Cuthbert's coffin in the new church at Durham; early in the twelfth
century it returned to Lindisfarne. Here it remained until the
dissolution of the monasteries, when its golden covers were torn off, and
the book came bare and unadorned into the hands of Sir Robert Cotton, and
passed with the rest of his treasures into the library of the British
Museum.
[Illustration: INITIAL LETTER FROM THE GOSPELS OF ST. CUTHBERT.]
Theodore of Tarsus had been consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in the
year 669. He brought with him a large quantity of books for use in his
new Greek school. These books were left by his will to the cathedral
library, where they remained for ages without disturbance. William
Lambarde, the Kentish antiquary, has left an account of their appearance.
He was speaking of Archbishop Parker, 'whose care for the conservation of
ancient monuments can never be sufficiently commended.' 'The reverend
Father,' he added, 'showed me the _Psalter of David_, and sundry homilies
in Greek, and Hebrew also, and some other Greek authors, beautifully
written on thick paper with the name of this Theodore prefixed,' to whose
library the Archbishop thought that they had belonged, 'being thereto led
by a show of great antiquity.'
The monks of Canterbury claimed to possess the books on pink vellum, with
rubricated capitals, which Pope Gregory had sent to Augustine. One of
these afterwards belonged to Parker, who gave it to Corpus Christi at
Cambridge: the experts now believe that it was written in the eighth
century 'in spite of the ancient appearance of the figure-painting.
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