Whitby
Site of the monastery founded by Abbess Hilda on the Northumbrian coast, called Streanaeshalch by Bede. The synod of 664 on the date of Easter met here.
Bede calls the place Streanaeshalch and explains the name as “the Bay of the Lighthouse” (Bede, Ecclesiastical History 3.25). The name Whitby is later; the translator of the edition cited here identifies the two. Hilda founded the monastery on an estate of ten households about two years after King Oswiu’s victory of 655, and Oswiu, his queen Eanfled and their daughter Elfled, who later became abbess, were buried in its church of St Peter (Bede, Ecclesiastical History 3.24).
What happened here
- AD 664, firm dateThe Synod of Whitby
At Hilda’s monastery of Whitby, King Oswiu of Northumbria hears the Irish and the Roman parties argue over the date of Easter and decides for Rome, citing Peter’s keys. Bishop Colman and his followers leave for Iona and Ireland.