| Vita Sancti Cuthberti | |
|---|---|
| "The Life of St Cuthbert" | |
| Also known as | Vita sancti Cuthberti auctore anonymo |
| Author(s) | Anonymous |
| Patron | Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfarne (698–721) |
| Language | Latin |
| Date | 699 × 705 |
| Provenance | Lindisfarne monastery |
| State of existence | Eight manuscripts |
| Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 15817 | |
| St Omer 267 | |
| St Omer 715 | |
| Arras 812 (1029) | |
| British Library Harley MS 2800 | |
| Brussels Royal Library MSS 207–208 | |
| Trier, Public Library 1151 | |
| Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Fonds Latin 5289 | |
| First printed edition | The Bollandists, Acta Sanctorum Martii, vol. iii, (Antwerp, 1668), pp. 117–24 |
| Genre | prose hagiography |
| Subject | Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne and Anglo-Saxon saint (died 687) |
| Setting | Northumbria |
| Period covered | 7th century |
The Vita Sancti Cuthberti (English: "Life of Saint Cuthbert") is a prose hagiography from early medieval Northumbria. It is probably the earliest extant saint's life from Anglo-Saxon England, and is an account of the life and miracles of Cuthbert (died 687), a Bernician hermit-monk who became bishop of Lindisfarne. Surviving in eight manuscripts from Continental Europe, it was not as well read in the Middle Ages as the prose version by Bede. It was however Bede's main source for his two dedicated works on Cuthbert, the "Metrical Life" and the "Prose Life".
It was completed soon after the translation of Cuthbert's body in 698, at some point between 699 and 705. Compiled from oral sources available in Bernicia at the time of its composition, the Vita nonetheless utilized previous Christian writing from the Continent, particularly Gregory the Great's Dialogi and Sulpicius Severus' Vita Sancti Martini, as powerful influences. The name of the author is not known, though he was a monk of the monastery of Lindisfarne. It is often called the Anonymous Life to distinguish it from the "Prose Life" and the "Metrical Life" of Bede. There are four modern editions of the Anonymous Life, the latest by historian Bertram Colgrave.