CITY OF DURHAM 



Canute to the Christian faith disposed him to 

 patronize the English sacred places, and amongst 

 them Durham was the recipient of his favours. 

 He not only made his famous pilgrimage in 

 person, but bestowed fresh gifts of land and, as 

 we may presume, confirmed the sanctuary 

 privileges of Durham. ^^ After his death the 

 Scots again besieged Durham under King 

 Duncan, but without success. This second 

 successful withstanding of the Scots must have 

 enhanced the fame of the city, and there is 

 evidence that the church became rapidly more 

 wealthy and prosperous, deriving its treasures 

 not only from the offerings of the pilgrims, but 

 also, it is probable, from the deposits of those 

 who stored here the money which it was not 

 safe to keep at home.^* 



Various stories recorded by Simeon show the 

 attractiveness of Durham and its shrine during 

 the reign of Edward the Confessor. One of 

 these by its mention of hospitium^'' suggests 

 that lodging houses were already in existence 

 before the Norman Conquest, in which guests 

 coming to the shrine of St. Cuthbert might 

 find entertainment. We thus get an allusion 

 to one of the most characteristic features of 

 mediaeval life in Durham. There is, however, 

 no evidence at all as to the pre-Conquest 

 buildings and streets save as regards the church 

 itself. When the Conquest came, Durham was 

 the northern rallying point of those Northum- 

 brians who hoped to set up Edgar Atheling 

 against the Conqueror. The submission of 

 Ethelwin the bishop to William at York was 

 probably feigned. When in 1068 the northern 

 rebellion broke out, William advanced towards 

 the north. At his approach all this brave 

 confederation collapsed and a discontented 

 remnant fled to Durham, where they hastily 

 erected a strong tower to aid them in their 

 defence of the place. The incident of the tower 

 is mentioned in one Norman chronicler only,^^ 

 but the reference can scarcely have been an 

 invention. If we accept its historical character 

 we have here, in all probability, the foundation 

 of Durham Castle, but the work can scarcely 

 have been carried far, since in the very next 

 year events happened which broke it all off. 

 The episode of Earl Cumin and his retinue, 

 against whom the men of Durham rose in their 

 might until all the streets ran with blood, was 

 ruthlessly punished by the Conqueror at the end 

 of 1069.^^ Incidentally the story of Cumin 

 shows that Durham was now a city of some size, 

 with its houses and streets, in which the bishop's 



2^ Simeon of Durham, op. cit. i, 90. 

 « Cf. ibid. 91-2. " Ibid. 95. 



^^ William of Jumieges, as quoted by Freeman, 

 Norman Conquest, iv, 194. 



^' Simeon of Dur. op. cit. i, 99, 245 ; cf. ibid, ii, 1S7. 



residence stood near the church and close to 

 its western tower. This tower, completed 

 after Aldhun's death in 1019, was in grave 

 danger of burning when the populace in their 

 rage set on fire the house in which the earl had 

 passed the night. 



The Normans found Durham practically 

 empty, for the bishop and his retinue had fled 

 with the saint's body to Lindisfarne. The 

 church without defenders and ministers was 

 used as a hospital for the sick and dying who 

 crawled thither, perhaps in the hope of sanctuary, 

 whilst the Norman army spread ruin and famine 

 in every direction. Spring brought new hope 

 as the avenging force retired, and Durham, 

 which does not appear to have been itself 

 ravaged by the Normans, was re-entered by the 

 bishop and his people, who found their church 

 polluted by its recent usage and its treasures 

 piUaged. The strong walls of Durham saved 

 it when Malcolm's forces invaded Northumbria 

 in 1070, burning churches and carrying slaughter 

 in every direction. Events now followed which 

 made the city something more than sanctuary 

 and fortress by constituting it the centre of 

 government. Something of the kind was 

 probably intended when William outlawed 

 Ethelwin the bishop and made the Lotharingian 

 Walcher from Liege bishop in his stead. 

 Walcher was already familiar with a franchise,"* 

 which in some sort corresponded to the franchise 

 of St. Cuthbert, which had grown up even 

 before the Conquest. But, however this may 

 be, the coming of Walcher led to an important 

 development in the city of Durham, for it was 

 through his friendship with Waltheof, the new 

 Earl of Northumbria, that the castle came to be 

 built. As an Earl of Northumbria had been 

 the guiding force in building the city, so another 

 earl was the builder of the castle. It seems 

 quite clear that the earldom had still extensive 

 powers in the neighbourhood and a particular 

 control of the city, though it is not possible to 

 define these powers. ^"^ The building of the 

 castle was probably carried out^- by a levy 

 summoned hy the earl, but, as we have seen, 

 there is reason to believe that some part of the 

 fortress already e.xisted. It was now begun 

 in 1072, and in the same year the Conqueror 

 visited Durham, probably for the first time, and 

 confirmed the sanctuary and other privileges 

 which Canute had endorsed years before. When 

 in 1075 Waltheof died, Walcher succeeded him 

 as earl, and thus brought to Durham that 



'" For the early history of Liege, see Histoire de 

 Feveche et de la principauti de Liege, by J. Daris (Liege, 

 1868-90). 



^1 This power was not, perhaps, surrendered until 

 the 1 2th century. Cf. V.C.H. Dur. ii, 137-8. 



'- Simeon of Dur. op. cit. ii, 199. 



