“Irish and Hiberno-Saxon Art”: The Tomb of Saint Cuthbert
At this point in the class, we turned to the monastery of Lindisfarne. I had by this point already detailed the movement of Irish monks first to Iona and then to Lindisfarne, so here we focused on the tomb of Lindisfarne’s most renowned inhabitant – Cuthbert.
Bede wrote multiple accounts of his life, but I chose passages from the briefest, which Bede embedded within his The Ecclesiastical History of the English People
Of its 6,000 fragments, about 169 show engraved lines. The reconstructed program of the coffin includes Christ and the Evangelist Symbols on the lid, apostles and archangels on the sides and one end, and the Virgin and Child on another end. Runic inscriptions identify the figures and link the coffin to the Ruthwell Cross and the Franks Casket.
Various objects have come from the tomb of Cuthbert, including the Stonyhurst Gospels and his pectoral cross. I could not find good photos of these objects on the internet, but the catalogue, The Making of England: Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture Ad 600-900
Images of the Coffin of Saint Cuthbert prove even more elusive. I found some great color slides in the visual collection at FSU, and Ernst Kitzinger’s small booklet on the Coffin offers line drawings of each side. Here you may find a photographic reconstruction. Sacred Destinations has some photos taken through the vitrine. Otherwise, I would welcome any hints on where to find more images.
Through the texts and objects of the re-burial of Cuthbert, we gain great insight into the development of the cult of one saint. In my next post, I will look at yet one more object associated with the early cult of Saint Cuthbert, the Lindisfarne Gospels.