The Northumbrian Renaissance or Northumbria's Golden Age is the name given to a period of cultural flowering in the

kingdom of Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

, broadly speaking from the mid-seventh to the mid-eighth centuries. It is characterised by a blend of

insular art Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, was produced in the sub-Roman Britain, post-Roman era of Great Britain and Ireland. The term derives from ''insula'', the Latin language, Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland ...

, Germanic art and

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

influence. Authors associated with this golden age include

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

and

Alcuin Alcuin of York (; ; 735 – 19 May 804), also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin, was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert of York, Archbishop Ecgbert at Yor ...

; artefacts include the

Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels (London, British Library Cotton MS Nero D.IV) is an illuminated manuscript gospel book probably produced around the years 715–720 in the monastery at Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, which is now in the Bri ...

and associated manuscripts, the

Ruthwell Cross The Ruthwell Cross is a stone Anglo-Saxon cross probably dating from the 8th century, when the village of Ruthwell, now in Scotland, was part of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria. It is the most famous and elaborate Anglo-Saxon monumental ...

and associated sculptures, and, arguably, the Franks Casket. An illustration of the cultural activity of Northumbria during this period is given by Alcuin's ''De Sanctis et Pontificibus Ecclesiæ Eboracensis'', which gives particular attention to Bishop Æthelbert of York. Through Alcuin's sharing of intellectual works in the Frankish kingdom, the Northumbrian Renaissance came to influence the culture of the

Carolingian Renaissance The Carolingian Renaissance was the first of three medieval renaissances, a period of cultural activity in the Carolingian Empire. Charlemagne's reign led to an intellectual revival beginning in the 8th century and continuing throughout the 9th ...

References

{{Reflist *Blair, P. Hunter (1976) ''Northumbria in the Days of Bede''. London: Gollancz *Hawkes, Jane & Mills, S. (eds.) (1999) ''Northumbria's Golden Age'' * Neuman de Vegvar, Carol L. (1987) ''The Northumbrian Renaissance: a study in the transmission of style''. Cranbury: Associated University Presses *Nordhagen, Per Jonas (1994) 'The Codex Amiatinus and the Byzantine Element in the Northumbrian Renaissance', in Various authors, ''Bede and his world: the Jarrow lectures'', with a preface by

Michael Lapidge Michael Lapidge, FBA (born 8 February 1942) is a scholar in the field of Medieval Latin literature, particularly that composed in Anglo-Saxon England during the period 600–1100 AD; he is an emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, a Fellow ...

. 2 vols. Aldershot: Variorum; Vol. 1, pp. 435–62 *Orton, F. (2004) 'Northumbrian identity in the eighth century: the Ruthwell and Bewcastle monuments; style, classification, class, and the form of ideology', ''Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies'', 34:1 (2004) 95-145

See also

References

Further reading