Vita Sancti Cuthberti (anonymous)
Encyclopedia
The Vita Sancti Cuthberti (English: "Life of Saint Cuthbert") is a prose hagiography
from early medieval Northumbria
. It is probably the earliest extant saint's life from Anglo-Saxon England, and is an account of the life and miracle
s of Cuthbert
(died 687), a Bernicia
n hermit-monk who became bishop of Lindisfarne. Surviving in eight manuscript
s from Continental Europe
, it was not as well read in the Middle Ages
as the prose version by Bede
. It was however Bede's main source for his two dedicated works on Cuthbert, the "Metrical Life" and the "Prose Life".
It was completed soon after the translation of Cuthbert's body in 698, at some point between 699 and 705. Compiled from oral sources available in Bernicia at the time of its composition, the Vita nonetheless utilized previous Christian writing from the Continent, particularly Gregory the Great's Dialogi and Sulpicius Severus
' Vita Sancti Martini, as powerful influences. The name of the author is not known, though he was a monk of the monastery
of Lindisfarne
. It is often called the Anonymous Life to distinguish it from the "Prose Life" and the "Metrical Life" of Bede. There are four modern editions of the Anonymous Life, the latest by historian Bertram Colgrave.
"), the Anonymous Life is the first piece of Northumbrian Latin writing and the earliest piece of English Latin hagiography. This is an honour sometimes given to the anonymous Vita of Gregory the Great written at Whitby
, though the date of 710 attributed to the latter by historian R. C. Love (in contrast to a date between 680 and 704) makes it later than the Anonymous Life of Cuthbert.
The work is an account of the life and miracles miracles of Cuthbert
, sometime Melrose
monk, hermit
of Farne and bishop of Lindisfarne who died on 20 March 687
. In common with Irish saints of the period, the Anonymous Life depicts the Bernicia
n saint in the mold of Martin
, bishop of Tours (died 397), who like Cuthbert successfully combined the role of hermit and bishop. The Anonymous Life appears to have been particularly influenced by the example of Martin in its portrayal of Cuthbert's pastoral and healing activities.
It was commissioned by Bishop Eadfrith
(died 721), the bishop famous for the Lindisfarne Gospels
who also commissioned Bede's Prose Life of the saint. The Anonymous Life was organised into four books; though this was not common in the literature of the day, it followed the organization of the metrical Vita Sancti Martini of Venantius Fortunatus
, Gregory of Tours
' De Virtutibus Sancti Martini and the Dialogi of Gregory the Great (containing an account of the life of Benedict of Nursia
). This may be an indication that the author regarded Cuthbert as a saint of stature comparable with Benedict and Martin.
The Anonymous Life's biggest literary influence was the Christian Scriptures, though it also borrowed some of the stories contained in Gregory's Dialogi, Sulpicius Severus
' Vita Sancti Martini and the Vita Sancti Antonii, Evagrius
' Latin translation of Athanasius' biography of Anthony the Great
. This influence extends to long verbatim extracts, such as those from the Sulpicius Severus at book i chapter 2 and book iv chapter 1. The author was also familiar with Victor of Aquitaine
's Epistola ad Hilarium and the Actus Silvestri. The primary source used however was the oral tradition of the Lindisfarne monks. Many of the men the author consulted were unnamed priests, deacons and other men respected in their communities, though some are named directly, namely Ælfflaed
, Æthilwald, Plecgils, Tydi and Walhstod.
s set after Cuthbert's translation in 698 make 699 the earliest possible date for a completed text. As the text also says that King Aldfrith
"is now reigning peacefully", it must have been written before the latter's death in 705.
The author of the Life of St Cuthbert has not been identified. Heinrich Hahn in 1883 put a case for Herefrith, the abbot
of Lindisfarne mentioned as a source by Bede in his own Vita of the saint. Bertram Colgrave, the Anonymous Life's most recent editor, has roundly rejected Hahn's argument. While offering Baldhelm and Cynemund (two other sources of Bede) as better candidates, Colgrave did not endorse either and declared that "it must always be a matter of conjecture". From the text itself, and from the writings of Bede, it can be deduced that it was written by a monk of Lindisfarne
. Bede, in his introduction to his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
, is almost certainly referring to this work when he wrote that
s. Though possibly written by many authors, the first person singular is used often enough to suggest only one major author.
, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 15817 The manuscript was probably compiled at Salzburg
under Bishop Adalram
. It occupies folios 100v-119v, following two works of Augustine of Hippo (De pastoribus/Sermo xlvii, 1–53, and De Ovibus, 53r to 99v), and preceding Isidore of Seville
's Synonyma. The copy contains many scribal errors, but also a number of readings superior to other versions.
Of the others, the oldest, probably written at the Abbey of St Bertin
around c. 900, is extant in Folios 67b to 83b of St Omer 267. This manuscript contains works of saints Cyprian
, Jerome
, and Augustine, as well as hymn lyrics and music dedicated to Martin of Tours and Bertin of St Omer
. St Omer 267 is still regarded as the best of all the available manuscripts in terms of accuracy, as well as age. Another St Omer manuscript, St Omer 715 preserves the Anonymous Life, occupying folios 164 to 168b. Here the Anonymous Life forms part of a larger legendary copied in the 12th century, with fifty-seven surviving vitae covering saints with feast days in the first three months of the year (January, February and March).
Missing nine chapters, the Anonymous Life is preserved in a late 10th-century manuscript from the abbey of St Vaast, Arras
, Arras 812 (1029). It occupies folios 1 to 26b, and is out of order towards the end. It is followed in the manuscript by the Vita Sancti Guthlaci ("Life of Saint Guthlac
"), the Vita Sancti Dunstani ("Life of Saint Dunstan") and the Vita Sancti Filiberti ("Life of Saint Filibert
", abbot of Jumièges), and originally contained another hagiography of a Jumièges abbot, that of Aichard of Jumièges.
Three British Museum manuscript volumes, Harleian MS 2800–2802, contain a very large legendary from Arnstein Abbey
in the diocese of Trier (now Limburg), and the Anonymous Life is found on Harleian MS 2800 folios 248 to 251b. The same legendary is in three 13th-century Brussels
volumes, Royal Library MSS 98–100, 206, and 207–208. The Anonymous Life is present in MS 207–208 folios 158 to 163. In Trier, in another legendary composed around 1235 probably at the Abbey of St Maximin
, the anonymous life can be found: the Trier, Public Library 1151, folios 135 to 142. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale
, Fonds Latin 5289, written in the 14th century, contains the last extant version of the Anonymous Life. It has been copied out of order, beginning on folio 55b, continuing on folios 49b to 52b, and ending on 56 to 58b.
Historian Bertram Colgrave believed that Harleian 2800 and Brussels MS 207–208 have a common origin, a 12th century legendary from the diocese of Trier. Both manuscripts share common features, such as the omission of place-names and personal names (e.g. Plecgils). Colgrave likewise attributed a common parent manuscript to Trier, Public Library 1151 and Paris Bibliothèque Nationale Fonds Latin 5289, as he did to Arras 812 (1029) and the two St Omer manuscripts. The Salzburg manuscript may be descended from an ancestor predating the common ancestor of the former and the latter set.
The Bollandist version was based on St Omer 267 and Trier Public Library 1151. Giles' edition was a reprint of the Bollandist version. Stevenson's version too was a reprint of the Bollandist version, with some corrections brought in. Colgrave's edition was new, but like the Bollandist version is primarily based on St Omer 267.
, who apparently heard it from Cuthbert's own mouth (though Cuthbert confessed that the significance was unknown to him at the time). Still an eight year-old, Cuthbert becomes lame and is visited by an angel who instructs him on a cure (chapter four).
In chapter five Cuthbert, while still a youth tending to sheep in Lauderdale
, has a vision of a bishop being borne to heaven; subsequently it is discovered that Aidan
, bishop of Lindisfarne, had died on the same hour as Cuthbert's vision. Far to the south, a young Cuthbert is travelling during the winter and crosses the river Wear
at Chester-le-Street
, taking shelter in one of the empty summer dwellings; suffering from lack of food, his horse pulls down warm bread and meat from the roof of the dwelling (chapter six). Book i ends with the anonymous author making mention of everal other miracles of Cuthbert's youth without going into detail: how God provided food for him in camp with his army against an enemy, how he saw the soul of a reeve
taken up to the sky, his defeat of some demons, and his cure of the insane (chapter seven).
, Cuthbert is given the job of greeting guests; having washed and rubbed the feet of one guest, Cuthbert seeks to feed the visitor, finds he has no bread in the guesthouse and so goes to the monastery; but because the bread there is still baking, he has to return empty handed; when Cuthbert returns the visitor—an angel
in disguise—has vanished leaving three warm loaves. Cuthert, having been invited to the monastery of Coldingham
by Abbess Æbbe, is followed by a cleric to the beach where he keeps one of his night-time vigil
s; the cleric sees two sea-animals emerge from the waves to clean and rub Cuthbert's feet; the author of the Anonymous Life was told this by a priest of Melrose called Plecgils (chapter three). In the following chapter Cuthbert and two brothers, having sailed to the land of the Picts
, become hungry in the territory of the Niuduera (probably in eastern Fife
) waiting for the sea to calm in order to resume their voyage; their hunger is relieved however when three slices of prepared dolphin
meat is found on the beach, enough to feed them for three days; the story was reported to the author by a priest named Tydi, still living as the work was authored (chapter four).
According to Tydi too, Cuthbert and a boy were walking along the river Teviot
teaching and baptizing the mountain people, when an eagle
came from the sky and landed by the river; the boy ran towards the eagle and found a fish; after giving half of it to the eagle, the party fed themselves with the other half (chapter five). On the same trip the Devil created an illusion of a burning house, tricking some of the men despite Cuthbert's warning; the men, realising their mistake in seeking to extinguish the flames, asked and were given Cuthbert's forgiveness
. Cuthbert is said in chapter seven to have saved from flame
s the house of his childhood nanny, a nun and widow named Kewswith of Hruringaham through prayer, while in chapter eight he drives out a demon from the wife of a religious man named Hildmer, curing her illness.
of Melrose for some time performing other miracles (omitted by the author), Cuthbert departs for Lindisfarne at the instigation of Bishop Eata; designing a monastic rule for the monks there, Cuthbert seeks a more solidary existence on the island of Farne, defeats the demons there and begins to build a residence (chapter one). Cuthbert moves a huge rock for the construction of his building (chapter two), and orders his men to dig up some stony ground created an open spring
into being (chapter three). The waves provide Cuthbert with the 12-foot beam he needs for the house after his men are unable to obtain one (chapter four).
When raven
s, despite being warned, disturb the roof of the shelter built for Cuthbert's servants, the saint banishes them from the island in the name of Jesus; after three days one raven returns seeking pardon
and, having been forgiven by Cuthbert, both ravens provide the saint with enough pig
lard
to grease everyone's boots for a whole year (chapter five). Cuthbert is summoned to Coquet Island
by the sister of King Ecgfrith, the royal abbess Ælfflaed
; following her entreaties for information about the her brother's fate, Cuthbert prophesizes the king's coming death and his succession by Aldfrith, monk of Iona
; Cuthbert agrees to become bishop within two years (chapter six). In chapter seven, the author closes book iii with a summary of Cuthbert's virtues and achievements.
from a village called Bedesfeld, a miracle witnessed and reported by Æthilwald, then a priest but in the author's day prior of Melrose, whose relation the maiden was (chapter four). He cures a paralytic boy brought to him in the district of Ahse in the mountains between Hexham
and Carlise (chapter five). In a miracle related to the author by Tydi, Cuthbert saves an infant and the infant's family from the plague
at a village named Medilwong. Cuthbert is the savior of a servant Sibba, a Tweedside gesith, is retold thanks to the account provided by another former servant of Sibba's who is now a monk at Lindisfarne (chapter seven).
With King Ecgfrith
off fighting the Picts, Cuthbert visits the queen at Carlise; as Cuthbert is conducted by Waga, the city's reeve, he announces that the war is over and that the Ecgfrith has been slain; it was later revealed that Cuthbert's assertion happened at the same hour as the king's death in battle (chapter eight). At Carlisle Cuthbert meets an anchorite named Hereberht,who asks to die at the same day and hour as Cuthbert; the request is granted, and subsequently both go to heaven on the same hour of the same night (chapter nine). Cuthbert, dining at Ovington
with abbess Ælfflæd, predicts the death of one of Ælfflæd's servants, Hadwald (chapter ten). The bishop resigns his bishopric after an episcopate of two years and returns to Farne (chapter eleven). Miracles continue as Cuthbert cures a ("still surviving") brother named Walhstod from dysentery
. Cuthbert dies on Farne, and his body was washed and dressed before being shipped to Lindisdfarne (chapter thirteen).
After eleven years, Cuthbert's successor Bishop Eadberht orders the reopening of Cuthbert's coffin; Cuthbert's body is found to be incorrupt, i.e. having not decayed any noticeable way (chapter fourteen). Miracles begin happening at Cuthbert's coffin, prayers and holy water
from the trench Cuthbert's body had been washed in curing a boy from demonic possession
(fifteen). A monk from the household of Bishop Willbrord
, visiting Lindisfarne, was taken by serious illness but was cured after praying at Cuthbert's coffin (chapter sixteen). Likewise, a paralytic youth brought to Lindisfarne by another monastery for attention from Lindisfarne medics, is cured only after wearing the shoes once worn by Cuthbert (chapter seventeen). The author ends the Anonymous Life of Cuthbert declaring that he has omitted many other miracles in order to avoid overburdening his reader (chapter eighteen).
Bede adds some details in his own accounts but, in the words of historian Antonia Gransden
"most of his additions are verbal and hagiographical trrimmings". While following the Anonymous Life's order for most of the Prose Life, Bede considerably alters the order of miracles found in book iv. The Anonymous Life suggests that Cuthbert began his career at Ripon, whereas Bede shows that it was in fact Melrose. Historian Clare Stancliffe suggested that the Anonymous Life made Ripon Cuthbert's place of tonsure
because Melrose may have been tarnished in some eyes due to its use of Irish-style tonsure (in contrast to the Petrine
tonsure of Ripon).
Bede adds a longer account of Cuthbert's death supplied to him by abbot Herefrith. Bede also expands the story of Hereberht, adding the name of Hereberht's abode as Derwentwater. Otherwise Bede omitted many of the Old English proper names supplied in the Anonymous Life. Bede adds stories about the death of Boisil
, a goose on Farne, the death of Bishop Eadberht, and provides information about Cuthbert's successors on Farne.
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
from early medieval Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
. It is probably the earliest extant saint's life from Anglo-Saxon England, and is an account of the life and miracle
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
s of Cuthbert
Cuthbert
- People :*Cuthbert , Anglo-Saxon saint, bishop, monk and hermit*Cuthbert of Canterbury , Archbishop of Canterbury*Cuthbert Bardsley , Anglican Bishop of Coventry*Cuthbert Brodrick , British architect...
(died 687), a Bernicia
Bernicia
Bernicia was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England....
n hermit-monk who became bishop of Lindisfarne. Surviving in eight manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s from Continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
, it was not as well read in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
as the prose version by Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
. It was however Bede's main source for his two dedicated works on Cuthbert, the "Metrical Life" and the "Prose Life".
It was completed soon after the translation of Cuthbert's body in 698, at some point between 699 and 705. Compiled from oral sources available in Bernicia at the time of its composition, the Vita nonetheless utilized previous Christian writing from the Continent, particularly Gregory the Great's Dialogi and Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania. He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours.-Life:...
' Vita Sancti Martini, as powerful influences. The name of the author is not known, though he was a monk of the monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
. It is often called the Anonymous Life to distinguish it from the "Prose Life" and the "Metrical Life" of Bede. There are four modern editions of the Anonymous Life, the latest by historian Bertram Colgrave.
Background and sources
Written just after or possibly contemporarily with Adomnán's Vita Sancti Columbae ("Life of Saint ColumbaColumba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
"), the Anonymous Life is the first piece of Northumbrian Latin writing and the earliest piece of English Latin hagiography. This is an honour sometimes given to the anonymous Vita of Gregory the Great written at Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
, though the date of 710 attributed to the latter by historian R. C. Love (in contrast to a date between 680 and 704) makes it later than the Anonymous Life of Cuthbert.
The work is an account of the life and miracles miracles of Cuthbert
Cuthbert
- People :*Cuthbert , Anglo-Saxon saint, bishop, monk and hermit*Cuthbert of Canterbury , Archbishop of Canterbury*Cuthbert Bardsley , Anglican Bishop of Coventry*Cuthbert Brodrick , British architect...
, sometime Melrose
Melrose
-Scotland:* Melrose, Scotland , a town in the Scottish Borders** Melrose Abbey, ruined monastery** Melrose RFC, rugby club** Melrose Golf Club-Australia:* Melrose, South Australia, a town in the southern Flinders Ranges...
monk, hermit
Hermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
of Farne and bishop of Lindisfarne who died on 20 March 687
687
Year 687 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 687 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* King Theuderic III of Neustria is defeated...
. In common with Irish saints of the period, the Anonymous Life depicts the Bernicia
Bernicia
Bernicia was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England....
n saint in the mold of Martin
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...
, bishop of Tours (died 397), who like Cuthbert successfully combined the role of hermit and bishop. The Anonymous Life appears to have been particularly influenced by the example of Martin in its portrayal of Cuthbert's pastoral and healing activities.
It was commissioned by Bishop Eadfrith
Eadfrith of Lindisfarne
Eadfrith of Lindisfarne , also known as Saint Eadfrith, was Bishop of Lindisfarne, probably from 698 onwards. By the twelfth century it was believed that Eadfrith succeeded Eadberht and nothing in the surviving records contradicts this belief...
(died 721), the bishop famous for the Lindisfarne Gospels
Lindisfarne Gospels
The Lindisfarne Gospels is an illuminated Latin manuscript of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the British Library...
who also commissioned Bede's Prose Life of the saint. The Anonymous Life was organised into four books; though this was not common in the literature of the day, it followed the organization of the metrical Vita Sancti Martini of Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus was a Latin poet and hymnodist in the Merovingian Court, and a Bishop of the early Catholic Church. He was never canonised but was venerated as Saint Venantius Fortunatus during the Middle Ages.-Life:Venantius Fortunatus was born between 530 and 540 A.D....
, Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
' De Virtutibus Sancti Martini and the Dialogi of Gregory the Great (containing an account of the life of Benedict of Nursia
Benedict of Nursia
Saint Benedict of Nursia is a Christian saint, honored by the Roman Catholic Church as the patron saint of Europe and students.Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, about to the east of Rome, before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. There is no...
). This may be an indication that the author regarded Cuthbert as a saint of stature comparable with Benedict and Martin.
The Anonymous Life's biggest literary influence was the Christian Scriptures, though it also borrowed some of the stories contained in Gregory's Dialogi, Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania. He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours.-Life:...
' Vita Sancti Martini and the Vita Sancti Antonii, Evagrius
Evagrius of Antioch
Evagrius of Antioch was a claimant to the See of Antioch from 388 to 392. He succeeded Paulinus and had the support of the Eustathian party, and was a rival to Flavian during the so-called Meletian schism.- History :...
' Latin translation of Athanasius' biography of Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
. This influence extends to long verbatim extracts, such as those from the Sulpicius Severus at book i chapter 2 and book iv chapter 1. The author was also familiar with Victor of Aquitaine
Victorius of Aquitaine
Victorius of Aquitaine, a countryman of Prosper of Aquitaine and also working in Rome, produced in 457 an Easter Cycle, which was based on the consular list provided by Prosper's Chronicle. This dependency caused scholars to think that Prosper had been working on his own Easter Annals for quite...
's Epistola ad Hilarium and the Actus Silvestri. The primary source used however was the oral tradition of the Lindisfarne monks. Many of the men the author consulted were unnamed priests, deacons and other men respected in their communities, though some are named directly, namely Ælfflaed
Ælfflæd of Whitby
Saint Ælfflæd was the daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria and Eanflæd. She was abbess of Whitby Abbey from the death of her kinswoman Hilda in 680, first jointly with her mother, then alone.Most of Ælfflæd's life was spent as a nun...
, Æthilwald, Plecgils, Tydi and Walhstod.
Date and authorship
The Anonymous Life was complete somewhere between 699 and 705. The postumous miracleMiracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
s set after Cuthbert's translation in 698 make 699 the earliest possible date for a completed text. As the text also says that King Aldfrith
Aldfrith of Northumbria
Aldfrith sometimes Aldfrid, Aldfridus , or Flann Fína mac Ossu , was king of Northumbria from 685 until his death. He is described by early writers such as Bede, Alcuin and Stephen of Ripon as a man of great learning, and some of his works, as well as letters written to him, survive...
"is now reigning peacefully", it must have been written before the latter's death in 705.
The author of the Life of St Cuthbert has not been identified. Heinrich Hahn in 1883 put a case for Herefrith, the abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
of Lindisfarne mentioned as a source by Bede in his own Vita of the saint. Bertram Colgrave, the Anonymous Life's most recent editor, has roundly rejected Hahn's argument. While offering Baldhelm and Cynemund (two other sources of Bede) as better candidates, Colgrave did not endorse either and declared that "it must always be a matter of conjecture". From the text itself, and from the writings of Bede, it can be deduced that it was written by a monk of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
. Bede, in his introduction to his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a work in Latin by Bede on the history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity.It is considered to be one of the most important original references on...
, is almost certainly referring to this work when he wrote that
What I have written concerning the most holy father and bishop Cuthbert, whether in this volume or in my little book concerning his acts, I took in part from what I have previously found written about him by the brethren of Lindisfarne.Throughout the Anonymous Life the author refers to Lindisfarne and its monastery with possessive pronoun
Possessive pronoun
A possessive pronoun is a part of speech that substitutes for a noun phrase that begins with a possessive determiner . For example, in the sentence These glasses are mine, not yours, the words mine and yours are possessive pronouns and stand for my glasses and your glasses, respectively...
s. Though possibly written by many authors, the first person singular is used often enough to suggest only one major author.
Manuscripts
The Anonymous Life is extant in eight manuscripts. The oldest, according to historian Donald Bullough, lies in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 15817 The manuscript was probably compiled at Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
under Bishop Adalram
Adalram
Adalram was an early 8th-century prelate active in Bavaria. He is known to have been archdeacon of the Salzburg diocese c. 819, and in 821 succeeded Arno as Archbishop of Salzburg...
. It occupies folios 100v-119v, following two works of Augustine of Hippo (De pastoribus/Sermo xlvii, 1–53, and De Ovibus, 53r to 99v), and preceding Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
's Synonyma. The copy contains many scribal errors, but also a number of readings superior to other versions.
Of the others, the oldest, probably written at the Abbey of St Bertin
Abbey of Saint Bertin
The Abbey of St. Bertin was a Benedictine abbey in Saint-Omer, France, now in ruins and open to the public...
around c. 900, is extant in Folios 67b to 83b of St Omer 267. This manuscript contains works of saints Cyprian
Cyprian
Cyprian was bishop of Carthage and an important Early Christian writer, many of whose Latin works are extant. He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received a classical education...
, Jerome
Jerome
Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
, and Augustine, as well as hymn lyrics and music dedicated to Martin of Tours and Bertin of St Omer
Bertin
St. Bertin is a saint and abbot of Saint-Omer.He was born near Coutances. At an early age he entered the monastery of Luxeuil in France where, under the austere rule of St. Columbanus, he prepared himself for his future missionary career...
. St Omer 267 is still regarded as the best of all the available manuscripts in terms of accuracy, as well as age. Another St Omer manuscript, St Omer 715 preserves the Anonymous Life, occupying folios 164 to 168b. Here the Anonymous Life forms part of a larger legendary copied in the 12th century, with fifty-seven surviving vitae covering saints with feast days in the first three months of the year (January, February and March).
Missing nine chapters, the Anonymous Life is preserved in a late 10th-century manuscript from the abbey of St Vaast, Arras
Arras
Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
, Arras 812 (1029). It occupies folios 1 to 26b, and is out of order towards the end. It is followed in the manuscript by the Vita Sancti Guthlaci ("Life of Saint Guthlac
Saint Guthlac
Saint Guthlac of Crowland was a Christian saint from Lincolnshire in England. He is particularly venerated in the Fens of eastern England.-Life:...
"), the Vita Sancti Dunstani ("Life of Saint Dunstan") and the Vita Sancti Filiberti ("Life of Saint Filibert
Philibert of Jumièges
Saint Philibert of Jumièges was an abbot and monastic founder, particularly associated with Jumièges Abbey.He was born in Gascony as the only son of a Vic or Vic-Jour based courtier of Dagobert I and was educated by Saint Ouen...
", abbot of Jumièges), and originally contained another hagiography of a Jumièges abbot, that of Aichard of Jumièges.
Three British Museum manuscript volumes, Harleian MS 2800–2802, contain a very large legendary from Arnstein Abbey
Arnstein Abbey
Arnstein Abbey is a former Premonstratensian abbey on the Lahn River, south of present-day Obernhof near Nassau, Germany...
in the diocese of Trier (now Limburg), and the Anonymous Life is found on Harleian MS 2800 folios 248 to 251b. The same legendary is in three 13th-century Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
volumes, Royal Library MSS 98–100, 206, and 207–208. The Anonymous Life is present in MS 207–208 folios 158 to 163. In Trier, in another legendary composed around 1235 probably at the Abbey of St Maximin
St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier
St. Maximin's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Trier in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-History:The abbey, traditionally considered one of the oldest monasteries in western Europe, was held to have been founded by Saint Maximin of Trier in the 4th century. Maximin St. Maximin's Abbey was a...
, the anonymous life can be found: the Trier, Public Library 1151, folios 135 to 142. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
, Fonds Latin 5289, written in the 14th century, contains the last extant version of the Anonymous Life. It has been copied out of order, beginning on folio 55b, continuing on folios 49b to 52b, and ending on 56 to 58b.
Historian Bertram Colgrave believed that Harleian 2800 and Brussels MS 207–208 have a common origin, a 12th century legendary from the diocese of Trier. Both manuscripts share common features, such as the omission of place-names and personal names (e.g. Plecgils). Colgrave likewise attributed a common parent manuscript to Trier, Public Library 1151 and Paris Bibliothèque Nationale Fonds Latin 5289, as he did to Arras 812 (1029) and the two St Omer manuscripts. The Salzburg manuscript may be descended from an ancestor predating the common ancestor of the former and the latter set.
Modern editions
The Anonymous Life has been published four times in the modern era:- The Bollandists, Acta Sanctorum MartiiActa SanctorumActa Sanctorum is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. It begins with two January volumes, published in 1643, and ended with the Propylaeum to...
, vol. iii, (Antwerp, 1668), pp. 117–24 - J. A. Giles, Venerabilis Bedae Opera, vol. vi, (London, 1843), pp. 357–82
- Joseph StevensonJoseph StevensonJoseph Stevenson was an English Catholic archivist.-Biography:Though his parents were Presbyterians, he was educated at University College, Durham under the historian, James Raine, and afterwards at the University of Glasgow...
, Venerabilis Bedae Opera Historica Minora, (English Historical Society, London, 1851), pp. 259–84 - Bertram Colgrave, Two Lives of Saint Cuthbert: A Life by an Anonymous Monk of Lindisfarne and Bede's Prose Life, (Cambridge, 1940)
The Bollandist version was based on St Omer 267 and Trier Public Library 1151. Giles' edition was a reprint of the Bollandist version. Stevenson's version too was a reprint of the Bollandist version, with some corrections brought in. Colgrave's edition was new, but like the Bollandist version is primarily based on St Omer 267.
Synopsis
The Anonymous Life consists of 4 books, book i relating Cuthbert's youth, book ii his early years serving God, book iii his time as a hermit on Farne, and book iv his time as bishop.Book i
Chapters one and two of book i consist of the prologue and preface, with the author indicating that the work was commissioned by Bishop Eadfrith. In chapter three the eight year-old Cuthbert plays with other children, showing off his physical abilities, until a three year-old playmate, addressing him as "bishop and priest", chides him for lack of humility; this miracle the author claimed to have learned from Bishop TummaTrumwine of Abercorn
Trumwine was the only ever Bishop of the Northumbrian see of the Picts, based at Abercorn.Although his previous background is unknown, in 681, during the reign of King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, Trumwine was appointed "Bishop of the Picts" by Theodore of Tarsus, then Archbishop of Canterbury...
, who apparently heard it from Cuthbert's own mouth (though Cuthbert confessed that the significance was unknown to him at the time). Still an eight year-old, Cuthbert becomes lame and is visited by an angel who instructs him on a cure (chapter four).
In chapter five Cuthbert, while still a youth tending to sheep in Lauderdale
Lauderdale
Lauderdale, denoting "dale of the river Leader", is the dale and region around that river in south-eastern Scotland.It can also refer to:-People:*Earls of Lauderdale*Lord Lauderdale, member of The Cabal of Charles II of England-Place names:Australia...
, has a vision of a bishop being borne to heaven; subsequently it is discovered that Aidan
Aidan of Lindisfarne
Known as Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne, Aidan the Apostle of Northumbria , was the founder and first bishop of the monastery on the island of Lindisfarne in England. A Christian missionary, he is credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria. Aidan is the Anglicised form of the original Old...
, bishop of Lindisfarne, had died on the same hour as Cuthbert's vision. Far to the south, a young Cuthbert is travelling during the winter and crosses the river Wear
River Wear
The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...
at Chester-le-Street
Chester-le-Street
Chester-le-Street is a town in County Durham, England. It has a history going back to Roman times when it was called Concangis. The town is located south of Newcastle upon Tyne and west of Sunderland on the River Wear...
, taking shelter in one of the empty summer dwellings; suffering from lack of food, his horse pulls down warm bread and meat from the roof of the dwelling (chapter six). Book i ends with the anonymous author making mention of everal other miracles of Cuthbert's youth without going into detail: how God provided food for him in camp with his army against an enemy, how he saw the soul of a reeve
Reeve (England)
Originally in Anglo-Saxon England the reeve was a senior official with local responsibilities under the Crown e.g. as the chief magistrate of a town or district...
taken up to the sky, his defeat of some demons, and his cure of the insane (chapter seven).
Book ii
In book ii Cuthbert becomes a monk (chapter one). While still a neophyte at the monastery of RiponRipon
Ripon is a cathedral city, market town and successor parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located at the confluence of two streams of the River Ure in the form of the Laver and Skell. The city is noted for its main feature the Ripon Cathedral which is architecturally...
, Cuthbert is given the job of greeting guests; having washed and rubbed the feet of one guest, Cuthbert seeks to feed the visitor, finds he has no bread in the guesthouse and so goes to the monastery; but because the bread there is still baking, he has to return empty handed; when Cuthbert returns the visitor—an angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
in disguise—has vanished leaving three warm loaves. Cuthert, having been invited to the monastery of Coldingham
Coldingham
Coldingham is a historic village in Berwickshire, Scottish Borders, on Scotland's southeast coastline, north of Eyemouth.As early as AD 660, Coldingham was the site of a religious establishment of high order, when it is recorded that Etheldreda, the queen of Egfrid, became a nun at the Abbey of...
by Abbess Æbbe, is followed by a cleric to the beach where he keeps one of his night-time vigil
Vigil
A vigil is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance...
s; the cleric sees two sea-animals emerge from the waves to clean and rub Cuthbert's feet; the author of the Anonymous Life was told this by a priest of Melrose called Plecgils (chapter three). In the following chapter Cuthbert and two brothers, having sailed to the land of the Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
, become hungry in the territory of the Niuduera (probably in eastern Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
) waiting for the sea to calm in order to resume their voyage; their hunger is relieved however when three slices of prepared dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
meat is found on the beach, enough to feed them for three days; the story was reported to the author by a priest named Tydi, still living as the work was authored (chapter four).
According to Tydi too, Cuthbert and a boy were walking along the river Teviot
River Teviot
The River Teviot, or Teviot Water, is a river of the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and a tributary of the River Tweed.It rises in the western foothills of Comb Hill on the border of Dumfries and Galloway...
teaching and baptizing the mountain people, when an eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
came from the sky and landed by the river; the boy ran towards the eagle and found a fish; after giving half of it to the eagle, the party fed themselves with the other half (chapter five). On the same trip the Devil created an illusion of a burning house, tricking some of the men despite Cuthbert's warning; the men, realising their mistake in seeking to extinguish the flames, asked and were given Cuthbert's forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all...
. Cuthbert is said in chapter seven to have saved from flame
Flame
A flame is the visible , gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic reaction taking place in a thin zone...
s the house of his childhood nanny, a nun and widow named Kewswith of Hruringaham through prayer, while in chapter eight he drives out a demon from the wife of a religious man named Hildmer, curing her illness.
Book iii
Cuthbert's time as an island hermit is described in book iii. Having served as priorPrior
Prior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...
of Melrose for some time performing other miracles (omitted by the author), Cuthbert departs for Lindisfarne at the instigation of Bishop Eata; designing a monastic rule for the monks there, Cuthbert seeks a more solidary existence on the island of Farne, defeats the demons there and begins to build a residence (chapter one). Cuthbert moves a huge rock for the construction of his building (chapter two), and orders his men to dig up some stony ground created an open spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
into being (chapter three). The waves provide Cuthbert with the 12-foot beam he needs for the house after his men are unable to obtain one (chapter four).
When raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
s, despite being warned, disturb the roof of the shelter built for Cuthbert's servants, the saint banishes them from the island in the name of Jesus; after three days one raven returns seeking pardon
Pardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
and, having been forgiven by Cuthbert, both ravens provide the saint with enough pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
lard
Lard
Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter. Its use in contemporary cuisine has diminished because of health concerns posed by its saturated-fat content and its often negative...
to grease everyone's boots for a whole year (chapter five). Cuthbert is summoned to Coquet Island
Coquet Island, England
Coquet Island is a small island of about , situated off Amble on the Northumberland coast, northeast England.The Island is owned by the Duke of Northumberland...
by the sister of King Ecgfrith, the royal abbess Ælfflaed
Ælfflæd of Whitby
Saint Ælfflæd was the daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria and Eanflæd. She was abbess of Whitby Abbey from the death of her kinswoman Hilda in 680, first jointly with her mother, then alone.Most of Ælfflæd's life was spent as a nun...
; following her entreaties for information about the her brother's fate, Cuthbert prophesizes the king's coming death and his succession by Aldfrith, monk of Iona
Iona
Iona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Irish monasticism for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination and a place for retreats...
; Cuthbert agrees to become bishop within two years (chapter six). In chapter seven, the author closes book iii with a summary of Cuthbert's virtues and achievements.
Book iv
Cuthbert becomes bishop of Lindisfarne at the beginning of book iv, accepting the position only with reluctance and continuing his monastic style of life (chapters one and two). A number of healing miracles are subsequently recounted. Cuthbert cures the wife of one of Aldfrith's men, a gesith (comes) named Hemma from a district name Kintis (chapter three). He cures a maidenMaiden
Maiden or Maidens may refer to:* A female virgin; see virginity* Maiden name, the family name carried by a woman before marriage; see married and maiden names* Maiden, the first of the three aspects of the Triple Goddess...
from a village called Bedesfeld, a miracle witnessed and reported by Æthilwald, then a priest but in the author's day prior of Melrose, whose relation the maiden was (chapter four). He cures a paralytic boy brought to him in the district of Ahse in the mountains between Hexham
Hexham
Hexham is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, located south of the River Tyne, and was the administrative centre for the Tynedale district from 1974 to 2009. The three major towns in Tynedale were Hexham, Prudhoe and Haltwhistle, although in terms of population, Prudhoe was...
and Carlise (chapter five). In a miracle related to the author by Tydi, Cuthbert saves an infant and the infant's family from the plague
Plague of Justinian
The Plague of Justinian was a pandemic that afflicted the Eastern Roman Empire , including its capital Constantinople, in 541–542 AD. It was one of the greatest plagues in history. The most commonly accepted cause of the pandemic is bubonic plague, which later became infamous for either causing or...
at a village named Medilwong. Cuthbert is the savior of a servant Sibba, a Tweedside gesith, is retold thanks to the account provided by another former servant of Sibba's who is now a monk at Lindisfarne (chapter seven).
With King Ecgfrith
Ecgfrith of Northumbria
King Ecgfrith was the King of Northumbria from 670 until his death. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a disastrous defeat in which he lost his life.-Early life:...
off fighting the Picts, Cuthbert visits the queen at Carlise; as Cuthbert is conducted by Waga, the city's reeve, he announces that the war is over and that the Ecgfrith has been slain; it was later revealed that Cuthbert's assertion happened at the same hour as the king's death in battle (chapter eight). At Carlisle Cuthbert meets an anchorite named Hereberht,who asks to die at the same day and hour as Cuthbert; the request is granted, and subsequently both go to heaven on the same hour of the same night (chapter nine). Cuthbert, dining at Ovington
Ovington
Ovington may refer to:Places* Ovington, County Durham* Ovington, Essex* Ovington, Hampshire* Ovington, Norfolk* Ovington, NorthumberlandPeople* Earle Ovington - American inventor* Mary White Ovington - American civil rights activist...
with abbess Ælfflæd, predicts the death of one of Ælfflæd's servants, Hadwald (chapter ten). The bishop resigns his bishopric after an episcopate of two years and returns to Farne (chapter eleven). Miracles continue as Cuthbert cures a ("still surviving") brother named Walhstod from dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
. Cuthbert dies on Farne, and his body was washed and dressed before being shipped to Lindisdfarne (chapter thirteen).
After eleven years, Cuthbert's successor Bishop Eadberht orders the reopening of Cuthbert's coffin; Cuthbert's body is found to be incorrupt, i.e. having not decayed any noticeable way (chapter fourteen). Miracles begin happening at Cuthbert's coffin, prayers and holy water
Holy water
Holy water is water that, in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Oriental Orthodoxy, and some other churches, has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose of baptism, the blessing of persons, places, and objects; or as a means of repelling evil.The use for baptism and...
from the trench Cuthbert's body had been washed in curing a boy from demonic possession
Demonic possession
Demonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
(fifteen). A monk from the household of Bishop Willbrord
Willibrord
__notoc__Willibrord was a Northumbrian missionary saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands...
, visiting Lindisfarne, was taken by serious illness but was cured after praying at Cuthbert's coffin (chapter sixteen). Likewise, a paralytic youth brought to Lindisfarne by another monastery for attention from Lindisfarne medics, is cured only after wearing the shoes once worn by Cuthbert (chapter seventeen). The author ends the Anonymous Life of Cuthbert declaring that he has omitted many other miracles in order to avoid overburdening his reader (chapter eighteen).
Differences with Bede
For Bede's two dedicated accounts of Cuthbert's life, the Anonymous Life is the chief source. Bede however made little acknowledgment of his debt to the Anonymous Life in either his prose or verse life, and indeed if we were dependent only on Bede we would probably not know the work ever existed. Stylistically the Latin of the Anonymous Life is not as grammatical and classicizing as Bede's Prose Life, and Bede went to some effort to 'improve' the prose.Bede adds some details in his own accounts but, in the words of historian Antonia Gransden
Antonia Gransden
Antonia Gransden, English historian and medievalist, is former Reader in Medieval History at the University of Nottingham. She is author of a number of works in medieval historiography, most notably the large two volume study Historical Writing in England....
"most of his additions are verbal and hagiographical trrimmings". While following the Anonymous Life's order for most of the Prose Life, Bede considerably alters the order of miracles found in book iv. The Anonymous Life suggests that Cuthbert began his career at Ripon, whereas Bede shows that it was in fact Melrose. Historian Clare Stancliffe suggested that the Anonymous Life made Ripon Cuthbert's place of tonsure
Tonsure
Tonsure is the traditional practice of Christian churches of cutting or shaving the hair from the scalp of clerics, monastics, and, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, all baptized members...
because Melrose may have been tarnished in some eyes due to its use of Irish-style tonsure (in contrast to the Petrine
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
tonsure of Ripon).
Bede adds a longer account of Cuthbert's death supplied to him by abbot Herefrith. Bede also expands the story of Hereberht, adding the name of Hereberht's abode as Derwentwater. Otherwise Bede omitted many of the Old English proper names supplied in the Anonymous Life. Bede adds stories about the death of Boisil
Boisil
Saint Boisil was the Abbot of Melrose Abbey, now in Scotland.Almost all that is known of Saint Boisil is learned from Bede. He derived his information from Sigfrid, a monk of Jarrow, who had previously been trained by Boisil at Melrose...
, a goose on Farne, the death of Bishop Eadberht, and provides information about Cuthbert's successors on Farne.