A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



to the city Herebert came from his lonely retreat in Derwentwater 

 twenty-five miles away to consult with his revered diocesan. 1 There 

 was a nunnery in the city, graced by a superior of noble birth, and 

 there was a school founded by the saint himself. The citizens pointed 

 with pride to the ancient walls and conducted St. Cuthbert to see a 

 fountain built with marvellous skill by the Romans. 3 Every notice of 

 the city at this date bespeaks a long occupation by the Teutonic con- 

 queror. In English mouths the Latin name had taken an English form, 

 for we are told by Bede that Lugubalia was corrupted by the English 

 into Luel. It was the capital of an extensive district, wider than the 

 area which Ecgfrith had added to the temporal possessions of Lindis- 

 farne. For more than eight centuries after the legions were withdrawn 

 from Lugubalia, its Roman name clung to the city as if to proclaim its 

 continuous existence. 3 Though successive masters changed or corrupted 

 it at pleasure, the city as an institution remained the political centre of 

 the district. No other designation has appeared above the surface of 

 history to indicate the region south of the Solway as a political state. 

 As the district was nameless when it was won by the Norman, the land 

 of Carlisle or the county of Carlisle was utilized to describe it for nearly 

 a hundred years. 



There is every reason to believe that the district of Carlisle con- 

 tinued a portion of the Northumbrian realm till the whole of northern 

 England was thrown into confusion and anarchy by the Danish invasion. 

 The overthrow of Ecgfrith by the Picts in the disastrous battle of Nech- 

 tansmere* in 685 does not appear to have disturbed the political allegiance 

 of its inhabitants. It is true that Northumbrian power was weakened 

 by Ecgfrith's defeat, and that some of the Britons, presumably those in 

 the valley of the Clyde, had regained their independence in consequence, 

 but the region south of the Roman wall on the Solway shore remained 

 faithful to English dominion. In 854 Bishop Eardulf of Lindisfarne, 

 according to Symeon of Durham, 8 claimed that Luel, or Carleol, as the 

 city was called in Symeon's day, had belonged to his bishopric since the 

 time of King Ecgfrith, and when the same bishop took flight from the 

 pagan Danes in 875, and entered on his seven years' pilgrimage with 

 the relics of St. Cuthbert, it was through this district, not apparently as 

 through a hostile region, that he made his way to the mouth of the 

 Derwent for the purpose of embarking to Ireland.' In all probability 

 the political relations of the district with Northumbria remained un- 



1 Bede, Hist. Eccles. iv. 29. Bede, Vita S. Cuthberti, cap. 27. 



3 Lugubalia as the ancient name of Carlisle survived in authentic documents till a late period. 

 When Pope Honorius III. confirmed Bishop Hugh in the bishopric of Carlisle in 1223, he spoke of it 

 as 'the episcopal see in St. Mary's church, Carlisle, called of old "Lugubalia," in which are to be ob- 

 served all the customs of other bishoprics in England ' (Cal. of Papal Letters, i. 91, ed. Bliss). It is used 

 by Walsingham in relation to the bishop and the bishopric of Carlisle in 1345 and 1400 : Bishop 

 Kirkby is described as ' episcopus Lugubalia;,' and the bishopric, to which William Strikeland succeeded, 

 as ' pontificatum Lugubaliae' (Hist. Angl. [Rolls Ser.], i. 266-7, " 2 47)- 



* Symeon, Hist. Dunelm. Eccles. (Rolls Ser.), i. 32, ed. Arnold. 



* Ibid. 53 ; Symeon, Hist. Regum, (Rolls Series), ii. 101, ed. Arnold. 



8 Symeon, Hist. Dunelm. Eccles. (Surtees Soc.), i. 146, 163, ed. Hinde ; GeofF. of Monmouth, 

 Man. Hist. Brit. i. 68 1. 



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