Libellus de exordio

The Libellus de exordio atque procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie (English: Tract on the Origins and Progress of this the Church of Durham),[1] in short Libellus de exordio, is a historical work of marked literary character composed and compiled in the early 12th-century and traditionally attributed to Symeon of Durham.

It relates the history of bishopric and church of Durham and its predecessors at Lindisfarne and Chester-le-Street (Cunecacestre).

[12] The latest datable contemporary event mentioned in the core of the text (albeit obliquely) is the opening of the tomb of St Cuthbert for his translation into the new cathedral of Durham, on 29 August 1104.

The coverage of the Libellus de exordio extends from the beginning of Christianity among the English of Northumbria and the foundation of a bishopric at Lindisfarne, to the death of Bishop William of Saint-Calais in 1096.

What historical continuity the Libellus finds comes from the constant presence of the community's patron, Saint Cuthbert.

Firstly, six manuscripts contain a "summary" text which ends c. 1083, when a Benedictine priory was established at Durham.