Aethelwold, Ethelwold, Ethelvald. Illuminator. Saec. VIII.
Bishop of Lindisfarne (724-740).
Illuminated a book of the Gospel, which had been written by his predecessor, Eadfrith. Billfrith, the anchorite, covered it with silver plates and precious stones, as is stated by Aldred, the Saxon glossator, at the end of St. John's Gospel. The MS. was completed about 720, and is one of the most precious in existence. It is generally known as the "Durham Book." Now in the British Museum (Cotton, Nero D. iv).--Thompson: Catal. of Ancient (Latin) MSS. in Br. Mus., 16 and pl. 9.
The "Durham Book" is one of the most richly illuminated Celto-Saxon MSS. known. The School of Illumination established at Durham originated at Holy Isle, having been brought thither from Iona by St. Columba. This most venerable example is in excellent preservation, and exhibits to perfection the salient features of the style.
Aethelwold. Calligrapher and Patron. Saec. VIII.
Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984.
In 948 he was Abbot of the New Monastery of Abingdon. He co-operated with Dunstan and Oswald in reforming the monks and in restoring learning. The monasteries of Ely, Peterborough, and Thorney, and the cathedral chuch of Winchester were among the buildings which he erected or restored. Like St. Dunstan, he is said to have cultivated music and various arts, and to have been a skilled penman and worker in metals. Under his auspices was written and illuminated the magnificent Benedictional which goes by his name, "Benedictionale sancti Aethelwoldi Episcopi Wintoniensis," in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire. The scribe, and probably the illuminator, of this celebrated book was Godemann (see Godemann), and it was executed at New Minster. Aethelwold's life was written by Wulstan, one of his scholars.--Archæologia, xxiv. 20
New Minster, Winchester, is often confounded on the one hand wih its predecessor, St. Swithin's, or the Old Minster, close beside which the New Minster was built, and on the other with Hyde Abbey. After New Minster had been successfully carried on for about 200 years, it was found that the musical and other services clashed with those of the adjacent monastery. In consequnce of this, the monks of New Minster removed in 1110 to a spot outside Winchester called Hyde. Hyde Abbey, therefore, only came into existence after new Minster was abolished. Dugdale: Monasticon Anglicanum, 427-432. 1819.