Cuthbert of Farne by Katharine Tiernan. Sacristy Press (Durham 2019). Pbk. 295 pages. £12.99.
Cuthbert of Farne tells the story of the life of St Cuthbert (634–688), some-time soldier, monk, hermit and bishop. This is, essentially, a biography, and I confess that I am strongly drawn to biographies. This is not just a dry chronological account of his life however, but is presented as a novel, enabling its writer to bring characters to life in a very real way, coloured by historical facts gleaned from two key sources; Bede's Life of Cuthbert and A Life by an Anonymous Monk of Lindisfarne.
Except for those who have studied his life in detail, Cuthbert is a little known figure. Many will be aware of his association with Lindisfarne (Holy Island as it is now best known – see Sofia 113) and have perhaps heard of the troubled journey, stretched over centuries, of the monks who took his body for interment at Durham Cathedral. In this book his progress from soldier through to bishop is documented in some detail, set in the carefully explained contexts of a split Church and State and the oft-changing relationship within and between the two.
Cuthbert began his monastic life around the time of the accession Oswy, King of Northumbria (654–670). We enter the court of the king and his wife Enfleda. We witness the power struggle between Oswy and neighbouring leaders. Oswy is much concerned with developments within the Church and is renowned, amongst other things, for engineering the Synod of Whitby (664), at which the King ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter according to the customs of Rome, rather than the customs practiced by Irish monks at Iona and its satellite institutions. The differences between the adherents of these two ideologies drive relationships between many characters in the book. The fortunes of various bishops and their rise and fall by royal favour provide the storyline through which Cuthbert is propelled. Cuthbert himself seeks the simple life, one devoted to religious adherence, avoiding as much as possible the push and pull between the various factions.
As much as possible, Cuthbert avoids the limelight. Perhaps because of his perceived integrity and his focus on the spiritual life he is friend, mentor and confidante to various royal figures. Most notable amongst these is Aelfled, a daughter of King Oswy, who in time becomes the second Abbess of Whitby (succeeding Hild, her royal cousin and more famous predecessor). She first meets Cuthbert when, aged 10, she is living out her childhood at Whitby under Hild's protection and instruction. As she herself takes over the reins she regularly seeks his counsel, and also nurses him through one of his periods of sickness and fatigue.
Cuthbert is effectively portrayed in this novel as a real human being. As a young soldier, aged just 17, his shock at the senseless violence of the victors in skirmishes with the Deiran King, Penda, is a key factor in steering him toward a life in the church. We are shown both the simple joys he finds in his new vocation, particularly as a hermit on his beloved Inner Farne, but also the very real temptations he has to overcome, as when, in 663, he narrowly avoids seduction by his pupil, the young Princess Aniel, daughter of Gartnait, King of the Picts.
Towards the very end of his life, in 685, Cuthbert's time as a hermit is ended when the new King makes him bishop, intent on using him as a peacemaker between the various factions of the Church, because of the universal respect in which he is held. From his base on Lindisfarne he pursues an exhausting programme of visits to all corners of his diocese, meeting with all, high and low, to achieve his purpose.
Katharine Tiernan ends her book with a beautiful and moving account of the visit made by Aelfled to Cuthbert's re-opened grave at Lindisfarne. Here she performs a ceremony for her lifelong friend, lovingly anointing and wrapping his body, reminiscent of the attentions paid to Christ himself, both during and after his life.
Through Cuthbert of Farne I met not just a saint but a very real human life, lived amidst turbulent times. It was a wonderful find.
John Pearson is a former chair of SOF trustees. He lives in Newcastle and often visits Lindisfarne.