RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



foretold a great storm at sea, and gave him a 

 flask of oil to pour on the waters, which when 

 he had done the waves subsided. All which, 

 says Bede, was told to a faithful priest of the 

 church by Uttan himself.^ 



This monastery, which had a chapel of its own, 

 is said to have been a cell to St. Bartholomew's, 

 Newcastle,* and to have paid an annual rent to it 

 of 2s J Bourne says that Uttan's monastery stood 

 where the present Gateshead House stands ; ' 

 but the tradition in Leland's time placed it 

 where afterwards was the site of St. Edmund's 

 Hospital.' 



4. THE NUNNERY OF EBCHESTER 



The nunnery at Ebchester was founded in or 

 before the year 660 by St. Ebba.^" She was the 

 daughter of Ethelfrid, king of Northumbria, and 

 was dedicated as a virgin by Finan, formerly 

 bishop of Lindisfarne.'^ With the help of her 

 brother. King Oswi,^^ she built a monastery on 

 the banks of the River Derwent in the bishopric 

 of Durham,^' at the spot where the little village 

 of Ebchester now stands." 



Ebba did not remain long to preside over her 

 nuns, but was called to be abbess of Colding- 

 ham, where she died in 683.'^ The monastery, 

 however, continued to flourish until the time of 

 the Danish invasion, when it is said to have 

 been utterly destroyed.^* 



5 AND 6. THE MONASTERIES OF 

 WEARMOUTH AND JARROW 



The two foundations of Wearmouth and 

 Jarrow were so closely connected in their early 

 history that, to use the expression of Simeon 

 of Durham, they seem to have been one monas- 

 tery built upon two sites. They are several 

 times mentioned in the singular number, as the 

 monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul.' To deal 

 with them separately would involve so much 

 repetition that it seems better to treat of the 

 two under one heading. 



In the latter part of the seventh century 

 Benedict Biscop, on arriving in England from 



' Bede, Hist. Eccles. lib. iii, c. 2 1 . 



^Wallis, Northumb. ii, 207. 



' Ibid, quoting a charter of temp. Hen. II, in 

 vvfliich ' duos solidos de Gateshead ' are mentioned as 

 part of the dues of St. Bartholomew's. 



^Hist. ofNezccastle, 166. 



' Itin. (2nd cd.), vii, 61. 



'"Dugdale, Mon. Angl. (ed. 1846), vi, 16 18. 



" Cressy, Ch. Hist. lib. xviii, c. 14. 



" ' Vita S. Ebbe,' MS. Cott. Jul. 2. '^ Ibid. 



" Cressy, ut supra. Surtces, however {Hist. Dur. 

 ii, 300), throws some doubt on the actual existence 

 of the nunnery. 



" Ibid. '« Tanner, Nctit. Mon. 



' See Simeon of Durham, Decern Scriptores (Twjsd. 

 col.), 4, &c. 



his third journey to Rome, went to the court of 

 Egfrid, king of Northumbria. He there ex- 

 hibited the relics and literary treasures he had 

 acquired abroad, and found such favour in the 

 king's eyes that Egfrid forthwith gave him 

 70 hides of land out of his own estates lying at 

 the mouth of the River Wear. On this site 

 Benedict, at the king's desire, established a 

 monastery in the year 674.^ 



Desiring to have everything of the best, he 

 engaged masons from France to build a stone 

 church, which he dedicated to St. Peter, and 

 glass-workers from the same country to glaze the 

 windows of the church, cloisters, and refectory. 

 Within a year matters had progressed so far that 

 Benedict was able to celebrate mass in the new 

 building ; and, having laid down rules for the 

 government of the monastery, he started on his 

 fourth journey to Rome. On his return he 

 brought back, amongst other treasures, a number 

 of sacred pictures which he hung in the church 

 to teach the truths of the gospel story to those 

 who could not read. With him came John, 

 arch-chanter of St. Peter's at Rome, to instruct 

 the English monks in the Roman method of 

 chanting, singing, and ministering in the church.^ 

 At the request of King Egfrid Pope Agatho 

 granted to Benedict a letter of privilege by 

 which his monastery was for ever secured from 

 all manner of foreign invasion.^ 



Delighted at the abbot's religious zeal, the 

 king now gave him forty hides of land on the 

 south side of the River Tyne. Here in 681 he 

 began to build a monastery of St. Paul at Jarrow.' 

 While retaining the headship of both his monas- 

 teries, which, in fact, formed but one institution,* 

 Benedict made Ceolfrid abbot of Jarrow under 

 himself, and when he left England on his fifth 

 journey to Rome he placed Easterwin in charge 

 of the house at Wearmouth.' 



Ceolfrid arrived at Jarrow in the autumn of 

 681, with a band of twenty-two' brethren (ten 

 priests and twelve laymen) ; hastily put up the 

 necessary buildings for their shelter, and began 

 to train them in monastic discipline. Three 

 years later he commenced the building of the 

 church, the king himself marking out the site 

 for the altar." 



The monks of Wearmouth and Jarrow took 

 little or no part in political matters ; their histoiy 

 is marked by no very striking incidents ; and at 

 first sight their twin monasteries may appear 

 somewhat insignificant. They formed, never- 

 theless, a very important factor in the history of 

 the time ; and it would probably be difficult to 



' Bede, Fit. Abbatum (ed. Stevenson), § 4. 



' Ib;d. §§ 5-7. -Ibid. §6. 



' Ibid. § 7. 



' Arch. Acliana (New Ser.) x, 34. 



' Bede, ut supra. 



' Rede says 'about eighteen.' 



' Canon Savage, in Arch. AcUaua, xxii, 33-4. 



81 II 



