What is Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey?
[[File:Jarrow.jpg|thumbnail|right|300px|{{center|Ruins of the original Monastery at Jarrow in front of the current St Paul's Church.}}]] '''Monkwearmouth–Jarrow''' was a combination of two [[England|English]] [[monastery|monasteries]] run as a single [[:wikt:community|community]]. Both were founded by [[Benedict Biscop]].{{efn|Benedict Biscop was a rich nobleman who had a good deal of political power.<ref>Michael Gleason, 'Bede and his Fathers', ''Classica et mediaevalia'', Vol. 45 (1994), p. 223</ref> He was a member of the [[household]] of King [[Oswiu of Northumbria]] while still young. When he was twenty-five he gave up his [[:wikt:secular|secular]] life, his marriage and family and decided to join the Church.<ref>Charles Forbes Montalembert; Aurélien Courson, ''The monks of the West from St. Benedict to St. Bernard, Volume 4'' (London: J.C. Nimmo, 1896), p. 172</ref>}} Monkwearmouth, built first, was a magnificent example of the Roman style of architecture. It housed one of the first stained glass works in [[England]]. Jarrow became the center of [[Anglo-Saxon]] learning in the north of England and contained the largest library in Anglo-Saxon England.{{efn|It is estimated the library at Monkwearmouth-Jarrow had between 200 and 250 volumes. It was the largest collection of books in Anglo-Saxon England. Almost nothing remains of this magnificent library that Bede used. It has disappeared except for two copies of the ''Carmina of Paulinus of Nola''. Dated to {{circa|700}}. Also [[Yale University]] has in its Beinecke Library a fragment of a copy of another great work that came from this scriptorium.<ref>Michael Lapidge, ''The Anglo-Saxon Library'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 37</ref>}} [[Bede]], the great Anglo-Saxon [[:wikt:scholar|scholar]], studied, taught and wrote there. The sister Anglo-Saxon monasteries were the UK nomination for [[World Heritage Site]] status in 2011. == History == In 674 Benedict Biscop, a Northumbrian [[nobleman]], built a monastery known as Monkwearmouth. [[Egfrit