View source for Eadfrith of Lindisfarne

{{Infobox saint
| name            = Saint Edfrith
| image           = File:LindisfarneFol27rIncipitMatt.jpg
| imagesize       = 
| alt             = 
| caption         = [[Incipit]] of the [[Gospel of Matthew]] from the [[Lindisfarne Gospels]], an [[illuminated manuscript]] said to have been created by Eadfrith
| titles          = Bishop of [[Lindisfarne]]
| birth_date      = 
| birth_place     = 
| death_date      = 721 or 722
| death_place     = 
| venerated_in    = [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<ref>Hutchinson-Hall, John (Ellsworth). ''Orthodox Saints of the British Isles. Vol II'' (St. Eadfrith Press, 2014) p. 158</ref><br>[[Anglican Communion]]<br>[[Roman Catholic Church]]  
| beatified_date  = 
| beatified_place = 
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| canonized_date  = 
| canonized_place = 
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| major_shrine    = 
| feast_day       = June 4
| attributes      = 
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| suppressed_date = 
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| major_works     = 
}}

'''Eadfrith of Lindisfarne''' (died 721), also known as '''Saint Eadfrith''', was [[Bishop of Lindisfarne]], probably from 698 onwards. By the twelfth century it was believed that Eadfrith succeeded [[Eadberht of Lindisfarne|Eadberht]] and nothing in the surviving records contradicts this belief.<ref>Dates after Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'', p. 219; Thacker, "Eadfrith".</ref> [[Lindisfarne]] was among the main religious sites of the kingdom of [[Northumbria]] in the early eighth century, the resting place of Saints [[Aidan of Lindisfarne|Aidan]] and [[Cuthbert of Lindisfarne|Cuthbert]].<ref>Blair, "Lindifarne"; Alcock, ''Kings and warriors'', p. 78.</ref> He is venerated as a Saint in the [[Roman Catholic Church]], and in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], as also in the [[Anglican Communion]].

==Life==
A [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]] added to the [[Lindisfarne Gospels]] in the tenth century states that Eadfrith was the scribe and artist responsible for the work. The Lindisfarne Gospels were the product of a single scribe and illustrator, working full-time over a period of about two years. For this reason, many historians who accept that the work was authored by Eadfrith in person date it to the period before he became bishop. Not all historians accept that he was the scribe: some argue that he may have commissioned the work rather than creating it in person; some reject the association as an unreliable tradition. Michelle Brown, "Lindisfarne Gospels" argues for Eadfrith being the artist and scribe, working on it as eremitic devotional act in the Columban tradition from 715-722 (dated on textual grounds of the liturgies marked by initials therein and historical context), and the main architect of the cult of St Cuthbert.<ref>For arguments in favour of Eadfrith as the creator, see Thacker, "Eadfrith"; Blair, ''Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 316–317; Blair, ''World of Bede'', p. 230. For a full discussion of the manuscript, which accompanied the 2003 facsimile, see Brown, "Lindisfarne Gospels"; Alcock, ''Kings and warriors'', pp. 304–305 & 308.</ref>

Contemporary witnesses to Eadberht's episcopacy portray him as a supporter of the cult of [[Cuthbert|Saint Cuthbert]]. He commissioned three [[hagiography|lives]] of the Saint, the first by an anonymous writer, written between 699 and 705. This ''Anonymous Life of Saint Cuthbert'' was revised on Eadfrith's orders by [[Bede]], writing around 720, to produce both [[prose]] and [[Poetry|verse]] lives.<ref>Thacker, "Eadfrith"; Thacker, "Cuthbert"; Blair, ''World of Bede'', p. 202.</ref>

Eadfrith also oversaw the restoration of the [[hermitage (religious retreat)|hermitage]] on [[Farne]] where Cuthbert had often lived.<ref name=northern>[http://northernsaints.com/ "Northern Saints", 'This is Durham', Durham County Council]</ref> He is named in Æthelwulf's ninth century poem ''De abbatibus'' as having advised Eanmund, first abbot of a monastery—its name and location are unknown—founded during the reign of King [[Osred I of Northumbria|Osred]].<ref>Thacker, "Eadfrith".</ref>

When Lindisfarne was abandoned in the late ninth century, Eadfrith's remains were among those taken on the community's long wanderings through Northumbria. The relics of Saint Cuthbert, and those of Eadfrith along with them, eventually found a new home at [[Chester-le-Street]], where they remained for a century. In 995 the relics were translated to [[Durham Cathedral]]. At Durham Eadfrith, along with his predecessor Eadberht and successor [[Æthelwold of Lindisfarne|Æthelwold]], was commemorated on 4 June.<ref>Thacker, "Eadfrith"; Thacker, "Cuthbert"; Blair, ''Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 84–85.</ref>

==Citations==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{citation |last=Alcock |first=Leslie |author-link=Leslie Alcock |title=Kings and warriors, craftsmen and priests in Northern Britain AD 550–850 |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Society of Antiquaries of Scotland |year=2003 |isbn=0-903903-24-5 }}
* {{citation |last=Blair |first=John |contribution =Lindisfarne |editor-last=Lapidge |editor-first=Michael |title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell |year=1999 |isbn=0-631-22492-0 |pages=287–288 }}
* {{citation |last=Blair |first=Peter Hunter |title=An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-29219-0 |year=1977 |edition=2nd }}
* {{citation |last=Blair |first=Peter Hunter |title=The World of Bede |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-39138-5 |year=1990 |edition=2nd }}
* {{citation |last=Brown |first=Michelle P. |contribution =Lindisfarne Gospels |editor-last=Lapidge |editor-first=Michael |title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell |year=1999 |isbn=0-631-22492-0 |pages=288–289 }}
* {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
* {{citation |last=Thacker |first=Alan |contribution =St. Cuthbert |editor-last=Lapidge|editor-first=Michael |title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell |year=1999 |isbn=0-631-22492-0 |pages=131–133 }}
* {{cite odnb |last=Thacker |first=Alan |title=Eadfrid or Eadfrith (''d''. 721) |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press | id= 8381 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*{{cci|Lindisfarne Gospels (710-721) - BL Cotton MS Nero D IV}}
* {{PASE|2449|Eadfrith 3}}
* [https://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/gospels/ The Lindisfarne Gospels]
* [http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/lindisfarne/overview.html British Library feature on The Lindisfarne Gospels]
* [https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/bede-cuthbert.asp Bede's Life of Saint Cuthbert dedicated to Eadfrith]

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel| [[Christianity|Christian titles]] }}
{{s-bef|before=[[Eadberht of Lindisfarne|Eadberht]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Lindisfarne]]|years=698–721}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Æthelwald of Lindisfarne|Æthelwald]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Bishops of Lindisfarne}}
{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}

{{short description|7th and 8th-century Bishop of Lindisfarne and saint}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eadfrith}}
[[Category:7th-century births]]
[[Category:721 deaths]]
[[Category:Northumbrian saints]]
[[Category:8th-century English bishops]]
[[Category:Bishops of Lindisfarne]]
[[Category:Manuscript illuminators]]
[[Category:English Christian monks]]
[[Category:8th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon artists]]
[[Category:8th-century artists]]
[[Category:8th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:8th-century English writers]]