St Cuthbert, His Life and Cult in Medieval Durham

First Edition. octavo, black boards in pictorial dust jacket. 112pp. The British Library, Cuthbert became, upon his death in 687, one of the most important medieval saints and a key figure in the religious and political life of Northumbria. Upon the assassination of Thomas Becket in 1170, Cuthbert's popularlity diminished and the monastic community at Durham exerted special efforts to revive his cult. This involved the construction of new buildings to attract pilgrims, and the production of beautiful books, vestments and metalwork to embellish the saint's shrine. As well as the history of Cuthbert himself, this book also focuses on one of the most sumptuously decorated Lives of Cuthbert produced during this critical period and explains its central importance to the revivla of the cult. All 46 extant miniatures from this manuscript in the British Library's colleciton. octavo, black boards in pictorial dust jacket.