Durham Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin, and St Cuthbert of Durham, is a cathedral located in the city of Durham, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Durham and is the fourth-ranked bishop in the Church of England hierarchy. The present Norman era cathedral was begun in 1093, replacing the city’s previous ‘White Church’.
The cathedral and Durham Castle were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. The Durham Dean and Chapter Library contains sets of early printed books, some of the most complete in England, as well as the pre-Dissolution monastic accounts and three copies of Magna Carta. From 1080 until 1836, the Bishop of Durham held the powers of an Earl Palatine, which included exercising military, civil, and religious leadership to protect the Anglo-Scottish border.
The cathedral’s relics include Saint Cuthbert’s, which was transported to Durham by Lindisfarne monks in the 800s, Saint Oswald’s head, and the Venerable Bede’s remains. Among the many saints who originated at Lindisfarne Priory, the greatest was Saint Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne from 685 until his death in 687, who is central to the development of Durham Cathedral.
After repeated Viking raids, the monks fled from Lindisfarne in 875, carrying Saint Cuthbert’s relics with them. The diocese of Lindisfarne remained itinerant until 882 when the monks resettled at Chester-le-Street, 6 miles north of Durham. The see remained at Chester-le-Street until 995 when further Viking incursions once again caused the monks to move with their relics.
According to local legend, the monks followed two milk maids who were searching for a dun-colored cow and found themselves on a peninsula formed by a loop in the River Wear. Thereupon, Cuthbert’s coffin became immovable, which was taken as a sign that the new shrine should be built on that spot, which became the City of Durham. Today the street leading from The Bailey past the cathedral’s eastern towers up to Palace Green is named Dun Cow Lane due to the miniature dun cows which used to graze in the pastures nearby.
Initially, a very simple temporary structure was built from local timber to house the relics of Saint Cuthbert. The shrine was then transferred to a sturdier, probably still wooden, building known as the White Church. This church was itself replaced three years later in 998 by a stone building also known as the White Church, which in 1018 was complete except for its tower. Durham soon became a site of pilgrimage, encouraged by the growing cult of Saint Cuthbert.
King Canute was one of the early pilgrims, and granted many privileges and estates to the Durham monks. The defensible position, flow of money from pilgrims and power embodied in the church at Durham all encouraged the formation of a town around the cathedral, which established the core of the city.
The present cathedral was designed and built under William de St-Calais (also known as William of St. Carilef), who in 1080 was appointed as the first Prince-Bishop by King William the Conqueror. In 1083 he founded the Benedictine Priory of St. Cuthbert at Durham and having ejected the secular canons who had been in charge of the church and shrine of St Cuthbert there, replaced them with monks from the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow.
Construction of the cathedral began in 1093, at the eastern end. The choir was completed by 1096. Work proceeded on the nave, the walls of which were finished by 1128, and the high vault by 1135. The chapter house was built between 1133 and 1140 (partially demolished in the 18th century).
In the 1170s, Hugh de Puiset added the Galilee Chapel at the west end of the cathedral. The main entrance to the cathedral is on the northern side, facing the castle. In 1228 Richard le Poore, Bishop of Salisbury, was translated to Durham, having just rebuilt Salisbury Cathedral in the Gothic style. At that moment the eastern end of Durham Cathedral was in urgent need of repair and the proposed eastern extension had failed. Le Poore employed the architect Richard Farnham to design an eastern terminal for the building in which many monks could say the Daily Office simultaneously. The resulting building was the Chapel of the Nine Altars.
The towers date from the early 13th century, but the central tower was damaged by lightning and replaced in two stages in the 15th century. The Bishop of Durham was the temporal lord of the palatinate, often referred to as a Prince-bishop. The bishop competed for power with the Prior of Durham Monastery, a great landowner who held his own courts for his free tenants.
The Shrine of Saint Cuthbert was located in the eastern apsidal end of the cathedral. The location of the inner wall of the apse is marked on the pavement and Saint Cuthbert’s tomb is covered by a simple slab. However, an unknown monk wrote in 1593 that the shrine was estimated to be one of the most sumptuous in all England, so great were the offerings and jewels bestowed upon it, and endless the miracles that were attributed to the saint.
Durham Cathedral is an imposing structure that holds great significance in English history. It not only serves as the seat of the Bishop of Durham but also houses some of the most significant relics in English religious history, such as the bodies of Saint Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede. Built over centuries, the cathedral stands testament to the enduring power of religion and how it can shape both the spiritual and physical landscape of a country.
Posted by millicand@rocketmail.com on 2022-10-10 15:52:11