A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Roman station, now known as Chester-le-Street." Here we get the restoration 

 of the Church in Durham and the commencement of its bishopric. We have 

 traced above the donation of Durham land to the original see of Lindisfarne. 

 All that had gone ; but Guthred began at once the series of gifts which was to 

 form the mediaeval patrimony of St. Cuthbert. Another vision of Eadred 

 directed the king to bestow all the land between Tyne and Wear and to the 

 east of the Roman road. A glance at the map shows that this is a large 

 square district from Gateshead to Chester-le-Street on the west, and from 

 South Shields to Sunderland on the east. The new church was to have right 

 of sanctuary.'*' The donation was approved by the army and by the people. 

 Guthred again confirmed it at his death, and Alfred, who now exercised a 

 sovereignty over Northumbria, was eager to ensure all these privileges to 

 St. Cuthbert, who had appeared to him on the eve of Ethandun in 878. 

 Alfred also commended the patrimony of Cuthbert to the protection of ^ 

 Edward. In the reign of Edward, the bishop at Chester-le-Street, Cutheard, 

 added to the endowment certain lands which have not been specified. 



Under Bishop Cutheard, Sedgefield was purchased and added to the ' 

 possessions of the see. But these recent gains were soon lost in the confusion 

 that followed Guthred's death. According to Simeon, a Danish leader called 

 Reginald appeared in the Humber about the beginning of the tenth century < 

 and took York. He then made a foray into the land of St. Cuthbert, and 

 divided it between two of his followers, Scula and Onalafbald, but the latter, 

 seized by sudden illness, confessed the sanctity of the saint in the agony of his 

 last moments. This circumstance added greatly to the awe which already 

 surrounded the remains of St. Cuthbert and prepares us for the next step. 



The reign of Athelstan constitutes a landmark in the history of the 

 Northumbrian church, as well as in English history generally. Three 

 churches at least, Ripon, Beverley, and Chester-le-Street, looked back to it as 

 an era of stability .'' Athelstan deposed Reginald and other petty sub-kings, 

 and annexed Northumbria to his own overlordship. This tightening of his 

 control led to a coalition of various chieftains which he crushed, and made the 

 rebels swear obedience. One of them was Constantine, king beyond the 

 Tweed, who broke his pact in or about 934. On this the king gathered his 

 forces and marched to avenge himself. It was apparently on this occasion 

 that he visited the three places just mentioned, and confirmed all existing 

 privileges. At Chester-le-Street he not only established anew all the rights 

 of St. Cuthbert, but bestowed various gifts, which were all duly entered upon 

 the Liber Vitae and survived in Simeon's time two centuries later. Most 

 important of these gifts were certain villages which constitute a strip of land 

 on the coast from Sunderland to Hesleden inclusive. The compactness of this 

 grant may suggest that the land comprised an estate of one of the sub-kings, 

 which was now forfeited to the conqueror.^* 



" Guthred's new kingdom was entirely south of the Tyne ; Raine, loc. cit. ; Simeon, op. cit. ii, 

 13-16. 



" Sanctuary was recognized in England first by Ini of Wessex in 693 ; by Guthred here in 883 ; and 

 by Alfred in 887. See introduction to Sanctuarium Du'ie/mens(, pp. x\,xn, and below p. 26. 



" For Ripon see Memorials of Ripon (Surtees Soc), i, 5 1 ; Beverley, Beverley Chapter Act Book (Surtees 

 Soc. xx). Athelstan was duly honoured in the daily chapter mass at Beverley. 



'* Simeon of Dur. Opera, i, 74-5 ; cf. Raine, St. Cuthbert, 50-2 ; Surtees, Hist. Dur. i, 224. The 

 grrundless theory that old Durham, close to Durham, is the scene of Athelstan's great battle of Brunanburh is 

 not worthy of examination. 



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