Editing Cuthbert (section)

===Relics===
[[File:St-Cuthbert-Incorrupt.png|thumb|left|The [[Incorruptibility|incorrupt body]] of Cuthbert from [[Bede]]'s Life of Cuthbert, 12th century]]
[[File:St Cuthberts Tomb.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Location of St Cuthbert's tomb and reburial in Durham Cathedral; behind is a damaged statue of St Cuthbert, holding the head of the [[Oswald of Northumbria|king St Oswald]] (whose head was reburied with Cuthbert)]]
According to [[Bede]]'s life of the saint, when Cuthbert's sarcophagus was opened eleven years after his death, his body was found to have been perfectly preserved or [[Incorruptibility|incorrupt]].{{sfn|Bede|721}} This apparent miracle led to the steady growth of Cuthbert's posthumous [[Cult (religious practice)|cultus]], to the point where he became the most popular saint of Northern England and Southern Scotland. Numerous miracles were attributed to his intercession and to intercessory prayer near his remains.

In 875 the [[Denmark|Danes]] took the monastery of Lindisfarne and the monks fled, carrying St Cuthbert's body with them around various places including [[Melrose Abbey|Melrose]].<ref name=Melrose/> After seven years' wandering it found a resting place at the still existing [[St Mary and St Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street|St Cuthbert's church]] in [[Chester-le-Street]] until 995, when another Danish invasion led to its removal to Ripon. Then the saint intimated, as it was believed, that he wished to remain in Durham. A new stone church—the so-called "White Church"—was built, the predecessor of the present grand Cathedral. In 999, his relics were enshrined in the new church on 4 September, which is kept as the feast of his translation at Durham Cathedral<ref>{{Cite web |title=Service schedule 23 August 20221 to 5 September 2021 |url=https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/_assets/media/editor/Service_Schedules/2021/service-schedule-2021-08-23-2021-0905.pdf |publisher=Durham Cathedral |accessdate=4 September 2021 |archive-date=4 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904080746/https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/_assets/media/editor/Service_Schedules/2021/service-schedule-2021-08-23-2021-0905.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and as an optional memorial in the Catholic Church in England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Calendar for England |url=http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Calendar/National/England1.shtml |publisher=The Catholic Church in England and Wales |accessdate=4 September 2021}}</ref>
In 1069 [[Æthelwine (bishop of Durham)|Bishop Æthelwine]] attempted to transport Cuthbert's body to Lindisfarne to escape from [[William the Conqueror|King William]] at the start of the [[Harrying of the North]].{{sfn|Fletcher |2003|p= 180}}

[[File:The Journey Cuthbert of Lindisfarne.JPG|thumb|right|''The Journey'', a modern sculpture showing the travels of the Lindisfarne community, by [[Fenwick Lawson]]. Shown here in the Millennium Square, [[Durham, England|Durham]].]]

In 1104 Cuthbert's tomb was opened again and his [[relics]] translated to a new [[shrine]] behind the [[altar]] of the recently completed Cathedral. When the casket was opened, a small book of the [[Gospel of John]], measuring 138 by 92 millimetres (5.4 × 3.6 inches), now known as the [[Saint Cuthbert Gospel]] (now [[British Library]] Additional MS 89000, formerly known as the Stonyhurst Gospel), was found. This is the oldest Western book to have retained its original [[bookbinding]], in finely decorated leather.<ref>[http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2012/04/st-cuthbert-gospel-saved-for-the-nation.html "St Cuthbert Gospel Saved for the Nation"], British Library Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts Blog, accessed 17 April 2012</ref> Also recovered much later were a set of [[vestments]] of 909–916, made of [[Byzantine silk]] with a "Nature Goddess" pattern, with a [[stole (vestment)|stole]] and decoration in extremely rare Anglian [[embroidery]] or ''[[opus anglicanum]]'', which had been deposited in his tomb by King [[Æthelstan]] (r. 927–939) on a pilgrimage while Cuthbert's shrine was at Chester-le-Street.{{sfn|Webster|2012|p=172}}{{sfn|Jones|n.d.}}

Cuthbert's shrine was destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but, unusually, his relics survived and are still interred at the site, although they were also disinterred in the 19th century, when his wooden coffin and various relics were removed. St Cuthbert's coffin (actually one of a series of several coffins), as reconstructed by [[Ernst Kitzinger]] and others, remains at the cathedral and is an important rare survival of Northumbrian carving on wood. When the coffin was last inspected on 17 May 1827, a 'Saxon' square cross of gold, embellished with garnets, in the characteristic splayed shape, used later as the heraldic emblem of St Cuthbert in the arms of Durham and Newcastle universities, was found.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}