THE CONTENTS OF ST. CUTHBERT'S SHRINE 



with the saint; we hear of it for the first time in the account of the doings 

 ot Sacrist Elfrid, son of Westoue, about 1022, who made a new comb for 

 the saint's body, which is probably the comb now preserved in the Library. 



The Portable Altar 



Of all the relics the most puzzling is this altar, on which there is an 

 undecipherable inscription. It is simply an oaken board covered with silver, 

 forming a flat plate or tablet about five inches broad and four inches and a 

 half high. On this the elements were placed for consecration. 



It is mentioned as being in the coffin by the anonymous monk, and by 

 Reginald ; it is certainly coeval with St. Cuthbert. The oaken board was 

 covered with a too delicate silver plate fastened on by small silver nails. 

 This is unfortunately in a very bad state. Round a circular ornament in the 

 middle ran a bold inscription which has hitherto baffled ingenuity. There 

 exists also on the back of the original oaken slab a seventh-century inscription 

 carved in the wood with a sharp tool. It runs thus : — 



IN HONOR(em). . S. PETRU. 



It seems that the carver never thought of putting St. Peter's name in 

 the genitive case, and that it is a kind of' Lapidary Latin ' blunder. Under 

 these words are cut two crosses of unusual shape ; they are long and fine, 

 tapering away to a point. 



The silver work has been transferred to a new oaken slab. On the front 

 of this portable altar there are many puzzles. In the middle (or nearly in the 

 middle, for it is nearer to one side than the other) is a circular centrepiece 

 with beautifully interlaced work of a very early date — forming perhaps a 

 decorated cross in the middle. There is also a very clear cross half-way up 

 the left side ; there is nothing to tell us whether there were any crosses (to 

 make up the symbolic five) on the corresponding places on the other three 

 sides ; it looks as if there were not. Each corner is occupied by an 

 interesting ornament, and a fine beading runs all round the plate. The 

 centrepiece had a bold inscription. Mr. Raine says it is Greek in Latin 

 letters ; there seems little truth in this statement. Calculating the space and 

 the size of the letters, about six to seven letters are missing at the beginning 

 of the inscription and about the same number at the end. The letters 

 remaining are only eight in number, with two curled marks between them, 

 which may mean abbreviations for m or iatn ; but it is more likely that they 

 are simply divisions between the words. Outside the central boss there are, 

 at the top, two very plain letters, O H. The letters which remain are fairly 

 clear, excepting the first, which was so near destruction that it has suffered 

 damage. Indeed, the first and second letters may be read either as a double I 

 (there is such a letter on the back of the original slab) ; or they may be a U 

 or a V ; they may also be such an N as we see on the back ; they might, 

 but not probably, be part of an H. Earlier in the inscription there is 

 apparently the lower part of an O, with room for about two letters between 

 it and the double I. 



Reproducing the letters as we have them, they run thus : — 



O . . . . IIAlEC lERA 



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