DURHAM.

[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL AND CASTLE.]

[Illustration: NORMAN DOORWAY IN DURHAM CASTLE.]

We have now come into a region of coal and iron, with mines and furnaces

in abundance, and tall chimneys in all the villages pouring out black

smoke. All the country is thoroughly cultivated, and the little streams

bubbling over the stones at the bottoms of the deep valleys, past

sloping green fields and occasional patches of woods where the land is

too steep for cultivation, give picturesqueness to the scene. We have

crossed over the boundary from Yorkshire into Durham, and upon the very

crooked little river Wear there rise upon the tops of the precipitous

cliffs bordering the stream, high elevated above the red-tiled roofs of

the town, the towers of Durham Cathedral and Castle. They stand in a

remarkable position. The Wear, swinging around a curve like an elongated

horseshoe, has excavated a precipitous valley out of the rocks. At the

narrower part of the neck there is a depression, so that the promontory

around which the river sweeps appears like the wrist with the hand

clenched. The town stands at the depression, descending the slopes on

either side to the river, and also spreading upon the opposite banks.

The castle bars the access to the promontory, upon which stands the

cathedral. Thus, almost impregnably fortified, the ancient bishops of

Durham were practically sovereigns, and they made war as quickly as they

would celebrate a mass if their powers were threatened, for they bore

alike the sword and the crozier. Durham was founded to guard the relics

of the famous St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, the great ascetic of the

early English Church, distinguished above all others for the severity of

his mortifications and his abhorrence of women. At his shrine, we are

told, none of the gentler sex might worship; they were admitted to the

church, but in the priory not even a queen could lodge. Queen Philippa

was once admitted there as a guest, but a tumult arose, and she had to

flee half dressed for safety to the castle. St. Cuthbert was a hermit to

whom the sight of human beings was a weariness and the solitude of the

desert a delight. He was born in Scotland about the middle of the

seventh century, of humble origin, and passed his early years as a

shepherd near Melrose. He adopted an austere life, found a friend in the

abbot of Melrose, and ultimately sickened of an epidemic, his recovery

being despaired of. In answer, however, to the prayers of the monks, he

was restored to health as by a miracle, and became the prior of Melrose.

Afterwards he was for twelve years prior of Lindisfarne, an island off

the Northumbrian coast, but the craving for solitude was too strong to

be resisted, and he became a hermit. He went to Farne, a lonely rocky

island in the neighboring sea, and, living in a hut, spent his life in

prayer and fasting, but having time, according to the legend, to work

abundant miracles. A spring issued from the rock to give him water, the

sea laid fagots at his feet, and the birds ministered to his wants. At

first other monks had free access to him, but gradually he secluded

himself in the hut, speaking to them through the window, and ultimately

closed even that against them except in cases of emergency. Such

sanctity naturally acquired wide fame, and after long urging he

consented to become a bishop, at first at Hexham, afterwards at

Lindisfarne, thus returning to familiar scenes and an island home. But

his life was ebbing, and after two years' service he longed again for

his hermit's hut on the rock of Farne. He resigned the bishopric, and,

returning to his hut, in a few weeks died. His brethren buried him

beside his altar, where he rested eleven years; then exhuming the body,

it was found thoroughly preserved, and was buried again in a new coffin

at Lindisfarne. Almost two hundred years passed, when the Danes made an

incursion, and to escape them the monks took the body, with other

precious relics, and left Lindisfarne. During four years they wandered

about with their sacred charge, and ultimately settled near

Chester-le-Street, where the body of St. Cuthbert rested for over a

century; but another Danish invasion in 995 sent the saint's bones once

more on their travels, and they were taken to Ripon. The danger past,

the monks started on their return, transporting the coffin on a

carriage. They had arrived at the Wear, when suddenly the carriage

stopped and was found to be immovable. This event no doubt had a

meaning, and the monks prayed and fasted for three days to learn what it

was. Then the saint appeared in a vision and said he had chosen this

spot for his abode. It was a wild place, known as Dunhelm: the monks

went to the Dun, or headland, and erected a tabernacle for their ark

from the boughs of trees while they built a stone church, within which,

in the year 999, the body was enshrined. This church stood until after

the Norman Conquest, when the king made its bishop the Earl of Durham,

and his palatinate jurisdiction began.

The present Durham Cathedral was begun in 1093, with the castle

alongside. As we look at them from the railway-station, they stand a

monument of the days when the same hand grasped the pastoral staff and

the sword--"half house of God, half castle 'gainst the Scot." Upon the

top of the rocks, which are clad in foliage to the river's edge, on the

left hand, supported by massive outworks built up from halfway down the

slope, rises the western face of the castle. Beyond this, above a fringe

of trees, rises the lofty cathedral, its high central tower forming the

apex of the group and its two western towers looking down into the

ravine. The galilee in front appears built up from the depths of the

valley, and is supported by outworks scarcely less solid than those of

the castle. Durham, more than any other place in England, is a memorial

of the temporal authority of the Church, uniting the mitre and the

coronet. The plan of Durham Cathedral is peculiar in having the closed

galilee at the western end, instead of the open porch as is usual, while

the eastern end, which is wider than the choir, terminates abruptly,

having no Lady Chapel, but being in effect cut off, with a gable in the

centre and a great rose-window. As the galilee overhangs the ravine, the

principal entrance to the cathedral is from a fine northern porch. To

the portal is affixed a large knocker of quaint design, which in former

days was a Mecca for the fugitive, for the shrine of St. Cuthbert

enjoyed the right of sanctuary. When the suppliant grasped this knocker

he was safe, for over the door two monks kept perpetual watch to open at

the first stroke. As soon as admitted the suppliant was required to

confess his crime, whatever it might be. This was written down, and a

bell in the galilee tolled to announce the fact that some one had sought

"the peace of Cuthbert;" and he was then clothed in a black gown with a

yellow cross on the shoulder. After thirty-seven days, if no pardon

could be obtained, the malefactor solemnly abjured his native land for

ever, and was conveyed to the seacoast, bearing a white wooden cross in

his hand, and was sent out of the kingdom by the first ship that sailed.

[Illustration: DURHAM CATHEDRAL, FROM AN OLD HOMESTEAD ON THE WEAR.]

[Illustration: THE NAVE, DURHAM CATHEDRAL.]

The interior of Durham Cathedral is regarded as the noblest Norman

construction yet remaining in England. The arcade, triforium, and

clerestory are in fine proportion; the nave has a vaulted roof of

stone, and the alternate columns are clustered in plan, their middle

shafts extending from floor to roof. These columns are enriched with

zigzag, lattice, spiral, and vertical flutings. This cathedral, begun in

1093, was nearly two centuries building, and the Chapel of Nine Altars,

in honor of various saints, was erected at the eastern end in the

twelfth century. Some of these altars did duty for a pair of saints, St.

Cuthbert sharing the central one with St. Bede, a name only second to

his in the memories of Durham, so that the nine altars were availed of

to reverence sixteen saints. Behind the reredos a platform extends a

short distance into this chapel at a height of six feet above the floor.

A large blue flagstone is let into the platform, with shallow grooves on

either hand. Here stood St. Cuthbert's shrine, highly ornamented, and

having seats underneath for the pilgrims and cripples who came to pray

for relief. This being never wanting, we are told that the shrine came

to be so richly invested that it was esteemed one of the most sumptuous

monuments in England, so numerous were the offerings and jewels bestowed

upon it. Among the relics here accumulated was the famous Black Rood of

Scotland, the prize of the battle of Neville's Cross, fought near

Durham. There were also many relics of saints and martyrs, scraps of

clothing of the Saviour and the Virgin, pieces of the crown of thorns

and of the true cross, vials containing the milk of the Virgin Mother

and the blood of St. Thomas, besides elephants' tusks and griffins'

claws and eggs, with myriads of jewels. In 1104, St. Cuthbert's body was

deposited in this shrine with solemn ceremonies, and it rested there

undisturbed until the dissolution of the monasteries, reverentially

watched, day and night, by monks stationed in an adjoining chamber. Then

the shrine was destroyed and the treasures scattered, the coffin opened,

and St. Cuthbert buried beneath the slab, so that now the only remnants

visible are the furrows worn in the adjoining pavement by the feet of

the ancient worshippers. Tradition tells that the exact position of St.

Cuthbert's grave is known only to three Benedictine monks, of whom Scott

writes:

"There, deep in Durham's Gothic shade,

His relics are in secret laid,

But none may know the place,

Save of his holiest servants three,

Deep sworn to solemn secrecy,

Who share that wondrous grace."

The corpse, however, rests beneath the blue slab. In 1827 it was raised,

and, while other human remains were found, there was disclosed beneath

them, in a coffin, a skeleton vested in mouldering robes, and with it

various treasures, which, with the robes, accord with the description of

those present in St. Cuthbert's coffin when opened in 1104. The skeleton

was reinterred in a new coffin, and the relics, particularly an ancient

golden cross and a comb, were placed in the cathedral library.

[Illustration: THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST, DURHAM CATHEDRAL.]

In the galilee of Durham Cathedral, near the south-eastern angle, is a

plain, low altar-tomb that marks the resting-place of St. Bede, commonly

known as "the Venerable Bede"--a title which angelic hands are said to

have supplied to the line inscribed on his tomb. He was the first

English historian, a gentle, simple scholar, who spent his life from

childhood in a monastery at Jarrow, near the mouth of the Wear, and took

his pleasure in learning, teaching, or writing. His great work was the

_Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation_, which occupied many

years in compilation, and is still the most trusted history of the

period of which it treats. His literary activity was extraordinary, and

he produced many other works. He was born near Durham in 672, and died

in 735. His devotion to literary work was such that even during his last

illness he was dictating to an amanuensis a translation of the Gospel of

St. John into Anglo-Saxon, and upon completing the last sentence

requested the assistant to place him on the floor of his cell, where he

said a short prayer, and expired as the closing words passed his lips.

He was buried where he had lived, at Jarrow, and as the centuries passed

the fame of his sanctity and learning increased. Then a certain AElfred

conceived the idea of stealing St. Bede's remains for the glorification

of Durham. Several times baffled, he at length succeeded, and carrying

the precious relics to Durham, they were for a time preserved in St.

Cuthbert's shrine, but were afterwards removed to a separate tomb, which

in 1370 was placed in the galilee, where it has since remained. At the

Reformation the shrine was destroyed, and St. Bede's bones, like St.

Cuthbert's, were buried beneath the spot on which the shrine had stood.

This tomb was opened in 1831, and many human bones were found beneath,

together with a gilt ring. The bones in all probability were St. Bede's

remains. Durham Cathedral contains few monuments, for reverence for the

solitude of St. Cuthbert whom it enshrined excluded memorials of other

men during several centuries.

[Illustration: THE GALILEE AND TOMB OF BEDE.]

The remains of the Benedictine monastery to which the care of these

shrines was entrusted are south of the cathedral, forming three sides of

a square, of which the cathedral nave was the fourth. Beyond is an open

green, with the castle on the farther side and old buildings on either

hand. From this green the castle is entered by a gateway with massive

doors, but, while the structure is picturesque, it is not very ancient,

excepting this gateway. It has mostly been rebuilt since the twelfth

century. This was the palace of the bishops of Durham, of whom Antony

Bek raised the power of the see to its highest point. He was prelate,

soldier, and politician, equally at home in peace or war, at the head of

his troops, celebrating a mass, or surrounded by his great officers of

state. He was the first who intruded upon the solitude of St. Cuthbert

by being buried in the cathedral. Here lived also Richard of Bury, noted

as the most learned man of his generation north of the Alps, and the

first English bibliomaniac. Bishop Hatfield also ruled at Durham, famous

both as architect and warrior. Cardinal Wolsey lived here when

Archbishop of York and his quarrel with Henry VIII. resulted in the

Durham palatinate beginning to lose part of its power, so that in the

days of his successor, Tunstall, it came to be the "peace of the king,"

and not of the bishop, that was broken within its borders. Here also

ruled the baron-bishop Crewe, who was both a temporal and a spiritual

peer, and Bishop Butler, the profound thinker. But the bishops live

there no longer, their palace being moved to Auckland, while the

university is located in the castle. It is the Northern University,

first projected in Cromwell's time. About a mile to the westward of

Durham was fought the battle of Neville's Cross in October, 1346. This

was a few months after Edward had won the battle of Crecy in France, and

the King of Scotland, taking advantage of the absence of the English

king and his army, swept over the Border with forty thousand men,

devastating the entire country. His chief nobles accompanied him, and to

encourage the troops the most sacred relic of Scotland, the "Black

Rood," a crucifix of blackened silver, was present on the battlefield.

This had been mysteriously delivered to David I. on the spot in

Edinburgh where to commemorate it Holyrood Abbey was afterwards founded.

But, though King Edward was in France, Queen Philippa was equal to the

emergency. An army was quickly gathered under Earl Neville, and Durham

sent its contingent headed by the warlike bishop. The invaders drew near

the walls of Durham, and the English army, inferior in numbers, awaited

them. To confront the "Black Rood," the bishop brought into camp an "ark

of God" in obedience to a vision: this was one of the cathedral's

choicest treasures, "the holy corporax cloth wherewith St. Cuthbert

covered the chalice when he used to say mass." This, attached to the

point of a spear, was displayed in sight of the army, while the monks

upon the cathedral towers, in full view of the battlefield, prayed for

victory for the defenders of St. Cuthbert's shrine. They fought three

hours in the morning, the Scotch with axes, the English with arrows;

but, as the watching monks turned from prayer to praise, the Scottish

line wavered and broke, for the banner of St. Cuthbert proved too much

for the Black Rood. The King of Scotland was wounded and captured, and

fifteen thousand of his men were slain, including many nobles. The Black

Rood was captured, and placed in the Nine Altars Chapel. Afterwards the

"corporax cloth" was attached to a velvet banner, and became one of the

great standards of England, being carried against Scotland by Richard

II. and Henry IV., and it waved over the English army at Flodden. When

not in use it was attached to St. Cuthbert's shrine. At the Reformation

the Black Rood was lost, and St. Cuthbert's banner fell into possession

of one Dean Whittingham, whose wife, the historian lamentingly says,

"being a Frenchwoman, did most despitefully burn the same in her fire,

to the open contempt and disgrace of all ancient relics." A narrow lane,

deeply fringed with ferns, leads out of Durham over the hills to the

westward of the town, where at a cross-road stand the mutilated remains

of Earl Neville's Cross, set up to mark the battlefield, now a wide

expanse of smoky country.