Manuscripts in Northumbria in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries

In the century after the Norman conquest a new elite came to power in northern England, in the old Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. The processes of assimilation are followed here through a detailed study of the libraries which belonged to the religious institutions of the region and their surviving manuscripts. The changes in the perception and writing of the region's history are discussed together with the production of the manuscripts in which the works survive. Changes in script, illumination and codicology are demonstrated, and discussed as evidence both of new cultural influences and of interaction between the networks of religious houses in the region. The introduction of new religious orders and their interaction with existing cathedrals and monasteries, and the ongoing role of the cults of the region's major saints are given particular attention, using evidence from the surviving manuscripts.

ANNE LAWRENCE-MATHERS is Lecturer in History, University of Reading.