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101005 Pictures << Previous Picture | Next Picture >> Lindisfarne, Northumberland
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Unless otherwise stated, this image is the copyright of the submitter. Contact them for permission to reproduce it. |  | | Description | History Gallery. Lindisfarne's Norman priory stands on the site of an Anglo-Saxon monastery founded by St Aidan in A.D 635, on land granted by Oswald, King and Saint of Northumbria.
The conversion of our Northumbrian ancestors to Christianity by the Lindisfarne's first Bishop, Aidan, and warrior King Oswald, cannot have been an easy task. Anglo-Saxon Gods, Woden and Thunor, were a hard act to follow!
In 654 Cuthbert came to Lindisfarne, where his reputed gift of healing and legendary ability to work miracles, achieved far reaching fame for this tiny island.
When Cuthbert died in 687 A.D, he was buried in accordance with his wishes on the holy island of Lindisfarne, but eleven years after his death, his body was found to be in an in-corrupt state by the astonished monks of the island!
The monks were now convinced that Cuthbert was a saint and pilgrims continued to flock to Lindisfarne in numbers as great as during Cuthbert's lifetime.
His remains now reside in Durham cathedral.
In 793 A.D Lindisfarne was to witness the first ever Viking raid on the coast of Britain.
Recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle;
" In the year 793, terrible portents appeared over Northumbria, which sorely affrighted the inhabitants: there were exceptional flashes of lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying through the air. A great famine followed hard upon these signs; and a little later in that same year, on the 8th June, the harrying of the heathen miserably destroyed God's church by rapine and slaughter. "
The Vikings would raid, pillage and settle in Northern England until the famous English warrior, King Harold, destroyed the Viking army for good, at the battle of Stamford Bridge (York) in 1066! |
| Posted Comments: TimPrevett
(2006-08-17) | Shame poor Harold couldn't enjoy this victory for long... there's a Chester legend that Harold wasn't killed at Hastings, but in fact retired to obscurity as hermit by the River Dee in Chester. An area called "The Hermitage" is where he spent his days, allegedly.
Regarding the question of the conversion to Christianity, if you think about it in terms of Market Dynamics, what did the new faith have to offer that was different than the old? What made them dump their old Gods for a new One? Fascinating.
Lovely shot too :o) | Ethelwulf
(2006-08-17) | I hope that liegendistrue, Tim!
I always have a soft spot for Harold - fighting powerful enemies at either side. I always find it inexplicable, that a country as vast as England (1 million inhabitants then) could only scrape together 8000 soldiers (most of them the' fyrd' - farmers) to defend the realm! |
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