"Another of the king's chief men signified his agreement with this prudent argument, and went on to say:
'Your Majesty, when we compare the present life of man on earth with that time of which we have no knowledge, it seems to me like the swift flight of a single sparrow through the banqueting-hall where you are sitting at dinner on a winter's day with your thegns and counsellors. In the midst there is a comforting fire to warm the hall; outside, the storms of winter rain or snow are raging. This sparrow flies swiftly in through one door of the hall, and out through another. While he is inside, he is safe from the winter storms; but after a few moments of comfort, he vanishes from sight into the wintry world from which he came. Even so, man appears on earth for a little while; but of what went before this life or of what follows, we know nothing. Therefore, if this new teaching has brought any more certain knowledge, it seems only right that we should follow it.'

The other elders and counsellors of the king, under God's guidance, gave similar advice."

This video was originally posted on the Yeavering section of the Past Perfect Project archaeological site: http://www.pastperfect.org.uk/sites/yeavering/images/sparrowclip.html]]>

1. Back of castle

2. Castle and harbour (1)

3. Castle

4. Castle and harbour (2)

5. Causeway danger sign

6. Causeway w/ emergency shelter (1)

7. " (2)

8. Celtic cross laid out on the ground with stones. I stumbled upon it when walking round the island.

9. Harbour

10. Priory (1)

11. Priory (2)

12. Priory (3)

13. Priory (4)

14. St. Cuthbert's island; seperated from holy island at high tide.

15. Traditional upturned boat-house

Excerpts on Lindisfarne from BEDE: A History of the English Church and its People

(trans. Leo Sherley-Price Penguin Books 1962)

'On Aidan's arrival, the king appointed the island of Lindisfarne to be his see as he asked. As the tide ebbs and flows, this place is surrounded by the sea twice a day like an island, and twice a day the sand dries and joins it to the mainland. ‘

- Book III Chapter III: Oswald asks the Scots to send him a bishop: when Aidan arrives, he grants him the island of Lindisfarne as his Episcopal see [A.D. 635]

'In the year of his death, King Egfrid appointed as Bishop of Lindisfarne the holy and venerable Cuthbert, who for many years had lived
a solitary life in great austerity of mind and body on a tiny island known as Farne, which lies off the coast about nine miles from the church.
From his earliest boyhood he had always longed to enter the religious life, and was clothed and professed as a monk when a youth. He first entered the monastery of Melrose on the banks of the River Tweed, then ruled by Abbot Eata the gentlest and simplest of men, who later became Bishop of the church of Hagulstad or Lindisfarne...
[...]
When this venerable servant of our Lord had spent many years in the monastery of Melrose and become renowned for his wonderful acts of virtue, the most reverend Abbot Eata transferred him to Lindisfarne to instruct the brethren there in the observance of regular discipline, both in his official capacity and by his personal example. For the most reverend Father Eata was then Abbot of Lindisfarne as well. And in ancient times, the bishop and his clergy used to reside at Lindisfarne with the abbot and his monks, the latter being regarded as part of the bishop's household. For Aidan, first Bishop of Lindisfarne, himself a monk, brought monks with him and established the regular life there.'

- Book IV Chapter XXVII: Cuthbert, a man of God, is made bishop: his life and teaching as a monk [A.D. 685]]]>


The texts contained in the ebook are:
Genesis; Exodus; Daniel; Christ and Satan; Andreas; The Fates of the Apostles; Soul and Body; Homiletic Fragment I; The Dream of the Rood; Elene; Christ; Guthlac; Azarias; The Phoenix; Juliana; The Wanderer; The Gifts of Men; Precepts; The Seafarer; Vainglory; Widsith; The Fortunes of Men; Maxims I; The Order of the World; The Riming Poem; The Panther; The Whale; The Partridge; Soul and Body II; Deor; Wulf and Eadwacer; Riddles 1-29; Riddle 30a; Riddles 31-59; The Wife's Lament; The Judgement Day I; Resignation; The Descent Into Hell; Alms-Giving; Pharaoh; The Lord's Prayer I; Homiletic Fragment II; Riddles 30b and 60; Riddles 60; The Husband's Message; The Ruin; Riddles 61-95; Beowulf; Judith; The Paris Psalter Psalms 51-150; The Meters of Boethius Prom; The Meters of Boethius Meters 1-31; The Battle of Finsburh; Waldere Fragment II; Waldere B; The Battle of Maldon; The Battle of Brunaburh; The Capture of the Five Buroughs; The Coronation of Edgar; The Death of Edgar; The Death of Alfred; The Death of Edward; Durham; The Rune Poem; Solomon and Saturn; The Menologium; Maxims II; A Proverb from Winfrid's Time; The Judgement Day II; The Rewards of Piety; A Summons to Prayer; The Lord's Prayer II; The Gloria I; The Lord's Prayer III; The Creed; Fragment of Pslam 5; Fragment of Psam 19; Fragment of Psalm 24; Fragment of Psalm 27; Fragment of Psalm 32; Fragment of Psalm 34; Fragment of Psalm 40; Fragment of Psalm 50; Fragment of Psalm 53; Fragment of Psalm 58; Fragment of Psalm 60; Fragment of Psalm 64; Fragment of Psalm 69; Fragment of Psalm 70; Fragment of Psalm 79; Fragment of Psalm 84; Fragment of Psalm 87; Fragment of Psalm 89; Fragment of Psalm 101; Fragment of Psalm 102; Fragment of Psalm 118; Fragment of Psalm 121; Fragment of Psalm 139; Fragment of Psalm 140; The Kentish Hymn; Psalm 50; The Gloria II; A Prayer; Thureth; Aldhelm; The Seasons for Fasting; Cædmon's Hymn, Northumbrian version; Cædmon's Hymn, West-Saxon version; Bede's Death Song, Northumbrian version; Bede's Death Song, the Hague version; Bede's Death Song, West Saxon version; The Leiden Riddle; Latin-English Proverbs; The Metrical Preface to the Pastoral Care; The Metrical Epilogue to the Pastoral Care; The Metrical Preface to Wærferth's Translation of Gregory's Dialogues; The Metrical Epilogue to MS. 41, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; The Brussels Cross; For Unfruitful Land; The Nine Herbs Charm; Against A Dwarf; For A Sudden Stitch; For Loss of Cattle; For Delayed Birth; For the Water-Elf Disease; For A Swarm of Bees; For Theft of Cattle; For Loss of Cattle; A Journey Charm; Against A Wen.
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