<P> In 737 Saint Ceolwulf of Northumbria abdicated as King of Northumbria and entered the Prior at Lindisfarne . He died in 764 and was buried alongside Cuthbert . In 830 his body was moved to Norham - upon - Tweed and later his head was translated to Durham Cathedral . </P> <P> At some point in the early 8th century, the famous illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated Latin copy of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, was made probably at Lindisfarne and the artist was possibly Eadfrith, who later became Bishop of Lindisfarne . Sometime in the second half of the 10th century a monk named Aldred added an Anglo - Saxon (Old English) gloss to the Latin text, producing the earliest surviving Old English copies of the Gospels . Aldred attributed the original to Eadfrith (bishop 698--721). The Gospels were written with a good hand, but it is the illustrations done in an insular style containing a fusion of Celtic, Germanic and Roman elements that are truly outstanding . According to Aldred, Eadfrith's successor Æthelwald was responsible for pressing and binding it and then it was covered with a fine metal case made by a hermit called Billfrith . The Lindisfarne Gospels now reside in the British Library in London, somewhat to the annoyance of some Northumbrians . In 1971 professor Suzanne Kaufman of Rockford, Illinois presented a facsimile copy of the Gospels to the clergy of the island . </P> <P> In 793, a Viking raid on Lindisfarne caused much consternation throughout the Christian west and is now often taken as the beginning of the Viking Age . The D and E versions of the Anglo - Saxon Chronicle record: </P> <P> Her wæron reðe forebecna cumene ofer Norðhymbra land, ⁊ þæt folc earmlic bregdon, þæt wæron ormete þodenas ⁊ ligrescas, ⁊ fyrenne dracan wæron gesewene on þam lifte fleogende . Þam tacnum sona fyligde mycel hunger, ⁊ litel æfter þam, þæs ilcan geares on . vi . Idus Ianuarii, earmlice hæþenra manna hergunc adilegode Godes cyrican in Lindisfarnaee þurh hreaflac ⁊ mansliht . </P>

When did the vikings attack the monastery at lindisfarne