Beauty in all things
Wearmouth-Jarrow was a religious community, but its faith was expressed as much in art as in prayer. From the stones of its churches to the pages of its manuscripts, it created beauty in everything it did.
The creators
Painting with light
The glaziers that Biscop brought back from France introduced the Anglo Saxons to window glass. Suddenly, artists had a way of painting with light in a rich palette of colours – still visible in a stained-glass window, reconstructed from Anglo-Saxon glass found at St. Paul's, and installed in an original 7th-century window light in the chancel there.
Singing a new song
Whatever Benedict Biscop brought back from Europe – books, relics, art – it was always the best. Never was this truer than of the man he persuaded to come to Wearmouth-Jarrow and teach the brothers the chant in use at Rome, which became Gregorian chant. This was John, the Archcantor of St. Peter's in Rome – the pope's own choirmaster. At a time when musical notation did not exist, music had to be taught by ear, the monks of Wearmouth-Jarrow learned direct from the best-qualified teacher. This music, at the heart of the Roman choral tradition, linked the Northumbrian church even more firmly to its Roman roots.
Poetry in stone
In the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, buildings were, at best, timber and thatch. The carved stones of Wearmouth-Jarrow were a revelation of artistry to the surrounding communities. Intricately carved religious imagery; elegant Roman-style decoration fused with native Anglo-Saxon art; the square-ended crosses that would become symbolic of the twin monastery; all these earned their creators a reputation that spread far beyond the monastery and endure even today.
Words for the ages
Perhaps the single greatest piece of artistry to come out of Wearmouth-Jarrow was three giant manuscript Bibles. At a time when other monasteries were copying just small groups of books of the Bible, such as the Book of Psalms or the four Gospels, Wearmouth-Jarrow, under Ceolfrith's direction, produced three complete copies of the Bible. Each contained over 70 books, each with a staggering 2,030 pages, ten times more than the famous Lindisfarne Gospels. Three copies were made, one for each house of the monastery and one as a gift for the Pope. Handwritten in beautiful Uncial script and with innovative illustration, only one copy survives – the copy made for the Pope. Now known as the Codex Amiatinus, it is preserved today in Florence, and is the earliest surviving complete Latin Bible in the world. The next significant, complete Latin bibles would be the Tours Bibles of the ninth century. How was the mastery of the monks of Wearmouth-Jarrow lost?
