A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE MONKS 



7. THE PRIORY OF ST. CUTHBERT, 

 DURHAM 



The Benedictine Priory of St. Cuthbert at 

 Durham was founded by Bishop William of 

 St. Carileph in ic^. 1 From the time when 

 Bishop Aldwin in 995 brought the body of 

 St. Cuthbert from Chester-le-Street and built 

 ' the White Church on Dunholme ' for its re- 

 ception, 2 divine worship had been maintained 

 there, and the church served by a body of secular 

 clergy to whom generous gifts of lands, &c., had 

 been made by Cnut and other benefactors. 3 

 These secular canons, with their wives and 

 children, 4 were driven out by Bishop William, 

 and replaced by the monks of the newly restored 

 monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. 6 To 

 this course, in which he was supported by both 

 papal and royal authority, the bishop was moved 

 by the appalling state of desolation to which his 

 diocese had been reduced. Three times during 

 the previous fourteen years it had been deluged 

 with blood and fire. The few inhabitants who 

 survived were in a state of penury ; the country 

 lay wild and waste ; and even the church itself 

 was plundered and neglected. The bishop, 

 anxious for the restoration alike of religion and 

 of civilization in his diocese, and finding on 

 inquiry that St. Cuthbert, whether living or 

 dead, had ever been served by monks, determined 

 to found a monastery in the place where the 

 saint's body lay ; and in the end carried out his 

 design, though not without some remonstrance 

 from the ejected canons, only one of whom 

 could be induced to take the monastic vows and 

 remain in his former home. 



The lands of the church were divided between 

 the bishopric and the monastery. Aldwin, 

 prior of Wearmouth, the restorer of monasticism 

 in northern England, became the first prior of 

 Durham, and on his death in 1087 was suc- 

 ceeded by Turgot. 8 



In the following year Bishop William was 

 banished by the king, and dwelt for three years 

 in Normandy. During this period the monks 

 lived under the king's protection and went on 

 with the building of their house, completing the 

 refectory. At length the bishop returned, 

 bringing with him numerous gold and silver 

 vessels, and a store of books for the church. 

 Not long afterwards he pulled down the old 

 Saxon church, and on n August, 1093, he and 

 Prior Turgot, in the presence of all the brethren, 



Sim. Hist. Ecdes. Dun. (Rolls Ser.), 122. 



Ibid. 78-82. s See ante ' Eccles. Hist.' 



Arch. Land, xlv, 394-5. 



See above, Wearmouth and Jarrow. 



Sim. Hist. Eccles. Dun. (Rolls Ser.), 118-22. 



laid the foundation stone of the great cathedral. 7 

 The monks then continued the erection of the 

 monastic buildings at their own expense, the 

 bishop taking that of the church entirely upon 

 himself. The work was carried on with great 

 vigour, and when Bishop William died in 

 January, 1096-7, the chapter-house was so far 

 advanced towards completion as to be considered 

 a fitting burial-place for him. 8 In 1104 the 

 remains of St. Cuthbert were translated with 

 great state to the shrine prepared for them in 

 the new church. 9 



Bishop William's successor, Ralph Flambard, 

 though he considered that Prior Turgot usurped 

 too much authority in the diocese, 10 proceeded 

 with the building of the church, completed the 

 nave, gave a great number of vestments, and 

 enlarged and improved the monastery. 11 



The death in 1115 of Turgot, 12 who had 

 been promoted to the bishopric of St. Andrews, 

 brought to a close the initial period of the history 

 of the priory. 



At the risk of anticipating in various details, 

 it is thought that a short account of the way in 

 which the interior life of the convent was 

 carried on from day to day, and the services of 

 the church were conducted, may throw some light 

 upon the events of later years. 13 



The day's work apparently began at six a.m., 

 when the servant (or scholar) of the sacristan 

 took his post beside the awmry in the Nine 

 Altars, where he remained until the end of high 

 mass to give out the singing-bread and wine to 

 those who assisted the monks to celebrate the 

 divine office. The sacristan himself, part of 

 whose duty it was to lock up every night the 

 awmries belonging to the various altars, 14 came 

 into the church at seven o'clock, and proceeded to 

 lay out the keys on the top of the key-cupboard, 

 whence the monks fetched them as they were 

 required. At eight he retired into the chapter- 

 house to pray for the founders and benefactors 

 of the house ; and at nine a bell rang out, sum- 

 moning the brethren to the chapter mass. 



7 Ibid. 1 27-9. Hoveden says, Chronica (Rolls Ser.), 

 i, 145, that Malcolm, king of Scots, was also present, 

 and took part in the ceremony. 8 Ibid. 12934. 



" Reginald Dun. Libellus (Surt. Soc.), cap. xl-xliii. 



10 Will, of Malmesb. Gest.Pont. (Rolls Ser.), 273. 



11 Sim. Hist. Eccles. Dun. (Rolls Ser.), 140. 

 " Hoveden, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 1 70. 



13 The following account is taken almost entirely 

 from the Rites of Dur. (Surt. Soc.), to which there- 

 fore only this general reference will be made. Many 

 of the details, of course, belong to a period consider- 

 ably later than 1115, but they are placed here for the 

 sake of coherence. 



14 Every altar had two chalices, two cruets, and a 

 double set of vestments and ornaments. 



86 



