A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



neighbourhood of the city of Durham. There is no reason to disown the 

 local tradition which makes the hill Mountjoy the scene of this incident. 

 At all events Durham was considered to be indicated as the spot where the 

 saint desired to rest, and thither the bier was borne. It lay for some time in 

 a hastily improvised wattled shrine on the hill-top, whilst the site was 

 prepared for habitation. Uchtred the earl and son-in-law of Aldhun lent his 

 aid, and prevailed on all the people, from the Coquet to the Tees, to join in 

 the work of clearing the place and building the necessary buildings. A more 

 seemly church known as the White Church received the body of St. Cuthbert, 

 and the first cathedral of Durham was at once commenced. It was ready for 

 use within three years, and to it the remains of the saint were carried, and 

 the dedication took place on 4 September, 999.*^ 



So the long history of the city of Durham opens. The earls of North- 

 umberland were its first patrons and benefactors. In 1006 the new city was 

 able to withstand a severe assault directed by Malcolm of Scotland, and the 

 heads of many of the defeated host were fastened upon the fortifications. 

 This decisive victory, which kept the Scots at bay for some years, was 

 reversed in 1018 at the disastrous battle of Carham-on-Tweed,'*" when a levy 

 of the people between Tees and Tyne was routed with terrible slaughter. 

 But in 1013 Northumbria had acknowledged the power of Sweyn. Appar- 

 ently his son Canute marched north after the battle of Carham, and by his 

 armed display kept the Scots in check. At all events Canute came through 

 Northumbria, and at Trimdon, so tradition says, made fresh gifts to 

 St. Cuthbert,*^ whence he walked with bare feet to Durham. 



Thanks, then, to the patronage of Uchtred, Durham was now a fortified 

 city, and gifts abounded. Stories of miraculous cure turned the attention of 

 distant churchmen towards it. Relics began to be stored in the church of 

 St. Cuthbert. A sacrist named Elfred brought to it the remains of various 

 north-country saints, and rifled the ruins of Jarrow for the bones of Bede 

 — at least so he gave out. In 1040 the second siege of Durham took place, 

 when Shakespeare's Duncan brought a vast host together to reduce it. 

 A sally on the part of the defenders routed the cavalry of the Scots, whilst 

 the foot were annihilated. The heads of the killed were stuck on poles in 

 the market-place, which is presumably the present Palace Green. The size 

 of the Scottish army and the fact that the beleaguered forces were able to 

 follow it up and disperse it goes to prove that the entire space within the 

 peninsula was by this date fortified. vEthelric, a Peterborough monk, who 

 became bishop in 1042, received from the new Earl Siward the same protec- 

 tion which Uchtred had given to Aldhun. The earl confirmed the bishop in 

 his see against a clerical revolt, ^thelric desired to replace the old church at 

 Chester by a more dignified stone building, and proceeded to carry out his 

 wish. His pillage of the ornaments and treasure at Durham is proof of the 



" Simeon is our authority for all these facts, which he claims to have received by tradition from those 

 present. Op. cit. i, 78-84. See his remarks on the closeness of the tradition, ibid. 80. 



" For its importance cf. Freeman, Norman Conquest, i, 444, and Pertz, Mon. Hist. Germ. Hodgson Hinde, 

 Hist. Northumb. l6z. 



" For the tradition cf. Surtees, Hist. Dur. i, 2, 104. The lands r\ovi bestowed were chiefly in the 

 neighbourhood of Staindrop, and were part and parcel of that manor, viz. Staindrop, Shotton, Raby, Wacker- 

 field, and Ingleton, all close to one another, and Auckland, Eldon, Thickley, Middlcton, Lutterington, and 

 Evenwood, rather farther off. Simeon of Dur. Opera, i, 90 and 213. Auckland and Thickley were restitu- 

 tions. Simeon of Dur. Opera, i, 213. 



8 



