The St Cuthbert Window was made in c.1440 and is one of the largest surviving narrative windows in Europe. The window was donated by Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham and a former Dean of York. Langley is pictured in the lowest section closeto a large standing figure of St Cuthbert. The rest of the window is filled with scenes from St Cuthbert’s life. The tracery panels at the very top of the window contain figures of saints. St Cuthbert (c.634-87) was the premier saint of Northern England throughout the medieval period.
An Anglo-Saxon monk, and bishop of Lindisfarne, Cuthbert was renowned for his good works and miracles. Although his shrine was originally located on Lindisfarne, when the monks who lived there fled Viking attacks in the ninth century, they carried St Cuthbert with them in his coffin and eventually settled at Durham, where his shrine can still be visited. Recently, the St Cuthbert Window has been the subject of a detailed study, which has yielded significant new discoveries about the window’s history and design. The upcoming conservation of the window will safeguard this magnificent window for future generations.