‘Tenebrae’ is the last office, the final prayer in the ritual day of the Benedictine monk. But there is a double finality to the Tenebrae evoked at the beginning of this book. This is the great cathedral church of Durham, and the date is 31 December 1539. ‘A few hours earlier, the Prior of Durham and his monks had surrendered their monastery to King Henry VIII, just as so many had done before them by then’. These monks are about to disperse, the church’s treasures will be appropriated and the ancient tombs of St Cuthbert and St Bede will be broken up after hundreds of years of continuous tradition.
Though modestly billed in the foreword as a piece of local history, this exploration of the way Durham evolved under Reformation pressure from Benedictine monastery to Anglican cathedral forms just part of one of the most lucid and graphic accounts I have read of the opening stages of the English Reformation.
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