Aldred the Scribe

Who is Aldred the Scribe?

Aldred the Scribe is the name by which scholars identify a tenth-century priest, otherwise known only as Aldred, who was a provost of the monastic community of St. Cuthbert at Chester-le-Street in 970.

He is best known for his gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels in the late tenth century. His word for word translation of the Latin texts into the vernacular of Old English made the gospels more accessible to his Old English speaking community. The translation was not just a mechanical transcription, but translated difficult Latin concepts into a clearer Old English context. Aldred also added a colophon to the text that indicates many important details about this copy of the gospels. Scribes generally added colophons to indicate the circumstances of their work; sometimes including the place, date, price of the manuscript, and client for whom it was copied. Aldred's colophon indicates that the Gospels were written by Eadfrith, a bishop of Lindisfarne in 698, the original binding was supplied by Ethelwald, Eadfrith's successor in 921, and the outside ornamentation was done by Billfrith, an anchorite of Lindisfarne. He also states that the Gospels were created for God and St Cuthbert.