Symeon of Durham

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Symeon (or Simeon) of Durham (died after 1129) was an

English chronicler and a monk of Durham Priory
.

Biography

Symeon entered the

Benedictine monastery at Jarrow as a youth. It moved to Durham in 1074, and he was professed in 1085 or 1086.[1]
When
William of Saint-Calais returned from his Norman exile in 1091, Symeon was probably in his company. Symeon eventually became precentor of the priory, and examples of his handwriting appear to survive in several Durham books, including the Liber Vitae, the so-called Cantor's Book (whose text he would have had to keep up to date as part of his duties as precentor), and in copies of his own historical works.[2]

Works

Symeon was author of two historical works which are particularly valuable for northern affairs, the

Saint Cuthbert. The miracles
worked in Cuthbert's name during the late Anglo-Saxon period were particularly flamboyant, and the Libellus contains engaging accounts of some of these, including the miracle of the three waves (when Cuthbert turned a portion of the Irish Sea into blood in order to prevent his followers from taking his relics out of England, see Libellus ii.11), the foundation of Durham (when Cuthbert's body, being moved across England on a cart, refused to be moved, signalling his desire to remain at Durham, see Libellus iii.1), and several picturesque deaths visited upon the enemies of Cuthbert's devotees.

Several versions of the Libellus survive from the Middle Ages. Symeon's own revised copy can be found in Durham, University Library, Cosin V.II.6. It is this text which has been most often published. The Durham manuscript also contains two anonymous continuations of Symeon's work. The first carries the history from 1096 to the death of

Libellus de Exordio
 page.

About 1129 Symeon undertook to write a

Historia regum Anglorum et Dacorum. This begins at the point where the Ecclesiastical History of Bede ends. Up to 957 Simeon merely copies some old Durham annals, not otherwise preserved, which are of value for northern history; from that point to 1119 he copies John of Worcester with certain interpolations. The section dealing with the years 1119-1129 is, however, an independent and practically contemporaneous narrative. Symeon writes, for his time, with ease and perspicuity; but his chief merit is that of a diligent collector and copyist.[4]

Symeon also wrote brief biographies of the

Rolls series
, 2 vols., 1882–1885). For the Libellus, now see Rollason's 2000 edition.

The value of the

Roger of Hoveden, vol. i. p. x. ("Rolls" series).[4]

Citations

  1. ^  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Simeon of Durham". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  2. ^ Rollason, Introduction to Libellus de Exordio, pp. xliv-l.
  3. ^ Rollason, Introduction to Libellus de Exordio, lxiii-lxv.
  4. ^
    Davis, Henry William Carless (1911). "Simeon of Durham". Encyclopædia Britannica
    . Vol. 25 (11th ed.). p. 122.

References

Further reading
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