Dr. Orton lived and studied in the beautiful city of Durham for four and a half years. Here, she explores the secrets of its patron saint, the fierce independence of the county Palatinate and the tradition of giving sanctuary at Durham Cathedral.
Durham Cathedral on the banks of the River Wear
My time as an undergraduate and research masters’ student in Durham was one of flourishing. I immersed myself in intellectual history, gorging my mind on the writings of Plato, David Hume and Edmund Burke. Many afternoons were spent in steamy coffee shops discussing philosophy, literature and physics with fellow students, or reading on the banks of the River Wear.
I also got to know the countryside surrounding the city. Often, I would get up before dawn to meet an old poacher who would teach me about the animals that live in the woods surrounding the city. I made my own discoveries, from the secret ruins of an abandoned mining village to the glory of the bluebell woods in spring.
As one of the filming locations of Harry Potter, Durham University was a veritable Hogwarts, its academic departments nestled in the bewitchingly beautiful cobbled streets beneath the splendour of the Cathedral and Castle. I discovered the traditions the collegiate system, from stiff formal dinners with erudite scholars to undergraduate high jinx: these are secrets I will always keep.
Harry Potter Classroom, Durham Cathedral
The city’s oldest secrets are freely revealed to those who ask. These are secrets of patron saints and protection, of relics pervaded with magic and of sanctuary for those who seek it.
To understand these secrets, we must start with St. Cuthbert, Durham’s patron saint.
The Legend of Saint Cuthbert
Healer, hermit and soothsayer, Cuthbert wanted nothing more than to live in remote places. He loved the secluded Northumbrian islands of Lindisfarne, cut off by the tide twice a day, and the even more isolated Inner Farne.
A Christian at a time in which Roman and Celtic Christianity were at loggerheads, Cuthbert was also a reluctant bishop to Northumbrian royalty. He made a deal with a Northumbrian Princess to serve as a bishop for before being allowed to retreat to the wilds of the coast.
Cuthbert died in 687 A.D. on the starkly beautiful Inner Farne. Eleven years later, his body was found completely uncorrupted when his tomb was opened in 698.
In death, Cuthbert’s body gained a still greater reputation for healing. Items related to him – his shoes, the soil soaked with the water that had cleansed the saint’s body for burial – were said to have miraculous properties.
The Dun Cow
Durham city was founded at the end of the tenth century when a group of monks from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne sought a resting place for the remains of St. Cuthbert, away from the Viking invaders who had raided the coast for decades.
According to chronicler and monk Simeon of Durham, the Viking raids stung “like hornets” and the Vikings attacked like “fierce wolves.” The Monks of Lindisfarne left in 875 to avoid the raids, taking Cuthbert’s body with them.
When they came to Warden Law (in modern-day Sunderland), the coffin came to a halt and would not move an inch further. The Bishop of Chester-le-Street decreed a holy feast, at which the spirit of St. Cuthbert himself appeared to the monk Eadmer and told him to take the coffin to Dun Holm (“hill island”).
The monks had no idea where this could be, but the coffin was able to move once more. When they came to Mount Joy, south east of Durham, they encountered a milkmaid who was looking for her Dun Cow, last seen at Dun Holm.
River view of the Cathedral
The monks followed the milkmaid to a beautiful wooded hill encircled on three sides by the River Wear. The structure they built there became the first Durham Cathedral and the rest of the city grew up around it. The original building was replaced by the spectacular Norman cathedral we see today.
The Palatinate
Durham has always been defiantly protective of its own identity. The city became the seat of a county palatine, an area with special autonomy from the rest of the kingdom. From 1075, the Bishop of Durham became a Prince-Bishop, with the power to hold their own parliament, raise armies, appoint sheriffs and justices, make laws, levy taxes, salvage shipwrecks, and mint their own coins.
Durham University was founded in 1832 by Bishop William Van Mildert, the last bishop to rule the Palatine.
Durham was also important in defending England against Scottish invasion. In 1346, the French called on their alliance with Scotland to distract the English from their war with France. The Scots invaded England from the North, but English troops were waiting for them at Durham. The two forces met at the Battle of Neville’s Cross and the English chased away the Scottish army.
The Rose Window, Durham Cathedral
The city remained loyal to King Charles I in the English Civil War and legend has it that Charles escaped down the Bailey and through Old Elvet when pursued by the Roundheads.
The Cathedral itself has traditionally been a place of sanctuary and the knocker on the northern door is known as the Sanctuary Knocker. Perhaps someone had committed murder in self-defence or broken out of prison or had stolen a horse – he simply had to use the Sanctuary Knocker to rap on the Cathedral door and he would be given 37 days of sanctuary.
Monks were on the lookout, and would give sanctuary-seekers a black robe embroidered with St. Cuthbert’s Cross sewn on the left shoulder. Food, drink and bedding and would be provided until the person’s safe departure from the diocese could be arranged.
Cuthbert as a Symbol of the People
The right to sanctuary was abolished in 1624, but today St. Cuthbert’s shrine the site of miracles and a place of pilgrimage. The Old English Durham is a short poem in praise of Durham as Cuthbert’s final resting place. Helen Appleton argues that the “selective and idealized description of the city of Durham” represents “Cuthbert’s homes on Farne and Lindisfarne in the hagiographic tradition.” The “wild spaces of Durham are represented in a manner that recalls events depicted in Cuthbert’s hagiographic tradition: the environment appears to be made productive by Cuthbert’s presence in the same way as the places he visited in life.”
Cuthbert and the Otters
Cuthbert became a symbol of the people, as a fierce protector in death as he was a revered healer in life. William the Conqueror had heard of the legend of St. Cuthbert and determined to challenge the sanctity of the saint and subdue the people of the North, he insisted on opening Cuthbert’s tomb himself.
On All Saints’ Day 1072, the tomb was opened, but William “found himself smitten by a sudden burning fever, which distracted him in an intolerable manner.” Seized with terror, he mounted his horse and fled, not even staying for the feast that had been prepared in his honour and not stopping until he was thirty miles away from the city.
In the late 1530s, Henry VIII ordered the destruction of the shrine and sent commissioners to strip it of precious metals and jewels. They found Cuthbert’s body uncorrupted; more proof that the legend of St. Cuthbert could not be erased.
His relics are acknowledged to protect the city. When the Nazis targeted Durham in the Baedeker bombings – air raids on beautiful, historic British cities – St. Cuthbert is said to have made a great mist rise up from the river to shroud the city, protecting it from the bombers.
The mist was certainly real, although sceptics have pointed out that it is not uncommon for mist to rise from the river. Believers point to the timing of the mist and to the longstanding folklore surrounding Cuthbert’s protection of the city.
“After all,” remarks Historian Martin Dufferwiel, “did not the monk, Symeon of Durham, tell us that 900 years ago St. Cuthbert had brought forth a similar mist to sow confusion and fear in the forces of the aggressor of that day, and it had halted for a while the march of William the Conqueror?”
Find Out More
Dr. Orton also explores the secrets of other European cities in her blog posts, Secrets of Siena, The (Real) Seven Secrets of Bologna and How to Get Into Berghain. If you’d like to learn more about Historical Mysteries, we have suggestions for a customisable course on this on our History page. Alternatively, if you’re interested in the rare, the niche and the esoteric aspects of the world’s most fascinating cities, take a look at our Interdisciplinary course, The Secret History of Cities.
These courses are templates of possible routes of study and can be combined, adapted, or designed from scratch to suit your interests and goals. Dr. Orton will work with you to design a course of private tutorials tailored to your needs, ability and schedule – whether you are undertaking your own research for an independent project, writing a book or simply have a personal interest. Click the link to find out what it’s like to work with her.
Contact us to find out more!
Undertake Your Own Research Project
Working on your own independent research project needn’t be a lonely task: Dr. Orton works with other independent scholars on projects in conservation and the humanities. Contact us for a chat with her.
If you’re not ready to reach out yet, follow our research methods series on this blog for more ideas! Dr. Orton has written posts on the importance of independent research and how to get started with building your own approach to ethical, people-centred fieldwork.
Reach Out
Follow our Orton Academy Instagram – we would love to connect with you!
Comentarios