A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



side of St. Cuthbert. 1 This skull shows proof of such a violent death as 

 befell St. Oswald in the battle of Maserfelth. 3 It has a tremendous cut on the 

 skull, which must have killed him, inflicted by a sharp sword or axe ; and 

 there is also a second wound on the head, 8 perhaps inflicted after death, when 

 Penda savagely wreaked his anger on it. 



THE CROSS 



This ancient and most interesting relic was found in 1827 under three 

 thicknesses of silk on- the skeleton. It is of gold with four equal arms ; of 

 a type of workmanship well known to be that of the seventh century, as may 

 be seen by comparison with other and dated pieces of jeweller's work in 

 France or Belgium. In the centre it has a large reddish stone, or possibly a 

 substitute in glass for a garnet, and under this a cavity which probably con- 

 tained a relic. There is a corresponding stone in each angle and twelve 

 smaller stones on each branch. One of the limbs has been broken off and 

 riveted on again in early times : it has a ring through which a gold chain 

 was passed. This ring is of much later workmanship ; and under it may be 

 discerned a thin loop in gold wire worn through and replaced. 



The inner ornament is not enamel : it is formed of some quasi-mosaic 

 pieces of stone or glass set in a thin edging of gold. 



The discovery of this cross, hidden away for ages (for Reginald of 

 Durham, in his minute description of the contents of the coffin, does not 

 mention it), provides one of the strongest confirmations of the genuineness of 

 this skeleton. It points to a high probability that the inner vestments, etc., 

 were never disturbed till 1827;* and it is evident that if they were left un- 

 touched the remains within them could not have suffered a secret translation. 



ST. CUTHBERT'S COMB 



The anonymous author writing of the translation of 1104 says that the 

 monks then replaced by the side of St. Cuthbert's body 'a great ivory comb,' 

 and Reginald of Durham 5 says 'The comb is perforated in the middle so 

 that almost three fingers may be inserted into the hole. The length of it 

 bears a suitable proportion to the breadth. For the length is almost equal to 

 the breadth, save that for ornament there is a slight difference. From lapse 

 of time it has got a reddish tinge ; the whiteness of bone which naturally 

 belongs to it is changed into a ruddy tint.' This comb was found in 1827 

 lying among the folds of one of the uppermost robes, on the lower part of 

 the saint's breast. On careful examination the comb was found to be certainly 

 ivory, not wood ; it has been skilfully fastened together again, for it was very 

 fragile and much broken. It does not appear to have been originally buried 



1 It is fair to add that there is a skull at Epternach, an Anglo-Saxon settlement in Luxemburg, which a 

 said to be St. Oswald's head. See Bede (ed. Plummer), ii. 157. 



8 Ibid. Sym. Dur. (Rolls Series), i. 255, and Bede, of. cit., lib. iii. c. 9. *Arch. Ivii. (i), 25. 



4 The outside robes were removed at the translation of 698, but ' quae carni illius proxima aderant 

 prorsus tangere timebant.' Sym. Dur. (Rolls Series), i. 36. Then ' involutum novo amictu corpus, novaque in 

 theca reconditum, supra pavimentum sanctuarii posuerunt.' Bede, Hist. Eccl., lib. iv. cap. xxviii. Some 

 robes were taken away and others added in 1 104. S. D. i. 255. 



6 Reginald of Durham (Surtees Soc.), i. cap. 42. 



254 



