The prince bishops were proud men. They were the church. They were the state. They had a large, handsome cathedral. They had religious houses. They had churches. Within their own domain they were the church. They had their own army, their own money, and their own judicial system. Within their own domain they were the state. They had been church and state since William the Conqueror said, "It's you." And Durham was the center of their estates.

Durham was the castle from which the prince bishop was state. Durham was the cathedral from which the prince bishop was church, and the priory was his leading religious house whose monks helped maintain the cathedral.

The Boyntons lived close by in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Thomas was lord of Acklam. Christopher, his son, was lord of Sedbury. Both were involved in the public life of the North Riding. But both were also involved in the public life of Durham -- Thomas as sheriff and Christopher as lawyer and member of commissions of the bishop. In doing their work for the bishop they walked the halls of castle and cathedral.

Our last day in Durham was spent walking those same halls -- retracing their steps.

What a face! The cathedral offered sanctuary, but they made it as difficult as they could. The sanctuary knocker was one horrible face. It is no longer the original; they have the original in the treasure room. But it is a good replica. And it is also replicated on a mouse pad -- in purple and black. Very nice design -- so I got one as my memento of Durham.

That was not the only really awful face in Durham. On the bank of the river there was a throne of horror. The entire backside of a large concrete "throne" was covered with fright-inducing faces. No one we found knew how they got there -- or why. But there they were. Anna loved playing along the bank of the river, when she had the chance, and the rest of us were impressed by the faces.

When you entered the sanctuary door the cathedral stretched as far as the eye could see toward the east. The ceiling seemed at least four or five stories high; you looked up and up and up. To the west, the right, there was a gigantic door that had been closed off to add the chapel for Mary on that end of the building. The chapel for Mary on the west matched the shrine to St. Cuthbert, the great northern saint, on the east.

The cathedral offered greatness; the greatness of God [and possibly the prince bishops] was reflected in the size of this cathedral, built in his worship. The cathedral offered gray, the color of somber; everywhere there was stone. The floor was gray. The walls were gray. The ceiling was gray. There were dramatic spots of color  -- stained glass windows, the giant gold screen, the altar table, and an occasional bright spot of cloth -- made more dramatic by the grayness of most of the building. The cathedral offered history. St. Cuthbert, who is enshrined in the Cathedral, was ministering to Northumberland even before the cathedral existed. The giant gold screen, or wall, behind the altar was put in by the Nevilles in the fourteenth century. The effigies of men and women reflected the many centuries God has been worshiped here.

Henry VIII did to the cathedral what he did to all the religious institutions in the country -- he raided it for gold. He closed down the priory to take their land and he raided St. Cuthbert's shrine for its gold and jewels. Finally, in the 16th century, St. Cuthbert left his worldly goods behind -- with the aid of Henry VIII.

We saw it all -- from one end to the other. Anna listened as the newest stained glass window was explained. She scibbled along the walls. She found awe in St. Cuthbert's shrine. And she managed to find many corners ignored by most adults.

The priory had been closed by Henry VIII, but it has been reconstructed since. Much of it, as is the castle, is part of the University of Durham. The monks in this priory had no warming room for their dormitory -- according to the person who let us in. It was cold and damp. The monks did not have much elbow room. There were two beds at each window with a bit of wall for hanging one's clothes. But they had quite a lot of head room -- the ceiling was several stories high.

Christopher was recorded as doing business -- land charters and justice -- in the Prior's quarters. It is a modest house that was occupied by the Prior, and in which he did his business. Christopher walked here -- and probably other Boyntons, as well.

The Prior had his house. The prince bishop had his castle. It is right across the green from the Cathedral, and is separated from the cathedral on one end by the bishop's courts, which are now the library on the green.

The first building constructed was the keep -- built on a mot and rising high above the hill that fell away at its feet. Originally it was a timber castle, but the timber was long ago replaced with stone. The first rule of castle building -- make the enemy climb a hill to get to you. They took us to the giant kitchen that fed hundreds of his men when it was the bishop's castle. Today it still feeds hundreds, but now they are students. The bishop's castle has become a dormitory for the university.

The castle is built around a courtyard. Gate on one side. Keep forming a second side. The kitchen and grand hall, where the bishop and his men ate, is a third side -- opposite the keep. And the fourth side was a combination of the bishop's quarters and small chapels. Bishop Cuthbert Tunstal, who was an executor of Margaret del See Boynton's will, added two important pieces to this side of the castle. He added a protective walkway across all of one side -- from the great hall to his quarters and beyond. And he added the bishop's chapel.

Anna had been quite skeptical about going on the castle tour. She was sure that the tour guide would be quite boring. However, our guide was a student who paid special attention to Anna, which was quite easy to do since the party on the tour numbered only six. After we finished Anna declared the guide excellent!

When bishop Robert [Neville] was installed as bishop Christopher was there as a witness. That was the beginning of fifteen years of witnessing and working for the bishop. The bishop's courts were Christopher's special purvue. He was member of the commission of peace, the commission of assize, and the commission of gaol delivery. They worked on infractions in social relations among the rich, property disputes among the rich, and jail for commoners. They were almost all the government there was. And they met in a small collection of buildings adjacent to the castle. Christopher walked here -- and probably other Boyntons, as well. I, at least, was there to search for records.