Durham Cathedral Library descends from the library of the
monastery founded on Lindisfarne by St Aidan in 635. When the
community left Lindisfarne in 875, the monks took with them
relics of St Cuthbert, and a number of books. These probably
included the famous manuscript now known as the Lindisfarne
gospels. The community settled at Chester-le-Street in 883,
where it continued to acquire books. In 995 it moved to Durham,
where it built the 'White Church' completed in 1017. The
medieval priory library In 1083 the Bishop of Durham, William of
St Calais, founded a Benedictine priory to replace the community
of secular clerks which had served the White Church and shrine
of St Cuthbert, and in 1093 the foundation stone of the present
cathedral was laid. William drew his first monks from the
recently re-founded abbeys of Wearmouth and Jarrow. The new
priory inherited books from all these predecessors, including
7th and 8th century manuscripts of Northumbrian origin, some of
which are still in the Cathedral Library