{"id":787,"date":"2026-06-10T07:52:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T07:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/?p=787"},"modified":"2026-06-10T08:07:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T08:07:37","slug":"may-21st-2026-lands-of-st-cuthbert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/?p=787","title":{"rendered":"May 21st 2026 – Lands of St Cuthbert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Rannoch Daly<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Colm O\u2019Brien led discussion of Chapters 2-4 of the Historia de Sancto Cuthberto.[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/em> There are three surviving texts in Oxford, Cambridge and Lincoln\u2019s Inn but the Oxford text omits Chapters 1-9. All three were written a few centuries after the death of Cuthbert in 687 AD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 3 says that King Oswine [of Deira] (Cambridge text) or King Oswy [of Bernicia] (Lincoln\u2019s Inn text) gave the monastery of Old Melrose and twelve vills in the Bowmont valley to Abbot Boisil on condition that he pass them on to St Cuthbert. However, according to Bede, Oswine died in 651 AD, twelve days before Cuthbert joined the church at Old Melrose, and Oswy died in 670, several years before Cuthbert became either a bishop (685) or a saint (698)[2]<\/a>. The writers of HSC Chapter 3 seem to have been re-interpreting earlier history to \u2018justify\u2019 their present possession of these lands. Colm O\u2019Brien concluded that it had been \u2018an ecclesiastical heist\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 4 describes land south of the river Tweed between the east coast and the river Till but gets a bit fuzzy in the south-west referring to \u2018land that lies on both sides of the river Breamish up to the place where it rises\u2019, which is not a very precise boundary description. Incidentally, much of these lands formed the territories of Norhamshire, Islandshire and Bedlingtonshire which survived until a local government reorganisation in 1844.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 4 also describes land north of the Tweed lying as far as the Leader Water and the \u2018fluius Edre\u2019 but does not clarify whether the \u2018Edre\u2019 is the Blackadder or the Whiteadder. As a glance at the map reveals, this makes a considerable difference to the amount of land described. Did the writer not know, or was this a deliberately vague \u2018land grab\u2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of Old Melrose and of the rivers Breamish and \u2018Edre\u2019 it seems that the writers may have been trying to stretch the boundaries of history and of geography to their own advantage. These observations lead us to wonder; who were they trying to convince?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Meeting: Thursday 4 June<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topic: Can you tell your Uncial from your Insular Majuscule? A look at 8th<\/sup> century hand-writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All welcome \u2013 especially the inquisitive!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a>SOUTH, Ted Johnson 2002 Historia de Sancto Cuthberto<\/em> (Rochester, NY; Boydell and Brewer)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a>BEDE 1968 History of the English Church and People <\/em>Trans. Leo Sherley-Price (London; Penguin) (Books III.14,17 & IV.5,27,29,30)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a>RAINE, Rev. James, 1852 The History and Antiquities of North Durham <\/em>(Durham; John Bowyer Nichols)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rannoch Daly Colm O\u2019Brien led discussion of Chapters 2-4 of the Historia de Sancto Cuthberto.[1] There are three surviving texts in Oxford, Cambridge and Lincoln\u2019s Inn but the Oxford text omits Chapters 1-9. All three were written a few centuries after the death of Cuthbert in 687 AD. History Chapter 3 says that King […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bernicesblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=787"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":796,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions\/796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}