Cuthbert of Farne
History teaches us that Saint Cuthbert was a monk and hermit in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. He was buried at Lindisfarne Abbey, but when his coffin was first moved, it was opened, and his body was found to be perfect, hence the saintly appellation. His remains now lie in Durham Cathedral and still attract visitors today. He was present at the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD when the final decision was made for the English Church to adopt the Roman Rule introduced by Saint Augustine rather than that practised by the Irish monks who brought Celtic Christianity to Iona much earlier.
So much for the facts which come mainly from Bede and an earlier anonymous life written by the monks of Lindisfarne Abbey. In Cuthbert of Farne, Katharine Tiernan puts flesh on the bare bones of the members of the ruling family of the kingdom of Northumbria in the years before the Normans took possession of England. In addition, she shows us that the reaction to the decision made at Whitby was not as clear-cut or amicable as history tells us. Here, this is depicted in the dislike (or even hatred) between Cuthbert and Wilfred, also Northumbrian-born and both present at that Synod, each representing a side of the divide. The author is very much on Cuthbert’s side and, although the author takes his point of view, I would have preferred more balance in her depiction of these two men. However, what I did like, because it was refreshing, is that the author focuses on the wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and aunts of these belligerent Saxon menfolk.
Partly because I have often visited and love the iconic seascapes of the novel’s settings—Melrose, Lindisfarne, Bamburgh and Whitby—and because the experiences of women (plus the monks and nuns) of Anglo-Saxon history too often are neglected, I thoroughly recommend this well-written novel.
