0:00:03 > 0:00:05When we think of monasteries in Britain,
0:00:05 > 0:00:09we think of Henry VIII and the Dissolution.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13But their story stretches back 1,000 years before Henry
0:00:13 > 0:00:16was born, to the most remarkable of beginnings.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23The monastic system that will be torn apart by Henry began
0:00:23 > 0:00:29as a cult of extreme isolation on rocky islands and in desert caves.
0:00:31 > 0:00:32From these origins,
0:00:32 > 0:00:37the monasteries grew to dominate every aspect of public life.
0:00:38 > 0:00:44The story of Britain's Millennium of Monasteries is one of devotion
0:00:44 > 0:00:51and faith but also of ambition, violence and greed.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56As the monks grew in power, they transformed society,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59but they also absorbed its corruption.
0:01:00 > 0:01:06The difference between their original austere ideals and this,
0:01:06 > 0:01:13the palatial opulence of a high medieval monastery, is breathtaking.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18It's a contradiction they would never fully escape
0:01:18 > 0:01:22and one that would eventually lead to their destruction.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26In this episode,
0:01:26 > 0:01:30we trace the evolution of British monasteries from desolate
0:01:30 > 0:01:35privation on seaside rocks to the heart of Anglo-Saxon power.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39We follow the holy struggle,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41posing monastic ideals...
0:01:43 > 0:01:46..the home-grown Celtic tradition of spiritual suffering...
0:01:48 > 0:01:51..and the Roman model of discipline and regimented worship.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56The ascetic mystics versus God's army.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22This stunning but inhospitable rock is called Skellig Michael.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27It lies ten miles off the west coast of Ireland.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31From as early as the sixth century,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35it was home to a community of monks, and near its summit
0:02:35 > 0:02:39is one of the best-preserved ancient monasteries in Europe.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45Both the words monk and monastery
0:02:45 > 0:02:47come from the Greek monos...
0:02:48 > 0:02:50..meaning alone.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56For people wanting to be alone,
0:02:56 > 0:03:01I can't think of anywhere more suitable than this.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05Even in a boat with a modern engine, it's been hard getting here.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07It could be very treacherous,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11the way that the swell bashes against these rocks.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15If they managed to make the dangerous journey, the early monks
0:03:15 > 0:03:20that came here faced more than a 600-foot climb up to the monastery.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34Skellig is an example of early Christian monasticism,
0:03:34 > 0:03:39a cult of extreme isolation and self-deprivation that had spread
0:03:39 > 0:03:43across Europe from the Middle East in the fourth and fifth centuries.
0:03:57 > 0:03:58Wow.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06This is just the most incredible place.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09I can't believe the view, and then to find this
0:04:09 > 0:04:11all this way up.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13Incredible.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18These cells, they're still...
0:04:18 > 0:04:22They're so intact, over 1,000 years being hit by the elements...
0:04:23 > 0:04:24..still standing.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37The early monks that came to this rock in the middle
0:04:37 > 0:04:41of the ocean were emulating the example of Christian hermits
0:04:41 > 0:04:45that had retreated into the deserts of Egypt and Syria.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50There are no deserts in Ireland, so the sea is the next best thing.
0:04:50 > 0:04:56And these desert hermits were taking inspiration from Christ's struggle
0:04:56 > 0:05:00with Satan in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05God's favour, they believed, could be gained through privation.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11The first of these desert fathers was an Egyptian named Anthony.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17From around the year 270, he lived alone in a desert cave
0:05:17 > 0:05:22where for 20 years, he battled the demons of greed
0:05:22 > 0:05:23and lust.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30His feats of hermetic self-deprivation gave him
0:05:30 > 0:05:33the spiritual strength to fight the Devil's temptations
0:05:33 > 0:05:38and his suffering in this world would be rewarded in the next.
0:05:41 > 0:05:47Anthony first attracted sightseers then followers seeking salvation.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53Soon, the deserts were said to have been filled with hermits.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02These colonies of hundreds of hermits soon evolved
0:06:02 > 0:06:05into loose-knit communities.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10They lived solitary lives in scattered caves and shelters
0:06:10 > 0:06:13but they would share their communal buildings, like the bakery
0:06:13 > 0:06:17and the church, coming together once a week.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21And as these communities became more organised, the central and
0:06:21 > 0:06:27possibly contradictory idea at the very heart of monasticism was born.
0:06:27 > 0:06:33It's a place of isolation and solitude combined with community.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Monks came together to be alone.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49I am meeting archaeologist John Sheehan to discover what life
0:06:49 > 0:06:51was like for the zealot monks of Skellig.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00John, what would possess a person to come and live up here?
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Well, obviously, the monks who came out here were driven
0:07:03 > 0:07:08by some sort of ideal - the ideal of isolation, seeking isolation.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Is there a sense in which they are emulating
0:07:11 > 0:07:14- the suffering of Christ, perhaps? - Yeah, absolutely.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17I mean, there was pain involved in being a monk.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20Sometimes it was inflicted, perhaps it was chosen as well,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23and perhaps that's what we're looking at, too.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Life in the desert was hard and obviously life here was going
0:07:26 > 0:07:30to be hard too, so pain came with part of being a monk
0:07:30 > 0:07:32in a location like this.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36And in fact, we know from the burials that have been excavated here
0:07:36 > 0:07:39that the monks had a very harsh lifestyle.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41A lot of the human remains, the spine,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45the vertebrae and so on show that they suffered injuries,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49they carried great weights, they probably died in a great deal
0:07:49 > 0:07:52of pain. And of course, they weren't all adult monks
0:07:52 > 0:07:56because we have a significant number of child monks found
0:07:56 > 0:08:00- and represented among the burials here as well.- How young?
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Between 9 and 12 years of age.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05- Gosh, 9 to 12-year-olds living up here.- Absolutely, and dying here.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08- And dying here, and having to do all the labour, as well.- Absolutely.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11What do we see on the bones to indicate that they were
0:08:11 > 0:08:14- pushing their bodies hard? - A variety of things.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17For instance, you see evidence for malnutrition
0:08:17 > 0:08:21in some of the skeletons. A deficiency of iron also shows up
0:08:21 > 0:08:25in the bones. Predominantly they were eating fish,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28which of course they caught off the rocks around us,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31they ate a lot of sea birds - they seem to have been roasting them -
0:08:31 > 0:08:34and that would explain to some extent the iron deficiency when they died.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39It's a beautiful day today and it's been harsh enough getting up here.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42I can't imagine what it must be like in the depths of winter.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44Yeah, I mean, obviously we are out in the Atlantic,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47we're miles from the mainland. The wind, the rain, the storms
0:08:47 > 0:08:49and all of that, so it would have been...
0:08:49 > 0:08:52It's very difficult to imagine what it would have been like.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54But the beehive cells, they're well designed, aren't they?
0:08:54 > 0:08:56They hold out the elements.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Absolutely. Very, very thick walls, they're waterproofed
0:08:59 > 0:09:02because all of the storms and they tilt outwards slightly,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05so they would be the best quality housing that you could have had
0:09:05 > 0:09:07in a location like this, by far.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11- I can't imagine one night, let alone a lifetime up here, you know?- Yeah.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14Well, of course, the lifetimes that the monks spent up here
0:09:14 > 0:09:15may not have been all that long.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21The oldest aged skeleton excavated here was in his 50s. He did well.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23Now, he also suffered a lot, I suspect,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26from the bones in his final years, but he was the oldest.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Most of them tend to die in their 20s and 30s.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41To try to understand what attracted monks to this hard life of isolation
0:09:41 > 0:09:45and self-denial, I've come to Mount St Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51Founded in 1835,
0:09:51 > 0:09:53it's a community where the brothers
0:09:53 > 0:09:57have committed themselves to a permanently cloistered life
0:09:57 > 0:10:01dedicated to solitude, prayer and penitence.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07I'm meeting the Abbot, Father Erik Varden.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13I suppose one of the things people would think about choosing
0:10:13 > 0:10:16a monastic life is all the things you give up,
0:10:16 > 0:10:22all the rules that are imposed to restrict freedoms, you might say.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25The things that we give up as monks are things
0:10:25 > 0:10:31we give up in order to be more fit and more focused in the pursuit
0:10:31 > 0:10:35of what is our deepest desire and what is our real purpose.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40So it's not as though that some great sacrifice that we dwell on
0:10:40 > 0:10:43or feel the pain of, but it's rather a matter
0:10:43 > 0:10:46of shedding excess baggage, if you like.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49What you most want is...
0:10:50 > 0:10:55..to enter into a living communion with God to become...
0:10:57 > 0:11:01..by grace, and even starting with the most unpromising raw material,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04to become Christ-like.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08Is there the empathy for his suffering that comes through
0:11:08 > 0:11:12more strongly when you dedicate your life to monasticism?
0:11:12 > 0:11:17An early definition of the monk or an early
0:11:17 > 0:11:22description of the monk is that of the monk as a crucified man,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25which sounds like a terrifying proposition
0:11:25 > 0:11:27and indeed it is a terrifying proposition,
0:11:27 > 0:11:33and what that means is that you actually see the world with the eyes
0:11:33 > 0:11:39of Christ and you see the world with His compassion and with His mercy.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Is enclosure very important to a monastic life,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46this idea of being protected with...inside the cloister?
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Sure enough, the monastic enclosure cuts us off from a certain
0:11:50 > 0:11:55number of, if you like, superficial temptations,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58but it is within the enclosure and staying...
0:11:59 > 0:12:02..increasingly enclosed also within ourselves
0:12:02 > 0:12:08that we encounter deeper and much more insidious temptations,
0:12:08 > 0:12:12and that is where the real battle is joined -
0:12:12 > 0:12:17the battle against pride, against selfishness,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20against my primary appetites...
0:12:21 > 0:12:27..and it is that engagement with what the early monks called
0:12:27 > 0:12:33the passions which is the real work and travail of the monk,
0:12:33 > 0:12:39and enclosure plays a crucial part
0:12:39 > 0:12:42in keeping him engaged in that battle
0:12:42 > 0:12:47and keeping him from running away when it becomes difficult.
0:12:47 > 0:12:53By going into solitude, into the wilderness, what the monk aspires
0:12:53 > 0:12:59to do is to go deep in himself, and that can sometimes be a painful
0:12:59 > 0:13:05business because not all the things we find in our heart are agreeable.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08It is interesting talking to you, Father,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12because to me it is such a balancing act, being a monk.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14It must be a challenging life at times.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18But that's also why it's such a beautiful life.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Because...
0:13:20 > 0:13:24it is a life that holds out to us,
0:13:24 > 0:13:30a well-tried and tested way of becoming whole and healed
0:13:30 > 0:13:33and so to be able to respond
0:13:33 > 0:13:37ever more fully to the call of God,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41and perhaps even to be able to provide
0:13:41 > 0:13:45a little bit of light for others in their search.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Christianity, and probably monasticism,
0:13:52 > 0:13:57first arrived in Britain during the Roman occupation.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59But when the legions departed,
0:13:59 > 0:14:05pagan Anglo-Saxon invaders pushed Christianity to the western fringes.
0:14:08 > 0:14:09Throughout this time,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13monasteries were being established across Gaul - that's roughly
0:14:13 > 0:14:18modern-day France - where the Roman Empire had lingered a little longer.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22One source says that the man credited with bringing Christianity
0:14:22 > 0:14:24here to Ireland, St Patrick,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28actually studied in one of these Gaulish monasteries.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32In reality, Christianity had arrived here somewhat earlier -
0:14:32 > 0:14:35it had seeped over from Roman Britain.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39But monasteries, like this one at Labbamolaga, began to appear
0:14:39 > 0:14:45across Ireland soon after Patrick's missions of 432.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Because they were disconnected from mainland Christian Europe,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53in particular Rome and the papacy, the monasteries that developed
0:14:53 > 0:14:59across Celtic lands were rather different to those on the Continent.
0:14:59 > 0:15:05Monasticism on the Continent evolved as part of the existing Roman church
0:15:05 > 0:15:08hierarchy, but the Romans hadn't come to Ireland.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15It was a rural, pagan society with power vested in great families.
0:15:16 > 0:15:22Celtic monasticism grafted itself on to this existing clan system
0:15:22 > 0:15:25and began to serve as their conduits to God.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32It's no coincidence that this monastery was built
0:15:32 > 0:15:36on the site of a pagan ritual monument.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39You can see the ancient stones out there in the field.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44This reflects what is unique about Irish monasteries.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48They were adaptations of the pre-existing druidic religion
0:15:48 > 0:15:52and this was to have a profound effect on monasteries
0:15:52 > 0:15:54throughout the British Isles.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00Druids were inextricably linked to the royal families of Ireland -
0:16:00 > 0:16:03they drew their priests from them.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07So when a clan king converted to Christianity, he simply replaced
0:16:07 > 0:16:12his druids with monks that were also recruited from his own family.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16He would endow them with land for them to build their monasteries
0:16:16 > 0:16:20and then they would operate almost as co-rulers of the clan.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25The greatest figure in early Celtic monasticism,
0:16:25 > 0:16:30the monk Columba, epitomised this aristocratic character.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36He was a prince of Ireland's most powerful family,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39but after his clan lost a battle, he was forced into exile.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Columba sailed across the Irish Sea and established
0:16:45 > 0:16:49a monastery in the Celtic tradition on the island of Iona.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56In the sixth century, the Western Isles of Scotland
0:16:56 > 0:16:59were part of the Irish kingdom of Dalriada.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05Iona had been endowed to Columba by its king, who was also a relation.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10With political connections like that,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14it's not surprising that Iona became a powerhouse,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17spreading its Celtic style of monasticism
0:17:17 > 0:17:20first to the Pictish tribes,
0:17:20 > 0:17:25then to continental Europe and to the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31In the mid-seventh century,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35the most powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of all was Northumbria.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40The king, Oswald, had been exiled for many years
0:17:40 > 0:17:44with the Dalriada clan and had converted to Christianity
0:17:44 > 0:17:46on a visit to Iona.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51When Oswald won back his kingdom, he invited the monks of Iona
0:17:51 > 0:17:54to establish a monastery in Northumbria.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58Here, the relationship between the monasteries
0:17:58 > 0:18:01and the aristocracy would grow ever closer.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08This is the land endowed by King Oswald to the monastery,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12Lindisfarne. It fitted the bill perfectly.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16It's an island, and so it's only accessible at low tide
0:18:16 > 0:18:19across this often treacherous causeway.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22In terms of its isolation,
0:18:22 > 0:18:27it suited the hermetic ideals of the Celtic Church.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29But it's not as isolated as it looks.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34Just over there is Bamburgh Castle, the royal palace of King Oswald.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Lindisfarne was intertwined financially
0:18:37 > 0:18:40and politically with the ruling dynasty.
0:18:44 > 0:18:50Celtic monasticism was now no longer purely a cult of isolation.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52Monks were warriors of God,
0:18:52 > 0:18:56defending the immortal souls of their Anglo-Saxon
0:18:56 > 0:18:57aristocratic patrons.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05Through their prayer and suffering, monks accumulated spiritual capital
0:19:05 > 0:19:09which they could expend on themselves or on others.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17This reflected a real change in the very nature of monasteries.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21These places now weren't just for an individual to pursue their own
0:19:21 > 0:19:27personal salvation, a monk's prayers had become a valuable commodity
0:19:27 > 0:19:31and monasteries were becoming factories of divine favour,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34working away on their benefactor's behalf.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42Monasteries could also save the souls of the aristocracy
0:19:42 > 0:19:45by issuing penance for sins they had committed.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49This is a medieval penitential.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52It was written by the seventh century Irish monk,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Cummean, and it's a tariff.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59It gives details of the sorts of atonements people had to do for
0:19:59 > 0:20:05various sins, including drunkenness, gluttony, sodomy and murder.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11You can see here, if a layperson defiles his neighbour's wife
0:20:11 > 0:20:13or virgin daughter,
0:20:13 > 0:20:18he has to do penance by eating only bread and water for a year
0:20:18 > 0:20:20and not lay with his own wife.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24This was an invention of the Celtic monasteries.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27It mirrors secular law.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32If somebody is wronged, they would expect financial compensation.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36In the Anglo-Saxon world, this is known as "wergild", a "man price."
0:20:36 > 0:20:38It's blood money, essentially,
0:20:38 > 0:20:42and in the case of sin, it is God who is the wronged party,
0:20:42 > 0:20:47so the monks had to determine what compensation He'll be paid
0:20:47 > 0:20:48in terms of penance.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53Those Catholics across the world that still do penance today
0:20:53 > 0:20:57take the origin for this idea from Celtic monasteries.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04Monasteries also became increasingly entangled with the aristocracy
0:21:04 > 0:21:07by supplying them secular services.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12The Christian Church was the only institution to survive
0:21:12 > 0:21:14the fall of Roman civilisation in Britain.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19In the barbaric Anglo-Saxon kingdoms,
0:21:19 > 0:21:23monasteries were the last bastions of classical learning and literacy.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30The stone ruins at Lindisfarne are of the later medieval monastery,
0:21:30 > 0:21:36which was constructed on the site of the original 7th century monastery.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Like all Anglo-Saxon settlements, it was built of timber.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44At its centre were enclosures of sacred buildings...
0:21:46 > 0:21:49..but surrounding this was a large settlement
0:21:49 > 0:21:53containing farm buildings and workshops.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56The monks would have spent much of their time alone
0:21:56 > 0:21:59in their small, individual cells,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02coming together occasionally to work and worship.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07A set of guidelines issued by an Irish abbot,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09Columbanus,
0:22:09 > 0:22:11gives an insight into the life of a Celtic monk.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18His food was to be coarse,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22consisting of cabbage, beans, flour mixed with water,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24and a biscuit taken towards evening.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30He should be subject to a superior he does not like...
0:22:31 > 0:22:33..rise before he's had sufficient sleep,
0:22:33 > 0:22:35and speak only when necessary.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41The slightest breaches would be punished with the lash.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48But despite the harshness of the life,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Celtic monasteries began to spread across Northumbria.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58Monasteries flourished because they merged the religious
0:22:58 > 0:23:01and the secular interests of the ruling elites.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Anglo-Saxon life could be short and brutal,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08but the idea of heaven could be a tonic
0:23:08 > 0:23:11to the harsh realities of daily life
0:23:11 > 0:23:14and monasteries were the pathways to salvation,
0:23:14 > 0:23:20but they were also centres of power, knowledge, trade and industry
0:23:20 > 0:23:23that could support a dynasty here on earth too.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32The monasteries' increasingly important status
0:23:32 > 0:23:35as repositories of learning and industry is embodied
0:23:35 > 0:23:39in an incredible work of art created at Lindisfarne.
0:23:41 > 0:23:46This is a facsimile of the famous Lindisfarne Gospels,
0:23:46 > 0:23:50in my opinion, one of the most beautiful objects anywhere.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55It's an incredible achievement
0:23:55 > 0:23:59and in terms of what it shows us artistically,
0:23:59 > 0:24:04it really is the story of the development of English monasticism.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09In the patterns, the techniques that are used here,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11you can see the Celtic world,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon world
0:24:14 > 0:24:18and the new, exotic Christian world of the Continent
0:24:18 > 0:24:20all being brought together.
0:24:20 > 0:24:26In the centre, you can see red, gold, blue shapes,
0:24:26 > 0:24:32all mimicking those patterns that you get in Anglo-Saxon jewellery,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35the gold and garnet cloisonne you get.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Then around the edges here,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42there's Celtic knotwork.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46Also, these spirals,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49very familiar from Celtic metalwork.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54In the panels, there's birds and beasts,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58their bodies elongated and twining around one another.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04It recalls this fascination with the natural world
0:25:04 > 0:25:08that predates Roman Christianity.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10Here in the Lindisfarne Gospels,
0:25:10 > 0:25:15all these different elements are being brought together
0:25:15 > 0:25:17to create a really magnificent work of art.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28The process of the Gospels' creation was a wonder in itself.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32It wasn't illuminated in the tranquil cloisters
0:25:32 > 0:25:34of a majestic cathedral abbey.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38They would not be built for another 300 years.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43The Lindisfarne Gospels were actually made
0:25:43 > 0:25:45in a building more like this.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48This is a reconstructed Anglo-Saxon hall.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52It's made of wood, wattle, daub and thatch.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57Now, when I think about the creation of a beautiful medieval manuscript,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01I tend to focus on the creative genius that went into it,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04but before quill even touched vellum,
0:26:04 > 0:26:06there was a whole sequence of processes
0:26:06 > 0:26:08that had to be worked through
0:26:08 > 0:26:11in order to provide the materials necessary.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Professor Richard Gameson has researched
0:26:14 > 0:26:17the potentially lethal ingredients
0:26:17 > 0:26:20that needed to be gathered from across Europe.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26These are the pigments that were used in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts as a whole
0:26:26 > 0:26:27and in the Lindisfarne Gospels,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30though its selection was slightly richer than this.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34The common colours that you used as a matter of course
0:26:34 > 0:26:36were a red, a yellow and a green.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39How do you make your red?
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Well, you started with lead, and lead is available locally.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45This is galena, widely available.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49The way of making, turning it into pigments, is slightly disgusting.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51You take sheets of the lead,
0:26:51 > 0:26:56you wrap them in the pressed remains of wine or beer,
0:26:56 > 0:27:00and you suspend those sheets over little pots filled with urine
0:27:00 > 0:27:04- or with vinegar and you bury it in manure.- Oh, lovely(!)
0:27:04 > 0:27:06Then after two to three months,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09the heat from the manure causes the vinegar to evaporate
0:27:09 > 0:27:12over the sheets of lead and it turns into a white crust like that
0:27:12 > 0:27:14and if you then roast it,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18stirring with an iron spoon or adding a rusty nail,
0:27:18 > 0:27:20it gradually turns orange and then red,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22a beautiful colour, but deadly,
0:27:22 > 0:27:27because, of course, lead is a cruel poison that the body can't exude.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31The yellow - this is actually a mineral and we have a sample there.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33- Beautiful, bright colours. - It is, called orpiment.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Now, in fact, it's a trisulphide of arsenic,
0:27:37 > 0:27:39so this really is deadly.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Handling the mineral itself will cause ulceration of the skin
0:27:42 > 0:27:45and ingesting this sort of quantity could be fatal,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48so the key thing was if you're an illuminator making a pigment,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51don't sneeze! SHE LAUGHS
0:27:51 > 0:27:54- And I guess don't lick your fingers as you're going along.- Absolutely.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56That would be as a matter of course.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59But orpiment, this beautiful yellow colour,
0:27:59 > 0:28:01was only available from sources like Italy,
0:28:01 > 0:28:03so you're importing it and you're reliant
0:28:03 > 0:28:07on quantities of the mineral coming in at infrequent intervals.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10So monasteries are connected internationally,
0:28:10 > 0:28:11they've got these trade links
0:28:11 > 0:28:14that are bringing in the materials they need...
0:28:14 > 0:28:18And they are skilled chemists. They are hubs of activity,
0:28:18 > 0:28:22because in fact even if one man is writing the book,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26the whole community is implicated in the process of making these pigments.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28- It's like a factory. - It is a factory, effectively.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31- A factory in praise of God.- Yes!
0:28:35 > 0:28:37Once the ink had been prepared,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40the manuscript was created in the challenging environment
0:28:40 > 0:28:42of an Anglo-Saxon building.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Satwinder Sehmi creates illuminated manuscripts
0:28:50 > 0:28:52using traditional techniques.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57Gosh, Satwinder, that's absolutely stunning.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00- Thank you.- Is it hard working in these conditions?
0:29:00 > 0:29:02Yes, it's very uncomfortable,
0:29:02 > 0:29:05because everything that could go wrong with a piece of work
0:29:05 > 0:29:06will go wrong.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09The wind is blowing, my hands are getting cold,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12the vellum is absorbing moisture, it's cockling up,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15it's got to be held down, the paint is drying in there,
0:29:15 > 0:29:19so yes, you've got to juggle, not just with the work itself,
0:29:19 > 0:29:20but with the conditions to get it right.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24I'm amazed that the Lindisfarne Gospels were actually created,
0:29:24 > 0:29:27because the amount of work it must have taken, the planning,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30the execution, is outrageous.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33And I think it's really interesting to think about these monks
0:29:33 > 0:29:35doing it not just to produce the texts,
0:29:35 > 0:29:38but actually as part of their ascetic suffering.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42- Yes.- And there is that pleasure and there is that joy in it.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45You don't actually consider it to be suffering.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48We have a note by a monastic scribe
0:29:48 > 0:29:51who says, "If you don't know what scribal work is like,
0:29:51 > 0:29:53"you think it is no task,
0:29:53 > 0:29:56"but let me tell you, it bows the back,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59"it brings pains to the kidneys, it makes the eyes water,"
0:29:59 > 0:30:00and then he concludes by saying,
0:30:00 > 0:30:03"And so, gentle reader, keep your hands away from the letters,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06"don't destroy them." LAUGHTER
0:30:06 > 0:30:09- I completely agree with him! - LAUGHTER
0:30:09 > 0:30:11I wish I'd come up with that quote!
0:30:14 > 0:30:18Celtic monasteries spread across Northumbria.
0:30:18 > 0:30:2122 years after Lindisfarne,
0:30:21 > 0:30:25one was established 100 miles down the coast at Whitby.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32In the Celtic tradition, the land was endowed by the king...
0:30:33 > 0:30:36..and a member of his family was put in charge.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43But the abbey founded here was rather different to Lindisfarne.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45Whitby Abbey was a double monastery.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49That means it contained both monks and nuns
0:30:49 > 0:30:51and in charge of them all was a woman.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57Women, like Abbess Hild of Whitby,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01had been part of the monastic cult from its earliest days.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03They'd lived as hermits in the deserts
0:31:03 > 0:31:08and some of the first European monasteries were nunneries.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11Double monasteries became popular in the 7th century.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15INDISTINCT CONVERSATION
0:31:15 > 0:31:17To find out how they operated,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20I'm meeting Professor Sarah Foot.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26So these are the ruins, the famous ruins of Whitby Abbey,
0:31:26 > 0:31:29- but they're later, they're 13th century.- That's right.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31The original Anglo-Saxon abbey was here,
0:31:31 > 0:31:33more or less where you can see the current ruins,
0:31:33 > 0:31:37but the monastery's estates covered the whole of this headland.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40- A huge amount of land. - Right the way out to the coast.- Yes.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42So how is this working?
0:31:42 > 0:31:46How are these nuns and these monks coexisting?
0:31:46 > 0:31:48Well, it's a very interesting kind of institution.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50It's not unique to Anglo-Saxon England,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52but it's unique to this period.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56The idea that you would put men and women together in a single enclosure,
0:31:56 > 0:31:59so the whole of the abbey is enclosed by really quite a large ditch,
0:31:59 > 0:32:00but then inside,
0:32:00 > 0:32:04the men and the women are going to be kept completely separate,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07so people always say, "What are the men for?"
0:32:07 > 0:32:09I think a variety of different things -
0:32:09 > 0:32:12of course, to do the heavy manual labour
0:32:12 > 0:32:15and the things that the women themselves couldn't manage.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17I think they're there to act as protection.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20It's not the wisest thing in the world
0:32:20 > 0:32:24to put a bunch of women in this very isolated spot by themselves
0:32:24 > 0:32:27and, of course, there's a really important thing
0:32:27 > 0:32:28that only a man could do.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31Women could take major responsibilities
0:32:31 > 0:32:33in the church and Hild did,
0:32:33 > 0:32:35but she couldn't say Mass.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39But it suggests that in Anglo-Saxon England there's no difficulty
0:32:39 > 0:32:42about the idea that women might be allowed to have authority
0:32:42 > 0:32:44- and to have authority over men.- Mmm!
0:32:44 > 0:32:46That's one of the fantastic things
0:32:46 > 0:32:48about the 7th century English Church -
0:32:48 > 0:32:51you see women empowered and enabled
0:32:51 > 0:32:55and taking on really important spiritual as well as practical roles.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02The aristocratic character of Hild and her monastery
0:33:02 > 0:33:06is revealed by the archaeological discoveries made at Whitby.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09They include many ornate clothes pins.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15These look to me like high-status objects.
0:33:15 > 0:33:16Yes, Hild's of royal birth
0:33:16 > 0:33:18and the women and men who gathered round her
0:33:18 > 0:33:22will also have been from royal and aristocratic backgrounds,
0:33:22 > 0:33:26so the things that we're looking at here which were made on this site
0:33:26 > 0:33:29are not necessarily the things you might have expected to find
0:33:29 > 0:33:31in the most austere sort of monastery,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34but if we look at that one closest to you,
0:33:34 > 0:33:38that's very beautiful and lovely decoration on the top of that,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42so you could imagine an aristocratic girl living outside a monastery
0:33:42 > 0:33:44having and prizing a pin like that.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48This is aristocratic, this is a palatial place, almost.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51I think that's one of the reasons why monasticism is so successful
0:33:51 > 0:33:55for the Anglo-Saxons, because they find this way of using the traditions
0:33:55 > 0:33:58that have come to them out of the Egyptian desert,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01but adapting them to a way that young girls and men brought up
0:34:01 > 0:34:05in a royal or aristocratic background would still feel at home.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08There's other objects in front of us here that indicate that women
0:34:08 > 0:34:11could also gain knowledge, couldn't they, here?
0:34:11 > 0:34:15- Across the top there, we've got a stylus.- Yes. I must uh...
0:34:16 > 0:34:19..just get a sense of that there, so if I lift it up,
0:34:19 > 0:34:22we can see it's a beautiful object.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26If you had a wax tablet, then you can make the shapes of the letters
0:34:26 > 0:34:30with the tip of the stylus and you can practise what you want to say
0:34:30 > 0:34:33before you then commit yourself to the massive cost
0:34:33 > 0:34:37involved of writing with ink on prepared parchment.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39And if they made a mistake, they could turn round...
0:34:39 > 0:34:42- They could just rub it out... - Rub it out!- ..and start again.
0:34:42 > 0:34:43Such a beautiful thing.
0:34:48 > 0:34:53While the Celtic monasteries were being established in Northumbria,
0:34:53 > 0:34:55a very different rival form of monasticism
0:34:55 > 0:34:57had been spreading from Canterbury.
0:34:59 > 0:35:04The monastery had been established there around 600 AD by Augustine,
0:35:04 > 0:35:06an Italian monk sent to Kent by the Pope.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13These southern monasteries were beholden to Rome
0:35:13 > 0:35:14rather than to Ireland.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19They were organised along a precise system of rules
0:35:19 > 0:35:22that were being observed in Roman-controlled monasteries
0:35:22 > 0:35:23on the Continent.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26A manuscript containing these rules
0:35:26 > 0:35:30is one of the treasures of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
0:35:34 > 0:35:39This is an 11th century copy of a much older text.
0:35:39 > 0:35:41It's the Rule of St Benedict,
0:35:41 > 0:35:46written by Benedict of Nursia in the monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy
0:35:46 > 0:35:49in the 6th century.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52What it gives are a set of guidelines
0:35:52 > 0:35:55for how a monastic community should be organised,
0:35:55 > 0:36:00how an abbot should be elected, what sort of food they should eat,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03how they should organise their time,
0:36:03 > 0:36:05so if you look over here,
0:36:05 > 0:36:11there's an entire chapter on the decanus,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14that is the deans of the monastery.
0:36:15 > 0:36:20Here it says that the dean, the decanus, should oversee ten monks.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24Benedict has taken this term decanus
0:36:24 > 0:36:27directly from the Roman military
0:36:27 > 0:36:30and in that context, it referred to a soldier
0:36:30 > 0:36:33who oversaw ten other soldiers,
0:36:33 > 0:36:35so that same sense of military precision
0:36:35 > 0:36:37that made the Roman Empire so successful
0:36:37 > 0:36:40is being applied here in a monastic context,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43so it's about keeping discipline right the way through.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45They're sleeping in dormitories together,
0:36:45 > 0:36:50they're eating together. In contrast to the Celtic system,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52where they're coming together to be alone,
0:36:52 > 0:36:54this is pure community,
0:36:54 > 0:36:58this is guiding community living on all levels.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03When we look at the way that the abbots are elected,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06it says here that the abbot should be elected
0:37:06 > 0:37:09according to his merits, "merito",
0:37:09 > 0:37:15and "sapientiae doctrina", the wisdom of his teachings.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17It contrasts with the Celtic system,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20where the abbacy is inherited, almost.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23It's done on blood, rather than merit.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26These two conflicting approaches
0:37:26 > 0:37:30really are not going to be able to coexist happily
0:37:30 > 0:37:33and one is ultimately going to have to triumph.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41Crucially, the Roman and Celtic systems
0:37:41 > 0:37:44celebrated Easter on different days,
0:37:44 > 0:37:46which caused problems for people who mattered.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52In 664, the Northumbrian king, Oswiu,
0:37:52 > 0:37:57used the Celtic date, but his wife, Enfleda, used the Roman.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03This meant that while one of them was merrily feasting for Easter,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06their spouse was still fasting for Lent.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14This wasn't just an embarrassing situation or a minor issue.
0:38:14 > 0:38:15The date of Easter
0:38:15 > 0:38:18was of fundamental importance to Christians.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21It was the date that Christ died,
0:38:21 > 0:38:24the date when all these important issues -
0:38:24 > 0:38:27resurrection, salvation, forgiveness from sin -
0:38:27 > 0:38:29they all culminate,
0:38:29 > 0:38:33so if one group of Christians are celebrating it on one day
0:38:33 > 0:38:36and another group are celebrating it on another,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39this shows that the Church is not unified,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43but it also shows that one group must be orthodox
0:38:43 > 0:38:45and the other must be heretical.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50King Oswiu really needed to resolve this issue,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53so he called together representatives from both parties
0:38:53 > 0:38:55here at Whitby Abbey.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01The meeting would determine the future of monasticism in England.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08The clerics chosen to represent the two sides at the Synod of Whitby
0:39:08 > 0:39:10epitomised the different systems.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16On the Celtic side was Colman, an Irishman educated on Iona
0:39:16 > 0:39:18who was Abbot of Lindisfarne.
0:39:19 > 0:39:25On the Roman side was Wilfrid. He'd been educated in Canterbury and Gaul
0:39:25 > 0:39:28and he'd visited Rome, where he met the Pope.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33During his time in Europe,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37Wilfred was immensely impressed by the Roman system -
0:39:37 > 0:39:42its organisation, its discipline, its civilisation.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47He made it his stated ambition to root out the poisonous weeds
0:39:47 > 0:39:50planted by the Scots.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52His victory at the Synod of Whitby,
0:39:52 > 0:39:57against Colman and his more rustic Celtic monastic system,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00was pretty much a foregone conclusion.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02King Oswiu had very little to gain
0:40:02 > 0:40:05from throwing his hat in with the Celtic monasteries,
0:40:05 > 0:40:10but the great European union of monasteries would give him access
0:40:10 > 0:40:14to classical knowledge and to a diplomatic network.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19It would also placate his wife, which is never a bad thing.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27The Celtic loser, Colman,
0:40:27 > 0:40:30immediately resigned as abbot of Lindisfarne.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34Someone else would now face the onerous task of enforcing
0:40:34 > 0:40:37the regimented Roman rules of Benedict
0:40:37 > 0:40:40on monks used to the hermetic, Celtic monasticism.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44The man ultimately chosen was Cuthbert,
0:40:44 > 0:40:48a Celtic monk who had accepted the Roman system.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Cuthbert was to become one of the most revered saints in Britain,
0:40:55 > 0:41:00and the cult surrounding him grew to be the most potent in the country.
0:41:00 > 0:41:0540 years after his death, the monk Bede wrote his hagiography.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08It mostly consists of the miracles accredited to him,
0:41:08 > 0:41:12but Bede also tells us of the resistance that Cuthbert faced
0:41:12 > 0:41:16here at Lindisfarne when he tried to introduce the rule of Benedict.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19Bede wrote, "There were some brethren
0:41:19 > 0:41:22"in the monastery who preferred their ancient customs
0:41:22 > 0:41:25"to the new regular discipline.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30"Cuthbert got the better of these by his patience and modest virtues,
0:41:30 > 0:41:34"so that, at length, he brought them to the better customs."
0:41:37 > 0:41:40But Bede also tells us Cuthbert became fatigued
0:41:40 > 0:41:44by the bitter taunts of those who opposed him.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47And after a few years struggling with the reticent monks,
0:41:47 > 0:41:49he'd had enough.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52He resigned, but didn't go very far.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57He left the monastery of Lindisfarne, over there,
0:41:57 > 0:42:00and sailed about five miles along the coast,
0:42:00 > 0:42:04to the uninhabited island of Inner Farne, over there.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Cuthbert was getting back to basics.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11Like the desert fathers and the monks of Skellig before him,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15he wanted to perform an extraordinary feat
0:42:15 > 0:42:17of hermetic self-deprivation.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24Cuthbert's life here would have been punishing,
0:42:24 > 0:42:28and motivated by a desire to commune with God.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30Fantastic, thanks.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36But I believe he also had some more earthly motivations.
0:42:39 > 0:42:45By his feats, Cuthbert was earning the respect of the wayward brothers
0:42:45 > 0:42:49he was trying to bring round to the Roman system.
0:42:49 > 0:42:56Here, he was living the Celtic monastic ideal of ascetic isolation.
0:42:56 > 0:43:01But we know from Bede that there was a constant flow of visitors here,
0:43:01 > 0:43:03seeking his advice and wisdom.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06It was just a short boat journey from Lindisfarne,
0:43:06 > 0:43:10and the king's palace of Bamburgh was even closer.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19But the contemporary writings don't primarily talk about
0:43:19 > 0:43:24Cuthbert's monastic fundamentalism or political struggles.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27They mostly tell the tales of the miracles he performed.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32In his time on Inner Farne,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34Cuthbert was said to have spoken to the birds.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38He persuaded them not to eat the seeds he had sown.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43A pair of crows then came to him, bowed down in front of him,
0:43:43 > 0:43:46and offered him food as compensation.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53Saints' miracles served a purpose.
0:43:53 > 0:43:58Almost all display their power over the natural world.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01These stories were written to convert a people
0:44:01 > 0:44:04steeped in animist pagan religion,
0:44:04 > 0:44:09so Christian saints needed to prove the superiority of their God
0:44:09 > 0:44:12by possessing the power to control nature.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19The greatest miracle attributed to Cuthbert
0:44:19 > 0:44:22occurred nine years after his death.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27When his coffin was opened to extract bones as relics,
0:44:27 > 0:44:31it was discovered that his corpse had not decomposed.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Cuthbert's victory over the ravages of death
0:44:35 > 0:44:38resulted in the explosion of his cult.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45He also served as useful propaganda -
0:44:45 > 0:44:49an emblem of how Celtic Christians should, like him,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51accept the Roman system.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00Here, you can see the scale of Cuthbert's cult.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04Durham's great cathedral was built in the 11th century
0:45:04 > 0:45:06on the very site of Cuthbert's tomb.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Cuthbert's coffin was reopened countless times.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19One monk regularly combed the saint's hair.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26In 1827, it was opened again.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36Now, this is Cuthbert's pectoral cross.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40It was found around the neck of the saint.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44The skill that's gone into making it -
0:45:44 > 0:45:46each of those garnets has been cut so small
0:45:46 > 0:45:50to fit perfectly inside the cell, the gold cell.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54There's no glue, there's no adhesive holding those in place.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56This beautiful piece of metalwork really gives
0:45:56 > 0:46:02an indication of how full of treasures, metalwork,
0:46:02 > 0:46:06precious things, these early Anglo-Saxon monasteries were.
0:46:06 > 0:46:11It gives another dimension to this complex character of St Cuthbert.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15Yes, he is the ascetic hermit,
0:46:15 > 0:46:20taking himself away to Inner Farne and battling against the elements,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24but he's also someone of very great importance
0:46:24 > 0:46:26within Anglo-Saxon society.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33Along with Cuthbert, two other clerics played a crucial role
0:46:33 > 0:46:37in the Roman system's domination of Anglo-Saxon monasticism.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45One was Wilfrid, the victor at the Synod of Whitby.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48The other was an abbot named Biscop.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52Like Wilfrid, he was from an aristocratic family.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55He was incredibly well-travelled and well-connected.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58These weren't monks,
0:46:58 > 0:47:03dedicating decades to contemplation in cells on sea-soaked islands.
0:47:07 > 0:47:12Biscop made an incredible five trips to Rome,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15each one a long and dangerous journey.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20There, he grew so enamoured with the Benedictine system,
0:47:20 > 0:47:22he even took the name Benedict.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28On his return, he established a monastery here, at Jarrow.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32It would be truly Roman, guided by rules of Benedict.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39The monks would live communal, ordered lives of limited austerity.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42It would also be built in the Roman way.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47Benedict Biscop had grand ambitions.
0:47:47 > 0:47:52He had set eyes upon the wondrous classical architecture of Rome,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55with its towering basilicas.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58That was the future - or, in England's case,
0:47:58 > 0:48:01the not-too-distant Roman past.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08The crumbling ruins of mighty Roman fortifications and towns
0:48:08 > 0:48:12were scattered across the English landscape -
0:48:12 > 0:48:16a constant reminder of the Anglo-Saxons' relative barbarism.
0:48:18 > 0:48:23No large stone buildings had been built in Britain for 250 years.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27Monasteries would be the first to build them again.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33Benedict Biscop's stone monastery at Jarrow
0:48:33 > 0:48:36also became a great centre of classical learning.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41Vast numbers of manuscripts were imported from the Continent,
0:48:41 > 0:48:45and the abbey was home to the most important historian of the age -
0:48:45 > 0:48:47the monk Bede.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53Soon, the monastery was even creating manuscripts
0:48:53 > 0:48:55and sending them back to Rome.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01Just look at the scale of this manuscript.
0:49:01 > 0:49:02It's enormous.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04This is very exciting for me -
0:49:04 > 0:49:09it's the only full-size replica of the Codex Amiatinus,
0:49:09 > 0:49:14which is the oldest single surviving copy of the Bible.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18It...takes two people to lift it,
0:49:18 > 0:49:20weighs the same as a Great Dane,
0:49:20 > 0:49:27and it spent many centuries in an Italian library.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30It was thought to be Italian - it looks Italian.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35The achievement of putting the whole Bible together in one binding -
0:49:35 > 0:49:38at that time, it was thought it could only have happened in
0:49:38 > 0:49:40and around Rome and the papacy.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45Now, here it says that the manuscript is dedicated
0:49:45 > 0:49:47by Peter of the Langobards.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50That places it in and around Italy.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54But we can see from the colour of the ink, here,
0:49:54 > 0:49:57that something has happened to this name.
0:49:57 > 0:50:02Some palaeographical detective work was done on the manuscript,
0:50:02 > 0:50:06and they discovered that this line had actually been erased
0:50:06 > 0:50:11with a knife, and the name Peter of the Langobards had been put on top.
0:50:11 > 0:50:12What was underneath originally?
0:50:12 > 0:50:18Well, the original reference was to the abbot of Wearmouth-Jarrow.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22So, suddenly this magnificent manuscript
0:50:22 > 0:50:24wasn't being made in Italy,
0:50:24 > 0:50:28it was being made at the edge of the known world,
0:50:28 > 0:50:30just outside Newcastle.
0:50:32 > 0:50:33It's an incredible feat,
0:50:33 > 0:50:39because you've got these full-page empurpled vellum
0:50:39 > 0:50:42written on in gold,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45and then this famous image,
0:50:45 > 0:50:50the Ezra page, where you can see the scribe hard at work
0:50:50 > 0:50:52in front of the monastic library.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56And it's a testament to the work that was taking place
0:50:56 > 0:50:58in this monastery.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02It was like an amazing publishing house.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06You've got intellectual minds like Bede the Venerable,
0:51:06 > 0:51:08the bestselling author of this monastery,
0:51:08 > 0:51:13and then this team of scribes working together to create this.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15It took the skins of 1,000 calves
0:51:15 > 0:51:18just to make the one manuscript.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23What are they saying by sending this manuscript all the way back to Rome?
0:51:23 > 0:51:25Well, the Anglo-Saxon monks are saying,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28"Now we can do it just as well as you.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32"We are as Roman, as orthodox, as you.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36"And look - after just a couple of generations of Christianity
0:51:36 > 0:51:38"and monasticism, this is what we can achieve."
0:51:43 > 0:51:47While Benedict Biscop was building his stone monastery at Jarrow,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50the victor at the Synod of Whitby, Wilfrid,
0:51:50 > 0:51:53was doing the same here at Hexham.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58Like Biscop, Wilfrid was an evangelical believer
0:51:58 > 0:52:01in the Roman Benedictine monastic system.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06Wilfrid had recently been made Bishop of York,
0:52:06 > 0:52:09but he's a controversial figure.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11He's pompous, he's ambitious,
0:52:11 > 0:52:15and he's got a real sense of his own importance.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18He refused to be consecrated by his Northumbrian peers,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21because he didn't think they were worthy.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24So, he went over to France for his inauguration,
0:52:24 > 0:52:27and in this very elaborate ceremony,
0:52:27 > 0:52:31he's raised up on a throne by 12 other bishops.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35This makes him the 13th, so, if you think,
0:52:35 > 0:52:39it's the 12 apostles with this Christlike bishop above.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44Wilfrid's admiration of Roman grandeur
0:52:44 > 0:52:49inspired him to undertake a vast monastic building programme.
0:52:50 > 0:52:51The current church at Hexham
0:52:51 > 0:52:54is built on the site of Wilfrid's church,
0:52:54 > 0:52:58which we know was a wonder of the age.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03It was a copy of the great basilicas he'd seen in Italy,
0:53:03 > 0:53:07which had themselves evolved from pre-Christian temples.
0:53:09 > 0:53:14We're told Wilfrid's church at Hexham had three storeys and a nave,
0:53:14 > 0:53:16with pillared aisles on either side.
0:53:20 > 0:53:24William of Malmesbury wrote that, "Those who had visited Italy
0:53:24 > 0:53:28"allege that at Hexham you see the glories of Rome,"
0:53:28 > 0:53:30and this was Wilfrid's intent.
0:53:30 > 0:53:35He wanted to show the people how magnificent the Roman way was,
0:53:35 > 0:53:39and that the monasteries were powerhouses not just of faith,
0:53:39 > 0:53:43but of classical knowledge, culture and civilisation.
0:53:46 > 0:53:51The style of church architecture Wilfrid introduced at Hexham
0:53:51 > 0:53:55would influence all future stone churches built in Britain.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00Here at Hexham, Wilfrid also introduced
0:54:00 > 0:54:05a piece of early church architecture that had never before been seen
0:54:05 > 0:54:07north of the Alps - a crypt.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10And it still survives intact.
0:54:10 > 0:54:16Along with the one that he had built beneath his great church at Ripon,
0:54:16 > 0:54:21these crypts are the only surviving intact Anglo-Saxon spaces.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23Down here you really can feel
0:54:23 > 0:54:26like you're walking in the Anglo-Saxon world.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39In Rome, the great basilicas had been built on top
0:54:39 > 0:54:43of the subterranean tombs of the earliest Christian martyrs.
0:54:45 > 0:54:46Wilfrid visited them,
0:54:46 > 0:54:49and brought back relics for his monasteries in England.
0:54:51 > 0:54:52To house these relics,
0:54:52 > 0:54:56he burrowed out this replica of a Roman burial chamber.
0:54:59 > 0:55:04The crypts here are designed to replicate the mystical atmosphere
0:55:04 > 0:55:06of a Roman catacomb.
0:55:06 > 0:55:12There, the unplanned entrances and tunnels twist and turn.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16Wilfrid wanted to disorientate his visitors to the shrine.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20Here, it's all unlit, the floors are uneven,
0:55:20 > 0:55:23there's unexpected corners.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26This is architectural drama.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31Maybe it's suggesting the soul floundering in the dark,
0:55:31 > 0:55:36before coming to the light of a new Christian God.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45Emerging into the light of the main chamber,
0:55:45 > 0:55:51pilgrims would have seen the relics displayed in gilded splendour.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00Today, this space is very rough and ready.
0:56:00 > 0:56:05You can see these roughly-hewn stones.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08But in the 7th century this would have been a very
0:56:08 > 0:56:13different-looking space - it would have been plastered, bright...
0:56:13 > 0:56:15it may have had silks hanging here -
0:56:15 > 0:56:19we know that Wilfrid brought silks back from the Continent.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22Perhaps icons, paintings were displayed.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25For the Anglo-Saxons who are newly-converted
0:56:25 > 0:56:28to the ideas of Christianity,
0:56:28 > 0:56:33this place, with its wonderful atmosphere,
0:56:33 > 0:56:35would have inspired awe and wonder.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Along with their rules, relics and architecture
0:56:44 > 0:56:48came the Roman Church's pomp and hierarchy.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53Wilfrid's lavish ostentation was in stark contrast
0:56:53 > 0:56:57to the Spartan lives of the Celtic monks of Skellig.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00Wilfrid was a foretaste
0:57:00 > 0:57:04of what monasteries and the monks who ran them would become.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07Hexham Abbey was his palace.
0:57:07 > 0:57:12He would have dressed like a king, wearing the brightest vestments
0:57:12 > 0:57:17made of the finest fabrics and silk brought in from the Continent.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19He even had this throne made,
0:57:19 > 0:57:23modelled on the sorts of thrones he'd seen
0:57:23 > 0:57:26from abbots and bishops in France.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28I don't think it's a coincidence
0:57:28 > 0:57:32that he had it made of reclaimed Roman stone.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36The Roman Empire has now become the Christian Roman Empire.
0:57:36 > 0:57:41Romulus and Remus have been replaced by Peter and Paul.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45And a bishop is now a spiritual king.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55But, just as the monasteries were beginning to re-establish
0:57:55 > 0:58:00Roman civilisation, a new wave of pagan invaders,
0:58:00 > 0:58:02the Vikings,
0:58:02 > 0:58:04brought devastation once again.
0:58:09 > 0:58:14Next time, monasteries rise from the ashes of Viking destruction
0:58:14 > 0:58:17to become dazzlingly rich and powerful.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21They soon reach into every corner of medieval society,
0:58:21 > 0:58:25but their influence grows too great,
0:58:25 > 0:58:29and they set themselves up for a dramatic fall.