Rewriting History in the Cult of St Cuthbert from the Ninth to the Twelfth Centuries
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by St Andrews Research Repository REWRITING HISTORY IN THE CULT OF ST CUTHBERT FROM THE NINTH TO THE TWELFTH CENTURIES SALLY CRUMPLIN This thesis is submitted in requirement for the degree of Ph.D. at the University of St Andrews on 10 December 2004 Acknowledgements The research and writing of this thesis would not have been possible without the support and assistance of a great many people. I owe enormous thanks to Rob Bartlett, who supervised my thesis with quiet encouragement and patient guidance, and who is a source of immeasurable inspiration. The Department of Mediaeval History at St Andrews has been a vibrant, friendly and incredibly supportive environment in which to research and teach; in particular, I would like to thank Barbara Crawford, Julia Smith, Simon Taylor and Alex Woolf, all of whom have read various parts of this thesis, and offered a wealth of scholarly advice, and John Hudson who encouraged an M.Litt student to remain in academia, and who has provided constant moral support and a steady stream of employment opportunities. The postgraduate community at the University of St Andrews has been an active and congenial body in which to work; my thanks go to all postgraduates, past and present, in the Department of Mediaeval History. Finally, the departmental secretaries have been characteristically generous with their time, in particular Berta Wales who has offered support far beyond secretarial duties. Many scholars from outwith St Andrews have also contributed greatly to this thesis: especial mention must go to Julia Crick, who introduced me to medieval history and inspired me to pursue my research, and Bill Aird, Thomas Clancy and Joanna Huntington, all of whom have patiently and engagingly talked Cuthbert with me over the last few years. In a thesis so dependent on manuscript work, staff at the libraries of the University of St Andrews, Cambridge University, the Bodleian, Durham Cathedral Chapter, York Cathedral Chapter, Lincoln’s Inn, and the British Library have been very helpful. For financial support, enabling my visits to these libraries and to conferences, as well as providing the means for me to complete my research, I am very grateful to the Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust, the Gilchrist Educational Trust, the Royal Historical Society, the Ecclesiastical History Society and the School of History at St Andrews. I am especially indebted to those in St Andrews who have provided welcome distraction over mountains, canoes, tea, beer, and in the office, as well as academic support during my PhD. My thanks: to fellow medievalists Brian Briggs, Bill Campbell, Chris Craun, Sumi David, Sally Dixon-Smith, David Green, Iona McCleery, Simon Maclean, Nancy Mitton, Angela Montford, Sam Riches, Jason Roche, Lindsay Rudge and David Santiuste; to Angus Stewart and Kris Towson for map wizardry; to Caroline Proctor for vast amounts of tea and patience; to Peter Kushner for his endless enthusiasm, excellent meat feasts and even better North Sea swimming; Su Dutta and Anthony Richards for welcome (and frequent) refuge from the medieval world. I would also like to thank Simone, Norman and Daisy Macdougall, for walks, not-so-wee goldies, boundless hospitality and immense support. I am incredibly grateful to my family for their ongoing support, to Margaret and Rupert Drummond, to Colin Crumplin and Maria Lalić, and to Lucy Crumplin and Jon Kingsley- Williams. Finally, the word thanks does no justice to what I owe April Harper, who has been a constant source of happiness, laughter, food and mountain-walking. This thesis is dedicated to my Great Aunt, Bella Wilson, without whose immense financial, and most importantly moral support it would not have been possible. THESIS ABSTRACT Rewriting History in the Cult of St Cuthbert from the ninth to the twelfth centuries St Cuthbert’s literary cult was conceived in the late seventh and early eighth century with the production of three vitae, most importantly Bede’s prose Vita sancti Cuthberti. Over the ensuing centuries, the cult stimulated the production of a great wealth of hagiographic material: this thesis analyses the key Cuthbertine works that were written by his Church during a turbulent but also prosperous time, between the ninth century and the end of the twelfth. Each chapter takes as a specific focus one of these texts, using it as a basis for exploring a number of themes pertaining to the cult of St Cuthbert, wider developments in the cult of the saints, and the changing and variable uses of hagiographic and historical writing. The first chapter takes the Historia de sancto Cuthberto as an example of a text combining property records with miracles, and written episodically over a period spanning more than a century, establishing the thesis’ triumvirate of themes: the fluidity of texts and of the representation of saints, and the enduring power of the Cuthbertine Church. Chapter Two explores the multi-facetted identity that the Cuthbertine Church sought to convey for itself in Symeon of Durham’s Libellus de exordio. The third and fourth chapters focus on two highly flexible and manipulated texts, Capitula de miraculis sancti Cuthberti and Brevis relatio de sancto Cuthberto, which appear in manuscripts together, and often amalgamated: they are used to examine how a saint’s image could be changed, and to question our often static notion of a text’s identity. The final chapter takes Reginald’s Libellus de admirandis beati Cuthberti virtutibus to compare the miracle profiles of all the Cuthbertine texts, contextualising them with formative studies in the cult of saints such as the work of Sigal (1985) and Vauchez (1981). The thesis ends by suggesting that Cuthbert’s cult was still thriving at the end of the twelfth century, and continued to do so, in the semi- independent socio-political and cultural sphere of northern England and southern Scotland. The discussions in these chapters are supplemented by four appendices: a table giving detailed synopses and a thematic breakdown of Reginald’s Libellus, and a table categorising and comparing the miracles that appear in all these Cuthbertine works provide the basis for exploring Cuthbert’s changing miraculous persona; a map charting the locations pertinent to Reginald’s Libellus shows the vibrant geographical extent of Cuthbert’s cult; a table of manuscripts illustrates the various permutations into which these texts may be worked. CONTENTS Abbreviations i Introduction 1 Chapter 1 30 Rights, Possessions and Dynastic Connections: the Historia de sancto Cuthberto Chapter 2 74 Identity of the Church and Community: Libellus de exordio procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie Chapter 3 124 Renovating Bede’s prose Vita sancti Cuthberti: Capitula de miraculis et translationibus sancti Cuthberti Chapter 4 151 Manipulating Cuthbert, Manipulating Texts: Brevis relatio de sancto Cuthberto Chapter 5 Modernising Cuthbert: Reginald of Durham’s Libellus de admirandis beati Cuthberti virtutibus 181 Epilogue Cuthbert the Northern Saint 250 Appendix 1: Map to show the locations of miracles, provenance of 257 devotees and location of Cuthbert dedications in Reginald’s Libellus Appendix 2: Table comparing the miracle profiles of Cuthbertine texts 258 Appendix 3: Table showing the MSS permutations of De miraculis, 260 Brevis Relatio and VCB Appendix 4: Table of the miracle chapters in Reginald’s Libellus 261 Bibliography 281 ABBREVIATIONS AND David Rollason, Margaret Harvey and Michael Prestwich, eds., Anglo-Norman Durham (Woodbridge, 1994). AL Annales Lindisfarnenses et Dunelmensis, Wilhelm Levison, ed., ‘Die “Annales Lindifarnenses et Dunelmensis”: kritisch untersucht und neu herausgegeben’, Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 17 (1961), 447-506. ASC Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: a Revised Edition, D. Whitelock, David C. Douglas and Susie L. Tucker, eds. (London, 1961). CCC Gerald Bonner, David Rollason and Clare Stancliffe eds., St Cuthbert, his Cult and his Community to A.D. 1200 (Woodbridge, 1989). CMD Cronica monasterii Dunelmensis, reconstructed in H.H.E. Craster, ‘The Red Book of Durham’, EHR, 40 (1925), 504-35 DEC Durham Episcopal Charters, 1071-1152, H.S. Offler, ed., SS 179 (1968). De mir. Capitula de miraculis et translationibus sancti Cuthberti, Sym.Op., i. pp.229-61 and ii. pp.333-62. EHD Dorothy Whitelock ed., English Historical Documents, 2 vols. (London, 1955. 2nd ed. 1979). H.Reg. Historia Regum, Sym.Op., ii. pp.3-283; tr. in Joseph Stevenson, ed., The Historical Works of Simeon of Durham (London, 1855). HSC Historia de sancto Cuthberto, Ted Johnson South, ed. and tr., (Cambridge, 2002); Sym.Op. i. pp.196-214; John Hodgson Hinde, ed., Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera et Collectanea, i, SS, 51 (1867). LDE Symeon of Durham, Libellus de exordio procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie, D.Rollason ed. & tr., (Oxford, 2000). Libellus Reginald of Durham, Libellus de admirandis Beati Cuthberti virtutibus, J. Raine, ed., SS i. (1835). Libellus Godrici Reginald of Durham, Libellus de vita et miraculis S. Godrici, heremitae de Finchale, J. Stevenson, ed., SS 20 (1845). RS Rolls Series SS Surtees Society i Symeon David Rollason, ed., Symeon of Durham: Historian of Durham and the North (Stamford, 1998). Sym.Op. Symeonis monachi Opera Omnia, T. Arnold, ed., 2 vols., RS 75 (1882-5) VCB Vita sancti Cuthberti prosaica, B. Colgrave, ed. & tr., Two Lives of St Cuthbert (Cambridge, 1940), pp.142-307. ii INTRODUCTION Part I Towards the end of the twelfth century, the Church of St Cuthbert at Durham produced a copy of Bede’s prose Vita sancti Cuthberti, now British Library MS Yates Thompson 26.1 This is just one of 38 extant manuscripts containing that Vita, or at least part of it; there is convincing evidence to suggest that to this total may be added nearly 30 manuscripts that are now lost.2 But Yates Thompson 26 is outstanding as a rare, beautifully illuminated Vita, opulently decorated with gold and rich colours; it is singled out here on account of these unique features, to demonstrate two key points.