Benedict Biscop, named at first Biscop Baducing, was born in 628 into the Northumbrian nobility. He served King Oswiu, as a thane until the age of 25 when he came into his inheritance. But at that point, his life took an unlikely turn, for he embarked on a journey to Rome. There he toured the pilgrim sites and on his return home he dedicated himself to promoting Roman Christianity.
Northumbria followed an Irish strand of Christianity and it is doubtful whether anybody in here had had any direct contacts with Rome, or any interest in such contacts, before Biscop's first journey. Now, both he and Wilfrid, a travelling companion on that journey, had first hand knowledge of the mainstream of western Christianity and they formed part of a group promoting Roman ways which developed around the court of Oswiu's son Alhfrith, sub-king in Deira. This influence culminated in 664 with King Oswiu's decision, taken at the synod in Whitby, that the kingdom should observe Roman and not Irish religious practices.
By 666 Biscop was again in Rome and after some months study there, he travelled to the island monastery of Lérins off the south coast of France where he took monastic vows and spent the next two years. In 668 he was in Rome for the third time. If he had intended a long stay on this occasion, his plans were interrupted when the Pope asked him to escort back to England the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore of Tarsus, a Greek who had never been in England.
Their long journey back gave Biscop the opportunity to brief the new Archbishop on the state of the church in England and to develop a working relationship for the future. When they had arrived in Canterbury the following year, Biscop was asked to take charge of the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul in that city. This he did for two years, after which he was back in Rome, this time collecting books and relics.
Like any other traveller, Biscop no doubt had a sense of curiosity and a spirit of adventure. But his travelling was purposeful: all the time he was gaining experience and learning. He saw how western Europe was shaped by the heritage of the old Roman empire in the cities and their architecture; how Christianity both grew out of and transformed this inheritance. He saw the great churches and monasteries; he saw church organisation and he experienced the monasticism which flourished under the impetus of the Rule of St. Benedict. He was later to explain to his monks that in formulating a rule for Wearmouth-Jarrow he drew on his knowledge of 17 continental monasteries which he had visited. The fruits of his travels were about to be revealed in his own native Northumbria.
Back in England in 673, Biscop returned home to Northumbria and an audience with King Ecgfrith, Oswiu's successor, at which he expressed his ambition to found a new monastery. He gained Ecgfrith's confidence and, with a generous endowment from the king of 70 hides of land (enough land to support 70 families), he founded in 674 the monastery of St. Peter at Wearmouth.
In Bede's account of the founding, we can see how Biscop instituted here a complete programme of Romanisation. The first signs of this were in architecture. Biscop went to France and brought back masons to build a basilican church of stone. Then, as it was nearing completion, he sent to France for glaziers to make window glass and glass vessels. Both of these craft skills had been lost in England where timber was the normal material for building. In the Northumbria of the late 7th century, Romanesque architecture was revolutionary and its visual impact in the landscape must have been stunning.
With the main buildings complete and the monastery up and running, in 679 Biscop set off on his fifth journey for Rome, this time in company with Ceolfrith who was later to become Abbot of the monastery. This was a serious expedition to resource the monastery and to consolidate the programme of Romanisation in learning, in liturgy, in art and in law. He brought back more books for the monastery library along with mass books, vestments and relics for use in the church. And John the Archcantor, the head of liturgy in Rome, came back with Biscop to train the monks in liturgical practice. Paintings were installed in the church: of the Virgin, the Apostles, incidents from the Gospels and scenes from the Book of Revelations so that those who could not read would learn from the images. Finally, Biscop gained a letter of privilege from Pope Agatho guaranteeing the independence of the monastery and exemption from external interference.
Back again in 680, Biscop and Ceolfrith received Bede, then a child of seven years old, into the monastery as a pupil . In the following year, 681, Biscop received a second endowment of 40 hides of land from king Ecgfrith on which he founded the monastery of St. Paul's in Jarrow. The two houses were together constituted as a single monastery with Ceolfrith as Abbot at Jarrow. In the next year, 682, and now in his mid 50s, Biscop appointed Eosterwine Abbot at Wearmouth and set out on his sixth and last journey to Rome. This time he was away for four years and again he returned with books and religious art.
Biscop spent the rest of his life in the monastery. He suffered for three years with what Bede calls a 'creeping paralysis', the upshot of which was that by the end he had lost the use of his lower limbs. Before he died he made arrangements for the future of the monastery, appointing Ceolfrith abbot of both houses. He gave instructions for the future election of abbots, warning against the then common practice of hereditary succession.
Benedict Biscop died at the monastery on 12th January 690 at the age of 62. He was buried close to the altar in the church of St. Peter at Wearmouth. To summarise his legacy, we can say that he brought Rome to Northumbria and he established the religious and intellectual setting which nurtured the Venerable Bede.
