Feast of Saint Cuthbert

On the feast of Saint Cuthbert (Cuthbert died March 20, 687), who has been covered in a previous post, two passages that reference him.  The first is from Scott's "The Lord of the Isles" (canto X).  The second from John Barbour's "The Brus" (Book IV, v.1), which provided reference for the Scott passage.  Barbour's work is included as an explanatory note to "The Lord of the Isles" in "The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott".  The historical reference is to Robert Bruce receiving a false signal, in the form of a bonfire on the shore near Turnberry Castle, which was his mother's ancestral home, that indicated he should re-enter Scotland.

 Scott:

"...'Twas I,' said Edward, 'found employ Of nobler import for the boy. Deep pondering in my anxious mind,
A fitting messenger to find,
To bear thy written mandate o'er
To Cuthbert on the Carrick shore,
I chanced, at early dawn, to pass
The chapel gate to snatch a mass.
I found the stripling on a tomb
Low-seated, weeping for the doom
That gave his youth to convent gloom.
I told my purpose, and his eyes
Flash'd joyful at the glad surprise.
He bounded to the skiff, the sail
Was spread before a prosperous gale,
And well my charge he hath obey'd ;
For, see ! the ruddy signal made,
That Clifford, with his merry-men all,
•Guards carelessly our father's hall.'  ..."


 Barbour:
 
"...Thai rowit fast, with all thair mycht,
Till that apon thaim fell the nycht,
That woux myrk. apon gret mancr,
Swa that thai wyst nocht quhar thai wer
For thai na nedill had, na stane ;
Bot rowyt alwayis in till anc,
Sterand all tyme apon the fyr,
That thai saw brynnand lycht and schyr12
It wes bot auentur 13 thaim led :
And thai in schort tyme sa thaim sped.
That at the fyr arywyt thai;
And went to land bot mar delay.
And Cuthbert, that has sene the fyr,
Was full off angyr, and off ire:
For he durst nocht do it away;
And wes alsua dowtand ay
That his lord suld pass to se.
Tharfor thair cummyn waytit he,
And met thaim at thair arywing.
He wes wele sone broucht to the King,
That speryt at him how he had done.
And he with sar hart tauld him sone.
How that he fand nane weill luffand;
Bot all war fayis, that he fand:
And that the lord the Persy,
With ner thre hundre in cumpany,
Was in the castell thar besid,
Fullfillyt off dispyt and prid.
Bot ma than twa partis off his rowt
War herberyt in the toune without;
"And dyspytyt vow mar, Schir King,
Than men may dispyt ony thing."
Than said the King, in full gret ire;
" Tratour, quhy maid thowthan the fyr?"—
" A I Schyr," said he, " sa God me se I
The fyr wes newyr maid for me.
Na, or the nycht, I wyst it nocht;
Bot fra I wyst it, weill I thocht
That ye, and haly your menye,
In hy M suld put yow to the se.
For thi I cum to mete yow her,
To tell perellys that may aper."

St. Cuthbert

St. Cuthbert was a shepherd boy, early in life, and rose to become Bishop of Lindisfarne, a Northumbrian island. His fame increased in death, due to his body being moved several times, and appearing to be uncorrupted, though many years had passed. He died in 688, and required his order of monks to remove from Lindisfarne, with his remains, in the event of invasion by the Danes. It was 11 years later that Cuthbert's remains were exhumed, in this instance to provide him with a more honorable resting place. It was at this exhumation that stories of Cuthbert's incorruptible body started; miracles soon followed.

Nearly 200 years later, in 875, the Lindisfarne monks did indeed have to flee, due to a Danish threat. They took Cuthbert with them. It took until 882 for Cuthberts remains to find a temporary resting place; in Chester-le-Street; county Durham, England. In 995, Cuthbert was on the move once more. Danes again. This wandering ended in Duirholm (deer's meadow), where Cuthbert's wanderings stopped. The Cathedral of Durham was built on the spot where Cuthbert was lain.

Cuthbert is covered in Scott's Marmion:

St. Cuthbert's Beads

On a rock by Lindisfarne,
Saint Cuthbert sits, and toils to frame
The sea-borne beads that bear his name:
Such tales had Whitby's fishers told,
And said they might his shape behold,
And hear his anvil sound;
A deadened clang - a huge dim form,
Seen but, and heard, when gathering storm,
And night were closing round...