Chapter 4 - Expansions and Contractions of Saintly Space in Two Cuthbertine Miracle Collections: Reginald of Durham’s Libellus de admirandis, and De mirabilibus, 1150–1210

Summary

This chapter examines two Cuthbertine miracle collections produced respectively in the third quarter and the end of the twelfth century: Reginald of Durham’s Libellus de admirandis beati Cuthberti virtutibus, and the anonymous De mirabilibus Dei modernis temporibus in Farne insula declaratis. Reginald’s De admirandis offers a geographically expansive representation of Cuthbert’s wonder-working, incorporating north-west England, Galloway and Lothian, re-engaging with Farne Island and extending into the North Sea. It also positions him within a British map of competing sanctities, negotiating his power and sphere of jurisdiction in relation to Scottish, southern English and local cults. De mirabilibus, by contrast, remains tightly focused on Farne Island. This textual re-engagement with Farne Island returns Cuthbert’s ascetic sanctity to the fore. Animal and bird miracles make a significant comeback, and are used to determine the parameters of a series of small-scale jurisdictions of immunity throughout Cuthbert’s spiritual geography, debarred to Anglo-Norman secular and religious elites.