A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



St. Cuthbert's Coffin 

 AND Rebates. 



hand. The designs were incised in the wood with a fine knife or chisel which 

 made V-shaped grooves; sometimes a small gouge was used to make softer 

 and rounded lines. No traces of either of the two bottoms of the chest 

 remain. The carvings are a remarkable example of early Anglian work ; 

 they are executed with a freedom and accuracy of stroke which tells us that 

 the artist was a master in his simple art. There is no hesitation in the work, 

 no second cut, no slip over the grain, no sign of weakness in it or note of 

 indecision. 



The bottom was fitted to rebates in the sides, and to grooves in the 



ends, and the sides were also rebated to take 

 the ends, and all parts of the coffin were held 

 together, as Scandinavian work still is, with 

 wooden pegs ; ^ of these several remain. With 

 the saint's body were stored, at various times, 

 miscellaneous remains of north country saints,^ 

 collected for the most part by Elfrid Westoue, 

 sacrist of the cathedral, early in the eleventh 

 century.^ Elfrid was wont to travel up and 



down the north, an ecclesiastical bagman trafficking in relics, which he placed 

 in wealthy churches. As he distributed them he took toll of them, and 

 reverently deposited his prizes in Durham Cathedral, and chiefly in St. Cuth- 

 bert's shrine.* He shamelessly stole from the monks of Jarrow all that 

 portion of Bede's skeleton which still reposes in a later tomb in the Galilee 

 of the Cathedral.^ 



No coffin, except that of 698, seems ever to have been used for the re- 

 mains ; Reginald of Durham, describing the events of i 104, says that the coffin, 

 ' externally carved with very marvellous graving,' was the original chest pre- 

 pared by the Lindisfarne monks. On cleaning the fragments of this coffin 

 which had been left since 1827 in one of the library cupboards, it was found 

 (as had been noticed by Mr. Raine) that there were runes as well as Roman 

 lettering over the figures ; the workmanship of both alphabets is the same.* 



The outer lid of the coffin has, in the middle, the figure of our Lord, 

 standing bare-footed, holding the Gospels with His left hand under His robe ; 

 the book, like the seventh-century Evangelistaries still preserved in the 

 Cathedral library, is nearly square ; the right hand is on the breast, apparently 

 (though the wood is broken here) not raised in blessing. This figure, 

 alone of all, has curled hair on both sides of the face. He is specially marked, 

 as is also the Christus in the Virgin and Child, with a cruciferous nimbus ; 

 He wears a robe reaching to the ankles. Above His head to the left 

 is a winged man or angel, symbol of St. Matthew ; to the right is the 

 winged lion, signifying St. Mark ; under his feet are St. Luke's bull and 

 the eagle of St. John. The names of Matthew, Mark, and John are 

 in runes. 



Of the inner lid, which could be lifted by two iron rings, one of 



* Havcrficld and Grccnwcll, Catalogue, 139. 



' At the flight of 875 many precious relics were taken. Sym. Dur. (Rolls Scries), i. 57. In 1104 only 

 the head of St. Oswald was allowed to remain. Ibid. i. 255. 



* Ibid. i. 87. ♦ 'cum patris Cuthberti torpore.' Ibid. i. 88. 

 ' Ibid. i. 88, and Rfg. of Durham (Surtces Soc. i.), cap. 26. 



* Sec Havcrficld and Greenwell, Catalogue, 152, and platei> at the end. 



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