Symeon of Durham

In 1083, a priory of Benedictine monks was founded at Durham Cathedral, in the process displacing a college of secular canons that originated with the cathedral's foundation in 995. In the process, the new priory took possession of the body and cult of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. In the early 12th century, an ambitious ideological project to legitimise the new priory and their claims to both Cuthbert's power and his historical legacy were underway, foregrounded by Symeon of Durham, blending and reinterpreting the ancient past and the near present to present a unified history that was realised in the landscape of Northern England, including Cuthbert's own Lindisfarne. This paper will examine the historical and archaeological evidence for the priory's activities in the late 11th to early 12th century, and how they represent an alternative model for cult promotion and institutional legitimisation to the shrine and its corporeal remains.

Symeon of Durham and the memoria of Bede Bede (673-735), the great Northumbrian scholar saint, left a legacy of erudition that was celebrated through the Middle Ages in England and on the Continent. Although his renown was was sufficiently widespread to survive the destruction of Northumbrian holy places, starting with Lindisfarne in 793, it was not until the revival of monasticism in the North under the supervision of Anglo-Norman churchmen that a shrine was built in his honor. The process by which the memory of Bede, his intangible memoria, came to be expressed in an elaborate burial-place, a visible memoria 1 , can be traced in documents from the twelfth century on the history of the church of Durham. Chief among these is the Libellus de exordio atque procurso istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie (Tract on the origins and progress of this the church of Durham) 2 , of which ten manuscripts survive. The date of composition of the Libellus de exordio is unknown, but the earliest manuscripts are from very beginning of the twelfth century (1104-1107 x 1115). It is believed that the work was written by a team of compilers under the leadership of Symeon of Durham († c.

Examines the formulation of chronology at Durham c. 1100, looking specifically at the integration of Northumbrian chronology with European/pan-English chronology and creation of Durham's origin narrative, Attention is drawn to a number of pieces of independent evidence that might suggest mistakes had been made in this process, and specifically that Cuthbert's body had been at Norham into the eleventh century rather than, as Symeon presented it, at Durham from 995 and Chester-le-Street for the earlier part of the 10th century.

In and around the 870s, Britain was transformed dramatically by the campaigns and settlements of the Great Army and its allies. Some pre-existing political communities suffered less than others, and in hindsight the process helped Scotland and England achieve their later positions. By the twelfth century, the rulers of these countries had partitioned the former kingdom of Northumbria.

This thesis is about what happened in the intervening period, the fate of Northumbria’s political structures, and how the settlement that defined Britain for the remainder of the Middle Ages came about. Modern reconstructions of the era have tended to be limited in scope and based on unreliable post-1100 sources. The aim is to use contemporary material to overcome such limitations, and reach positive conclusions that will make more sense of the evidence and make the region easier to understand for a wider audience, particularly in regard to its shadowy polities and ecclesiastical structures.

After an overview of the most important evidence, two chapters will review Northumbria’s alleged dissolution, testing existing historiographic beliefs (based largely on Anglo-Norman-era evidence) about the fate of the monarchy, political community, and episcopate. The impact and nature of ‘Southenglish’ hegemony on the region’s political communities will be the focus of the fourth chapter, while the fifth will look at evidence for the expansion of Scottish political power. The sixth chapter will try to draw positive conclusions about the episcopate, leaving the final chapter to look in more detail at the institutions that produced the final settlement..

Studies of twelfth-century English chronicle-writing have focused not only on the production of chronicles as a mean of propaganda, but also how Scots were portrayed in these narratives and why. Most scholarship about the portrayal of Scots in twelfth-century English chronicles has centered on the link between civility, chivalry and warfare and the disparity between English and Scottish warfare. The portrayal of Scottish kings as pious and civilised, particularly David I, has also received scholarly attention. Yet there has been little scholarship devoted to understanding how David I was compared and contrasted to his father, Malcolm III, in twelfth-century English chronicles. David I was portrayed as a paragon of civility, Christianity and usually good kingship, contrary to the image of Malcolm III as a crude barbarian. Using the works of William of Malmesbury, Symeon of Durham, Richard of Hexham, and William of Newburgh, this paper will argue that not only were Malcolm III and David I portrayed by English chroniclers as complete opposites, but that the marked difference in their portrayal emphasised the benefits of Norman acculturation.

The article deals with little-studied historical text, produced in early 12-century Durham cathedral priory by its precentor Symeon, one of the most enigmatic historical writers of Anglo-Norman age. The author analyzes textual history of the "Letter", offres some new observations on its date (before c. 1107, i.e. nearly simultaneously with another, greater work of Symeon, "Libellus de exordio atque procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie"), sources (works of Bede, "Life of St. Wilfrid", a list of York archbishops and anonymous "Life of Bede"), and use by later writers. In the annex to the article is given Russian translation of the "Letter" with commentaries.