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Some of these monks had some strange habits, not in their clothes (the robes that monks wear are called habits) but in their behaviour. A guy called Cuthbert left his monastery in 676 and went to live on one of the Farne Islands just off the coast of Northumbria. At first he received visitors but after a while he stayed inside his cell, refusing to see anyone. There were quite a few monks who chose to live the life of a hermit, away from everyone and dedicating their life to the worship of God.

In 684, Cuthbert was elected as Bishop of Hexham in Northumbria. Cuthbert didn't want to leave his little island but after a visit from King Ecgfrith he agreed to leave but only if he became Bishop of Lindisfarne. This was agreed and he became the Bishop in March 685 but by Christmas 686 he believed he was dying and went back to his little cell on the Farne Islands. As it turned out, he was spot on and he died in March 687.

Meanwhile a year after he persuaded Cuthbert to become the Bishop, King Ecgfrith was killed in a battle with the Picts in the north of Scotland. The Kings of Northumbria had, for some time, ruled southern Scotland but this defeat meant that Anglo-Saxon rulers had no more control in any part of Scotland.

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