Cuncacestre (

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at Sun ...

) was a seat of the

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

Bishop of Lindisfarne The Bishop of Durham is the Church of England, Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Pau ...

, and subsists as a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

Start of the Diocese

The church was established to house the body of

Cuthbert of Lindisfarne Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of ...

from 684 to 687. After his death he became one of the most venerated saints of the time, with a significant

cultus Cultus may refer to: *Cult (religious practice) * ''Cultus'' (stonefly), a genus of stoneflies * Cultus Bay, a bay in Washington * Cultus Lake (disambiguation) *Cultus River, a river in Oregon *Suzuki Cultus The Suzuki Cultus is a supermini car ...

and the

Venerable Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

writing both a verse and prose biography of him. So when driven out of

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

raids in 875 the monks, led by

Eardulf of Lindisfarne Eardulf of Lindisfarne (died 900) was Bishop of Lindisfarne for 46 years between 854, following the death of his predecessor, and his own death in 899.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 219Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chron ...

, took St Cuthbert's coffin along with other valuable items, including the

Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels (London, British Library Cotton MS Nero D.IV) is an illuminated manuscript gospel book probably produced around the years 715–720 in the monastery at Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, which is now in the B ...

. They wandered for seven years. They eventually settled at

(then called Cunecaster or Conceastre), at the site of the old Roman fort of

Concangis Concangis was an auxiliary castra in the Roman province of Lower Britain (''Britannia Inferior''). Its ruins are located in Chester-le-Street, Durham, in England, and are now known as Chester-le-Street Roman Fort. It is situated north of Dur ...

, in 883, on land granted to them by

Guthred Guthred Hardacnutsson (Old Norse: ''Guðrøðr''; la, Guthfridus; born c.844 – died 24 August 895 AD) was the Christian king of Viking Northumbria from circa 883 until his death. Life Kings of Northumbria in the Norse era The first known ...

. They built a wooden church and shrine for St Cuthbert's relics, dedicating it to St Mary and St Cuthbert. Though there was no shortage of stone in the ruins of Concangis they did not build a stone church; it has been suggested they did not intend to stay for as long as they eventually did. It was built within the Roman fort, which although abandoned over five hundred years before may have still offered some protection, as well as access north and south along

Cade's Road Cade's Road is a Roman Road in north-east England. It is named after John Cade of Durham, an 18th-century antiquarian who in 1785 proposed its existence and possible course from the Humber Estuary northwards to the River Tyne, a distance of ...

and to the sea by the

River Wear The River Wear (, ) in North East England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers, wends in a steep valley through th ...

Centre of Christianity

Cuncacestre was the centre of Christianity for much of the northeast, because it was the seat of the

, making the church a cathedral. The

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

stretched between the boundaries of

Danelaw The Danelaw (, also known as the Danelagh; ang, Dena lagu; da, Danelagen) was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian ...

at Teesside in the south, of

Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scottish people, Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed i ...

at Lothian in the north and the

Irish sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

in the west. The bishop's authority was confirmed by

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...

, and for the next 112 years the community was based here, visited by kings Athelstan and

Edmund Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...

who both left gifts for the community, to add to the treasures brought from Lindisfarne. Most notable among their treasures were the

, created in Lindisfarne around 715. They were bought with the monks after they left Lindisfarne. While here they were translated from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

into English, sometime between 947 and 968, by bishop Aldred writing a gloss in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

above the text, making them the oldest surviving English translation of the Gospels. The Gospels and St Cuthbert's coffin were important relics for the diocese and the monks.

Anglo Saxon Bishops

Transfer to Durham

Viking raids renewed under the reign of Ethelred II. In 995 Bishop Aldhun again found himself vulnerable to Danish attack and fled with St. Cuthbert's body to Ripon.

Danegeld Danegeld (; "Danish tax", literally "Dane yield" or tribute) was a tax raised to pay tribute or protection money to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the ''geld'' or ''gafol'' in eleventh-century sources. It ...

was paid again and peace was restored. Aldhun was on his way through

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

to reestablish the see at Chester-le-Street when he received a divine vision that the body of St Cuthbert should remain in Durham. A stone chapel was built to receive the remains of St. Cuthbert's body and Aldhun began a great church on the site of

Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...

, which was finished and consecrated in 999. The see and diocese of Lindisfarne (and Cuncacestre) was moved to Durham and the bishop's title became

Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

, with Aldhun becoming the first Bishop of Durham. The wooden church remained in place until replaced by a stone church in the mid 11th century, and is now the Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert.

Titular see

Since 13 May 2014, the

of Cuncacestre has been held by David Evans, an auxiliary bishop in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham.

References

Citations

* * * * {{refend Catholic titular sees in Europe Catholic Church in England