page_title: Historia de Sancto Cuthberto
section_title: Synopsis
hierarchical_section_title: Historia de Sancto Cuthberto / Synopsis
caption_attribution_description: This image is a JPEG version of the original PNG image at File: Athelstan.png. Generally, this JPEG version should be used when displaying the file from Commons, in order to reduce the file size of thumbnail images. However, any edits to the image should be based on the original PNG version in order to prevent generation loss, and both versions should be updated. Do not make edits based on this version. &#160;See here for more information. Deutsch&#160;| English&#160;| español&#160;| français&#160;| 日本語&#160;| македонски&#160;| മലയാളം&#160;| português&#160;| русский&#160;| +/− Athelstan, c.895-939. Illuminated manuscript from Bede's Life of St Cuthbert, c.930. 29.2 x 20cm (11 1/2 x 7 7/8"). Originally from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
context_page_description: The Historia de Sancto Cuthberto is a historical compilation finished some time after 1031. It is an account of the history of the bishopric of St Cuthbert—based successively at Lindisfarne, Norham, Chester-le-Street and finally Durham—from the life of St Cuthbert himself onwards. The latest event documented is a grant by King Cnut, c. 1031. The work is a cartulary chronicle recording grants and losses of property as well as miracles of retribution, under a loose narrative of temporal progression. The text survives in three manuscripts, the earliest of which dates from around 1100. The original version of the text is not thought to be extant; rather, all surviving manuscripts are thought to be copies of an earlier but lost exemplar. The Historia is one of the important sources behind the higher quality expanded histories produced at Durham in the early 12th century, particularly the Historia Regum and Symeon of Durham's Libellus de Exordio.
context_section_description: The Historia opens in chapter one with an introduction, followed in chapter two by an account of the youth of St Cuthbert at the river Leader, his vision of Áedán ascending to heaven, and his entrance to Melrose monastery under the tutelage of Boisil. Chapter three tells of the grant of 12 vills on and around the river Bowmont to Cuthbert by King Oswig and his magnates, of how Boisil gives Cuthbert Melrose and its dependent lands, and how Cuthbert himself becomes abbot of Melrose before becoming a hermit on Farne and then, finally, bishop of Lindisfarne. There follows a description of the diocese of Lindisfarne in chapter four, before the gift-giving resumes in chapter five with King Ecgfrith and Archbishop Theodore's grant of land in York, as well as Crayke; chapter four further relates how Cuthbert established a monastery and abbot at Crayke, with a nunnery, abbess and school at Carlisle (Luel) which he subsequently hands over to the abbot of Crayke. Chapter six carries the north-west theme further, describing how Cuthbert raised a boy from the dead at a vill named Exanforda, and how "King Ecgfrith and his Britons" donate Cartmel and Suthgedling, which the saint proceeds to hand over to an abbot named Cyneferth son of Cygincg. Chapter seven tells of King Ecgfrith's gift of Carham, while chapter eight records King Ceolwulf's presentation of the vill of Warkworth with its dependent land.
  The following chapter gives an account of the episcopate of Bishop Ecgred, how he succeeds after Cuthbert's death, moves the seat of his bishopric to Norham, transporting the bodies of King Ceolwulf and St Cuthbert, and how he gives the bishopric Norham itself along with the vills of Jedburgh and Old Jedburgh and their dependent lands. Ecgred is said to have built a church at Gainford, likewise granting it to St Cuthbert, as well as making gifts of Cliffe, Wycliffe and Billingham The tables turn somewhat in chapter ten, which relates how King Osberht confiscated Warkworth and Tillmouth, and how King Ælle confiscated Cliffe, Wycliffe, and Billingham; but it proceeds to explain that God and Cuthbert got revenge by sending Ubba, duke of the Frisians (dux Fresciorum), to attack Northumbria. Before proceedings into this narrative, the Historia in chapter eleven notes the grant of King Ceolwulf and Bishop Esdred of the vills of Wudacestre, Whittingham, Edlingham and Eglingham.
  The Scaldings slay Osberht and Ælle, as well as the "northern and southern English", in chapter twelve, while Halfdan king of the Danes sails up the river Tyne as far as Wircesforda plundering the land, inducing Cuthbert to punish him in turn with madness. Chapter thirteen has Abbot Eadred of Carlisle go across the Tyne to the Danes and get them to elect Guthred, "a slave of a certain widow", as king [of Northumbria]. Guthred consequently is made king on a hill named Oswigesdune, and the Viking host swears its peace and fidelity over the body of St Cuthbert, which Bishop Eardulf had brought for that purpose. In chapter fourteen the army of Ubba and Halfdan divides into three parts, settling in and around York, in Mercia, and among the southern Saxons, killing all the royals except Alfred the Great, who retreats into the marshes of Glastonbury low on provisions. In the following chapter (fifteen), Alfred is kind to a stranger who comes to him in need, ordering that he receive some of the remaining food. The stranger disappears and Alfred is rewarded with three boatloads of fish. Chapter sixteen has St Cuthbert visit Alfred during the night, revealing that he was the stranger, that he will be the defender of Alfred and his sons, and that Alfred and his sons are the chosen kings of all Britain. In the subsequent three chapters St Cuthbert's relationship to Alfred is compared with that of St Peter to King Edwin and of the Prophet Samuel to King David (chapter seventeen), Alfred's just character is celebrated (eighteen), and the king's donation, through his son Edward the Elder, of a golden thurible and two armlets, is recorded (nineteen).
  Chapter nineteen also describes how 
caption: Æthelstan presenting a book to St Cuthbert (934); Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS 183, fol. 1v
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2016:04:09 01:48:14", "Image ExifOffset": "162", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:04:09 01:29:00", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1347", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1898"}