Billfrith

Who is Billfrith?

Billfrith is an obscure Northumbrian saint credited with providing the jewel and metalwork encrusting the former treasure binding of the Lindisfarne Gospels. His name is thought to mean "peace of the two-edge sword".

Symeon of Durham's Libellus de Exordio, which calls him "St Billfrith the Anchorite", says he was a goldsmith and that he gilded an important book written by Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne. This book is the gospel book known today as the Lindisfarne Gospels. Symeon probably derived this information from a colophon added to the Lindisfarne Gospels by a scribe named "Aldred" at some point between 950 and 970. The colophons describes how:

Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfarne church, originally wrote this book for God and for St Cuthbert and—jointly—for all saints whose relics are in the island. And Æthelwald, bishop of the Lindisfarne islanders, impressed it on the outside and covered it ... And Billfrið the anchorite forged the ornaments which are on it on the outside and adorned it with gold and gems and with gilded-on silver-pure metal ...

The Gospels today are in a different binding, as Billfrith's craftsmanship has not survived.