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 monks did not take the direct road, and finally, in obedience, as it was supposed, to the saint's directions, settled at Dunholme or Durham. There Cuthbert's body was deposited first in a little chapel made of the branches of trees, then in a wooden church, and on 4 Sept. 998 was removed into Ealdhun's church, which was built of stone. When William the Conqueror ravaged the north in 1069 the monks of Durham fled for shelter to Lindisfarne, taking the body of their patron with them, but returned again the next year. In 1104 the body was transferred to the new church built by Bishop William, and the monks on opening the coffin found it still in a state of incorruption, and with it the head of King Oswald, slain in 642 (St. Cuthbert is usually represented as holding the king's head in his hand) and various other relics. In 1542 the magnificent shrine of the saint was defaced, and the body was buried below the floor of the church immediately beneath the spot where it had formerly lain. Finally, on 17 May 1826 the tomb was opened, apparently for no other reason than to gratify the curiosity of certain of the cathedral clergy. The bones of the saint were found, and the head of Oswald was with them. Pieces of Cuthbert's robes were taken out of the tomb, and it was further rifled of several relics, which are now exhibited by the dean and chapter in their library. A fuller account of these translations will be found in the Rev. J. Raine's article on St. Cuthbert in the ‘Dictionary of Christian Biography.’ That article, to which the present writer acknowledges his obligations, also contains an admirable bibliographical and critical account of the various works written on the saint's life and miracles.



CUTHBERT (d. 758), archbishop of Canterbury, said to have been of noble parentage, first appears as abbot of Liminge in Kent (Codex Dipl. lxxxvi;, Monasticon, i. 453). He was consecrated by Archbishop Nothelm to the see of Hereford, in succession to Wahlstod in 736 (, 659), and was thence translated to Canterbury in 740 (ib. 661; according to Florence of Worcester in 741, and Osbern in 742). He attests a grant made by Æthelberht, king of Kent, to Liminge in 741. He went to Rome for the pall, and is said to have received it from Gregory III, and therefore before 29 Nov. 741; but the statement is probably a mere matter of calculation (Councils and Eccl. Docs. iii. 340). In 742 Cuthbert sat with Æthelbald, king of Mercia, who at that time had supremacy over Kent, at a council held at Clovesho, in which the king confirmed the privilege granted by Wihtred, king of Kent about 700, to the churches and monasteries of his kingdom. Cuthbert was friendly with Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, and it was probably on account of information received from him that Boniface and the five German bishops wrote their letter to Æthelbald, exhorting him to reform his evil life (Epp. Bonif. ed. Migne, lxxxix. 757; Councils and Eccl. Docs. iii. 350;, Gesta Regum, i. c. 80). In September 747 Cuthbert, acting on the wishes of Pope Zachary, held a provincial synod at Clovesho, which was attended by eleven bishops and other clergy. The archbishop opened the synod by reading the pope's letters, and then the assembly made various canons concerning the monastic life and the duties of bishops and priests. Every priest was to learn and to explain to the people the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the offices of the Mass and Baptism in their own tongue; the festivals and fasts, the canonical hours, and litanies of the Roman church were to be observed in England, and the feasts of St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine were instituted. The effect of Cuthbert's synod was to bring the English church to a closer following of Rome (the acts of the synod are given at length in ‘Councils and Eccl. Docs.’ iii. 362–76, and in an abbreviated form in ‘Gesta Pontiff.’ i. c. 5). Cuthbert sent the proceedings by his deacon, Cyneberht, to Archbishop Boniface, and received a letter of thanks from him. In this letter Boniface gives a report of a council he had held, in which it was ordained that the German