A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



market or with open fronts along the streets. 

 Reginald speaks of the muddy approach'* to the 

 cathedral over Palace Green, and more than 

 once of Palace Green" itself, of the Cross'* that 

 stood in the churchyard, of burials that took 

 place here." The great bells were visible from 

 without, and the youth of Durham gladly took 

 their turn in ringing them.'" The ' usual ' 

 entrance was the north door,*' and hard by were 

 the attendants,*- ready to open it or to repel if 

 need be. On the door were handles of brass. On 

 entering the minster the pilgrims passed by the 

 mighty cyhnders of the new pillars.*' At the 

 crossing he saw the statues of kings and saints. 

 Hard by were the inner gates,*' usually guarded, 

 and through these the pilgrims reached the 

 shrine. A new marble pavement had recently 

 been laid by Prior Roger *^ (1137-49), probably 

 after the desecration caused by Cumin's soldiers. 

 The shrine had its special adornment and its 

 own custodian.** Here the pilgrim might offer 

 his candle*' and any gift that he had brought. 

 If it was a great festival the church was deco- 

 rated with care as at Easter ** or Whitsuntide.*' 

 The two great festivals of St. Cuthbert on 

 20 March *» and 4 September *' brought crowds to 

 Durham, when attractions within the cathedral 

 were many ; and without, sports and games were 

 held.*2 Peculiarly interesting were the relics 

 exhibited at such times to the pubHc view.*' 

 The banner of St. Cuthbert** was a conspicuous 

 object near the shrine. At night the monks had 

 the church to themselves and sang the midnight 

 office '5 in their stalls** after the attendants had 

 prepared the cressets to light them." There 

 is mention of the altar of St. Oswald,** of the 

 pulpit** upon which the lectionary lay, of the small 

 bell in the quire,'"" of the bishop's throne,' 

 of the Crucifix - opposite it within the quire, of 

 the signals given by the bells* when service 

 began, or the various hours of day and night had 

 to be indicated. 



Then there was the monastery with its build- 

 ings and its monks. Reginald, however, has 

 little to say except in this incidental way about the 



'* Libellus B. Cuthberti, 373. 



" De Vita S. Godrici, 189, 191. 



'* Libellus B. Cuthberti, 164. 



''^ De Vita S. Godrici, SI. 



*" Libellus B. Cuthberti, 266. 



*i Ibid. 119. *2 Ibid. 292. 



*' Ibid. 266, cf. ibid. 190. 



** Ibid. 166, cf. ibid. 82. 



85 Ibid. 154. 8fi Ibid. 161, 268. 



*' Ibid. 179. 88 Ibid. 163. ** Ibid. 202. 



*" Ibid. 40 ; De Vita S. Godrici, 893. 



»i Libellus B. Cuthberti, 54, 98. «2 Ibid. 284. 



»* Ibid. 165. 9* Ibid. 83. 



*^ Ibid. 71. ** Ibid. 81, 174. 



*' Ibid. 167. 98 Ibid. 



«* Ibid. 173. '""Ibid. 189. 



' Ibid. 166. 2 Ibid. 81. 3 Ibid. 189. 



surroundings of his own life. He knows the 

 castle from the outside and refers to its massive 

 gates,* the porter who guarded them,* the 

 battlements* with their sentinels' on watch, the 

 concourse of servants,* the bishop's prison. * 

 From a later reference there is some reason for 

 supposing that this prison was on the west side 

 of Palace Green until the days of Bishop Lang- 

 ley.'" 



Elsewhere there is allusion to Allergate," to 

 the suburbs of Durham, '^ to South Street with its 

 white houses as seen from the neighbourhood of 

 the cathedral.'* In between ran the river with 

 its dam and mills and water-wheels.'* Saturday 

 then, as now, was the market-day.'* There was a 

 town-crier.'* The mint-master was a man of 

 position." 



One more document of Pudsey's episcopate 

 remains to be mentioned. Boldon Book, a very 

 important recital of all the bishop's vills, was 

 drawn up in the year 11 83.'* Unfortunately, 

 the light it throws upon Durham itself is neither 

 clear nor full. It tells us that Durham was at 

 farm, and had mills producing large revenue. 

 It calls Durham alone of all the vills named 

 a civitas. Beyond this there is no information, 

 and we are not even told what the dues farmed 

 out may have been in amount, nor what the 

 farmers' names were. 



The uncertain references to the city itself, 

 however, are only disappointing in so far as 

 they give no details of the administration of 

 Durham. The works of Reginald supply a vivid 

 enough picture of the place. It is not, therefore, 

 very difficult to form some conception of 

 Pudsey's Durham in the light of what has now 

 been said. The shrine brought the pilgrims, 

 and the pilgrims brought business. The secular 

 side of Durham as the centre of government was 

 perhaps secondary, though extremely important. 

 The whole meaning of the two books of Reginald 

 the monk lies in the fact that Pudsey greatly 

 increased the attractions of Durham as a place 

 of pilgrimage. Reginald incidentally shows 

 by more than one amusing touch how anxious 

 the new-born fame of St. Thomas of Canterbury 

 rendered the Durham monks. Fear of this 

 important rival no doubt prompted some of the 

 revelations which are recorded, in order to 

 confirm the wavering prestige of St. Cuthbert's 

 shrine, and their satisfactory' conclusion has a 

 spice of humour in it. Some of Pudsey's work 

 was planned, no doubt, for the express purpose 



* Libellus B. Cuthberti, 211. * Ibid. 233. 

 6 Ibid. 282. 'Ibid. 211. * Ibid. 212. 



* Ibid. 314. '" See below, p. 23. 

 "/)<• Vita S. Godrici, 403. 



'2 Libellus B. Cuthberti, 172. " Ibid. 252. '* Ibid. 

 '5 De Vita S. Godrici, 388. 



»* Libellus B. Cuthberti, 206. " Ibid. 210. 



'*r.C.W.Z)«r. 1,259. 



H 



