Latin of St. Jerome, but long after 
 an interlinear Saxon gloss was made by one Aldred. 
 It is uncertain at what time this was done, but the 
 language shows that it must have been after the Danes 
 had been long enough in the country to modify the 
 common speech considerably. At the Dissolution 
 in the time of Henry VIIL, it disappeared, but came 
 eventually into the hands of Sir Robert Cotton, by 
 whom it was given to the British Museum. It is 
 
 H 2
 
 lOO DURHAM. 
 
 supposed to have been written by Eadfrid before he 
 became bishop, but if it was done in the Hfetime of 
 St. Cuthbert, there is no evidence to show that it was 
 ever given to him personally. Eadfrid held the see 
 for ten years. 
 
 He was succeeded by Ethelwold, who also had 
 been an attendant on St. Cuthbert. His care for the 
 adornment of the " Book of the Gospels " written by 
 his predecessor has just been mentioned. During his 
 time Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria, resigned his 
 crown, and retired into the monastery of Lindisfarne, 
 being succeeded by Eadfrid. It is said that up to 
 this time the monks had never been allowed to drink 
 beer, but now that they had a royal neophyte this 
 indulgence was permitted. Ceolwulf was a prince of 
 great piety and learning, but, as it would seem, not 
 well fitted for the cares of government in these rough 
 and troubled times. 
 
 After Ethelwold succeeded Cynewulf as bishop, 
 and held the see forty years. He had the misfortune to 
 fall under the displeasure of King Eadfrid on account 
 of the murder of one Offa, a person of royal extrac- 
 tion, who had taken sanctuary at Lindisfarne. The 
 bishop was imprisoned for two years, during which the 
 affairs of the diocese were administered by the Bishop 
 of Hexham, but he and the king were afterwards 
 reconciled to each other. Eadfrid after an energetic 
 reign of twenty-one years, at a time of peace and pros- 
 perity, when he was in the enjoyment of the respect 
 and esteem of all his contemporaries, followed the 
 example of King Ceolwulf and retired to a monastic 
 life at York, where his brother was archbishop.
 
 CHESTER-LE-STREET. 10 1 
 
 In the year 780, Cynewulf, worn out by old age and 
 fatigue, with the consent of the congregation resigned 
 the episcopate to Higbald, who ruled the see during 
 a most calamitous period of twenty-one years. The 
 kingdom of Northumbria was now hastening to decay. 
 There is no reason to hope that there was any im- 
 provement during the previous half-century in the 
 church— and it was no good sign, though they may 
 have believed themselves to be actuated by good 
 motives, when one king after another abandoned the 
 charge committed to him and embraced the monastic 
 profession. In truth the country had become a scene 
 of dissension, perjury, fraud, and bloodshed. It was 
 obviously bad enough that England should be divided 
 into so many petty kingdoms almost constantly at 
 war with each other, but in Northumbria, in particular, 
 dissension, treason, and murder seem almost to have 
 been the normal condition of things. And England 
 had been warned. Boniface, Archbishop of Mentz, 
 himself an Englishman, had addressed a letter to 
 Cuthbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, in which he 
 denounced in very strong terms the wickedness of 
 the nation. Alcuin, also a pupil of Egbert, Arch- 
 bishop of York, had written from the court of Charle- 
 magne on the same subject to his friends in the 
 north of England. But these warnings were little 
 heeded and, before long, punishment came. The his- 
 tory reads almost like what we have in the Books of 
 the Kings and the Prophets of Israel and Judah— 
 calls to repentance slighted, followed at length by the 
 strokes of divine vengeance. 
 
 Some years after the beginning of Higbald's episco-
 
 102 DURHAM. 
 
 pate the Danes began to infest the coast of England. 
 They were first heard of in 787, when three ships 
 landed in Wessex, but there is not much more said 
 about them until 793, when they made a descent on 
 the coast of Northumbria. On the 7 th June they 
 came to Lindisfarne. Not content with plundering 
 the monastery they profaned the sanctuary and dug 
 down the altars. Some of the defenceless monks 
 were slain. Others were carried off bound. Most of 
 these after being insulted and stripped were released 
 in scorn. Others were drowned. 
 
 This calamity sent a thrill of consternation and 
 horror wherever the Saxon tongue was spoken. Alcuin 
 heard of it at the court of Charlemagne, and it 
 grieved him to the heart, but he could not refrain 
 from seeing in it the hand of an avenging God. His 
 sorrow found vent in various letters to the King of 
 Northumbria and his nobles, and to the brethren at 
 Lindisfarne. After expostulating most faithfully with 
 the former on the sins of the land, he continues, 
 '' Fear the scourge which has come on the Church of 
 St. Cuthbert, a place most holy, abundantly enriched 
 with the prayers of many saints, but now miserably 
 wasted by the pagans. He who does not fear and 
 correct himself, and pray in penitence to God for the 
 prosperity of his country has not a heart of flesh, but 
 one of stone." In another letter " Behold we and 
 our fathers have for three hundred and fifty years been 
 the inhabitants of this most fair land, and never before 
 now has such a terror appeared as we have suffered 
 from the pagans, nor could such a shipwreck have 
 been thought possible. See the Church of St. Cuth-
 
 CHESTER-LE-STREET. I03 
 
 bert sprinkled with the blood of the saints of God, 
 spoiled of all its adornments — the most venerable 
 place in Britain given up to be the spoil of the heathen, 
 and where first, after the departure of Paulinus from 
 York, the Christian religion took root among the 
 Northumbrians, there it finds the beginning of sor- 
 rows and calamity." He proceeds again to enlarge 
 on the prevalence of iniquity and to urge amendment. 
 He reminds the bishop and the monks of Lindisfarne 
 of the virtuous example of their fathers, urges them 
 to take in good part the chastening of the I^ord, 
 points to Jerusalem wasted by the Chaldeans, Rome 
 by the Goths, yea, all Europe by the Goths and Huns, 
 but now, by God's mercy, as the heavens are adorned 
 with stars, so is Europe with churches in which the 
 offices of the Christian religion flourish and increase. 
 " Exhort one another, and say, ' Let us return to the 
 Lord our God, for He will abundantly pardon, and He 
 never forsakes them who trust in Him.' " 
 
 The next year the same calamity befel Wearmouth 
 and Jarrow, but this time the avenger was at hand. 
 The leader of the pagan host was slain, his ships 
 wrecked by a tempest, and his men who escaped the 
 sea were slain by the inhabitants. After some, time 
 Higbald and his monks stole back to their devastated 
 church. It was a great comfort in the midst of their 
 sorrows that they found that the shrine of St. Cuth- 
 bert had escaped destruction. Higbald survived this 
 catastrophe for ten years, and died 25th May, 803. 
 
 He was succeeded by Egbert who filled the see 
 eighteen years, 803 — 821. 
 
 Next Heathureri) presided for eight years, 821 —
 
 I04 DURHAM. 
 
 829. In his time the see of Hexham became extinct, 
 but neither he nor any other bishop till Eardulf seems 
 to have taken charge of it. 
 
 After him Ecgred became bishop, of whom little 
 more is recorded than that he was a man of noble 
 birth, and did more than any of his predecessors in 
 increasing the possessions of the church. He built 
 the church of Norham in honour of St. Cuthbert and 
 King Ceolwulf, and translated the relics of the latter 
 to that place. He died in the sixteenth year of his 
 episcopate, 830 — 846. 
 
 Next came Eanbert who presided for eight years, 
 846—854. 
 
 After him, in 854, Eardulf became bishop. He 
 appears to have been a very exemplary prelate, most 
 diligent in the visitation of his wide-spreading 
 diocese, not overlooking even its most remote depen- 
 dencies, such as Carlisle, which, from the time of King 
 Egfrid, had been regarded as part of the patrimony of 
 St. Cuthbert, and subject to the episcopal sway of 
 his successors. Eadred, the abbot of the monastery 
 founded at Carlisle by St. Cuthbert, became Eardulf's 
 faithful friend, adviser, and companion in all the 
 troubles which fell to his lot. Eardulf is most of 
 all remarkable for his wanderings from place to place 
 for seven years with the body of St. Cuthbert, and for 
 the final transfer of the see in his time from Lindisfarne 
 to Chester-le-Street. In the twentieth year of his epis- 
 copate occurred a most terrible invasion of the Danes 
 and other barbarous and pagan tribes. For seven 
 years they devasted the southern provinces of Eng- 
 land, and at length, about 881, reached the banks of
 
 CHESTER-LE-STREET. I05 
 
 the Tyne. Even had they come in less overpowering 
 numbers, Northumbria was miserably ill prepared to 
 resist them. Two rival kings, Osbert and Ella, were 
 contending for the sovereignty, now tributary to 
 Wessex, and the country was, as indeed it had been 
 for long, a scene of dissension and bloodshed. At 
 the last hour the two rivals agreed to lay aside their 
 differences, and make common cause against the 
 enemy. Both fell in battle, apparently little re- 
 gretted, for both alike were inclined to tyranny, 
 and had laid violent hands on the possessions of 
 the church. The whole country was now at the 
 mercy of the ruthless enemy, and Eardulf, fearing 
 a repetition of the horrors of 793, resolved, with 
 Eadred's advice and concurrence, to anticipate the 
 catastrophe by seeking safety in flight. The bishop 
 and the monks took the body of St. Cuthbert, the 
 sacred vessels and books of the church, with the relics 
 of St. Oswald and the early bishops, and bade a final 
 adieu to Lindisfarne. They were accompanied by 
 the young men who had been brought up in the 
 monaster)- and a great number of the Christian people. 
 For seven years they wandered over fell and moor 
 constantly changing their resting place lest they should 
 be overtaken by the enemy, often worn out by hunger 
 and fatigue, thus presenting a most singular and 
 unprecedented instance of devotion. At one time 
 Eardulf, in something like despair, resolved to cross 
 over into Ireland. The weather seemed propitious 
 when they embarked, but very soon a storm arose, 
 and not improbably Eardulf's conscience accused him 
 of cowardice, and they resolved to return. Imme-
 
 I06 DURHAM. 
 
 diately thereupon the storm abated, and they were pre- 
 sently landed in safety. It is not wonderful that, in after 
 times, many a picturesque legend gathered round the 
 remarkable story of the flight and wanderings of the 
 servants of St. Cuthbert, and doubtless found ready 
 belief in a credulous and superstitious age — how, 
 when they were about to leave the island, the sea 
 opened of itself to afford them a passage— how, in 
 the attempted passage to Ireland, Eadbert's precious 
 book of the Gospels fell overboard and was after- 
 wards recovered by the direction of the saint himself 
 at a great distance from the place where, apparently, 
 it was lost — how the saint appeared to King Alfred 
 when in hiding in Ethelingay, and foretold his victory 
 over his enemies and his restoration to his kingdom 
 — how, when the bearers of the body were worn out 
 with fatigue, the saint directed them where to find a 
 horse and car in which they ever afterwards conveyed 
 their precious load. 
 
 At length, after seven years wandering they reached 
 the abbey of Craike, in Yorkshire, near Easingwold, 
 one of the places given by King Egfrid to St. Cuth- 
 bert, and were hospitably received by Geve the abbot. 
 Here the abbot, Eadred, had a dream in which he 
 was directed by St. Cuthbert to say that a captive of 
 Danish extraction, Guthred, the son of Hardacnut, 
 who had been sold to a widow, was to be sought out and 
 redeemed from slavery ; that he was to be proposed 
 before an assembly of the army as king of Northumbria 
 under Alfred, and to have the bracelet, the sign of royal 
 dignity, placed upon his arm. When the abbot awoke 
 he told the dream to his friends. The young man
 
 CHESTER-LE-STREET. I07 
 
 was sought out, redeemed, and by the united vote of 
 the natives and the Danes proposed as king, and the 
 appointment was ratified by King Alfred. Four 
 months after this they removed with the body of St. 
 Cuthbert to Cuncachester now called Chester-le-Street,i 
 This place being at some distance from the sea might 
 appear to be less exposed to the ravages of the 
 Danes. It was also more central than Lindisfarne 
 for the diocese, which now extended over what had 
 been the diocese of Hexham. Here the body of 
 the saint remained, and here was the seat of the 
 bishop and the brotherhood for a hundred and 
 thirteen years, at the end of which time, after another 
 flight, they finally found their final resting place at 
 Durham. As might be supposed, Guthred, who at 
 the instance of the monks had been raised from 
 slavery to kingly power, was not ungrateful. With 
 the concurrence of his over-lord. King Alfred, he 
 made over all the land between the Wear and the 
 Tyne to St. Cuthbert and the ministers in his church, 
 and to this grant were added many other valuable 
 privileges ; amongst others, that whosoever should 
 take refuge at the sepulchre of St. Cuthbert should 
 have the right of sanctuary for thirty-seven days. 
 
 Nine bishops in succession ruled at Chester-le-Street. 
 Eardulf survived the change for nineteen years, and 
 died in the forty-sixth year of his episcopate. 
 
 CuTHEARD succeeded, who had on the whole a 
 peaceful time, though the country must have been 
 in a very distracted state. He held the see fifteen years. 
 
 ' The old name means the camp on the little river Con ; the 
 modern, the camp on the street, or Roman way.
 
 lo8 DURHAM. 
 
 TiLRED came next, who, after an episcopate of 
 fourteen years, died in 928. 
 WiGRED succeeded and died in 944. 
 
 UCHTRED. 944-947. 
 
 Sexhelm came next, but at the end of a few months 
 was forced to resign, being so covetous a man that 
 the people could not endure him. 
 
 Aldred succeeded, and held the see twenty-one 
 years. 947-968. 
 
 Elfsig for twenty-two years. 968-990. 
 
 Then, in the year 990, Aldhun, in whose time 
 another great change occurred.
 
 DURHAM. 109 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 " LOOK UPON ZION, THE CITY OF OUR SOLEMNITIES ; 
 
 THINE EYES SHALL SEE JERUSALEM, A QUIET HABITATION. 
 
 THERE THE GLORIOUS LORD SHALL BE UNTO US 
 A PLACE OF BROAD RIVERS AND STREAMS, 
 WHEREIN SHALL GO NO GALLEY WITH OARS, 
 NEITHER SHALL GALLANT SHIP PASS THERE BY." 
 
 Aldhun is said to have been of noble extraction and 
 a prelate of very great merit. But during his epis- 
 copate the country under the weak rule of Ethelred 
 the Unready was sorely harassed by Danes, though 
 many of them had embraced Christianity and settled 
 peaceably in the country, a large portion of England 
 having in fact been given up to them. But still, from 
 time to time, fresh bands of pirates were landing on 
 the coast. When in 995 they appeared in Northumbria 
 there was no adequate force to oppose them ; on the 
 contrary three of the chieftains whose duty it was 
 to defend the country, took part with the invaders. 
 Bamburgh was captured and the whole country 
 ravaged. The bishop and monks in their terror 
 deserted Chester-le-Street, and, taking with them the 
 body of St. Cuthbert fled southward to Ripon. After 
 an absence of three or four months, a precarious 
 I>eace having been obtained by lavish gifts on the 
 part of the English King, the fugitives resolved to
 
 no DURHAM. 
 
 return. On their way to Chester-le-Street, they had 
 got as far as Wredelau, a place to the east of Durham, 
 the precise situation of which is not now known, 
 when the car on which the body of St. Cuthbert 
 was borne became immoveable. More strength was 
 applied and yet more, but all to no purpose. In this 
 emergency the Bishop enjoined a fast of three days 
 with prayer for divine direction. On the third day 
 it was revealed to a monk named Eadmer that they 
 must take the body of the saint to Dunholm. They 
 hastened to obey and now the car, which formerly all 
 their united strength could not move, was drawn with 
 the greatest ease. At Dunholm — for such was the 
 name which was afterwards modified into DURHAM 
 — there was to be seen an eminence on a peninsula 
 formed by the windings of the river Wear, covered 
 entirely with shaggy wood, except a little spot on the 
 top which was cleared and under cultivation. It is 
 needless to attempt to describe the unrivalled beauty 
 of the situation. Since even now it owes much to the 
 woods which adorn the Banks (such is the local word) 
 of the winding river, it must, even then, before it re- 
 ceived its crown of church and castle and monastery, 
 have been a place exceeding fair. It was obviously, 
 moreover, a position of great natural strength, the 
 river on three sides affording additional protection, 
 and this circumstance, with its distance from the sea, 
 must have given to the sons of St. Cuthbert a sense 
 of as great immunity from hostile assault as they could 
 expect to find anywhere. It was indeed a "lordly 
 seat " for the " Cathedral huge and vast " which was 
 in due time to " look down upon the Wear."
 
 DURHAM. 1 1 1 
 
 A chapel formed of boughs was hastily erected to 
 receive the body of St. Cuthbert, for they were now 
 persuaded that it was the will of God and St. Cuth- 
 bert that here they should remain. There were con- 
 siderable difficulties to be faced in rendering it 
 habitable, but they received abundant help. Uchtred, 
 Earl of Northumberland, and the whole population 
 from the Coquet to the Tees came to their aid, and 
 the hill was very soon sufficiently cleared to enable 
 them to erect dwellings for the accommodation of the 
 bishop and his company. Aldhun took measures 
 without delay to commence the building of a church. 
 The body of St. Cuthbert was before long transferred 
 from the chapel of Boughs to another built of stone, 
 afterwards called the White church, until the great 
 church which Aldhun contemplated should be built. 
 
 The building of this went on apace. It was 
 finished all but the western tower in three years, and 
 on the 4th September, 999, it was solemnly dedicated. 
 Then, " all men rejoicing and praising God, the un- 
 corrupted body of the most holy father Cuthbert was 
 translated with due honour into the place prepared 
 for it," The day was kept ever afterwards as the 
 Feast of the Translation of St. Cuthbert. 
 
 Aldhun held the see for twenty-nine years, and 
 died in the year 1018. It is said that his end was 
 hastened by grief on account of a miserable defeat 
 sustained by the Northumbrians in a battle with the 
 Scots at Carham, in which a vast number of his 
 people were slain, Aldhun had a daughter, Egfrida, 
 whom he married to Uchtred, Earl of Northumberland 
 above mentioned, giving with her certain lands which
 
 112 DURHAM. 
 
 belonged "to the church of St. Cuthbert" on con- 
 dition that he would treat her with due honour. But 
 Uchtred sent her back, and restored the lands. After 
 this she was married to a thane of the country, but he 
 too sent her back ; and then her father sent her to 
 a monastery, where she took the veil and remained for 
 the rest of her life. As all the Saxon bishops were 
 monks, Egfrida must have been born before her 
 father's profession, at which time he was doubtless a 
 widower. But, whatever the causes may have been, 
 Egfrida's history is certainly a remarkable one. 
 Uchtred's subsequent history presents us with a 
 strange view of the state of society among the upper 
 classes at this time. After he had repudiated Egfrida, 
 Styr, the son of Ulf, a wealthy thane who is mentioned as 
 having given Darlington to the church of St. Cuthbert, 
 gave him his daughter — stipulating that he would aid 
 him in his feud with one Thurebrand by doing his 
 best to kill him. After this, Uchtred increased so 
 much in military renown that King Ethelred gave him 
 his daughter Elfgiva, as his third wife. When Sweyn, 
 the king of Denmark, invaded England, Uchtred 
 found himself obliged, after some resistance, to submit 
 to the foreigner, and when Sweyn died and Canute, 
 his son, took his place, he called on Uchtred to help 
 him. Uchtred refused to fight against his father-in- 
 law, but soon found it necessary once more to yield. 
 He was summoned to an interview with Canute, and 
 agreed to meet him on receiving a promise of safety 
 in going and returning. But behind a curtain which 
 stretched across the hall of audience was concealed 
 a band of Danish soldiers headed by his enemy
 
 DURHAM. 113 
 
 Thurebrand, or one of the same name. These at a 
 given signal rushed out and slew Uchtred. Aldred, 
 Uchtred's son by Aldhun's daughter, afterwards 
 avenged his father's murder by slaying Thurebrand, 
 and then a feud ensued between Aldred and Carl, 
 the son of Thurebrand ; after a time this was made 
 up by the interposition of friends, and the two agreed, 
 as a pledge of friendship, to visit Rome together. 
 Unpropitious weather delayed their departure, and 
 Carl was treacherous — at a feast in his own house, 
 after receiving Aldred with great seeming kindness, 
 he assassinated him. Long after this, \\'altheof, the 
 grandson of Aldred, collected a band of youthful 
 comrades, and assailed Carl's sons when they were 
 at a feast in their elder brother's house. They were 
 all cut off but two — one of whom was absent, while 
 the other was spared on account of his amiable 
 character. Having accomplished their purpose, they 
 plundered the house and withdrew. All this gives 
 us a fearful idea of the state of society which imme- 
 diately preceded the Norman concjuest, and makes 
 even that visitation appear a real blessing. Indeed, 
 there can be no doubt that it was owing to the com- 
 plete demoralization of the Saxons, and the disunion 
 and treachery that prevailed amongst them, that the 
 barbarous Danes were enabled to make so easy a 
 conquest of England and to spread desolation and 
 destruction over the face of the country. 
 
 After Aldhun's death the see remained vacant for 
 three years. This is to be accounted for in some 
 measure by the very unsettled and insecure state of 
 the country, but another reason is also assigned. 
 
 I
 
 1 1 4 DURHAM. 
 
 The clergy held an assembly to consider who among 
 themselves should be chosen to fill the vacant seat ; 
 but " each in turn thought it hard to leave the joys of 
 the world, to turn his back on the blandishments and 
 pleasures of life, in order to undertake so holy an 
 office, for the canons required that the bishop should 
 be a member of the same church (t.e. a monk), and a 
 man of honest and religious conversation." At length, 
 one day when they were engaged in their delibera- 
 tions, a presbyter of good life named Eadmund 
 entered the assembly, and when he found what they 
 were discussing, jestingly asked : " Why cannot you 
 appoint me ? " Knowing him to be a man of great 
 piety and great energy, they took in earnest what he 
 had said in jest, and proceeded to elect him. At 
 first he thought they too were jesting, but, finding 
 that they really meant it, he earnestly disclaimed any 
 degree of fitness for the dignity — but, seeing that 
 nothing is impossible with God, he left himself to 
 His will. They had recourse to fasting with prayer 
 for three days. On the third day, when a certain 
 presbyter was saying mass at the tomb of St. Cuth- 
 bert, in the middle of the Canon he seemed to hear 
 a voice from the shrine say three times : " Eadmund is 
 Bishop." In great surprise he immediately bent his 
 knee, and after a pause proceeded with the mass. 
 When it was over, on questioning the deacon who was 
 assisting, he found that he also had heard the voice. 
 The rest expressed wonder at the celebrant having 
 bent the knee at a part of the office where it was not 
 usual to do so, and they were told what had been 
 heard. Eadmund was forced to give way, and, after
 
 DURHAM. 115 
 
 having assumed the monastic habit, was presented 
 as bishop elect to King Canute, and consecrated at 
 Winchester by Wulstan, Archbishop of York. On 
 his return he visited Peterborough, and requested the 
 Abbot to provide him with a monk well versed in 
 ecclesiastical offices and the monastic institute, whom 
 he might carry with him to the north as his com- 
 panion and friend. The abbot sent with him Egelric, 
 who was afterwards bishop. Eadmund, who was a 
 man of noble birth, fully justified the choice of the 
 clerg}'. He was an upright, active, and impartial 
 prelate ; feared by the evil and beloved by the good, 
 and in no wise disposed to flatter the great, or to 
 permit any encroachment on the rights of the 
 Church. 
 
 There was in his time a priest in the Church of 
 Durham by name Elfred, who survived to the time of 
 Bishop Egelwin, entirely devoted to St. Cuthbert ; 
 verj' sober, given to alms-deeds, diligent in prayer, 
 a terror to persons of loose character, but revered by 
 all well-behaved and God-fearing men. He was a 
 most faithful guardian of the Church, and when two 
 succeeding bishops, Egelric and Egelwin, and some 
 of the monks wished to make free with the goods of 
 the Church, and even with the relics, the fear of 
 Elfred restrained them. Every night he recited the 
 psalter, before he rang the bell for nocturns, and he 
 was most zealous in teaching the young men to take 
 their part in divine service. He possessed what he 
 believed to be one of the hairs of St. Cuthbert, and 
 he would fill a thurible with burning coals and lay 
 the hair upon them — it would not burn, but shone 
 
 I 2
 
 Il6 DURHAM. 
 
 in the fire like gold, and when cooled returned to its 
 former hue. In obedience, as he believed, to a vision, 
 he visited all the ancient churches of Northumbria, 
 where the bodies of the saints of former days lay- 
 buried. These he disinterred, and placed above 
 ground to be venerated by the faithful, taking care, 
 at the same time to reserve a portion of the relics for 
 his own church of Durham. It was his practice every 
 year on the anniversary of the death of the Venerable 
 Bede to go to Jarrow, where the great Teacher lived, 
 and died, and was buried, in order to watch and pray 
 beside his grave. On one of these occasions, after 
 spending as usual some days of vigil and prayer in 
 the ruined church, he set off one morning very 
 early for Durham, without saying anything to his 
 companions, like one who had some secret which he 
 would not share with others. Though he lived many 
 years after this he never returned to Jarrow, as if he 
 had obtained all that he had wished for. Being fre- 
 quently asked where the bones of the Venerable 
 Bede rested, he would reply, " No one knows that 
 better than I do. Be assured that the same coffin 
 which holds the most sacred body of Cuthbert con- 
 tains also the bones of Bede. They will be sought 
 for in vain elsewhere." ^ 
 
 After an episcopate of twenty-three years Eadmund 
 died at Gloucester, a. d. 1 04 1 . In his time Duncan, king 
 
 1 Such is Symeon's story, on the strength of which Elfred 
 has been accused of siealmg the bones of the Venerable Bede 
 from Jarrow. It is to be remembered, however, that the church 
 at Jarrow then lay in ruins, nor was it till more than forty years 
 after that any attempt was made to rebuild it.
 
 DURHAM. 1 1 7 
 
 of the Scots, the " gracious Duncan " of Shakespeare, 
 invaded Northumbria. He laid siege to Durham, 
 but was repelled with much slaughter of his men, 
 whose heads were exposed in the market-place. He 
 returned to his own country to be murdered by 
 Macbeth. 
 
 After Eadmund's death, Eadred, a priest of the 
 church, bought the bishopric from King Harde- 
 canute with money taken from the treasury of the 
 church, but ten months after he suddenly became 
 indisposed when he was going into the church, 
 nd died. It is not certain that he was ever con- 
 secrated. 
 
 Egelric now assumed the bishopric. At this time 
 Seward bore rule as Earl of Northumbria from the 
 Humber to the Tweed, the Lothians having been 
 made over by a former earl to the Scots. Egelric, 
 being a stranger, was obnoxious to the people, who, in 
 his third year, expelled him. He applied to Seward, 
 who compelled the clergy to receive him back again 
 whether they would or not. In fact, no sympathy 
 existed between Egelric and his flock. They regarded 
 him as an alien, and latterly, at least, his chief aim 
 seems to have been to gather all that he could, with- 
 out any particular regard to the means of doing so, 
 and to return to the south with his spoils. Having 
 undertaken to re-build the Church of Chester-!c-Street, 
 where the see had been for one hundred and thirteen 
 years, he pulled down the wooden fabric. In digging 
 the foundations for a church of stone a great mass of 
 treasure was found, which was believed to have been 
 hidden there in the time of Sexhelm. This Egelric
 
 Il8 DURHAM. 
 
 appropriated, and sent to his own monastery of 
 Peterborough, intending soon to follow it. Having 
 amassed all he could, and by the favour of Earl 
 Tosti secured the nomination of his brother as his 
 successor, he abdicated the see and retired to the 
 south. Here he employed his ill-gotten wealth in 
 building bridges and making roads in marshy places, 
 which caused him to be regarded with favour in that 
 country. Some years after he was called to account 
 for his peculations by the Conqueror, and put in 
 prison at Westminster, where he died. 
 
 Egelwin now succeeded, a.d. 1056, rather, as we 
 have seen, by the aid of Earl Tosti than by the elec- 
 tion or consent of the clergy and people. Ten years 
 after came the conquest of England by William the 
 Norman. In the north the claims of Edgar the 
 Atheling were supported by some of the nobility, and 
 among the rest by Bishop Egelwin. But Edgar soon 
 found it necessary to make his submission. In the 
 third year of his reign William sent to the north 
 Robert Cumin to keep the natives in order. All 
 were in despair at his approach ; but it was winter, 
 and there was no escape. The bishop met Cumin 
 at the River Tees, and warned him not to venture 
 to Durham without a sufficient force. Perhaps the 
 Bishop was suspected, but, anyhow, the warning was 
 neglected, and Cumin entered Durham with only 
 seven hundred men, whom he at once let loose upon 
 the inhabitants. But early in the morning the people 
 rose against their invaders, and slew great numbers 
 of them. The house in which Cumin himself lodged 
 was set on fire, and, as it was close to the church,
 
 DURHAM. 1 1 9 
 
 the Western Tower, to the horror and consternation 
 of the people, took fire. Many and fervent were 
 their prayers, and as they prayed a change of wind 
 saved the tower. The house continued to burn, and 
 the inmates, including their leader, were either burnt, 
 or slain in attempting to escape. 
 
 The Conqueror was not a man to be trifled with, 
 and dire was his vengeance. The whole country to 
 the north of York was laid waste, so that for nine 
 years after the ground lay untilled. The Bishop fore- 
 saw the approaching storm, and resolved to flee with 
 St. Cuthbert's body to Lindisfarne. The first night 
 of their journey they stayed at Jarrow, still in ruins, 
 the second at Bedlington, the third at Tuggall, in the 
 parish of Bamburgh ; on the fourth they reached the 
 coast opposite the Island. Here the tide was full, and 
 for a time they were in despair. But once more the 
 waves were parted and made a way for them. In 
 three months they were able to return to Durham, 
 where all divine service had ceased since their depar- 
 ture. To their great joy they found all things as they 
 had left them, except a massive crucifix, the gift of 
 Earl Tosti, which was too large for them to remove in 
 the hurry of their departure. This had been stripped 
 of its gold and jewels. It seems the Concjueror after- 
 wards expressed great regret at this mischance, and 
 in the time of Walcher, the next bishop, bestowed suffi- 
 cient gold on the church to make good the damage. 
 Part of it was applied to this purpose, the rest Walcher, 
 in his poverty, appropriated to his own use. 
 
 Not long after the return from Lindisfarne, Egelwin, 
 having seized a large amount of the Church's treasure,
 
 120 DURHAM, 
 
 resolved to betake himself to Cologne, and he em- 
 barked for the purpose of crossing to the continent. 
 But adverse winds drove him into Scotland, where he 
 spent the winter. He then set out for the south, but 
 was captured at Ely, taken to Abingdon, and there 
 imprisoned by order of the king. Being required to 
 restore what he had taken from the Church, he denied 
 upon oath that he had appropriated anything, but 
 he was betrayed by a bracelet dropping down from 
 his arm as he was washing his hands. It is said 
 that in his vexation he refused all sustenance, and so 
 died, though it has been doubted whether his absti- 
 nence was altogether voluntary. Such was the end 
 of the last Saxon bishop. The dates of his abdication 
 and death are uncertain. 
 
 The history of the later Bishops of Durham must 
 have made it plain to the reader that the Church was 
 in a state of great spiritual decay. The chapter had 
 from the beginning been under monastic rule ; or, to 
 speak more correctly, the bishop and the monks 
 formed one community, called the " Congregation 
 of St. Cuthbert ; " but the monks had fallen away 
 from all regular discipline, so that they could not 
 even be called regular canons. This state of things 
 was no doubt greatly owing to the confusions caused 
 by the continual irruptions of the Danes. In the 
 south a great deal had been done by the famous 
 Archbishop Dunstan, and Ethelwold, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, for the restoration of discipline ; but even 
 their reforms had, by the time of the conquest, in a 
 great measure lost their vigour. The clergy in 
 general all over England were very ignorant, and, as
 
 DURHAM. 1 2 I 
 
 indeed is almost the necessary result, irregular and 
 vicious in their lives. In short, all over the country 
 King William found the Church more or less in dis- 
 order, and the ecclesiastical changes which he made 
 were very great. He displaced most of the Saxon 
 prelates, and filled their places with Norman eccle- 
 siastics, who, as foreigners, were likely in most cases 
 to have much less in common with their flocks or 
 their clergy than with the king. He also separated 
 the bishops' courts from the courts of the hundreds. 
 This did not mean merely that causes of a spiritual 
 nature were to come exclusively under the cognizance 
 of the bishop, but that whenever a clerk was in any 
 way an offender, he was amenable to the bishop 
 alone. This measure afterwards led to great dis- 
 turbances ; it was, for instance, in great part the 
 cause of the dissension between Thomas-a-Becket 
 and Henr}' H. ; but, in the mean time, it served to 
 increase the power of the king. Besides this, the 
 bishops and abbots who held baronies were put on the 
 same footing with regard to feudal obligations as the 
 secular barons, and the consequence was that in time 
 the bishops began to regard themselves very much in 
 the light of feudal nobles. 
 
 During the course of ages the possessions of the 
 church of Durham, or, as it was called, the patrimony 
 of St. Cuthbert, had become very great ; but hitherto 
 this patrimony appears to have been held in common 
 by the bishop and monks under the name of the Con- 
 gregation of St. Cuthbert. From this time a separa- 
 tion of interests began to take place, followed by 
 continual dissensions between the bishop and the
 
 122 DURHAM. 
 
 chapter, until at last, though not before the time of the 
 ninth bishop after the conquest, they came to an agree- 
 ment, hereafter to be noticed, by which their respec- 
 tive possessions and immunities were defined. 
 
 But there was one peculiarity which distinguished 
 the see of Durham from all others in England — the 
 Palatinate power. The Bishop was not only a prelate 
 of the church, but a temporal Prince. All the other 
 great divisions of England were called Counties be- 
 cause they were, or were supposed to be, under the 
 jurisdiction of an earl oxcount,\iM\. the territory between 
 the Tees and the Tyne, with certain detached districts 
 between the Tyne and the I'weed, was not called a 
 county but "The Bishoprick," because the bishop 
 was its temporal ruler. Elsewhere the terms Diocese 
 and Bishoprick meant the same thing, but it was not 
 so here — the word " Diocese " referred to the whole 
 territory under the bishop's spiritual jurisdiction, that 
 is, the country from the Tees to the Tweed, including 
 both the shires of Durham and Northumberland — the 
 word " Bishoprick " referred only to the district under 
 the bishop's temporal jurisdiction, or the shire of 
 Durham. Hence "the men of the Bishoprick" are 
 constantly distinguished from " the men of Northum- 
 berland," though both alike were in the diocese. And 
 the powers of the Bishop of Durham within the 
 Bishoprick were far greater than those of any earl in his 
 county. The origin of the Palatinate is lost in the 
 mist of remote antiquity. It does not seem to have 
 begun at the Conquest, nor was it then at its greatest 
 height. The germ may have existed in Saxon times, 
 perhaps ever since the kings Guthred and Alfred gave
 
 DURHAM. 123 
 
 to the church the land between the Wear and the 
 Tyne, and its cuhiiination appears to have arrived in 
 the fourteenth century. The following list will show 
 how extensive the powers of the palatinate were 
 within the liberty and franchise of the bishop, in- 
 cluding what is now called the county of Durham, 
 Bedlingtonshire, near Morpeth, and Islandshire and 
 Norhamshire in the extreme north of Northumber- 
 land : — 
 
 1. The right of having his own courts of chancery, 
 exchequer, and admiralty, as well as holding pleas of 
 the crown, pleas of land, and all other pleas, and also 
 a court of wards and liveries. 
 
 2. The same right of appointing his own chancellor, 
 justices, sheriffs, justices of the peace, coroners, es- 
 cheators, and other officers, with the liberty of 
 Durham as the sovereign possessed elsewhere within 
 his realm. 
 
 3. The right of issuing in his own name writs, pre- 
 cepts, and mandates, both original and judicial, and 
 commissions to raise forces and levy subsidies. 
 
 4. The right of coining money in his own mint at 
 Durham. 
 
 5. Forfeitures and escheats of every description, 
 whether for high treason, or in right of being " ultimus 
 hseres." 
 
 6. The right of the "year, day, and waste.''^ 
 
 ' Forfeitures for felonies short of high treason were only for 
 the life of the defendant, but the sovereign had a right to a 
 year and a day more, during which time lie might commit any 
 -cuaste he pleased, such as pulling down houses, extirpating gar- 
 dens, ploughing meadows, or the like.
 
 124 DURHAM, 
 
 7. The right to pardon treasons, murders, felonies, 
 and infractions of the peace. 
 
 8 The right of holding councils in the nature of 
 parliaments. 
 
 9. The right of granting charters for free warren 
 markets, fairs, as also for murage, pontage, pavage, &c. 
 
 10. The right of creating palatine barons by sum- 
 moning his tenants to councils and parliaments. ^ 
 
 Such were the magnificent immunities and powers 
 of the ancient Bishops of Durham, rendering him 
 almost independent of the king. It is not wonderful 
 to find that some of our more strenuous sovereigns, 
 such as Edward I., were jealous of such a power 
 belonging to a subject, more especially in the hands 
 of so ambitious and daring a man as Anthony Bek. 
 These powers were much curtailed by Henry VIII., 
 and in 1836 what remained, with the title itself of 
 Count Palatine, were vested in the crown. 
 
 But not only the Bishop, the people of the Bishop- 
 rick also were a privileged class. They were called 
 the Haliwercfolc or Holy-work-people, whose proper 
 work was prayer and attendance on the body of St. 
 Cuthbert, of which they were the guardians. As the 
 Bishop's men, they were subject to none but to him, 
 and to him only within the bounds of the Bishoprick. 
 They were not liable to be called upon, either by the 
 king or the Bishop to serve in Scotland without their 
 own consent, and the reader will find them claiming 
 this immunity in the time of the most powerful 
 and arbitrary prelate who ever occupied the see of 
 Durham. 
 
 ' Sir T. D. Hardy. Pref. to Bp. Kellaw's Register, p.lv.
 
 DURHAM. 125 
 
 From the time at which the history has now- 
 arrived, the Bishops of Durham were great feudal 
 barons, or rather princes, and it must be owned there 
 was much more of worldliness than of religion in the 
 histor)' of the diocese. It is much to be regretted that 
 it is very difficult, during all the subsequent period till 
 the Reformation, to get even a glimpse of the people. 
 Doubtless there were many, both in monastic and 
 secular life, who during that time lived and died in 
 the faith and fear of God, but such as these do not, 
 for the most part, appear on the page of history. 
 Nevertheless, such as it is, it is a stirring, eventful, 
 and interesting history. 
 
 It is most unfortunate that nearly all the episcopal 
 registers of Durham have disappeared, but there is 
 in the archives of the Dean and Chapter a vast store 
 of records of various kinds, from which much valuable 
 historical information is to be derived. A consider- 
 able number of these have been printed. A series of 
 historians, six in number, all belonging to the church 
 of Durham itself, recount the annals of the see, from 
 the first preaching of the Gospel to the Reformation. 
 
 1. The Venerable Bede, who closes his invaluable 
 history four years before his death, a.d. 731. 
 
 2. Symeon, a monk of Durham, takes up the story 
 where Bede breaks off, and brings it down to the 
 death of Bishop Galfrid Rufus, a.d. 1143. 
 
 3. An anonymous continuator of Symeon carries 
 the history to the election of Bishop Pudsey, a.d. 
 
 1154- 
 
 4. Geoffrey of Coldingham to the election of 
 
 Bishop Richard de Marisco, a.d. 121 7.
 
 126 DURHAM. 
 
 5. Robert de Graystanes, who closes with his own 
 election to the see, a.d. 1333. 
 
 6. William de Chambre continues the history to 
 the death of Bishop Tunstall, a.d. 1559.^ 
 
 ' In the compilation of the following pages much valuable 
 help and counsel has been most kindly rendered by the Rev. 
 William Greenwell, Librarian to the dean and chapter, without 
 the grateful mention of whose name no book on any subject 
 connected with Durham or the North, or on any subject about 
 which information is to be obtained at Durham, would be com- 
 plete ; the Rev. J. T. Fowler, Librarian to the University, and 
 and Keeper of Bishop Cosin's library ; the Rev. George Ornsby, 
 and the Rev. James Raine, cAnons of York ; all members of the 
 University of Durham, all but one natives of the " Bishoprick," 
 and scholars of the Cathedral School. The church of St. 
 Cuthbert can thus still produce her own Haliwercfolc.
 
 DURHAM. 127 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NORMAN BISHOPS — DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 A YEAR after Egelwin's flight the see was filled by 
 Walcher, the Conqueror hmiself appointing a native 
 of Lorraine, and, it seems, a canon of Liege, a man of 
 noble birth, of no mean attainments either in sacred 
 or secular knowledge. His consecration took place 
 at Winchester, and when Queen Editha, the widow of 
 the Confessor, saw his milk-white hair, his rosy coun- 
 tenance, and tall and handsome figure, she exclaimed, 
 thinking of the wild and fierce race among whom he 
 was going, " Here we have a martyr." 
 
 Not long after his appointment, the Conqueror, on 
 his return from Scotland, paid a visit to Durham, and 
 made many enquiries about the body of St. Cuthbert. 
 Though all with one voice loudly asserted that it 
 rested at Durham, he would not believe them, but 
 insisted upon an investigation being made by certain 
 bishops and abbots whom he deputed for the 
 purpose, threatening that if he detected any impos- 
 ture, he would put all the chief men of the people to 
 death. All were in consternation, and earnesdy 
 implored the mercy of God for the sake of the 
 merits of St. Cuthbert ; but while the bishop was 
 celebrating mass on All Saints Day, the king, who was 
 bent on carrying out his purpose, was suddenly seized
 
 128 DURHAM 
 
 wich a violent fever. He rushed from the church, 
 turned his back on a splendid banquet which had 
 been prepared for him, mounted his horse, and never 
 drew bridle till he reached the Tees. In remem- 
 brance of this occurrence the little street at the east 
 end of the cathedral was long called the King's Gate.^ 
 In Bishop Walcher's time the monastic institute 
 was revived in the diocese of Durham by three 
 strangers from the far south. Aldwin, Prior of Winch- 
 combe, in the diocese of Worcester, had read in 
 church history (doubtless that of the Venerable Bede) 
 of monasteries long ago in Northumbria filled by 
 holy men leading lives of mortification and self- 
 denial, and he was seized with a desire to seek out 
 the ruined places, and there, in imitation of the saints 
 of former days, to lead a life of poverty. He found 
 no one likeminded with himself at Winchcombe, but 
 in the neighbouring monastery of Evesham he met 
 with two— Elfwius, a deacon, and Reinfrid, a brother 
 who was quite ignorant of letters. Their abbot gave 
 them permission to go with him only on condition 
 that he would undertake the charge of their souls. 
 Full of earnest purpose the three took their journey 
 to the north on foot, having with them an ass carrying 
 a few books, with vestments and other things necessary 
 
 ' It was the chief of the people, not of the clergy who were 
 threatened. They had no doubt made the guardianship of St. 
 Cuthbert's body a plea for declining feudal service. This was 
 sure to enrage the Conqueror, who immediately questioned the 
 existence of the body. Its iitcomiption did not at all come 
 into discussion. Their terror was natural enough ; for though 
 they knew that the coffin was there, they could not be sure after 
 such a lapse of time that it really contained the body.
 
 WALCHER. 129 
 
 for the celebration of divine service. In due time 
 they reached a place on the north bank of the Tyne 
 called Monkchester, the City of Monks, where soon 
 after the Conqueror built a castle and so entitled it to 
 receive the well known name of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
 But, notwithstanding the name which promised so 
 well for their purpose, they found that here they were 
 under secular jurisdiction, that of the Earl of North- 
 umberland, and that there were no monastic ruins. The 
 bishop heard of them and invited them to come to 
 Durham and place themselves under the protection 
 of the Church. When they arrived he received them 
 with great honour, and gave thanks to God who had 
 sent such men to him. Soon after he bestowed on 
 them the monastery of St. Paul , at Jarrow, now a 
 melancholy ruin, retaining no trace of its ancient 
 glory. They made a roof for the church of rough spars 
 and hay, and immediately began the celebration of 
 divine service. For themselves, they set up a hut in 
 the midst of the ruins, to serve as a place for eating 
 and sleeping, trusting to the alms of devout and 
 charitable persons for their sustenance. Here they 
 lived in cold, and often in hunger. But, by and by, 
 others joined them, — a few Northumbrians, but far 
 more from the south of England, who, like Abra- 
 ham, forsaking land and kindred, came to put them- 
 selves under Aldwin's care. " For he was a man 
 distinguished for contempt of the world, humble both 
 in mind and deportment, patient in adversity, not 
 elated by prosperity, of an acute genius, prudent in 
 counsel, grave in speech and action, a companion 
 of the lowly, fervent in zeal against contumacy, with 
 
 K
 
 130 DURHAM. 
 
 a mind set on heavenly things, trying to lead all that 
 he could in the same way." The Bishop gave them all 
 the encouragement in his power, and assigned to 
 them some land in the neighbourhood, that they 
 might be able to rebuild the church and monastery. 
 
 As their numbers increased Aldwin began to think 
 of occupying new ground ; and leaving his companion 
 in travel, Elfwius, whom the community had elected 
 as their prior, he departed from Jarrow. The third 
 of the original band, Reinfrid, went to Whitby, where 
 he repaired the ruins of Hilda's famous house, and 
 founded a new community, which was afterwards re- 
 moved to York, and became the Abbey of St. Mary 
 in that city. Aldwin was accompanied by Turgot, a 
 person who had not yet assumed the monastic habit. 
 Turgot's history was a remarkable one. He was 
 an Englishman of good birth in Lincolnshire. When 
 that district submitted to the Conqueror, he Avas de- 
 tained with others as a hostage in Lincoln Castle. 
 Hence he made his escape, and got on board a ship 
 at Grimsby bound for Norway. In the same vessel 
 were ambassadors from King William, on their way 
 to the Court of Norway. Great was their surprise 
 when they found a runaway hostage on board. They 
 would have had the shipmen to turn back, but this 
 they refused to do, and Turgot went on to Norway. 
 Here he came under the notice of King Olave, who 
 wanted some one to teach him to chant the Psalms, 
 a service which Turgot was able to render him. This 
 brought him into high favour, and he lived in ease at 
 court, and even acquired wealth. Sometimes his 
 conscience told him that this way of life was incon-
 
 WALCHER. 131 
 
 sistent with that contempt of the world which he 
 ought to feel ; but "religious desires pass away when 
 not at once acted on, and he became once more quite 
 easy in his mind." At length he resolved to break 
 with all, and embarked with his effects on board a 
 ship sailing to England. The ship was wrecked, and 
 all his goods were lost, while only he and five or six 
 of the crew were saved. He came to Durham, and 
 having told the bishop his story, was put by him 
 under the care of Aldwin. 
 
 Turgot was the companion with whom Aldwin left 
 Jarrow. They went together to Melrose, wishing to 
 make a settlement among the ruins of the monastery 
 where St. Cuthbert had been brought up under the 
 care of St. Boisil ; but they were not well received. 
 King Malcolm would have them swear allegiance 
 to him, and as they were not prepared for this, the 
 king treated them with great harshness. Walcher 
 invited them to return, and when they hesitated, 
 threatened them with excommunication if they per- 
 sisted in disobedience. Fearing the spiritual censure 
 more tlian the wrath of the king, they returned, 
 and Walcher bestowed on them the ruins of Wear- 
 mouth. Here they made for themselves dwellings of 
 boughs, and Aldwin gave Turgot the monastic habit. 
 The bishop showed them great kindness, and frequently 
 invited them to Durham that he might converse with 
 them, admitting them to his counsel, and frequendy 
 acting by their advice. He gave them the Vill of 
 Wearmouth, to which his successor added Southwick. 
 Many brethren came to them from remote parts of 
 England to lead a monastic life with them, and " with 
 
 K 2
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 one heart and one soul to serve Christ." They now 
 began to repair the Church of St. Peter, of which 
 but the half-ruined walls were standing, overgrown 
 not only with briars and thorns but with trees. They 
 cut down these, and roofed over the walls. Here 
 they led a calm and peaceful life, under the bishop's 
 protection, who often came to visit them and to take 
 care that their wants were supplied. Here also, if his 
 life had been longer spared, Walcher had intended to 
 become a monk himself, and afterwards to remove 
 the monks to Durham. For the latter purpose he 
 commenced the necessary buildings, but his death 
 prevented this being carried into effect. 
 
 The country continued in a very unsettled state 
 during Walcher's episcopate. On his return from 
 Scotland, in 1072, the Conqueror built two castles, 
 one at Durham for the protection of the Church, and 
 another, as has already been noticed, at Monk- 
 chester, thus "the City of Monks " became the New 
 Castle upon the Tyne. On the forfeiture of Earl 
 Waltheof, he committed the charge of the Earldom 
 of Northumberland to the bishop, an invidious and 
 perilous addition to the cares of the episcopal office. 
 
 Bishop Walcher came to a very tragical end. He 
 seems himself to have been a man of a mild and 
 gentle disposition ; but he did not exercise a sufficient 
 control over his servants. Leobwin, his chaplain, and 
 Gilbert, to whom he had entrusted the affairs of the 
 earldom, were hated by the people on account of their 
 tyranny. There was one Lyulf, a person of exten- 
 sive property, held in high esteem by the public, 
 and also a much valued friend of the Bishop,
 
 WALCHER. 133 
 
 who ventured to remonstrate with him on the 
 conduct of his servants. This enraged these men 
 against Lyulf, and they contrived to have him 
 assassinated. In vain did the bishop deny any com- 
 phcity in this atrocious deed, for it was noticed that 
 he still retained the guilty parties in his service. At 
 length it was agreed to hold a conference at Gates- 
 head, and thither came a number of persons of con- 
 sequence from the north of the Tyne with no friendly 
 feehngs towards the Bishop. A tumult arose, and 
 Walcher retired into the church, and calling some 
 of the chief men to him, endeavoured to persuade 
 them to peace and good feeling. They retired as 
 if to speak to the people, and the Bishop was left 
 with a very few attendants, among whom appear to 
 have been Leobwin and Gilbert. Outside the mob 
 set upon the Bishop's soldiers when off their guard 
 and killed them. They next set fire to the church, 
 and then arose the horrid cry, " Good rede, short 
 rede, slay ye the bishop." In great terror those within 
 confessed their sins, and going out were instantly 
 slain. The bishop was now reduced to the alternative 
 of being burnt or facing the furious mob. Choosing 
 the latter, he went out, and covering his face with his 
 robe was inmiediately killed. His body was so 
 mangled that it could hardly be recognised. The 
 monks of Jarrow carried it off by water to their own 
 house, from whence it was conveyed to Durham for 
 burial. The mob rushed to Durham, and kept pos- 
 session of the city for some days, so that the mur- 
 dered prelate could not be buried with due respect. 
 At last the fear of vengeance compelled them to with-
 
 134 DURHAM. 
 
 draw. Odo, the king's brother, Bishop of Bayeux and 
 Earl of Kent, was sent to take summary vengeance for 
 the tumult. It seems he acted towards the Church 
 as a spoiler as well as an avenger, for he carried off a 
 magnificent crozier heavy with gold and gems. 
 
 Little more than six months after Walcher's murder, 
 a new bishop, another foreigner, William, Abbot of St. 
 Vincent, in Normandy, was appointed by the king. In 
 his youth he had been a member of the Church of Ba- 
 yeux, but, his father having become a monk in the mon- 
 astery of St. Carilef, he removed to that house, where 
 he took the monastic habit. In time he became head 
 of the neighbouring Abbey of St. Vincent, and is com- 
 monly known as William of St. Carilef. He was a 
 man of great ability and of great attainments, eloquent, 
 active, and astute. He was a great friend of the monks, 
 and is, therefore, as might be supposed, well spoken 
 of by them, but he does not appear to have stood 
 high in the opinion of others.^ By William Rufus, 
 who succeeded his father, Carilef was much trusted, 
 but he betrayed his trust and joined the king's uncle, 
 Odo of Bayeux, in rebellion, and was consequently 
 obliged to leave the country and remain in exile in' 
 Normandy for three years. At the end of that time 
 he was successful in saving one of the king's castles 
 in Normandy, by contriving to get the siege raised 
 when the garrison was on the point of surrender. 
 This led to a reconciliation, and from that time till 
 his death Carilef strove with all his might to conciliate 
 the king, and appeared to be incHned to stick at 
 
 ^ See Church's " Life of St. Anselm," pp. 203, seq.
 
 WILLIAM DE S. CARILEF. 135 
 
 nothing which might promote his ends. It is need- 
 less to say that one who could act in this way 
 towards William Rufus would not be very scrupulous. 
 In all the contest between the king and Anselm, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, he took part against the 
 primate and urged his deposition, apparently hoping 
 that, if Anselm were removed, he might be advanced 
 to the primacy. 
 
 The two things for which Carilef is chiefly remark- 
 able, and with which his name will be always asso- 
 ciated, are, — (i), The removal of the secular or secu- 
 larised clergy from the cathedral; and, (2), The 
 commencement of a new cathedral. 
 
 I. We are told that on Carilef 's arrival he found 
 the services of the cathedral very negligently per- 
 formed. The clergy were neither monks nor regular 
 canons. As we have already seen, Bishop Walcher 
 had planned the transfer of the new societies of 
 Jarrow and Wearmouth to Durham, and Carilef, soon 
 after his appointment, resolved to accomplish what 
 his predecessor's death had prevented. But he went 
 to work with caution. He consulted the king and 
 Queen Matilda. William advised him to obtain 
 the sanction of the pope, Gregory VII. About this 
 there was no difficulty, and when all preliminaries 
 had been settled, the clergy had the option offered 
 of taking the habit or retiring. One only — and he 
 was their dean — was with difficulty persuaded by his 
 son, himself a monk, to take the habit. All the rest 
 refused. They were provided for in the collegiate 
 churches of Norton, Auckland, and Darlington, all of 
 which were founded for secular canons. Upon this
 
 136 DURHAM. 
 
 the monks were brought from Jarrow and Wear- 
 mouth, and settled at Durham as the chapter of the 
 cathedral. The various offices of the Church were 
 filled up out of their number. Their superior, 
 Aldwin, was appointed prior. Thus, on the 26th 
 May, 1083, "the monks were given to the Church, 
 and the Church given to them." For four centuries 
 and a half Durham continued to be a great Bene- 
 dictine monastery. 
 
 2. If the society which belonged to the cathedral 
 was in a state of decay, the same could hardly 
 have been said of the material fabric, which was not 
 a hundred years old, but Carilef resolved to rebuild 
 it. The introduction of the monks signalised the 
 early part of his episcopate, the commencement of 
 the new church marked its close. It is not unlikely 
 that during his exile in Normandy he matured his 
 design. He returned with a great quantity of valuable 
 furniture and books, — and no doubt with a skilful 
 architect, for a skilful architect indeed he must have 
 been who planned such a church as now stands at 
 Durham. — a church which, for stately grandeur and 
 beauty of proportion, may perhaps be matched, but 
 cannot be exceeded anywhere. Its wonderful situa- 
 tion readily suggests the words of the Psalmist : — 
 
 Beautiful for situation ; the joy of the whole land is Mount 
 Zion. 
 
 while the Conqueror's Castle prompts the addition, — 
 
 On the north side lieth the city of the great King. 
 
 In 1092 Aldwin's church was razed to the founda-
 
 WILLIAM DE S. CARILEF. I37 
 
 tion, — on Friday, 29th July, 1093, the bishop and 
 prior began to dig the foundations of the new church, 
 and on the nth of August the foundation-stone was 
 laid by William the bishop and Turgot the prior. 
 It is said by some that Malcolm Canmore, King of 
 Scots, was also present and took part in the solemnity. 
 
 At this time also the bishop appointed Turgot to 
 be Archdeacon as well as Prior of Durham, with the 
 charge of preaching everywhere in the Bishoprick, in 
 imitation, it is expressly stated, of St. Boisil and St. 
 Cuthbert at Melrose. 
 
 In Carilef's time the Priory of Tynemouth, reared 
 originally in memory of St. Oswin, was transferred by 
 Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, to the Abbey of 
 St. Alban's. In the time of former earls it had 
 been in the possession of the monks of Jarrow, 
 and was subsequently given to the church of St. 
 Cuthbert, but IMowbray, having had a quarrel with 
 the bishop, drove out the monks of St. Cuthbert. It 
 continued to be a cell of St. Alban's until the dis- 
 solution of monasteries. 
 
 Carilef did not live to see his cathedral far advanced. 
 He was taken ill at Windsor, at Christmas, 1095. It 
 is very pleasant to hear that he was visited by 
 St. Anselm, who conversed with him on his soul's 
 health, and gave him his benediction. On New 
 Year's Day, Thomas, Archbishop of York, Walkelin, 
 Bishop of Winchester, and John, Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells, came at the dying man's request to minister 
 the last offices, and to receive his profession of faith. 
 He commended his monks, "whom he dearly loved," 
 to their care. Afterwards, the bishops began to con-
 
 I^S DURHAM. 
 
 verse among themselves as to the place of his burial. 
 They expressed an opinion that he should be laid in 
 the church at Durham, having evinced so much care 
 for the memory of St. Cuthbert. Carilef overheard 
 them, and earnestly protested against his being laid 
 near the saint. He was utterly unworthy of so great 
 an honour, and would prefer to be buried in the 
 chapterhouse. He expired next day. His body was 
 conveyed to Durham, where, according to his dying 
 request, it was buried in the chapterhouse. 
 
 For three years and five months William Rufus 
 kept the see vacant, and during this time an annual 
 payment of three hundred pounds was made to the 
 royal treasury. He then gave the Bishoprick to 
 Ranulf, who, on account of the great favour which 
 the king had for him, was called par excellence the 
 king's chaplain. This person, surnamed Flambard 
 or the Burning Torch, also called Passaflabere, was 
 a Norman clergyman of obscure birth, a man of 
 considerable ability though of little learning, very 
 cunning and utterly unscrupulous.^ He had been in 
 the service of Maurice, Bishop of London, but 
 leaving him on account of some dispute, he took 
 service under the king. An unprincipled minister 
 suited well an unprincipled king, and Ranulf made 
 himself so useful that he was advanced from one 
 step to another, till he exercised the whole power, 
 whether invested with the titles or not, of Treasurer, 
 Chancellor, and other high offices. It was from him 
 that William learned his iniquitous practice of keeping 
 
 ' See Church's "Life of St. Anselm," pp. i6o, seq.
 
 RANULF FLAMBARD. 1 39 
 
 bishopricks and abbeys vacant, and of appropriating 
 the revenues. If the king demanded an aid from his 
 subjects, Ranulf would exact double what was required, 
 and William congratulated himself on having a minister 
 who cared not whom he displeased, so he served his 
 sovereign's ends. He was, indeed, universally hated, 
 and at last his enemies determined to destroy him. 
 A person named Ceroid, who had been in the service of 
 the Bishop of London at the same time as Ranulf, 
 was found willing to promote their design. This man, 
 meeting Ranulf on the banks of the Thames, feigned 
 a message from the bishop, who he said was dying, 
 and greatly desired to see Ranulf He persuaded 
 him to get into a boat that he might be conveyed to the 
 bishop. But the boat, instead of going to the Bishop's, 
 proceeded down the river till they came to a ship ready 
 to sail, in which Ranulf was forced to embark. In 
 his haste he had only taken with him his secretary 
 and one or two other servants. He now threw away 
 his own seal and his secretary's, lest some improper 
 use should be made of them. His servants were 
 next separated from him, and the ship proceeded out 
 to sea. Two of the sailors were appointed to dis- 
 patch him, either by casting him overboard or by 
 knocking him on the head with clubs ; for which 
 service they were to be rewarded with his clothes. 
 But neither would consent to let the other have his 
 cloak, which was the most valuable of his garments. 
 This caused delay : and, in the meantime, a dreadful 
 storm arose, and the shipmen began to be in great 
 terror on their own account. Now was Ranulf's 
 opportunity, of which he failed not to avail himself ;
 
 I40 DURHAM. 
 
 in the end, by fair speeches and boundless promises, 
 he prevailed on Ceroid to turn back and set him on 
 shore ; and to the dismay of his enemies, a few days 
 after they supposed they had got rid of him, he ap- 
 peared again amongst them. 
 
 It was not long after this that the Bishoprick of 
 Durham was conferred upon him, and he was now 
 made to feel that the king had profited by what he 
 had learned from him, for he had to pay a thousand 
 pounds before he could get possession. He was 
 consecrated in 1099, by Thomas, Archbishop of 
 York, no profession of obedience being exacted any 
 more than there had been from his predecessor. In 
 little more than a year his patron, King William, was 
 slain while hunting, and was succeeded by his brother, 
 Henry I. The toils now closed around Ranulf, and the 
 middle of August saw him in the Tower at the com- 
 mand of the King. But his cunning did not desert 
 him, and he soon managed to escape. He was allowed 
 two shillings a day for his subsistence, besides what 
 his friends sent him, so that he was able to live well. 
 One day he had a rope brought to him in a flagon of 
 wine, and having feasted his guards till they were 
 drunk, he fastened his rope to the central pillar of his 
 window, took his pastoral staff in his hand and bade 
 farewell to his prison. Unfortunately he forgot to take 
 his gloves, and his hands were so torn in his descent 
 that the bone was made bare — the rope was too short 
 — and, as the bishop was fat, he came to the ground 
 with some violence ; but friends were ready with 
 horses, and he escaped to Normandy, where he was 
 well received by Earl Robert, King Henry's brother.
 
 RANULF FLAMBARD. 14! 
 
 During his absence, the king took from the see CarHsle 
 with its belongings, and erected it into an indepen- 
 dent diocese. He also took away Hexham and be- 
 stowed it on the Archbishop of York, thereby perhaps 
 merely confirming a claim which the See of York 
 had made before. Hexhamshire continued to be a 
 peculiar of York until the year 1836. Teviotdale in 
 Scotland, which the Bishop of Durham still claimed, 
 was annexed to the diocese of Glasgow. When 
 Robert invaded England, Ranulf came over with 
 him, and when the two brothers, Henry and Robert, 
 came to an agreement, he was permitted to return to 
 his see. 
 
 In the year 1104, four hundred and seventeen 
 years after the death of St. Cuthbert, the building of 
 the new Cathedral had so far advanced as to permit his 
 body to be removed into it. The 29th of August was 
 fixed on for this purpose, and a very great concourse 
 resorted to Durham to be present at the solemnity. 
 Five days before the appointed time, Turgot and the 
 monks, being anxious to ascertain whether the body 
 of the saint was still in the same state as it was when 
 the coffin was opened in 698, eleven years after his 
 death, deputed the prior and nine of their number to 
 make the necessary investigation. They opened the 
 saint's coffin by night, and found that the body was still, 
 after the lapse of more than four hundred years, in a 
 state of incorruption, with the joints quite flexible. 
 They reported the result of their investigation, which 
 was received with great joy by the assembled company. 
 But there was one abbot who doubted. Why, he 
 asked, was the coffin opened at night, and no one
 
 142 DURHAM. 
 
 unconnected with the house allowed to be present ? 
 The monks were very indignant at their veracity 
 being called in question ; but Ralf, Abbot of Seez, 
 afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, persuaded 
 them to allow another inspection in public. It was 
 found, moreover, that the bishop himself was among 
 the sceptics. Another inspection was made, the 
 Abbot of Seez moved the arms and raised up the 
 body till it was nearly in a sitting position. The 
 doubts of all vanished, and on the appointed day the 
 solemnity of the translation took place. The body 
 was first carried in solemn procession round the 
 church. They halted at the east end, where the bishop 
 preached a sermon, which he continued so long as 
 to weary all his hearers. The body was then con- 
 veyed with great pomp to the place appointed for it 
 behind the high altar, there to remain undisturbed 
 for four hundred and thirty-six years more, till the 
 time of the dissolution of monasteries. 
 
 Though allowed to return to his see, Ranulf could 
 never succeed in recovering King Heniy's favour, 
 notwithstanding that he made him many presents, 
 grievously oppressing his church to cover the expense. 
 He now devoted his energies to building, and in his 
 time the new cathedral advanced rapidly. It had 
 been agreed in Carilef's time that the monks should 
 build the monastery at their own expense, and that 
 the bishop should defray the cost of the church. 
 But this arrangement came to an end with Carilef's 
 death ; for after that event the monks dedicated all 
 they could spare to the building of the church. Flam- 
 bard also built a bridge over the Wear, connecting the
 
 GALFRID RUFUS. 1 43 
 
 city with the north suburb, called Framwellgate ; also 
 a great part of the city wall. He built the castle of 
 Norham on the Tweed as a check upon the Scots. 
 He contributed many ornaments and vestments to 
 the church, and enlarged the space allotted for the 
 monastic buildings. He was kind to the poor, 
 not only when solicited, but also of his own accord. 
 At length his health began to decline, and we are 
 told that the chief persons of his church diligently 
 solicited him " to prevent the face of the Lord with 
 confession and make himself friends of the mammon 
 of unrighteousness." He increased his almsgiving 
 and paid his debts, and finally was carried into the 
 church for an act of penitence. Here he bewailed 
 his encroachment upon the customs and the pos- 
 sessions of the church, and made restitution of all by 
 a deed attested by his seal, and by placing his ring on 
 the altar. He died in 1129, after an episcopate of 
 twenty-nine years. The king immediately seized all 
 his goods and committed the Bishoprick to two 
 barons for his own behoof. At the beginning of his 
 reign he had come under a solemn obligation not to 
 keep churches vacant. But he never acted on his 
 promise, and five years elapsed before a new bishop 
 was nominated. 
 
 In the year 1133 Galfrid Rufus was appointed, 
 being at the time Chancellor of England. Henry I. 
 died in 11 35, and then succeeded the stormy and 
 disastrous reign of Stephen. David, the king of Scot- 
 land (St. David), was the uncle of Maud the Empress > 
 
 1 Matilda, daughter of Henry I., was married to Henry V., 
 Emperor of Germany, and was therefore coiunionly called the
 
 144 DURHAM. 
 
 to whom the crown of England belonged by right of 
 succession, and he thought it his duty to support the 
 claims of his niece. The diocese of Durham was in 
 consequence very much harassed by Scottish invasions. 
 It was in 1138 that David advanced as far as North- 
 allerton and sustained a complete defeat in the " Battle 
 of the Standard." The English forces were encouraged 
 by the presence of the aged Thurstan, Archbishop of 
 York, and the Bishop of Orkney (not at that period a 
 Scottish see). The standard from which it took its 
 name consisted of the mast of a ship fixed upright 
 upon a carriage, from the top of which a pix or box 
 containing the consecrated host was suspended, while 
 below were displayed the banners of St. Peter, St. 
 Wilfrid, and St. John of Beverley. Hexham suffered 
 very much in this w^ar, and it is curious and interest- 
 ing to observe in the chroniclers, who were abbots of 
 that church, now an Augustinian Monastery, the care- 
 ful distinction which they make between the pious 
 King David and his ferocious and bloodthirsty troops. 
 Bishop Galfrid or Geoffrey died in 1140 after what, 
 but for the troubles of the time, might be called a 
 peaceful episcopate of eight years. 
 
 Upon his death ensued a most extraordinary state 
 of things. William Cumin, the chancellor of the 
 Scottish king, had been educated by Bishop Geof- 
 frey, and being at Durham with the bishop a short 
 time before his death, he formed the daring project 
 of possessing himself of the Bishoprick. He con- 
 Empress. She contested the crown of England with Stephen. 
 By her second marriage with Geoffrey, count of Anjou, she was 
 the mother of King Henry II.
 
 WILLIAM DE S. BARBARA, 1 45 
 
 trived to interest King David in his favour and 
 through him to secure the help of the Empress. He 
 also won over most of the barons of the Bishoprick, 
 but could make no impression on the prior and the 
 archdeacon of Durham. Having got possession of 
 the castle, he contrived by force and fraud, aided by 
 the King of Scots and others, to hinder for three 
 years the election of a bishop. At last, in spite of 
 the close watch kept over them by Cumin, the prior 
 and some of the monks escaped, and reached York, 
 where they elected William de St. Barbara, dean 
 of that church. The election was confirmed by King 
 Stephen, and he was consecrated. Still Cumin kept 
 possession of the castle, and was able for sixteen 
 months to set the bishop at defiance. He had been 
 excommunicated, and the clergy of the cathedral 
 not only refused to celebrate the offices of the 
 church in his presence, but barred the church against 
 him. Some of his men obtained admission through 
 the windows and opened the doors to the others, 
 and an awful scene of confusion ensued. They 
 assaulted the terrified and weeping monks, kindled 
 fires, and cooked their meat within the sacred 
 walls. "The shouts of the guard took the place of 
 psalmody, and the savour of roasting flesh that of 
 incense." Cumin retained possession of the church for 
 some months, during which he is charged with per- 
 petrating the most fearful cruelties on the adherents 
 of the bishop. At one time an attempt was made by 
 his party to fortify the Church of Merrington, situated 
 on a hill not far from Auckland. At length, when it 
 was least expected, Cumin submitted to the bishop, 
 
 L
 
 146 DURHAM. 
 
 making great professions^ of penitence. This was on 
 the Feast of St. Luke, 1144, on which day the bishop 
 with the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of 
 Carlisle entered Durham, and received Cumin's sub- 
 mission. There is nothing further of much import- 
 ance to be noticed in the episcopate of William de 
 St. Barbara. He sat for nine years after he obtained 
 possession, and died in 1152. 
 
 On the death of William de St. Barbara, both the 
 prior and the archdeacon were ambitious to succeed 
 him, and if either would have given way the other 
 would have been elected. But neither would give 
 way, and the choice fell on Hugh Pudsey, Treasurer 
 of York, a young man of twenty-five years of age, of 
 noble extraction and goodly presence. The Arch- 
 bishop of York at this time was Henry Murdac, an 
 intimate friend of the famous St. Bernard, and a man 
 of stern virtue. The reigning Pope, Eugenius III., 
 was also a friend, almost the pupil, of St. Bernard. 
 The Archbishop and St. Bernard were very much 
 disturbed when they heard of the election, for Hugh 
 was not only a young man, but addicted to the 
 pleasures of the w^orld, and by no means strict in his 
 life — for he had three illegitimate sons. On the other 
 hand, King Stephen, his son Eustace, and his brother 
 the Bishop of Winchester, favoured the elect, who 
 was of their own kindred. When the archbishop 
 found that the prior and chapter stood firm, he 
 excommunicated them — but on the intercession of 
 Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, he admitted 
 them to penance. At the door of Beverley Minster 
 they submitted to stand naked, and to be beaten with
 
 HUGH PUDSEY. 1 47 
 
 rods, before they were absolved. Still the archbishop 
 refused to consecrate Pudse}',and Laurence the Prior, ^ 
 and the Archdeacon, uath several gentlemen of the 
 bishoprick, set off for Rome. The historian stops to tell 
 us what goodly and noble looking persons they were, 
 "attracting universal admiration, leading everyone to 
 think that church happy and incomparable which pos- 
 sessed such noteworthy men." On the way they heard 
 of the death of Pope Eugenius and the accession of 
 Anastasius. They went on to Rome and after some 
 demur on account of his youth the bishop elect was 
 consecrated by the pope on the Feast of St. Thomas. 
 He was received at Durham with great joy and 
 enthroned there 2nd May, 1154. 
 
 For a time all went well. Every one was charmed 
 with the courtesy and the wisdom of the new bishop. 
 " The Lord had mercifully looked down from heaven 
 upon His people, and raised up a new Daniel in the 
 land." But it is hard " for a camel to go through the 
 eye of a needle." Prosperity did not fail of its effect, 
 and dissensions soon arose between the bishop and the 
 chapter. Absalom, the prior who succeeded Laurence, 
 was not a learned man, and unfit to cope with the 
 bishop. His successor, Thomas, for awhile manfully 
 resisted the Bishop's arbitrary proceedings, but the 
 brethren did not support him, and he was forced to 
 yield. He resigned and retired to Fame, where he 
 made an edifying end. German came next but failed 
 to make way against the stream. Bertram, who fol- 
 
 ' Prior Laurence was a man of considerable attainments. 
 His poems have been recently published by the Surtees Society. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 DURHAM. 
 
 lowed, was more determined and succeeded better. 
 He is said to have renewed the abbot's seat in the 
 choir and chapter house — whether this means that he 
 vindicated his right to occupy it seems uncertain, but 
 the bishop went on paying little heed to old customs, 
 either in respect of the monks or the barons of the 
 Bishoprick. He was kind to those who were sub- 
 missive, but, having found out that all were afraid of 
 him, he failed not to profit by his knowledge. 
 
 In the contest between King Henry II. and Becket, 
 it is not hard to surmise which side such a man as 
 Pudsey would take. He followed the other bishops 
 in taking part against the primate, and was involved 
 in a sentence of suspension ; but by the intervention 
 of Becket himself, on the ground of his not having 
 been so deeply implicated as the others, he was 
 absolved. In the contest between Henry and his 
 sons he was suspected of taking part against the king, 
 and even of conniving at the passage of William, 
 King of Scots, through his territory, and for this he 
 had to pay a heavy fine. 
 
 His gifts to the Church were numerous and mag- 
 nificent. He undertook to build a chapel at the east 
 end of the cathedral, and brought marble columns 
 and bases from foreign parts for the purpose — but 
 too many masters were employed about the work, 
 and whether for this reason or from some peculiarity 
 of the ground, the foundations gave way, and they 
 came to the conclusion that it was not the will of 
 God or St. Cuthbert that they should build there. 
 The bishop then turned his attention to the west end, 
 and there he built the beautiful western chapel, since
 
 HUGH PUDSEV. 1 49 
 
 called the Galilee. Here he erected a magnificent 
 shrine for the venerable Bede, in which he placed his 
 relics, and there they are believed still to remain. 
 He adorned the church with magnificent lights before 
 the high altar, which were to burn day and night, 
 with other candelabra round about to be lighted on 
 great festivals. He gave also a cross and a chalice of 
 gold, " as if he ever kept in his mind David's words : 
 Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and 
 the place where Thine honour dwelleth." He founded 
 Sherburn Hospital for lepers, and after restoring the 
 borough of Elvet, which had lain waste since the 
 devastations of Cumin, he gave it to the convent 
 and connected it with the city by a bridge. Durham 
 Castle, which had suffered by a fire in the early part 
 of his episcopate, and Norham Castle, which had 
 fallen into disrepair, were both repaired, and he kept 
 all the houses in his various manors in good order. 
 He was a man of great ability and industry, eloquent 
 and prudent, and although, as we have seen, he was 
 not on good terms with the chapter — it may be, not 
 without cause on their part— he was most watchful 
 over the interests and liberties of his Church. 
 
 In 1 187 all Western Christendom was thrown into 
 consternation by the news that Jerusalem had fallen into 
 the hands of the Saracens. A royal decree was issued in 
 England requiring a tenth to be levied on all bishops, 
 abbots, earls, and barons, for the aid of a crusade. 
 At the same time, if any of these should elect to serve in 
 the crusade, they were to be allowed to have the tenth 
 for their own use. King Henry proposed to take the 
 cross himself, and the Bishop of Durham followed
 
 15° 
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 his example. He made most magnificent and costly 
 preparations. His ships were most gorgeously fur- 
 nished — in his own galley there was a silver seat for 
 himself of wonderful workmanship, and the kitchen 
 utensils and other vessels were of the same precious 
 metal. It is well known that Henry did not live to 
 embark in the crusade, but that his son and successor, 
 Richard, took his place. The new king was needy, 
 the bishop was rich, and a man of boundless ambition. 
 He was present at Richard's coronation, and a great 
 intimacy sprang up between them. Hugh bought 
 the Earldom of Northumberland for life, for eleven 
 thousand pounds, and the Manor of Sadberg in per- 
 petuity, from which the bishops of Durham afterwards 
 took the title of earl. The king remarked, when he 
 invested him with the earldom, that he had made a 
 young earl out of an old bishop. The bishop first 
 got a dispensation from the crusade for three years, 
 but in the end gave it up entirel)^ and he was 
 appointed justiciary for the northern part of the king- 
 dom, Longchamp, the Bishop of Ely, one of the most 
 unscrupulous of men, having the southern. Pudsey 
 murmured at the limitation of his power. Longchamp 
 would not bear a rival. The Bishop of Durham was 
 decoyed to Eondon, committed to the Tower, and 
 only released on condition of restricting himself to 
 his northern jurisdiction. When the king returned, the 
 bishop did not find himself high in the royal favour, 
 although he had contributed a large sum for Richard's 
 ransom, on pretext of which he had extorted a much 
 lareer sum from his vassals. In the midst of all his 
 troubles he ceased not to proceed with the building
 
 HUGH PUDSEY. 151 
 
 of the Church of Darlington, where he purposed 
 placing a college of secular canons such as had been 
 in the cathedral before the time of the monks. Dar- 
 Imgton Church is only second to the Galilee among 
 Pudsey's works, and the difference between them 
 marks the transition which was taking place in archi- 
 tecture during his time. The Galilee is Norman, of a 
 very light and graceful character, a complete contrast 
 to the massive solidity of the adjoining nave. St. 
 Cuthert's, Darlington, is a very fine specimen of Early 
 Pointed. 
 
 Pudsey was obliged to resign the earldom of North- 
 umberiand, and trembled for Sadberg also. In his 
 seventieth year he undertook a journey to London, 
 expecting to secure it, perhaps to gain additional 
 honours. But he was taken ill at Craike — it was 
 supposed after a plentiful supper — and, pushing on 
 to Doncaster, he thereby increased his complaint. 
 He was now conveyed by water to Howden. As it 
 was plain his end was approaching, he confessed his 
 sins, and made restitution to the monks for whatever 
 wrong he had done them. It is said that many years 
 previously a hermit had foretold that he would be blind 
 seven years before his death. After this he took the 
 greatest cars c/ his eyes, and when he was on his 
 death-bed said that the hermit had deceived him ; but 
 one of his attendants — he did not inspire so much 
 terror now — was bold enough to tell him that he had 
 long been bUnd in neglecting his pastoral duties to 
 seek after an earldom and other worldly honours. 
 He died March 2, 1194. His body was taken to 
 Durham for burial ; but, before his funeral could take
 
 152 DURHAM. 
 
 place, Hugh Bardolf had seized the castle for the 
 king. 
 
 Contemporary with the early part of Bishop Pudsey's 
 episcopate lived a very different character, Godric of 
 Finchale, the hermit just mentioned. He was born 
 at Walpole, in Norfolk, and in his youth had travelled 
 as a pedlar. As his means increased he extended his 
 journeys, and, on one occasion returning from Scot- 
 land by sea, landed at Lindisfarne. He listened to 
 the story of St. Cuthbert with amazement, and burned 
 to emulate the austerities of the holy Confessor. It 
 was some time, however, before he carried his design 
 into full execution. He made a pilgrimage of devotion 
 to Jerusalem, and on his return accepted the post of 
 house-steward to a wealthy man in Norfolk. The 
 irregularities of the servants, which he did not possess 
 sufficient authority to restrain, forced him to give up 
 his situation, and he returned to the north. Here he 
 met with one Godwin, who is said to have been much 
 with the monks of Durham, and to have learned 
 lessons of holiness from them. The two went to live 
 together in a lonely retreat near Carlisle, where they 
 served each other, and gave themselves up to devotion. 
 In a year and a-half Godwin died, and Godric was 
 left alone. He made another pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 
 and finally settled as a recluse at Finchale, a place 
 not far from Durham. Here Bishop Flambard gave him 
 a site for a chapel, which was, on his death, to revert to 
 the Convent of Durham. At Finchale he lived in com- 
 plete seclusion for many years, giving himself entirely 
 up to devotion. But for the commands of the Prior of 
 Durham, to whom he owed obedience, he would have
 
 HUGH PUDSEV GODRIC THE HERMIT. 1 53 
 
 declined to see or converse with any one. Yet he 
 seems to have been free from spiritual pride, speaking 
 of himself as one of the worst of men and only a 
 counterfeit hermit. He was wholly illiterate, but had 
 learned the psalter by heart, and was much reverenced 
 for his sanctity ; many miracles are imputed to him. 
 His prediction concerning Bishop Pudsey has already 
 been mentioned. Afterwards, Henry Pudsey, one of 
 the bishop's sons, founded an abbey at Finchale, as 
 a cell to the great Abbey of Durham. The beautiful 
 ruins still exist, and are still associated with the 
 memory of St. Godric. They occupy a most lovely 
 situation on one of the sinuosities of the Wear, three 
 miles below Durham. 
 
 After the see had been vacant a year and three- 
 quarters, during which time it was miserably robbed 
 by the king's officers, Philip de Pictavia, a native, 
 as his name implies, of Poitou, was elected by the 
 chapter, at the urgent desire of the king, Dec. 30, 
 1 195. It was not uncommon at this time for natives 
 of England to be promoted in France, and vice 
 versa. John of Salisbury, the friend of Becket, 
 became Bishop of Chartres, and another of his 
 friends, the Bishop of Poitiers, had, like Pudsey, 
 been Treasurer of York. Philip had long been on 
 intimate and confidential terms with the king. He 
 was not in priests' orders, and had to be ordained 
 priest before he was consecrated. He went on an 
 embassy to Rome, with Longchamp, Bishop of Ely — 
 who died on the way — and was consecrated at Rome 
 May 12, 1 197. He is vehemently accused — we must 
 remember tlie historian is a monk of Durham — of
 
 154 DURHAM. 
 
 oppressing the convent. It seems, at least, that he 
 did not recognise all the immunities they claimed. 
 First arose a dispute about a vacancy in St. Oswald's 
 Church. The brethren of the convent had entered 
 it and closed the doors. The bishop was offended, 
 surrounded the church with armed men, applied fire 
 and smoke to the doors and windows, and endeavoured 
 to starve them into submission by forbidding food to be 
 sent in. This quarrel was made up. He next obtained 
 letters from Rome, in virtue of which he claimed the 
 rights of the abbot in the convent. It must be ob- 
 served that the designation of prior supposes some one 
 to be the abbot — for a prior is virtually the same as 
 sub-abbot or vice-abbot — and it seems as if no one 
 but the bishop could have abbatial rights at Durham. 
 But when the letters were read, the prior protested ; 
 and, not content with appealing to Rome, he went 
 also to Court, and is said to have obtained a confirma- 
 tion of his rights from the king. But the bishop 
 would not give in, and proceeded to take very rough 
 measures. He closed the postern that led to the 
 mill, to cut off the supply of food, destroyed a new 
 fish-pond, broke down the ovens in Elvet, and 
 diverted the aqueduct, which the monks had made 
 for their own use, into his castle. He proceeded to 
 excommunicate the prior, and forbade the brethren 
 to have any intercourse with him. When the prior 
 attempted to celebrate mass on the Feast of St. 
 Cuthbert, he was interrupted, the officers of the 
 bishop, some of whom were priests, seized the altar 
 linen, the monks laid hold of it also, and a most 
 unseemly struggle ensued. "Worse doings never
 
 PHILIP DE PICTAVIA. 155 
 
 before were in a church, except at Canterbury when 
 the archbishop was slain." It was even feared that 
 the bishop would throw down the altar in the cathedral. 
 At length, by the mediation of friends, the dispute 
 was settled. The historian gives his narration in the 
 words of the gospel, and closes with : " there was a 
 great calm." The bishop may have been very master- 
 ful and rough— they were rough times — but it seems 
 difficult, even from their own narrative, to avoid the 
 suspicion that the monks were disposed to encroach, 
 and to assume a position of entire independence to 
 which they were not really entitled. 
 
 Philip supported King John in his resistance to the 
 pope, and was excommunicated. Under this censure 
 he died in 1802, and was buried in unconsecrated 
 ground. He is said to have obtained from Richard I. 
 the privilege of setting up a mint, and coining money 
 at Durham. 
 
 A vacancy of nearly ten years followed. The 
 quarrel between King John and Pope Innocent III. 
 was now at its height. A year after Philip's death the 
 monks were required by the pope to proceed to an 
 election. They knew not what to do — if they offended 
 the king, he was sure to take summary vengeance — if 
 they offended the pope, they rendered themselves 
 liable to his wrath. At length they ventured to elect 
 Richard, Dean of Salisbury, but kept the election 
 secret. In 12 13, on the Eve of the Ascension, John 
 made himself the pope's vassal. By and by the 
 Legate visited Durham. He approved highly of the 
 man whom the monks had elected, but insisted that 
 the king's pleasure must be obeyed. The king and the
 
 156 DURHAM. 
 
 pope were now as one. The king was in favour of 
 Gray, Bishop of Norwich, the prelate who had been 
 disappointed of the primacy when the pope appointed 
 Stephen Langton. On the 20th of February, 12 14, 
 the chapter elected Gray. The election was confirmed 
 by the pope, but Gray was already dead. They next 
 elected Morgan, Provost of Beverley, an illegitimate 
 brother of King John. But his illegitimacy was a 
 bar. His mother was the wife of a knight whose name 
 was Ralf Bloet, and the pope offered to confirm the 
 election if he would call himself Bloet ; but Morgan 
 was too proud of his paternity to consent. At length, 
 later in 12 17, Gualo, the Papal Legate, conferred the 
 bishopric on Richard de Marisco, who was the chan- 
 cellor of King John, and was said to resemble him in 
 his character. Like his predecessor, he contested the 
 alleged privileges of the convent, and demanded to see 
 their charters. The prior refused to exhibit them. 
 Upon this a deadly feud arose between the bishop 
 and the chapter. The bishop swore that the Church 
 of Durham should never have peace as long as he 
 lived — that if a monk was found beyond his cloister 
 he should lose his head ; and when his servants had 
 scourged a monk, and the poor man complained, the 
 bishop declared it was a pity they did not kill him. 
 The monks accused him at Rome of these and many 
 other acts equally inconsistent with his office. A 
 tedious litigation ensued, in which enormous sums 
 were spent, and, on a journey to London in prosecu- 
 tion of his suit, the bishop died suddenly at Peter- 
 borough in the year 1226. 
 
 The see was vacant two years and four months.
 
 RICHARD DE MARISCO — RICHARD POOR. I 57 
 
 The king, Henry III. (he was but sixteen years of 
 age), wished the chapter to elect Luke, his chaplain, 
 but they declined, and proceeded to elect William 
 Stitchill (or Scotus), Archdeacon of Worcester. The 
 king was displeased, but the bishop elect took his 
 journey to Rome. The king also sent messengers, 
 and the election was annulled. At last, with the 
 king's consent, they elected Richard Poor,^ the same 
 man whom they had formerly chosen when Dean of 
 Salisbury. He was a pious and learned man, and in 
 the meantime he had risen to be bishop, first of Chi- 
 chester, and then of Salisbury. While Bishop of 
 Salisbury he removed the see from Old Sarum, and 
 began a new cathedral, the same stately church which 
 now exists. He also erected a nunnery at Tarrant, in 
 Dorsetshire, which he gave to the queen, and it was 
 his wish to be buried there. At Durham he brought 
 the contest between the bishop and the convent to an 
 end by a solemn agreement, afterwards quoted from 
 its first word, le Convetiit. He had enough to do 
 during his episcopate to pay off the heavy debt left by 
 his predecessor. The account left us of his end is 
 interesting : " When his death drew near, seeing that 
 the hour was come that he should depart out of the 
 world, he called the people together, and in a solemn 
 discourse told them that his decease was at hand. The 
 next day, though his disease had increased, he 
 preached another sermon to the congregation, bidding 
 all farewell, and asking pardon if he had offended any. 
 The third day he gathered his family together with all 
 
 ' RicarJus dictus Pauper.
 
 158 DURHAM. 
 
 his chief acquaintance, and divided among them what 
 he thought was reasonable, to every one according to 
 his merit, and having with full deliberation settled all 
 his affairs, and bidden all his friends farewell, he said 
 compline, and when he came to the words, ' I will lay 
 me down in peace and take my rest,' he slept in the 
 Lord, April 15, 1237. He was buried at Tarrant, as 
 he had wished." 
 
 Contemporary with Bishop Poor was Thomas de 
 Melsamby, Prior of the Convent. At this time the 
 eastern end of the cathedral, which was of an apsidal 
 form, began to assume a most dangerous appearance, 
 doubtless from the giving way of the foundations. The 
 bishop and the prior planned the reconstruction of 
 that part of the church. The apse was removed, and 
 the magnificent eastern transept, called The Nine 
 Altars, was erected in its place, one of the most 
 beautiful examples of early English architecture now 
 existing. When it was finished, the church was 
 completed as it now remains, no structural alteration 
 of the interior having since taken place. 
 
 After the death of Bishop Poor the convent elected 
 their prior, Thomas de Melsamby, but the king 
 objected, and three years' debate before the Archbishop 
 of York and the holy see could not overcome his 
 repugnance. Melsamby was forced at last to give 
 way, and the king sent messengers to the convent to 
 protest against the election of certain persons, on one 
 of whom it was supposed likely that the choice would 
 fall — the Dean of Lincoln, the Vicar of Auckland, and 
 Simon, of London. Upon this the monks elected 
 Nicholas de Farnham, the king's physician, and
 
 PRIOR MELSAMBY — DE FARNHAM. 1 59 
 
 the king acquiesced. He was consecrated on Trinity 
 Sunday by Walter Gray, Archbishop of York, and 
 enthroned on the Feast of St. Cuthbert, Sept. 4. 
 Farnham was a man of very high character, and 
 had previously been elected Bishop of Coventry, but 
 had declined from conscientious motives. He re- 
 fused Durham also at first, and was the more earnest 
 in his refusal because acceptance would expose his 
 refusal of Coventry to misconstruction. But Gros- 
 seteste, the illustrious Bishop of Lincoln, remon- 
 strated with him, adjuring him not to oppose what 
 seemed to be the will of God, and he consented 
 to receive consecration. He, no doubt, found his 
 position in the palatinate an unquiet one, and little in 
 accordance with the aspirations of a man of piety. 
 A\'hen a war with Scotland appeared to be imminent, 
 he was discharged from obeying the king's summons 
 to Parliament, that he might be at hand to act in 
 defence of the Bishoprick. He resigned the see early 
 in 1248, reserving to himself some manors for his 
 support. It is far from pleasing to find that (accord- 
 ing to some writers at least) his successor tried to 
 disturb this arrangement. His resignation took place 
 early in 1248. 
 
 King Henry HI. now wished to promote his half- 
 brother, Athelmar de Valence, to the see of Durham, 
 but the convent declined on account of his youth and 
 want of learning. On the 2 1 st April, 1 249, they chose 
 Walter de Kirkham, Dean of York, and he was 
 consecrated by Walter Gray, Archbishop of York, on 
 Sunday, December 5. There is not much to attract 
 notice in his history, but there is one transaction which
 
 l6o DURHAM, 
 
 curiously illustrates the roughness of the times in the 
 reign of Henry III. The servants of John Baliol had 
 forcibly entered a church, and for this they were ex- 
 communicated by the Bishop. The Baliols retaliated 
 by laying an ambush for the Bishop as he was passing 
 through a wood. The prelate himself was very 
 roughly handled, and four of his servants were carried 
 off and put in prison until Baliol's servants should be 
 released. Complaint was made to the king that the 
 Bishop's palatine authority had been outraged, and a 
 writ was issued commanding the release of the Bishop's 
 servants. 
 
 In the time of this Bishop, Bertram de Middleton, 
 the prior who succeeded Thomas de Melsamby, retired 
 from his office on account of his advanced age — he 
 had been forty years a monk and fourteen years prior. 
 The manner of his resignation shows the jealous 
 feeling of the monks towards the Bishop. He had 
 obtained a bull from Rome to the Bishop directing 
 him to see that a sufficient provision was made out of 
 the funds of the priorate for the retiring prior. But 
 this bull, Bertram told the convent, he did not wish to 
 use, lest the bishop, in making the necessary inquiries, 
 should get to know more about the affairs of the con- 
 vent than was desirable. The brethren agreed to 
 make a retiring provision for him, and most certainly it 
 was a very ample one, both in money and supplies 
 from the monastery. Among the latter were seven 
 flagons of beer daily for him and his two companions, 
 with six servants, and a cask of wine yearly. Bertram 
 had been a frugal man, and left eleven thousand marks 
 in the treasury at the disposal of his successor. He
 
 ROBERT DF. STITCHILL. l6l 
 
 was a man of great piety, and had much increased the 
 resources of the house. With his own hand he had 
 \\Titten out twelve Psalters, with many prayers, for the 
 use of the singers in church, and he procured for the 
 church — Postills on various books of Scripture, as 
 the Psalter, the Four Gospels, St. Paul's Epistles, 
 Job, the Sapiential Books, the Twelve Prophets, the 
 Canonical Epistles, and a double one on the Apo- 
 calypse. Bishop Walter de Kirkham died in 1260, 
 
 On September 30th Robert de Stitchill, a monk 
 of Durham and Prior of Finchale, was elected bishop. 
 In his early days Robert had been somewhat giddy, 
 and one Sunday during his novitiate, when, for some 
 indiscretion, he had been ordered to sit on a stool in 
 the middle of the choir, he was so overcome with the 
 disgrace, that he caught the stool with his foot and 
 kicked it out of the choir among the people outside. 
 He had made up his mind to give up the monastic 
 profession, when, passing at night by a cross on the 
 north side of the choir, he heard a voice calling upon 
 him to return. This cured him of his levity, and he 
 applied himself to the study of the Holy Scriptures. 
 In a short time he came to be very much esteemed 
 for his attainments and regularity of life ; so much so 
 that, being the illegitimate son of a priest, and there- 
 fore incapable of the episcopal office, a dispensation 
 was procured for him without his own knowledge. 
 
 But though the new Bishop was one of themselves, 
 it was not long before the jealousy of the monks 
 showed itself. On Christmas Eve, in his first year, 
 he lodged in the abbey, to be near the church ; but in 
 the morning the prior took care to obtain letters 
 
 M
 
 1 62 DURHAM. 
 
 from the Bishop that this was not to be drawn into a 
 precedent to the prejudice of the church. Stitchill 
 is said to have rendered important aid to the king 
 in his contest with the barons. Part of the forfeited 
 estates of Peter de Montfort lay within the Palatinate, 
 and were claimed by the Bishop as belonging to him 
 in right of his franchise. The claim was allowed, 
 and the forfeited lands were appropriated by him to 
 the foundation of an hospital at Greatham. 
 
 The feeling of jealousy between the bishop and 
 the convent was not confined to the incident just 
 mentioned — in 1266 complaint was made that the 
 allowance made to Prior Bertram was too large, and 
 had been obtained by undue means on his part. The 
 case was brought before a general chapter at York, 
 and the allowance was reduced to 200 marks annu- 
 ally. But his successor, Hugh de Darlington, now 
 wished to resign, and thereon ensued a long and 
 tedious dispute with the Bishop. The monks stood 
 upon their alleged immunities ; the Bishop complained 
 that he was by no means treated with the respect due 
 to his office. He contended that the prior should be 
 subject to the same rules as in other cathedrals of 
 monastic foundation ; they maintained that the Prior 
 of Durham had abbatial rights. The dispute delayed 
 the prior's resignation for some time, and when at 
 last it took place, another dispute arose about the 
 custody of the house during the vacancy. At length 
 the differences were terminated by the appointment 
 of a new prior. 
 
 The bishop attended a Council at Lyons, and on 
 his return died in France, 4th August, 1274. He
 
 ROBERT DE INSULA. 1 63 
 
 was buried in a Benedictine Monastery in France, 
 but his heart was brought to Durham and buried in 
 the Chapter House. 
 
 On September 24th, Robert de Insula (/.^., of 
 Holy Island), Prior of Finchale, was elected bishop. 
 During the vacancy the Archbishop of York held a 
 visitation of the chapter, a proceeding which passed 
 off quietly, but in the sequel was the occasion of a 
 long series of disgraceful disputes. The episcopate 
 of Robert de Insula was, on the whole, a peaceful 
 one. He was on friendly terms with the convent, 
 having been himself a member of their body. He 
 was of humble origin,^ and, as his name implies, a 
 native of Holy Island. 
 
 In 1280 a dispute arose between the Archbishop 
 of York and the convent about the presentation to 
 one of their churches in Yorkshire. The primate 
 threatened to hold a visitation ; the monks refused 
 to admit him. A long and very bitter quarrel ensued, 
 with appeals to Rome, and a disgracefully free use of 
 excommunications and interdicts. The bishop took 
 part with the convent, but died in 1283, while the 
 dispute was going on. 
 
 During the vacancy the archbishop resolved to 
 
 ' After his elevation he provided for his mother in a way more 
 suitable to his rank than her own tastes. On visiting her on one 
 occasion, and asking her how she did, she answered, "Very 
 badly." "Why, sweet mother? Do you want for anything, 
 servant, or handmaid, or any needful expense?" "No," she 
 said, " I have enough of everything ; but when I say to one 
 fellow, Go, he runs, or to another. Come, he gets down on his 
 knees, and all goes on so smoothly that I cannot ease my mind 
 by getting angry." 
 
 M 2
 
 164 DURHAM. 
 
 carry out his purpose of visiting the convent, and 
 went to Durham ; but by this time the minds of both 
 parties were too much exasperated for things to pass 
 off quietly. When he arrived, he was not permitted 
 to enter the cathedral, and, retiring to the church of 
 St. Nicholas in the Market-place, he there preached a 
 sermon, and was about to excommunicate the prior and 
 monks, when he was set upon by some of the young 
 men of the city and so terrified that he was glad to 
 escape by the sands to Kepier Hospital. His horse's 
 ear was cut off, and if help had not arrived he would 
 have been killed. The Vicar of St. Oswalds, who 
 had taken part with the archbishop, was deposed by 
 the official of the prior and chapter, and another 
 appointed in his place. Another tedious and dis- 
 graceful litigation ensued, the steps of which it would 
 be neither edifying nor interesting to trace.
 
 DURHAM. 165 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SCOTTISH WARS — BEK TO BURY. 
 
 It was the wish of King Edward that Antony Bek, 
 Archdeacon of Durham, should be appointed bishop, 
 and the chapter were glad to comply with the king's 
 wish, well knowing that no one elected by them would 
 be accepted by the archbishop unless they had the 
 king with them. Bek, in all respects a most remark- 
 able man, presented a complete contrast to the two 
 bishops who preceded him. He was of noble birth, 
 being the son of Walter, Baron of Eresby, in Lincoln- 
 shire, and, besides being Archdeacon of Durham, 
 held large preferment in the province of Canterbury. 
 He was consecrated at York, at Christmas, in the 
 presence of the king and a great concourse of the 
 nobility. Immediately after the consecration the 
 Archbishop required him, on his obedience, to ex- 
 communicate the prior and monks. " Yesterday," he 
 answered, " I was consecrated as their bishop, and 
 shall I excommunicate them to-day ? Nothing will 
 induce me to do so on account of any obedience." 
 
 It was two years before he was enthroned at Dur- 
 ham, and then arose another dispute. The prior 
 claimed the right to instal the Bishop in virtue of his 
 office, but the official of York disputed his claim. To 
 avoid contention the Bishop passed by both, and had 
 the office performed by his own brother, the Bishop of
 
 1 66 DURHAM. 
 
 St. David's. Antony Bek was a most magnificent 
 prelate, very able, very accomplished, and of bound- 
 less ambition. No one ever kept up the almost regal 
 dignity of the Palatinate with more state or splendour. 
 He was very wealthy, for to the munificent revenues 
 of the Bishoprick he added a very large private for- 
 tune, so that, though his expenditure was very profuse, 
 he was never in difficulties, and died possessed of 
 vast wealth. He seemed to be much more at home 
 in the court or the camp than in the charge of his 
 flock, and he was a potent aid to the king in war as 
 well as in the council chamber. He went to the 
 war in Scotland with twenty-six standard bearers, and 
 his usual following was a hundred and forty knights. 
 Yet he affected not to care for his retinue, thinking 
 nothing of having earls and barons bowing the knee 
 to him, and, while he was seated, keeping knights 
 standing like lackeys in his presence. He cared 
 nothing for expense in displaying his grandeur. On 
 one occasion in London, when no one else would or 
 could buy them, he gave forty shillings for as many 
 fresh herrings ; and on another, hearing that a dealer 
 had spoken of a piece of cloth he had as too dear even 
 for the Bishop of Durham, he bought it, and had it 
 cut up into horse cloths in the presence of the 
 astonished merchant. His activity was unbounded ; 
 he was constantly on the move, going from one 
 manor to another. Horses and hawks were his 
 delight. Impatient of rest, he never took more than 
 one sleep during the night, and would say that he was 
 not a man who turned from one side to another in 
 bed. He was a man of the strictest purity, would
 
 ANTONY BEK. 167 
 
 never look in the face of a woman, and at the transla- 
 tion of St. William of York was the only one of the 
 assembled prelates whose conscience would permit 
 him to touch the bier. 
 
 Though the bishop refused to excommunicate the 
 prior and monks at the bidding of the archbishop, he 
 did not long remain at peace with them. When the 
 prior, Richard Claxton, was thinking of nothing less 
 than giving up his office, the Bishop assumed that 
 he was tired of his duties and wished to resign. 
 The poor man had no choice but to do so. Then 
 arose a dispute os to the custody of the convent 
 during the vacancy ; the bishop insisted on putting 
 in his own officers, instead of leaving the charge to 
 ■ the sub-prior. The convent was in consternation, 
 and, as it would seem, in sheer perplexity in- 
 vited Hugh of Darlington, a prior who had retired 
 long before, again to become their head. He con- 
 sented to do so for a time ; but in the end became 
 so tenacious of office — he seems to have been almost in 
 his dotage — as to offer the bishop money to keep him 
 in against the will of the monks. The reason was that 
 he greatly disliked the sub-prior, Richard de Hotoun, 
 who was likely to be elected in his room. In the 
 end Hugh retired and Richard was elected. He will 
 be heard of again, but much took place in the mean- 
 time. 
 
 \Vhen Antony came to the see, the troubles of 
 Scotland were beginning. It would be out of place 
 here to say more on this point than is necessary to 
 illustrate the bishop's character. We first find him 
 employed by King Kdward I. to negotiate a marriage
 
 l68 DURHAM. 
 
 between the heiress of Scotland and Edward's son. 
 Had this marriage been carried out, there was a 
 very fair prospect for both countries ; the harassing 
 warfare in which, for centuries, Scotland and the 
 northern counties of England not only suffered 
 fearfully, but w^ere very much demoralized, might 
 have been averted. But it was not the will of God 
 that the two kingdoms should be united at that time. 
 The young queen died in September, 1290, and this 
 opened up a new career of ambition to Edward. It 
 is said that the Bishop of Durham was one of those 
 by whose advice Edward was influenced, when he 
 decided in favour of Baliol's claim, which certainly 
 was the best according to our modern ideas. But 
 this weak prince was very soon goaded into resistance, 
 which, of course, Edward called rebellion, and at 
 once punished by invasion. He was joined by the 
 Bishop of Durham at the head of 1,000 foot and 500 
 horse, with the sacred banners of St. Cuthbert and 
 St. John of Beverley borne before him. Baliol was 
 soon subdued, and the Bishop was deputed by Edward 
 to receive his submission in the castle of Brechin. In 
 the Bishop's presence, deprived of his crown and 
 stripped of his royal robes, with a white rod in his 
 hand, Baliol was forced to perform a degrading feudal 
 penance. But ere long the Scots rose under Wallace, 
 and again the Bishop was found with Edward in Scot- 
 land ; he laid siege to the castle of Dirleton, and being 
 repulsed with loss, sent to the king to ask what he 
 ought to do. " Go back and tell Antony," was the 
 reply, " that when he is acting as a bishop he is a man 
 of peace, but now he is a soldier and must forget his
 
 ANTONY BEK. 169 
 
 calling." By-and-by, they come to a battle with 
 Wallace at Falkirk — the bishop was in the thick of the 
 melee, but held back his troops from what he deemed 
 a rash onset. '•' To thy mass, bishop," cried Sir Ralph 
 Basset, a rough soldier, " and teach not such as how 
 we are to behave in the face of an enemy." 
 
 During these miserable Scottish wars, Northumber- 
 land was continually harassed by inroads from Scot- 
 land, in retaliation for the devastations caused by the 
 English in that countr)-. Hexham, about this time, 
 was twice plundered, and a strange story is told of 
 the second of these occasions, in which Wallace was 
 the leader. Three of the canons had returned to 
 their half-ruined abbey — the beautiful church which 
 now exists had just been finished — but again the 
 Scottish foe was upon them, demanding to know 
 where their treasures were hid. The poor canons 
 replied that they had just been deprived of every- 
 thing, and they who had taken all away knew best 
 where to find what they had taken. At this juncture 
 Wallace appeared, reproved his men, spoke kindly to 
 the canons, and requested one of them to say mass. 
 The priest complied, and Wallace assisted with great 
 reverence and devotion. At the elevation he retired 
 to lay aside his armour. In his absence the soldiers 
 rushed upon the priest, carried off the chalice, the 
 linen, and the missal itself. On Wallace's return, 
 when he saw what had taken place, he was highly 
 incensed with his men, and ordered the culprits to be 
 sought out and put to death. Then he desired the 
 canons to keep by him and they would be in safety ; 
 " My people," he added, " are full of mischief, and I
 
 lyo DURHAM. 
 
 cannot keep them in order," The Scottish host went 
 on ravaging the neighbourhood for two days with fire 
 and sword, but the canons were safe, and when the 
 Scottish leader departed, he left with them letters of 
 safe conduct and protection. 
 
 In the year 1300, at the instance of some of the 
 senior monks who were dissatified with Prior Hotoun's 
 administration, the Bishop proposed to hold a visita- 
 tion of the convent. The prior declined to receive 
 him unless he came unattended. Upon this, the 
 Bishop excommunicated, suspended, and finally de- 
 posed the prior. The convent was divided — some 
 held with the Bishop, some with the prior — while 
 others, unwiUing to be involved in the quarrel, stood 
 neutral. The Bishop's servants began to annoy the 
 prior and his servants in every way, and, but for the 
 interference of some of the monks, would have put 
 him in prison. The king interfered, and effected 
 an outward reconciliation for the time : — The prior 
 was to retain his office ; the Bishop was to visit with 
 three or four clerics, and the king declared that he 
 would take part against whichever of them again 
 broke the peace. And he kept his word. About 
 this time, the men of the Bishoprick also had a com- 
 plaint against the Bishop, He had required them to 
 serve under him in the Scottish wars, and had im- 
 prisoned some who had returned home without leave. 
 They pleaded that they were Haliwercfolc, bound only 
 to serve as the guardians of the body of St. Cuthbert 
 within the Tyne and the Tees, and not liable to be 
 called upon, either by the bishop or the king, to 
 serve elsewhere. The barons of the palatinate,
 
 ANTONY BEK. 171 
 
 especially Lord Neville of Raby and Brancepeth, 
 supported the complainants, and brought the case 
 before Parliament. This led the Barons also to take 
 a favourable view of the Prior's side in his contest 
 with the Bishop. But, nothing daunted, the Bishop 
 called the monks together, and required them to 
 elect a new prior. On their refusal, he appointed 
 Henry de Luceby, Prior of Holy Island, to be 
 Prior of Durham. Then ensued a strange scene 
 of violence. The Bishop brought his men from 
 Weardale and Tynedale, to expel the old Prior and 
 bring in the new. They besieged the Prior and 
 the monks of his party in the abbey; would not 
 suffer any provisions to be taken in ; broke do\\Ti the 
 aqueduct, and the gates of the priory and cloister, 
 assaulted a monk who went to fetch water from the 
 well in the cloister-yard, poured out his water, and 
 broke his pitcher. For three days the Prior and 
 forty-six monks were shut up in the church with 
 nothing among them but six loaves and sixteen her- 
 rings. Nevertheless they were more diligent than ever 
 in celebrating the divine offices. On the third day 
 a Tynedale man was sent to pull the prior out of his 
 stall ; but he was so awed by his venerable appear- 
 ance that he dared not lay a hand on him. A monk 
 of the Bishop's party was found less scrupulous — 
 Prior Richard was seized and imprisoned, and Luceby 
 installed. The new Prior is said to have acted his 
 part well, insomuch that they said that if he had 
 come to his office in a legitimate way, he ought to 
 have been reckoned a very excellent head of the 
 house.
 
 172 DURHAM. 
 
 It was not long before Prior Hotoun escaped from 
 prison, and he lost no time in carrying his complaint 
 to the king, who was holding a Parliament at Lincoln. 
 Another cause of offence now emerged between the 
 king and the Bishop. The king asked the Bishop 
 whether he stood with him against the Earl Marshal 
 and the Earl of Hereford. It was the time when 
 these noblemen were contending against Edward's 
 arbitrary and despotic exactions. The Bishop re- 
 phed that these noblemen were acting for the profit 
 and honour of the realm and the sovereign, and 
 therefore he held with them, and not with the 
 king against them. The king hated the Bishop 
 for ever after this. On this occasion Anthony had 
 with him his usual following of a hundred and 
 forty knights. 
 
 The Prior now set off for Rome with com- 
 mendatory letters from the king, and obtained a 
 favourable decision from the Pope. The envoys 
 of the bishop wished to make it appear that the 
 Prior had voluntarily resigned. His holiness — 
 it was Boniface VIII. — replied that no one who 
 knew what it was to be Prior of Durham would ever 
 resign his office of his own accord. Hotoun now 
 returned to Durham and was received with joy. 
 Luceby and his friends, after meanly attempting to 
 carry off some of the silver plate, were forced to 
 withdraw. The Bishop had been summoned to 
 answer for himself at Rome, but had not appeared 
 in person. He was now summoned again under 
 a threat of deprivation. Upon this he betook him- 
 self to Rome with such a retinue and such magnifi-
 
 ANTONY BEK. 1 73 
 
 cence as to raise wonder everywhere.'^ There was no 
 danger of such a man losing a cause at the Curia. 
 The Prior's complaint was dismissed as frivolous, and 
 the Bishop was treated with all honour and respect by 
 Boniface and his cardinals. 
 
 The Prior's complaint obtained more attention from 
 the king during Bek's absence at Rome, Edward 
 seized the temporalities of the see and appointed a 
 chancellor and justiciary of his own to hear all the 
 Prior's grievances. The inquisition was made before 
 men chosen from Northumberland ; the men of the 
 Bishopric being open to suspicion as likely to have 
 some partiality either for the Bishop or for the Prior. 
 The Prior was successful, and the Bishop was cast in 
 very heavy damages. On the death of Boniface VIII. 
 the Prior was again accused by the Bishop before his 
 successor Benedict. But before long Benedict also 
 died, and the Bishop lost all the expenses incurred in 
 the prosecution of the new suit. Clement V., the 
 
 * Riding through the streets of Rome he created a great sen- 
 sation. A stranger asked, " Who is this ?" and a citizen replied, 
 "An enemy of money." One of the cardinals greatly admired 
 his horses. He sent him two that he might choose one of them 
 as a present. His eminence kept both. The bishop remarked, 
 with an oath, " He has not failed to keep the best." He thought 
 nothing of giving the benediction when a cardinal was present, 
 and was bold enough to play with a bird before the Pope him- 
 self. In one place he came to, a quarrel arose Ijetween his 
 servants and the town's-people, which rose so high that some of 
 the authorities rushed into his chamber with swords and clubs 
 as if he were a thief, shouting, "Yield thee, yield ! " Bek re- 
 plied, with an oath, " You have failed to tell me to whom I am 
 to yield, certainly to none of you." On this occasion he would 
 have been slain but for timely help. _j
 
 174 DURHAM. 
 
 first of the Avignon Pontiffs, succeeded. In his first 
 year he made Antony Patriarch of Jerusalem, and 
 again suspended the Prior. Again, encouraged by 
 the king, the Prior betook himself to the papal court. 
 Here the goodly and venerable presence, which had 
 awed the Tynedale man in the Abbey, had its due 
 effect on Clement and his Cardinals, — perhaps a pay- 
 ment of a thousand marks had still more influence : 
 anyhow, for this price the prior once more got a 
 decision in his favour. But the Prior died before 
 he left Avignon, and all his goods, money, and 
 jewels were confiscated to the pope's chamber. 
 The monks who were at Avignon with the prior were 
 now desired to elect some one on whom the pope 
 might confer the vacant office. It was in fact offered 
 to one of them, but he rejected the proposal with 
 indignation, asking if they wished men to say that he 
 had poisoned his prior that he might step into his 
 office. In the meantime both the king and the 
 bishop wrote in favour of William de Tanfield, Prior of 
 Wetherall, who was consequently appointee], or rather 
 the office was sold to him, for he had to pay 3,000 
 marks to the pope and 1,000 to the cardinals. 
 
 The king was very angry with the Bishop for having 
 rejected his mediation in the case of the Prior as well 
 as for other causes, and took from him Barnard 
 Castle, forfeited by Baliol, and Hartlepool, forfeited 
 by Bruce ; giving Barnard Castle to the Earl of 
 Warwick, and Hartlepool to Robert de Clifford. 
 But the grants were made " saving the rights of the 
 Church of Durham, and they were confirmed by the 
 chapter." The historian bewails all the harm these
 
 ANTONY BEK. 1 75 
 
 dissensions did to the church, — the loss of valuable 
 lives in exile, bitterness, mutual distrust, and relaxa- 
 tion of discipline ever}^where, every one doing just as 
 he wished. Besides this the chapter was involved in 
 very great expenses at the very time . they were 
 suffering great losses from the inroads of the Scots. 
 The Bishop, in February, 1308, visited the convent, 
 and suspended the old Prior's friends for ten years, 
 but after his death the Archbishop cancelled the 
 suspension. 
 
 On the 3rd March, 13 10, Antony Bek closed his 
 career. He had the sovereignty of the Isle of Man 
 conferred on him by Edward II., so that when he 
 died he was King, Patriarch, Bishop, and Palatine. 
 Besides the very ample revenues of his see, he had a 
 large private fortune. It was alleged that Alnwick 
 Castle, having been conveyed to him by William, 
 Lord de Vesci, in trust for his illegitimate son, the 
 bishop sold it on his own behoof to Lord Percy, 
 to whose family it has belonged ever since. He 
 was supposed to have been irritated by some dis- 
 respectful thing the bastard had said of him. His 
 public works were numerous and splendid. He built 
 a magnificent chapel and hall at Auckland, which he 
 turned from a manor house into a castle. He appro- 
 priated the Rectory of Morpeth for the support of the 
 chaplains, but after his death, Ralf, Baron of Grey- 
 stock, succeeded in annulling the grant. He founded 
 a collegiate church at Chester-le-Street for a Dean and 
 seven prebendaries, and another at Lan Chester. His 
 castle at Somerton, near Lincoln, and his manor 
 house at Eltham, in Kent, were beautiful specimens
 
 176 DURHAM. 
 
 of architecture. The former he presented to the 
 king, and the latter to the queen. The ruins of 
 Eltham still attest its original beauty. Here he died, 
 after a pontificate of twenty-eight years, during the 
 last five of which he had been Patriarch of Jerusalem. 
 He was buried in the Cathedral at Durham, being the 
 first to whom that honour was conceded. As, out of 
 reverence to St. Cuthbert, no corpse had ever been 
 allowed to enter the church before, his body was not 
 brought in by a door, but an opening was made in 
 the wall for the purpose. Notwithstanding his profuse 
 expenditure, he died possessed of immense wealth 
 in land, money, and jewels. He was a man of 
 unbounded pride and ambition, impatient of contra- 
 diction, inveterate and implacable in his resentments ; 
 but the chief points of his character have been 
 already sufficiently indicated by what has been said 
 of the events of his life. 
 
 Immediately after the death of Bishop Bek, the 
 Prior and convent seized the jurisdiction and ap- 
 pointed officers to exercise it. This roused the Arch- 
 bishop, who claimed the custody of the see during a 
 vacancy, and he proceeded to excommunicate the 
 Prior and some of the monks, as well as the officers 
 whom they had appointed. The Prior and monks 
 were now at a loss with regard to the election of a 
 Bishop, for they were well aware that the Archbishop 
 would never accept any one elected by persons under 
 excommunication. To avoid the difficulty it was 
 agreed to delegate the formal choice of a Bishop to 
 those of their number who had not been excommuni- 
 cated. In the meantime interest was made in the
 
 RICHARD DE KELLAW. 177 
 
 king's name for a foreigner, a kinsman of the king, 
 Antoline de Pysana, and Piers Gaveston, the king's 
 unworthy favourite, is said to have offered heavy 
 bribes to the monks if they would elect Antoline. 
 The chapter, apprehensive of falling under the 
 favourite's displeasure, endeavoured to excuse them- 
 selves to the king : — Antoline, they said, was unknown 
 to them, and was, as they had been informed, under 
 the canonical age. The king replied that he was 
 worse than that, for he was a renegade Augustinian 
 monk — a proof, says the historian, that kings some- 
 times make requests for things which they have not 
 much at heart. All this passed in a very short time : 
 for, a fortnight after Bishop Bek's death the chapter 
 elected one of their own number, Richard de 
 Kellaw. He was accepted by the king, and con- 
 secrated, the archbishop having recalled the excom- 
 munication before the confirmation of the new bishop. 
 Bishop Kellaw lived in great harmony with the 
 convent, having always three or four of the monks 
 with him. He undid all that Antony had done to 
 their prejudice, and conferred many benefits on them. 
 But the king very soon took a dislike to him, chiefly 
 because he could not conscientiously take part with 
 him against the opponents of his favourite, Piers 
 Gaveston. There was also a quarrel about a retainer 
 of the king, characterized by the chroniclers as a 
 robber, who was slain by some of the bishop's 
 servants. The king tried to induce the pontiff to 
 remove Bishop Kellaw from Durham. But, when 
 Edward was on his way to Bannockburn, the bishop 
 and the king were reconciled. The bishop made 
 
 N
 
 1 78 DURHAM. 
 
 Edward a gift of i,ooo marks and a horse of great 
 value. The latter Edward gave to the Earl of 
 Gloucester, who was slain while riding on it at 
 Bannockburn. The king promised to restore to the 
 see Barnard Castle and Hartlepool, a promise which 
 he was unable to fulfil. 
 
 Bishop Kellaw was a man of learning and of high 
 character, eloquent, and of dignified manners. He 
 was most conscientious in the discharge of his duty. 
 Rank was of no avail to shelter an offender, for he 
 excommunicated Lord Neville, of Raby, one of the 
 most powerful barons of the Bishoprick, for refusing to 
 do penance for a disgraceful crime. A set of banditti, 
 called shavalds, about this time infested the Bishoprick; 
 these he put down, hanging some and driving away 
 the rest. Throughout his time the North suffered 
 most severely from the inroads of the Scots. In his 
 second year the city of Durham was burned, but the 
 castle and the abbey were fortunately too strong for 
 the enemy, and escaped. The men of the Bishoprick 
 on this occasion made a separate truce, and bought 
 off the Scots with i,ooo marks. In 13 14 the inde- 
 pendence of Scotland was secured, by the memorable 
 battle of Bannockburn. The dissensions between 
 Edward II. and his barons prevented any really 
 effectual measures being taken for the defence of the 
 country. In another incursion of the Scots, Beau- 
 repair, the lovely retirement of the prior, at a little 
 distance from Durham, was plundered, and the prior 
 himself, who was surprised at mass, chased to the 
 very gates of Durham, These incursions, and a suc- 
 cession of bad seasons, brought on a terrible famine
 
 LEWIS DE BEAUMONT. 1 79 
 
 — a quarter of wheat was sold for forty shillings — and 
 the tales that are told of the state of the people are 
 almost too horrible for belief. In the midst of these 
 calamities, 9th October, 13 16, the good bishop died 
 at Middleham, after an episcopate, all too short, of 
 five years. ^ 
 
 There was now great competition for the wealthy 
 and powerful see of Durham, and of course a wide 
 field was opened for intrigue. The king, the Earl of 
 Lancaster, and the Earl of Hereford, had each his 
 candidate, while Queen Isabella was very earnest on 
 behalf of her kinsman, Lewis de Bellomonte, or de 
 Beaumont. Notwithstanding all this, the chapter 
 elected Henry de Stamford, Prior of Finchale, whose 
 chief recommendation was his age and his excellent 
 character. But at the urgent request of the queen, 
 who is said to have gone down on her bare knees, the 
 king disallowed the election, and applied to the pope 
 to bestow the Bishoprick on Beaumont. Stamford 
 went to Rome to plead his own cause, but found he 
 was too late. The kings of England and France had 
 prevailed, and Lewis, who was akin to both, had been 
 made Bishop of Durham. But so large a sum was 
 exacted from him by the papal court that he was hardly 
 able to pay it in fourteen years, out of the revenues 
 of his rich see. Lewis was a weak, vain man, 
 
 ' The Register of Bishop Kellaw is one of the very few 
 Episcopal Registers of Durham that are now extant. From 
 several entries in this Register it appears that it was not 
 uncommon in those days for parochial clergymen to obtain 
 licenses of non- residence for a certain time, that they might 
 study in the schools. 
 
 N 2
 
 l8o DURHAM. 
 
 very obstinate and masterful. He was so ignorant of 
 Latin, that at his consecration, though for many days 
 previously he had been learning his lesson, he could 
 not read his profession of obedience. When, by dint 
 of prompting, he had with difficulty come to the word 
 "Metropoliticse" he came to a stand, and finished by 
 saying in French, Seyt pur dife, — " Let it be under- 
 stood as said." Bystanders were aghast at such a man 
 being Bishop of Durham. Afterwards, at an ordina- 
 tion, when he came to the words, "in aenigmate," and 
 could not pronounce them, he burst out. Far Seynt 
 Letais, il nefu pas curtays, qui cest parole icy escrit, — 
 "By St. Lewis, he wanted courtesy who wrote that 
 word here." 
 
 A strange mishap befel him at his first introduction 
 to the Bishoprick. At the time he was travelling to 
 the North two cardinals were on their way to the 
 King of Scots to endeavour to persuade him to make 
 peace. Lewis travelled with them, hoping to have 
 the eclat of being consecrated by the cardinals, and 
 enthroned at the same time. They were accompanied 
 by Henry de Beaumont, the Bishop's brother, and a 
 great array of ecclesiastics. When they came to 
 Rushyford, Gilbert de Middleton set upon them with 
 an armed array, stripped the cardinals of their purple 
 and of their papers, and left them to find their way to 
 Scotland as they best could. The Bishop and his 
 brother were carried off to Mitford Castle, near Mor- 
 peth, and held to ransom. It has been thought 
 they acted in concert with the Scottish king, who had 
 reason to believe that the cardinals were charged 
 with no friendly or respectful message to him.
 
 LEWIS DE BEAUMONT. l8l 
 
 The capture of the Bishop was doubtless their own 
 private enterprise, and it throws a strange hght 
 on the disorderly state of the country and the weak- 
 ness of the Government, when such a thing was 
 possible. It cost the convent a very large sum to 
 ransom the bishop, but before long Middleton was 
 surprised in Mitford Castle, of which he was only the 
 governor and not the owner, carried to London, 
 and hanged. 
 
 Notwithstanding his obligations to the convent, the 
 Bishop treated the monks with great harshness and 
 disdain. In vain they tried to conciliate him with 
 gifts. He would say to them, " Do nothing for 
 me, as I do nothing for you. Pray for my death, 
 for while I live I will shew you no favour." He 
 encroached on their rights, and oppressed them by 
 his exactions. Nor were they at peace among them- 
 selves. When the bishop and the convent were at 
 variance, some of the monks were sure to take his 
 part, and hence arose dissensions among them. The 
 prior, Geoffrey Burdon, wearied out with this state of 
 things, resigned. He is said to have discharged the 
 duties of his office well, and among other things it is 
 noticed that he was very strict in the admission of 
 novices, not heeding the solicitations even of the great ; 
 a remark which shows that admission into this great 
 and wealthy monastery had become an object which 
 even great people thought desirable for their friends. 
 
 In the first year of Edward III. the bishop brought 
 before Parliament the claim of his see to the forfeitures 
 for treason within the palatinate, and the award, after 
 a long and patient investigation was given in favour of
 
 l82 DURHAM. 
 
 the prelate ; but in the end it led to little or nothing, 
 probably because the Beauchamps and Cliffords were 
 too powerful to be disturbed. The former continued 
 to hold Barnard Castle absolutely, but though the 
 Cliffords kept possession of Hartness, they professed 
 to hold it of the bishop, and not of the crown. 
 
 The Scottish wars continued during the greater 
 part of Bishop Beaumont's episcopate. In 1327, the 
 Scots invaded the northern counties, spreading fire 
 and desolation everywhere, and a very large and well- 
 appointed English army was sent against them accom- 
 panied by the young king, Edward III. The two 
 armies met in Weardale, but the English were com- 
 pletely baffled by the tactics of the Scottish leaders. 
 The result was a treaty in which Bruce's title, and the 
 independence of Scotland were completely secured. 
 Part of the agreement provided for the restoration of 
 ecclesiastical property, but it appears that a small pos- 
 session on the Scottish side, near Norham, was detained 
 from the Bishop of Durham. He protested, and his 
 protest was a link, though a minute one, in the chain 
 of events which led his brother, Henry Beaumont, 
 and some other barons, into intrigues which resulted 
 in the setting-up of Edward, the son of John Bahol, 
 as king of Scotland, in place of the infant son of 
 Robert, and in the crushing defeat of the Scots at 
 Halidon Hill. The Scots may well have been tempted 
 to regret that the capture of Henry Beaumont by 
 Gilbert Middleton in the beginning of his brother's 
 episcopate had been followed by no consequences 
 more serious than a temporary detention at Mitford 
 Castle.
 
 LEWIS DE BEAUMONT. 1 83 
 
 Lewis had a dispute with the Archbishop of York 
 about the visitation of certain churches in Yorkshire 
 belonging to the convent of Durham. To prevent 
 the Archbishop from visiting them he brought men 
 from the Bishoprick, Northumberland and Tynedale, 
 who were quite prepared to kill the primate. But he 
 contrived to evade them ; — then, as soon as they had 
 withdrawn, he returned. Thus, by keeping out of 
 their way, though never losing sight of his object, he 
 succeeded in baffling the Bishop, who was put to very 
 great expenses for maintaining them in the field. 
 The whole affords a curious illustration of Beau- 
 mont's character and the roughness of the times. 
 The Bishop obtained a bull from Rome em- 
 powering him to appoint as Prior of Durham any 
 member of the house whom he chose, and another 
 assigning to him a fourth part of the revenue of the 
 prior while the Scottish war lasted, but as his Council 
 knew that these bulls had been procured on false 
 pretences, they prevailed on him not to make use of 
 them, — a circumstance which seems to indicate that 
 the Bishop was not all-powerful without his Council. 
 
 Bishop Beaumont died in 1335, and was honoured 
 with a magnificent funeral at Durham. A great 
 marble slab, which he had himself provided for the 
 purpose, was laid over his grave, in front of the high 
 altar, where it still remains, though despoiled of its 
 magnificent brasses. He was plainly one of whom the 
 Church of Durham has no reason to be proud, but his 
 character has been already sufficiently indicated, and is 
 illustrated by the events of his life. His countenance 
 is said to have been handsome, but he was lame in
 
 184 DURHAM. 
 
 both his feet. He " was pure in his life, but wholly 
 laic in his manners." 
 
 Robert de Graystanes, Sub-Prior of Durham, the 
 historian of the Church, who has been our guide 
 since the time of Bishop Philip de Pictavia, was now 
 elected by the chapter. He was a man of high charac- 
 ter, whose excellencies were admitted even by those 
 who were opposed to his election. The Archbishop 
 confirmed the election, and went so far as to consecrate 
 him, and he was actually enthroned ; but when he 
 sued for the restitution of the temporalities, King 
 Edward HI. refused to recognise him, having already 
 solicited and obtained from the pope the appoint- 
 ment of his own tutor, Richard de Bury. Graystanes 
 was forced to give way, and in his own account 
 of the matter there is a very curious blending of 
 resignation and disappointment. 
 
 The new prelate was a complete contrast to his 
 predecessor, — very learned, kind to the poor, and on 
 friendly terms with the men of the Bishoprick, many 
 of whose sons were educated in his palace and 
 helped forward in their career. He was the son of 
 Sir Richard D'Angerville, Knight, and was born at 
 Bury St. Edmunds, from which place, as was not 
 uncommon with ecclesiastics, he took his surname 
 of de Bury. His father died when he was young, 
 but his education was cared for by an uncle. After 
 a distinguished career at Oxford, he was chosen to 
 be tutor to the young Prince of Wales, afterwards 
 Edward IH. He accompanied that prince and 
 Queen Isabella, his mother, when they withdrew 
 into France, and having supplied them with money,
 
 RICHARD DE BURY. 185 
 
 which had been collected in Guienne for the king, he 
 incurred the wrath of the De Spensers, and was pur- 
 sued so hotly by them, that he was forced to hide 
 himself for a week in the belfry of a church at Paris. 
 When his royal pupil came to the throne, which he 
 did at a very early age, preferment, both ecclesiastical 
 and civil, was rapidly heaped upon de Bury. During 
 the next five years he was sent twice as ambassador 
 to Pope John XXI I. at Avignon, by whom he was 
 received with great distinction. At Paris, on his 
 return from his second embassy, he heard that the 
 Bishop of Durham had died, and that King Edward 
 had sent letters to the pope, requesting that he might 
 be appointed to the vacancy. He expressed great 
 regret at the news, and declined, when it was proposed 
 to him, to take any steps to promote his advancement. 
 On his arrival in England he was consecrated by the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, all the attendant expenses 
 being defrayed by the king. In the summer of next 
 year he was enthroned, and made a great feast on the 
 occasion, at which the king and the queen, the queen's 
 mother, the King of Scotland, with a great number of 
 prelates and nobles, were present. Soon after, he was 
 made Chancellor of England, and continued to be 
 employed in various embassies during the next nine 
 years. One finds it difficult to reconcile this recital of 
 his public employments with the accounts we have of 
 his devotion to learning, and to the duties of his 
 episcopal oftice, but both seem to be true. He was 
 one of the foremost pioneers in the revival of learn- 
 ing, insatiable in reading and in collecting books. 
 He maintained a correspondence with learned men,
 
 1 86 DURHAM. 
 
 among the rest with Petrarch, and entertained in his 
 family many eminent scholars who afterwards rose to 
 eminence, among whom were Thomas Bradwardine, 
 soon after Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Fitzralf, 
 afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, with many more. 
 Every day at table, unless the arrival of persons of 
 importance prevented it, reading went on, followed by 
 discussion. He is said to have had more books at 
 his different houses than all the other bishops of 
 England, and he kept constantly employed a host of 
 collectors, transcribers, illuminators, and bookbinders. 
 That the treasures he had collected might not be 
 lost, he left a large part of them to the library of 
 Durham college, Oxford, and he wrote a book, which 
 is still extant, called Philobiblion, in which, amongst 
 other things, he relates how he became possessed of 
 his collections, and lays down rules for the preserva- 
 tion and use of books. Some passages are very 
 curious and interesting. Speaking of the manner in 
 which he collected books, he tells us that many 
 opportunities which he eagerly seized, were afforded 
 by his foreign employments ; that when people got to 
 know how eagerly he sought after books, they were 
 forward in coming to offer them, either in gift or for 
 sale; that the stores of monasteries were opened to 
 him, and poor monks, whom he always befriended, took 
 pains to help ; France, Germany, and Italy, were all 
 laid under contribution ; whoever brought a book 
 was always welcome. His rules as to taking care of 
 books are amusing, but we pass on to his eulogy on 
 them. Books are most patient and kind teachers, — 
 " these are the masters who instruct without birch or
 
 RICHARD DE BURY. 1 87 
 
 rods, without scolding or anger, needing neither bread 
 nor money. When you go to them they are never 
 asleep, they do not hide themselves, they never 
 grumble, and if you make a mistake they never laugh 
 at your ignorance." It is said that in each of his 
 different manors the floor of his bedroom was so 
 encumbered with books that one could hardly move 
 or find a place to stand without treading on a book. 
 
 Bishop de Bury was very kind to the poor, being 
 very systematic in his almsgiving, and he also con- 
 ferred many rich ornaments on the Church of Durham. 
 He died after a long illness at Bishop Auckland, in 
 1345, and was buried in the cathedral, but no monu- 
 ment appears to have been raised to his memory. 
 
 During his time John Fossour succeeded to the 
 priorate, who did a great deal for the adornment of 
 the cathedral, many of the great windows being the 
 result of his labours.
 
 1 88 DURHAM. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SCOTTISH WARS. 
 
 FOR LO, THE KINGS OF THE EARTH ARE GATHERED AND 
 
 GONE BY TOGETHER ; 
 THEY MARVELLED TO SEE SUCH THINGS ; 
 THEY WERE ASTONISHED, AND SUDDENLY CAST DOWN ; 
 FEAR CAME UPON THEM AND SORROW. 
 
 The next bishop was Thomas de Hatfield, keeper 
 of the Privy Seal. Like de Bury he was more in- 
 debted to the king and the holy see than to the 
 chapter for his preferment. The pope was Clement 
 VI., one of the worst of the Avignon Pontiffs, and was 
 trembling at the time for his hold over England, when 
 the king applied for his sanction to the appointment of 
 Hatfield. Some of the cardinals objected that Hat- 
 field was too much of a layman, but Clement replied 
 that if the King of England had applied for an ass, he 
 would have been ready to gratify him. Though pos- 
 sessed of Church preferment, Hatfield had served in 
 the French wars, and it may be that the king did not 
 think him the less suited for the Palatinate of Dur- 
 ham in these troublous times. The beginning of his 
 episcopate was signalized by a great victory over the 
 Scots at Neville's Cross, in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood of Durham. 
 
 Among the Barons of the Palatinate there were none
 
 THOMAS DE HATFIELD. 189 
 
 more powerful than the Nevilles of Raby and Brance- 
 peth, and none whose history is so closely connected 
 with that of the Church of Durham. Their ancestor, 
 Gilbert de Neville, was one of the Norman followers 
 of the Conqueror. His grandson Geoffrey, by his 
 marriage with the heiress of the Bulmers, became 
 Lord of Brancepeth. He died, leaving an only 
 daughter, and she became the wife of Robert Fitz- 
 meldred, Lord of Raby, who thereupon assumed the 
 name of Neville. Fitzmeldred was a lineal descendant 
 of Uchtred, Earl of Northumberland, whom we have 
 seen assisting the Bishop Aldhun in the erection of 
 the first cathedral at Durham. Raby and Staindrop- 
 shire were part of the possessions of the convent 
 given to the Church by King Canute, and in 1131, 
 after the death of Ralf Flambard, the convent de- 
 mised them to Dolfin, the great grandson of Uchtred, 
 and father of Robert Fitzmeldred, to be held by a 
 yearly payment of four pounds and the gift of a stag 
 on the Feast of the Translation of St. Cuthbert, the 
 4th of September. Ranulf, the third Lord Neville, 
 whom we have seen encouraging the men of the 
 Bishoprick in their resistance to Bishop Bek, and 
 afterwards excommunicated by Bishop Kellaw, had 
 a ridiculous dispute with the Prior of Durham, in 
 reference to the offering of the stag. It seems to 
 have been customary, when the stag was brought to 
 Durham, for Lord Neville to dine with the prior, and 
 for his servants also to be provided with refreshments ; 
 but Ranulf not only claimed as a right that he and 
 whomsoever he thought fit to bring with him should 
 feast at the prior's expense, but also that the prior's
 
 IQO DURHAM. 
 
 servants should be set aside for the time and that the 
 Lord of Raby with his friends should be waited on by 
 his own servants. The prior resisted this demand as 
 unreasonable, and likely to be oppressive, for the 
 trains of the nobility in those days were very nume- 
 rous. He alleged that Neville never dined with him 
 but by invitation, and that the refreshment offered to 
 -the servants was also a matter of courtesy. The prior 
 was willing to exercise hospitality, but would not 
 yield to a claim of right. Ranulf cared not for the 
 entertainment, but insisted on what he called his 
 right. Finally, the prior refused to accept the stag on 
 the terms imposed by Neville. As had been customary, 
 the stag was brought into the church with great cere- 
 mony and winding of horns, but the offering was 
 rejected in accordance with the prior's orders, and the 
 baron's servants were offended. From words they 
 came to blows. Neville's servants began to beat the 
 monks who were in attendance at the altar — but 
 were not allowed to have it all their own way, for 
 the monks, seizing the great wax tapers which were 
 at hand, belaboured the baron's servants till they 
 were forced to retreat. They would not, however, 
 condescend to take back the stag, which, in their 
 view of the case, had been so discourteously refused. 
 
 When Ranulf Neville died he was succeeded by 
 his son Ralf, a man of a very different temper, who, 
 though at first disposed to continue the dispute, 
 yielded eventually to the proofs and arguments ad- 
 duced, and gave up the point. Ralf was contem- 
 porary with Bishop Hatfield, and we now return to 
 the course of the history.
 
 BISHOP HATFIELD — THE NEVILLES. IQI 
 
 In the year 1346 Edward III. was in France, and 
 David, king of Scotland, the foolish son of a wise 
 father, resolved to take advantage of his absence to 
 invade England. The more prudent of his coun- 
 sellors would have dissuaded him, but the fooHsh and 
 headstrong youth listened rather to those who assured 
 him that " the country was bare of fighting men, and 
 that none but cowardly clerks and mean mechanics 
 stood between him and a march to London." The 
 event proved how much they were mistaken. Al- 
 though Edward was in France, Ralf Neville, with his 
 son John, Henry Percy, and the border barons, with 
 the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham, 
 mustered their forces for the defence of the north. 
 David advanced to Hexham, and for fourteen days 
 ravaged the neighbouring parts of the Bishoprick of 
 Durham. A monkish historian tells us that he was 
 warned by St. Cuthbert in a dream to spare the 
 saint's territory ; but the warning was unheeded, and 
 the young king approached the very gates of Durham. 
 Near Sunderland Bridge he was met by the English 
 lords, and a desperate battle was fought at the 
 Red Hills near Durham, which ended in the 
 total defeat of the Scots. Fifteen thousand 
 were slain. The king himself, the Bishop of St. 
 Andrews, another bishop, and many of the Scottish 
 nobility were taken prisoners. The victory was as- 
 cribed by the monks of Durham to the presence of 
 the sacred_banner of St. Cuthbert, part of which con- 
 sisted of the linen napkin with which St. Cuthbert 
 was believed to have covered the chalice when he 
 said mass. John Fossour, the prior, had been com-
 
 192 DURHAM. 
 
 manded in a dream the night before to carry it out 
 into the field. The prior obeyed, and with a com- 
 pany of monks repaired to a place called the Maiden's 
 Bower, near the field of battle, and knelt in prayer 
 for deliverance from their assailants. 
 
 After the victory, Ralf Neville and his son John, 
 who had also been present in the battle, went to the 
 cathedral to return thanks. The sacred banner of St. 
 Cuthbert, the banner of Lord Neville, and the banner 
 of the Scottish king were hung up on St. Cuthbert's 
 shrine as tokens of thanksgiving. The Black Rood 
 of Scotland, the object of St. Margaret the Queen's 
 reverence, which gives the name to the abbey and 
 palace of Holyrood at Edinburgh, had been carried 
 with the army on this occasion, and fell into the 
 hands of the victors. It was a crucifix with St. Mary 
 and St. John made of silver, and " as it were, smoked 
 all over," and was now " set up most exactUe in 
 the pillar next to St. Cuthbert's shrine in the south 
 alley of the abbey." A hymn of thanksgiving was 
 appointed to be sung every year on the 17 th of 
 October, the anniversary of the battle, on the top of 
 the great tower of the church, from which, doubtless, 
 the inmates of the abbey who remained at home had 
 watched the field with keen and thrilling interest, 
 knowing that the fate of St. Cuthbert's city and 
 church itself was trembling in the balance. It 
 seemed as if " the adversary and the enemy " were 
 about to enter " into the gates of Jerusalem," but the 
 calamity had been averted. The banners and the 
 Black Rood remained in the church until the Refor- 
 mation. The hymn is still chanted year by year on the
 
 THE NEVILLES. 193 
 
 top of the great tower, but the day has been changed 
 to the 29th of May. A beautiful cross of stone \Yas 
 erected by Lord Neville near the place of conflict, 
 a small part of which still remains, and retains the 
 name of Neville's Cross. 
 
 Ralf de Neville died in 1367, and it was probably 
 in consequence of the services which he had rendered 
 to the church and city of Durham, as well as to the 
 kingdom at large, by his bravery at Neville's Cross, 
 that permission was given for his burial within the 
 church, an honour which had never before been 
 accorded to a layman. In return for this favour a 
 costly vestment was presented to the church. The 
 funeral was a most magnificent one ; the body was 
 brought into the churchyard in a chariot drawn by 
 seven horses, and carried on the shoulders of knights 
 into the church, where the office of the dead was per- 
 formed by the abbot of St. Mary's at York, the bishop 
 being absent and the prior in ill health. Eight 
 horses, four for war and four for peace, were pre- 
 sented as an offering, with costly cloths of blue and 
 gold; and Alice, the deceased baron's widow, pre- 
 sented a large sum for the repairs of the church, with 
 various rich vestments for the celebration of mass on 
 the day of his anniversary. 
 
 John, Lord Neville, was hardly less distinguished 
 than his father, and did much for the adornment of 
 the church of Durham. In 1373 he contributed 
 largely to the erection of the beautiful screen which 
 still bears his name behind the high altar. It cost 
 800 marks, of which he contributed 600, or jCa°o- 
 It was formerly filled with statuary, and painted with 
 
 o
 
 194 DURHAM. 
 
 rich colours, when it must have had a very magni- 
 ficent appearance. Even now, though denuded of 
 statuary, and all of an uniform white colour, it is very 
 graceful. It was made in London, of stone said to 
 have been brought from France. At the same time 
 he presented a new bier for the cofhn of St. Cuthbert 
 in the shrine, made also in London of marble and 
 alabaster. It cost ^^200. John de Neville died in 
 1388, and was buried, like his father, in the cathedral. 
 The tombs of the two barons and their wives still 
 remain, though in a sadly mutilated condition. They 
 were defaced by Scottish prisoners in the time of the 
 Great Rebellion, when the cathedral was turned into 
 a prison by Cromwell, and 3,000 Scots were confined 
 there after the battle of Dunbar. A considerable 
 portion — it included three pillars — of the south aisle 
 of the nave of the cathedral was partitioned off as 
 the Neville porch or chapel, having an altar at its east 
 end, where mass was said daily for their souls. They 
 had also a church in the South Bailey, no doubt for 
 the use of their tenants and retainers in the city. Its 
 architecture, being of early character, proves its great 
 antiquity. 
 
 Bishop Hatfield lived for thirty-five years after the 
 battle of Neville's Cross, and maintained the dignity 
 of the palatinate by his vigorous administration, while 
 he was distinguished for his hospitality, and for his 
 kindness to the poor. He was also very liberal to 
 Durham College at Oxford, which had been founded 
 by Prior Hotoun, and the convent in 1290, had been 
 fostered by Bishop Bury, and finally completed by 
 Bishop Hatfield. Being partly a foundation for
 
 THOMAS DE HATFIELD. 1 95 
 
 monks, it fell at the dissolution of monasteries in the 
 time of Henry VIII. The site and buildings were 
 purchased by Sir Thomas Pope, and the college was 
 founded anew under the name of Trinity College. 
 Bishop Hatfield built a house for the residence 
 of the bishops of Durham when in London, and 
 Durham House in the Strand continued to be their 
 abode until the time of the Great Rebellion. He 
 also repaired and enlarged the castle of Durham. 
 In the cathedral he erected the magnificent episcopal 
 throne, the work of which resembles the Neville 
 screen, and prepared a tomb for himself beneath 
 it. After a long episcopate of thirty-six years, 
 Bishop Hatfield died after a tedious illness, at his 
 manor of Alford, near London, 8th May, 1381, and 
 was buried at Durham in the tomb just mentioned, 
 where his effigy may still be seen. He is said 
 to have been a man of commanding presence, and 
 venerable in his aspect. 
 
 In 1372 the convent had applied to Pope 
 Gregory XL, through the king, for leave to appro- 
 priate the church of Hemingborough in Yorkshire. 
 His holiness refused, and his epistle on the subject 
 shows the state of the monastery at that time. " The 
 king's letter asked for the im])vo\matior\, pvj>^er fieces- 
 sitates eis incumbentes. The pope replied that he was 
 informed the religious body consisted of 150 persons, 
 with four dependent abbeys where priors had been 
 instituted ; besides which, that they held, dependent 
 on the monastery, thirteen parish churches, while they 
 had the right of collation to many others ; that, by 
 reason of their opulence, they were guilty of great 
 
 o 2
 
 196 DURHAM. 
 
 enormities ; that when they travelled they were each 
 attended by three or four horsemen, and made an 
 appearance inconsistent with rehgious humihty ; and 
 that in their expenses, as well in provision for their 
 table, as in apparel and other ordinary matters, they 
 were guilty of great excess." ^ Ten years after we find 
 them applying to Pope Urban VI., and obtaining for 
 the prior the privilege of wearing a mitre, staff, ring, 
 sandals, and other pontifical insignia. The reason 
 assigned was that their house had an income of 5,000 
 marks sterling and more, and that the heads of other 
 houses of less importance had this privilege, to the 
 scandal of their church. 
 
 The chapter had great difficulty in coming to a 
 decision in the election of a successor. They 
 considered "that some of their own number were 
 sufficiently qualified, but feared to elect one of them- 
 selves." At length, on 30th May, 1381, the choice 
 fell on John de Fordham, a canon of York, and 
 secretary to King Richard II. He was consecrated 
 in 1382, and before long was made treasurer to the 
 king. Being suspected of giving bad advice to the 
 king, he became obnoxious to the party opposed to 
 the court, and in 1390 was compelled to exchange 
 Durham for the inferior bishopric of Ely. There he 
 remained as bishop for upwards of thirty-five years, 
 and died in extreme old age in 1425. 
 
 Walter Skirlaw, Bishop of Bath and Wells, was 
 chosen to fill the place vacated by Fordham's trans- 
 lation. He was, according to tradition, of humble 
 origin, and had been educated at Durham College, 
 
 ' Hutchinson "Hist. Durh.," vol. ii. p. 92.
 
 THOMAS LANGLEY. 1 97 
 
 Oxford. He proved to be a very munificent prelate. 
 In those days the building of bridges was enjoined 
 on wealthy churchmen as a work of humanity, 
 and we read of three built by Bishop Skirlaw 
 — one over the Tees at Yarm, another over the 
 Wear at Shincliffe, and a third at Auckland over the 
 Gannless. At Howden he built the tower of the 
 church to serve as a place of refuge for the inhabitants 
 in time of floods, and at the same place he erected a 
 beautiful chapter-house. Before his elevation to the 
 Episcopate he had contributed liberally to the erection 
 of the Great Tower of York jMinster, where his arms 
 are still to be seen. At Durham he began the con- 
 struction of the cloisters, and left a large sum for the 
 completion of the work, and the convent was also 
 largely helped by him in the building of the dormitory. 
 The foundation of three scholarships at University 
 College, Oxford, prove the interest he took in the pro- 
 motion of learning. After an episcopate of seventeen 
 years, during which he always stood high in the esteem 
 of his sovereign, Bishop Skirlaw died in 1406 and was 
 buried on the north side of the choir in the cathedral, 
 where his marble tomb with his effigy in brass long 
 stood surrounded by an iron railing, inside of which 
 was an altar where mass was said for the repose of his 
 soul. The railing was removed to make room for a 
 pew for ladies, and all trace of the tomb has dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 Thomas Langlev, Dean of York, Chancellor of 
 England, and five years afterwards a Cardinal, 
 succeeded, being an attached adherent of the House 
 of Lancaster. He filled the see in the time of three
 
 198 DURHAM. 
 
 kings, six years and a half in the time of Henry IV., 
 the whole of the reign of Henry V., and fifteeen years 
 under Henry VI. In the Galilee, which he repaired, 
 besides founding a chantry, he erected, in virtue of a 
 papal dispensation, a font for the baptism of the 
 children of excommunicated persons. Two schools 
 on the Palace Green were founded by him, one for in- 
 struction in grammar the other for plain song. The 
 public libraries at Oxford and Cambridge, the library 
 at Durham College, Oxford, at St. Mary's, Leicester, 
 and the College of Manchester, were all remembered 
 in his will, having valuable books bequeathed to 
 them. 
 
 Contemporary with Cardinal Langley was John 
 Wessington, who became Prior of Durham in 141 6, 
 resigned in 1446, and died not long after. He was a 
 man of great ability, and was in many ways of great 
 service to the church and cathedral. There is a long 
 list extant of his writings, almost entirely on the history 
 and the immunities of the church, and his works on 
 the cathedral were very extensive and costly, amount- 
 ing in all to nearly ;i^8,ooo, a very large sum in that 
 age. The account of the provision made for him by 
 the chapter on his resignation shows clearly how great 
 the dignity and state of the Lord Prior of Durham 
 had become. This instrument first recites the great 
 service he had rendered to the convent, and goes on 
 to assign him the apartment called Coldingham, in the 
 monastery of Durham, where he and his attendants 
 were to be provided by the bursar with all things neces- 
 sary in food, drink, and clothing — ''as befits the degree 
 of each." The attendants were five in number — a monk
 
 ROBERT NEVILLE. 1 99 
 
 as his chaplain, a gentleman (armiger), a clerk (cleri- 
 cus), a valet, and a page (garcio). Certain lands and the 
 profits of certain churches are assigned to him, besides 
 the provision made for him and his attendants within 
 the convent, and if, for health's sake, he should wish to 
 go elsewhere, he was to have the use of the best apart- 
 ment, and also of the apartment called Douglas Tower, 
 at Finchale, with all needful provision, having the op- 
 tion of returning to Durham at his discretion. 
 
 Weseington was succeeded by William de Ebchester, 
 and ten years after we find a similar provision made 
 on his retirement. 
 
 Cardinal Langley died in 1437 and shortly after, at 
 the request of the chapter, the pope translated Robert 
 Neville, son of Ralf, first Earl of Westmoreland, by 
 his second wife Joan, daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke 
 of Lancaster, and Catherine Swynford. Although Ralf, 
 Lord Neville, son of the John, Lord Neville formerly 
 mentioned, had been advanced to an earldom by King 
 Richard IL, he nevertheless took part in the deposi- 
 tion of the king, and in the advancement of his wife's 
 half brother, Henry of Lancaster, to the throne. He 
 founded a college at Staindrop, very near Raby Castle, 
 for a warden, six chaplains, six clerks, six squires, six 
 gentlemen, and six poor men. This seems to have 
 been the only institution of the kind founded by a lay- 
 man in the bishopric, the other collegiate churches 
 having been all founded by bishops. Lord Westmore- 
 land had a very large family — by his first wife, two 
 sons and seven daughters, and by the Lady Joan, his 
 second wife, eight sons and five daughters. The 
 eldest son by tlie Lady Joan was Richard, Earl of
 
 200 DURHAM. 
 
 Salisbury. The youngest daughter, Cicely, "the Rose 
 of Raby," was married to Richard, Duke of York, and 
 became the mother of Edward IV. and Richard III. 
 The Earl of Salisbury had four sons, the eldest of 
 whom was Richard, Earl of Warwick, " the Last of the 
 Barons," often called the kingmaker ; the youngest 
 George, Archbishop of York. Robert, Bishop of 
 Durham, was the fifth son of the Earl of Westmore- 
 land by his second wife. He was therefore the uncle 
 of the Earl of Warwick, and also of Edward IV. and 
 Richard III., but he did not live to witness the revolu- 
 tion which placed his nephew Edward on the throne 
 of England. 
 
 Bishop Neville had a peaceful episcopate of nine- 
 teen years. He did not oppress his vassals, but the 
 immense revenues of the see appear to have been 
 spent to a great extent in the county from which they 
 were derived. Little is known of his private life, but 
 there is evidence that he kept up the palatine court 
 in its full splendour, and the offices of his household 
 and the Bishoprick were filled by the gentry of the 
 Palatinate, many of them his own kindred. He built 
 the exchequer at the gates of Durham Castle, now 
 part of the University Library. 
 
 In autumn, 1448, the gentle and pious king, Henry 
 VI., then about twenty-seven years of age, paid a visit 
 to the shrine of St. Cuthbert at Durham, and was for 
 some days the guest of the bishop. He arrived on 
 the 26th September and remained till the end of the 
 month. On the Sunday, and on the Feast of St. 
 Michael, he personally assisted at first vespers, in the 
 procession, at mass, and at second vespers. On his
 
 ROBERT NEVILLE — LAURENCE BOOTH. 201 
 
 return southwards, the good king wrote a letter ex- 
 pressing the gratification he had derived from his 
 visit. There were three things which pleased him. 
 T. The "noble manner of divine service, the sump- 
 tuous and glorious churches, and the multitude of 
 ministers in the province of York and the diocese of 
 Durham." 2. The way in which " the Lord had 
 radicate in the people his faith'" — "as catholike people 
 as ever we came among, and all good and holy." 3. 
 I'he hearty reverence and worship shown to himself 
 as their king " as good and better than ever we had in 
 our life." " Wherefore, we dare well say, it may be 
 verified in them the holy saying of the Prince of the 
 Apostles, St. Peter, when he sayeth Deuin timete. 
 Regem hoiio7-ificate.^' "Wryten in our city of Lincoln 
 the morrow of St. Luke the Evangelist, 1448." 
 
 Bishop Neville died in 1457. His own desire was 
 to be buried in the Galilee, near the shrine of Bede ; 
 but his executors directed his burial beside his 
 ancestors in the Neville Porch, in the south aisle of 
 the nave. 
 
 On the death of Bishop Neville, King Henry wished 
 to have his physician, John Arundel, appointed to 
 the vacancy, but Queen Margaret prevailed on the 
 Pope to give it to Laurence Booth, her chaplain, and 
 a member of a family which was zealous in the Lancas- 
 trian interest. He was Head of Pembroke Hall in 
 Cambridge, where he had been educated, a canon of 
 York and Lichfield, Archdeacon of Richmond, and 
 Dean of St, Paul's. He continued master of Pembroke 
 Hall till his death. He was consecrated at Sherburn 
 in Elmet, 25th September, 1457. The contest between
 
 202 DURHAM. 
 
 York and Lancaster was now fast coming to an issue. 
 At first the advantage was on King Henry's side, and 
 the bishop laid claim to the possessions of the Earl 
 of Warwick within the Bishoprick as forfeitures for 
 treason. But the fortune of war soon turned against the 
 king. The battle of Towton sealed his fate and placed 
 Edward IV. on the throne. The bishop's sympathies 
 had certainly been with King Henry, yet his conduct 
 must have been prudent, for he not only escaped for- 
 feiture himself, but had the forfeitures within the Pala- 
 tinate adjudged to him by Edward's first parliament. 
 But by-and-by the scene changed. Edward seized 
 the temporalities of the see, and the bishop remained 
 for some months under the king's displeasure. After 
 some time the temporalities were restored, and on 
 Warwick's death and final forfeiture in 147 1 his right 
 to the forfeiture was fully recognised. But he did not 
 get possession of Barnard Castle, for Richard, Duke 
 of Gloucester, claimed it as heir to Warwick, having 
 married his younger daughter. In 1473 Bishop Booth 
 was made Chancellor of England, and in 1476, on 
 the death of Archbishop George Nevilel, was trans- 
 lated to York, the first of the bishops of Durham 
 who was raised to the Archiepiscopal See. 
 
 In virtue of a papal bull, the king, in 1477, con- 
 ferred the see on William Dudley, Dean of Windsor, 
 a man of noble birth. There is nothing particular to 
 be noticed in his episcopate. He died in London in 
 1483. The See of Durham was next conferred on 
 John Sherwood, said to have been a very learned man. 
 He had been much employed in embassies abroad by 
 Edward IV., and when in Italy had availed himself
 
 JOHN SHERWOOD — RICHARD FOX. 203 
 
 of the opportunity to collect many Greek books, 
 which he brought with him to England, These may 
 have been part of the spoils of Constantinople, the 
 capture of which by the Turks had dispersed a vast 
 number of Greek manuscripts. Notwithstanding his 
 obligations to Edward IV., the bishop seems to have 
 had no difficulty in transferring his allegiance to the 
 usurper Richard, who, at his coronation, was sup- 
 ported by the Bishop of Durham on one side, and 
 the Bishop of Bath and AVells on the other. For 
 some reason, which is not mentioned. Bishop Sher- 
 wood did not receive restitution of the temporalities 
 until a very short time before the close of Richard's 
 career in 1485. It was doubtless on account of the 
 part he took in Richard's consecration that he never 
 enjoyed the confidence of Henry VII. We know 
 not for what reason he was at Rome, but he died 
 there in 1494, and was buried in the church of the 
 Endish Colleoie. When the news of his death ar- 
 rived in England, all his possessions were seized by 
 the king. There is nothing of any moment recorded 
 of him as Bishop of Durham. 
 
 After a vacancy of eleven months, Richard Fox 
 was translated from Bath and Wells to Durham in 
 1494. He had studied at both Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge, and also at Paris, and had been of great 
 service to Henry, Earl of Richmond, when he was 
 planning his expedition into England to dethrone 
 Richard III. In 1487 Fox was made Bishop of 
 Exeter, and was translated to Bath and Wells in 
 1491. He continued to enjoy the confidence of 
 King Henry, and was much employed by him in the
 
 204 DURHAM. 
 
 affairs of Scotland, both in war and peace. When 
 some trouble was likely to arise on account of some 
 young men from Scotland who had been unduly 
 interfered with by the garrison of Norham, Bishop 
 Fox, by his wisdom and forbearance, not only com- 
 posed the dispute, but made such an impression on 
 the fiery temper of James IV. that he was able to 
 negotiate the marriage between that king and Mar- 
 garet, daughter of King Henry VII., an alliance 
 which ultimately led to the union of the kingdoms. 
 There is little related of him in his proper episcopal 
 character. He made alterations at Durham Castle, 
 some of them not for the better, for he curtailed the 
 dimensions of the great hall, which remains at the 
 south end at this day as he left it. He had the 
 honour of entertaining the Princess Margaret at 
 Durham, on her way to Scotland. Wolsey, in the 
 beginning of his career, was under great obligations 
 to Bishop Fox, but, before his early patron's death, 
 he gave him reason to regret his kindness. In 1501 
 Bishop Fox was translated to Winchester, where he 
 died in 1528. 
 
 On Bishop Fox's translation the bishopric was 
 conferred on William Sever or Sinews, Bishop of 
 Carlisle, who is said to have been the son of a sieve 
 maker at Shincliffe, near Durham. He had been 
 Warden of Merton College at Oxford, and Chancellor 
 of the University, Provost of Eton, and Abbot of St. 
 Mary's at York. In 1502 he was translated to 
 Durham, where he presided only two years and a- 
 half, and there is nothing of moment recorded of 
 him. He died in 1505.
 
 BAIXBRIGGE — RUTHALL. 205 
 
 On his death the see was conferred on Christopher 
 Bainbrigge, Dean of York, a native of Hilton, near 
 Appleby, in Westmoreland, and educated at Queen's 
 College, Oxford. A year after his consecration to 
 Durham, he was transferred to York. In 15 ii, while 
 employed as ambassador at the Court of Rome from 
 Henry VHI., he received a cardinal's hat, and died 
 at Rome, being poisoned, it is said, by a servant 
 whom he had struck in a fit of passion. 
 
 On 23rd April, 1509, Thomas Ruthall, Dean of 
 Sahsbury, was nominated to the See of Durham. 
 During his time the battle of Flodden Field was 
 fought near Branxton, in Northumberland; but nothing 
 of interest is recorded of him in connection with the 
 diocese. He was immensely wealthy, and his riches 
 proved his ruin. He had received command from 
 the king to draw up an account of the lands and 
 revenues of the Crown in different parts of England. 
 This he did, but, unfortunately, in another book pre- 
 cisely similar he had drawn up an account of his own 
 possessions. When the king sent for the book he 
 had desired him to compile, the bishop by mistake 
 sent the other. The blunder was discovered by 
 \Volsey, who treacherously pointed it out to the 
 king, telling his majesty that if he wanted money 
 he now knew where to get it. Henry is said to 
 have made no use of the bishop's inadvertence. 
 But the matter sank into the prelate's own mind, 
 and the mortification he felt at his unintended 
 disclosure is believed to have hastened his death, 
 which took place in 1522. 
 
 On Ruthall's death the charge of the temporalities
 
 206 DURHAM. 
 
 was committed to the famous Cardinal, Thomas 
 WoLSEY, who for six years continued to hold the 
 see in conjunction with York. During this time 
 he never visited the diocese. On the death of 
 Bishop Fox he exchanged Durham for Winchester, 
 1528.
 
 DURHAM. 207 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE REFORMATION. 
 
 The next bishop was Cuthbert Tunstall, translated 
 from London by a papal bull, the last required for 
 such a purpose. He was descended from an ancient 
 line of warriors, and Sir Richard Tunstall, of Thur- 
 land Tunstall in Lancashire, was his uncle. He was 
 educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and at King's 
 Hall, soon after absorbed in the great foundation of 
 Trinity College, Cambridge. Thence he proceeded 
 to the University of Padua, where he graduated as 
 Doctor of Laws. In 1508, while yet only a sub- 
 deacon, he became Rector of Stanhope, a preferment 
 which he appears to have held for twelve years. In 
 151 1 he was ordained priest, and became Chancellor 
 of Canterburj'. Various other preferments were be- 
 stowed on him, and in 15 16 he was sent with Sir 
 Thomas More on an embassy to the Emperor Charles 
 V. It was his lot on this occasion to live in the 
 same house with Erasmus, with whom he contracted 
 a close intimacy, and the strong expressions which 
 occur in the correspondence of Erasmus prove that 
 he valued his English friend very highly, both as a 
 man and a scholar. 
 
 In 1522 he became Bishop of London, and eight 
 years later, on St. Cuthbert's Day, 20th March, 1530,
 
 208 DURHAM, 
 
 was translated to Durham on the resignation of 
 Wolsey. 
 
 Tunstall was one of the most remarkable of all the 
 bishops of Durham, and he lived in a very remarkable 
 period. It was his lot to see that momentous change, 
 the Reformation, pass through all its stages — the re- 
 jection of the papal authority in the time of Henry 
 VIII. — the headlong changes and disgraceful spolia- 
 tion of the church in the time of Edward VI. — the 
 check in the time of Queen Mary — the settlement, 
 which on the whole still exists, brought about in the 
 time of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 There were, as is well known, two immediate 
 causes which apparently combined to bring about the 
 change in religion : i. The preaching of Luther on 
 the continent, which, of course, exercised a great in- 
 fluence in England. 2. The quarrel of Henry VIII. 
 with the Pontiff on the subject of his divorce. But 
 the truth is neither of these causes, nor both com- 
 bined, could have sufficed to bring about such a 
 result, unless the minds of men had been prepared for 
 it. This preparation had been going on for a very 
 long time. The misconduct of that most wretched of 
 monarchs, King John, had given the Pope a great hold 
 upon England, and she had long writhed under the 
 extortions of the papal court. By the terms of King 
 John's submission the realm was bound as a vassal 
 kingdom in a sum of one thousand marks yearly ; but 
 this payment was very irregularly made, and at length 
 entirely refused. The Pope claimed the first fruits 
 and tenths of all benefices, that is, the profits of one 
 year at entrance and a tenth of the income afterwards.
 
 THE REFORMATION. 209 
 
 By the system of provisions he assumed the right of 
 bestowing bishoprics and dignities on his favourites, 
 who were often foreigners, ignorant of Enghsh, and in 
 many cases never set foot in the country. By these 
 different means vast sums were every year drained 
 from the kingdom. Again, every ecclesiastical cause 
 was liable to be carried to the papal courts by appeal, 
 and these courts were most venal and corrupt. The 
 reader will remember the case of Bishop Antony Bek 
 and Prior Hotoun, So early as the middle of the 
 thirteenth century these abuses had called forth the 
 indignant protest of the famous Grosseteste, Bishop of 
 Lincoln, who positively refused to institute foreigners 
 nominated by the pope in his diocese. In the last 
 quarter of the fourteenth century Wiclif appeared, just 
 at the time when the seventy years' sojourn of the 
 popes at Avignon was coming to an end. The papal 
 court at Avignon had been distinguished by profligacy 
 and greed. The popes, moreover, were little better 
 than the vassals of the King of France, the enemy of 
 England. After the " captivity " at Avignon followed 
 the great schism, which naturally tended materially to 
 weaken the influence and prestige of the Papacy. At 
 home the great wealth of the bishops and monastic 
 orders had led to pride and general carelessness, not 
 seldom, it is to be feared, to gross immorality. The 
 bishops, as we have seen by many examples, were too 
 often not bishops at all in any proper sense of the 
 word, but rather statesmen or warriors. Wiclifs 
 fearless exposure of abuses on the one hand and his 
 evangelical teaching on the other, stirred the heart of 
 England. But, simultaneously with his preaching, 
 
 p
 
 210 DURHAM. 
 
 there were civil commotions excited by the oppressive 
 pride of the nobility, and it is sometimes difficult to 
 disentangle the two movements. Nor is it easy to 
 decide on what principle even the great nobles, such 
 as John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, supported 
 Wiclif. It is needless to say that the mightiest engine 
 wielded by the reformer was his translation of the 
 Bible into English. Perhaps in those days com- 
 paratively few could read, and, before the invention of 
 printing, books were very costly ; but still the Word of 
 God was accessible, and this could not but tend to 
 open people's eyes. We have little reason to believe 
 that the teaching of Wiclif had much influence in the 
 North. Sir William Neville, uncle of the first Earl of 
 Westmoreland, is said to have been a leader among 
 the Lollards, but this general fact is nearly all that is 
 known of him. 
 
 Fifteen years after the death of Wiclif, Richard 11. 
 (whose gentle queen is supposed to have favoured the 
 reformer's teaching) was deposed, and the crown was 
 seized by Henry, Duke of Lancaster. He was much 
 indebted to the clergy for his advancement, and he 
 scrupled not to gratify them by kindling the flames of 
 persecution. Thus the spectacle was afforded to the 
 nation of a degenerate and corrupted hierarchy, often 
 ignorant and immoral, seeking to maintain and 
 strengthen its position by cruelty and torture. History 
 tells us how retribution came on a dynasty created by 
 rebellion, and cemented by blood. The French wars 
 and the Wars of the Roses arrested, for a time, per- 
 secution on account of religious opinions by giving 
 men something else to think of, but it began again in
 
 THE REFORMATION. 211 
 
 the time of Henry VII. We have no account of any 
 persecution in the North. It is to be feared the people 
 were very ignorant, while on the other hand the church 
 was popular — it may be, in some measure, because the 
 clerg}', who had such extensive possessions in the 
 Bishoprick, were good and indulgent landlords. 
 
 More than a centur}- and a half had passed away 
 since the time of Wiclif, when Luther appeared early 
 in the sixteenth century. In the meantime, none 
 of the abuses in the Church had been rectified, 
 and it is well known that it was the reckless and 
 barefaced preaching of indulgences, when Leo X. 
 wanted money for the building of St, Peter's, that 
 first roused the German reformer. As to the world- 
 liness of the clergy it would be hard to find a more 
 flagrant example than Wolsey, holding the sees, first 
 of Durham, and then of Winchester, with the Arch- 
 bishopric of York. It might seem as if he wished to 
 show that bishops were not needed at all. In other 
 respects, a vast change had taken place since Wiclifs 
 time. The minds of men were much more awake — 
 learning was rapidly increasing, and the invention of 
 printing had made a complete revolution with regard 
 to the spread of knowledge of all kinds. Like Wiclif, 
 Luther gave the people the Bible in their own tongue. 
 His translation of the Bible appeared in 1522, the 
 fruit of his confinement in the castle of Wartburg. 
 The same boon was very speedily conferred on the 
 people of England. In 152G, four years after Tun- 
 stall became Bishop of London, appeared the New 
 Testament in English, translated by William Tyndall, 
 a native of Gloucestershire, though his name may 
 
 p 2 
 
 7
 
 212 DURHAM. 
 
 probably indicate a northern descent. He was a man 
 Avell qualified for his undertaking. Wiclif s version had 
 been made from the Latin Vulgate, but Luther's and 
 Tyndall's were made from the original Greek. The 
 publication of the New Testament in the vernacular 
 created great alarm among the clergy. Like Archbishop 
 Arundel, who, at the close of the fourteenth century, 
 denounced Wiclif, and persecuted his followers, they 
 professed that it was not so much the translation of 
 the Scriptures that they deprecated — though that, too, 
 they believed to be dangerous— as the circumstance 
 that what, if done at all, should be done by authority, 
 had been undertaken by private and unauthorised 
 persons. 
 
 The story of Bishop Tunstall and Tyndall's New 
 Testament is well known. Being a man of learning 
 and discretion, the bishop was much employed 
 in the King's service. After his advancement to the 
 see of London, he was made keeper of the Privy 
 Seal. In 1525 he was sent to Spain with Sir Richard 
 Wingfield, the ambassador to the Emperor Charles V. ; 
 in 1527 he accompanied Wolsey in his magnificent 
 embassy into France; in 1529 he was one of the re- 
 presentatives of the King of England at the Treaty of 
 Cambray. It was on this last occasion that he visited 
 Antwerp, where Tyndall's New Testament was printed. 
 He spared no expense in buying up as many as he 
 could, not intended for immediate destruction, but 
 reserved for a solemn holocaust on his return to 
 London. The only effect, as is well known, was that 
 the translator got rid of what he himself had come to 
 consider an imperfect edition, and was enabled to go
 
 THE REFORMATION. 213 
 
 on with an improved revision. When it was after- 
 wards asked how he could possibly afford to engage 
 in such a costly undertaking, the answer was, that the 
 funds had been supplied by the Bishop of London. 
 
 When Tunstall was translated to Durham in March, 
 1530, things were coming to a crisis with regard to the 
 king's divorce. Tunstall had written in defence of 
 the queen's marriage, and Henry, fearing so learned 
 an adversary, had contrived that he should not be 
 heard before Cardinal Campeggio. It was not long 
 after this that the King, finding that he could not get 
 the pope to gratify him, resolved to do without him. 
 Wolsey had been indicted in a prcemujiire for acting as 
 legate in England, although he had previously obtained 
 the king's consent, and now an information was laid 
 in the Court of King's Bench against the whole body 
 of the clergy, because they had acquiesced in Wolsey's 
 acts. Though they offered a large subsidy, the king 
 refused to release them until they had owned him as 
 the supreme Head of the Church in his dominions. 
 They were forced to submit, though they added the 
 words, " as far as the laiu of Christ will allow." At 
 first the Bishop of Durham protested against this title 
 when it came before the Convocation of York, but he 
 very soon withdrew his opposition, and even preached 
 in favour of it in his own cathedral. The next step 
 the king took was to transfer the payment of first fruits 
 and tenths from the pope to himself. 
 
 In 1533 the divorce was declared by the Ecclesias- 
 tical Court in England, and the king's marriage with 
 Anne Boleyn confirmed. Thus a complete breach 
 was made with the papal court. The pope was no
 
 2 14 DURHAM. 
 
 longer allowed to have any control over the appoint- 
 ment of bishops. But still the king entertained no 
 views in favour of any change in doctrine ; on the con- 
 trary, he was determined to uphold the existing state 
 of things in every respect, except as regarded the 
 authority of the pope, and, as he was well aware that the 
 monastic clergy would stand greatly in his way, the next 
 step was to humble them. In 1535 he was empowered 
 by Parliament to visit the monasteries, and to inquire 
 into and correct abuses. This ended in the suppres- 
 sion of all religious houses whose yearly income did 
 not exceed ;^2oo. Of course this did not affect the 
 great Abbey of Durham itself, but all the others within 
 the diocese fell. They were not numerous, nor were 
 their possessions in comparison with the Convent of 
 Durham, of great value. In the Bishoprick itself there 
 was no independent monastic foundation. Finchale, 
 Jarrow, and Wearmouth were dependencies of Durham 
 — so also was Lindisfarne, a portion of the Bishoprick, 
 though the whole county of Northumberland lay 
 between. Tynemouth had for centuries been a cell 
 of St. Alban's. In Northumberland Hexham and 
 Brinkburn were in the hands of the Augustinians. 
 Newminster was a Cistercian, and Blanchland a Prge- 
 monstratensian foundation. There were also Aln- 
 wick and Hulne, besides a small nunnery at Lambley, 
 near Alston. Hexham did not fall without a struggle. 
 When the commissioners appeared, they met with a 
 determined resistance, headed by the master of 
 Ovingham, a dependent cell lower down the Tyne. 
 But all was in vain, and the last prior, so says tradi- 
 tion, was hanged at the gate of the priory. Blanch-
 
 THE REFORMATION. 215 
 
 land, from its very secluded situation, at first escaped 
 notice, but the poor canons were so indiscreet as to 
 begin to ring their bells for joy. The sound betrayed 
 them, and brought back the spoiler. Durham, like 
 a mother bereft of all her children, stood alone for 
 the present. 
 
 But these proceedings were very far from meeting 
 with the approval of all the king's subjects, and great 
 discontent prevailed, especially in the north. They 
 saw the communities which they had been accustomed 
 to revere broken up, the poor who used to be relieved 
 neglected, and the inmates of the monasteries sent 
 out into the world with a very scanty provision, or 
 none at all. A rebellion in the northern counties 
 ensued. We know not to what extent the Diocese of 
 Durham was implicated, but the names of Neville 
 and Lumley among the leaders indicate that the men 
 of the Bishoprick sympathised with the movement. 
 They called it " T/ie Pilgrimage of Grace.'^ Their 
 banner displayed the five wounds of our Lord with a 
 chalice and paten as the emblems of their cause. The 
 rising was soon put down, and some of the leaders 
 forfeited their lives. Immediately after this the king 
 deprived the Palatinate of some of its most important 
 franchises. The bishop no longer had the power of 
 pardoning treasons, and other capital offences, nor of 
 appointing justices of the peace ; all writs were hence- 
 forth to run in the name of the king ; and indictments 
 for offences were to be drawn as againsi the peace of 
 the king, not as before, the peace of the bishop. 
 There were several other provisions, but these arc 
 the chief. Thus a power, all but sovereign, the origin
 
 2i6 DURHAM. 
 
 of which was so remote as to be quite uncertain was 
 reduced to little more than a name. It was reserved 
 to the present century to see that also taken away. 
 
 Cardinal Pole, who was near of kin to the king, 
 felt aggi-ieved at Henry's proceedings, and did not 
 hesitate to express his thoughts in a letter to the king. 
 The Bishop of Durham was deputed to answer him. 
 He performed his task with great ability and learning, 
 but, it is needless to say, without effect, as far, at least, 
 as the cardinal was concerned. On the other hand, 
 some of the Protestant princes of Germany had 
 addressed the king, urging him to further changes ; 
 and again the task of replying to them was assigned 
 to Tunstall. Here also he made the best of his 
 arguments in defence of the ancient doctrines, now 
 called the " Old Learning," in distinction to the re- 
 formed doctrines, which were denominated the " New 
 Learning." 
 
 An Act had been passed some years before, em- 
 powering the bishops, with the consent of the crown, 
 to appoint suffragans to assist them in the discharge 
 of their duties. The Bishops of Durham had always 
 been in the habit of using the help of other bishops, 
 but these had generally been the occupants of the 
 smaller sees in Scotland, Ireland, or France. Bishop 
 Tunstall now availed himself of the powers conveyed 
 by the Act, and appointed Thomas Spark, one of the 
 Monks of Durham, to be Suffragan Bishop of Ber- 
 wick, the first and the only one who ever held the 
 office. Bishop Spark lived till 1572, but no doubt his 
 episcopal office ended with Tunstall's deprivation, 
 twelve years before that date, in 1540.
 
 THE REFORMATION. 21 7 
 
 The Abbey of Durham had hitherto been spared, 
 but now the king procured another Act of Parliament, 
 by which he was empowered to suppress all religious 
 houses whatever. A considerable number of abbots 
 and priors, amongst others the Prior of Durham, had 
 seats in the House of Lords, and eighteen of these 
 were present when the Act was passed ; but they do 
 not appear to have offered any resistance. The sur- 
 render of the Abbey of Durham took place 31st 
 December, 1540. We have a particular account of 
 the proceedings of the Commissioners at Durham — 
 the spoliation of St. Cuthbert's shrine, and the in- 
 dignities offered to the body of the Saint, so long the 
 object of veneration. It is said the visitors were 
 much astonished at the condition in which the body 
 was found. After it had remained for some time in 
 the vestry, it was reverently buried in the church. 
 The other shrines and the altars were plundered ; but 
 with regard to endowments, the church of Durham 
 fared better than most. The Abbey was refounded as 
 a Cathedral church, with a Dean and twelve Preben- 
 daries. The Prior, Hugh Whitehead, became the 
 first Dean, and the prebendaries were named from 
 among the senior monks. The possessions of the 
 church were allowed to remain in a great measure 
 entire. One very great grievance attending the dis- 
 solution of the monasteries was the mode in which 
 the appropriate tithes and other endowments of parish 
 churches were dealt with. When the monasteries 
 were granted to laymen all these tithes went with 
 them, only a small stipend being reserved for the 
 vicar or perpetual curate. It was in reality no better,
 
 2l8 DURHAM. 
 
 as far as the parishes were concerned, in such cases 
 as that of the new chapter. The tithes were still 
 diverted from their proper purpose to swell the 
 incomes of the clergy of the cathedral, and only 
 during the present century have the incomes of the 
 benefices in the gift of the Dean and Chapter been 
 augmented so as to be anything like sufficient. 
 
 Although Henry VIII. was opposed to all changes 
 in doctrine and only partially to changes in worship, 
 yet he consented to the reading of the Bible in 
 English. It was ordered to be set up in all churches, 
 and portions of it were to be read in time of Divine 
 Service. There were many editions of the English 
 Bible published during this reign, and two of these 
 purport to have been revised by Tunstall, Bishop of 
 Durham, and Heath, Bishop of Rochester. On the 
 other hand, the persecuting statute of the Six Articles 
 had been passed, and several persons had to expiate 
 their so-called errors at the stake. In truth, there is 
 no accounting for the capricious inconsistencies of 
 King Henry with respect to religion. Towards the close 
 of his reign he obtained an act for the confiscation of 
 chantries and free chapels, founded for saying masses 
 for the repose of the souls of the founders, yet we find 
 him leaving funds for this very purpose in his own 
 case. The vast funds accruing from the suppression 
 of monasteries were wasted in extravagance, or squan- 
 dered on his courtiers. Very little went to the relief 
 of public burdens. There was a scheme propounded 
 for the erection of more episcopal sees, thus promis- 
 ing after eight centuries something towards the 
 realisation of the scheme recommended eight cen-
 
 THE REFORMATION. 219 
 
 turies before by Bede,^ but in the end only six were 
 founded. 
 
 Henry died 28th January, 1546-7, and was suc- 
 ceeded by his only son, Edward VI., who was only 
 ten years of age. It is unnecessarj- here to detail the 
 changes which took place in this reign, some, perhaps, 
 necessary and beneficial, but many only too plainly 
 prompted by avarice and ambition on the part of the 
 guardians of the realm during the king's minority. 
 The reformed doctrines made great progress. An 
 English Prayer-book^ compiled chiefly out of the old 
 Service-books, Avas published in 1549, and the Articles 
 of Religion were drawn up nearly as they now stand. 
 But before the new Prayer-book had been in use for 
 three years, it was altered at the suggestion of 
 foreigners ; although the Act by which it was autho- 
 rised declared it to have been compiled by the aid of 
 the Holy Ghost, and the Act which authorised the 
 Second Book oAVTied that the objections to the First 
 Book arose rather by the curiosity of the ministers and 
 mistakers than of any other worthy cause. At the 
 same time, the spoliation of churches and of church 
 property was carried to a very great extent. The 
 pretext for the first was, of course, abhorrence of 
 idols, but we do not find that the good kings of Judah 
 made a profit of the abolition of idolatrous worship. 
 They destroyed whatever was so polluted ; the 
 ministers of King Edward, like Achan at Jericho, 
 appropriated them. Chalices were turned into 
 drinking cups ; church hangings served for the 
 decoration of private houses. 
 
 ' See page 81.
 
 220 DURHAM. 
 
 The suppression of chantries and free chapels, 
 which had only been planned in Henry's time, was 
 now carried into effect, and the six collegiate churches 
 of the Bishoprick, Auckland, Darlington, Chester-le- 
 Street, Lanchester, Norton, and Staindrop, were dis- 
 solved. It is remarkable that most of these, as well 
 as the monastic foundations of Jarrow and Tyne- 
 mouth, have since become great centres of popula- 
 tion ; but all the ancient endowments of these houses, 
 including the parochial tithes, were secularised, and 
 the parishes left to be served by miserably-endowed 
 perpetual curates, while the tithes went into the 
 pockets of laymen. 
 
 At the accession of King Edward, Bishop Tunstall 
 was a member of the Privy Council, but before long 
 he was dismissed from the Council Board. He obeyed 
 the laws when they were passed, though he did all he 
 could to oppose innovations when they were under 
 discussion. King Henry had despoiled the see of 
 many of its franchises, and had assigned to Anne 
 Boleyn ^i,ooo a year out of its revenues. This 
 probably reverted to the bishop after her fall, but the 
 honours and the wealth of the see excited the envy 
 of the court. It was the old story of Naboth's vine- 
 yard. In 1550 a person of the name of Ninian 
 Menvill had obtained possession of a letter of the 
 Bishop's relative to an intended rising in the North, 
 and upon this it was proposed to found a charge of 
 misprision of treason. But as the letter had disap- 
 peared, the charge could not be proceeded with, and 
 the bishop was only ordered to keep to his house. At 
 last the letter was found in a casket belonging to the
 
 THE REFORMATION. 221 
 
 Duke of Somerset, who had been beheaded. The 
 bishop was sent for, and charged before the Council 
 with being the writer of the letter. He could not 
 deny it to be his, but was quite prepared to give a 
 satisfactory explanation. Nevertheless he was com- 
 mitted to the Tower, and a Bill was introduced, at 
 the instance of Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 
 to deprive him. It passed the Lords ; but the 
 Commons declined to proceed with it, unless they 
 had Tunstall and his accuser face to face before 
 them. Still the bishop was not permitted to escape. 
 A commission composed of judges, doctors, and 
 lawyers was appointed to enquire into the case, with 
 power to deprive him if found guilty. Judgment of 
 deprivation was pronounced, and he was sent back 
 to the Tower, where he remained during the rest of 
 the king's reign. A Bill was next brought into Par- 
 liament for dissolving the Bishoprick, and erecting two 
 new sees, one at Durham, with an income of 2,000 
 marks, and one at Newcastle, with an income of 
 1,000. There was to be a cathedral church at New- 
 castle, with a Dean and Chapter, but the Dean and 
 Chapter of Durham were to suffer no loss. The 
 preamble of the Act set forth in piteous terms the 
 vast extent of the diocese, and the wildness and bar- 
 barity of the people proceeding from ignorance, which 
 the king was anxious to amend by providing for the 
 preaching of the Word. The Bishoprick was at once 
 dissolved, formed into a county palatine, and annexed 
 to the Crown ; but nothing was done towards the 
 erection of the new sees. It was only too obvious 
 that this was a mere pretence.
 
 2 22 DURHAM. 
 
 A very sad picture of the state of the church and 
 nation in the time of Edward VI. is drawn by a Pres- 
 byter of the Diocese of Durham. It was then cus- 
 tomary, when a clerk was presented to a living by the 
 Crown, to summon him to preach before the court, that 
 it might be seen that his doctrine was agreeable to the 
 established order of things. In the year 1552, Bernard 
 Gilpin, who will be noticed more fully hereafter, was 
 presented by the Crown to the living of Norton, the 
 mother church of Stockton-on-Tees, and was accor- 
 dingly called upon to preach before the court at 
 Greenwich. It seems as if, after all, this was a mere 
 matter of form, for neither the king nor the court 
 were present, but this did not hinder Mr. Gilpin from 
 speaking to the king as if he were present. The text 
 was " Know ye not that I must go about my Father's 
 business." The sermon is faithful even to severity, 
 yet, nevertheless, breathes throughout the spirit of 
 Christian love, and it really requires some self-denial 
 to refrain from giving large extracts, so much does it 
 abound in pointed and graphic illustrations, but it is 
 impossible to afford more than a very brief and meagre 
 abstract of the chief points on which the preacher 
 enlarged. He called upon the king to go about the 
 Father's business, and rectify the manifold abuses 
 which prevailed in the church and nation. 
 
 Avarice was the great master sin. 
 
 Hence arose dispensations for pluralities and non- 
 residence, " transported hither from Rome," but still 
 prevailing, in spite of professions of purity of doctrine. 
 
 From these dispensations came the farming of 
 benefices by gentlemen and laymen, the profit of
 
 THE REFORMATION. 223 
 
 which they found so sweet that preachers could not 
 have them. 
 
 Patrons put in incompetent persons, taking a bill 
 to let them have the greatest part of the profits. 
 Patrons "see that none do their duty — they think 
 it as good to put in asses as men," and the bishops 
 play into their hands. " The bishops were never so 
 liberal in making of lewd (unlearned) priests and they 
 (the patrons) are as liberal in making lewd vicars." 
 
 The consequence is that the people are very 
 ignorant and superstitious. " I pass over much in- 
 fidelity, idolatry, sorcery, charming, witchcrafts, con- 
 juring, trusting in figures, with other such trumpery, 
 which lurk in corners, and began of late to come 
 abroad, only for lack of preaching. Come to the 
 minstration of the sacraments set forth now by com- 
 mon authority after the first institution " — Baptism is 
 despised, and the Holy Communion thought nothing 
 of, "because they see not the shining pomp and 
 pleasing variety (as they thought it) of painted cloths, 
 candlesticks, images, altars, lamps, and tapers," they 
 say, " As good go into a barn " — and all this because 
 they are not better instructed. 
 
 What wonder if the people rebel when there is no 
 one to teach them their duty to the prince. 
 
 Again, because "these cormorants devour these 
 livings appointed for the gospel," learning decays. 
 Men will not send their children to the Schools. 
 " I.ook upon the two wells of this realm, Oxford and 
 Cambridge, they are almost dried up." 
 
 Ministers do not think themselves obliged to do 
 any pastoral work the first year after presentation
 
 2 24 DURHAM. 
 
 because they get no pay, the king taking the first 
 fruits. 
 
 He comes next to the grievous oppression of the 
 poor by men of weaUh and power. The poor are 
 turned out of their holdings — men " are so far from 
 mercy that their hearts will serve them to destroy 
 whole towns ; they would wish all the people des- 
 stroyed, to have all the fields brought to a sheep 
 pasture," and poor men have no redress — they cannot 
 get access to the rich and great without coming to 
 London, and heavily bribing their servants ; or they 
 must go to law, and thus lose all — "the greedy locusts 
 the lawyers .... laugh with the money which 
 maketh others to weep." 
 
 " And with all this there was much hypocrisy — great 
 professions of zeal for the purity of the gosj^el " — " I 
 cannot liken them better than to the Jews that said 
 to Christ, ' Hail King of the Jews.' " 
 
 He takes notice of great extravagance in apparel 
 and costly buildings on which were expended the 
 money wrung by oppression from the poor. 
 
 All these abuses he commends to the notice of the 
 king. He must rectify them, if he would go about 
 the Father's business, and it was his duty to see that 
 all those over whom he was set did the Father's 
 business. When the preacher spoke to the people 
 it was his business then to tell them their duty to the 
 prince and to all who were set over them by him, 
 but in this place he was bound to tell the prince 
 and great men their duty to the people. 
 
 The reign of Edward VI. lasted scarcely six years 
 and a-half ; he died 6th July, 1553. It was perhaps
 
 THE REFORMATION'. 225 
 
 fortunate for the church of England that his reign 
 came to an end when it did. It was not the will of 
 God that the reformation should be established b}-^ 
 those whom He had chosen as the instruments to clear 
 the way, and His servants were now called upon to 
 pass through literally a fiery trial before the church 
 was fairly settled in her new position. His ways are 
 inscrutable, but yet, when we look back we may see 
 that, at the time when it came, a check was needed. 
 Had the ministers of Edward been permitted to carry 
 on the work as they had begun, there seemed every 
 likelihood : i. That the nation would be committed 
 to Calvinism. 2. That everything seemly in ritual 
 would be taken away. 3. That episcopacy would 
 have been abolished. 4. That no church property 
 would have been left. It is quite certain that the 
 accession of Mary saved the Bishoprick of Durham. 
 Tunstall was immediately released from the Tower, and 
 restored to his see, acts were passed restoring the 
 Bishoprick with all its rights, at least so much of them 
 as had been left by Henry VHI., and the queen 
 granted to the bishop and his successors the patronage 
 of the prebendal stalls in the cathedral, which had 
 before been vested in the crown. The bishop was now 
 advanced in years, and appears to have taken very 
 little part in public affairs. He resided chiefly in his 
 diocese, and, being naturally averse to persecution, 
 seems to have sheltered those who were accused of 
 what was called heresy. In the whole province of 
 York there was only one sufferer, and this was at 
 Chester. One reason, doubtless, was, that in the north 
 by far the greater part of the people were still attached 
 
 Q
 
 2 26 DURHAM. 
 
 to the ancient faith. It was during Queen Mary's 
 reign that Bishop Tunstall made his relative Bernard 
 Gilpin, whose courageous sermon in the time of 
 Edward VI. has just been noticed, first, Archdeacon 
 of Durham and Rector of Easington, and afterwards 
 Rector of Houghton-le-Spring. 
 
 Queen Mary died 17th November, 1558, and was 
 succeeded by her sister EHzabeth. Mary was at least 
 a devout woman according to her light, and she proved 
 her sincerity by the sacrifices which she made. She 
 could not prevail on parliament to restore the property 
 of which the church had been despoiled in her 
 father's and her brother's time, but she gave up all 
 that was vested in the crown, lands, tithes, and appro- 
 priations. She anticipated what was done by Queen 
 Anne a century and a half later by giving up the first 
 fruits and tenths, for the augmentation of poor livings. 
 She also refounded several religious houses. There 
 is not much ground for believing that EHzabeth cared 
 much for religion, but with much personal vanity, 
 which she may have derived from her mother, she 
 inherited her father's self will and love of power, and 
 she was parsimonious if not avaricious. She lost no 
 time in abolishing the papal jurisdiction, in replacing 
 the Latin services by the Book of Common Prayer, in 
 dissolving the religious houses which her sister had 
 refounded, and in resuming the churchlands, tithes, 
 first fruits, and tenths which Mary had given up. 
 The next step was to exact from churchmen an oath 
 recognising her supremacy in ecclesiastical causes. 
 This was refused by all the bishops but one, and 
 amongst the rest by the bishop of Durham. He was
 
 THE REFORMATION. 227 
 
 a man held in universal esteem, and the last notice 
 we have of him in connection with public aftairs is 
 his acting as a commissioner for concluding a treaty 
 of peace with Scotland, in pursuance of the treaty of 
 Cateau Cambresis. This was done in the church of the 
 Blessed Virgin at Upsetlington, on the Scottish bank of 
 the Tweed, and at the Church of Norham, on the Eng- 
 lish side, on the 31st May, 1559. On the 2nd of July 
 the bishop was deprived. From his known modera- 
 tion it was hoped that he would comply with the 
 new order of things, but, being now a very old man, 
 he chose rather to lose his bishopric than come under 
 il-esh engagements. He was committed to the friendly 
 custody of Dr. Matthew Parker, the new Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, with whom he resided at Lambeth on 
 terms of mutual friendship and esteem until his death, 
 which took place i8th November in the same year. 
 
 After the deprivation of Bishop Tunstall the see 
 remained vacant for a year and a-half On the 26th 
 December, 1560, the Dean and Chapter elected 
 James Pilkington, who was consecrated on the 
 2nd March following. He was a member of a res- 
 pectable family in Lancashire, and was educated at 
 St. John's College, Cambridge, of which society he 
 became master in 1558. He had taken refuge at 
 Geneva in Queen Mary's time. Mary had done 
 what she could to restore to the church what her pre- 
 decessors had taken from it ; Elizabeth's aim seemed 
 to be to find out in what way it could be further des- 
 poiled. The new bishops were forced to resign large 
 portions of the landed possessions of their sees, and 
 to accept in return parsonages impropriate and tenths 
 
 Q 2
 
 2 28 DURHAM. 
 
 now vested in the Crown. It was to no purpose that 
 the prelates remonstrated, the work of spoliation went 
 on ; the spoils as before were lavished on the cour- 
 tiers, and the crown was none the richer. Lands 
 and rents were taken from the See of Durham to the 
 amount of ;2^i,ooo. They were afterwards restored, 
 but the bishop had to pay the same amount annually 
 in money. 
 
 In 1563 William Whittingham, another Genevan 
 exile, who had married the sister of Calvin, was made 
 Dean of Durham. Both the bishop and the dean 
 had imbibed Calvinistic principles as to doctrine, 
 church polity, and ritual, and when the Puritan con- 
 troversy began, as it did early in Elizabeth's time, 
 they both appeared on the puritanical side arguing 
 against the habits imposed on the clergy. The dean 
 was much fiercer than the bishop, who, while he held 
 his own opinions, was quite willing to comply for the 
 sake of peace. During his sixteen years' occupancy 
 of the Deanery of Durham, Whittingham did all he 
 could to remove every trace of the ancient faith : he 
 broke up the marbles which covered the graves of the 
 ancient priors, cast out their ashes and turned their 
 coffins into troughs for domestic uses. He waged 
 especial war with the memory of St. Cuthbert, ruth- 
 lessly destroying every memorial of the saint on 
 which he could lay his hands. He had not only had 
 a share in the Genevan revision of the English Bible, 
 but had also been a coadjutor of Sternhold and 
 Hopkins in their version of the Psalms, and his 
 dreary rhymes, if rhymes they could be called — they
 
 JAMES PILKINGTON, 229 
 
 certainly were not metre — were sung in the cathedral. 
 Nordic! the iconoclasm cease with his death, for when 
 his widow removed to a house in the Bailey, she took 
 with her coffins and holy water stoups to be used for 
 domestic purposes, and paved her yard with what 
 had been monumental slabs. Whittingham had no 
 holy orders but those of Cleneva, that is, a call from 
 the congregation to minister to them, and during the 
 vacancy which ensued on Bishop Pilkington's death, 
 Dr. Sandys, Archbishop of York, proposed to hold a 
 visitation of the cathedral with the intention of en- 
 quiring into the dean's orders, but he and the chapter 
 fell back upon the ancient claims of immunity from 
 Archiepiscopal visitation, and successfully opposed the 
 interference of the primate. 
 
 The most remarkable event in Bishop Pilkington's 
 Episcopate was " The Rising of the North" in 1569, 
 by which it was clearly proved, alike in its rise and 
 progress and in its tragical consequences, that the 
 ancient faith had still a very strong hold on the men 
 of the Bishoprick, and indeed of a great part of the 
 north of England. The details must be sought in 
 the ordinary histories ; here it is enough to say that 
 the insurgents began by taking possession of the City 
 of Durham and the cathedral, where they tore the 
 Book of Common Prayer and the English Bible, 
 threw down the Communion Table, restored the old 
 Altar and celebrated mass. It is clear that they 
 had with them the sympathy of the men of the city 
 and the neighbourhood, or they must have met with 
 more strenuous opposition. The bishop and, most
 
 230 DURHAM. 
 
 likely, the dignitaries of the cathedral had fled.^ They 
 pursued the same course at Staindrop, Darlington, 
 Richmond, and Ripon. This insurrection caused 
 the death of one of the great nobles of the north, 
 and ruined the family of another. Percy, Earl of 
 Northumberland, took refuge in Scotland, but was 
 betrayed to Queen Elizabeth, and beheaded at York. 
 His brother, who had not been concerned in the 
 rebellion, inherited his estates, and his family still 
 exists, to prove in our day that the noble house of 
 Percy can distinguish itself in ways far more excellent 
 than their ancestors in the olden time.^ Charles 
 Neville, sixth and last Earl of Westmoreland, escaped 
 to the continent, where he died at a very advanced 
 age, but all his possessions were forfeited to the 
 crown. The bishop, in right of the Palatinate, 
 claimed the forfeitures : the claim was not denied, 
 but set aside "for this time," There were many 
 other confiscations and vast numbers of Roman 
 Catholics were executed ; at Durham alone sixty-six, 
 and the Earl of Sussex boasted that there was not a 
 village between Newcastle and Wetherby where some 
 had not been hanged. 
 
 ' " One prebendary, George Cliff, was present at Mass on St. 
 Andrew's Day, but excused himself afterwards by saying he sat 
 still in his stall, and did not look at the elevation. Mr. Brimley, 
 "master of the quiristers," played the organ, as he afterwards 
 alleged, by compulsion. The Curate of St. Giles, however, 
 owned that when the sacring bell rang he looked up to Mr. 
 Brimley in the organ loft, and smiled at him. There was a very 
 great crowd."— Ornsby's "Sketches of Durham," pp. 79, 97. 
 
 * It is well known in the Diocese how much has been done 
 for church extension by the house of Percy.
 
 JAMES PILKINGTON. 23I 
 
 Elizabeth had been httle incHncd to add to the 
 bishop's wealth by permitting him to have the for- 
 feitures for high treason, but he took very good care 
 of it himself. It is said that he was very penurious, 
 and that at his death the edifices belonging to the 
 see were left in such ruinous condition that his suc- 
 cessor had to sue his widow for dilapidations to 
 a very large amount. He portioned two of his 
 daughters with p^ 10,000 each, and, when the queen 
 heard of it, she took ;i^ 1,000 a year from the see. 
 His two brothers, John and Leonard, the latter of 
 whom succeeded him as Master of St. John's College, 
 Cambridge, Wvjre prebendaries in the cathedral, and 
 had several benefices in the diocese. Bishop Pil- 
 kington died in January, 1675. In his time, on 
 pretence of removing objects of superstition, the 
 churches were much despoiled and defaced.
 
 232 DURHAM. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 BERNARD GILPIN. 
 
 By the interest of Lord Burleigh, Richard Barnes, 
 Bishop of CarUsle, was translated to Durham, 
 April, 1577. It is not pleasant to hear that "he 
 was preferred to Durham in order to be a watch 
 on the messengers from Scotland to the unfortu- 
 nate Queen Mary." ^ Bishop Barnes alienated very 
 large portions of the possessions of the see to 
 Queen Elizabeth, amongst others, the Lordship of 
 Gateshead, the coal mines under which afterwards 
 turned out to be of immense value. He does not 
 appear to have been by any means on good terms 
 with the people of the Bishoprick or the clergy of 
 the cathedral, which he describes as an Augie 
 (Augean) Stable, or with his Metropolitan, Grindal, 
 Archbishop of York. He speaks much more favour- 
 ably of the people of Northumberland. His brother 
 John was his chancellor, and exercised his office, 
 without restraint from the bishop, in a most tyran- 
 nical manner. The chancellor cherished a most 
 especial enmity against Bernard Gilpin, the rector of 
 Houghtori-le-Spring. This most admirable man, who 
 would have been a distinguished ornament to any 
 
 ' Strype, apud Hutchinson, " History of Durham," vol. i., 
 p. 460.
 
 BERNARD GILPIN. 233 
 
 church in any age, died during Bishop Barnes' 
 episcopate, and it will be a pleasant relief to turn for 
 a while from such prelates to notice the career of a 
 humble presbyter. 
 
 Bernard Gilpin was born in 15 17. He was the son 
 of Edwin Gilpin, of Kentmire Hall, in Westmoreland, 
 where the family had been settled since the time of 
 King John. From early youth he is said to have 
 been of a thoughtful turn. He was sent to a public 
 school, and thence, at sixteen, to Queen's College, 
 Oxford, at a time when Erasmus was delighting and 
 startling the world with his profound learning, his 
 keen wit, and his fearless exposure of abuses. Eras- 
 mus was not much in favour at Oxford, but Gilpin 
 was not to be restrained from deciding for himself, 
 and soon found that the foreigner was better qualified 
 to supply the wants of an encjuiring mind than those 
 who depreciated him. Gilpin diligently read the Holy 
 Scriptures in their original Greek and Hebrew, and 
 was an ardent student in all branches of theolog}'. His 
 learning and his amiable disposition attracted notice, 
 and procured him friends, so that when Cardinal 
 Wolsey began his great foundation of Cardinal Col- 
 lege, after\vards Christ Church, Gilpin was one of the 
 first who was invited to join it. 
 
 Henry VHI. had only favoured the Reformation 
 so far as consisted with his own self-will and covet- 
 ousness, but after his death greater liberty was allowed 
 in controverting the doctrines of the Church of Rome, 
 and Peter Martyr, a foreign reformer, was appointed 
 Professor of Divinity at Oxford. This was a great
 
 234 DURHAM. 
 
 annoyance to the numerous adherents of the Old 
 Learning, and so great was their opinion of the skill 
 and learning of Mr. Gilpin, that they urged him to 
 take their part in a public discussion with the Pro- 
 fessor. As he had already been somewhat shaken in 
 his belief of some of the opinions heretofore prevalent, 
 it was with great reluctance that he consented, and 
 when pressed with Scripture by his opponent, he 
 felt obliged to own that he could not maintain his 
 ground, an instance of candour which gained him 
 the goodwill of the Professor. He now set himself 
 to enquire earnestly into the grounds of his belief, 
 and also into the history of the disputed doctrines. 
 Some of these, the number of the sacraments, tran- 
 substantiation, and the denial of the cup to the laity, 
 he found to be comparatively modern ; and the load of 
 Church rites and ceremonies, many of them trifling, 
 seemed to him inconsistent with primitive simplicity. 
 Still his humility led him to suspect his own doubts, 
 and he could only look to God to make his way 
 plain to him. About this time the Council of Trent 
 was opened, and at the fourth session the Traditions 
 of the Church were declared to be of co-ordinate 
 authority with Holy Scripture. There could be very 
 little hope of reformation after this. "The opportunity" 
 he says, " is lost." So arrogant a proceeding seemed to 
 Mr. Gilpin to go far towards setting the mark of Anti- 
 christ on the Roman Church. When he consulted 
 Bishop Tunstall, who was his uncle, the bishop told 
 him that he thought " Innocent HI. was much over- 
 seen when he made transubstantiation an article of 
 faith." Others who favoured the old learning were
 
 BERNARD GILPIN. 235 
 
 for explaining transubstantiation in a favourable sense, 
 and advocated communion in both kinds ; and it is a 
 remarkable instance of the fluctuation of opinion in 
 those days that Thomas Harding, who, being afterwards 
 reconciled to Rome, repudiated his English orders, 
 became a Jesuit, and the strenuous opponent of Bishop 
 Jewell, was occupied at that time in exposing the 
 ignorance of the friars and bishops assembled at Trent. 
 
 Mr. Gilpin remained at Oxford till he was thirty- 
 five years of age, when he was appointed vicar of 
 Norton. The sermon which he preached at Court 
 on this occasion has already been noticed. Severe 
 as it was, it was very well taken, for whatever the 
 practice of men in power might be, plain speaking 
 was the fashion of the day. He won the good will 
 of Sir Francis Russell, afterwards Earl of Bedford ; 
 of Cecil, afterwards Eord Burleigh, and of that 
 bold, bad man. Sir Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl 
 of Leicester. He himself never applied to any 
 patron, and while he sometimes solicited Lord Bur- 
 leigh for his friends, it was observed that he never 
 made any application to Leicester, though given to 
 understand that it would be agreeable if he would do 
 so. Through Cecil he obtained a general licence for 
 preaching, a distinction then bestowed with great 
 caution, and only on men of high character and great 
 ability. 
 
 On leaving London, he betook himself to his cure, 
 where he was a complete example of what he 
 preached to others. It is plain from his sermon at 
 Court that he saw clearly enough the errors of popery, 
 yet his mind was not yet fully made up as to the
 
 236 DURHAM. 
 
 reformed doctrines. No doubt, also, he found his 
 flock very ignorant, and attached to the old doctrines 
 and practices, and in preaching, afraid lest he should 
 mislead rather than instruct, he confined himself 
 chiefly to the inculcation of moral duties. But ere 
 long his mind became very uneasy, from a feeling 
 that he had taken upon him to teach others, when his 
 own mind was by no means fully established. In his 
 perplexity he had recourse to Bishop Tunstall, who 
 was then under restraint. The bishop advised him 
 to commit the charge of his parish to some one in 
 whom he could confide, and travel for a time on the 
 Continent — his living would be of some help towards 
 the expense, and the bishop kindly offered to supply 
 the rest ; moreover, when he came to Paris, he could 
 be of some service to his lordship, in superintending 
 the printing of a work on Transubstantiation, which 
 the bishop had written during his confinement, Mr. 
 Gilpin highly approved of the bishop's advice, except 
 in regard to retaining his living while absent from 
 his parish. The bishop urged that he might have 
 a dispensation; but a dispensation, he replied, would 
 not restrain the tempter from corrupting his flock 
 during his absence. The bishop told him he was too 
 scrupulous, and that if he went on in this way he 
 would die a beggar ; but all in vain, he insisted on 
 resigning Norton. 
 
 Having seen a proper successor appointed, he left 
 England. He went first to Mechlin, where his brother, 
 at that time a zealous papist, resided; next, to 
 Louvain, the seat of an University. Here he be- 
 came acquainted with many eminent men, and
 
 BERNARD GILPIN. 237 
 
 applied himself diHgently to study. While he was 
 at Louvain, tidings came of the death of King 
 Edward, the accession of Mary, and the consequent 
 check to the Reformation — though it was in some 
 degree satisfactory to hear of Bishop Tunstall's release 
 from prison. Very shortly he was sent for by his 
 brother at Mechlin, who had an important communi- 
 cation to make to him. This was the offer of a good 
 living from the bishop, but he would not listen to the 
 proposal, not considering himself as yet fit to under- 
 take a cure of souls. He wrote to the bishop, 
 gratefully, yet firmly, declining his offer, and giving 
 his reasons. The bishop was not offended by this 
 letter, the piety of which disarmed all resentment. 
 During Gilpin's residence in Flanders, he was much 
 affected by the sight of many of his countrymen 
 coming abroad to take refuge from the persecution 
 then raging in England. They were very kindly 
 received, but, as is well known, did not always agree 
 among themselves, and their intercourse with Con- 
 tinental Protestants produced effects afterwards very 
 disastrous to the peace of the Church at home. 
 
 After some further stay at Louvain, during which 
 he made many excursions to Antwerp, Ghent, and 
 other places, Gilpin proceeded to Paris, where he 
 committed the bishop's book to the press. He was 
 afterwards accused of having falsified this treatise, with 
 which the more zealous papists were by no means 
 satisfied ; but he was able to produce letters from the 
 bishop, thanking him for the fidelity w'ith which he 
 had executed his commission. What he saw and 
 heard at Paris completed his aversion to popery, and
 
 238 DURHAM. 
 
 confirmed his views as to the necessity of a reforma- 
 tion. 
 
 At length, after three years' residence abroad, he 
 returned to England, although he was aware that 
 the persecution was still raging. Very soon after this, 
 the bishop conferred on him the archdeaconry of 
 Durham, to which the rectory of Easington had 
 always been annexed. In this situation his energetic 
 protest against pluralities, against the indolence and 
 viciousness of the clergy soon procured him enemies. 
 Some said that those who made complaints of this 
 kind very soon became heretics, while others were 
 offended because he preached repentance and salva- 
 tion through Jesus Christ rather than the ceremonies 
 of the Church. At last a fonnal complaint of unsound 
 doctrine was made against him to the bishop. His 
 lordship very adroitly contrived to get the manage- 
 ment of the case into his own hands, and had very 
 little difficulty in acquitting him. But before long, 
 the anxieties of the office proved too much for him, 
 and he asked permission to resign either the arch- 
 deaconry or the living ; and when the bishop would 
 not consent to part them, he resigned both. 
 
 Shortly after, the bishop gave him the rectory of 
 Houghton-le-Spring, and about the same time offered 
 him a stall in the cathedral, telling him that he need 
 have no scruples about the latter, as there was no 
 cure of souls attached to it. Nevertheless he declined 
 the stall, saying that by his lordship's goodness he 
 had already more wealth than, he feared, he could 
 give a good account of 
 
 On Elizabeth's accession, several bishops were
 
 BERNARD GILPIN. 239 
 
 deprived because they refused the Oath of Supremacy, 
 and the see of Carhsle was offered to Gilpin ; but he 
 could not be persuaded to accept it, alleging that he 
 had many acquaintances in that diocese, who he 
 knew were not discharging their duty as they ought, 
 and he would certainly, if he did his, speedily 
 be at variance with them. In like manner, the pro- 
 vostship of Queen's College, Oxford, was offered to 
 him, and also declined. 
 
 The parish of Houghton-le-Spring was very exten- 
 sive — it is now divided into eight — and the people 
 were sunk in ignorance and superstition. It is said 
 — but, considering how near it is to Durham, it is 
 hardly credible — that, by the neglect of the proper 
 officials, the change of worship brought in by King 
 Edward was unknown there at the time of his death. 
 The parsonage-house was in a ruinous condition ; 
 but in time it was improved and enlarged, until it 
 " seemed like a bishop's palace," while within it was 
 "like a monastery, if a man consider a monastery 
 such as were in the time of St. Augustine." His 
 hospitality and liberality were unbounded, and he did 
 ever}'thing in his power to conciliate the good will of 
 his flock. His instructions were not confined to the 
 pulpit, but he gave counsel to his people in private, 
 and encouraged them to come to him with their doubts 
 and difficulties. He did all he could to prevent law- 
 suits, for though he did not know much of law, he 
 had a sense of justice which enabled him to see and 
 to point out what was right. " He condescended to 
 the weak, bore with the passionate, complied with 
 the scrupulous, became all things to all men," that he
 
 240 DURHAM. 
 
 "might by all means save some." He had a particular 
 skill in consoling the afflicted, and could always say 
 what was right to them in the best way. 
 
 But the ignorance which he saw prevailing around 
 him was a subject of great concern to him, and 
 feeling that his great hope must be with the rising 
 generation, he could not rest until he had founded, 
 and, with the help of Mr. Heath of Kepier, endowed, 
 a grammar-school, which still exists at Houghton 
 under the name of Kepier School. This was a work 
 of time, but meanwhile he entertained scholars in his 
 house — seldom less than twenty-four at a time— and 
 procured masters for them from Oxford. He was 
 thus the means of rearing several persons who be- 
 came famous for their learning, and were called to fill 
 prominent positions. Among them were George 
 Carleton, who became bishop of Chichester, and 
 wrote Gilpin's life ; and Hugh Broughton, a very 
 eminent Hebrew scholar, and afterwards a prebendary 
 of Durham. Broughton, however, proved very un- 
 grateful to his benefactor, and did all that he could 
 to injure him. In the midst of these good works 
 came the Rising in 1569. Gilpin foresaw what was 
 impending, and retreated for a time to Oxford, but 
 when the insurgents occupied Durham, they came out 
 to Houghton, distant about six miles from the city, 
 and made great havoc among the rector's goods. 
 The newly-gathered harvest and the young cattle, pro- 
 vided to supply his exuberant hospitality, were seized ; 
 they were base enough to destroy what they could 
 not take away ; and foremost among the marauders, 
 sad to say, was one whom Gilpin had saved from the
 
 BERNARD GILPIN. 24 1 
 
 gallows. When the insurrection was over, he exerted 
 himself in endeavouring to mitigate the severity of 
 justice, well knowing that many simple people had 
 been led away with the multitude through sheer 
 ignorance. 
 
 Such a man, so accomplished and benevolent, was 
 sure to be regarded with great respect by all who 
 knew him. It was natural that the two opposite reli- 
 gious parties who then divided England should each be 
 desirous to have him with them, and his moderation 
 excited the hopes both of the Puritans and the Papists. 
 But both were disappointed. It is possible that he may 
 have seen imperfections in the Reformed Church, 
 but he was thankful for the change from popery on 
 the one hand, while, on the other, he did not think 
 the objects for which the Puritans contended were of 
 such a nature as to make it desirable to unsettle the 
 established order of things. 
 
 His sympathies were not confined to his own parish. 
 He saw with great regret the ignorance, superstition, 
 and lawlessness, that prevailed elsewhere, and he 
 availed himself of his general license as a preacher to 
 make regular excursions into the most benighted 
 parts of Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Nortlumi- 
 berland. Tynedale and Redesdale, two very wild 
 districts in the west of Northumberland, were the 
 most common sphere of his labours. These districts 
 were on the border between England and Scotland, 
 and had been for centuries the scene of tumultuous 
 and predatory warfare. The people were immersed 
 in the deepest ignorance, and their manners were 
 rude and barbarous in the last degree. Deadly feuds 
 
 R
 
 242 DURHAM. 
 
 were very common amongst them, and they were 
 much addicted to thieving. It was in truth a country 
 which few would choose of their free will to visit at 
 all, but, moved with the love of God and of souls, 
 Mr. Gilpin hesitated not to enter it. He chose the 
 depth of winter for his visits, because, about Christmas, 
 there were many holydays, and it was easier to gather 
 the people together. On one occasion he was be- 
 nighted, and forced to spend the night amongst the 
 snow. He gave his horses in charge to his servant, di- 
 recting him to keep himself and them in motion, while 
 he himself ran about to keep the heat in his body. 
 He not only preached to the people, and laboured to 
 compose their differences, but he was very liberal in 
 his almsgiving, and very soon so conciliated their 
 esteem and reverence that they regarded him as a 
 prophet who had come among them. 
 
 Once his horses were stolen, and the robber was 
 rejoicing in his prize, when it came to his knowledge 
 that they were Mr. Gilpin's. In great terror he instantly 
 restored the horses, and craved Mr. Gilpin's forgiveness 
 and blessing, candidly confessing that his conscience 
 did not trouble him much about the theft, but that, 
 when he came to know to whom they belonged, he was 
 afraid of going down quick into hell. For the most 
 part parties that were at feud with each other avoided 
 coming to church at the same time, but on one occa- 
 sion at Rothbury it happened that two such parties 
 were at church together. They were in different 
 parts of the edifice, but ere long each became aware 
 of the presence of the other. Fierce looks were 
 nterchanged, then it seemed as if they were moving
 
 BERNARD GILPIN. 343 
 
 towards each other, and a weapon was heard to clash, 
 Mr. Gilpin came down from the pulpit, and standing 
 in the midst, expostulated with them; he failed to 
 effect a reconciliation, but obtained a promise that 
 they would abstain from hostilities at least in that 
 sacred place. After returning to the pulpit, he 
 proceeded to enlarge earnestly on the great sin of 
 indulging such passions. 
 
 On another occasion, having arrived at a certain 
 church some time before the hour for divine ser- 
 vice, he observed a glove hanging up within the 
 church. On inquiry, he was told that it was 
 meant as a challenge to any one who should dare to 
 take it down. He desired the sexton to reach it 
 to him, but the man positively refused, upon which 
 he took it down himself, and put it in his bosom. 
 During the sermon he took it out and held it up, and 
 told them he had taken it down himself, proceeding 
 to rebuke such unchristian conduct, and endeavouring 
 to make them ashamed of it. It soon came to pass 
 that any one who was in terror of his enemies 
 kept close in attendance on Mr. Gilpin, believing 
 his presence to be the best protection. 
 
 It is strange that such a man should have enemies, 
 yet even he did not escape. Hugh Broughton had 
 been taken up when he was a vory poor lad, 
 educated at Houghton, and sent to Cambridge by 
 Mr. Gilpin. He was a man of great ability, and very 
 learned, particularly in Hebrew and Rabbinical litera- 
 ture, but very inconstant. As Mr. Gilpin advanced 
 in life, Broughton is thought to have had his eye upon 
 Houghton, and he did all that he could to prejudice 
 
 R 2
 
 244 DURHAM. 
 
 the mind of Bishop Barnes against the rector. He had 
 another enemy in John Barnes, the bishop's brother 
 and chancellor, and rector of Haughton-le-Skerne, a 
 most unworthy man, immoral and covetous, and both 
 oppressive and profligate in the administration of his 
 office. Between this man and Mr. Gilpin there was a 
 long-continued opposition ; Mr. Gilpin doing all he 
 could to counteract the chancellor's nefarious designs, 
 and the chancellor pursuing Mr. Gilpin with undis- 
 guised enmity. These two men contrived to enflame 
 the mind of the bishop against Mr. Gilpin, and while 
 things were in this state his lordship called upon him 
 to preach at a visitation. As he was just then on the 
 point of setting out for Redesdale and Tynedale, he 
 sent a respectful message, begging to be excused. No 
 answer being returned, he took silence for consent, 
 and proceeded on his journey, but on his return 
 found himself suspended. Shortly after, he was sum- 
 moned to a visitation at Chester-le-Street, where, 
 without any previous notice, he was required to preach. 
 It was in vain that he pleaded v/ant of preparation, 
 and that he was under suspension. The bishop 
 rejected the former plea, and said that he then and 
 there revoked the suspension. Mr. Gilpin was still 
 reluctant, till he was commanded on his canonical 
 obedience immediately to proceed. Seeing no help 
 for it, he complied, and, though he saw persons taking 
 notes, he was no less bold in his faithfulness than he 
 had been many years before at court. He set before 
 the bishop the abuses and iniquities which were per- 
 petrated in his name in the diocese, warned him that 
 he was responsible for all and could now no longer
 
 BERNARD GILPIN. 245 
 
 plead ignorance. After the sermon his friends came 
 about him in great consternation, thinking that he had 
 ruined himself, but he only said, " Be not afraid, the 
 Lord God overruleth us all ; so that the truth may be 
 propagated, and God glorified, God's will be done 
 concerning me,'' After dinner he went to take leave 
 of the bishop, but his lordship insisted on accom- 
 panying him to his house, and when they were alone 
 seized his hand, saying, " Father Gilpin, I own you 
 are fitter to be Bishop of Durham than I am to be 
 parson of Houghton ; I ask forgiveness for errors 
 past ; I know you have hatched some chickens that 
 now seek to pick out your eyes ; but as long as I live 
 Bishop of Durham, be secure, no man shall injure 
 you." 
 
 His letters on such subjects display the utmost 
 Christian meekness, and there are others on contro- 
 versial matters, showing the same loving spirit com- 
 bined with deep learning. He was also most skilful 
 in comforting those who were in distress, not only by 
 personal intercourse, but by his letters. 
 
 Once, Lord Burleigh, in his return from Scot- 
 land, paid him an unexpected visit, and was so im- 
 pressed w^ith Mr. Gilpin's way of life and munificent 
 hospitality, that he declared, that thougli he had 
 previously heard much about the rector of Houghton, 
 the half had not been told him. \Micn he got 
 to Rainton Hill, about a mile and a half from 
 Houghton, he turned and cast behind iiim a 
 longing, lingering look, exclaiming, " Who can 
 blame that man for refusing a bishopric ? ^Vhat doth 
 he want, that a bishopric could more enrich him
 
 246 DURHAM. 
 
 withal? Besides that, he is free from the greater 
 weight of cares." Those who attempt to sketch his 
 life can enter into Lord Burleigh's feelings; it is a 
 life to linger over, and it must be matter, for regret 
 when it is needful to hasten over it, as must be done 
 here. 
 
 His health was much impaired in the latter part of 
 his life, and was completely destroyed by an accident 
 which he had met with in the Market-place at Dur- 
 ham, where an ox ran against him, and bruised him so 
 that his life was for some time despaired of. But he 
 lingered for a while, and at length, having bid farewell 
 to his scholars and servants, and some other friends, 
 he gave himself up to prayer, and breathed his last 
 4th March, 1583, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. 
 
 In person he was tall and slender. He was indif- 
 ferent to dress, and was very temperate in his diet. 
 His natural abilities were very good, and his learning 
 very considerable. His temper was naturally warm, 
 but he had it under complete control. Severe only 
 to himself, he was humble, candid, and indulgent to 
 others. He displayed great skill in the management 
 of his affairs, and it has been seen how he employed 
 the ample means which Providence had placed at his 
 disposal. In short, he appears to have been as much 
 of a pattern, as a man, a divine, and a pastor, as 
 as may be expected to be met with in this imperfect 
 state. His mantle seems to have descended to a 
 considerable extent on his successors, for it has been 
 remarked that few parishes have been more favoured 
 with a succession of excellent pastors than Houghton- 
 le-Spring.
 
 BISHOPS BARNES — HUTTON — MATTHEW. 247 
 
 There is little to be added to the history of Bishop 
 Barnes' episcopate. He died in 1587, and the see 
 continued vacant for nearly three years, during which, 
 notwithstanding all that had been alienated to the 
 Crown by Bishop Barnes, the Earl of Leicester pro- 
 posed to the queen to take ;!^ 1,2 00 in land from 
 the see, and give it back in impropriations and 
 tenths of equal value, thus perpetuating the alienation 
 of parochial revenues, and the impoverishment of the 
 parish clergy. But it is not said whether this was 
 done. 
 
 In June, 1589, Matthew Hutton, Dean of York, 
 was elected Bishop of Durham. He was a man of 
 high character, and distinguished for his learning, 
 especially in theology. In 1595 he was translated 
 to York, where he died in 1605. 
 
 Immediately after Bishop Hutton's translation, 
 Tobias Matthew was made bishop, who held the see 
 eleven years, from 1595 to 1606, when he was trans- 
 lated to York. While Bishop of Durham he was one 
 of a commission for redressing grievances on the 
 Borders, and it is to the honour of that body that the 
 first article proposed provided that addresses should 
 be presented to the sovereign of each kingdom to 
 repair churches and settle ministers on the border for 
 the reformation of the inhabitants. In 1603 it fell to 
 the lot of Bishop Matthew to meet King James at 
 Berwick when he was on his way to take possession of 
 the English throne, and to preach a congratulatory 
 sermon before him. The bishop was a great preacher, 
 — in an account he kept of his sermons, it appeared 
 that while Dean of Durham he preached 721 sermons,
 
 248 DURHAM. 
 
 while bishop 550, and while Archbishop of York, up 
 to Trinity Sunday, 1623, 721, — in all, 1992. He 
 died in 1628. He was famous for his wit, which, 
 however, he endeavoured to keep within the bounds 
 of episcopal gravity, and was wont to say that he 
 " could as well not be, as not be merry "; yet he owns 
 that his mirth was apt to become a snare to him. 
 
 On the translation of Bishop Matthew, William 
 James, Dean of Durham, succeeded September, 1606. 
 He held the see eleven years, during which nothing 
 very remarkable occurred. He died in 161 7.
 
 RICHARD NEILE. 249 
 
 CHAPTER Xir. 
 
 THE GREAT REBELLION. 
 
 Richard Neile, Bishop of Lincoln, was now trans- 
 lated to Durham. He is remarkable as having been 
 the only one of the English bishops who held six 
 sees in succession. In 1608 he became ]jishop 
 of Rochester, in 16 10 Bishop of Lichfield, in 16 13 
 Bishop of Lincoln, in 16 17 Bishop of Durham, 
 in 1627 Bishop of Winchester, and in 1631 Arch- 
 bishop of York. There is little doubt he owed 
 his preferments, in a great degree, to his being an 
 accomplished courtier. But he was also something 
 better than a mere courtier — he delighted in helping 
 forward men of ability and learning. Among these was 
 John Buckeridge, Bishop successively of Rochester 
 and Ely, who enjoyed the friendship of the great 
 Bishop Andrewes, and preached his funeral sermon. 
 William Laud, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 received his first preferment from Dr. Neile while 
 Bishop of Rochester, having been introduced to his 
 notice by Dr. Buckeridge. John Cosin, afterwards 
 Bishop of Durham, became chaplain to Bishop Neile 
 upon the death of his first patron, Bishop Overall. 
 Another was Augustin Lindsell, afterwards Bishop 
 successively of Peterborough and Hereford. Cosin 
 and Lindsell were both preferred in the Cathedral and
 
 250 DURHAM. 
 
 Diocese of Durham when Dr. Neile became bishop. 
 For these learned men apartments were reserved in 
 Durham House, at London, so that it came to be 
 known by the name of Durham College. The bishop 
 expended large sums on the buildings belonging to 
 the sees of Lincoln and Durham. 
 
 On Neile's translation to Winchester in 1627, 
 George Mounteigne, Bishop of London, was trans- 
 lated to Durham, but almost immediately afterwards 
 to York. During the short vacancy which followed, a 
 great ritualistic disturbance took place at Durham. 
 Before Bishop Neile's time puritanism had reigned 
 triumphant in the cathedral, and the internal arrange- 
 ments and the mode in which divine service was cele- 
 brated were very deficient in reverence or even 
 decorum. All over England the puritan party had be- 
 come veiy powerful, and their zeal very bitter — every 
 one who did not go all lengths with them in doctrine, 
 Avas stigmatised as an Arminian, while every approach 
 to order or decency in worship was assailed as popery. 
 But the time had now come when energetic efforts 
 were to be made to restore the beauty of holiness in 
 the worship of God. Cosin and Lindsell had, as we 
 have just seen, been appointed prebendaries by 
 Bishop Neile, and there were others, appointed by his 
 predecessors Matthew and James, who were not 
 averse to improvement. But the chapter was not 
 unanimous, and there was one "ancient prebendary" 
 who was very much aggrieved at the changes which 
 had taken place, and thought it his duty to lift up his 
 testimony against them. Peter Smart was a man of 
 considerable attainments, and had been master of the
 
 PETER SMART. 25 I 
 
 Grammar School at Durham. In 1609 he had been 
 appointed prebendary of the sixth stall, which he 
 afterwards exchanged for the fourth ; he was also 
 Rector of Boldon, though it was alleged that for several 
 years he had preached very rarely either in the 
 cathedral or Boldon. But on the 27th July, 1628, 
 he preached in the cathedral from the text, / hate 
 them that hold of superstitious vanities, Psalm xxxi. 7. 
 In this sermon he inveighed against the "innovations" 
 in very coarse tenns, accusing his brethren of a design 
 to introduce popery, and indulging in many personal 
 remarks, some of them very scurrilous, which Avould 
 be easily understood at the time, though not now 
 intelligible, without a somewhat minute knowledge of 
 the times and the men. Bishop Neile, who is un- 
 favourably contrasted with Bishop James, and Lindsell 
 and Cosin, seem to be the chief objects of his attacks. 
 In one respect the sermon is very valuable, as it gives 
 an idea of what the state of the cathedral had been, and 
 of the changes which had been made; and those who 
 are accustomed to the present order of things, not to 
 say in the cathedral, but in the humblest parish 
 church, would perhaps find it hard to believe what 
 had been usual during the early period of the Refor- 
 mation. All chanting had been discouraged, the 
 congregation did not stand at the Nicene Creed, 
 which was not sung, but read— metrical psalms from 
 Sternhold and Hopkins, including Dean Whittingham's 
 ditties, were sung before and after sermon— the holy 
 table stood in the middle of the choir, and it may be 
 safely concluded, without any fence to protect it from 
 profane or irreverent use. The Communion Office
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 252 
 
 appears to have been used every day, but when 
 there was no celebration, it was read from one of the 
 stalls. There was a plain service at six in the morning 
 for scholars, servants, and workpeople, as there is 
 still at St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey, and was, 
 till a comparatively late period, at Durham. The 
 font stood within the choir. What is almost incredible, 
 the vestments appear to have been taken out of the 
 church and used by the young people of the town 
 in their sports. Everything was ruinous, filthy, and 
 slovenly. But of late the holy table had been removed 
 to the place, where it now stands, at the east end of 
 the choir, protected by rails, and covered with a costly 
 pall, richly embroidered, the gift of Bishop Neile. 
 The church was thoroughly repaired and decorated 
 anew. The font was removed to the west end of the 
 nave, though it did not finally rest there without several 
 changes. All the Communion service was said at the 
 altar, as the new school preferred to call the holy 
 table. The Nicene Creed was sung, and the congre- 
 gation required to stand both during its recital and 
 that of the Gloria Patri. A new organ had been set 
 up, and cornets and other instruments were also 
 used : copes were worn at the Communion office, 
 whether there was a celebration or not, and there were 
 lights on the holy table. These were the things, with 
 frequent acts of adoration, or if we may believe him, 
 prostration, which roused Mr. Smart's ire, and some 
 of his arguments are very curious in the present day. 
 It was illegal to sing the Nicene Creed, or to stand up 
 at its recital, because it was not so ordered in the 
 Book, and he maintains that those who did so were
 
 PETER SMART. 253 
 
 liable to punishment. He was clearly of opinion that 
 " omission is prohibition," and the doing of anything 
 not expressly prescribed, penal. On the other hand, 
 he did not object to copes, for they were ordered in 
 the Canon ; but it must be " a decent cope," not " a 
 stately cope, a sumptuous cope, a cope embroydered 
 with idols, of silver, gold, and pearls, a mock cope, a 
 scornfuU cope, vsed a long time at Mass and May- 
 games, as some of ours were." He tells his hearers : 
 " Duck no more to our Altar, when you come in and 
 gee out ; I assure you it is an Idol, a damnable Idol 
 as it is used . . . Beleeve not these Balaams which 
 lay stumbling-blocks in your way, to make you fall 
 into spirituall fornication, telling you, when you bow 
 to the Altar, you worship God, not the Altar, for so 
 answer all popish and heathenish idolaters." What 
 immediately follows is hardly fit to be transcribed. 
 In reply to the allegation that there was an altar in 
 the king's chapel, his argument is very curious : 
 " What have we to doe with the imitation of the 
 court ? May we be so saucy as to imitate the king 
 in all things? Is it not treason? Is it not rebellion 
 so to doe? What bold presumption is this in a priest 
 or prelate to take upon him to be like the king without 
 his leave, and not to suffer his majesty to have some- 
 thing extraordinary, above the vulgar sort in magnifi- 
 cence and state ?" 
 
 Immediately after preaching this sermon, the dean, 
 Richard Hunt, and Prebendaries Marmaduke Blakis- 
 ton, Cosin, and James, met in the deanery, as a court 
 of High Commission, and summoned Mr. Smart 
 before them. He delivered up his sermon to be
 
 254 DURHAM. 
 
 copied, but, refusing to retract anything, he was sus- 
 pended ab i?igressu ecdesice, and his prebendal stall 
 sequestered. He lost no time in retaliating, by pre- 
 senting his prosecutors at the assizes for unlawful 
 practices — placing the Communion table the wrong 
 way, standing up at and singing the Nicene Creed, 
 using too many wax-lights and tapers, besides that 
 one of the prebendaries, Mr. Burgoyne, had an altar 
 in his church at Wearmouth. The judge rejected 
 the indictment ; but the next year, Mr. Smart, hoping 
 for better fortune with Judge Yelverton, who blessed 
 God that he was a puritan, renewed his presentment. 
 This judge declared that he thought the sermon a 
 very good one, yet even he felt himself compelled to 
 reject the indictment, and to censure Mr. Smart for 
 the temper he displayed. It is worthy of remark that 
 it was then competent for the civil judge to try such 
 causes at the assizes. 
 
 About the same time Mr. Smart published " A 
 Short Treatise of Altars," in which he indulged in a 
 great deal of very scurrilous invective. In the mean- 
 time he was summoned before the Court of High 
 Commission at London, where his case was heard, 
 but referred to the same Court at York. Here, in 
 1630, he was fined ;^4oo and ordered to recant. 
 On his refusal to do so he was degraded from holy 
 orders, deprived of all his preferments, and im- 
 prisoned for non-payment of costs. Previous to his 
 sentence he delivered a set of Articles to the Court 
 against the Dean and five of the Prebendaries, Cosin, 
 Burgoyne, M, Blakiston, Lindsell, and James, for un- 
 lawful practices, full of repetitions and coarse railing, 
 of which no notice appears to have been taken. The
 
 PETER SMART. 255 
 
 history of this case seems to suggest very mixed 
 reflections ; it is impossible to defend Mr. Smart's 
 intemperate, coarse, and sometimes very fooUsh invec- 
 tives, but his punishment seems altogether dispro- 
 portionate to the oftence. Yet, it was the way of those 
 times. Changes, perhaps many of them desirable, 
 were enforced in the most harsh and violent manner ; 
 heavy punishments such as large fines, degradation, 
 and excommunication inflicted, and those who in- 
 flicted them were often not very exemplary in other 
 respects. Dr. White, Bishop successively of Carlisle, 
 Norwich, and Ely, who must have known well what 
 he was saying, and was by no means inclined to 
 Puritanism, writes to Archbishop Laud. 
 
 " The remedy of the former evils must be by these things 
 which follow : — 
 
 1. A true and plaine discovery of the falsitie and deceilfulnesse 
 of Presbyterian principles : A7id the Reader shall finde some 
 passages in this ensuing Treatise, very usefull and materiall for 
 that purpose. 
 
 2. Divines must become studious, of pious and venerable 
 antiquilie: And in their judgment, and their doctrine, they 
 must not vary from the same, unlesse evident and convincing 
 reasons shall enforce them. 
 
 3. And there is one thing more of great moment to perswade 
 people to live in conformity and unity of the Church : To vnl, 
 the holy and religious conversation of conformable men. When 
 people shall observe conformable Ministers, diligent and indus- 
 trious in serving GOD, and promoting the salvation of Christian 
 soules, committed to their charge : When they behold in them, 
 peaceable, sober, and vertuous conversation : And that they 
 are no lesse diligent in sowing the seed of grace, than Ilerctikes 
 and Schismatikes are, in sowing tares: This will prevaile very 
 much to perswade them to honour the present Church, and the 
 discipline thereof.
 
 256 DURHAM, 
 
 Ncnu, on the contrary, no one thing hath beene a greater 
 scandall, and occasion of withdrawing many from conformity, 
 Then the prophane negligence of some conforming Ministers : 
 Then their loosenesse of life : Their avarice and ambition, in 
 heaping together Benefices and promotions: And then a grosse 
 neglect in discharging their duty, either in their owne persons, 
 or by entertaining and rewarding able and sufficient Curates."' 
 
 Cosin and the other prebendaries hbelled by Smart 
 were great plurahsts, and it is far from agreeable to 
 see the eagerness of Dr. Thomas Carr, who was 
 appointed to Sinart's stall, to obtain possession. Yet, 
 even in those days, more gentle and judicious 
 methods sometimes met with success, for we find 
 that when Bishop Pierce, in the Diocese of Bath 
 and AVells, was at pains to explain why the Holy 
 Table should be removed from the middle of the 
 church, and enclosed with rails, he attained his pur- 
 pose in most cases without much difficulty.^ 
 
 At Christmas, 1628, John Howson was trans- 
 lated from Oxford to Durham. By his energetic 
 opposition to Popery on the one hand, and Calvinism 
 on the other, he had attracted the notice of King 
 James, who made him Bishop of Oxford, and when 
 Archbishop Abbot was suspended, he was one of the 
 five bishops appointed to take charge of the affairs of 
 the primacy. He was only Bishop of Durham for 
 two years, during which nothing worthy of remark 
 occurred. He favoured Mr. Smart, or rather dis- 
 countenanced the violent proceedings against him, 
 
 1 From the Introductory Epistle to Archbishop Laud in "A 
 Treatise of the Sabbath Day," by Dr. Fr. White, Bishop of Ely. 
 ' Collier, vol. ii. p. 761.
 
 THOMAS MORTON. 257 
 
 censuring the chapter for what they had "done against 
 an ancient prebendary for indiscreetly reproving them 
 in indiscreet and unauthorised innovations." He 
 required by his episcopal authority some modification 
 of their ritual, and particularly in singing the Nicene 
 Creed, which the Communion Book at that time 
 only required to be said. Bishop Ilowson died in 
 February, 1631. 
 
 In June, the same year, Thomas Morton, Bishop 
 of Lichfield, was translated to Durham ; one of the 
 best of our prelates, a man of great learning, and dis- 
 tinguished for humility and benevolence. When he 
 was a parish priest at Long Marston, near York, that 
 city was visited by the plague, and those of the lowest 
 class Avho were infected were turned out of the city. 
 Booths were erected for them on Hobmoor ; and 
 Mr. Morton, in whom \nty for the sufferers overcame 
 personal fear, assiduously visited them for the purpose 
 of instructing and comforting them, and of relieving 
 their wants. He allowed no one to go with him, but 
 conveyed provisions to them himself, having a private 
 door made in his study, which was in a remote part of 
 the house, lest the infection should come into his 
 family. He was made Bishop of Chester in 16 16, 
 and translated to Lichfield in 16 18. It appears, from 
 the part which he took against Montague ^ when he 
 was called in question by the puritan party, that he 
 was inclined to Calvinism ; but it is also plain that 
 he did not go the lengths of some others of that way 
 
 ' Author of " Appcllo Cxsarem ;" for writing wliicli he was 
 censured by the I'arliament. lie was nevertheless made Bishop 
 of Chichester, and afterwards translated to Norwich. 
 
 S
 
 258 DURHAM. 
 
 in their opposition to ritual, since, arguing against 
 transubstantiation, he pleads that, when Roman 
 Catholics do reverence to the altar, they worship the 
 Sacrament, whereas in the English Church reverence 
 is made to the Holy Table, whether the Sacrament 
 be there or not. While he was Bishop of Lichfield he 
 did all he could to suppress Sunday sports, by which 
 so much scandal had been caused. 
 
 Bishop Morton's conduct, in the administration of 
 his diocese, and the manner in which he employed 
 its ample revenues, were such as might have been 
 expected from his antecedents. He used great for- 
 bearance in his exercise of the extensive rights of the 
 Palatinate, particularly in the case of wrecks, ward- 
 ships, and forfeitures for suicide ; he was systematic 
 and most liberal in his almsgiving, and maintained 
 many poor scholars at the universities ; he did what 
 lay in his power for the augmentation of poor livings, 
 especially in his own parish of Auckland ; he was 
 most conscientious in the administration of his church 
 patronage, appointing none to benefices but those 
 with whom he was well acquainted, or of whose fit- 
 ness he was well assured. It need hardly be added 
 that he took good care of the buildings belonging to 
 his see. 
 
 In his journey into Scotland in 1633, King Charles 
 passed some days with the bishop, and so princely 
 was his lordship's hospitality, that one day's enter- 
 tainment cost ;^i,5oo. The king arrived at Durham 
 with a great retinue at five o'clock on the afternoon 
 of Saturday, ist June, from Auckland, where he 
 had been entertained at the castle the night before.
 
 THOMAS MORTON. 259 
 
 and went straight to the cathedral. At the north door, 
 where a carpet had been laid down and cushions 
 of purple velvet provided, he knelt, and said the 
 Lord's Prayer. He then entered the church under 
 a silken canopy held over him by eight prebendaries 
 in surplices, and, sitting in a chair near the font, 
 listened to a brief address of welcome, and prayers 
 for his prosperous journey and safe return, from the 
 dean, vested in his choral habit. He then pro- 
 ceeded under the canopy to the choir, where a seat 
 had been prepared for him to the east of the bishop's 
 throne, the choir in the meanwhile chanting the Te 
 Deum accompanied by the organ and other musical 
 instruments. Short prayers were said, the whole 
 having been arranged by Dr. Laud, Bishop of Lon- 
 don and dean of the king's chapel. After service 
 the king visited the site of St. Cuthbert's tomb, and 
 in the choir the dean and prebendaries presented 
 him with a rich cope, which he gave to the Bishop of 
 London to be used in the royal chapel. He next 
 visited the tomb of the venerable Bede, in the 
 Galilee, and, after receiving from the Chapter a peti- 
 tion for the confirmation of the rights of the church, 
 proceeded with his retinue to the castle, every part 
 of which he inspected, and bestowed great commen- 
 dation on the manner in which it had been repaired 
 and beautified by Bishop Neile. Next day (Sunday) 
 he attended morning prayers in the cathedral, where 
 the Bishop of London ruled ^ the choir, and the 
 
 ' Superintended the service. It does not seem to mean that 
 he said prayers. It is an ancient technical term in tlie old 
 Service Books. The account is given in Latin by Bishop Cosin. 
 
 S 2
 
 26o DURHAM. 
 
 Bishop of Durham preached on the text of the fig tree, 
 St. Mark xi. 13. The king then repaired through the 
 cloisters to the deanery, where he was sumptuously 
 entertained by the bishop. He did not appear at 
 evensong, but staid with the bishop in the castle, 
 and assisted at prayers there. In the cathedral the 
 Bishop of London again ruled the choir, sitting in 
 the bishop's stall. Next day the Chapter received a 
 letter from the king taking notice of some things 
 which he had observed, "which," said his majesty, 
 " wee cannot but thincke most unfitting for that place, 
 and altogether unbeseeminge the magnificence of 
 soe goodly a fabricke." There were tenements in 
 the churchyard, to one of which he had been in- 
 formed was annexed a lease of the churchyard, " a 
 thinge not to be indured." He had also noticed 
 that there had been for this occasion a removal of 
 seats in the choir, and these, he was informed, were 
 for the mayor and corporation and " weomen of 
 quality." He commanded the removal of the houses 
 and forbade the seats to be replaced, accommodation 
 to be provided elsewhere for the mayor and the 
 wives of the bishop, dean, and prebendaries, and 
 movable seats for " weomen of quality " when they 
 attended church. It is not difficult to see the hand 
 of Laud in this letter, and the Chapter were probably 
 by no means displeased to have the king's authority 
 for such " innovations." 
 
 King Charles was again entertained by Bishop 
 Morton six years after, in 1639, but under much less 
 happy auspices. The troubles had now begun which 
 ended in his dethronement and murder, for he was
 
 THOMAS MORTON. 
 
 261 
 
 on his way to meet his Scottish subjects arrayed in 
 arms against his government. For the present he 
 came to terms with the insurgents, but the following 
 year saw them once more in arms. On the 20th 
 August, 1640, they crossed the Tweed, and eight 
 days after appeared on the north bank of the Tyne at 
 Newburn. Here they defeated Lord Conway, the 
 English leader, and crossed into the Bishoprick of Dur- 
 ham. At first they behaved with studied moderation, 
 and professed their intention to pay for everything 
 they wanted, but, finding the two counties of North- 
 umberland and Durham at their mercy, they became 
 less scrupulous, exacted a sum of ^850 a day for 
 their maintenance, seized the tithes and rents of the 
 clergy, and supplied themselves with coals and forage 
 at their discretion. Such proceedings brought great 
 distress upon the inhabitants of these two counties. 
 The town of Newcastle and the city of Durham were 
 nearly deserted, and almost a complete stop put to 
 the working of coal, a necessary for which the greater 
 part of England depended upon this district. In 
 these circumstances the bishop thought it proper to 
 retire into Yorkshire. Walter Balcanquhal, the 
 dean, and the rest of the clergy also fled. Before 
 long the bishop proceeded to London to attend Par- 
 liament, where, in common with his brethren, he was 
 rudely assaulted by the mob. On one occasion, his 
 chaplain and biographer tells us there "were some 
 who cried, 'Pull him out of his coach;' others, 'Nay, 
 he is a good man ; ' others, ' But for all that he is a 
 bishop.' And I have often heard him say he believed 
 he should not have escaped alive, if a leading man
 
 262 DURHAM. 
 
 among that rabble had not cried out, ' Let hun go and 
 hang himself; ' which he was wont to compare with 
 the words of the ' Angel ' uttered by ' Balaam's Ass,' 
 though the rudeness of the expression argued more of 
 the Ass than the Angel" In consequence of these and 
 such-like violent proceedings, by which the bishops 
 were prevented from attending on Parliament, twelve 
 of their number, headed by the Archbishop of York, 
 protested against any transaction of business in Par- 
 liament, while they were hindered from attending in 
 their place. For this they were charged by the House 
 of Commons with high treason, and committed to the 
 Tower, only the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry and 
 the Bishop of Durham, on account of their advanced 
 age, Avere allowed to remain in charge of the gentle- 
 man usher. But there was little favour in this, as 
 their charges were much greater. 
 
 The Long Parliament was now sitting, and Mr. 
 Peter Smart deemed that he had an opportunity for 
 obtaining redress. He made his complaint to the 
 House of Commons, and the chief object of it 
 seems to have been Dr. Cosin. The Commons were 
 only too happy to take such a case in hand, and 
 sent up to the House of Lords twenty-one articles of 
 accusation, the most of which referred to innovations, 
 real or alleged, in the ritual of Durham Cathedral. 
 To these Dr. Cosin replied so satisfactorily that, after 
 a hearing of five days, he was dismissed, and never 
 called upon to appear again. It is even said that Mr. 
 Smart's own counsel told him he was ashamed of 
 him, and declined any longer to act for him. Still 
 he was restored to his prebend by the Parlia-
 
 THOMAS MORTOX. 263 
 
 merit, and the Dean and Chapter were required to 
 present him to the Vicarage of AycUffe. The latter 
 he decUned, and it seems doubtful whether he ever 
 derived much benefit from the former. 
 
 In 1646 Episcopacy was aboHshed, and the bishops' 
 estates ordered to be sold. Their usual means of 
 maintenance were thus taken away ; but Bishop Mor- 
 ton's high character appears to have won him more 
 favour than was extended to the most of them, for an 
 annual income of ;^8oo was assigned to him, though 
 of this he refused to avail himself as long as he had 
 any other means of support. It appears, also, that he 
 was permitted to retain his London residence, Durham 
 House, in the Strand, until 1648 ; but just before the 
 murder of King Charles he was turned out by the 
 soldiers, who converted it into a garrison. It is a proof 
 of the esteem in which he was held in his own country, 
 that Sir Henry Vane the elder, who had come into the 
 place of the Nevilles at Raby and Barnard Castle, and 
 is well known in history as a bitter foe of the Church, 
 came to him when the bishops' lands were to be sold 
 and urged him to take measures to secure something 
 out of the wreck. It was probably at the instance 
 of Sir Henry that an allowance of ;^iooo was made 
 to the bishop, who employed that sum in paying his 
 debts and purchasing an annuity of ;^2oo for the rest 
 of his life, charged on the estate of Sir George Savillc, 
 whose son took care that it was paid even more than 
 punctually. While still resident at Durham House 
 the bishop baptized a daughter of the Earl of Rutland 
 according to the form in the Book of Common Prayer, 
 for which he was called in question by the Parliament,
 
 264 DURHAM. 
 
 For this, and for keeping possession of his seal, he 
 was dragged from his house and committed to the 
 custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms. He was kept in 
 restraint for six months, and then permitted to return 
 to Durham House. When driven thence, he resided 
 for some time with the Earl of Rutland at Exeter 
 House, in the Strand ; but, being unwilling to live at 
 the charge of others, he removed into the countr}- and 
 took up his abode, first with Captain Thomas Saun- 
 ders in Hertfordshire, and afterwards with Mr. Thomas. 
 Robinson in Bedfordshire. On one occasion, in a 
 journey to Eondon, he fell into company with Sir 
 Christopher Yelverton, who had taken part with the 
 Parliament. The bishop knew him, though he did not 
 know the bishop. On Sir Christopher asking him who 
 he was, he answered, "I am that old man the Bishop of 
 Durham in spite of all your votes." ** Where was he 
 going ? '■ " To London, to live there a little while, and 
 then to die." After some further conversation. Sir 
 Christopher invited him to accompany him to his house 
 at Easton Mauduit, m Northamptonshire. Here he 
 acted as tutor to Sir Christopher's son, afterwards Sir 
 Henry Yelverton, who ever regarded the good bishop 
 with the affection of a child. After living nearly to the 
 endof the Great Rebellion, just when thetroubles of the 
 nation were coming to an end, 22nd September, 1659, 
 he died at Easton Mauduit, in the 95th year of his 
 age, the forty-fourth of his episcopate, and the 
 twenty-eighth of his translation to Durham. The 
 bishop was never married. He was a man of great 
 learning and piety, of very studious and somewhat 
 ascetic habits, and wrote many books, chiefly of a
 
 THE SEE DISSOLVED. 
 
 controversial character, in support of the Church 
 against both Rome and the Puritans. 
 
 "o' 
 
 After the deprivation of Bishop Morton in 1646,. 
 the Church of Durham lay in desolation for fourteen 
 years. In pursuance of the ordinance of Parliament 
 already mentioned, the possessions of the see were 
 sold at various times in the years 1647-1651. The 
 amount of the sales came tO;^68,i2i. 15s. gd. The 
 Castle of Durham was purchased by Thomas Andrews^ 
 Lord Mayor of London ; Auckland and the Manors 
 of Wolsingham and Easingwold by Sir Arthur 
 Hesilrigg, who pulled down the castle and chapet 
 at Auckland, and proceeded to erect a magnificent 
 mansion, intending it for his principal residence. 
 
 But the most interesting transaction in the time of 
 the usurpation was the erection of a College at Durham. 
 In 1650 the gentry of the county addressed the Lord 
 Protector, setting forth the disadvantages arising from 
 the great distance of the north from Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge, and praying that the houses of the Dean and 
 Prebendaries, which were going to decay, might be- 
 converted into a College for the instruction of youth. 
 Cromwell's answer came from Edinburgh : he highly 
 approved of the suggestion, which he recommended 
 to Parliament in a letter to the Speaker, — " Truly it 
 seems to me a matter of great concernment and im- 
 portance, as that which (by the blessing of God) may 
 much conduce to the promotion of learning and piety 
 in these poore, rude, and ignorant parts, there being 
 also many concurring advantages to this place, as- 
 pleasantness and aptness of situation, healthful! aire.
 
 2 66 DURHAM, 
 
 and plenty of provisions, which seeme to favour and 
 plead for theire desires therein." 
 
 A few months after Cromwell wrote this letter, 
 came one of his " crowning mercies " in the victory 
 which he won over the Scots at Dunbar, where he took 
 about 9,000 prisoners. All that were wounded, so as 
 to oe disabled in his opinion for future service, he 
 released, these were about 5,100, the rest were con- 
 ducted to Durham. They suffered much, and many 
 died on the road ; but 3,000 were shut up in the 
 cathedral, which was turned into a prison. Sufferings 
 and sickness soon terribly thinned their numbers. It 
 was winter time, and before they were set at liberty 
 they had miserably defaced the interior of the church, 
 made fires of the woodwork of the choir, and muti- 
 lated the Neville monuments, reducing them to the 
 condition in which they are to be seen at this day. 
 Some of the prisoners were sent to the salt works at 
 Shields, " and," says Sir Arthur Hesilrigg, under 
 whose charge they were, " I have taken out twelve 
 weavers to begin a trade of linen cloth like unto the 
 Scotch cloth." It appears that even then Scotland 
 was famous for the linen manufacture, and the shrewd 
 baronet failed not to avail himself of the skill of his 
 captives. 
 
 It was not till 1657 that " Oliver, Lord Protector of 
 the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 
 and the dominions thereto belonging," issued his 
 letters patent for the erection of the new College. It 
 is a remarkable document, showing no small skill on the 
 part of its author. It consists of twenty-three heads. 
 
 The College is to be erected within the scite of the
 
 THE SEE DISSOLVED. 267 
 
 College houses, Cathedral church, and Castle, in our 
 city of Durham (i, ii). It is to consist of a provost 
 or master, two preachers or senior fellows, twelve 
 other fellows, of whom four were to be professors, 
 four tutors, and four schoolmasters ; also twenty-four 
 scholars, twelve exhibitioners in the College, and 
 eighteen scholars in the free school (iii). These 
 shall be a corporation " by the name of the Master or 
 Provost, Fellows, and Scholars of the College in Dur- 
 ham, of the foundation of Oliver, Lord Protector, 
 &:c.'" (iv). The first provost and fellows are named (v). 
 The College^ and Cathedral, and all their appur- 
 tenances, are made over to the new foundation (vi). 
 Certain pecuniary endowments out of the revenues of 
 the see are assigned and specified (vii, viii, ix). All 
 books, manuscripts, mathematical instruments, and 
 other instruments, belonging to the bishop or dean 
 and chapter are given to the college (x). They 
 are empowered to hold property not to exceed the 
 yearly value of ;^6,ooo, to grant leases, to sue and be 
 sued in like manner as any other collegiate corpora- 
 tion, and to have a common seal (xi, xii, xiii). They 
 are to be for ever governed by rules made by certain 
 visitors, who are all named, ist. A body whose 
 powers are to last only for two years ; Sir Thomas 
 Widdrington, Speaker of the Parliament, and one of 
 the Commissioners of our Treasury ; Major-General 
 Lambert, Commander-in-Chief in the five northern 
 counties ; Walter Strickland, one of our counsel ; six 
 
 1 The quadrangle containing the piebendal houses is so 
 named at Durham.
 
 2 68 DURHAM. 
 
 Noblemen connected with the north ; the Attorney- 
 General and Solicitor-General ; fifty-three Esquires 
 and Gentlemen, chiefly in the northern counties ; 
 twelve Members of the Corporations of London, 
 Durham, Newcastle, Carlisle, and Berwick ; and 
 fifteen Ministers ; in all ninety-one. 2nd. Twelve 
 Constant Visitors, viz., eight Gentlemen of the city or 
 county of Durham, the Mayor of Durham, and three 
 Ministers ; ten of these were in the former list. The 
 office of these last was to be perpetual, and they were 
 empowered to fill up vacancies in their number 
 arising from death and other causes ; if they neglected 
 to do so, it was to be done by the Provost and 
 Fellows (xiv, xv). The powers of the Visitors are de- 
 fined — to make rules and to exercise discipline, nine 
 of the whole body to be a quorum, of whom five must 
 be constant visitors (xvi, xvii). In case of dispute 
 reference was to be made to the Court of Chancery 
 (xviii). The Provost and Fellows to make rules for 
 the government of the College (xix). Power is given 
 to set up a printing press to print Bibles, and to 
 license books, no other privileged printers to interfere 
 with them (xx). They are exempted from serving in 
 civil or parochial offices and from taxes ; their horses 
 may not be taken to ride post (xxi-xxiii). 
 
 It was in many respects an admirable scheme. Not 
 the least of its merits consisted in giving an interest to 
 the nobility and gentry in carrying it out. Its one great 
 fault was that it dealt with property which did not 
 belong to those who undertook to deal with it. The 
 new College soon excited the jealousy of the ancient 
 Universities, which protested against its conferring
 
 THE SEE DISSOLVED. 269 
 
 degrees. The death of the Protector prevented the 
 full completion of the scheme, and application was 
 made to his son and successor, Richard, for power to 
 carry it out. But, as is well known, his power lasted 
 only a very short time, and the Restoration, by giving 
 back property to its lawful owners, put an end to its 
 existence.
 
 270 DURHAM. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE RESTORATION. 
 
 WHEN THE LORD TURNED AGAIN THE CAPTIVITY OF ZION, 
 THEN WERE WE LIKE UNTO THEM THAT DREAM ; 
 THEN WAS OUR MOUTH FILLED WITH LAUGHTER, 
 AND OUR TONGUE WITH JOY. 
 
 The 29th day of May, 1660, was a memorable day in 
 the Church of England. The long night of confusion 
 and usurpation was ended, the King restored to his 
 throne, and the Church to her rights. Some time 
 elapsed before an appointment was made to the See 
 of Durham, yet as Bishop Morton died only eight 
 months before the Restoration, the vacancy was not 
 really after all so long as it often was in ordinary 
 times. In November, 1660, John Cosin, Dean of 
 Peterborough, was elected as Bishop of Durham. He 
 was a native of Norwich, born in 1596.^ When he was 
 thirteen years of age his father died and left him a 
 considerable property which he gave up to his mother 
 reserving jQ,2o a-year for his expenses at Cambridge. 
 At the age of fourteen he went up to Caius College as 
 a scholar. His career was distinguished and he 
 became a fellow of his college. In 161 6, when he 
 
 ' In this chapter great use has been made of Canon Ornsby's 
 most valuable editions of the Correspondence of Bishop Cosin 
 and that of Dean Granville — Surtees Society,
 
 JOHN COSIX. 271 
 
 was twenty years of age, he had the ofter of the situa- 
 tion of librarian from two distinguished prelates, Dr. 
 Andrewes, Bishop of Ely, and Dr. Overall, Bishop of 
 Lichfield. He chose to live with the latter, for whom 
 he ever afterwards cherished a very high esteem. He 
 lost his excellent patron in 1 6 1 9, but was soon taken into 
 the family of Dr. Neile, Bishop of Durham, by whom, 
 in 1624, he was made a prebendary of the cathedral. 
 Shortly after he married a daughter of IMarmaduke 
 Blakiston, Prebendary of Durham and Archdeacon of 
 the East Riding. The latter dignity Mr. Blakiston 
 immediately resigned in favour of his son-in-law. The 
 same year Cosin became Rector of Elwick and the 
 next of Brancepeth, both near Durham. At Durham 
 House, in London, he had frequent opportunities of 
 meeting Dr. Laud White, Bishop of Carlisle, and 
 Richard IMontague, and he seems to have joined 
 heart and soul in the zeal for the doctrine and dis- 
 cipline of the Church, by which these eminent men 
 were so highly distinguished. But he soon became 
 obnoxious to the puritan party. His first troubles 
 arose from the publication by him in the year 1627 of 
 a Book of Private Devotions. It had been observed 
 that the queen's French ladies were in possession of 
 such manuals, and there seemed to be some danger 
 of their English compeers acquiring a love for them. 
 Cosin's book was intended to prevent this, and was 
 grounded on some manuals of the time of Queen 
 Elizabeth. It is difficult now to understand the 
 clamour which arose on the appearance of "Dr. 
 Cosin's cozening devotions," as they were called in 
 derision and spite by Mr. Prynne. There are few now
 
 ^72 DURHAM. 
 
 who would not think it a very harmless book, even if 
 not in all respects according to their taste ; and, if it is 
 not so fervent as the devotions of Andrewes or Laud, 
 we must remember that it was intended for a general 
 manual and is not of so personal a character as these. 
 
 The next year happened the affair of Mr. Smart at 
 Durham, and the proceedings which followed the 
 preaching of his famous sermon produced from him 
 a flood of personalities, in which Mr. Cosin was 
 vehemently assailed. (Mr. Smart had found a passage 
 of St. Gregory which seemed to lay down that none 
 above the grade of sub-deacon should sing in choir.) 
 " And is it not a base imploiment for you, John Cosin, 
 having 2 fatt benefices, an archdeaconrie, being 
 Bachelour of Divinitie, and more then a subdeacon, 
 even a full priest, to leave all your charges of soules 
 at 6 or 7, and sitt all day long eyther at home with a 
 tobacco pipe in your mouth, or in the quire chanting 
 among singers." 
 
 In 1634 he was elected Master of Peterhouse, 
 and in 1640 appointed Dean of Peterborough. 
 He certainly had his full share of preferment ; 
 but he had not now long to enjoy it. Mr. 
 Smart complained against him to the House of 
 Commons, and twenty-one articles of impeachment 
 were presented, to all of which Cosin was able to give 
 satisfactory answers. He was also accused of per- 
 verting a young student at Cambridge to popery, but 
 he proved that this was the very reverse of the truth. 
 Nevertheless he was sequestered from all his prefer- 
 ments and extruded from his mastership. He now 
 retired beyond the sea and lived for seventeen years
 
 JOHN COSIN. 273 
 
 in Fiance in great poverty.^ Many inducements were 
 held out to him to join the Church of Rome, and 
 particularly that of a competent maintenance, but 
 he maintained his steadfastness throughout all, and 
 employed his enforced leisure in the composition of 
 two learned works against the opinions of Rome — one 
 in English, " A Scholastical History of the Canon of 
 Holy Scripture " — the other in Latin, " Historia 
 Transubstantiationis Papalis," in which he maintains 
 the catholic doctrine as received by the Church of 
 England on the Canon of Scripture, and the doctrine 
 of the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. 
 Meanwhile he lived on terms of friendship and mutual 
 esteem with the ministers of the French Reformed 
 Church. 
 
 AVhen the Restoration came, he was restored to his 
 preferments, and was the first to read the common 
 prayer in his cathedral at Peterborough. It was 
 intended that he should be made Dean of Durham, 
 but in the end he was named as bishop. Public 
 business, the nature of which will presently appear, 
 detained him in the south for some months, and it 
 was not till August, 1661, that he made his public 
 entry into the bishopric. He says of his reception, 
 " The confluence and alacritie, both of the gentrie, 
 ciergie, and other people was very great, and at my 
 first entrance through the river of Tease, there was 
 scarce any water to be seen for the multitude of horse 
 
 ' Ilis eldest daughter had a pension from Cromwell, for the 
 maintenance of herself and her sisters — perhaps more than was 
 to be expected from the usurper, though it cannot have been 
 agreeable to the lady ; but necessity has no law. 
 
 T
 
 2 74 DURHAM. 
 
 and men that filled it, when the sword that killed the 
 dragon ^ was delivered to me with all the formality of 
 trumpets and gunshots and acclamations that might 
 be made." The Dean of Durham, Dr. Fuller, died in 
 1659 and of nine prebendaries who survived, Dr. 
 Cosin was made bishop, and Dr. John Barwick, who 
 had been chaplain to Bishop Morton, and wrote his 
 life, was appointed dean. The remaining seven 
 prebendaries resumed their stalls and other prefer- 
 ments, but a heavy task lay before them all. The 
 episcopal houses were ruined or much dilapidated, 
 the cathedral a wreck, indebted to its massive solidity 
 for its preservation from utter ruin. In the interior 
 of the church everything had to be renewed, and the 
 prebendal houses had to be rebuilt or repaired at 
 very great cost. 
 
 But before Bishop Cosin engaged in the work which 
 lay before him at Durham, his attention was claimed 
 by a matter of great national importance. During the 
 late confusions the Book of Common Prayer had been 
 proscribed, and its use, even in private, had been made 
 penal. It had already been restored to use, but it 
 was now thought necessary that it should be revised. 
 The Puritans were clamorous for very sweeping alter- 
 ations, amounting indeed to an entire change in its 
 
 ' The tenure by which the family of Conyers held the Manor 
 of Sockburn required the lord or his deputy to present the 
 bishop on his first entry into the bishoprick "with the faulchion 
 wherewith the Champion Conyers slew the worm, dragon, or 
 fiery flying serpent, which destroyed man, woman, and child." 
 The tenure is very ancient, being noticed by Sir John Conyers 
 in 1396. — Ornsby, Cosin, vol ii. p. 21.
 
 JOHX COSIX. 275 
 
 Structure. To this the heads of the Church refused to 
 consent ; but after the conferences at the Savoy had 
 come to an end this important work was taken up by 
 Convocation, and a committee was appointed to revise 
 the services, of which Bishop Cosin was an important 
 member. If he might have had his way the Commu- 
 nion Service would have been brought back to a much 
 nearer accordance with the First Book of King 
 Edward VI. There are still extant copies of the 
 Prayer Book as it was in use before the Great Rebel- 
 lion, containing in the margin the alterations proposed 
 by Bishop Cosin, Perhaps the most important of 
 these occur in the Prayer of Consecration. Here the 
 Invocation of the Word and Holy Spirit found in all 
 ancient liturgies except that of Rome was restored, 
 the Memorial and Prayer of Oblation, which had been 
 mutilated, and its latter portion inserted after the 
 distribution of the Sacrament, was also restored, with 
 the Lord's Prayer, to its former position. It is very 
 remarkable that the revision of the Prayer Book 
 made by the American Church, after the separation of 
 the colonies from the mother country, corresponds 
 very nearly with Bishop Cosin's revision, a circum- 
 stance which effectually clears the latter from any 
 ignorant charge of approximation to popery. The 
 other bishops, however, did not think it prudent to 
 adopt his suggestions. Perhaps it is not too much to 
 say that their caution or timidity in this respect adds 
 some emphasis to their deliberate and careful reten- 
 tion of the Ornaments Rubric. This was the last 
 revision of the Prayer Book, when it was finally 
 brought into the form in which we now have it. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 DURHAM, 
 
 Immediately after his public reception into the 
 see, Bishop Cosin applied himself to his diocesan work. 
 He was a diligent preacher, not only in the cathedral 
 but also in parish churches, and he immediately held 
 confirmations in Durham and Newcastle which were 
 very numerously attended, partly, no doubt, in con- 
 sequence of the long disuse of the rite. In the same 
 month he held an ordination in the cathedral, and in 
 October, synods of the clergy in Durham and New- 
 castle. His plan was to preach among them and put 
 them in some order, " if by any fayre means " he 
 could. " I made them my assessors," he says after- 
 wards, " treating them so that I hope (and they as- 
 sured me all as much) they are well pleased with their 
 bishop; even Mr. Durant^ himself, whom only I in- 
 treated to forbear preaching till he made it appear 
 that he was an ecclesiastical person, as he is not, 
 having neither epicopall or presbyteriall ordination." 
 This seems to imply that the bishop would have been 
 content, for the present at least, if Mr. Durant had 
 been in " presbyteriall " orders. At Newcastle, on 
 the Sunday before the synod, he preached to three or 
 four thousand people. 
 
 The bishop's next care was to hold a visitation both 
 of the diocese and of the cathedral. As might be ex- 
 pected, much disorder prevailed in the diocese. In 
 Northumberland, popish recusants abounded, mass- 
 was said openly, and warning given that people might 
 attend. Many of the churches had no ministers, or 
 only such as were zealous nonconformists. The 
 
 ^ A nonconformist preacher in Newcastle.
 
 JOHN COSIX. 277 
 
 fabrics of many churches were altogether ruinous ; 
 in many there were " neyther bibles, books of common 
 prayer, surplisses, fonts, communion tables, nor any- 
 thing tiiat is necessary for the service of God." It is 
 imlikely that things were very much better in many of 
 the churches of the Bishoprick ; but the accounts 
 given of the cathedral, even some years after, are such 
 as would astonish most persons in the present day — 
 the church a thoroughfare for people carrying burdens ; 
 the boys playing rudely in the cloisters on Sunday, 
 and in the church itself on week days ; some of the 
 petty canons ' sitting on their desks, with their backs 
 towards the choir.' " In 1665 the bishop has to com- 
 plain that there were only five petty canons, Avhereas 
 the statutes required twelve ; and of these it was 
 reported that " some reade not so distinctly, but have 
 been admonished to read privately the lessons afore- 
 hand, according to Elizabeth's injunctions." He 
 takes notice that the Dean and Chapter were very 
 slack in carrying on the repairs of the church, and 
 adds : " they answer, that there is no irregularity in 
 habits, but they say nothing of coming to the church 
 in night-gowns and grey stockings, nor of wearing long 
 rapiers, great skirted jumpes, and short daggers." 
 And again, " It is none of their priviledges to come 
 to the (|uire in their furre and nightgownes, or 
 to sit with their hats on at the reading of the first 
 and second lessons." The truth is Bishop Cosin had 
 few men like-minded with himself in the chapter. It 
 has been seen that seven of the prebendaries returned 
 to their stalls after the great Rebellion ; the other five 
 were appointed by the king while the sec was still
 
 278 DURHAM. 
 
 vacant. Most of them had very little zeal for order, 
 while one, Dr. Thomas Wood,^ whose principles and 
 sympathies were thoroughly puritan, though he had 
 not the honesty to withdraw with his more conscien- 
 tious brethren after the Act of Uniformity, was utterly 
 opposed to it. It is to be feared there were many 
 examples of the sort of persons whom Dr. South 
 denounces so vehemently as " being nothing else but 
 ambition, avarice, and hypocrisy, serving all the real 
 interests of schism and faction in the Church's livery," 
 to be found in the Church after the Restoration. 
 Only thrice during his episcopate had Bishop Cosin 
 the disposal of a stall. The first was filled by his 
 chaplain, William Bancroft, afterwards Archbishop of 
 Canterbury ; the second by his son-in-law, Denys 
 Granville ; the third by John Durell, all of whom will 
 be noticed afterwards. When such was the state of 
 things in the cathedral, it is easy to conjecture how it 
 was in the parish churches ; but by strictness com- 
 bined with kindliness, with the aid of two zealous 
 archdeacons, Isaac Basire in Northumberland, and 
 Denys Granville in Durham, tlie bishop gradually 
 effected a great improvement, so that after his death 
 Archdeacon Granville could report to his successor 
 that things were more orderly than in most dioceses, 
 though still far short of what they ought to be. 
 
 In 1662 the Act of Uniformity was passed, and it 
 became the bishop's duty, both as diocesan and lord- 
 
 ' He was afterwards Dean of Lichfield, retaining his stall at 
 Durham. He was a thorn in the side of good Bishop Hacket, 
 who used to wish he could be called into residence at Durham. 
 Yet, on Bishop Hacket's death, he became Bishop of Lichfield.
 
 JOHN COSIX. 279 
 
 lieutenant of the Palatinate, to give efifect to its pro- 
 visions. There were many nonconforming ministers, 
 not only in the large to^^^ls, such as Newcastle, but also 
 in country districts, and from time to time there were 
 alarms of rebellion, which sometimes turned out to 
 have very slight foundation ; but the risings against 
 the law which took place in the neighbouring kingdom 
 of Scotland had no parallel in England ; partly, no 
 doubt, from the quieter and more passive disposition 
 of the people, and partly also because the laws were 
 more temperately enforced than they were in Scotland, 
 during the unhappy period which followed the Re- 
 storation. 
 
 Bishop Cosin expended very large sums in the 
 repairs of his two castles at Durham and Auckland. 
 The latter, as has been already mentioned, had been 
 in great part pulled down by Sir Arthur Hesilrigg, 
 who erected a large mansion with the materials ; but 
 the bishop refused to use this house, as the stones of 
 the stately chapel erected by Bishop Bek had been 
 used in its construction. It was pulled down and 
 the chapel rebuilt. The present state of the interior 
 would seem to indicate that the arcades which divide 
 the nave from the aisles had once been for some time 
 exposed to the weather, so that probably it was only 
 the exterior walls which needed to be rebuilt. The 
 restored chapel was consecrated on St. Peter's day, 
 1665, and named after the Saint of the day. The 
 repairs of the two castles cost ^^1^,000, ;^6,ooo of 
 which were expended on the chapels, besides ;^i,ooo 
 more on the plate and furniture. At Durham lie 
 built a new library adjoining the exchequer at the
 
 28o DURHAM. 
 
 castle gates, at a cost of ^500, which he furnished 
 with books of the value of ^^2,000. He also expended 
 very large sums in the foundation of hospitals at 
 Durham and Auckland, of scholarships at Caius 
 College and Peterhouse at Cambridge, and in other 
 charitable works, amounting in all, including what is 
 mentioned above, to upwards of ;^34.5oo during the 
 first seven years of his episcopate. 
 
 During his last years Bishop Cosin incurred great 
 unpopularity by his opposition to the desire of the 
 people of the Palatinate to be represented in Parlia- 
 ment. Hitherto no knights or burgesses had been 
 summoned to the national council from the Bishop- 
 rick. Though situated between the counties of York 
 and Northumberland, both of which were represented, 
 it seems to have been regarded as a separate princi- 
 pality, though subject to the crown of England, just 
 as the Isle of Man is to this day. During the usurp- 
 ation of Cromwell, this privilege had been conceded, 
 but it fell with the other arrangements of that time at 
 the Restoration. It is likely that the temporary en- 
 joyment of the same rights which were possessed by 
 the neighbouring counties had caused the distinction 
 between them and others to be more felt ; but the 
 bishop would by no means consent to it, and he was 
 able to prevent the change from taking place during 
 his lifetime. It did take place after his death ; in the 
 meantime it was a cause of dissension between him 
 and his people. 
 
 The bishop was not altogether happy in his family, 
 which consisted of one son and four daughters. His 
 son at an early period, joined the Church of Rome,
 
 JOHN COSIN. 281 
 
 and took orders in it. This annoyed his father so 
 much that he altogether disowned him, though he 
 aftenvards relented so far as to make him a yearly 
 allo'.vance of ^^50. In his will he leaves him a legacy 
 of;^roo, and by a subsequent codicil increased his 
 annuity to ;^ioo. He speaks of him both in the will 
 and thecodicil as his "lost sonne,"who had "dealtvery 
 undutifully with mee his indulgent father, and twice 
 forsaken his mother, the Church of England ... to 
 my great griefe and trouble, haveing not come to mee 
 for further advice, but wholly avoided mee during 
 these four yeares together." His youngest daughter 
 became the wife of Denys Granville, nephew of the 
 Earl of Bath, and descended from a noble family in 
 France. The career of this remarkable man requires 
 some notice. He was early dedicated to the ministry, 
 at a time when there seemed little chance of prefer- 
 ment, and appears to have taken a very devoted and 
 pious view of his intended function and its obliga- 
 tions. Soon after the Restoration he was ordained, 
 and about the same time married Anne Cosin. Pre- 
 ferment came immediately. In 1662 (ret. 26) he was 
 made a Prebendary of Durham, Archdeacon of 
 Durham, and Rector of Easington, a living always 
 held with the archdeaconry. Two years after, he 
 became Rector of Elwick, which, in 1667 (ret. 30), he 
 exchanged for Sedgefield, being also a chaplain in 
 ordinary to the king. He was entirely like-minded 
 with Bishop Cosin in a desire to have all the laws of 
 the Church most strictly obeyed, and this, no doubt, 
 weighed much with the bishop in bestowing upon 
 him such rapid preferment. But unfortunately he
 
 282 DURHAM. 
 
 was SO imprudent and even reckless in his expen- 
 diture that, notwithstanding his ample preferments^ 
 which might well have sufficed for three men, he 
 speedily became involved in pecuniary difficulties. 
 He was frequently, and for very long periods, absent 
 from his cures, though he appears to have taken 
 great pains to have them well served in his absence. 
 His married life was not happy. Mrs. Granville 
 seems to have been subject to aberrations of mind, 
 arising, in the opinion of physicians, from the state of 
 her bodily health. Misunderstandings soon arose 
 between him and the bishop, which there is good 
 reason for believing were much aggravated by the 
 unkindness of Mrs. Granville's eldest sister. Lady 
 Gerard, and her husband, Sir Gilbert. There are 
 many painful traces of this misunderstanding in 
 the bishop's private correspondence. The arch- 
 deacon's brother, the Earl of Bath, and the Duke of 
 Albemarle endeavoured to propitiate the bishop. 
 Even the king, at Granville's request, interposed, but 
 apparently without much effect. After the bishop's 
 death the confusion in the archdeacon's affairs came 
 to a crisis. He was arrested in the cloisters, as he 
 was coming from public prayers, in the presence of 
 many of the chief gentry of the county. In vain he 
 pleaded his immunity as a king's chaplain ; he was 
 carried off to prison. But the court took up the 
 matter ; he was released, and the sheriff and others 
 concerned were punished. This occurrence seems to 
 have opened his eyes, and in after life we find him 
 expressing great remorse for his folly, and making 
 many resolutions of amendment. Eventually in 1684
 
 JOHN COSIN. 283 
 
 he became Dean of Durham, in spite of much opposi- 
 tion, retaining the archdeaconry and his livings ; but 
 five years after came the invasion by the Prince of 
 Orange, and the flight of King James. The dean was 
 unbending in his loyalty, and thoroughly impressed 
 with the obligation of passive obedience. He gave 
 up all his preferment, and followed the deposed king 
 into exile. He lived in France in great poverty, 
 neglected by the court of St. Germains on account of 
 his religion, but taking comfort from the thought that 
 he was living among the ancient memorials of his 
 family. Queen Mary of iModena, bigoted as she was, 
 had always befriended him, and given him pecuniary 
 help, when she had but little for herself, and now took 
 care that he should be interred in consecrated ground. 
 With all his defects his private papers show him to 
 have been a man of great piety. His directions and 
 counsels to his curates at Easington and Sedgefield 
 manifest great anxiety for the spiritual good of the 
 flock committed to his charge ; while the rules for the 
 government of his household supply a very beautiful 
 pattern for the regulation of a clergyman's family, re- 
 minding the reader strongly of such examples as 
 Nicholas Ferrar and George Herbert. 
 
 Bishop Cosin was long afflicted with a painful 
 disease, but at last, after years of suffering, which 
 ought never to be forgot when there appear displays 
 of temper, the end came. He died in London, 15th 
 January, 167 1-2, and was embalmed and carried in 
 solemn state to Durham, where the cortege arrived on 
 Saturday, 27th April, The body lay in state in the 
 cathedral till the following Monday, when it was
 
 .284 DURHAM. 
 
 carried to Auckland, and deposited, according to his 
 •own wish, in the stately chapel which he had re-edified 
 and adorned. His funeral sermon was preached by 
 Archdeacon Basire. 
 
 Little need be said about Bishop Cosin's character 
 as the reader will have been enabled to form his own 
 •estimate. The Book of Common Prayer, which the 
 Church has possessed and used for 220 years, is his best 
 memorial, seeing he was one of the foremost among 
 •those godly and learned men by whom it was brought 
 into the form in which we now have it. Many will 
 be of opinion that it w'ould have been nearer per- 
 fection still, if his counsels could have prevailed. 
 He was a man of great learning, as confessed by his 
 his opponents, and of unbending integrity, a most 
 attached and affectionate son of his mother church, 
 ^firmly adhering to her amid obloquy, poverty, and 
 temptation. Some may think that his intimacy, while 
 in France, with the ministers of the reformed church 
 there, was inconsistent with his attitude, after he 
 became bishop, towards the nonconformists at home. 
 But it was not really so. In France he but followed 
 the line marked out by such men as Andrewes and 
 Overall, and afterwards by Bramhall, in regarding the 
 foreign communities as churches, defective indeed, 
 but defective more from the force of circumstances 
 than by their own fault ; while those at home were 
 wilfully disowning a church conformed to the primitive 
 model, and rejecting the form of sound words in 
 which she worshipped God, and the decent ceremonies 
 with which her worship was accompanied. If he was 
 cealous for the observance of rubrics and canons it
 
 COSIN S CONTEMPORARIES. 285. 
 
 was because "although the keeping or omitting of a. 
 Ceremony, in itself considered, is but a small thing ; 
 yet the wilful and contemptuous transgression of a 
 common order and discipline is no small offence be- 
 fore God;"^ — because a firm adherence to the rubric 
 is the best safeguard both to the minister and his 
 flock, to the minister by supplying a warrant for what 
 he does, a standard to which he may appeal, and to 
 the flock by assuring them that their pastor is not 
 following fancies of his own so as to go beyond or 
 fall short of the rules which he has solemnly vowed 
 to observe.* 
 
 There are some of Bishop Cosin's contemporaries- 
 who ought to be noticed. 
 
 Isaac Basire was a native of Jersey, but the 
 place of his education is unknown. Bishop Morton, 
 when at Lichfield, ordained him both deacon and 
 priest, and when he came to Durham collated him 
 to the Rectory of Egglescliffe, and a stall in the 
 cathedral. In 1644 he became Archdeacon of ^ 
 Northumberland, and Rector of Stanhope. When 
 the rebellion broke out, he was deprived of all his. 
 
 ' " Of Ceremonies," in the Preface to the Prayer Book. 
 
 - The use of the surplice in the pulpit is a peculiarity of this 
 Diocese, and the custom is traced back to Uishop Cosin l)y an 
 Archdeacon of the last century, who is mentioned with high 
 praise in Bishop Butler's Charge (Archdeacon Sharp, " On the 
 Rubrics," p. 206. He speaks of the usage (a.d. 1746) as pre- 
 valent in this Diocese alone). When everywhere else the 
 surplice in the pulpit was regarded as a badge of party, here, 
 on the contrar)', it was the gown. It is only within the last few 
 years that some zealous clergymen have introduced the gown in 
 churches where it was never seen or heard of before.
 
 286 DURHAM. 
 
 preferments, and withdrew to Oxford to share the 
 fortunes of his Prince ; but being ere long obhged to 
 fly from England, he travelled through Apulia, Naples, 
 Sicily, and the Morea, endeavouring to propagate 
 the doctrines of the Church of England among the 
 Greeks and Saracens. During his travels, he made a 
 collection of the Confessions of Faith of the different 
 sorts of Christians among whom he travelled. He 
 passed through many hardships, particularly on a 
 journey from Aleppo to Constantinople, which he 
 made without a servant or a companion who could 
 speak any European language — his only fellow 
 travellers being Turks, whom he conciliated by the 
 medical skill which he had acquired at Padua. At 
 the restoration, he recovered all his preferments, and, 
 as Archdeacon, was a fellow labourer with Bishop 
 Cosin in restoring the church. He wrote the 
 Bishop's life, and published it as an Appendix to the 
 Sermon which he had preached at his funeral. He 
 died in 1676, aged 69. 
 
 Daniel Brevint, another native of Jersey, after 
 studying at Saumur, in France, came to England, 
 and obtained a fellowship at Jesus College, Oxford. 
 Becoming obnoxious on account of his loyal principles, 
 and having refused to take the Covenant, he was obliged 
 to return to France, where he lived in the family of 
 Marshal Turenne. When thirty-six years of age, he 
 was ordained in Sir Richard Browne's chapel at 
 Paris, by Dr. Thomas Sydserf, bishop of Galloway, 
 being presented by Dr. Cosin, who preached the 
 ordination sermon. At the restoration, he was, at 
 Cosin's instance, preferred by the king to the tenth
 
 cosin's contemporaries. 287 
 
 stall at Durham, and the rectory of Brancepeth, both 
 of which were vacant in consequence of Cosin's 
 nomination to the episcopate. Brevint was the author 
 of several works against popery, but the best known 
 as well as much the best of his writings is The Chris- 
 tian Sacrame?it and Sacrifice dedicated to Lady Eliza- 
 beth Carteret, as embodying his instructions to her 
 friends, the daughters of Marshal Turenne. This 
 treatise was so highly esteemed by John and Charles 
 Wesley, that they printed an abridgment of it 
 as a Preparation for the Altar, but those who 
 now assume the name of Wesleyans have long 
 since rejected its use. In 16S1 Brevint was made 
 Dean of Lincoln, retaining both the stall at Dur- 
 ham and the Rectory of Brancepeth till his death in 
 
 1695. 
 
 John Durell was another native of Jersey 
 educated at Merton College, Oxford. He also 
 was obliged to take refuge in France and was 
 ordained by Bishop Sydserf at the same time 
 as Brevint. Bishop Cosin gave him a stall at 
 Durham. He was also a Canon of Windsor, and 
 Rector of Witney in Oxfordshire. He died in 1683, 
 aged 58. 
 
 William Sancroft became Bishop Cosin's Chap- 
 lain at the Restoration, and exchanged a canonry at 
 Windsor for a stall at Durham. He acted not only as 
 Bishop Cosin's secretary, but as secretary to the Com- 
 mittee of Convocation for the revision of the Prayer 
 Book. The copy in the Bodleian Library of the 
 alterations proposed by Bishop Cosin was entirely 
 written out by him, and the copy at Durham contains
 
 288 DURHAM. 
 
 several alterations in his. hand-writing.^ He was also 
 Rector of Houghton-le-Spring, which he resigned 
 soon after being made Dean of St. Paul's in 1664. 
 He became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1677. For 
 resisting King James's unconstitutional demands he 
 was sent to the Tower, with six other prelates ; but 
 refusing to take the oath to King William was de- 
 prived. His later history belongs to the Diocese of 
 Canterbury. 
 
 George Davenport, another of Bishop Cosin's 
 chaplains, succeeded Sancroft at Houghton-le-Spring, 
 but like a worthy successor of Bernard Gilpin, and 
 very unlike most of the eminent clergy of his own 
 time, he refused to accept any additional preferment, 
 saying that he "had more preferment and a better 
 worldly estate than he could show good husbandry, 
 and he feared to die with any of the Church's goods 
 in his hands." Besides rebuilding his rectory, to which 
 he added a chapel, he built and endowed one half of 
 the almshouse at Houghton. He died in 1677, much 
 lamented by his flock, and his name was long held in 
 affectionate remembrance in the parish. .He was the 
 Keeper of Bishop Cosin's library at Durham, which is 
 indebted to him for many very valuable manuscripts. 
 
 After the death of Bishop Cosin the see remained 
 vacant for nearly three years, and it is said that 
 during this period the revenues were given to the 
 king's natural son, the Duke of Monmouth. At 
 
 ' One of these is remarkable : at the end of the first rubric 
 after the Nicene Creed, the words "by the King" are interlined 
 in his hand-writing. He was afterwards sent to the Tower for 
 protesting against a Proclamation " enjoined by the King."
 
 NATHANIEL CREWE. 289 
 
 length the Bishop of Oxford, Nathaniel Crewe, 
 son of Lord Crewe of Stene, was translated to 
 Durham. The appointment had been offered to 
 Seth Ward, bishop of Salisbury, but he declined it, 
 because he "did not like the conditions." It is not 
 said what these were, but it soon appeared that the 
 new bishop was prepared to go all lengths with the 
 court. He celebrated the marriage of the Duke of 
 York with Mary of Modena, and baptized their 
 infant daughter. When that prince came to the throne 
 as James II., as an avowed Roman Catholic, the 
 bishop scrupled at nothing. The court of High 
 Commission had been abolished in the reisirn of 
 Charles I., but it was now revived, and the Bishop of 
 Durham made a member of it, an appointment of 
 which he was said to have been very proud. Compton, 
 Bishop of London, had displeased the king by re- 
 fusing to suspend Dr. Sharp, a London clergyman, 
 for preaching again.st conversion to Rome. He was 
 brought before the Commission and suspended, and 
 the administration of the diocese of London, was 
 committed to the bishops of Diir/iam, Rochester, 
 and Peterborough. Dr. Samuel Johnson was found 
 to be the author of a paper which had been circu- 
 lated in the camp on Hounslow Heath, warning the 
 soldiers against attending mass, which was said in 
 Lord Dumbarton's tent. For this he was brought 
 before the king's bench, and sentenced to be whipped 
 from Tyburn to Newgate, and to pay a fine of five 
 hundred marks. Intercession was made for him, 
 but the king insisted on the punishment being carried 
 out. To save the credit of the Church it was 
 
 u
 
 290 DURHAM. 
 
 thought proper first to degrade him from the priest- 
 hood, and this was done in the chapter-house of St. 
 Paul's by the bishops of Durham, Rochester, and 
 Peterborough. Such was Bishop Crewe's Hne at a 
 time when the Archbishop of Canterbury and six 
 of his suffragans were sent to the Tower for remon- 
 strating with the king against the order for reading 
 a declaration of indulgence in the churches in time 
 of divine service. If, as is well known, these pre- 
 lates were almost adored by the people for their 
 firmness, it may easily be imagined in what estima- 
 tion the Bishop of Durham was held. When the 
 revolution came, he was excepted in the amnesty 
 in favour of some of the supporters of King James, 
 and he fled in terror. At the earnest instance of one 
 of his servants he returned, made the most abject sub- 
 mission just before it would have been too late, and 
 retained his see ; but it is said that among other things 
 he was obliged to let the government have a potential 
 voice in the nomination of the prebendaries of the 
 cathedral. 
 
 By the death of his elder brothers, he became 
 Baron Crewe of Stene in 1691. His episcopate was 
 a very lengthened one, nearly forty-seven years, during 
 which occurred a series of very remarkable events — 
 the accession of James II., the Revolution of 1689, 
 the Union with Scotland, the accession of the House 
 of Hanover, and the Rising of 17 15 in favour of the 
 Stuarts. At the Revolution, as has been already 
 mentioned, Denys Granville, Dean and Archdeacon 
 of Durham, a very different man from his diocesan, 
 refused to take the oaths to King William, preferring
 
 LORD CREWE, 29 1 
 
 to go into exile with his Sovereign to retaining his 
 ample preferments at the expense of his conscience. 
 Mr. Cock, the Vicar of St. Oswald's, also refused the 
 oaths, and was deprived. He was a learned man, 
 and left a valuable library in the vicarage for the use 
 of his successors. Thomas Rudd, Vicar of Norton, 
 was deprived for the same reasons ; but there were 
 few, if any, other Nonjurors in the diocese. 
 
 The rash, ill-planned, or rather unplanned, and 
 miserably-conducted insurrection of 17 15, as far as 
 England was concerned, was almost entirely confined 
 to noblemen and gentlemen of Northumberland.^ 
 Several of these were implicated, but none were con- 
 demned except Mr. Forster, who had been the leader, 
 and the Earl of Derwentwater. The former was 
 rescued from prison by the ingenuity and resolution 
 of a devoted sister; but Lord Derwentwater was 
 executed, declaring at his death that, though he died 
 a Roman Catholic, yet if his lawful Sovereign had 
 been of another religion it would have made no 
 difference with him.- His fate excited great com- 
 miseration, for he was much beloved on account of 
 his amiable character, his unstinted benevolence, and 
 his other virtues. He was buried by stealth at Dil- 
 ston; and in 1805, ninety years after, his tomb was 
 opened and his body found entire, a fact worthy of 
 consideration by those who are disposed to ridicule 
 
 ' " The handful of Northumberland foxhunters," as Sir Walter 
 Scott contemptuously calls them. — Lord Mahon, chap. v. 
 
 ' It is unfair to the Earl's memory that this declaration is 
 generally omitted by historians, even Lord Mahon. 
 
 U 2
 
 292 DURHAM. 
 
 the idea of the incorruption of St. Cuthbert. It re- 
 quired some very questionable management to effect 
 the forfeiture of his estates, in which he had only a 
 life interest ; and, to satisfy public opinion, they were 
 given to Greenwich Hospital, for the benefit of aged 
 and disabled seamen. The advowson of the very 
 extensive parish of Simonburn, the rectory of which, 
 in 181 1, was said to be worth ;^5,ooo a year, belonged 
 to the earl, and went with the rest of his property to 
 Greenwich Hospital. In the year just named it was 
 divided, and five new rectories were founded. Some 
 hideous churches and some very inconvenient houses 
 were built at an enormous expense, but, if the Hving 
 was really worth what is stated, there must have been 
 some grievous malversation, for the united incomes 
 of Simonburn and the new rectories do not nearly 
 amount to that sum. These livings, with that of 
 Alston, are set apart for retired navy chaplains. 
 
 Mr. Forster's estates at Bamburgh and Blanchland 
 were also forfeited, and were bought by the bishop, 
 Lord Crewe, 1 who bequeathed them for charitable 
 purposes. By his will the estates, which at that time 
 were valued at ;^ 1,3 14 a year, were vested in five 
 trustees, and the rents were to be expended in the 
 augmentation of poor benefices, in pensions to alms- 
 people at Durham and Bishop-Auckland, for the 
 maintenance of schools in various places, relief of 
 widows, orphans, and children on his estates in the 
 south ; fellowships, scholarships, and exhibitions at 
 Lincoln College, Oxford, of which he had once been 
 
 ' Lady Crewe was a relative of Mr. Forster.
 
 LORD CREWE. 293 
 
 rector ; and for putting out apprentices in the city of 
 Durham. These charities were well nursed and in- 
 creased by Dr. John Sharp, Prebendary of Durham 
 and Archdeacon of Northumberland, who afterwards 
 became one of the trustees. A surgery or dispensary 
 was established at Bamburgh Castle, means provided 
 for aiding shipwrecked crews and ships in distress, a 
 watch kept at the castle, and a patrol established 
 along the beach within the boundaries of the estate, 
 a range of eight miles. Churches and excellent 
 schools were founded and endowed at Blanchland 
 and Shotley, the ancient church at Bamburgh further 
 endowed, and schools established there also. Dr. 
 Sharp also founded a library at Bamburgh, to which 
 he gave a large portion of the books which had 
 belonged to his father. Dr. Thomas Sharp, who had 
 been also a prebendary of Durham, and his grand- 
 father, who had been Archbishop of York. The 
 castle was also put in thorough repair, and the ancient 
 palace of St. Oswald now stands as a monument of 
 Lord Crewe's munificence, shedding blessings all 
 around.^ By an arrangement of the Charity Trust 
 Commissioners it is to be turned into an Hospital for 
 scrofulous diseases when the funds set apart for the 
 purpose shall amount to ;^io,ooo. 
 
 The close of the seventeenth and the early part of 
 the eighteenth centuries were marked by a consider- 
 able revival of religion in the Church. By means of 
 
 ' It is worthy of remark that all but one of the ancient castles 
 on the East coast, Dunottar, Tantallon, Berwick, Warkworth, 
 Dunstanborough, Tynemoulh, arc in ruins,— Hamburgh, which 
 sheltered the infant church of Northumbria, alone remains entire.
 
 2 94 DURHAM. 
 
 the numerous religious societies established in London 
 and in various parts of the country the daily prayers 
 were restored in many places, vice was discouraged, 
 and a marked increase of religious zeal became visible. 
 Perhaps such influences did not extensively prevail in 
 the far north, but there are not wanting cheering 
 indications of spiritual life in the diocese of Durham 
 in the later years of Lord Crewe's episcopate. Divine 
 service was held twice daily in the parish church of St. 
 Nicholas, and the church of All Saints' at Newcastle, 
 and several times during the week at St. John's and 
 St. Andrew's. The daily prayers were kept up at St. 
 Nicholas till a comparatively recent period. In 1703 
 the leadminers at Allenheads, one of the remotest 
 and loftiest spots in the diocese, with the aid of their 
 landlord and employer. Sir William Blackett, erected 
 a chapel and engaged a clergyman, whose duty it was 
 to read prayers every morning before they went to 
 their work. His stipend was provided by every man 
 devoting half a day's work every month for the pur- 
 pose. A similar step was taken under the same 
 master by the ironworkers at Winlaton, in the parish 
 of Ryton, in the County Palatine. Thirty years after 
 there appears a similar movement in the remote west 
 of the county, at Harwood, distant ten miles from the 
 parish church of Middleton in Teesdale ; there the 
 workmen were too few in number and too poor to 
 maintain a priest, but a chapel was built in which 
 their schoolmaster read prayers and a sermon every 
 Sunday. Two important seaports which had sprung 
 up in the outskirts of rural parishes had churches 
 built, and were constituted into independent parishes.
 
 WILLIAM TALBOT. 295 
 
 In 1 7 II the great town of Stockton-on-Tees was thus 
 severed from the parish of Norton, and in 17 19 Sun- 
 derland in the same way became independent of 
 Bishop-Wearmouth. In both these instances the 
 bishop was the patron, and also a large proprietor. 
 No doubt, if one knew of them, there were other 
 instances of progress and Christian zeal which the 
 example of benefactions like those of Lord Crewe 
 clearly tended to foster. 
 
 In September, 1721, Lord Crewe died, and Dr. 
 William Talbot was soon after translated from Salis- 
 bury to Durham. Bishop Talbot incurred great un- 
 popularity by attempting to procure an Act enabling 
 bishops and all other holders of spiritual preferment 
 to grant leases of mines under their lands. As it was 
 thought that this affected the rights of copyholders 
 and leaseholders, it was vehemently opposed, and 
 altered so much in the House of Commons that it 
 was dropped altogether. He also suggested to the 
 dean and chapter that there was room for an in- 
 crease of the fines payable on renewal of leases, and 
 this added to the unpopularity he had already 
 incurred. 
 
 But there are more agreeable things to be told of 
 Bishop Talbot. During the nine years that he held 
 the see he had the opportunity of making appoint- 
 ments to many of the best livings in his gift, and to 
 no less than half of the stalls in the cathedral, in 
 several instances these were remarkably well bestowed. 
 Of eight sons Charles, the eldest, became Lord Chan- 
 cellor ; Edward, the second, was in holy orders. At 
 Oxford he had made the acquaintance of Joseph
 
 296 DURHAM. 
 
 Butler, and learned to entertain a high esteem for 
 him. Butler introduced to him Thomas Seeker, a 
 friend of his, who had been his fellow student at a 
 Dissenting Academy. Another friend of Mr. Talbot's, 
 and also of Seeker's, was Martin Benson, an amiable, 
 pious, and accomplished man. Mr. Talbot died at 
 the early age of twenty-nine, and at his death recom- 
 mended his three friends to his father's notice. The 
 bishop gave Butler the rectory of Haughton-le-Skerne, 
 which he soon after exchanged for Stanhope. On the 
 death of the excellent and accomplished Sir George 
 Wheler, he gave the rectory of Houghton-le-Spring 
 to Mr. Seeker, and Sir George Wheler's stall in the 
 cathedral to Mr. Benson. Mr. Seeker was afterwards 
 transferred to the rectory of Ryton, and appointed 
 to a stall in the cathedral, and became successively 
 Bishop of Bristol and Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 Mr. Benson was afterwards Bishop of Gloucester. 
 
 On Bishop Talbot's death, October, 1730, Dr. 
 Edward Chandler, Bishop of Lichfield, was trans- 
 lated to Durham. He had been educated at Trinity 
 College, DubUn, where he was a contemporary and 
 friend of Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man. 
 Bishop Chandler held the see for twenty years, and 
 died in London, July, 1750.
 
 THE WESLEYS. 297 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE WESLEYS. 
 
 It is to be feared that the Church had now sunk far 
 into the state of apathy which characterised the 
 eighteenth century. This may have been coming on 
 for a considerable time, notwithstanding the earnest- 
 ness of many good men at the close of the seven- 
 teenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, 
 but there is Uttle doubt it was much accelerated after 
 the accession of the house of Hanover, under the 
 administration of Sir Robert Walpole. The system 
 of pluralities and consequent non-residence had the 
 effect of dividing the clergy into two distinct classes, 
 far separated from each other. There were, in fact, 
 two kinds of pluralists— (i) the cathedral dignitaries 
 and the incumbents of the rich benefices, particularly 
 the rectories in the gift of the Bishop — a cultivated 
 class, but mostly above rough parochial work. (2) It 
 was nothing uncommon to heap two or three poor 
 livings on one man to make out a decent livelihood. 
 At the head of this class were the minor canons of 
 the cathedral, to each of whom were assigned one or 
 more of the poor vicarages of which the tithes were 
 held by the prebendaries. Often a rich incumbent 
 took care to have his curate provided with a small 
 living elsewhere, that he might have something to
 
 298 DURHAM. 
 
 fall back upon when his rector died. It is clear that 
 such a system, which lasted till far on in the present 
 century, must in a great degree have paralysed paro- 
 chial work and so created much spiritual destitution. 
 It seemed time that some remedy should be applied. 
 
 It was in Bishop Chandler's time that the bro- 
 thers, John and Charles Wesley, began to visit the 
 diocese. The success which Mr, John Wesley had 
 met with among the colliers at Kingswood, near 
 Bristol, excited in him a desire to visit the great coal- 
 field of the north. Accordingly on Friday, May 28, 
 1742, he arrived at Newcastle. His first impressions 
 were far from favourable. " We came to Newcastle 
 about six, and after a short refreshment walked into 
 the town. I was surprised ; so much drunkenness, 
 cursing, and swearing (even from the mouths of little 
 children), do I never remember to have seen or heard 
 before in so small a compass of time. Surely this 
 place is ripe for Him who came not to call the 
 righteous but sinners to repentance." 
 
 On Sunday morning, at seven, he walked down to 
 Sandgate with a companion and began to sing the 
 hundredth psalm. A crowd soon gathered and he 
 preached on He was zuotinded for our transgressiotis. 
 When he had finished the people continued staring, 
 and he gave notice that he would preach there again 
 at five in the evening. A vast crowd assembled, and 
 he preached from / zuill heal their backsliding, I will 
 love them freely. The people were now ready " to 
 tread him under foot out of pure love and kindness," 
 and intreated him to stay with them a few days, but 
 he had another engagement, and was unable to gratify
 
 THE WESLEYS. 299 
 
 them. Some told him that "they were members of 
 a religious society, which had subsisted for many 
 years, and had always gone on in a prudent, regular 
 manner, and had been well spoken of by all men." 
 They spoke of their hbrary, of their meetings on 
 Sunday, when their steward read a sermon to them ; 
 but there must have been some self complacency in 
 their way of speaking, for he remarks, " How many 
 of the publicans and harlots will go into the kingdom 
 of heaven before these ? " 
 
 From this time Newcastle was very frequently 
 visited by the two brothers, one after the other, and 
 they often stayed for some weeks. On his second 
 visit, Mr. John Wesley obtained ground on which to 
 build a house for preaching, and though there was 
 some delay, he had the satisfaction of laying the 
 foundation stone before he left. He also began to 
 itinerate in the neighbourhood.^ He mourns over the 
 deadness of the country people, but mentions one 
 John Brown, who "was waked out of sleep by the 
 voice which raiseth the dead." In a day or two, 
 however, John came riding into Newcastle driving all 
 before him, and shouting that God had made him a 
 king and would put all his enemies under his feet. 
 Mr. Wesley wisely sent him home, and enjoined him 
 to pray for humility, lest Satan should get an advan- 
 tage of him. It is probably the same John Brovm. 
 whose name occurs subsequently as a most useful 
 person. Mr. \Vesley now formed a Society, to which 
 he expounded the Acts of the Apostles and the 
 
 1 At one place he notes in his journal, " I found I had got 
 into the very Kingswood of the North."
 
 300 DURHAM. 
 
 Epistle to the Romans. The weather was very 
 severe — it was the depth of winter ; and a preacher, 
 named Meyrick, whom he had with him, became 
 very ill. He was given up by the physicians, but 
 Mr. Wesley prayed over him : he began from that 
 moment to mend and was speedily well. " I wait to 
 hear," says Mr. Wesley, "who will either disprove 
 this fact or account for it." The truth is, his Journal 
 records as many miracles (though he never uses the 
 word) as the history of St. Cuthbert. Who will say 
 that either he or the biographers of the saint are 
 entirely wrong ? 
 
 There soon appeared those physical manifestations 
 which raised so much prejudice against these devoted 
 preachers, and it is very curious to observe the very 
 different way in which these were regarded by the two 
 brothers. John says, " These symptoms I can no 
 more impute to any natural cause than to the Spirit 
 of God. I can make no doubt but it was Satan 
 tearing them as they were coming to Christ." Charles 
 directed the patients to be carried to a distant part of 
 the room, or to the outside, where they usually soon 
 recovered. Thus he stopped the fits, and takes notice 
 that the better sort of people came more freely when 
 they were put an end to. Mr. Charles mentions a 
 woman who told him that she had received a great 
 measure of the love of God in her heart and thought 
 it forgiveness. " I thought so too," he adds, " especially 
 as it was in immediate answer to our prayer. Upon 
 my warning her against pride, she very innocently 
 told me she was never proud in all her life. Now 
 what madness to tell this soul, so utterly ignorant of
 
 THE WESLEYS. 301 
 
 herself, that she is justified ! She may be so, for 
 what I know, but for me positively to determine it 
 would be the way, I think, to stop the work in its 
 beginning.'' 
 
 At an early stage of the movement Mr. John 
 Wesley records an enquiry which he made into the 
 causes why some had left the Society. Out of nearly 
 nine hundred, there were seventy-six, and the causes 
 are worth noting. Fourteen (chiefly dissenters) because 
 their ministers v;ould not give them the Sacrament ; 
 nine because their husbands or wives were unwilling 
 they should stay in it ; twelve because their parents 
 were not willing ; five because their masters or mis- 
 tresses would not let them come ; seven persuaded 
 by acquaintances ; five because people said such bad 
 things of the Society ; nine because they would not 
 be laughed at ; three because they would lose the 
 poors' allowance ; three because they could not spare 
 time; two because it was too far off; one because he 
 was afraid of falling into fits ; one because people 
 were so rude in the streets ; two because Thomas 
 Naisbit was in the Society ; one because he would not 
 turn his back on his baptism ; one because we were 
 mere Church of England men ; one because it was 
 time enough to serve God yet. Besides these, he 
 found it right to expel sixty-four. The reasons 
 assigned are likewise instructive : two for cursing 
 and swearing ; two for habitual Sabbath-breaking ; 
 seventeen for drunkenness ; two for retailing spirit- 
 uous liquors ; three for quarrelling and brawling ; 
 one for beating his wife ; three for habitual wilful 
 lying]; four for railing and evil speaking; c ne for
 
 302 DURHAM. 
 
 idleness and laziness ; twenty-nine for lightness and 
 carelessness. 
 
 In their preaching the brothers were very careful 
 never to interfere with the hours of Divine Service. 
 They attended church themselves, and omitted no op- 
 portunity of receiving the Holy Communion, and they 
 required the same of all the members of the Societies. 
 They frequently remark on the good sermons they 
 had heard at church ; and at his second visit, John, 
 after preaching at five o'clock in the morning, "a. 
 thing never heard of before in these parts," went to 
 All Saints', where he found more communicants than 
 he had seen anywhere but at Bristol or London. 
 There are very few traces to be found of opposition 
 from the clergy. On one occasion Charles had to 
 encounter disorderly mobs both at North and South 
 Shields, in both cases it was understood with the 
 countenance of the clergy. At Whickham the clergy- 
 man, grateful for the good effects produced on his 
 parishioners by Charles's preaching, sought his ac- 
 quaintance. After some pleasant interviews with 
 him and another clergyman he found a change, "He 
 had been with the bishop (Chandler), who forbade 
 his conversing with me. I marvel the prohibition 
 did not come sooner." It was otherwise with the 
 dissenters. Three ministers at Newcastle refused 
 the communion to those of their people who 
 attended John's preaching. Mr. Wesley could hardly 
 believe it at first, but found it was true. One said 
 they were all papists, while another went further, 
 for, after he had confessed "Many texts in the 
 Bible are for them," he added, "but you ought
 
 THE WESLEYS. 303 
 
 not to mind these texts, for the papists have put 
 them in." 
 
 Nor were they exposed in the north to any of that 
 brutal usage from the mob which they met with in 
 some other parts of England. On one of INIr. John 
 Wesley's visits to Newcastle he found that a bill had 
 been issued announcing a play, to be followed by a 
 farce called, " Trick upon Trick, or Methodism dis- 
 played." The performance was in the Moot Hall, 
 and there was a great crowd, some hundreds of whom 
 had to be accommodated with seats erected on the 
 stage. In the middle of the first act of the play these 
 seats gave way. As soon as quiet was restored the 
 play went on, but in the second act the shilling seats 
 gave way : again they proceeded, but presently the 
 stage sank six inches. The actors fled but soon 
 returned : at the end of the third act the six-penny 
 seats gave way. The company were in great terror, 
 but no one v.'as hurt. The manager came on the 
 stage to tell them that for all that had happened the 
 farce should go on : as he was speaking, the stage sank 
 another six inches, and he was forced to retreat. 
 " Which," adds Mr. Wesley, " is most surprising, that 
 these players acted this farce the next week or that 
 some hundreds of people came to see it ? " On 
 another occasion a man came up to him in Pilgrim 
 Street, cursed and swore at him, and pushed him once 
 or twice. Mr. Wesley was equal to the occasion, for 
 finding that this man had been in the way of annoying 
 members of the Society, he wrote the following note : 
 " Robert Young, I expect to see you between this and 
 Friday, and to hear from you that you are sensible of
 
 304 DURHAM. 
 
 your fault ; otherwise, in pity to your soul, I shall be 
 obliged to inform the magistrates of your assaulting 
 me yesterday in the street. I am your real friend, 
 John Wesley." "Within two or three hours Robert 
 Young came, and promised quite a different beha- 
 viour. So did this gentle reproof, if not save a 
 soul from death, yet prevent a multitude of sins." 
 Mr. Charles Wesley takes notice of a Mr. Watson, 
 one of the town sergeants at Newcastle. He had 
 been a very great swearer, but "God had touched 
 his heart," and those who were formerly his friends 
 were set against him. The Mayor asked him publicly, 
 " What ! do you go to hear them too ? " " Yes," he 
 answered, " at every proper opportunity, and I wish 
 you would go to hear them too." Another member of 
 the corporation lost his temper and cursed " that fellow 
 Watson, we can neither make him drink nor swear." 
 
 It was a favourite charge against the Wesleys that 
 they were ill-affected to the reigning family, and in 
 league with the Jacobites. Nothing could be more 
 untrue. They constantly, in their exhortations, incul- 
 cated loyalty to King George, and were unceasing in 
 their prayers on his behalf In 1745, Mr. John 
 Wesley arrived at Newcastle, the very day that the 
 news came that Prince Charles Stuart was in posses- 
 sion of Edinburgh, and he found the inhabitants in 
 a state of the utmost consternation. The mayor, Mr. 
 Matthew Ridley, ^ distinguished himself on this trying 
 occasion by his zeal, courage, and presence of mind, 
 in having the town put in a posture of defence. He 
 
 ' Ancestor of Sir Matthew White Ridley.
 
 THE WESLEYS. 3 05 
 
 called a meeting of the inhabitants, to concert mea- 
 sures for this purpose ; and the next day Mr. Wesley- 
 addressed a letter to him, full of the most ardent 
 expressions of loyalty, assigning, as his only reason 
 for not attending the meeting, that he was a stranger, 
 and had no further interest in the town than the 
 room in Avhich he preached, concluding with a few 
 very earnest words on the wickedness which abounded 
 in the place. In a day or two, on a Saturday, came 
 the news of Hope's defeat at Preston Pans, which, of 
 course, added much to the terror of the people. The 
 following day, and the Sunday after, Mr. Wesley 
 takes notice of the excellent sermons which he heard 
 from Mr. Ellison, at St. Andrew's Church. He now 
 left Newcastle for a fortnight. On his return, he 
 found all things calm and quiet, but he was much 
 concerned at "the senseless, shameless wickedness, 
 and ignorant profaneness of the soldiers, who were 
 encamped on the Town Moor. He addressed a 
 second letter to the mayor, in which he asked per- 
 mission to preach to the soldiers, and next day he 
 received a message from Mr. Ridley, that " he would 
 communicate his proposal to the general, and return 
 his answer as soon as possible." What the answer 
 was is not mentioned, but it appears that Mr. Wesley 
 preached in or near the camp, producing little 
 effect at first, but perceiving more hopeful symp- 
 toms afterwards. The German soldiers stood around, 
 looking so disconsolate, that, though he had long 
 discontinued their language, he attempted to speak 
 to them. " Immediately," he says, " they gathered up 
 close together, and drank in every word." 
 
 X
 
 3o6 DURHAM. 
 
 An interesting account is given by Mr. Charles 
 Wesley of a visit which he paid to Hexham at the 
 invitation of a dissenting minister. The curate re- 
 fused the use of the church, so he preached in the 
 market-place. This gave offence to two magistrates, 
 one of whom was Sir Edward Blackett, who desired 
 him to quit the town. He wished to wait on Sir 
 Edward, and explain, but was refused an interview. 
 The only place he could get was a cock-pit. He 
 hesitated at first to use it, but "found," he says, 
 " that the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." 
 The other magistrate's son tried to raise a disturbance, 
 but could get no one to second him. On a subse- 
 quent visit, he found the butlers of the two justices 
 fighting cocks in his preaching-place, and he was 
 forced to go to the market-place again. 
 
 The devotion of the two brothers was marvellous. 
 We find Charles, at more than one place, wading 
 through the snow, which was up to his middle, and 
 arriving so exhausted that it was some time before he 
 could do anything. They did not confine their 
 labours to the neighbourhood of Newcastle, but 
 penetrated into the mountainous districts of the west, 
 commonly called the Dales. The lead-mining dis- 
 trict of the north lies in the far west, and may be 
 roughly said to embrace the four parishes of Stanhope 
 and Middleton-in-Teesdale in Durham, Allendale in 
 Nothumberland, and Alston in Cumberland, all lying 
 together. Stanhope was the wealthiest rectory in the 
 gift of the bishop, yet frequently held with a stall in 
 the cathedral. There was a poor chapelry about 
 eight miles up in Weardale. The whole parish held
 
 THE WESLEYS. 307 
 
 of the bishop, who derived an important part of his 
 income from the lead mines, and hence, in part, came 
 the fierce vassals whom Bishop Bck summoned to 
 extrude Prior Hotoun, and Bishop Beaumont to 
 harass the Archbishop of York, Middleton was also 
 a rectory, but a poor one, and had never had a 
 resident incumbent since the Reformation. It runs 
 parallel with Stanhope, but is less densely populated. 
 Allendale and Alston had both belonged to Hexham 
 Abbey, which had the great tithes ; these, of course, 
 were secularised at the Reformation, and the vicarages 
 were very poor. The people of these dales are a 
 noble set of men, shrewd and intelligent, kindly in 
 their manners, many of them tall and handsome in 
 their persons. They are most of them farmers as well 
 as miners, and many of them in later times have left 
 their dales, and pushed their fortunes with success in 
 other parts of the country. Mr. Wesley never pene- 
 trated into the higher parts of Teesdalc, and it is only 
 within a recent period that his followers have obtained 
 a footing in that district. But, next to Newcastle, his 
 favourite sphere of labour seems to have been Wear- 
 dale. The people there had been first awakened 
 by preachers from Allendale, and Mr. Wesley seems 
 to have taken great delight in his visits to them ; but 
 even there the work had its reverses. In 1761 he 
 says, " I came just in time to prevent them all turning 
 dissenters, which they were on the point of doing, 
 being quite disgusted at the curate, whose life was no 
 better than his doctrine." In 1772 he gives a full 
 account of the work among "this blessed people," 
 and speaks of being much struck with their personal 
 
 X 2
 
 3o8 DURHAM. 
 
 beauty, particularly the children; but three years 
 afterwards he found a grievous decay, into the causes 
 of which he enquired ; they are well worthy of notice. 
 " I. None of the preachers who succeeded the first was 
 capable of being a nursing father to young believers. 
 2. JaneSalkeld (a schoolmistress who had been a great 
 instrument in the work), having married, was debarred 
 from meeting the young ones, and, having no one to 
 care for them, they fell heaps upon heaps. 3. Most 
 of the liveliest in the society were the single men and 
 women, and several of these in a little time contracted 
 an inordinate affection for each other, whereby they 
 so grieved the Holy Spirit of God, that He in a great 
 measure, departed from them. 4. Men arose among 
 themselves who undervalued the work of God, and 
 called the great work of sanctification a delusion. By 
 this they grieved some, and angered others, so that 
 both the one and the other were much weakened. 
 5. Hence, the love of many waxing cold, the preachers 
 were discouraged, and jealousies, heart-burnings, and 
 evil surmisings were multiplied more and more. 
 There is now a little revival. God grant it may 
 increase ! " 
 
 His notices of Durham are characteristic. Here is 
 one of them :— " 1757, Sept. 4. I took my leave of 
 Newcastle, and about noon preached at Durham in a 
 pleasant meadow near the river side. The congrega- 
 tion was large and wild enough ; yet in a short time 
 they were deeply attentive. Only three or four gentle- 
 men put me in mind of the honest man at London, 
 who was so gay and unconcerned while Dr. Sherlock 
 was preaching concerning the Day of Judgment;
 
 THE WESLEYS. 309 
 
 one asked, ' Do you not hear ^Yhat the doctor says?' 
 He answered, 'Yes; but I am not of his parish.' 
 Towards the close I was constrained to mention the 
 gross ignorance in the rich and powerful people 
 throughout the nation. On this they drew near, and 
 showed as serious attention as if they had been poor 
 colliers." In 1788, " even in this polite and elegant 
 city we now need a larger chapel." 
 
 Among the places recorded as visited there is one 
 remarkable exception, viz., Houghton-le-Spring. There 
 are many visits mentioned to Biddick and Rainton, 
 both in that parish. It was at Rainton that Lord 
 Burleigh stopped and cast back an almost envious 
 glance on the rectory he had just left ; and one 
 would have thought that Bernard Gilpin was a man 
 with whom ISIr. Wesley would have most cordially 
 sympathised ; yet there is no notice whatever either 
 of Houghton-le-Spring or its apostolic rector, in his 
 Journals. 
 
 Mr. Wesley constantly, until his death, protested 
 most earnestly against separation from the church, or 
 the setting up of an independent ministry among his 
 followers. There can be no question of his sincerity, 
 but it cannot be doubted that the line of conduct 
 which he followed was such as eventually led to what 
 he so much deprecated. His followers at this day 
 are very numerous in the diocese, especially in the 
 Dales, where there is often a keen rivalry between 
 those who continue to call themselves by his name, 
 and those who have assumed the title of Primitive 
 Methodists.
 
 3IO DURHAM. 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 BUTLER TO THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 The successor of Bishop Chandler was Joseph But- 
 ler, Bishop of Bristol, September, 1750. This illus- 
 trious prelate was born at Wantage, in 1692. His 
 father, a wealthy draper in that town, and a dissenter, 
 intended him for the nonconformist ministry, and he 
 was accordingly sent to an academy at Gloucester with 
 that view. Here he made great progress in the study 
 of theology, and in the year 17 13 entered into a 
 correspondence with Dr. Samuel Clarke on some 
 passages in a work of his on "The Evidences of 
 Religion." The talent and modesty displa3'ed in this 
 correspondence gave Dr. Clarke a very high opinion 
 of Mr. Butler. Becoming dissatisfied with dissent, 
 he obtained, though with some difficulty, permission 
 from his father to become a member of Oriel College, 
 Oxford, where, as the reader has seen, he made the 
 acquaintance of Mr. Edward Talbot. It is not known 
 when or by whom he was ordained, but at the early 
 age of twenty-six, through the influence of ]\Ir. Talbot 
 and Dr. Clarke he was appointed Preacher at the 
 Rolls, where he delivered the famous "Fifteen Ser- 
 mons." The next year he was made rector of 
 Haughton-le-Skerne, but the parsonage was in a 
 ruinous condition, and he was not the man to cope
 
 JOSEPH BUTLER. 311 
 
 with the difficulties which lay before him, and in 1733, 
 through the intervention of his friend, INIr. Seeker, 
 then chaplain to Bishop Talbot, he was removed to 
 Stanhope, then one of the largest benefices in Eng- 
 land, where a house had just been built by Dr. Hart- 
 well. It was at Stanhope, Avithout doubt, that he 
 wrote his great work, " The Analogy of Religion, 
 Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course 
 of Nature," and the parishioners can point with pride 
 to the autograph of one of England's greatest men in 
 their parish books, settling, with the churchwardens 
 and the four-and-twenty, the details of a highway rate, 
 or rewarding a clown for killing a foumart or a fox. 
 Tradition says that he moved about on a black horse, 
 and according to one account he was a very rapid 
 rider, while, according to another, his horse often 
 stopped to graze by the wayside at will. It is easy to 
 see that both may be true. IMeantime, his friends, 
 and particularly Mr. Seeker, regretted his retirement, 
 which they deemed unsuitable to one naturally of a 
 somewhat melancholy temperament. Seeker, now a 
 court chaplain, mentioned him to Queen Caroline, 
 and her majesty inquired if he were not dead. 
 Though assured that he was not, she put the same 
 question to the Archbishop of York, to which his 
 grace replied, "No, madam, but he is buried." 
 Seeker prevailed on Lord Chancellor Talbot to make 
 him one of his chaplains, and thus he was once more 
 brought into the world. The chancellor gave him a 
 stall in Rochester Cathedral, and the queen made 
 him her clerk of the closet. Soon after, he presented 
 to her majesty "The Analogy." In 1738 he was
 
 3^2 DURHAM. 
 
 consecrated as Bishop of Bristol, a see much less 
 wealthy than the Rectory of Stanhope ; but two years 
 after, he was made Dean of St. Paul's, and resigned 
 Stanhope. In 1746, he was made clerk of the closet 
 to George II., and, in 1750, Bishop of Durham. 
 His time here was very short, less than two years, 
 and little is recorded of his episcopate save that he 
 held a visitation, and delivered a charge to his clergy. 
 It is impossible here to give even a brief abstract of 
 this charge, and it is the less to be regretted because, 
 being now printed with the rest of his works, it must 
 be in the hands of the greater part of those who are 
 most concerned with it. The view it gives of the 
 pastoral office, and the practical counsels by which 
 that view is applied, prove that the bishop was not 
 only, what all men own him to have been, a consum- 
 mate metaphysician, but one who was thoroughly 
 acquainted with what belongs to the cure of souls, 
 and render it as valuable at the present day as it was 
 at the time when it was delivered. The opening 
 paragraph gives such a vivid and such a sad picture 
 of the times, that it is worth transcribing : — 
 
 " It is impossible for me, my brethren, upon our first meet- 
 ing of this kind, to forbear lamenting with you the general 
 decay of religion in this nation ; which is now observed by 
 every one, and has been for some time the complaint of all 
 serious persons. The influence of it is more and more wear- 
 ing out of the minds of men, even of those who do not pretend 
 to enter into speculations on the subject ; but the number of 
 those who do, and who profess themselves unbelievers, in- 
 creases, and with their numbers their zeal. Zeal — it is natural 
 to ask — for what ? Why, truly, /o>- nothing, but against every- 
 thing that is good and sacred amongst us.'
 
 JOSEPH BUTLER. 313 
 
 It is Strange to be told that this charge did not 
 escape animadversion— the bishop had shown the 
 importance of keeping rehgion before men's minds by 
 attention to the outward forms of it, upon the prin- 
 ciple almost self-evident, but often neglected if not 
 forgotten, that " the form of religion may indeed be 
 where there is little of the thing itself, but the thing 
 itself cannot be preserved amongst mankind without 
 the form." And he was now assailed as if he recom- 
 mended the form rather than the substance, and even 
 leaned to popish error, an aspersion easily refuted by a 
 candid examination of the charge itself. Fifteen years 
 after his death, the attack was renewed, and it was even 
 alleged that he had been reconciled to Rome before 
 his death. Dr. Seeker, by that time Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, interposed, though anonymously, to vindi- 
 cate the memory of his departed friend. One fact 
 brought forward was, that Dr. Butler, when Bishop of 
 Bristol, had set up a small cross in the chapel of the 
 palace, and it is strange, in the present day, to find 
 the archbishop allowing that this was to be regretted 
 as an unwise step. 
 
 Not long after his visitation the bishop's health 
 began to fail. He went to Bristol for the benefit 
 of the waters, but, obtaining little relief, he removed to 
 Bath, where he died, 19th Jime, 1752, aged sixty. 
 His old friend, Dr. Benson, then Bishop of Gloucester, 
 was very frequently with him, and kejjt Dr. Seeker, 
 then Bishop of Oxford, fully informed of all that was 
 passing. There is something very touching in such 
 manifestations of the friendship of these illustrious 
 men. Bishop Benson injured his own health by his
 
 314 DURHAM. 
 
 attention to his dying friend. The fatigues of a visit- 
 ation following immediately increased the mischief, 
 and he very soon followed Bishop Butler to the 
 grave. Bishop Butler was a man of the most un- 
 worldly and unselfish character. There are many 
 traditional instances of this, and amongst others, his 
 saying that he should feel ashamed of himself if he 
 left ;^T 0,000 behind him. He lies buried in Bristol 
 Cathedral, but there is no memorial at Durham of 
 
 one of the greatest of her bishops. 
 
 In November, 1752, Dr. Richard Trevor, 
 
 Bishop of St. David's, was translated to Durham. 
 He presided over the diocese for nineteen years and 
 died of a painful disease, June, 1 7 7 1, aged 64. Among 
 the prebendaries appointed by him were Dr. William 
 Warburton and Dr. Robert Lowth. To the former 
 is commonly ascribed the disuse of copes at the Holy 
 Communion in the cathedral. He laid his aside, it is 
 said, in a fit of impatience, — the rest followed his 
 example, and they have never since been resumed, 
 though they are still preserved in a glass closet in the 
 cathedral library. They were laid aside therefore, not 
 upon any show of principle, but merely from the 
 impatience of a fretful man, because in an age of 
 coldness and deadness they gave trouble, and it may 
 be also they were likely to be a source of expense to 
 a chapter which thought more of its dividends than 
 of the honour of God's house or God's worship. 
 Dr. Warburton became Bishop of Gloucester, but 
 continued to hold his stall. Dr. Lowth is well known 
 for his learned and elegant " Lectures on Hebrew 
 Poetry," and his "Translation of Isaiah. "_, He was
 
 EGERTOX — THURLOW — BARRINGTOX. 3 I 5 
 
 not only an accomplished scholar, but an excellent 
 man. He retained his stall as well as the Rectory 
 of Sedgefield ^Yhile he was successively Bishop of 
 St. David's and Oxford, but resigned both on his 
 translation to London. 
 
 Bishop Butler had commenced large repairs and 
 alterations, both at Durham and Auckland Castles, 
 and Bishop Trevor carried out what his predecessor 
 had begun. 
 
 On Bishop Trevor's death, in 177 1, Dr. John 
 Egerton, was translated from Lichfield to Durham. 
 Some idea of the principle on which appointments 
 were then made may be gathered from the following 
 extract from Bishop Newton's Autobiography : — 
 
 "Mr. Grenville said that he considered bishoprics as of two 
 kinds — bishoprics of business for men of ability and learning, 
 and bishoprics of ease for men of family and fashion. Of the 
 former sort he reckoned Canterbury and York and London, 
 and Ely on account of its connection with Cambridge ; of the 
 latter sort Durham and "Winchester, and Salisbury and Wor- 
 cester. He mentioned the Bishops Egeiion and Lyttleton as 
 likely to succeed to some of the latter sort." 
 
 Bishop Egerton made two of his sons prebendaries 
 in the cathedral, one of whom some years before his 
 death, in 1829, became Earl of Bridgewater. Bishop 
 Egerton died Januarj-, 1787. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Thurlow, Bishop of Lincoln, suc- 
 ceeded. He was brother of Lord Chancellor Thurlow. 
 He died in London in May, 1791. 
 
 The next bishop was the Honourable Shute Bar- 
 RiNGTON, son of the first and brother of the second 
 Lord Barrington, and Bishop of Salisbury, having
 
 3 I 6 DURHAM. 
 
 been previously Bishop of Llandaff. Tall and hand- 
 some in his person, with an engaging countenance and 
 most courteous manners, he was a real prince of the 
 church. 1 His episcopate lasted thirty-five years. He 
 died on Lady Day, 1826. His charities were truly 
 magnificent, especially in the founding and sup- 
 port of schools, and in the augmentation of poor 
 livings, and he left very large sums for these purposes 
 at his death. During his long episcopate he had to 
 make no less than twenty appointments to stalls in the 
 cathedral, and the list of his preferments contains the 
 names of several very eminent men — Dr. Bathurst, 
 afterwards Bishop of Norwich ; Dr. Jenkinson, after- 
 wards Dean of Durham and Bishop of St. Davids ; Dr. 
 Gaisford, afterwards Dean of Christchurch ; Dr. 
 Thorp, the first Warden of the University of Durham ; 
 Thomas Gisborne ; Dr. Gray, afterwards Bishop of 
 Bristol ; Dr. Philpotts, afterwards Bishop of Exeter ; 
 William Nicholas Darnell, who had been tutor to 
 John Keble at Oxford ; Dr. John Bird Sumner, 
 afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury; William Stephen 
 Gilly, and George Townsend. In Bishop Barring- 
 ton's time the Dean and Chapter began the much- 
 needed work of augmenting the benefices in their 
 gift, it may be, partly incited by the bishop's example. 
 Before they finally resigned the control of their estates, 
 all their livings had been increased to ;^3oo a year, 
 and many to much more. 
 
 In the latter part of the eighteenth century the 
 
 ' An interesting account of the first meeting of Sir Walter 
 Scott and Bishop Barrington, in 1812, will be found in Lock- 
 hart's Life of Sir Walter, chap. xxv.
 
 SHUTE BARRINGTON. 317 
 
 cathedral suffered much. Some external repairs had 
 become absolutely necessary, chiefly caused by the 
 perishable nature of the stone of which it had been 
 built. Repairs were begun about 1775, but were not 
 judiciously executed — the surface of the north front 
 and of the western towers, where deeply indented, were 
 pared down to a level, so that the mouldmgs, strmg 
 courses, and other ornamental parts were much inter- 
 fered with. In Bishop Barrington's time Mr. James 
 Wyatt, who had been permitted to do much mischief 
 at Salisbury, was called in, and he continued the 
 paring process over the eastern front of the Chapel of 
 the Nine Altars — until niches, canopies, and carved 
 figures all disappeared. If he might have had all his 
 own way, the result would have been most disastrous, 
 for he proposed to destroy the Galilee, in order to make 
 a carriage road to the great-western entrance and 
 onwards into the college — to extend the choir over 
 the Chapel of the Nine Altars to the extreme east, to 
 the utter ruin of that beautiful chapel — to remove the 
 Neville Screen and the screen over Bishop Hatfield's 
 tomb, and to place an incongruous spire on the great 
 central tower. Happily he was checked in his career, 
 though the lead had been actually removed from the 
 roof of the Galilee before Dean Cornwallis inter- 
 fered. In 1799 the chapter-house, which was quite 
 unique in its kind, was destroyed, and with it all the 
 memorials of the bishops and priors who had been 
 buried there. In 1802 the same fatcbefcl the vestry, 
 which stood against the south wall of the choir. 
 Such were the freaks of architects and church restorers 
 in those davs.
 
 3lS DURHAM. 
 
 Dr. William Van Mildert, Bishop of I.landaff, 
 was translated to Durham in 1826. During his epis- 
 copate which lasted only ten years, many most impor- 
 tant changes took place. In 1S33 the Ecclesiastical 
 Commission was appointed for the purpose of rendering 
 the property of the Church more available in pro- 
 moting the purposes for which it was intended. The 
 Commissioners thought it right to recommend the re- 
 duction of the income of the bishop to a fixed yearly 
 payment of ^S,ooo, and that of the dean to ;^2,ooo. 
 The canonries were to be reduced in number from 
 twelve to six, each with a fixed yearly income of 
 ^1,000. The Palatinate was to be annexed to the 
 crown on the next avoidance of the see. But before 
 these changes took effect, the Bishop and Dean and 
 Chapter obtained powers to found a University at 
 Durham for the training of divinity students and con- 
 ferring degrees in other faculties. It was endowed 
 out of the revenues of the cathedral, and the Bishop 
 gave up the Castle of Durham for the use of the one 
 College of which the new foundation at first consisted. 
 It is, perhaps, the only fortress-college in existence 
 where a flag is hoisted in term-time to show that the 
 Warden, Masters, and Scholars are at home, and busily 
 engaged in their avocations. The first Warden was 
 Dr. Charles Thorp, Archdeacon and Canon of Dur- 
 ham, but it was provided that after his death or 
 resignation the office of Warden should be annexed to 
 the deanery, and ;^i,ooo a year for that reason added 
 to the Dean's income. The university now consists of 
 two houses, University College, and Bishop Hatfield's 
 Hall. There has been a long succession of most
 
 UXIVERSITV OF DURHAM. 319 
 
 eminent professors and tutors,^ some of whom occupy 
 or have occupied ver}' prominent situations, and there 
 can be no doubt that the purpose of the foundation 
 has been attained, though not at first to the extent 
 which was expected. The bishop assisted most 
 Uberally in founding the hbrar}-, which has since been 
 increased by the addition of other collections, par- 
 ticularly by that of the late Dr. Routh, the eminently 
 learned President of Magdalen College, Oxford. The 
 library is accommodated partly in the same building 
 as Bishop Cosin's, which also serves as the convoca- 
 tion house, and partly in the adjoining building, 
 erected for the exchequer of the Palatinate by Bishop 
 Neville. With the library of the Dean and Chapter, 
 Bishop Cosin's, and the University library, few places 
 are better supplied with the means of study and 
 research, out of London and the two ancient 
 Universities. 
 
 The first Professor of Divinity was the Rev. Hugh 
 
 1 Among these are Canon Thomas of Canterbury, the 
 Suffragan Bishop of Dover, Canon Melville of Worcester, 
 Dr. Peile, and Dr. Pears, both formerly head-masters of 
 Repton School ; Dr. Hornby, head-master of Eton, and Dr. 
 W. G. Henderson, master of Leeds Grammar School. 
 
 Among the graduates of Durham, besides all the gentlemen 
 mentioned on page 126, are the Bishop of Columbia, the Bishop 
 of Grafton and Armidale, the Provost of St. Ninian's Cathe- 
 dral, Perth, the Provost of the Cathedral Church of the Holy 
 Spirit, Cumbrae, the late learned and amiable Canon Humble 
 of Perth Cathedral, the Rev. J. H. Blunt, well known as the 
 editor of many most valuable works, and the Rev. Joseph 
 Waite, Vicar of Xorham, sometime master of University Col- 
 lege, and one of the contributors tothe Speaker's Commentary.
 
 320 DURHAM. 
 
 James Rose, but his time was very short, and his 
 successor was the Rev, Henry Jenkyns, who came to 
 Durham as Professor of Greek. None who had the 
 privilege of attending the lectures of Dr. Jenkyns will 
 ever forget them. He taught his scholars to take 
 nothing for granted, but to make sure of everything 
 from good authority. They had not only the oppor- 
 tunity of acquiring much knowledge, set before them 
 in the clearest manner, but were inflamed by the 
 desire of acquiring more. The text book for early 
 ecclesiastical history was Eusebius, in the original 
 Greek, construed daily by the students ; for liturgies, 
 Cardinal Bona, whom the Professor held in high and 
 deserved esteem for his candour and exactness. Every 
 student had to write a sermon every week, an excel- 
 lent training for those who were soon to be called 
 upon to provide perhaps more than one weekly. ^ 
 Before so much attention began to be paid to 
 Divinity at Oxford and Cambridge, many graduates 
 of these Universities came to Durham to read under 
 Dr. Jenkyns. 2 
 
 ' Dr. Jenkyns's students were much attached to him ; some of 
 them still look back on the time passed under him as the hap- 
 piest time of their life. His pithy sayings were noted and 
 remembered, and his very gestures observed. A passage in 
 Eusebius was applied to the Professor. St. Irenceus, writing to 
 the heretic Florinus, says :— " I can speak of the place where 
 the blessed Polycarp sat, as he delivered his lectures, and his 
 going out, and his coming in, and the character of his life, and 
 the appearance of his person, and the discourses which he made 
 to the multitude," Euseb. Eccl. Hist., v. 20, The last, of 
 course, were his sermons in the cathedral. 
 
 2 Among these were the Dean of Lichfield, late Prolocutor of
 
 WILLIAM VAN MILDERT. 32 I 
 
 At the first the arrangements made by the Eccle- 
 siastical Commissioners pressed very hard on the 
 diocese of Durham. Its own necessities were very 
 great and daily increasing, yet it was mercilessly 
 plundered for the benefit of the rest of England. In 
 time, however, this injustice was in a great measure 
 remedied by an Act of Parliament which recognised 
 local claims — that is, in places where the Church had 
 property from which large revenues were accruing to 
 the Commissioners, tlie needs of the population in 
 such districts should be first attended to. By this 
 means provision was made for the erection of churches, 
 the endowment of clergy, and the payment of curates 
 in places where large populations had arisen in con- 
 sequence of the very rapid development of the mineral 
 resources of the country. 
 
 Bishop Van Mildert died arst February, 1836, A 
 few days after, the last Palatine was carried to his 
 tomb in the Chapel of the Nine Altars, near St. 
 Cuthbert's Shrine. It was a dark dismal day, as if 
 the very elements felt that there was a glorj- departing. 
 
 The herald breaks the wand, while he proclaims 
 The sainted Palatine's puissant names ; 
 Yon kingless throne is now for ever bare. 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 There is a glory less upon the earth. 
 
 But were it so, the Church was now awaking more 
 
 the Southern Convocation, the late Alexander Watson, of Chel- 
 tenham ; "William Rogers, of Bishopsgate ; the late Edward 
 
 Stuart, of Munster Square ; and the Suffragan Bishop of Bedford, 
 remarkaljle when a student for the excellence of his sermons.
 
 3 22 DURHAM. 
 
 and more to her high mission, slowly recovering from 
 her long lethargy. Societies were founded for church 
 building, as well as for the education of the poor and 
 labouring classes — and there was need, for from the 
 development of the mineral resources just mentioned, 
 as well as from the manufactures on the Tyne, the 
 Wear, and the Tees, masses of population were speedily 
 rising in quiet villages and on bleak moorlands, and 
 it was yet to be a long time before the vast arrears of 
 work could be overtaken. But a beginning was made. 
 
 The vacancy caused by the death of Bishop Van 
 Mildert was filled by the translation of Dr. Edward 
 Maltby from Chichester. As the narrative ap- 
 proaches times comparatively recent, it is clear that 
 more and more reserve must be used in discussing 
 events. There are persons yet alive who were more 
 or less concerned in them, and the relations of many 
 more. Bishop Maltby held the see for twenty years , 
 and he proved himself not only an able administrator, 
 but a most benevolent man. Even now, from time to 
 time, instances come to light of the kindly help which 
 he extended to those whose circumstances required it, 
 but were never known at the time save to those who 
 were the recipients of his bounty. He took a most 
 kindly interest in the infant University, and, himself 
 a very accomplished scholar, did much to encourage 
 the study of Greek literature, particularly in connection 
 with the study of the Holy Scriptures. Advanced 
 age and increasing infirmity led him to resign the 
 see in 1856. 
 
 On Bishop Maltby's resignation the energetic and 
 most deservedly beloved Dr. Charles Thomas
 
 LONGLEY — VILLIERS — BARING. :i2^ 
 
 LoxGLEY, first Bishop of Ripon, was translated to 
 Durham. Little occurs for remark during his episco- 
 pate, save that the work of Church extension made 
 progress. In iS6o he was translated to York, and 
 two years after to Canterbury. 
 
 The next bishop was the Honourable Henry Mon- 
 tague ViLLiERS, a most amiable and genial man, 
 and an excellent preacher, who was translated from 
 Carlisle. His time at Durham was very short, for he 
 died, after great suffering, the following year. 
 
 Dr. Charles Baring, Bishop of Gloucester and 
 Bristol, was now translated to Durham. It is obviously 
 quite impossible to make any comments on an epis- 
 copate which has closed so recently. When the din 
 of present controversies shall have ceased, men will 
 be in a better position to judge of the events of these 
 times. They have not yet become history. But 
 there is much in which all must be in complete agree- 
 ment. No one will question the bishop's deep and 
 unaffected piety, his most genuine kindness of heart, 
 his exuberant hospitality, his unwearied diligence, and 
 his aptitude for business. His charities were un- 
 bounded, and never did a man more exactly observe 
 the rule, " Let not thy left hand know what thy right 
 hand doeth." Most of his clergy can tell of numerous 
 instances of his kindness, each one within the sphere 
 of his own observation ; and when the wide extent of 
 the diocese is taken into account, it is not easy to 
 realize what the aggregate amount of his good deeds 
 must have been. In addition to Confirmations at the 
 ordinary centres, he was always ready to grant an extra 
 Confirmation on Sunday— when none but the young 
 
 V 2
 
 3^4 DURHAM. 
 
 people of that particular parish were admitted — 
 in the most remote and secluded parts of the diocese, 
 where perhaps there was only a small number of 
 candidates. Arriving on Saturday, without chaplain 
 or servant, he would share the curate's homely fare 
 till Monday, and never was there a more genial or 
 more agreeable guest. It recalled the times of St. 
 Cuthbert, though happily no place was left where 
 it was needful to erect a booth on the hillside for 
 the bishop's lodging, i Though latterly he kept no 
 secretary, letters were always answered by return of 
 post, and the reply, brief and to the point, was sure 
 to prove how kindly an interest he took in everything 
 which concerned his clergy. Such a man could not 
 fail to win, not only the respect, but the affectionate 
 regard of all with whom he had to do. A painful 
 disease compelled him, in the autumn of 1878, to 
 resign the see, and he died not long after. During 
 these seventeen years a very large number of churches 
 were built, and new parishes erected ; and in every 
 case the work was most liberally aided by the bishop. 
 These annals cannot be closed without mentioning 
 one who was a most distinguished ornament of the 
 Church of Durham — John Bacchus Dvkes, Mus. 
 Doc, a name in its own way of world-wide fame. For 
 thirteen years (1849-1862) he was Precentor of the 
 cathedra], and for thirteen more vicar of St. Oswald's, 
 in the city of Durham, He was well read both as a 
 scholar and a divine ; but his great distinction was 
 his exquisite skill in music. Some beautiful anthems 
 and services would be sufficient proof of this, but he 
 
 ' See p. 56.
 
 JOHN BACCHUS DYKES. 325 
 
 was of most eminent service to the Church by the 
 great number of hymn-tunes ^Yhich he composed. 
 These, indeed, have made his name ahnost a, house- 
 hold word, not only in the Church of England but 
 also among the dissenting communities, both in this 
 country and America. His talents were always at 
 the service of any one who asked for his help, and he 
 never could be induced to accept of any remunera- 
 tion for his labours. A recent notice in a local paper 
 tells of a rough and miscellaneous congregation on 
 ship-board, at the Antipodes, presided over by a 
 dissenting minister, being moved to tears by the 
 sweet, plaintive tones of " Eternal Father, strong to 
 save " 1 set to his music. With all this he was a 
 man of deep and earnest piety, and a most devoted 
 parish priest, ever ready at the call of distress, and 
 very much beloved by all classes in that extensive 
 parish. In 1875, overwork and anxiety of mind 
 broke down his health, which was never robust; 
 and at the end of January, 1876, the gentle and 
 loving spirit sank to rest at St. Leonard's-on-the-Sea. 
 His body was brought to Durham, and on a dull 
 grey winter morning, after a celebration of the Holy 
 Communion, laid in his own churchyard. It was 
 very unfortunate that Bishop Baring and Dr. Dykes 
 were not of one mind on some points which both 
 thought important, but those who knew and loved 
 them both, cannot but feel persuaded that throughout 
 all they honoured and esteemed each other. They 
 now see everything in the light of the Eternal Verity, 
 and all differences are at an end. 
 
 ' Church Hymns S.P.C.K. 321 ; 11. A.M., 370.
 
 326 DURHAM. 
 
 On the Feast of St. Luke, 1876, the cathedral was 
 re-opened after repairs and adornments, carried out 
 under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott. No one 
 who was present on that occasion will soon forget it. 
 The choir numbered more than a hundred, and four 
 hundred clergy, chiefly of the diocese, were present, 
 who filled, as they filed into the church, all the four 
 sides of the cloisters. The scene at evensong was 
 particularly striking, for then there were large numbers 
 of the working classes in attendance, including many 
 rough colliers from the neighbourhood. It was a 
 time to feel what the position of the Church is 
 in England, and the opportunities which lie before 
 her. Every priest who was there must have felt that 
 he was indeed a citizen of no mean city, and must 
 have gone back to his parish, strengthened and 
 encouraged in his work. 
 
 Scarcely less striking was the scene at the enthrone- 
 ment of the new Bishop, Dr. Joseph Barber Light- 
 foot, in May, 1879. Notwithstanding most unpropi- 
 tious weather, the vast church was crowded in every 
 corner, and there was a very large concourse of clergy 
 assembled to welcome their spiritual father. No epis- 
 copate ever began under happier auspices, for rarely 
 has such an appointment been hailed with such unani- 
 mous approval. The new bishop came pledged to 
 carry out without delay the division of the diocese. 
 One step is at last to be taken in the direction of 
 Bede's counsel to Egbert, Bishop of York, eleven 
 hundred and fifty years ago, or rather, things are to 
 be restored to the state in which they were in Bede's 
 time ; for, after a thousand years, the suppressed see
 
 JOSEPH BARBER LIGHTFOOT. 327 
 
 of Hexham is to be restored at Newcastle. It is, 
 indeed, a most necessary change, yet it will be a sad 
 day for the clergy of Northumberland, when they have 
 to bid farewell to Durham, so long the city of their 
 solemnities," and are finally separated from a place 
 of such surpassing beauty, and so rich in glorious 
 memories. But though one tie be severed, many of 
 them will be thankful to remember that another, and 
 that the older one, remains ; that she — herself so 
 fitting an earthly emblem of the city which hath foun- 
 dations — is their mother, — 
 
 Who nurtured them for Christ in youth. 
 
 who taught them to worship the Lord in the beauty 
 of holiness, to reverence antiquity, to distrust novelty, 
 to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered ; 
 they will recall the bright days, perhaps long gone 
 by, when they said their morning prayers beside 
 St. Cuthbert's shrine, and knelt, it is to be hoped, in 
 believing, and loving penitence to receive the Holy 
 Eucharist at her altar. 
 
 IF I FORGET TIIF.E, O JERUSALEM, 
 
 LET MY RIGHT HANB FORGET HER CUNNING ; 
 
 IF I DO NOT REMEMBER THEE, 
 
 LET MY TONGUE CLEAVE TO THE ROOF OF MY MOUTH 
 
 YEA, IF I PREFER NOT JERUSALEM IN MY MIRTH. 
 
 FOR MY BRETHREN AND COMPANIONS' BAKES 
 
 I WILL WISH THEE PROSPERITY; 
 
 YEA, BECAUSE OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD Ol'R COD 
 
 I WILL SEEK THY GOOD.
 
 SUCCESSION OF THE BISHOPS 
 
 OF LINDISFARNE, HEXH.\M, CHESTER-LE-STREET, AND 
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 
 LiNDISFARNE. 
 
 
 
 Accession. 
 
 
 Accession. 
 
 I Aid an 
 
 635 
 
 II Higbald 
 
 ... 780 
 
 2 Finan 
 
 652 
 
 12 Egbert 
 
 ... 803 
 
 3 Colman 
 
 661 
 
 13 Heathured ... 
 
 ... 821 
 
 4 Tuda 
 
 664 
 
 14 Ecgred 
 
 ... 830 
 
 5 Eata... 
 
 678 
 
 15 Eanbert 
 
 ... 84s 
 
 6 Cuthbert 
 
 6S5 
 
 16 Eardulf 
 
 ... 854 
 
 7 Eadbert 
 
 688 
 
 Fled from Lindisfame 875 
 
 8 Eadfrid 
 
 698 
 
 Settled at Chester-le- 
 
 9 Ethelwold 
 
 724 
 
 Street 
 
 ... 882 
 
 lO Cynewulf 
 
 740 
 
 
 
 
 Hexham. 
 
 
 
 Accession. 
 
 
 Accession. 
 
 I Tunbert 
 
 681 
 
 7 Alchmund ... 
 
 ... 767 
 
 2 Eata .. 
 
 685 
 
 8 Tilbert 
 
 .. 781 
 
 3 John (of Be\ 
 
 erley) ... 688 
 
 9 Ethelbert 
 
 ... 789 
 
 4 Wilfrid 
 
 706 
 
 10 Eadred 
 
 ... 797 
 
 5 Acca... 
 
 710 
 
 II Eanbert 
 
 ... 800 
 
 6 Frethbert 
 
 734 
 
 12 Tidferth 
 
 ... 814 
 
 The 
 
 Bishoprick ceased to exist about 820. 
 
 
 
 Chester-le-Street. 
 
 
 
 Accession. 
 
 
 Accession. 
 
 Eardulf 
 
 882 
 
 21 Sexhelm 
 
 ..• 947 
 
 17 Cutheard 
 
 900 
 
 22 Aldred 
 
 ... 947 
 
 18 Tilred 
 
 915 
 
 23 Elfsig 
 
 ... 968 
 
 19 Wilgred 
 
 928 
 
 24 Aldhun 
 
 ... 990 
 
 20 Uchtred 
 
 944 
 
 Removed to Durham 995
 
 330 
 
 BISHOPS OF DURHAM. 
 
 Durham. 
 
 Accession. 
 Aldhnn removed to 
 Durham ... ... 995 
 
 (Vacancy 3 years. ) 
 
 25 Eadmund 102 1 
 
 26 Eadred 1041 
 
 27 Egelric 1042 
 
 28 Egelwin 1056 
 
 29 "Walcher 107 1 
 
 30 William de St. Carilef 1080 
 (Vacancy upwards of 3 years.) 
 
 31 Ralf Flambard .. 1099 
 (Vacancy nearly 5 years.) 
 
 32 Galfrid Rufus ... 11 33 
 (Vacancy, usurpation of 
 
 Cumin, 3 years.) 
 
 33 William de St. Bar- 
 
 bara ... .. 1 143 
 
 34 Hugh Pudsey ... 1153 
 (Vacancy more than i year. ) 
 
 35 Philip de Pictavia ... II97 
 
 (Vacancy 9 years) 
 
 35 Richard deMarisco... 1217 
 
 (Vacancy 2 years) 
 
 37 Richard Poor ... 1228 
 
 (Vacancy 3 years) 
 
 38 Nicholas de Farnham 1241 
 
 39 Walter de Kirkham . 1249 
 
 40 Robert de Stitchill... 1260 
 
 41 Robert de Insiila ... 1274 
 
 42 Antony Bek 1283 
 
 43 Richard de Kellaw... 131 1 
 
 44 Lewis de Beaumont.. 13 18 
 
 45 Richard de Bury ... 1333 
 
 46 Thomas de Hatfield. 1345 
 
 47 John Fordham ... 1382 
 
 48 Walter Skirlaw ... 1388 
 
 49 ThomasLangley, Car- 
 
 dinal ... ... 1406 
 
 50 Robert Neville ... 1438 
 
 51 Laurence Booth ... 1457 
 
 52 William Dudley ... 1476 
 (Vacancy nearly 2 years) 
 
 Accession 
 
 53 John Sherwood ... 1485 
 
 54 Richard Fox ... 1494 
 
 55 William Sever ... 1502 
 (Vacancy nearly z years) 
 
 56 Christopher Bain- 
 
 brigge 1507 
 
 (Vacancy nearly i year) 
 
 57 Thomas Ruthall ... 1509 
 
 58 Thomas Wolsey, Car- 
 
 dinal 1523 
 
 59 Cuthbert Tunstall ... 1530 
 
 60 James PUkington ... 156 1 
 
 61 Richard Barnes ... 1577 
 (Vacancy nearly 2 years) 
 
 62 Matthew Hutton ... 1589 
 
 63 Tobias Matthew ... 1595 
 
 64 William James ... 1606 
 
 65 Richard Neile ... 1617 
 
 66 George Mountaigne.. 162S 
 
 67 John Howson ... 1628 
 
 68 Thomas Morton ... 1632 
 
 69 John Cosin .. ... 1660 
 (Vacancy upwards of 2 years) 
 
 70 Nathaniel, Lord 
 
 Crewe ... ... 1674 
 
 71 William Talbot ... 1722 
 
 72 Edward Chandler ... 1730 
 
 73 Joseph Butler ... 1750 
 
 74 Richard Trevor ... 1752 
 
 75 John Egerton ... 1771 
 
 76 Thomas Thurlow ... 1787 
 
 77 Shute Barrington ... 1791 
 
 78 William Van Mildert 1826 
 
 79 Edward Maltby ... 1836 
 
 80 CharlesThomasLong- 
 
 ley 1856 
 
 81 Heniy Montague Vil- 
 
 liers i860 
 
 82 Charles Baring ... 186 1 
 
 83 Joseph Barber 
 
 LiGHTFOOT ... 1879
 
 PRIORS AND DEANS OF DURHAM. 
 
 331 
 
 PRIORS OF DURHAM. 
 
 Installation. 
 
 Aldwin 1083 
 
 Turgot 1087 
 
 Algar 1109 
 
 Roger 1 137 
 
 Laurentius ... ... 1149 
 
 Absalom... ... .. 1154 
 
 Thomas ... ... ... 1 158 
 
 Germaniis ... ... 1163 
 
 Bertram 1189 
 
 William of Durham ... 1209 
 Ralf de Kerneth ... 1214 
 
 Thomas de Melsambi ... 1233 
 Bertram de Middlet on... 1244 
 Hugh de Darlington ... 1258 
 Richard de Claxton ... 1272 
 Hugh de Darhngton, 2° 1285 
 Richard de Hotoun ... 1289 
 Henry de Luceby in- 
 truded ... 1 300- 1 302 
 
 Installation. 
 William de Tanfield ... 1307 
 Geoffrey de Burdon ... 131 3 
 William de Couton ... 1322 
 John Fossour ... ... 1341 
 
 Robert Berrington de 
 
 Walworth 1374 
 
 John de Hemingburgh.. 1391 
 John de Wessington ... 1416 
 William de Ebchester ... 1446 
 Joon Burnbie ... ... 1456 
 
 Richard Bell 1464 
 
 Robert de Ebchester ... 1478 
 John de Auckland ... 1481 
 
 Thomas Castell 1495 
 
 Hugh Whitehead ... 1524 
 
 Abbey surrendered, Dec. 
 
 31 1540 
 
 DEANS OF DURHAM. 
 
 In 
 
 itallation. 
 
 Hugh Whitehead 
 
 .. 154I 
 
 Robert Home ... 
 
 ■• I551 
 
 Thomas Watson 
 
 •• 1553 
 
 Thomas Robertson 
 
 •• 1557 
 
 Robert Home, 2° 
 
 •• 1559 
 
 Ralf Skinner 
 
 .. 1561 
 
 William Whittingham 
 
 .. 1563 
 
 Thomas Wilson 
 
 .. 1580 
 
 Tobias Matthew 
 
 • 1583 
 
 William James ... 
 
 .. 1596 
 
 Adam Newton ... 
 
 . . 1 606 
 
 Richard Hunt ... 
 
 .. 1620 
 
 Walter Balcanquhal 
 
 ■• 1639 
 
 William Fuller ... 
 
 .. 1646 
 
 John Barwick ... 
 
 .. 1660 
 
 John .Sudbury ... 
 
 ... 1661 
 
 Denys Granville 
 
 ... 1684 
 
 Thomas Comber 
 
 John Montague 
 
 Henry Bland ... 
 
 Hon. Spencer Cowper... 
 
 Thomas Dampier 
 
 William Digl)y 
 
 John Hinchcliffe, Bishop 
 
 of Peterborough 
 James, Earl Cornwallis, 
 
 Bishop of Lichtield 
 
 and Coventry 
 Charles Henry Hall ... 
 John Banks Jenkinson, 
 
 Bishop of St. David's 
 George Waddington ... 
 William Chaklks 
 
 Lake 
 
 Installation. 
 ... 169I 
 
 1700 
 1728 
 1746 
 
 1774 
 1777 
 
 1788 
 
 1794 
 
 1824 
 
 1827 
 1840 
 
 1869 
 
 Z 2
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ad MURUM, 21, 22 
 
 Agatho, pope, 35, 67, 73 
 
 Agatho, presbyter, 28 
 
 Agilbert, bishop, 28 
 
 Alban's, St. Abbey, 137 
 
 Albinus, abbot, 77, 78 
 
 Alchfrid, king, 21, 28, 31, 32, 
 34, 44, 65 
 
 Alchfleda, 21 
 
 Alciiin, 78, loi ; letter of, 102, 
 103 
 
 Aldreti, 99 
 
 Aldfrid, king, 37, 53 
 
 Alfred, king, 78, 106, 107, 122 
 
 Alne, 2, 54 
 
 Ambrose, St., 85, 96 
 
 Anastasius, pope, 147 
 
 Annemund, archbishop, 32 
 
 Ansehn, archbishop, 135, 137 
 
 Articles of religion, 219 
 
 Athelstane, king, 94 
 
 Auckland, castle of, 265, 279 ; 
 chapel and hall, 175, 265, 
 315 ; collegiate church, 135, 
 220 ; hospital at, 280 
 
 Augustine, St., of Canterbury, 
 4, 5, 6 
 
 Balcanquhal, Walter, 
 
 dean, 261 
 Bamburgh (Bebbanburg), 3, 
 
 IS, 109, 119, 293 
 Barwick, Dr. John, dean, 274 
 Basire, Isaac, 278, 284—286 
 Bede, the venerable, 75—91, 
 
 125 
 Bcdc, monk of Lindisfarne, 58 
 Bedlingtonshire, 123 
 
 Bega, 25 
 
 Benedict, pope, 173 
 
 Bernard, St., 146 
 
 Bernicia, 3 ; monasteries of, 
 
 24 
 Bertram, prior, 147, 148 
 Beverley, monastery of, 94 
 Bilfrid, 99 
 Birinus, bishop, 18 
 Biscop, Benedict, 32, 38, 65 — 
 
 72, 75, 76, 89 
 Black Rood of Scotland, 192 
 Blakiston, Marmaduke, 253 
 Boisil, St., 31,43,45, 54, 131. 
 
 137 
 Boniface, archbishop, loi 
 Boniface VIII., pope, 172 
 Bosa, bishop, 25, 35, 37, 38, 
 
 94, 95 
 Boswell's, St., 43 
 Botulph, St., 68 
 Bradwardine, archbishop, 186 
 Brevint, Daniel, 286, 287 
 Broughton, Hugh, 240, 243 
 Brunanburg, 36, 94 
 Burleigh, Lord, 245, 246 
 
 Canute, 112, 115 
 
 Carham, m 
 
 Carl, 113 
 
 Carlisle, monastery at, 104 ; 
 
 see of, 2, 141 
 Castles on N.E. coast, 293 
 Ceadda, abbot, 33, 34, 38 
 Ceadwalla, 5, 12 
 Celles, monastery of, 25 
 Cculfrid, 67—76, 89 
 Ceolwulf, king, 78, 80, 100
 
 334 
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 Chambre, William de, 126 
 Charles I., king, 258 — 261 
 Chester-le-Street, 2, 99, 104, 
 
 107, no, 117, 244 
 
 Bishops of — 
 
 Aldhun, 108, 109, III, 
 
 "3 
 
 Aldred, 108 
 
 Cutheard, 107 
 
 Eardulf, 104, 105, 107 
 
 Elfsig, 108 
 
 Sexhelm, 108, 117 
 
 Tilred, 108 
 
 Uchtred, 108 
 
 Wigred, 108 ; collegiate 
 church of, 175, 220 
 Chicheley, archbishop, 94 
 Claxton, R. de, prior, 167 
 Clement V., pope, 173 
 Codex of the cosmographers, 73 
 Coldingham, monastery of, 26, 
 
 27, 34, 36, 62 
 Columba, St., mission of, 7, 
 
 29 . . 
 Commissioners, ecclesiastical, 
 
 318 
 Congregation of St. Cuthbert, 
 
 120. 
 Conyers, 274 
 Cope, disuse of, 314 
 Coquet Island, monastery on, 
 
 53 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 265 — 267 
 
 Cross, King Oswald's, 13 
 
 Crusades, 149, 150 
 
 Cuthbert, archbishop, loi ; 
 monk of Jarrow, 83; St., 40 
 — 64 ; banner of St., 191 
 
 Cuthwin, 83 
 
 Cyneburga, 21 
 
 Cynefrid, 68 
 
 Cynegils, king, 18 
 
 Danes, the, 27, 104 
 Uaniel, bishop, 7S 
 
 Darlington, Collegiate Church 
 of, 135. 151. 220; H. de. 
 Prior, 167 
 Davenport, George, 288 
 David, King of Scotland, 143 — 
 
 145 
 Dearmach, 10 
 Deda, 4 
 
 Deira, 3 ; monasteries of, 24 
 Deira Wood (Beverley), 94 
 Deniseburn, 12 
 Derwent water estates, 292 
 Diuma, bishop, 21 
 Dorchester, see of, 18 
 Dunholm, no 
 Dunstan, archbishop, 120 
 Durham Abbey, refounded as a 
 Cathedral Church, 217; Be- 
 nedictine monastery of, 136 
 Bishops — 
 
 Aldhun, 108, 109, 111,113 
 Bainbrigge, Christopher, 
 
 205 
 Barbara, William de St., 
 
 145, 146 
 Baring, Charles, 323 
 Barnes, Richard, 232, 244, 
 
 247 
 Barrington, Shute, 316 
 Beaumont, Lewis de, 179 
 
 -183 
 Bek, Anthony, 124, 165 — 
 
 176 
 Booth, Lawrence, 201, 202 
 Bury, Richard de, 184 — 
 
 187 
 Butler, Joseph, 296, 310 — 
 
 314 
 Carilef, William de St., 
 
 134—138, 142 
 Chandler, Edward, 296 
 Cosin, John, 249—253, 
 
 262; 270 — 288 
 Crewe, Nathaniel, Lord, 
 
 289—295
 
 INDEX. 
 
 335 
 
 Bishops — [continued). 
 Dudley, William, 202 
 Eadmund, 114 — 116 
 Eadred, 117 
 Egeliic, 115, 117 
 Egehvin, 115, 118 
 Egerton, John, 315 
 Farnham, Nicholas de, 
 
 15S, 159 
 FlamVjard, Ralf, 138— 143 
 Fordhain, John de, 196 
 Fox, Richard, 203 
 Hatfield, Thomas de, 188 
 
 —195 
 Howson, John, 256 — 257 
 Hutton, Matthew, 247 
 
 Insula, Robert de, 163 
 James, William, 248 
 Kellaw, Richard de, 177 
 
 — 179 
 Kirkham, Walter de, 159 
 
 —161 
 Langley, Thomas, 197, 
 
 198 
 Lightfoot, Joseph Barber, 
 
 326, 327 
 Longley, Charles Thomas, 
 
 323 
 Maltby, Edward, 322 
 
 Marisco, Richard de, 125, 
 
 156 
 Matthew, Tobias, 247, 248 
 Morton, Thomas, 257 — 
 
 265 
 Mountaigne, George, 250 
 Neile, Richard, 249, 250 
 Neville, Robert de, 199 — 
 
 201 
 Pictavia, Philip de, 153— 
 
 .155. 184 
 Pilkington, James, 227 — 
 
 231 
 Poor, Richard, 155, 157, 
 
 158 
 
 Bishops — (contintmd). 
 
 Pudsey, Hugh, 146 — 152 
 Rufus, Galfrid, 125 
 Ruthall, Thomas, 205 
 Sever, William, 204 
 Sherwood, John, 202, 203 
 Skirlaw, Walter, 196, 197 
 Stitchill, Robert de, 161, 
 
 162 
 Talbot, William, 295, 296 
 Thurlow, Thomas, 315 
 Trevor, Richard, 314 
 Tunstall, Cuthbert, 207 — 
 
 227 
 Van Mildert, William, 318 
 
 —321 
 Villiers, Henrj' Montague, 
 
 323 
 Walcher, 119, 127 — 133 
 Wolsey, Thomas, 206 
 
 Cathedral, Building of first 
 Church, III ; second, 
 135. 136; cloisters, 197; 
 Neville screen, 193, 194, 
 317; nine altars, 158,317; 
 services of, early in the 
 17th century, 251, 252; 
 repairs of, 317, 326 
 
 Castle, 232, 265, 279; 315, 
 318; exchequer at, 200, 
 319 ; Hall, 204; repairs, 149 
 
 College (Trinity) at Oxford, 
 186, 194—196, 198; col- 
 lege at, 265—268 
 
 Diocese of, I 
 
 Diocese of, distinguished 
 from Bishoprick of, 122 
 
 Historians of see of, 125, 126 
 
 Hospital at, 280 
 
 House in London, 195, 250, 
 263, 264 
 
 Schools at, 198 
 
 University of, 318 — 320 
 Dykes, Dr. John Bacchus, 
 
 324. 325
 
 oo^ 
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 Eadmer, iio 
 Eanfleda, 20, 27, 31, 32 
 Eanfrid "apostate," il, 12 
 Earconbert, king, 32 
 Earnshaw, 93 
 Easterfield, synod at, 38 
 Easter, finding of, 14 
 Easterwin, 69, 70, 72, 89 
 Ebba, St,, II, 26, 62 
 Ebchester, 26 ; W. de, Prior, 
 
 199 
 Eddius, 39 
 
 Edilberga, 4, 5, 20, 21 
 Editha, 127 
 Edwin, 3, 5, 17, 18, 20, 21, 
 
 24. 25 
 Egbert, archbishop, letter to, 
 
 78, 80 
 Egfrid, king, 23, 26, 34, 35, 
 
 37, 53. 54, 60, 66, 67, 70, 
 
 104 
 Elizabeth, queen, 226, 230 ; 
 
 injunctions of, 277 
 Ella, 3, 19 
 
 Episcopal sees, new, 218 
 Erasmus, 207, 233 
 Ermenburga, 26, 34, 36, 54, 
 
 56 
 Ethelbert, king, 4, 21 
 Ethelric, 3 
 Etheldreda, 26 
 Ethel wold, bishop, 120 
 Evesham, monastery of, 128 
 
 Farne, island of, 40, 49, 147 
 Faroe islands, 7 
 Felgild, 98 
 
 Finchale, abbey of, 152, 153 
 Forster, Mr., 291, 292 
 Fossour, J., prior, 187, 191 
 Frisia, 38 
 Fuller, dean, 274 
 
 Galilee, the, 149, 151, 198, 
 259 
 
 Gateshead, 133 ; monastery of, 
 
 21, 24 
 Geoffrey of Coldingham, 125 
 German, prior, 147 
 Gerold, 139, 140 
 Geve, 106 
 Gilbert, 132, 133 
 Gilling, 19, 20 ; monastery of, 
 
 68 
 Gilpin, Bernard, 226, 232 - 
 
 248 ; sermon of, 222 — 224 
 Glen river, 4 
 Godric, hermit, 15 1, 153 
 Godwin, 152 
 
 Gray, bishop of Norwich, 156 
 Graystanes, Robert de, 125, 184 
 Greatham, hospital at, 162 
 Gregory, pope, 3, 22, 35, 78, 
 
 80, 96; Gregoiy VII., pope, 
 
 135 ; Gregory XI., pope, 
 
 letter of, 195 ; Gregory 
 
 XIII., 29 
 Gregorian calendar, 29, 91 
 Grosseteste, bishop, 159 
 Gualo, legate, 156 
 Guthred, 106, 107, 123 
 
 Hackness, 25 
 
 Haddan, A. W., 6 
 
 Hadrian, abbot, 66, 76, 77, 92 
 
 Halystone, 4 
 
 Haliwercfolc (Holy - work - 
 
 people), 124, 170 
 Hardacnut, 106 
 Hardicanute, 117 
 Harding, Thomas, 235 
 Hatfield, Moor, 5 
 Hartlepool, monastery of, 24, 
 
 25 
 Haughton-le-Skerne, 310 
 Heavenfield, 13 
 Hemingborough, church of, 
 
 195 
 Henry I., 140 — 143 
 
 Henry II., 148, 150
 
 INDEX. 
 
 337 
 
 Henry HI., 157 
 
 Henry VI., letter of, 201 
 
 Herebert, 56, 57 
 
 Herefrid, abbot, 57, 58 
 
 Hereric, 24 
 
 Hesilrigg, Sir Arthur, 265, 
 
 266, 279 
 Hexham, 2, 35, 38, 92, 14 1. 
 144, 306, 327 
 Bishops of — 
 Acca, 88, 95—97 
 Alchmund, 97 
 Eadred, 97 
 Eanbert, 97 
 Eata, 24, 31, 35, 37, 43» 
 
 44, 47, 54, 92 
 Ethelbert, 97 
 Frethbert, 97 
 John (of Beverley), 25, 
 
 37, 38, 76, 92—94 
 Tidferth, 97 
 Tilbert, 97 
 Extent of diocese of, 94 
 Extinction of see of, 104 
 Minster of, 95 
 
 Hexhamshire, 141 
 
 Hilda, abbess, 24— 28, 92, 130 
 
 Holy Table, 251 
 
 Honorius, pope, 18, 27 
 
 Hotoun, R. de, prior, 167—172 
 
 Houghton-le-Spring, 238—240 
 
 Howden, 151, I97 
 
 Husetberth, 74 
 
 Hunt, Richard, Dean, 253 
 
 Hunwald, 19 
 
 Hy, 8, II, 13 
 
 Iceland, 7 
 
 Ida, 3 
 
 Innocent III., pope, 155 
 
 lona (Hy), 8 
 
 Ireland, church of, 7 
 
 Island, .St. Culhbert's, 49 
 
 Islandshire, 123 
 
 Italian Mission, oxtcnt of, 6 
 
 James, deacon, 5, 27 
 
 Jarrow, 67, 70, 103, 116, 1 19, 
 135, 136 ; abbey of, 75; 
 Church of St. Paul at, 69, 
 72, 129 ; monastery of, 65 
 
 John, bishop of Bath and 
 Wells, 137; king, 155 ; St., 
 of Beverley, v. Bishops of 
 Salisbury, 153; precentor 
 of St. Peter's, 67, 69, 76 ; 
 XXII., pope, 185 
 
 King's gate, 128 
 
 Lanchester, collegiate church 
 of, 175, 220 
 
 Langres, 74 
 
 Lastingham, 33, 34 
 
 Lateran, synod in clnirch of, 35 
 
 Laurence, St., oratory of, 74 
 
 Laurentius, prior, 147 
 
 Leader water, 40 
 
 Le Convenit, 157 
 
 Leobwin, 132, 133 
 
 Lerins, 66 
 
 Lichfield, 34 
 
 Liege, 127 
 
 Lindisfarne, i, 2, 15, 24, 29, 
 33, 35, 38. 43, 47. 92, 97. 
 102, 105, 107, 119 
 Bishops of — 
 
 Aidan, .St., 13, 15, 16, 19, 
 20, 24, 25, 27, 31, 43, 
 49, 54, 61, 88 
 Colman, 28, 31 
 Cuthbert, St., 40—64 
 Cynewulf, 97, 100, lOI 
 Eadbert, 97, 98, 106 
 Eadfrid, 98- 100 
 Eanbert, 104 
 Eardulf, 104, 105, 107 
 Eata v. Hexham 
 Ecgred, 104 
 Egbert, 104 
 Ethel wold, 99, 1 00
 
 338 
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 Bishops — [continued). 
 
 Finan, 20 — 22, 27, 28, 98 
 Heathured, 103 
 Higbald, loi — 103 
 Tuda, 29, 31, 33, 45, 47 
 
 Lindsell, Augustine, 249, 251 
 
 Lingard, 64 
 
 Longchamp, bishop of Ely, 150, 
 
 153 
 Lothians, 2, 117 
 Luceby, H. de, intruded prior, 
 
 170, 172 
 Luther, 211 
 Lyminge, 5 
 Lyons, 28 
 Lyulf, 132, 133 
 
 Maban, 96 
 
 Malcolm, king, 131, 137 
 
 Martyr, Peter, 233 
 
 Mary, queen, 226 
 
 Maserfield, 18 
 
 Matilda, empress, 135, 143, 
 
 145 
 Maurice, bishop of London, 
 
 138 
 Melrose, 24, 31, 41, 43, 44, 
 
 47. 131 
 
 Melsambi, T., prior, 158— 160 
 Merrington, church of, 145 
 Michael, St., oratory of, 93 
 Middleton, Gilbert de, 180, 
 
 181 
 Monastic Foundations, Dur- 
 ham, 214, 215 
 Monkchester, 129, 132 
 Morgan, provost of Beverly, 156 
 Mowbray, Earl, 137 
 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 129, 
 132, 261, 276, 298, 306; 
 proposed see of, 221, 327 
 
 Nevilles of Raby and Brance- 
 peth, their connection with 
 church of Durham, 189 — 194 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, 29 
 
 Non-Jurors, 291 
 
 Norham, church of, 104, 227 ; 
 
 castle of, 143, 149 
 Norhamshire, 123 
 Northumbria, kingdom of, 2, 
 
 3 ; work of church of, 88 — 91 
 Norton, collegiate church of, 
 
 135. 220 
 Nothelm, archbishop, 78 
 
 Odo, bishop, 134 
 
 Offa, 100 
 
 Oidilwald, king, 20, 23 
 
 Olave, king, 130 
 
 Osbert, king, 105 
 
 Osric, king, "apostate," 11, 
 12, 19 
 
 Oswald, king, 11 — 20,26 ; St., 
 relics of, 105 ; St., church 
 of, at Durham, 154, 324 
 
 Oswin, 19 — 21 
 
 Oswy, II, 19—34; 65, 66, 69 
 
 Paganism, fall of, 23 
 Palatinate, 122, 215, 231, 
 
 280, 318, 321 ; powers of, 
 
 123, 124 
 Pallinsburn, 4 
 Parker, archbishop, 227 
 Paschal controversy, 27 — 29 
 Paulinus, St., 4, 5, 11, 20, 24, 
 
 27 ; 33, 88 
 Penda, king, 5, 18, 21 — 24 
 Peter, St., 28, 29 
 Peterborough, monastery of, 
 
 118 
 Philobiblion, 186 
 Picts, 7, 18, 37 
 Pilgrimage of grace, 215 
 Pluralists, 297 
 Prayer Book, English, 219; 
 
 revision of, 275 
 Pudsey, Henry, 153
 
 INDEX. 
 
 339 
 
 Ralf, archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, 142 
 Red Hills, battle at, 191 
 Kedwald, king, 3 
 Reformation, 207 — 227 
 Registers, episcopal, 179 
 Reinfrid, 128, 130 
 Religious revival, 294, 295 
 Revision of prayer-book, 275 
 Kichard, abbot of Hexham, 95 
 Richard I., king, 150, 155 
 Ripon, 38, 44, 109, 323 ; mon- 
 astery of, 32, 33 ; minster 
 
 of, 34 
 Rising in the North, 229 
 Ritualistic disturbances in 1628, 
 
 250 
 Robert, Earl, 140, 141 
 Roman occupation, Christian 
 
 church during, 2 
 Romanus, 27 
 Ronan, 27 
 Rule in time of St. Columba, 
 
 copy of, 8, 9 
 Rule, pastoral, of St. Gregory, 
 
 79 
 Rule of St. Benedict, 47 
 
 Sabert, 22 
 
 Sadberg, manor of, 150, 151 
 
 Salisbury, cathedral of, 157 
 
 Sancroft, archbishop, 278, 287 
 
 Scotia, 7 
 
 Scots, 7, II, 13, 14, 16, 18, 27, 
 
 37. 266 
 Seeker, archbishop, 296, 311, 
 
 313 
 Selsey, see of, 37 
 Sergius, pope, 73 
 Seward, 1 17 
 Sherbum, hospital for lepers, 
 
 149 
 Sigebert, 22, 23 
 Sigfrid, 70 — 72 
 
 Smart, Peter, 250—256, 262 
 Southern Picts, 35 ; Scots, 29 
 Southwick, 131 
 Spark, Thomas, Suffragan 
 
 bishop of Berwick, 216 
 Staindrop, Collegiate Church 
 
 of, 199, 220 
 Stamford, monastery of, 32 
 Standard, battle of the, 144 
 Stephen, king, 143, 144, 146 
 Strean?eshalch (Whitby), 25 
 Styr, 112 
 Surplice, use of in diocese of 
 
 Durham, 2S5 
 Sweyn, 112 
 Symeon of Durham, 62, 125 
 
 Tanfikld, William de, 174 
 Tarrant, nunnery of, 157, 158 
 Theobald, archbishop, 146 
 Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop, 
 
 33. 34. 37, 66, 76, 77, 92 
 Thomas, archbishop, 137, 140 
 Thorp, Dr. Charles, 49, 318 
 Thurstan, archbishop, 144 
 Tosti, 118, 119 
 Trent, council of, 234 
 Trumwin, bishop, 54 
 Tuggall, 119 
 
 Turgot, 130, 131, 137, 141 
 Twyford, synod at, 54 
 Tyndall, 211, 212 
 Tynemouth, 21 ; priory of, 137 
 
 UCHTRED, Earl, III — 113 
 
 Ulf, 112 
 
 Urban VI. pope, 196 
 
 Verca, abbess, 57, 60 
 Vitalian, pope, 66 
 
 Walbottle, 21 
 Walkelin, bishop, 137
 
 340 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Wallace, 169 
 Walltown, 21 
 Walstod, 58 
 Waltheof, earl, 132 
 Wearmouth, 68, 103, 131, 135, 
 
 136, 254; abbey of, 75; 
 
 Church of St. Mary, 69, 73 ; 
 
 Church of St. Peter, 72, 73, 
 
 132; monastery of, 65; Vill 
 
 of, 131 
 Welt on, 21 
 Wesleys, the, in the north, 297 
 
 —309 
 Wessington, J., Prior, 198, 199 
 
 Whitby, 25, 92, 130; synod at, 
 
 28 
 White, bishop, letter of, 255, 
 
 256 
 Whitehead, Hugh, last prior 
 
 and first dean, 217 
 Wichf, 209, 210 
 
 Wilfrid, St., 28, 31, 32—39, 
 40,44,65, 68, 89,92,94, 95, 
 
 97 
 Wilfrid II., 25, 94, 95 
 William, Conqueror, 118, 1 1 9, 
 
 121, 127, 129, 130, 132 
 William II., king, 134, 135, 138 
 
 — 140 
 Winchcombe, 128 
 Wini, bishop, 33 
 Winwick, 19 
 Whittingham, William, dean, 
 
 228 
 Wredelau, no 
 Wulstan, archbishop, 115 
 
 Yelverton, judge, 254 
 
 Yevering, 4 
 
 York, abbey of St. Mary at; 
 130; extent of diocese of, 95, 
 Minster, 197; see of, ^5, 38 
 
 THE END. 
 
 WYMAN AND SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON, W.C.
 
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