Symeon (or Simeon) of Durham (died after 1129) was an English chronicler and a monk of Durham Priory. When William of Saint-Calais returned from his Norman exile in 1091, Symeon was probably in his company. Symeon eventually became precentor of the priory, and examples of his handwriting appear to survive in several Durham books, including the Liber Vitae, the so-called Cantor's Book (whose text he would have had to keep up to date as part of his duties as precentor), and in copies of his own historical works.^[1]

Symeon was author of two historical works which are particularly valuable for northern affairs, the Libellus de Exordio atque Procursu istius, hoc est Dunelmensis, Ecclesie (The Little Book on the Origins and Progress of this Church, that is of Durham) and a historical compilation Historia regum Anglorum et Dacorum. The Libellus de Exordio, a history of the community of Durham (originally settled at Lindisfarne) from its inception to the year 1096, is by far his most important work. Composed between 1104 and 1107, Symeon's task (imposed on him by his monastic superiors) was to demonstrate the continuity of Durham's history despite the notable disruptions the community weathered during the Viking invasions and even more recently in the Norman Conquest. Symeon sought furthermore to justify William of Saint-Calais's expulsion of Durham's clerical community in 1083, in order to replace it with a group of Benedictine monks drawn from Wearmouth and Jarrow. Like earlier Durham writers, Symeon finds historical continuity between the major phases of the community's development in the constant presence of their patron, Saint Cuthbert. The miracles worked in Cuthbert's name during the late Anglo-Saxon period were particularly flamboyant, and the Libellus contains engaging accounts of some of these, including the miracle of the three waves (when Cuthbert turned a portion of the Irish Sea into blood in order to prevent his followers from taking his relics out of England, see Libellus ii.11), the foundation of Durham (when Cuthbert's body, being moved across England on a cart, refused to be moved, signaling his desire to remain at Durham, see Libellus iii.1), and several picturesque deaths visited upon the enemies of Cuthbert's devotees.

Several versions of the Libellus survive from the Middle Ages. Symeon's own revised copy can be found in Durham, University Library, Cosin V.II.6. It is this text which has been most often published. The Durham manuscript also contains two anonymous continuations of Symeon's work. The first carries the history from 1096 to the death of Ranulf Flambard (1129); the second extends from 1133 to 1144. A Cambridge manuscript (Cambridge, University Library, Ff. i.27) contains a third continuation covering the years 1145-1154. Another manuscript (London, British Library, Cotton Faustina A.V) seems to represent the text of the Libellus before the revisions found in the Durham manuscript.^[2] A full list of manuscripts can be found on the Libellus de Exordio page.

About 1129 Symeon undertook to write a Historia regum Anglorum et Dacorum. This begins at the point where the Ecclesiastical History of Bede ends. Up to 957 Simeon merely copies some old Durham annals, not otherwise preserved, which are of value for northern history; from that point to 1119 he copies John of Worcester with certain interpolations. The section dealing with the years 1119-1129 is, however, an independent and practically contemporaneous narrative. Symeon writes, for his time, with ease and perspicuity; but his chief merit is that of a diligent collector and copyist.

Symeon also wrote brief biographies of the archbishops of York and a letter on the errors of Origen. Other writings have been attributed to his pen, but on no good authority. They are printed in the Scriptores decem of Roger Twysden (1652). The most complete modern edition is that of Thomas Arnold (Rolls series, 2 vols., 1882–1885). For the Libellus, now see Rollason's 2000 edition.

The value of the "Northumbrian Annals," which Symeon used for the Historia regum, has been discussed by John Hodgson-Hinde in the preface to his Symeonis Dunelmensis opera, vol. i. pp. xiv. ff. (1868); by R. Pauli in Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, xii. pp. 137 sqq. (Göttingen, 1872).

Selected bibliography [link]

In addition to the editions and critical essays referred to above, see the following entries excerpted from the Royal Historical Society Bibliography:

• Chai-Elsholz, Raeleen. "Symeon of Durham and the memoria of Bede". Pecia : ressources en médiévistique 8-11 (2005), 425-38. ISSN 1761-4961.
• Rollason, David W., ed. and trans. Symeon of Durham: Libellus de Exordio atque Procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, Ecclesie / Tract on the origins and progress of this the Church of Durham (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000), xcv, 353 p. ISBN 0-19-820207-5.
• Forsyth, K. and J.T. Koch. "Evidence of a lost Pictish source in the Historia Regum Anglorum of Symeon of Durham", in Kings, clerics and chronicles in Scotland, 500-1297: essays in honour of Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson on the occasion of her ninetieth birthday, ed. Simon Taylor (Dublin: Four Courts, 2000), 19-34. ISBN 1-85182-516-9.
• Breeze, Andrew. "Simeon of Durham's annal for 756 and Govan, Scotland". Nomina 22 (1999), 133-7. ISSN 0141-6340.
• Rollason, David W., ed. Symeon of Durham: historian of Durham and the North (Stamford: Shaun Tyas, 1998), xix, 362 p.
• Gullick, Michael. "The scribes of the Durham cantor's book (Durham Dean and Chapter library, MS B.IV.24) and the Durham martyrology scribe", in Anglo-Norman Durham, 1093-1193, eds. David W. Rollason, Margaret M. Harvey and Michael Prestwich (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1994), 93-109.
• Rollason, David W. "Symeon of Durham and the community of Durham in the eleventh century", in England in the eleventh century: proceedings of the 1990 Harlaxton symposium (Harlaxton Medieval Studies, 2), ed. Carola Hicks (Stamford, 1992), 183-98.
• Johnson-South, Ted. "The Norman conquest of Durham: Norman historians and the Anglo-Saxon community of St Cuthbert", Haskins Society Journal 4 (1993 for 1992), 85-95. ISSN 09634959.
• Lapidge, Michael. "Byrhtferth of Ramsey and the early sections of the Historia Regum attributed to Symeon of Durham", Anglo-Saxon England 10 (1982), 97-122. ISSN 02636751. ISSN (electronic) 14740532.
• Offler, Hilary Seton. "Hexham and the Historia Regum". Transactions of the Architectural & Archaeological Society of Durham & Northumberland n.s. 2 (1970), 51-62.
• Schnith, Karl. "Von Symeon von Durham zu Wilhelm von Newburgh: Wege der englischen 'Volkgeschichte' im 12. Jahrhundert", in Speculum historiale, eds. C. Bauer et al. (Freiburg and Munich, 1965), 242-56.
• Blair, Peter Hunter. "Some observations on the Historia Regum attributed to Symeon of Durham", in Celt and Saxon: studies in the early British border, ed. Nora K. Chadwick (Cambridge, 1963), 63-118.
• Davies, J. C. "A recovered manuscript of Symeon of Durham", Durham University Journal n.s. 13:1 (1951), 22-8.
• Angus, W.S. "The annals for the tenth century in Symeon of Durham's Historia regum", Durham University Journal n.s. 1:3 (1940), 213-29.
• Arnold, Thomas, ed. Symeonis monachi opera omnia. 2 vols. (Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores, 75), 1882-5.

References [link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

• Symeon of Durham, Libellus de Exordio atque Procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, Ecclesie ed. and trans. by David Rollason. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2000.

External links [link]

• Latin Chroniclers from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Centuries: Simeon of Durham from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Volume I, 1907–21.
•  "Simeon of Durham". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
• Symeon of Durham (1104–1108), Hinde, Hodgson, ed., Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera et Collectanea, I, Durham: Surtees Society, 1868, https://books.google.com/?id=YE0JAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage 
• Symeon of Durham (1104–1108), Hinde, Hodgson, ed., Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera et Collectanea, II, Durham: Surtees Society, 1868, https://books.google.com/?id=_UYWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage 

Notes [link]