The treasures of Saint Cuthbert

This is the coffin made for Saint Cuthbert in 698, eleven years after his death. He had been buried on Lindisfarne, and the monks planned to transfer his bones to a ‘reliquary’ or small box, to be kept in the church. However, when his grave was opened the body was discovered to be ‘incorrupt’ – no decay had taken place – which was a sign of great sainthood. A new coffin had to be quickly made.

The coffin is made from oak wood, with decoration carved using knives and a very narrow hollow chisel or gouge. The figures on it include Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, apostles and archangels. Among the earliest surviving objects of its kind, the coffin provides a unique example of techniques used for decorating wooden items in the 600s. The coffin is also probably the earliest example of an object with inscriptions using both runes (Viking carved lettering) and Roman letters.

Most of the fragments were recovered from Cuthbert’s tomb when it was opened in 1827. In 1899 the tomb was opened again and Canon William Greenwell recovered some further fragments missed in the earlier excavation. It was Greenwell who first attempted to fit the pieces together and reconstruct the coffin as it can be seen today.

Dating from the 600s, this portable altar was probably used by Saint Cuthbert and buried with him when he died in 687. The oak wood is decorated with five crosses, one in each corner and one at the centre, and it has an inscription dedicating it to Saint Peter. A silver casing was added in the early 700s when Cuthbert was recognised as a saint. It was listed among the objects buried with St Cuthbert when his coffin was opened in 1104.

During his lifetime, Cuthbert was a missionary as well as a priest and a monk. He travelled around Northumbria preaching and baptising the local people. He would have carried with him everything he needed to hold a religious service – a bell to summon the people, service books, a chalice, and a portable altar.

Made of silk fabric with silk and gold thread decoration, these early medieval ‘vestments’ (religious robes) date from the early 900s. They are the earliest pieces of embroidery from this period in England, and the only surviving examples featuring full-length human figures. Inscriptions on the back of the end panels tell us they were originally made at the command of Queen Aelfflaed for Frithestan, Bishop of Winchester. The vestments were presented to Saint Cuthbert by her step-son King Athelstan when he visited his shrine at Chester-le-Street in 934.

The vestments include:

- A ‘stole’ or long, narrow scarf, decorated with figures of Old Testament prophets and Apostles.

- A ‘maniple’, a narrow strip of material worn over the left forearm by a priest and used to wipe the altar vessels, decorated with figures of saints.

- A ‘girdle’ or narrow belt, originally thought to be another maniple, as at some point it has been cut in half and the pieces sewn together along the long edge.

- ‘Bracelets’ or narrow strips of embroidered silk, which would have been sewn onto the cuffs of a garment.