S14 Mr. J. Stuart on St. Ebha and Coldmgham. 



Northumbrian Princes on the Bishopric and Monastery of 

 Lindisfarne, was the territory of St. Balther's Monastery at 

 Tynlngham, running from the Lammermoor Hills to Esk- 

 mouth, and comprehending the present county of Haddington. 

 Another territory similarly dedicated was on the Eder, besides 

 a tract of country on the south of the Tweed, stretching from 

 that river nearly to Bamburgh, and in an Inland direction to 

 the valley of the Breamlsh and the Till. With regard to 

 such districts, we may infer that they were as yet unappro- 

 priated to the private uses of individuals, but were in the 

 state of folk-land. We have other evidence of the recent 

 reclamation from a state of nature of a district on the Tweed 

 in the Time of Edgar. Thus Thor the Long, In granting to 

 St. Cuthbert the Church of Edenham, narrates how he re- 

 ceived from Edgar, the King, Ednaham, then a waste ; how 

 at his own charges and by his own Industry he brought It 

 into cultivation and settled It ; how he built a church in 

 honour of St. Cuthbert and endowed it with a carrucate of 

 land. The district thus reclaimed soon came to be known 

 as the Parish of Edenham, or as it Is now called Ednam. 

 Among the possessions of Lindisfarne were the two Geddwrds 

 or Jed worths, which the Bishop Ecgred, who lived before the 

 middle of the ninth century, had settled (condldit).* 



On the marches of this country of Lothian — a country 

 diiferent from Scotland in its settlement, its institutions, and 

 its topography — did Edgar found his Priory. The very tenure 

 by which this country was in his hands, differed essentially 

 from that by which he held his own country of the Scots. If 

 we can credit a somewhat doubtful charter of his, printed 

 from an early copy, by Dr. Raine, Edgar asserts that he holds 

 the country of Lothian by the gift of his Lord William, King 

 of the Angles, while the land of the Scots belonged to him of 

 hereditary right. It is at least certain, that Edgar's charters 

 were confirmed by King William Rufus, who alleges in his 

 Deeds of Confirmation, that Edgar made his grants with his 

 consent (me concedente).t 



The Church of Coldingham Avas dedicated to St. Mary. 

 The King came to the Festival of the Dedication, when he 

 gave to St. Cuthbert the lands of Swintun by gift on the 

 altar.J In other deeds, St. Cuthbert and St. Ebba are associ- 

 ated with St. Mary.§ The Priory was speedily enriched by 



* Sim. Dunelm. ap. Monum., Hist. Brit. p. 675. 



t North Durham. App., p. 2. 



X Raine's North Durham, App., p. 79. § lb., App., pp. 2, 23. 



