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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
The twelfth century was a period of both political and ecclesiastical settlement in the north-west of England, when the conquerors were seeking to establish Anglo-Norman institutions in an area as much Celtic and Norse as Anglo-Saxon. The church was re-vitalised, monasticism re-established, and parish churches were built and re-built to an extent previously unknown. The response of Cumbrian’ society was favourable, but a ‘national’ flavour of the diverse elements making up that society was retained. When in 1092 William Rufus marched into the north-west, seized Carlisle, and drove out the ‘ruler’, Dolfin son of earl Gospatric of Dunbar, he was enacting the final phase of the Norman conquest of England. The border between England and Scotland was established, and this only deviated when David I brought the district back under Scottish control during the reign of Stephen. At one time part of the kingdom of Northumbria and then of the kingdom of Strathclyde, by the eleventh century the north-west had become a political no-man’s-land, the kings of England and Scotland each regarding it as belonging to his respective realm. Church life had been greatly eroded, and monastic communities, as in the rest of northern England, had totally disappeared, due as much to the unstable political situation over the previous two centuries as to the lack of any strong spiritual control. The region itself was in a depressed condition, depopulated and devastated by the invasions of king Edmund in 945, Ethelred in 1000, and most recently by early Gospatric in 1070.
1 For the sake of convenience, the term ‘Cumbrian’ is used throughout in the modern sense and not as synonymous with the people of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde. See Wilson, P. A., ‘The Use of the Terms “Strathclyde” and “Cumbria”’, Trans[actions of the] C[umberland and] W[estmorland] A[ntiquarian and] A[rchaeological] S[ociety], ns 66 (Kendal 1966) pp 57–92 Google Scholar.
2 ASC, sa 1092.
3 Ibid, sa 945, 1000; Symeon [is Monachi Opera Omnia, ed Arnold], T., 2 vols, RS 75 (1882-5) 2, p 191 Google Scholar.
4 ASC, sa 1092.
5 Bury, J. B., The Life of St Patrick and His Place in History (London 1905) pp 322-5Google Scholar.
6 Thomas, [A. C.], [‘The Evidence from North Britain’, Christianity in Britain, 300-700, ed Barley, M.W. and Hanson, R.P.C.] (Leicester 1968) pp 93-121, especially 97-100Google Scholar. Many of the activities, as well as the very existence, of Ninian have been brought into doubt in recent years. See Chadwick, N. K., ‘St Ninian: A Preliminary Study of the Sources’, Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Antiquarian Society, 3 ser 28 (Dumfries 1950) pp 9-53Google Scholar; Fahy, D., ‘The Historical Reality of St Ninian’, IR, 15 (1964) pp 35–46 Google Scholar; Boyle, A., ‘St Ninian: Some Outstanding Problems’, IR, 19 (1968) pp 57–70 Google Scholar.
7 Thomas, pp 97-100.
8 Jackson, K. H., The Gododdin: The Oldest Scottish Poem (Edinburgh 1969) p 37 Google Scholar.
9 [Jocelin of Furness]., Vita Kentegerni, [Lives of St Ninian and St Kentigem], ed [and trans Forbes, A. P.] (Edinburgh 1874) pp 73-5, 199-201Google Scholar. Jackson, K. H., ‘The Sources for the Life of St Kentigern’, Studies in the Early British Church, ed Chadwick, N.K. (Cambridge 1958) pp 273–357, especially pp 313 seq. Google Scholar After a meticulous examination of the surviving sources, Jackson rejected Kentigern’s missionary activities in Cumberland and Westmorland and his visit to Wales as later traditions.
10 Anonymous, [Vita Sancti Cuthberti], and Bede, V[ita] S[ancti] C[uthberti], [Two Lives of St Cuthbert , ed and trans Colgrave, B.] (Cambridge 1940)Google Scholar.
11 Anonymous, bk 4, cap 8, 9; Bede, VSC, cap 27, 28; Bede, HE, bk 4, cap 29 (27).
12 Ibid; Bede, HE, bk 4, cap 32 (30). The twelfth-century Historia de Sancto Cuthberto attributed to Symeon of Durham states that Cuthbert founded a monastery and schools at Carlisle, but it seems clear from the works of Bede and the anonymous monk of Lindisfarne that the house was a pre-existing one. Symeon, 1, p 199.
13 Jackson, [K. H.], ‘Angles and Britons [in Northumbria and Cumbria’, Angles and Britons] (Cardiff 1963) p 72 Google Scholar; Barrow, G. W. S., ‘The Anglo-Scottish Border’, NH, 1 (1966) pp 24-5Google Scholar.
14 ASC, sa 926, 945.
15 Ibid sa 945; Duncan, [A.A.M.], [Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom] (Edinburgh 1975) pp 98-9Google Scholar.
16 Chronicles of the Picts, Chronicles of the Scots, and Other Early Memorials of Scottish History, ed Skene, W.F. (Edinburgh 1867) p 204 Google Scholar. The chronicler mistakenly identified the grantee as Donald, king of Scots.
17 Harmer, F. E., Anglo-Saxon Writs (Manchester 1952) pp 419-24Google Scholar, and see p 531 for a bibliography of writings on this writ. There has been some controversy over the identification of the issuer of this writ; see especially Davis, H.W. C., ‘Cumberland before the Norman Conquest’, EHR, 20 (1905) pp 61-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Davis argued inconclusively against the identification as issuer of Gospatric son of Maldred, the future earl of Northumbria and father of the Dolfin who was expelled from Carlisle by William Rufus. I tend to agree with Duncan that the presence in the district of the sons of Gospatric at the time of the Norman annexation indicates that Maldred and his son held lands there; Duncan, pp 98-9.
18 Symeon, 2, p 191; ASC, sa 1072, 1091.
19 Jackson, ‘Angles and Britons’, pp 74-84.
20 Ibid p 81. The place-name ‘Cumwhinton’ combines the British element cum, meaning ‘glen’ or ‘valley’, with the Norman personal name Quintin, and it is doubtful that such a name would have been attributed long, if at all, before 1092.
21 Henrici Archidiaconi Huntendunensis Historia Anglorum, ed Arnold, T., RS 74 (1879) p 170 Google Scholar.
22 The Place-Names of Cumberland, [ed Armstrong, A. M., Mawer, A., Stenton, F. M., and Dickins, B.], 3 pts, E[nglish] P[lace-Name] S[ociety] 20-2 (Cambridge 1950-2) pt 3, pp xxii–xxvii Google Scholar; The Place-Names of Westmorland, ed Smith, A.H, 2 pts, EPS 42-3 (Cambridge 1967) pt 1, pp xxxix–xlv Google Scholar.
23 Smailes, A. E., North England (London 1960) p 90 Google Scholar.
24 Higham, N. J., ‘Continuity Studies in the First Mellennium A.D. in North Cumbria’, NH, 14 (1978) pp 1-18, particularly 11-18Google Scholar.
25 Craster, H.H. E., ‘A Contemporary Record of the Pontificate of Ranulf Flambard’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4 ser, 7 (Newcastle 1930) p 38 Google Scholar.
26 Symeon, 1, p 139.
27 Chronicon de Lanercost, ed Stevenson, j. (Edinburgh 1839) p 65 Google Scholar.
28 Nicholl, [D.], [Thurstan, Archbishop of York (1114-1140)] (York 1964) pp 41-110Google Scholar.
29 Ibid pp 137-40.
30 Johannis de Fordun Scotichronicon ed Goodall, W., 2 vols (Edinburgh 1775), 1, pp 449-50Google Scholar; Brett, [M.],[The English Church under Henry I] (Oxford 1975) pp 18–28 Google Scholar; Nicholl, pp 140-50.
31 Shead, N. F., ‘The Origins of the Medieval Diocese of Glasgow’, ScHR, 48 (1969) pp 220-5Google Scholar.
32 Brett, pp 25-6.
33 Knowles, MO pp 31-56.
34 Symeon 1, p 203.
35 An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Westmorland, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) (London 1936) pp 167-9, 175-7 185-7.
36 [‘A Breviate of the] Cartulary of [the Priory Church of St Mary Magdalene, ] Lanercost’, [ed Walcott, M. E. C., Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom,] 2 ser, 8 (London 1866) pp 509-10Google Scholar.
37 Collingwood, W. G., Northumbrian Crosses of the Pre-Norman Age (London 1927) passim Google Scholar; Hill, R. M. T., ‘Christianity and Geography in Early Northumbria’, SCH, 3 (1966) pp 126-39Google Scholar. Place-names having the elements kirk or cros(s) are not assumed to be the sites of early churches without the evidence of monuments, as these elements are not necessarily linked to pre-Norman name-giving. For example, the present Kirkcambeck, Kirklinton, and Kirkbampton only began to be known as such in the late thirteenth century, having been called before this simply ‘Cambok’, ‘Levington’, and ‘Bampton’; The Place-Names of Cumberland, EPS, pt 1, pp 56, 101-2, 142.
38 For the creation of baronies in Cumberland and Westmorland, see Sanders, I. J., English Baronies: A Study of Their Origin and Descent, 1086-1327 (Oxford 1960) pp 23-4, 50, 56-7, 58-9, 103-4, 115, 124, 129, 134-5Google Scholar. Ranulf succeeded to the earldom of Chester in 1120, after which his fief was retained by the crown, and Henry I continued the creation of baronies. The extent of Ranulf’s fief was that area actually seized by William II and was coterminous with the later diocese of Carlisle, that is, all of Cumberland except Alston and Allerdale above Derwent or Coupland, and except the barony of Kendal in Westmorland.
39 Knowles, MO, pp 159-71; Baker, L.G. D., ‘The Desert in the North’, NH, 5 (1970) pp 1-11Google Scholar.
40 The Register of the Priory of Wetheral, ed Prescott, J.E. C[umberland and] W[estmorland] A[ntiquarian and] A[rchaeological] S[ociety] Rec[ord] Ser[ies] 1 (London 1897) pp 1-19Google Scholar.
41 [The Register of the Priory of] St Bees, [ed Wilson, J.] SS 126 (1915) pp 27–36 Google Scholar.
42 Ibid, pp iv-v; Bede, HE, bk 4, cap 23; The Life and Miracles of Sancta Bega, ed Tomlinson, G. C. (Carlisle 1842)Google Scholar.
43 The history of the foundation of Carlisle priory has been best dealt with by Dickinson, J. C., ‘Walter the Priest and St Mary’s, Carlisle’, Trans CWAAS ns 69 (Kendal 1969) pp 102-14Google Scholar.
44 ‘Cartulary of Lanercost’; MA, 6, pp 236-8; VCH, Cumberland, 2 vols (1901-5) 2, pp 152-61.
45 MA, 6, pp 55-8; VCH, Lancaster, 8 vols (1906-14) 2, pp 140-3.
46 MA, 6, pp 454-5; VCH, Lancaster, 2, pp 143-8.
47 MA, 6, pp 868-70.
48 The Coucher Book of Furness Abbey, ed Atkinson, J.C., 6 pts, Chetham Society ns 9, 11, 14, 74, 76, 78 (Manchester 1886-1919) pt 1, pp 122-5Google Scholar.
49 Knowles, MO, pp 227-8, 249-51; VCH, Cumberland, 2, pp 174-8.
50 [The Register and Records of] Holm Cultram, [ed Grainger, F. and Colling-wood, W. G.,] CWAAS Rec Ser 7 (Kendal 1929) pp 91-2, 117-20Google Scholar.
51 St Bees, p 28.
52 Ibid, pp 29, 106-7, 233-4.
53 VCH, Cumberland, 2, pp 235-6.
54 MA, 6, p 144.
55 Nicolson, [J.] and Burn, [R.], [The History and Antiquities of Westmorland and Cumberland,] 2 vols (London 1777) 2, p 93 Google Scholar.
56 [The Priory of] Hexham, [ed Raine, J.,] 2 vols, SS 44, 46 (1864-5) 1, p 59 Google Scholar.
57 Holm Cultram, pp 117-20.
58 VCH, Cumberland, 2, p 139.
59 The Life of St Anselm of Canterbury by Eadmer, ed and trans Southern, R. W. (London 1962) pp 50-4Google Scholar.
60 Antonia, Gransden, Historical Writing in England, c 550 to c 1307 (London 1974) pp 105-35Google Scholar.
61 Ibid pp 136-85; Darlington, R. R., Anglo-Norman Historians (London 1947) 19 ppGoogle Scholar.
62 Hexham, 1, pp 173-203.
63 [Ailred of Rievaulx,] Vita Niniani, ed Forbes, , pp 1-26, 137-57Google Scholar. Ailred spent his early years at the court of king David of Scotland; The Life of Ailred of Rievaulx by Walter Daniel, ed and trans Powicke, F. M. (London 1950) pp 2–5 Google Scholar.
64 Vita Kentegerni, ed Forbes, pp 29-119, 159-242; Vita Sanai Patricii, in ASB, March 2 (1865) pp 536-89; his Life of Saint Helen has not been published. Jocelin was also the author of a Life of Saint Waldef; Vita Sancti Waldeni in ASB, August 1 (1867) pp 249-78. Little is known about Jocelin himself; see McFadden, G., ‘The Life of Waldef and its Author, Jocelin of Furness’, IR, 6 (1955) pp 5-13Google Scholar.
65 Hardy, T. D., Descriptive Catalogue of Materials relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland, 3 vols, RS 26 (1862-71) 2, pp 225-6Google Scholar. Like Jocelin, he was the author of a Life of Saint Waldef, which is also lost. Everard began his life in religion at the Augustinian priory of Kirkham, where he met and was befriended by Waldef, then prior of that house. He left Kirkham with Waldef to enter the Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx, from which he later went to the abbey of Melrose, where Waldef was abbot, and thence he was sent to become the first abbot of Holmcultram; Vita Sancti Waldeni, pp 256, 262.
66 Vita Niniani, ed Forbes, pp 3-5, 137-9; Vita Kentegerni, ed Forbes, pp 29-32, 159-61.
67 Vila Kentegerni, ed Forbes, pp 30, 160.
68 Nicolson and Burn, 2, pp 529-30.
69 Bouch, C. M. L., Prelates and People of the Lake Counties: A history of the Diocese of Carlisle, 1133-1933 (Kendal 1948) p 9 Google Scholar.
70 The dedications of the churches and chapels of Cumberland and Westmorland have been listed by Graham, [T. H. B. and Collingwood, W. G.,) ‘Patron Saints [of the Diocese of Carlise’,] Trans CWAAS ns 25 (Kendal 1925) pp 1-27Google Scholar. Of all the known dedications listed, sixty percent are verified by medieval sources, and the others are taken from eighteenth-century compilations. Of those taken from medieval sources, just over half date from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; the rest date mainly from the fourteenth century. One must approach church-dedication evidence cautiously, as dedications were sometimes changed, as in the case of the church of Farlam, dedicated to Saint Thomas of Canterbury but certainly existing before 1169. However, the sample of certain twelfth- and thirteenth-century dedications is large enough to support the statements made here, and it is unlikely that so large a proportion of the dedications taken from later medieval and eighteenth-century sources would have been changed that the opinions expressed would be radically altered.
71 Gregory, J. V., ‘Dedication Names of Ancient Churches in the Counties of Durham and Northumberland’, The Archaeological journal, 42 (London 1885) pp 370-83Google Scholar.
72 Mackinlay, J. M., Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland, 2 vols (Edinburgh 1910-14) 1, pp 337-56, 399-401Google Scholar; Owen, Chadwick, ‘The Evidence of Dedications in the Early History of the Welsh Church’, Studies in Early British History, ed Chadwick, N.K. (Cambridge 1954) pp 173-88, especially 182-4Google Scholar.
73 For the most recent work on this subject, see Barrow, G.W. S., The Anglo-Norman Era in Scottish History (Oxford 1980)Google Scholar.
74 Barrow, G.W. S., ‘Scottish Rulers and the Religious Orders, 1070-1153’, TRHS, 5 ser 3 (1953) pp 77-100Google Scholar.
75 MRHI pp 107, 126,, 132, 134, 170; Mclntire, W. T., ‘A Note on Grey Abbey and Other Religious Foundations on Strangford Lough affiliated to the Abbeys of Cumberland’, Trans CWAAS ns 41 (Kendal 1941) pp 161-73Google Scholar.
76 Frances, Arnold-Forster, Studies in Church Dedications, 3 vols (London 1899) 3, pp 36, 67, 75, 79, 100, 135, 164, 206, 256, 388Google Scholar. According to this work, the only church outside of Cumberland and Westmorland to be dedicated to Kentigern was at Simonburn in Northumberland.
77 Vita Kentegerni, ed Forbes, , pp 74, 200 Google Scholar.
78 AS, February 1 (1863) pp 111-12.
79 Symeon, 2, pp 236-7.
80 Councils and Synods, ed Powicke, F.M and Cheney, C. R., 2 vols (Oxford 1964) 1, p 628 Google Scholar.
81 Symeon, 1, pp 379-81.
82 Aside from the parish church dedications of the twelfth century, the foundation of the Benedictine priory of St Bees and its dedication to Saint Mary and Saint Bega, and the dedication of Wetheral priory to Saint Mary and Saint Constantine, who was commonly associated with Kentigern, and the dedication of a chapel there to Saint Serf, Kentigern’s teacher, are clear indicators of the acceptance by the Anglo-Norman conquerors of the already existing local cults; ‘Patron Saints’, pp 9-11, 17, 27.