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Above: St. Aidan's Statue, Holy Island, Northumberland. Photo courtesy of freefoto.com

Prime Minister Tony Blair and The Millennium History of North East England by David Simpson. Photo courtesy of The Northern Echo

 

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Timeline of North East History

WILFRID AND CUTHBERT (continued) 678AD - 688AD

By David Simpson

678AD – BISHOPRICS BROKEN(North)
The bishopric of York is broken into two parts based at York and Hexham. The bishopric of Hexham extends from the Tweed to the Tees, York extends from the Tees to the Humber.

680AD – WILFRID ARRESTED
(Dunbar)
St Wilfrid is arrested by Ecgfrith’s men and imprisoned at Dunbar after returning to Northumbria with papal documents overthrowing the division of the Northumbrian bishoprics. Wilfrid is released but flees to Sussex to help covert this last pagan kingdom in England to Christianity.

November 17, 680AD – ST HILDA DIES
(Whitby)
St Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, dies. She is succeeded by Aelfled, daughter of the late King Oswy. Meanwhile
Caedmon of Whitby is becoming famous for poetic compositions based on religious themes and is arguably England’s first known poet.

681AD – HEXHAM DIOCESE DIVIDED
(North-East)
The Bishopric of Hexham has been divided into two with the re-establishment of a separate bishopric at Lindisfarne. Hexham’s diocese now extends from the River Aln to the River Tees.

684AD – NORTHUMBRIANS INVADE ULSTER
(Ireland)
King Ecgfrith of Northumbria has sent an army into Meath in Northern Ireland in the hope of expanding his empire. St Cuthbert strongly advised him against the attack.

685AD – CUTHBERT BISHOP OF LINDISFARNE
(York)
St Cuthbert is elected Bishop of Hexham at a synod near Alnmouth but he requests a transfer to Lindisfarne. He is consecrated Bishop of Lindisfarne at York on April 7 in the presence of King Ecgfrith.

May 20, 685AD – PICTS KILL NORTHERN KING
(Caledonia)
King Ecgfrith of Northumbria is killed fighting Brude, King of Caledonia. It symbolises the end to a period of Northumbrian expansion. The Northumbrian bishopric of Abercorn near Edinburgh is abandoned.

685AD – NEW KING ENCOURAGES CELTIC ART
(North)
Aldfrith is the new King of Northumbria. He is the illegitimate son of the late King Oswy and an Irish princess. Art and learning will flourish and great works of Celtic art will be encouraged by the new King who was educated in Ireland.

685AD – JARROW ESTABLISHED
(Jarrow and Wearmouth)
Benedict Biscop has completed the monastery of St Paul’s, Jarrow, as a twin monastery to Monkwearmouth. Bede, a boy of nine, is transferred from Wearmouth to the new site.

686AD – PLAGUE HITS WEARMOUTH AND JARROW
(Jarrow)
Plague has hit the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow while their founder Benedict Biscop is in Rome. Bede and the Abbot Ceolfrith of Jarrow are among the few survivors of the plague.

March 30, 686AD – ST CUTHBERT BECOMES A HERMIT
(Lindisfarne)
St Cuthbert has resigned as Bishop of Lindisfarne and returned to the island of Inner Farne as a hermit. St Wilfrid has returned to Northumbria to take over.

686AD – ST CUTHBERT DIES ON INNER FARNE
(Lindisfarne)
St Cuthbert has died on Inner Farne Island with only sea birds and seals for company. Northumbria is mourning the loss of one of its best loved saints.

688AD – ST WILFRID BECOMES BISHOP OF HEXHAM
(Hexham)
St Wilfrid has become the Bishop of Hexham after John of Beverley retired to become a hermit. Eadbert succeeds Wilfrid at Lindisfarne.

WILFRID AND CUTHBERT (Anglo-Saxon period) Other dates

678AD / 690-735 AD

THE TIMELINE BY ERA

ROMAN PERIOD

ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD

VIKING PERIOD

NORMAN PERIOD

MEDIEVAL PERIOD

TUDOR AND STUART PERIOD

GEORGIAN PERIOD

VICTORIAN PERIOD

TWENTIETH CENTURY

 

THE MILLENNIUM HISTORY OF NORTH EAST ENGLAND

by David Simpson

Published by leighton in association with The Northern Echo

ISBN 0-9536984-3-2

The Millennium History of North East England by David Simpson is published by Leighton, The Teleport, Doxford International, Sunderland, SR3 3XD, Tel +44 (0) 191 5252400 Fax +44 (0) 520 1815 www.bepl.com. The book is a 322 page full colour hard back book covering the history of the region from Roman times to the present day. To order copies of the book you can e-mail Andrea.Murphy@bepl.com

Author David Simpson and Paul Callaghan, Managing Director of leighton at the book launch held at Lumley Castle, Durham December 1999

www.northeastengland.talktalk.net