A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



larger building, called the White church, followed soon ; and finally a stone 

 church was erected into which, in 998, the saint's body in the ancient coffin, 

 with the other relics, was reverently brought, and deposited in the place of 

 honour.^ Here, save for a year of panic in 1069- 1070, when the body was 

 taken to Lindisfarne on the approach of William the Bastard,^ St. Cuthbert 

 has ever since rested in safety. 



Durham cathedral cherishes many relics of the saint ; and these we will 

 briefly describe, beginning with the coffin of 698. 



The Coffin of St. Cuthbert 



No contemporary account exists of the carvings* on this remarkable 

 relic. They are inaccurately described, towards the end of the twelfth 



St. Cuthbert's Coffin : Model Restored. 



century, by Reginald, a Benedictine of the Durham House.* Reginald 

 perhaps confused the figures on the wooden chest with the embroidered or 

 woven work still to be seen on the robes in which the saint's remains were 

 wrapped.^ 



The outer coffin of St. Cuthbert* is of oak (' de quercu nigra,' says 



Reginald), not shaped specially to carry a 

 body, but a nearly rectangular oblong, a little 

 wider at the head than at the feet. The mea- 

 surements of it are, length, 6 ft. 8 in, ; breadth 

 (at the head), i ft. 5 in. ; (at the feet), i ft. 

 4 in. ; and depth i ft. 5^ in. Originally it 

 had two lids, the inner lid apparently sup- 

 ported by cross-pieces which rested in grooves 

 in the sides of the coffin. A false bottom 

 was added in 11 04 to keep the other bones 

 clear of the saint's body.'' The two lids, 

 the four sides (two long and two short) 

 alone have work on them, chiefly, though perhaps not altogether, by one 



St. Cuthbert's Coffin 



Grooves for 



Cross-pieces supi-orting the Inner Lid. 



' Sym. Dur. (Rolls Scries), i. 82. ' Ibid. i. 100, .ind ii. 189. 



' 'I'hc anonymoua author in the De tnirMulis tt translattombiis, printed in Syra. Dur. (Rolls Series), i. 229, 

 gives no account of the cirvings when the coflin was seen in 1 104. 



♦ Reginald of Durham, Lib. de adnniand'is lientl Cudb. virtulibus (Surtees Soc, vol. i.). The chapters xl. 

 to xliii. arc given in the Appendix to Rainc's St. Cuthbert (Durham, 1828). 



' Reg. of Durham, cap. 43. He speaks of ' beasts, flowers, and im.iges.' The coflin has the symbols 

 of the P^vangclists, the lily of Gabriel, and many figures. 



' Sec the account in 1 iavcrfield and Grccnwell, Catalogue of the I nicribcd Stones in the Cathedral Library, 



7 Reg. of Durham (Surtcc* Soc, vol. i.). 



244 



