Charles C. Rozier argues that the community of St. Cuthbert used the writing of history to assert and maintain a continuous identity over time, despite relocations and disruptions. The community kept records, collected books, and wrote a variety of historical narratives, chronicles, shorter texts, and letters as they developed and maintained this agenda. Rozier focuses on texts and manuscripts (including unpublished sources) to trace the ways in which the community of St. Cuthbert understood and used the past to “project” its identity (202). The book is organized into six chapters, each of which begins with a historical overview of the period studied in the chapter and a discussion of changing intellectual contexts, followed by a discussion of the texts procured or produced in that period, in relation to the community's identity-based agenda. Rozier uses eighteen sources, including Bede's prose Life of Cuthbert, the Historia de sancto Cuthberto (HSC), and Symeon of Durham's Libellus de exordio (LDE).

The introduction discusses origins of historical writing in the Middle Ages, lays out Rozier's methodology, and articulates part of the book's framework. Unfortunately, the summary of the book contained in the introduction has not been revised so that it accurately reflects the current organization and content of the chapters (16–17). For example, the introductory summary states that “chapter 2 provides an overview of the texts produced in and alongside the community while it grew as an influential cult and administrative centre in the period c.700–875” (17). However, chapter 2 as published covers “Preserving the Past at Chester-le-Street, c.882–995” (v, 32ff.). Readers should use the contents, appendix, and indices to navigate this book rather than relying on the summary in the introduction.

Chapter 1 discusses origins and development of Cuthbert's cult to ca. 750 with an eye toward their later uses at Chester-le-Street and Durham. This chapter also usefully summarizes basic information about Cuthbert's life, death, and the beginnings of his cult. Chapter 2 covers the move to and life at Chester-le-Street, though it begins with Symeon's account of the destruction of Lindisfarne in 793, written later. Rozier presents the events that led to the relocations of the community in the ninth and tenth centuries along with the leaders involved in its preservation. This overview is followed by an account of texts, manuscripts, and intellectual contexts, leading up to Rozier's discussion of the composition of the HSC. Rozier argues that “the community of St Cuthbert increasingly defined itself through the preservation and re-enactment of its past” even in these early phases (67).

Chapter 3 examines the relocation of the community and the establishment of a new cult center in Durham, from ca. 995–1080. After presenting the events and intellectual contexts followed by a detailed account of textual acquisition and production, Rozier discusses the additions to the HSC made in Durham at this time along with the Old English “Durham” poem and composition of the Cronica monasterii dunelmensis (now lost). Rozier argues that the Cronica, written ca. 1072–1080, was the first serious and “original” attempt at writing history for about 100 years (95). The next three chapters all cover aspects of the period ca. 1080–1130 with only minor variation in the years discussed but with clear differences in the texts discussed. Chapter 4 focuses on problems posed to the community's continuous narrative by monastic reform and argues that Symeon's LDE was a “carefully worked narrative” designed to foster continuity (104–105). Chapter 5 covers roughly the same period of time but discusses other challenges the community confronted, such as threats to their landholdings, by writing shorter tracts that used “past precedent as a basis for contemporary claims” (165). The time frame of chapter 6 also overlaps substantially with the previous two chapters but discusses the writing of annals and chronicles. Collectively known as the Historia regum and coordinated by Symeon (168–169), these annals bring Frankish sources together with Northumbrian ones. The community also reexamined the arrival of the Saxons to Britain during this phase of their history, situating themselves in early English history as well as in relation to Continental and local sources.

Rozier concludes by asserting the varied uses of the past in the equally varied historical writings of the community of St. Cuthbert. He argues that the community was intellectually sophisticated and that his analysis allows readers to see how it adapted the writing of history to address changing contemporary concerns. This flexibility—using the past rather than just knowing about it—allowed the community to maintain its identity across time and place, despite the changes caused by events and reforms. For Rozier, the community's intellectual sophistication and ability to engage the past in order to influence the present makes it “one of the most important centres of historical writing in the early and central Middle Ages” and a model for understanding how and why “medieval communities strove to engage with their past” (210).

This is a fascinating and detailed book that sheds light on the depth and breadth of historical writings by the community of St. Cuthbert as well as the creativity with which they asserted the continuity of their identity. The sheer amount of material covered here is impressive but may have also contributed to problems of organization that unfortunately persisted into the final phases of production of this book. In addition to the outdated summary in Rozier's introduction, the chronological organization of materials collapses in the second half of the book, which looks at different sets of texts during roughly the same period, from ca. 1080–1130. The allusive chapter headings fail to compensate for the temporal leaps backward at the start of chapters 5 and 6, which can be somewhat confusing. Breaking the book into two parts or organizing it thematically might have mitigated these problems.

Despite these problems, this book is worth reading. It provides important evidence about manuscripts in Northumbria and Durham ca. 1080–1130, the intellectual capacities of the community of St. Cuthbert, and the variety of historical forms being written and used by the community from the eighth to the early twelfth centuries. Rozier demonstrates the energy and care with which Symeon of Durham, his predecessors, and his colleagues shaped their narrative(s) over time, and he provides an important reminder that medieval writers did not necessarily stop writing or thinking when events disrupted their lives, threatened their safety, or even destroyed their monasteries and books. Instead, they preserved what they could, moved forward, started compiling sources, and began writing again. This case study shows how dynamic the uses and varieties of church history could be in the hands of a community determined to persevere, protect, and “project” its identity.