Heavenfield

From time to time, I will mention to someone that St. John or the Gospel of John was the favored scripture of the Irish or Lindisfarne/Iona specifically. Much of the time I get a very puzzled or skeptical look in return, so my topic today is the Lindisfarne/Iona affinity for St. John the Beloved.

First, it is easy to see why John was their favored apostle and evangelist. They often refer to John as being worthy to lay his head on Christ’s shoulder during the Last Supper as proof that he was a favored disciple. John is, of course, usually identified with the ‘beloved disciple’ of the Gospel of John to whom the Blessed Mother is entrusted.

As a writer, John was believed to be the most productive of the twelve apostles. John was reputed to be the author of the Gospel of John, three letters, and Revelations. In Galatians (2:9), Paul refers to John as one of the pillars of the church along with Peter and James the Just, Jesus’ brother. Of the four evangelists, John’s Community in Asia Minor was also the largest and most prominent. (To be fair, Iona also had considerable interest in Egyptian spirituality, representing the community of Mark.) The point is, that it was fairly easy to privilege John over Peter.

Synod of Whitby: The most important evidence comes from Bishop Colman’s defense at the Synod of Whitby. His first defense of Lindisfarne’s Easter calculation is that it was that of St. John the Evangelist; only when Wilfrid overturned this, did Colman appeal to Anatolius’ calendar. What is important here is not whether Lindisfarne and Iona were correctly using John’s calendar or not, but that Colman initially put St. John up against St. Peter. When that failed to sway, he turned to Anatolius and then Columba. While the scene is climatically portrayed as being St. Columba vs. St. Peter, the debate Colman wanted to have was St. John vs St. Peter. Had the calendar not been an issue and it was only which disciple the church follow, it would have been a much more difficult decision.

St. John of Beverly: Anglo-Saxons and the Irish very rarely took biblical names during the early medieval period. Hagiography and Bede’s letters show us that they sometimes took pet names primarily from the church fathers, but it was very rare for these names to replace their native birth name. There are a few, Columba, Boisil (probably from Basil) and Benedict Biscop (Baducing) but they are the exceptions and none of them are biblical names. There are only three native people in Bede’s History with biblical names: John of Beverly, Bishop of Hexham and York; Tobias Bishop of Rochester, and Thomas, Bishop of East Anglia. It is significant that this Whitby-trained bishop took the name John.

St Boisil’s last week: St Boisil was an Irish prior of Melrose, who must have arrived in Northumbria during Aidan of Lindisfarne’s life. He was prior of Melrose to Abbot Eata when Bishop Aidan dies in 651. According to Bede’s Life of Cuthbert, Boisil was Cuthbert’s mentor. When Boisil has a prophecy that he only has a week to live, he chooses a seven part commentary of the Gospel of John as his last lesson to Cuthbert. This highlights the Gospel of John in the Life of Cuthbert and as what Boisil found the most important to teach Cuthbert.

St. Cuthbert’s Gospel survives today, commonly known as the Stonyhurst Gospel. It is a palm size copy of the Gospel of John, produced at Wearmouth-Jarrow during Coelfrith’s abbacy, and was placed in St. Cuthbert’s hand within his coffin. This is the correct period for both Cuthbert’s death in 687 and his first translation in 695. It was probably placed in his hand in the first shrine in 695. Indeed, one wonders if this gospel book was commissioned by Ceolfrith specifically as a gift from Wearmouth-Jarrow to the new saint at his translation or his original grave. From hagiography and letters, we know that it was common to send gifts to a saint, even while they lived, to be used for their grave. However, it is interesting that Bede did not mention his own monastery’s gift to the shrine in his Life of Cuthbert. This may suggest that the gospel was given to Cuthbert during his lifetime, and unknown to Bede, who would have been a youth in 685-687. His ordination in 685 would have been an occasion when such a personal gift would have been appropriate. Whenever the gospel was given, it is significant that Cuthbert was enshrined with a copy of the Gospel of John in his hand.

These breadcrumbs may look like thin evidence but when we consider how little evidence we have from Lindisfarne’s Irish period, I think it is significant. This is not to say that the Irish did not value the other three gospels; all four evangelists were carved into Cuthbert’s original coffin and the Lindisfarne Gospels provides elaborate carpet and opening pages to all four gospels. Yet, if we are to understand Iona and Lindisfarne, and their influence through the ages, glimpses at their theological preferences can be enlightening.

King Oswine of Deira (Yorkshire) 20 August 651

(modern icon)

Today is the anniversary of the execution of King Oswine of Deira, considered by some to be a saint. All we know of Oswine is included in Bede’s History (Book III:14). Bede writes a curious tale for Oswine.

“King Oswine was tall and handsome, pleasant of speech, courteous in manner, and bountiful to nobles and common alike; so it came about that he was beloved by all because of his royal dignity which showed itself in his character, his appearance, and his actions; and noblemen from almost every kingdom flocked to serve him as retainers. Among all the other graces of virtue and modesty with which, if I may say so, he was blessed in a special manner, his humility said to have been the greatest” (McClure and Collins, ed; 1994:132)

This all seems well and good. Bede proceeds to narrate an example of Oswine’s great humility to St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne. However, at the end of the episode, Aidan turns to an Irish colleague and says “I know that the king will not live long; for I never before saw a humble king. Therefore I think that he will very soon be snatched from this life; for this nation does not deserve to have such a ruler.” (p. 133). Oswine death follows and Aidan himself dies only 12 days “after the murder of the king he loved”. The implication is that Aidan dies of a broken heart.

Bede actually begins his tale with Oswine’s murder/execution. Oswine has gathered his army to meet King Oswiu (who would later rule at the Synod of Whitby) in battle near Catterick. When Oswine realized how outnumbered his was by Oswiu, he disbanded his army and went into hiding with a retainer he believes is his friend. This retainer betrayed him to Oswiu who had his rival executed. There is no doubt that this murder caused an outrage in the church. Oswiu’s queen, Eanflaed, was the cousin of Oswine and demanded a weregeld (blood price) paid by the founding of the monastery of Gilling where prayer was to be offered daily for the soul of King Oswine and his murderer King Oswiu.

The question is why does Bede include the story in his History. There is no evidence that he sees Oswine as anything other than a sad victim. Bede provides no evidence that Oswine was considered to be a saint by his day. Oswine was much later reported to be buried at Tynemouth, not the new monastery of Gilling.

The usual explanation is that Bede includes the story because his beloved Abbot Coelfrith came from Gilling, Coelfrith’s family monastery (meaning that Coelfrith was also a kinsman of Oswine). This isn’t really a very satisfying answer. Gilling had ceased to exist before Bede was born and Coelfrith is not mentioned in the story. An interesting side note is that Gilling seems to disband as a monastery after the plague of 664 when all the surviving monks joined Abbot Wilfrid at Ripon (victor of the synod of Whitby the same year). Thus within months of deciding for Rome, the monastery Oswiu had to found as weregeld/penance was allowed to disappear.

Another explanation is that it was part of Aidan’s death story. This isn’t very satisfying either because Aidan’s death is not elaborated on, as it is in a later chapter (which doesn’t mention Oswine at all). These look like two reports of Aidan’s death.

The chapter begins with an assessment of Oswiu’s reign and the next chapter records a miracle of Aidan’s in assisting in the arrival of Eanflaed to her marriage to Oswiu. The context of the story places it within Oswiu’s story as Oswald’s successor. Miracles of St. Aidan and Aidan’s death are then inserted. After Aidan comes the life and death of pious King Sigeberht of East Anglia who had entered a monastery, but his people pulled him out of the monastery to lead them into battle against Penda, the evil pagan of Bede’s History. Sigeberht refused to carry a weapon in to battle and rode to his death carrying only his royal scepter.

Bede has set up a story of three example kings

• Oswald: Bede’s ideal king: brave, victorious in battle, supporter of the church and evangelist, humble enough to translate Aidan’s sermons before his people, but not too humble to loose their respect, protector of his people up to his death.
• Oswine: too humble to be a king. A perfect picture of a king, but when it came down to it, not brave enough to ride in to battle and die. He is an anti-hero.
• Sigebert: a pious king, but nevertheless Bede did not favor kings who retired to monasteries. The fact that his people came to him to lead them in battle suggests that he once was victorious in battle and was still young and healthy enough to do so again. He did not protect his people. Penda destroys the army, Sigebert’s co-king, and then ravages the monasteries and people of East Anglia.

Bede believed that people should live up to the position in life they were given: king, bishop, monk, commoner. A king should be a good king: protector of the people, patron of the church, obedient to the bishop. He offers Oswine as an example to his readers of how a king should not behave.

Perhaps he was also eager to ensure that King Oswiu would not be too glorified. He tallied plenty of pious attributes during his 28 year reign. He may have been the greatest patron of the church of his age, judge at the synod of Whitby, and slayer of Northumbria’s worst enemy (Penda of Mercia), but he was also capable of murdering his rivals and having his own kinsmen, his nephew Oethelwald son of Oswald and his own son Alhfrith, rebel against him. His rebellious kinsmen are never heard from again. Bede does make sure to casually mention these rebellions in the beginning of the chapter before he narrates Oswine’s story. The execution of Oswine may be Bede’s way of indicating the fates of Oethelwald and Alhfrith by implication in a way that would not offend the contemporary rulers of Northumbria.

Such is the passion that has surrounded the Synod of Whitby (see earlier post) that most of its named participants are considered to be saints by one faction or another — St. Wilfrid of York, St. Hild of Whitby, St. Colman of Lindisfarne, and St. Cedd of Lastingham/Essex. Yet, they all really became saints in spite of their participation at Whitby, the great unpleasantness of their day . The real saints to come out of Whitby — St. Cuthbert and St. Theodore — are not listed among its participants and one was certainly not present.

Cuthbert of Lindisfarne

Cuthbert of Lindisfarne is a stealthy saint of Whitby. I say stealthy because most people don’t realize the importance of Cuthbert in enforcing the changes ordered at Whitby. When Eata became the first English Abbot of Lindisfarne, his protégé Cuthbert became prior of Lindisfarne. The job of the prior is to administer the monastery and enforce discipline. The prior was the chief operating office to the abbots chief executive officer who spent much of his time dealing with the world outside the monastery, the king and other monasteries/bishops. So from 664 until about 685, Cuthbert was the prior of Lindisfarne. How he handled bringing the customs and rites of Rome to the heart of the Celtic church is what really made him a saint. It was a difficult task that at times drove him to preach in the countryside or retire to a hermitage to seek peace and rest. It is what drafted him into the position of bishop, even though his poor health had driven him to a hermitage on Farne Island where he could get some peace.

Scholars often refer to Cuthbert as the ‘politically correct version of Aidan (of Lindisfarne)’. That is true and exactly what made him revered by his contemporaries. He managed to enforce the changed demanded by Rome while retaining the Irish lifestyle. We should expect nothing less from the former prior of Melrose, where he had the position of enforcing the Irish lifestyle.

I’ve called Cuthbert Eata’s protégé, but recall that Bede considered the Irish prior of Melrose, Boisil, to be Cuthbert’s teacher. A few years ago Colin Ireland [1], I believe convincingly, showed that Boisil is an Irish version of the name Basil, probably a name taken in religion. It makes sense that when Bishop Aidan chose Eata to be the first English abbot (at Melrose) gave him an Irish prior to ensure that the rule at this new monastery was correctly kept according to Iona’s standards.

By the time of the Reformation, St. Cuthbert was the most popular native saint in England. His relics survived (a story for another day) and still draw pilgrims to Durham Cathedral today. Through the role model of St. Cuthbert, the Irish values survived into the modern Anglican church, even if many no longer recognize them as “Celtic” or Irish.

As this post has grown long, I’ll look at Theodore and why he is a belated saint of the Synod of Whitby in the next post.

[1] Ireland, C.A., 1986. Boisil: an Irishman hidden in the works of Bede, Peritia, p. 400-03.

Heavenfield is a rural site near Hadrian’s wall, within the medieval monastic estate of the Abbey of Hexham. This rural patch of pasture is far from the traditional holy sites in Britain and yet it has a number of saints associated with it that could rival anywhere else in England. Here is a synopsis of the Heavenfield saints:

1. Oswald, King and Martyr, who raised the cross at Heavenfield during the summer of 634 is, of course, the primary saint of this site.
2. Columba of Iona: Columba died before Oswald was born. According to Adomnan, Oswald had a dream of St. Columba on a night before the battle of Denisesburna (ie at Heavenfield). There should be no doubt that as a convert of Iona who looked to Iona for his missionaries, Oswald would have considered St. Columba to be the primary local saint of his kingdom. Oswald’s vision is one of the (relatively) few posthumous miracles/visions in Adomnan’s Life of Columba.
3. Audrey of Ely (Æthelthryth), Queen of Northumbria was married to Oswald’s nephew from c. 660 to 672, and queen of Northumbria only from 670-672. We know that Hexham (with Heavenfield) was given to her as a wedding gift and from Bede, that she maintained her own separate household run by staff from East Anglia. It is therefore possible that Audrey lived at Hexham for the first ten years of her marriage. Her refusal to consummate their marriage only became a problem when Ecgfrith became king and his need for a heir became dire. Audrey may have only come to live with Ecgfrith when she was required to take on the responsibility of being queen. When she was allowed to leave her marriage to enter the church, she gave the estate of Hexham (with Heavenfield) to Bishop Wilfrid to found a monastery.
4. Wilfrid, Bishop of York: When Wilfrid won the debate at the Synod of Whitby, he ended Lindisfarne’s control of the Northumbrian church and put it and the rest of England under the authority of Rome. This officially undid the last of King Oswald’s political legacy. In 672-3 Bishop Wilfrid gave Queen Audrey the veil of a nun and took the estate of Hexham for a monastery. Wilfrid built the Church of St. Andrew at Hexham as a glory of the North. Wilfrid’s attitude to Oswald and Heavenfield probably waxed and wained based on his relationship with Oswald’s nephews Ecgfrith (r. 670-685) and Aldfrith (r. 685-705). At the very least, Wilfrid did not repress the site. Given Wilfrid’s role in ending Lindisfarne’s dominance, he may have relished controlling such an important Oswaldian site. Bede’s account of Heavenfield, relaying the official position of Hexham, is definitely more Romanized than Adomnan’s account. After his second exile from Northumbria, he returned as Bishop of Hexham from c. 705 to his death in 709.
5. Eata of Hexham: He was probably Aidan’s oldest and most trusted English pupil, one of his original twelve English disciples. He was the first known Abbot of Melrose, seemingly while Aidan was alive. He later founded the monastery of Ripon, but was forced to hand it over to the young Romanist Wilfrid. After the Synod of Whitby, Eata became the first English Abbot of Lindisfarne. He was the first bishop of the diocese of Lindisfane and Hexham combined (c. 679-685) and then Hexham alone (685-c.687). As Eata seized the monastery of Hexham when Wilfrid was (first) exiled, his reception at Hexham may have been chilly.
6. Acca of Hexham: Bishop of Hexham after Bishop Wilfrid’s death from about 710-731. The pilgrimages to Heavenfield that Bede describes in his History clearly occurred during Acca’s tenure and the chapel recently built there must have been built by Acca. He was also a major informant of Bede’s on other miracles credited to Oswald. Acca’s material had a clear role in making Oswald acceptable to Romanists and reporting early international veneration in Ireland and Frisia.
7. Adomnan, Abbot of Iona: First person to write about the events of Heavenfield and therefore the first to give the site textual importance. His representation of Oswald as a New Joshua is major step in influencing Oswald’s memory. Adomnan was also the author of the Law of the Innocents enacted at the Synod of Birr in 695 that protected women, children and clerics from the violence of war and women from domestic abuse. Thus, Adomnan’s law was one of the most important ecclesiastical contribution to civilizing early medieval Britain and Ireland, even if the laws enforcement was lackluster.
8. Bede of Jarrow: primary author of all we know on King Oswald and the second account of Heavenfield with the raising of the miracle working cross that he claimed still stood in his day a hundred years later. Bede’s portrayal of King Oswald has had the greatest influence on the development of Oswald’s veneration (as Bede intended).

Honorary saints of Heavenfield:

1. Aidan Bishop of Lindisfarne: Leader of King Oswald’s evangelistic efforts. Although Bede does not credit him with a single convert, Aidan’s mission can be credited with converting over half of England. He is an honorary saint of Heavenfield because he does not have direct association with the site. Of his students, only Eata was stationed at Hexham.
2. Willibrord, Archbishop of Frisia: He was a child of Deira (Yorkshire) and raised at Bishop Wilfrid’s monastery of Ripon. When he left to study in Ireland he took with him a fragment of the stake that held Oswald’s head at Maeserfelth (as Bede reported). He carried the relic to his pagan missionary field in Frisia (Netherlands) and started interest in St. Oswald in Frisia/Flanders and Germany.

Its quite a collection here. Leaving aside the honorary Heavenfield saints, we are still left with shall we say three international saints: Oswald, Columba and Bede. Bede only really making international status in the last century or two, just as Oswald seems to be fading internationally. Pan-English saints Audrey of Ely and Wilfrid of York are remembered in much of the Anglican Communion, if not in the United States. Others are more local Hexham saints: Eata and Acca; while Adomnan is remembered primarily as a scholar with limited local remembrance in Ireland and Scotland. Both honorary saints are recognized internationally by Anglicans and Catholics. Willibrord is the patron saint of ecumenical relationships between Anglican and Old Catholics in Europe.