Editing Benedict Biscop (section)

===Founder===
{{See also|Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey}}
[[Ecgfrith of Northumbria]] granted Benedict land in 674 for the purpose of building a [[monastery]]. He went to the Continent to bring back masons who could build a monastery in the [[Pre-Romanesque art and architecture|Pre-Romanesque style]]. Benedict made his fifth and final trip to Rome in 679 to bring back books for a library, saintly relics, stonemasons, glaziers, and a grant from [[Pope Agatho]] granting his monastery certain privileges. Benedict made five overseas voyages in all to stock the library.<ref>{{cite book|author=Woods Tomas E. Jr. |title=How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization|year=2005|publisher=Regnery|isbn=0895260387|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/howcatholicchurc0000wood}}</ref><ref name="Attwater">Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. {{ISBN|0-14-051312-4}}.</ref>

In 682 Benedict appointed [[Eosterwine]] as his [[Abbot|coadjutor]] and the King was so delighted at the success of St Peter's, he gave him land in Jarrow and urged him to build a second monastery. Benedict erected a sister foundation (St Paul) at [[Jarrow]]. He appointed [[Ceolfrid]] as the superior, who left Wearmouth with 20 monks to start the foundation in Jarrow. [[Bede]], one of Benedict's pupils, tells us that he brought builders and glass-workers from [[Francia]] to erect the buildings in stone.<ref name="Attwater"/><ref>''HAbb'', IV–VI; Blair, p. 161.</ref>

He drew up a rule for his community, based on that of Benedict and the customs of seventeen monasteries he had visited. He also engaged Abbot John, Arch-cantor of St. Peter's in Rome, to teach Roman chant at these monasteries.<ref name=Ott/>

In 685, Ecgfrith granted the land south of the River Wear to Biscop. Separated from the monastery, this would be known as the "sundered land," which in time would become the name of the wider urban area.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/Sunderland.html|title=Old Sunderland History|website=englandsnortheast.co.uk|access-date=2018-03-25}}</ref>

Benedict's idea was to build a model monastery for England, sharing his knowledge of the experience of the Church in Europe. It was the first ecclesiastical building in Britain to be built in stone, and the use of glass was a novelty for many in 7th-century England. It eventually possessed what was a large library for the time&nbsp;– several hundred volumes&nbsp;– and it was here that Benedict's student Bede wrote his famous works. The library became world-famous and manuscripts that had been copied there became prized possessions throughout Europe,<ref>''HAbb'', IV & VI; Blair, pp. 165ff.</ref> including especially the [[Codex Amiatinus]], the earliest surviving manuscript of the complete Bible in the Latin Vulgate version.