A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



previously prepared and adorned with carving ; in this they left him unburied 

 on the pavement of the south side of the altar in their sanctuary. 1 



This new coffin of 698 is the chest of which Durham Cathedral still 

 possesses many interesting fragments. 8 It is no marvel that a thin, attenuated 

 frame, like that of St. Cuthbert, resisted decay, and remained, to the wonder 

 of mankind, as a ' corpus incorruptum ' for ages. 8 



Here the body lay undisturbed till the northern invaders began to 

 threaten the coast. At first the south of England had offered more temptations ; 

 yet Northumbria was nearer home, and Lindisfarne was specially attractive ; 

 there was easy access to it, and for those who had the command of the sea it 

 was an excellent resting-place before or after invasions. It had, too, a 

 monastery tempting for plunder. So after taking York in 867, the Danes 

 pushed up northwards by land. Though checked awhile by the Tyne, their 

 advance soon went on again, till in 875 Halfdene threatened Lindisfarne. 4 

 The bishop and monks were powerless ; they gathered up their cherished 

 relics, placing in St. Cuthbert's wooden coffin (as Simeon of Durham tells 

 us) 6 the head of St. Oswald the king, some bones of St. Aidan, and remains 

 of past bishops of Lindisfarne. With these they crossed to the mainland, 

 and the long wandering began. Their drifting movements brought them at 

 last to the mouth of the river Derwent in Cumberland, 6 where Workington 

 now stands. There they shipped the coffin, with a copy of the four gospels 

 on the saint's breast, on board a little sailing vessel, and set out for Ireland. 

 A storm arose before they had gone far, and they were driven towards the 

 Scottish side of the Solway Firth ; here, in the tossing of the boat, the MS. 

 went overboard. They then abandoned the attempt to cross to Ireland, and 

 landed on the Scottish coast. Three days later the MS. was found on the 

 sands at Whithern in Galloway, at low tide. This relic of St. Cuthbert still 

 exists in safe keeping in the British Museum. 7 Wandering began again : in 

 883 they were at Crayke in Yorkshire ; thence Guthred, who had been made 

 king of Northumberland through a vision of St. Cuthbert, invited them 

 to return to the north. They set out, and found a home at Cuneacestre 

 (i.e., Chester-le-Street), of which place Eardulf, the last bishop of Lindis- 

 farne, became bishop. The Northumbrian king bestowed on the saint ' all 

 that land which lies between Wear and Tyne,' the cradle of the later magni- 

 ficent Palatine princedom. Here it was that king Athelstan made to 

 St. Cuthbert many splendid gifts ; among them, apparently, the Winchester 

 stole and other fine stuffs, which still remain to us. 8 Here St. Cuthbert's 

 body remained till 995, when a fresh invasion caused it to be once more 

 removed. 9 It was taken by Aldhun, last bishop of Chester-le-Street, to 

 Ripon, and tarried there from spring to autumn. Then, peaceful days 

 intervening, it was brought northwards again, the bearers aiming at either 

 Chester-le-Street or Lindisfarne. But marvellous guiding led them to a 

 desolate site, the strong peninsula of Dunholm, where Aldhun built a little 

 wattled church to shelter the saint and his treasures ; 10 we are told that a 



1 Bede, Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. xxviii. 



2 Of this there can be no question. See Sym. Dur. (Rolls Series), i. 249, and Haverfield and Greenwell, 

 A Catalogue of the Sculptured and Inscribed Stones in the Cathedral Library, Durham (Durham, 1899), 134. 



There are well-known instances of bodies drying up without decay, e.g., that of Charles I. 

 * Sym. Dur. (Rolls Series), i. 56. 6 Ibid . j. 57. 8 ibid. i. 63 seq. 



Ibid. i. 66 and 67 note. Ibid. i. 75. Ibid. i. 78 seq. and ii. 136. 1<> Ibid. i. 79. 



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