Aldfrith of Northumbria - Northumbria's Golden Age

Northumbria's Golden Age

Aldfrith's reign is considered the beginning of Northumbria's golden age, which lasted until the end of the 8th century. The period saw the flowering of Insular art in Northumbria and produced the Lindisfarne Gospels, perhaps begun in Aldfrith's time, the scholarship of Bede, and the beginnings of the Anglo-Saxon missions to the continent.

The Lindisfarne Gospels are believed to the be the work of Eadfrith of Lindisfarne, bishop of Lindisfarne from 698. They are not the only surviving Northumbrian illuminated manuscripts from Aldfrith's time. Also active at Lindisfarne in the late 7th century was the scribe known as the "Durham-Echternach calligrapher", who produced the Durham Gospels and the Echternach Gospels. The Codex Amiatinus was a product of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, made on the orders of Abbot Ceolfrid, probably in the decade after Aldfrith's death.

Two significant items of jewellery from Northumbria in this period have survived. The Ripon Jewel, discovered in the precincts of Ripon Cathedral in 1977, is difficult to date but its grandeur and the location of the find have suggested a link with Bishop Wilfrid, whose rich furnishings of the church at Ripon are on record. Bishop Cuthbert's pectoral cross was buried with him during Aldfrith's reign, either at his death in 687 or his reburial in 698 and is now at Durham Cathedral. There are few surviving architectural or monumental remains from the period. The Bewcastle Cross, the Ruthwell Cross and the Hexham Cross are probably to be dated to one or two generations after Aldfrith's time. Escomb Church is the best preserved Northumbrian church of the period, dated to the late 7th century. The ruined chapel at Heysham, overlooking Morecambe Bay, may be somewhat later in date.

The Northumbrian coinage is thought to have begun during Aldfrith's reign. Early silver coins, known as sceattas, appeared, replacing the impractical gold thrymsa as a medium of exchange. Exceptionally for the period, Aldfrith's coins bear his name, rather than that of a moneyer, in an Irish uncial script. Most show a lion, with upraised tail.