ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



of the see by large grants of land. The nucleus of the patrimony of 

 St. Cuthbert had been formed in 685, when Egfrid of Northumbria bestowed 

 on St. Cuthbert, then living, territories in those parts of the kingdom 

 which were to become in later days Northumberland and Yorkshire.^* Ecgred 

 about 830 gave, in addition to certain places outside, a large slice of the 

 modern county of Durham. The centre of this new donation was the royal 

 vill of Gainford, and with its appendages included some of the district 

 between Wear and Tees to a spot some three miles south of the latter river.^^ 

 Billingham was also added at the same time. 



Meanwhile, more formidable incursions of the Danes had been taking 

 place in other parts of England. A period of regular settlement began about 

 853. In 866 a large body of the invaders remained for the winter in East 

 Anglia, and came to terms there with the East Anglians. What followed is 

 obscure, but it would seem that in revenge for some treacherous act committed 

 by the Northumbrian king these Danes came north. ^° With horse and foot to 

 the number of 20,000, they laid Northumbria waste, destroyed Lindisfarne, and 

 finally burnt the two houses of Jarrow and Wearmouth. After this the pro- 

 vinces of Bernicia and Deira were placed under Danish governors." A coin 

 discovered and described some years ago makes it probable that Beorn was 

 appointed ruler over that part of Northumbria which lay to the south of the 

 Tyne.°* This disastrous occupation seems to have practically annihilated the 

 Church of Northumbria. 



So far the Church had been planted in monasteries, and with the 

 exception of Gainford there is no proof of the existence of church buildings 

 in other specific centres before 8 67. The destruction of Jarrow and Wearmouth 

 meant, therefore, the practical extinction of the Church.^' This brings us to 

 the great name of St. Cuthbert, whose dead body was destined to be the means 

 of reviving Christianity in Durham, With this district he had no connexion 

 in life, save nominally as bishop of Lindisfarne during the last two years of his 

 episcopate (685—7). I" ^75 ^^^ famous wanderings of his body began. It 

 was borne from Lindisfarne through Northumbria and Galloway for seven 

 years. Then came a respite in the ferocity of the Danes. Their leader was 

 dead, and an opportune dream to Eadred, the abbot in charge of the wandering 

 community, suggested the name of Guthred as the next king.^" There was 

 sufficient romance and awe connected with St. Cuthbert to induce the Danes 

 to regard the vision as a divine admonition, and Guthred, evidently predisposed 

 to favour the monks, was elected. He forthwith established them at an ancient 



" Lapsley, County Palatine of Durham, 157. 



" Simeon does not say that the whole country from Wear to Tees was given, but ' quicquid ad eam 

 [villam] pertinet a flumine Teisa usque Wer sancto confessori Cuthbert contulit.' Simeon of Dur. 

 Opera (Rol s Ser.), i, 53. Billingham also lies between Wear and Tees, and would not have needed separate 

 specification if the entire district had been intended. 



'* The sources of our knowledge of the events, so far as Northumbria is concerned, are examined by 

 Mr. D. H. Haigh, Arch. Ael. vii, 23. 



" To speak of the provinces of Bernicia and Deira is to use language loosely. Mr. Bates has a paper on 

 this in Arch. Ael. xix, 147-54, in which he shows that we must think rather of peoples than of provinces. 

 The limits of the Bernicii and the Deiri fluctuated constantly. 



" See Mr. Haigh's paper, Arch. Ael. vii, 24. 



" South Shields and Hartlepool (above, p. 2), founded as religious settlements about 640, may have 

 lingered on. Bede has no further mention of them after their foundation, or of the churches indicated 

 above, p. 2, note 1 1. 



'° For the motives of Eadred and his relation to the bishop, see J. Raine, S/. Cuthbert, 47-Q. The 

 chronology is examined in Arch. Ael. vii, 29. 



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