The last rays of the evening sun illuminate the ruins of Lindisfarne Priory with the Castle in the distance, Holy Island, Northumberland, England, UK
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Contributor:
Jim Gibson / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
2JA2BX2File size:
64.2 MB (3.4 MB Compressed download)Releases:
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5920 x 3790 px | 50.1 x 32.1 cm | 19.7 x 12.6 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
26 May 2022More information:
The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded by Irish born Saint Aidan, who had been sent from Iona off the west coast of Scotland to Northumbria at the request of King Oswald around AD 635. It became the base for Christian evangelising in the North of England and also sent a successful mission to Mercia. Monks from the community of Iona settled on the island. Northumberland's patron saint, Saint Cuthbert, was a monk and later Abbot of the monastery, and his miracles and life are recorded by the Venerable Bede. Cuthbert later became Bishop of Lindisfarne. At some point in the early 700s the famous illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated Latin copy of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, was made probably at Lindisfarne and the artist was possibly Eadfrith, who later became Bishop of Lindisfarne. Sometime in the second half of the tenth century a monk named Aldred added an Anglo-Saxon (Old English) gloss to the Latin text, producing the earliest surviving Old English copies of the Gospels. The Gospels were illustrated in an insular style containing a fusion of Celtic, Germanic and Roman elements; they were probably originally covered with a fine metal case made by a hermit called Billfrith. In A.D. 793 (796 per some authorities), a Viking raid on Lindisfarne caused much consternation throughout the Christian west, and is now often taken as the beginning of the Viking Age. A very famous passage in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reads: In this year fierce, foreboding omens came over the land of Northumbria. There were excessive whirlwinds, lightning storms, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. These signs were followed by great famine, and on January 8th the ravaging of heathen men destroyed God's church at Lindesfarne. The date, 8th of January is probably erroneous as the vikings never sailed during the winter. June 8th would have been the more likely date which should have been recorded in the Saxon Chronicle as the vikings