Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, is a small island situated in a spectacular location off the coast of Northumberland. It is famous for its early Christian monastery, founded in 635 by St Aidan, and for Lindisfarne Castle, which dominates the island's scenery. The name Lindisfarne is associated with the Golden Age of Northumbria, as recounted by the Venerable Bede, and many beautiful works of art were produced in the Anglo-Saxon monastery, including the Lindisfarne Gospels, which are probably the finest illuminated English manuscripts of the Middle Ages. The island was also the scene of the first clearly documented Viking raid on the British Isles, which led to the eventual abandonment of the monastery.