Of all the localities which drew to themselves especial distinction as sanctuaries none rivals in antiquarian interest the monastery of Durham. This is because of the existence of an ancient work on the "Rites of Durham," which enters in considerable detail into the ceremonial observed on such occasions, and was received for a long time as authoritative. Recent criticism by Mr. R. H. Forster has rather impaired the credibility of the document. He points out that its professed date is 1593, or more than fifty years after the dissolution of the Priory; and maintains that it is not a first-hand chronicle of events of "the floryshinge tyme" before the suppression of the house, but a compilation based partly on old records and partly on the reminiscences of aged residents.
Nevertheless, the narrative must be considered to possess a high degree of historical value, and is undeniably picturesque. We catch a glimpse of the fugitive "knocking and rapping" at the grim twelfth-century knocker "to have yt opened." We see him "letten in" by "certen men that did lie alwaies in two chambers over the said north church door," and running straightway to the Galilee bell and tolling it. ("In the weste end in the north allie and over the Galleley dour there, in a belfray called the Galleley Steple, did hing iiii goodly great bells.") The work goes on to state that "when the Prior had intelligence thereof, then he dyd send word and command them that they should keape themselves within the sanctuary, that is to saie, within the Church and Churchyard." This was until the official of the convent and witnesses had assembled for the formal admission and registration of the fugitive, which took place in the nave, in the Sacrist's exchequer, which was in the north aisle of the choir or "in domo registrali." The official who presided over the ceremony was commonly the Sacrist, but the duty was sometimes performed by the Chancellor of the Cathedral, the Sub-prior, or a monk qualified as a notary public. As for the witnesses, they might be monks, servants of the convent, clerks, masons employed on the fabric, or they might be friends of the fugitive who had attended him to Durham as a bodyguard. Frequently, however, they were casual onlookers or persons who had flocked out of curiosity to the "show."