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[Illustration: York Minster, the West Front and Nave.]
THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF
YORK
A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC
AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
ARCHI-EPISCOPAL SEE
BY
A. CLUTTON-BROCK
[Illustration: The Arms of the See]
WITH FORTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1899
W. H. WHITE AND CO. LTD.
RIVERSIDE PRESS, EDINBURGH
* * * * *
GENERAL PREFACE
This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors to the
great English Cathedrals with accurate and well illustrated guide-books
at a popular price. The aim of each writer has been to produce a work
compiled with sufficient knowledge and scholarship to be of value to the
student of Archaeology and History, and yet not too technical in
language for the use of an ordinary visitor or tourist.
To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each case
would be difficult and tedious in this place. But amongst the general
sources of information which have been almost invariably found useful
are:--(1) the great county histories, the value of which, especially in
questions of genealogy and local records, is generally recognised; (2)
the numerous papers by experts which appear from time to time in the
Transactions of the Antiquarian and Archaeological Societies; (3) the
important documents made accessible in the series issued by the Master
of the Rolls; (4) the well-known works of Britton and Willis on the
English Cathedrals; and (5) the very excellent series of Handbooks to
the Cathedrals originated by the late Mr John Murray; to which the
reader may in most cases be referred for fuller detail, especially in
reference to the histories of the respective sees.
GLEESON WHITE.
EDWARD F. STRANGE.
* * * * *
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
I have usually followed Professor Willis in his account of the Minster,
and my obligations to his excellent works are general and continuous.
Professor Willis made careful and extensive observations of the Crypt
and other parts of the Minster during the restoration, which gave him
opportunities for investigation now impossible. He also brought to these
observations a learning and sagacity probably greater than those of any
other writer on English Gothic Architecture, and his little book remains
the standard work on the history of the Minster.
I regret that I have been unable to agree with several of the theories
of that most enthusiastic and diligent writer, Mr John Browne, or even
to discuss them as I should have liked; but his books must always be of
great value to every one interested in the history of York. I am also
indebted to Canon Raine's excellent works and compilations; to Mr
Winston for his remarks on the glass in the Minster; and to Professor
Freeman for his interesting criticisms of the fabric generally.
A. C.-B.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.--History of the See and City 3
CHAPTER II.--History of the Building 30
CHAPTER III.--Description of the Exterior 47
The West Front 48
The North Transept 56
The Chapter-House 60
The Choir 61
The South Transept 63
The Central Tower 67
CHAPTER IV.--Description of the Interior 68
The Nave 68
The Transepts 80
The Chapter-House 93
The Choir 98
The Crypt 120
The Record Room 123
Monuments 125
Stained Glass 133
CHAPTER V.--The Archbishops 140
ILLUSTRATIONS
York Minster, the West Front and Nave _Frontispiece_
Arms of the See _Title Page_
The Minster and Bootham Bar, from Exhibition Square 2
St Mary's Abbey 9
Bootham Bar 15
Walmgate Bar 19, 24
Micklegate Bar 25
The Shambles 29
The Minster (from an Old Print) 35
The West Front (1810) 39
The East End (from Britton) 43
The West Front--Main Entrance 49
The Exterior, from the South-East 53
The Exterior, from the North 57
Bay of Choir--Exterior 62
South Transept--Porch 65
Seal of St Mary's Abbey 67
The Nave 69
The Nave--South Aisle 77
South Transept, Triforium, and Clerestory 91
Chapter-House--Entrance and Sedilia 97
The Choir Screen 100
The Choir, looking East 101
Bay of Choir--Interior 103
The Choir, looking West 107
Compartment of Ancient Choir Stalls 110
Compartment of Altar Screen 111
The Choir in 1810 115
The Virgin and Child (a Carving behind the Altar) 119
The Crypt 121
Capitals in Crypt 122, 123
Effigy of Manley 125
Effigy of Archbishop de Grey 128
Monument of William of Hatfield 129
Monument of Archbishop Bowet 132
The East Window 138
Effigy of Archbishop Savage 151
Tomb of Archbishop Savage 152
PLAN OF MINSTER 157
* * * * *
[Illustration: The Minster and Bootham Bar, from Exhibition Square]
CHAPTER I
HISTORY OF THE SEE AND CITY
At York the city did not grow up round the cathedral as at Ely or
Lincoln, for York, like Rome or Athens, is an immemorial--a
prehistoric--city; though like them it has legends of its foundation.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose knowledge of Britain before the Roman
occupation is not shared by our modern historians, gives the following
account of its beginning:--"Ebraucus, son of Mempricius, the third king
from Brute, did build a city north of Humber, which from his own name,
he called Kaer Ebrauc--that is, the City of Ebraucus--about the time
that David ruled in Judea." Thus, by tradition, as both Romulus and
Ebraucus were descended from Priam, Rome and York are sister cities; and
York is the older of the two. One can understand the eagerness of Drake,
the historian of York, to believe the story. According to him the verity
of Geoffrey's history has been excellently well vindicated, but in
Drake's time romance was preferred to evidence almost as easily as in
Geoffrey's, and he gives us no facts to support his belief, for the very
good reason that he has none to give.
Abandoning, therefore, the account of Geoffrey of Monmouth, we are
reduced to these facts and surmises. Before the Roman invasion the
valley of the Ouse was in the hands of a tribe called the Brigantes, who
probably had a settlement on or near the site of the present city of
York. Tools of flint and bronze and vessels of clay have been found in
the neighbourhood. The Brigantes, no doubt, waged intermittent war upon
the neighbouring tribes, and on the wolds surrounding the city are to be
found barrows and traces of fortifications to which they retired from
time to time for safety. The position of York would make it a favourable
one for a settlement. It stands at the head of a fertile and pleasant
valley and on the banks of a tidal river. Possibly there were tribal
settlements on the eastern wolds in the neighbourhood in earlier and
still more barbarous times, before the Brigantes found it safe to make a
permanent home in the valley, but this is all conjecture. It is not
until the Roman conquest of Britain that York enters into history. The
Brigantes were subdued between the years 70 and 80 A.D. by Patilius
Cerealis and Agricola. The Romans called the city by the name of
Eburacum. The derivation is not known. It has been suggested that it was
taken from the river Ure, a tributary of the Ouse, but variations of the
word are common in the Roman Empire, as, for example, Eburobriga,
Eburodunum, and the Eburovices. These are probably all derived from some
common Celtic word. In process of time, perhaps in the reign of the
Emperor Severus--that is to say, about the beginning of the third
century A.D.--the name was changed to Eboracum: from this was derived
the later British name Caer Eabhroig or Ebrauc. The Anglo-Saxon name was
Eoferwic, corrupted by the Danes into Jorvik or Yorvik, which by an easy
change was developed into the modern name of York. In the York Museum is
preserved a monument to a standard-bearer of the 9th legion, which is
probably of the period of Agricola, and it is likely that Eburacum
became the headquarters of the Roman army in the north soon after the
conquest. It became the chief military town in the island; for, whereas
the southern tribes were soon subdued, those in the north were long
rebellious, and it was natural that the chief centre for troops should
be established in the more disturbed parts of Britain. Close to York was
the town of Isurium (Aldborough), where remains of pavements have been
discovered, and where it is probable that the wealthier citizens of York
had their homes. Eburacum was fortified in or before the reign of
Trajan, and was connected by a system of roads with other important
Roman towns. The Roman Camp lay on the east side of the river, on or
near the site of the present minster. One of its corner towers and
fragments of the wall still remain, and parts of the city gates have
been discovered. The camp at first covered about seventy acres of
ground; it was afterwards enlarged on the south. The modern streets of
Petergate and Stonegate represent the roads which passed through this
camp, and Bootham Bar is on the site of one of the gates. Remains of
Roman pavement have been discovered below Stonegate. The city itself
spread westward over the river, and fragments of houses and tesselated
pavements have been discovered. In 1841 remains of public baths were
found; and there are many signs that there was a large population on
this side of the river. In 1854 there was found near the southern gate
of the camp a tablet dedicated to Trajan, and commemorating the
conclusion of some work done by the 9th legion in the year 108-9. This
work was perhaps the palace of the emperors.
Near the south gate also was a Christian Church of St. Crux. The road to
Tadcaster was lined with tombs, and remains of cemeteries have been
discovered all round the city.
As in London, there are few remains of Roman masonry above ground, and
this is but natural, for the city has been burnt and destroyed, wholly
or partially, many times; and there is no doubt that Roman buildings
were used, as in Rome and other cities, as a quarry for later erections.
York is historically connected with several of the emperors. Two of
them, Severus and Constantius Chlorus, died there, and Constantine the
Great, the son of the latter, was hailed emperor at York, if it was not
the scene of his birth. At York also were the headquarters of two of the
legions, the 9th and the 6th; and there is little doubt that in course
of time it came to be regarded as the capital of the island. In fact,
according to Professor Freeman (_Macmillan's Magazine_, Sept. 1876),
"Eburacum holds a place which is unique in the history of Britain, which
is shared by only one other city in the lands north of the Alps (Trier,
Augusta Trevirorum)." We learn little of the history of York from Roman
historians, and next to nothing of the early Christian Church. There is
mention of York at rare intervals, when it became connected with the
general history of the empire. For instance, in 208, Severus was in
York, and it became for a time the headquarters of the court.
The Emperor Constantius died at York in 306, and there is a tradition
that hundreds of years afterwards his body was found under the Church of
St. Helen-on-the-Walls, with a lamp still burning over it. Many churches
in the neighbourhood of Eburacum were dedicated to his wife Helena, the
legendary finder of the True Cross. It has been supposed that
Constantine the Great was born at York, but this is probably untrue,
though he was proclaimed emperor there. In the middle of the fourth
century the Picts and Scots began to make inroads, and it is probable
that they captured York about 367 A.D. They were shortly afterwards
driven northwards by Theodosius the Elder. At the beginning of the fifth
century there were further invasions repelled by Stilicho, but in 409
the Emperor Honorius withdrew the Roman troops from Britain, and the
Roman period in the history of York came to an end.
Of the early ecclesiastical history of York less even is known than of
the civil. There are few relics of Roman Christianity in the city.
A stone coffin, with an apparently Christian inscription, and several
Roman ornaments bearing crosses have been found and placed in the York
Museum, but this is all. There is no evidence, documentary or other, of
the manner in which Christianity reached York. The Christian historians
give us only the most meagre references to the history of the faith in
Britain. Tertullian, for example, mentions that parts of the island as
yet unvisited by the Romans had been evangelised by British
missionaries, and, if this were so, it would seem to prove that the
Church in Britain was early active and flourishing. It is not until 314
A.D. that we come upon a definite historical fact. This was the date of
the Council of Arles, convened by Constantine, to consider the Donatist
Heresy, and among the bishops there assembled were three from
Britain--"Eborus, Episcopus de Civitate Eboracensi; Restitutus,
Episcopus de Civitate Londinensi; Adelfius, Episcopus de Civitate Col.
Londinensium" (perhaps Lincoln). These bishops are mentioned in the
order of precedence, and it would appear that the See of York at that
time was the most important, or perhaps the oldest, in Britain. Bishops
of York were also present at the Councils of Nicaea, Sardica, and
Arminium. With these facts our knowledge of the Roman see of Eburacum
begins and ends. The Episcopal succession probably continued for some
time after the Roman evacuation, and the legendary names of Sampson,
Pyramus or Pyrannus, and Theodicus have been handed down as bishops of
York during the struggle with the Anglo-Saxon invaders. For a long time
after the Roman evacuation jewels and plate were discovered in the
neighbourhood; and in the Pontificate of Egbert, an archbishop in the
eighth century, there is a special form of prayer for hallowing vessels
discovered on the sites of heathen temples and houses. The great Wilfrid
also, in the seventh century, speaks of recovering the sacred places
from which the British clergy had been forced to flee. It is unknown
when or how York was finally captured, but in the seventh century it was
certainly in the hands of the English; though there still remained an
independent British kingdom of Elmete, only a few miles to the west of
the city. Close to York has been discovered a large burying-place of
heathen Angles, in which the ashes were deposited in urns; the date of
this is probably the beginning of the sixth century, and at that time
the invaders must have been settled in the country, and perhaps in the
city itself. The conquest marks a change in the position of York. Under
the Roman occupation it had been an important city for military
purposes, and for that reason it was the seat of an important bishopric.
After the second conversion of England it becomes important more and
more for ecclesiastical reasons, and when it plays a part in the history
of England it is because of the action of its bishops; from this time,
therefore, it becomes necessary to say less about the city itself and
more about the see.
After the Anglo-Saxon conquest of the North of England the country
between the Tweed and the Humber was divided into two kingdoms, Bernicia
to the north of the Tees, and Deira to the south. In the reign of
Ethelfrith these two kingdoms were united, under the name of
Northumbria. Edwin, his successor, was the most powerful king in
England, and every state except Kent acknowledged his supremacy.
In the troubles after the Roman evacuation, it is probable that York
lost some of its importance, which it regained under Edwin, and became
again the capital of England. It is at this period that the authentic
ecclesiastical history of the see, and indeed of England, really begins.
In 601 Gregory the Great, in a letter to Augustine, gave him authority
to appoint twelve bishops in England, and among them a bishop of York,
who, if his mission was prosperous, was to ordain further bishops in the
North of England, remaining himself the chief of them, and being
invested with the pall, the mark of a metropolitan bishop. Provision was
made that the first bishop of York should be subordinate to Augustine,
but that subsequently the question of seniority was to be decided by
priority of consecration. Thus early did the question of precedence
between York and Canterbury arise.
We may take it that the early Christian church had entirely died out in
Northumbria, and that prior to the mission sent by Gregory there had
been no effort in the southern part of the kingdom, at least, to reclaim
the inhabitants from heathendom. York was chosen as the seat of the
metropolitan bishop in the north, entirely because of its importance as
a city. It is after this event that it becomes chiefly remarkable for
its ecclesiastical importance. Augustine died before he had followed
Gregory's instructions, and they were not carried out till 625. In that
year, Justus, the fourth bishop of Canterbury, was led by unusually
favourable circumstances to consecrate a bishop of York and to send him
to Northumbria. Edwin the king was over-lord of England, and he wished
to be allied with Kent, the only other independent kingdom in the
country. He therefore proposed to marry Ethelburga, the daughter of the
King of Kent. She and her father were Christians, and Edwin, though
still a heathen, agreed that she should be allowed to take with her a
Christian chaplain to Northumberland. Paulinus, perhaps a Briton by
birth, was chosen for this office, and was consecrated Bishop of York
before he set out. He has been identified with a certain Rum the son of
Urien. This enterprise met with great and immediate success, in which
political reasons probably played a considerable part; and on Easterday
627, the most important date in the ecclesiastical history of York, the
king Edwin, his family, and many of his court were baptised there in a
wooden chapel temporarily erected on the site of the present minster.
Immediately afterwards Edwin begun to build a church of stone, dedicated
to St. Peter, on the same site. The baptism of the king was followed by
a wholesale conversion of thousands of his subjects, and it is stated
that Paulinus was forced to stay over a month in one place to baptise
the crowds who flocked to him. Paulinus was confirmed in his appointment
to the see by the king, and immediately after received the pall,
together with Honorius of Canterbury, which authorised him to assemble
councils and to consecrate bishops. The pall was not given to any of his
successors until Egbert (732 A.D.). In view of the subsequent struggles
for precedence between the sees of Canterbury and York, the following
passage in a letter from the Pope to Edwin is of interest:--"We have
ordered," the Pope says, "two palls, one for each of the metropolitans,
that is for Honorius and Paulinus, that in case one of them is called
from this life, the other may, in virtue of this our authority, appoint
a bishop in his place." (Bede, "Eccl. Hist.," Smith edit., book ii.,
cap. 17, p. 98.)
[Illustration: St. Mary's Abbey.]
This early prosperity of the northern Church did not last long. In 633
Edwin was defeated and killed at a battle near Hatfield, and a period of
anarchy and persecution followed. Thereupon Paulinus, with Ethelburga,
the queen, fled to Kent, leaving behind him only one evangelist, by name
James the Deacon. It is probable that the greater part of Northumbria
thereupon fell back into paganism, and by the flight of Paulinus the
Catholic Church, or that part of it immediately under the influence and
control of the bishops of Rome, lost its hold on the north, which it was
not to regain without a struggle. The anarchy came to an end with the
accession of Oswald, a Christian, who had been converted, not by
Paulinus, but by the Celtic Church of Iona. It was this circumstance
which led to the establishment of the influence of that Church in
Northumbria. Oswald did not look to Rome or Canterbury for evangelists
when he set to work to establish Christianity in his kingdom, but to
Iona, whence, in 635 A.D., was dispatched a bishop, Aidan, who settled
at Lindisfarne (Holy Island). From this time there were two influences
at work among the Christians in Northumbria--that of the older and more
national British Church which had survived the flood of heathen
invasion; and that of the later Catholic Church, which originated with
the mission of Augustine.
The conflict between these two influences reached its height in the time
of Alfred. Oswald completed the church began by Edwin: it remained under
the rule of Aidan, as no evangelists were sent from the south to take
the place of Paulinus, though it is said that James the Deacon continued
his missionary work in the North Riding. In 642 Oswald was killed in
battle, and Deira and Bernicia were again split up into two kingdoms.
With this division came also religious difficulties between the Church
of Iona and the Catholic Church of the south. These difficulties
culminated in the Synod of Whitby, 664, at which the Catholic party, led
by the great Wilfrid, perhaps the greatest of all bishops of York,
defeated their opponents. After the council, Colman, then Bishop of
Lindisfarne, resigned, and his successor, Tuda by name, was killed with
many of his monks, by a pestilence at Lindisfarne. The ground therefore
seemed to be cleared for Wilfrid. At this time Oswy was king of
Bernicia, and Alchfrid his son governed Deira, probably as an
independent province. Alchfrid induced Wilfrid to accept the see of
York. Wilfrid at once set to work to strengthen the position of the
Catholic Church and to destroy the influence of the Church of Iona in
his diocese. He refused to be consecrated by a bishop of the Church of
Iona, sent for that purpose to Gaul. He probably was determined not to
acknowledge the supremacy of any other English see over his own. He was
absent for three years, and Oswy, who favoured the Church of Iona, took
advantage of his absence to appoint Ceadda (Chad) to the see of York. On
his return, after being duly consecrated, Wilfrid retired without a
struggle to his own monastery at Ripon. In 669, Theodore, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, intervened to make peace between the two factions, and at
his instigation Ceadda resigned the see in favour of Wilfrid, who at
once began his great period of activity in the diocese. Whatever may be
our sentimental liking for the older and more national Church of Iona,
there can be no doubt that the Catholic Church was the chief support of
culture, learning, and civilisation in Europe, and Wilfrid was a worthy
representative of it. During his episcopate the see of York probably
played the most important part it has ever taken in the history of
England. At that time, more than any other, the future of learning,
civilisation, and humanity was in the hands of the priests, and the
English _toto divisi ab orbe_ were kept in touch with the slowly
reviving culture of Europe by the cosmopolitan Church of Rome. Wilfrid
was undoubtedly the best representative of that culture in England. It
was his object not only to Catholicise the north of England, but to
educate it. He travelled continually through his vast diocese with a
train of builders, artists, and teachers. His architectural activity in
particular was very great. He repaired the minster at York, which had
fallen almost into ruins, and built large churches at Hexham and Ripon.
But he was not allowed to continue his work unopposed. Egfrith had
become king of the whole of Northumbria, and a quarrel arose between him
and Wilfrid. At last the king induced Theodore, who had formerly
interfered in Wilfrid's favour, but who was now perhaps jealous of his
great activity and fame, to assert his supremacy over the north and to
divide the great diocese of Northumbria into four bishoprics, York,
Lindisfarne, Hexham, and Witherne. Theodore had received the pall;
Wilfrid had not. It was therefore contended that Theodore had authority
over him. Wilfrid retired to Rome to claim the support of the Pope. It
was given to him, but when he returned to York, in 680, he was
imprisoned and afterwards banished. Soon after Egfrith died, and
Theodore, again intervening, obtained a reconciliation between Wilfrid
and the new king Alchfrid. Wilfrid again became Bishop of York, but
another quarrel caused him again to resign his see, and this time for
good. During all this period there is no doubt that the Bishops of York
were subordinate to those of Canterbury. The constant disorders to which
the kingdom of Northumbria was subjected for a century, and the quarrels
between bishop and king, lessened the power, both civil and
ecclesiastical, of the kingdom. It was not till 734 that a bishop of
York, Egbert, received the pall, which had been granted only to
Paulinus, and from that time the northern archbishops seem to have been
independent of Canterbury, especially after York fell into the hands of
the Danes in 867. It is possible that Gregory, who directed that York
and Canterbury should each appoint twelve suffragan bishops, intended to
make the sees equal in every respect. The anarchy and divisions of the
northern kingdom prevented this plan from being carried out. The kings
of Northumbria themselves, from time to time, acknowledged the authority
of Canterbury, and during the hundred years between Paulinus and Egbert
that York was without a metropolitan archbishop, the Primate of
Canterbury, without a rival, increased his power. With the advent of the
Danes, however, Northumbria was naturally much isolated from the south,
and the diocese of York, though smaller and poorer than that of
Canterbury, was a rival power. In fact, until the year 1072 the
archbishops of York either held themselves or appointed others to the
diocese of Worcester. It was not until the Conquest that the
independence of the northern bishops was seriously questioned. Under the
Danish rule two of the archbishops were probably of that race--Wolfstan,
appointed in 928, and Oskytel, his successor. The Danish supremacy was
put an end to in 954, when Eadred incorporated Northumbria into the
kingdom of England. From 867 to 1000, or after, York was ruled by an
earl, either under the Danes or the kings of England. The city was
important, not only as a strongly fortified place, but as a centre of
commerce, and it had a large population. It had as many as 30,000
inhabitants in the tenth century. There are traces of the Danish
supremacy in the language and faces of the people; in York itself Danish
beads, glass, jet and amber, and carved horns have been found.
At the time of the Conquest, Aeldred was archbishop of York. After
Hastings he swore allegiance to William. For this act he was bitterly
reproached. It is said that he exacted a promise from William that he
would treat his English and his Norman subjects alike. He crowned
William at Westminster. In 1068 Edwin and Morcar, Earls of Mercia and
Yorkshire, broke into rebellion. They soon submitted, but the people of
York had been roused, and remained in rebellion. On the approach of the
Conqueror, however, they also submitted. William built a castle in York,
at the junction of the Ouse and the Foss, and garrisoned it with
Normans. He then returned southwards. So soon as his back was turned,
the city revolted again and besieged the castle. But William was soon
upon them. He took and plundered the city, and erected another fortress
on Beacon Hill. In 1069 occurred the final rebellion. A Danish fleet
sailed up the Humber under Edgar, Gospatric, and Waltheof. This last
calamity is said to have killed Ealdred, the archbishop. He had
endeavoured to make peace between conquerors and conquered, and he saw
that now a desperate struggle was inevitable. The whole of Northumbria
rose as the Danes made their way up the Ouse. The Norman garrisons in
York set fire to the houses near them, and the whole city was burnt
down. The minster was either wholly or partially destroyed. On the site
of William's fort at Beacon Hill there have lately been discovered
several deposits of silver pennies of the earliest coinage of William.
These were probably hidden there by the Norman garrison. After a
desperate sortie, these forts were taken. Thereupon the Danes sailed
away with their plunder, and the revolt suddenly came to an end. But
William swore an oath of vengeance. He caught and destroyed a number of
the Danes in Lincolnshire. When he reached York he found it deserted. He
repaired his castles, and then proceeded to make an example of the
country round. His vengeance was so thorough that for nine years
afterwards the land between York and Durham was untilled. He returned to
York to keep Christmas. It is not too much to say that the north of
England took centuries to recover from his vengeance. The famous library
of York, which was destroyed in the fire, deserves a few words of
mention. It was a fine example of the educational work of the Saxon
Church. Under Egbert, and at the instigation of Bede, was founded the
University of York, which soon grew to great importance. Alcuin was its
chief ornament, and gave lessons there in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. The
library was formed in connection with this university, and a list of the
books in it, made by Alcuin himself, has come down to us. They consist
chiefly of the Fathers and of the later Latin poets, with a few books on
philosophy and grammar.
[Illustration: Bootham Bar.]
Thomas of Bayeux, the first Norman archbishop, found everything at York
in ruin and confusion. The minster and its outlying buildings, the
library, and the university were destroyed, and only one of three canons
remained in residence. He increased the number of these, and appointed a
dean--there had not been one at York before--and otherwise changed the
constitution of the minster. He further appointed a chancellor, or
_magister scholarum_, in charge of all schools within ten miles of York.
Among these was the Grammar School in the city, which still survives and
flourishes, under the name of St. Peter's School. In the nave of the
minster there is a window known as the Chancellor's Window, and
containing a representation of Robert Riplingham, a chancellor of the
fourteenth century, lecturing to his pupils. The library was never fully
replaced. The books at the time of the Reformation were few, and were
kept in a building close to the entrance to the south transept of the
minster, and now used as the archbishop's registry. This building was
erected in 1415. Most of these books are still preserved. In due course
Thomas rebuilt the minster, or part of it, on a modest scale. In his
episcopate the struggle for supremacy with Canterbury really began.
Thomas refused to make submission to Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury;
but Lanfranc represented to the king that the supremacy of Canterbury
was necessary as a bond of union between the south and the north. Thomas
was at last compelled to submit to Lanfranc himself, though he made
reservations with regard to his successors. In 1072 Worcester, and soon
after Lindsey and Lincoln, were taken from the see of York. The abbeys
of Selby and St. Oswald in Gloucester were given to the archbishop by
way of some return. Meanwhile the archbishops of York also claimed
supremacy over the northern bishops of the Isles and Scotland. They
certainly visited and consecrated in these dioceses. After many
quarrels, these pretensions were finally disposed of at Rome. In 1154
the sees of Man and Orkney were placed under the Archbishop of
Drontheim, and in 1188 the whole Scottish Church was released from any
subjection to York and placed under the direct control of the Pope. Only
one Scottish prelate, the Bishop of Whithorn, remained a suffragan to
York, but in the fourteenth century Whithorn also was lost to the
archbishops, and became a part of the Scottish Church.
The Bishop of Durham remained nominally in subjection to the see of
York, but in reality he was often a greater man than his superior. In
1134 the Bishopric of Carlisle was founded and placed under the
authority of the archbishops. Sodor and Man afterwards fell again under
his jurisdiction, and in 1542 the diocese of Chester was founded. The
archbishop has now authority over nine bishoprics. But to return to
Thomas. In 1071 he went with Lanfranc to Rome to receive the pall. The
question of precedence was there argued, and the Pope decided in favour
of Canterbury. Afterwards, at a synod held by William, it was decided
that the Archbishop of York should swear allegiance to Canterbury, and
must be consecrated in Canterbury Cathedral, that the diocese of York
from that time should not extend south of the Humber, and that the
archbishop should lose his authority over the see of Worcester. On the
death of Lanfranc, however, the dispute broke out again. For four years
there was a vacancy to the see of Canterbury; Anselm, the new
archbishop, was consecrated by Thomas, who took the opportunity to
insist that Anselm should not be styled Primate of all England. The
quarrel with Canterbury remained in abeyance until Thurstan was
appointed Archbishop of York (1114 A.D.). He refused to make submission
to Canterbury, and the Archbishop of Canterbury was determined not to
consecrate him until he submitted. There was, therefore, a deadlock.
Thurstan had the support of the Pope, but he was not consecrated until
1119, when the Pope Calixtus himself performed the ceremony at Rheims.
Thurstan obtained a Bull from the Pope releasing him and his successors
for ever from supremacy of Canterbury, and for a time York was
triumphant.
In the reign of Henry II. the quarrel again broke out. This time the
Archbishop of York, Roger Pont L'Eveque, the builder of the Norman choir
of the minster, had the support of the king, who was engaged in the
struggle with Becket. Roger, indeed, has been bitterly reviled as an
accessory to the murder of Becket. He carried on the quarrel with
Richard of Canterbury, Becket's successor, and at the Council of
Westminster (1176 A.D.) the rivalries of the two prelates came to a head
in a ridiculous scene. The papal legate was present at the council, and
the Archbishop of Canterbury seated himself at his right hand. Shortly
afterwards entered the Archbishop of York, who, refusing to take a lower
place, sat down in the lap of Canterbury. He was seized, beaten, and
kicked for his pains.
[Illustration: Walmgate Bar.]
In 1190 the people of York, incited by the priests, rose and massacred
the Jews, killing nearly 500. For this they were fined by the king. The
minster contributed to the ransom of Richard I., pawning a golden cross
which Roger had given. The cross was afterwards redeemed.
Roger was succeeded, after an interval of ten years, by Geoffrey, the
bastard son of Henry II. He quarrelled continually with John, who on one
occasion fined the city of York £100 for omitting to meet him when he
visited the city.
In the war between Henry III. and the barons, the archbishops Gray and
Gifford took the part of the king, and owing to their efforts their
diocese was little affected by the struggle.
In 1265 a quarrel broke out between the Abbey of St. Mary and the
townspeople, owing to the abuse of the privilege of sanctuary possessed
by the convent. Much blood was shed, and the suburb of Bootham was burnt
down.
In the reign of Edward I. York played a great part in the history of
England, as the king made it his capital during the war with Scotland.
He was present at the installation of St. William's relics in the choir,
and in 1297 he held a great Parliament there. The archbishops and clergy
contributed one-fifth of their income to the expenses of the war. The
Courts of the Exchequer and King's Bench were also removed from London
to York, and remained there for seven years.
At this time York was a more important city than it has been at any
period since the Roman occupation. It was both the civil and military
capital of England, and its archbishops and prebendaries had great
power. It was also, naturally, a period of great building activity. In a
hundred and fifty years the whole fabric of the minster, as it now is,
was erected.
Edward II. also spent much of his time at York, and in 1318 another
Parliament met there. After Bannockburn the Scots made continual inroads
into Yorkshire. In 1319 an army of Scots, 15,000 in number, advanced to
the very gates of York. Melton, the archbishop, hastily got together
10,000 men and fell in with the Scots at Myton, on the Swale, where he
was utterly routed, and narrowly escaped with his life. This battle was
known in derision as the Chapter of Myton.
The quarrel between York and Canterbury was not finally settled until
the time of John of Thoresby. He was one of the most remarkable of the
archbishops of York. When he was made archbishop (1352) the diocese,
owing to the Scottish inroads, the black death, and other causes, stood
in great need of reform. Anarchy and brigandage were rife. The people
were ignorant and poor, and the chief posts about the cathedral,
including even the deanery, were held by Italian absentees appointed by
the Pope. The ecclesiastical discipline was naturally very lax. Thoresby
drew up his famous Catechism, which was translated into English verse,
in 1357, and set to work to abolish the abuses caused by pluralism and
immorality among the clergy. The question of precedence was settled by
Innocent VI., who determined that the Archbishop of Canterbury should be
styled Primate of All England, and the Archbishop of York Primate of
England.
"Thus," says the sardonic Fuller, "when two children cry for the same
apple, the indulgent father divides it betwixt them; yet so that he
giveth the bigger and better part to the child that is his darling."
It was also settled that each archbishop should carry his cross erect in
the diocese of the other, but that the Archbishop of York should send a
golden image to the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury.
Edward III. had been married in York Minster, and there his little son,
William of Hatfield, was buried. His is the only royal tomb in the
minster.
In 1392 the Court of the King's Bench again sat at York. Richard II.
visited the city several times. The archbishops Neville and Arundel
played a great part in politics at this period. After the deposition of
Richard II. a prebendary, by name Mandelyn, who bore a great resemblance
to the king, personated him and headed a revolt, but he was captured and
put to death. The chapter in general were strongly in favour of Richard,
and three other prebendaries were imprisoned.
In 1405 occurred the rebellion, headed by Scrope, the archbishop. After
he had been trapped and captured, the king had great difficulty in
bringing him to trial, as the Chief Justice, Gascoyne, refused to try
him. He was finally condemned in his own palace, at Bishopthorpe, and
executed near to the walls of the city. Henry IV. withdrew also the
liberties and privileges of the city, and the citizens had to beg for
pardon on their knees with ropes round their necks. The archbishop was
buried in the minster, and his tomb was much frequented by pilgrims in
the north.
In 1407 the rebellion broke out again, and the citizens of York were
again severely punished. In the fifteenth century the importance of York
began to decline, and from that time it owes the position it still holds
chiefly to its ecclesiastical eminence. Richard III. visited York
several times, and gave a great cross to the minster, standing on six
steps, each of which was ornamented with the figure of an angel. The
figures were all of silver, and the whole was decorated with precious
stones. Richard also planned the establishment of a college of 100
chaplains, and in 1485 six altars were erected for their use. But the
scheme came to an end on the death of the king. York had been greatly
devoted to Richard, but it submitted to Henry VII. when he made a state
entry into the city in 1486, and it remained loyal in the rebellion of
Lambert Simnel, when the rebels besieged the city, but were repulsed.
In the reign of Henry VIII. the importance of York was steadily
declining. He only visited the city once. The whole of Yorkshire, which
was no doubt poorer and more ignorant than most other counties, was much
disturbed by the abolition of the monasteries and the spoiling of the
churches, especially by the seizing of the head of St. William, the
chief treasure of the minster. In 1536 the insurrection known as the
Pilgrimage of Grace broke out, and the city willingly received the
rebels. Aske, their leader, made a proclamation that all the "religions"
should be reinstated in their old places: and the friars sang matins the
same night. In 1557 Aske was hanged on a gallows set upon one of the
bars of York. Henry entered York, and the citizens sued for pardon,
which was not granted to them until 1560. Henry ordered the removal of
such shrines as had not already been destroyed, and fragments of these
have been found buried near the minster. Henry determined to establish
his authority firmly in the north, and established the famous council
which appointed the Duke of Norfolk their president. The council was
held in the house of the Abbot of St. Mary's. It took away most of the
powers of the Mayor and Corporation, but gave renewed importance to the
city.
The diocese was much neglected during the episcopacy of Wolsey and his
successor Lee. Both were statesmen rather than ecclesiastics. Indeed, it
is said that Wolsey never set foot in York itself, though he was
arrested at Cawood, where was one of the bishop's palaces. Lee was
employed continually on missions and embassies. He happened to be in
York, however, at the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace, and was seized by
the rebels, carried to Pontefract, and compelled to swear support to the
rebellion. The see was much impoverished in the time of Holgate, Lee's
successor (1545-1554), who supported Henry in his quarrel with the Pope.
Much of the property taken by Henry was restored by Mary to Heath, the
next archbishop, who was the last appointed by a papal bull with the
acknowledgment of the Government. Heath was deposed by Elizabeth in
1559.
In 1569 occurred another rising in the north in favour of the old
religion and of Mary Queen of Scots, under the Earls of Northumberland
and Westmoreland.
In Richmondshire and the Cleveland district the new prayer-books were
destroyed, and the old service restored. York itself favoured the
rebels, but before it could be entered a force arrived from the south
and the rebellion sank to nothing. The queen's army exacted a loan of
£500 from the citizens of York. Eleven persons also in the city were
sentenced to death. The Earl of Northumberland also was afterwards
executed and buried in York. After the rebellion the Roman Catholics in
the diocese were much persecuted. They were forced to attend the
reformed services and the Holy Communion, and their priests were hunted
down. Attempts also were made to abolish the Christmas mummeries and the
miracle plays. The archbishop of this period, Thomas Young, is accused
of plundering the estates of the church in the interests of his own
family.
Charles I. had a great affection for the city and minster of York, and
enriched the latter with many gifts. For instance, he gave £1000 to the
chapter for the building of a new organ, and out of the same the chapter
also bought some Communion plate, and a Bible and prayer-book richly
bound in purple velvet and ornamented with silver-gilt plates. These
latter are still preserved. He further removed certain houses and
offices which had been built close to the west and south doors. He also
destroyed a building which had been erected inside one of the transepts,
and ordered certain seats in the choir, which hid the stalls and
woodwork, to be taken away.
Charles also wrote to the Corporation in 1639, ordering them not to
bring the official sword and mace into the minster, and to receive the
Holy Communion there on certain fixed occasions. The Mayor and
Corporation evaded the order by entering the church with sword and mace
"abased." They have never yet officially attended Holy Communion. They
also had a quarrel with the dean and corporation owing to their practice
of using the north aisle of the nave, known as the Lord Mayor's Walk, as
a common promenade. The dean and chapter endeavoured to put a stop to
this in 1632, but it continued until the end of the century.
[Illustration: Walmgate Bar.]
During the Civil War York suffered less than many cathedral cities. In
1644 it was besieged by the Parliamentary troops and the Scots under
Fairfax and Leslie. During the siege the minster seems to have been
spared as far as possible, mainly, perhaps, through the influence of
Fairfax, but it did not escape entirely scatheless. Thomas Mace, the
author of "Musick's Monument," was in the city during the siege, and he
thus describes the way in which the minster suffered:--"The enemy was
very near and fierce upon them, especially on that side the city where
the church stood; and had planted their great guns mischievously against
the church; with which constantly in prayer's time, they would not fail
to make their hellish disturbance by shooting against and battering the
church; insomuch that sometimes a cannon bullet has come in at the
windows and bounced about from pillar to pillar (even like some furious
fiend or evil spirit) backwards and forwards and all manner of sideways,
as it has happened to meet with square or round opposition amongst the
pillars."
[Illustration: Micklegate Bar.]
During the siege the citizens suffered much from the presence of the
soldiery who were billeted upon them. Each citizen, in addition to
giving free quarters to as many soldiers as possible, had to pay £2 a
month for their support. The siege lasted for six weeks, and in the
course of it the Marygate Tower, which was used as a record office for
the whole of the north, was attacked and spoiled, all the records in it,
an irreparable loss, being destroyed. The city was captured soon after
Marston Moor, and the defenders obtained very good terms, marching out
with all the honours of war. The citizens also were well treated. They
were to enjoy all their old privileges and were to be preserved from
plundering. All churches and public buildings were to be treated with
respect. A Presbyterian service was at once held in the minster by the
conquerors. The Corporation presented to Fairfax a butt of sack and a
tun of French wine in gratitude for the good offices he had rendered
them. There can be little doubt that the great amount of stained glass
still remaining in the minster is owing to the control he exercised over
the Parliamentarians. On October the 24th of the same year the
Corporation ordered that the Solemn League and Covenant should be
tendered to the aldermen and citizens. Then all the Royalist members of
the Corporation were removed, and both the bishop, Williams, and the
dean, Scott, were deprived of their offices. They left the country, and
the dean died in a debtor's prison in 1646. Fairfax, however, who
remained as governor of the city, maintained the minster in scrupulous
repair, and paid all the salaries of the necessary officials. A short
time before the Restoration a large sum of money was spent on the bells.
It has been said, indeed, that the Puritans wished to pull down the
chapter-house, but there is no authority for the statement. But the
control of the minster was taken out of the hands of the chapter and
given to the Corporation, and this transference was only effected by the
interference of the troops. The organ given by Charles was also taken
down, and silver candlesticks and other ornaments, including the brass
about the shrine, perhaps, of St. William, and also the lectern in the
choir, were sold for the repair of the fabric and bells. In 1646 the
organ loft, the canopies over the altar in the side choir, and the font
were removed. In 1647 a cushion was made of the dossal. The library was
left untouched and thrown open to the public, and the keys of the
minster placed in charge of the Mayor and Corporation. In place of the
dean and chapter, the precentor, and chancellor--all removed--four city
preachers were chosen by the Assembly of Divines, and paid out of the
revenues of the minster. Meanwhile the churches in the city suffered far
more than the minster itself. In 1646 all "superstitious pictures in
glass" and images were ordered to be broken, and the fonts were removed.
In 1648 twenty-four churches in the city were without incumbents.
After the Restoration the Corporation did everything in their power to
resist a return to the old order of things, and in 1663 there was a
small rebellion, as a result of which twenty-one persons were executed
at York. Discontent, however, continued, and in 1682 it became necessary
to appoint Sir John Reresby governor of York, with a garrison of 500
men. The governor said that York was one of the most factious towns in
the kingdom. About this time, also, the dean and chapter caused a riot
by issuing a proclamation forbidding the nave to be used as a promenade.
They succeeded, however, in finally putting an end to the practice.
In 1686 Lady Strafford, daughter-in-law of the great Strafford, was
buried in the minster. Party spirit still ran very high, and the mob
rushed at the hearse and endeavoured to tear the coats of arms from it.
The military was called out, and there was a sharp struggle in the
minster itself.
The Catholic designs of James II. were ill received in York. His
proclamation for liberty of conscience was read in hardly any of the
York churches, and an attempt to stock the Corporation with Roman
Catholics was resisted. At last there came a crisis. The king appointed
James Smith, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Callipolis, one of his four
vicars-apostolic, and in August 1688 he appeared at York. The
archbishopric had been vacant for two years, and it was rumoured that
the king intended to appoint Smith to the see.
York, therefore, was ripe for the revolution, and it broke out there on
November 22. Lamplough of Exeter, a discreet and timely supporter of
both James and William, was appointed archbishop, and Smith was attacked
by the mob as he was passing through the streets in procession. His
silver-gilt crozier, which had been given to him by Catharine of
Braganza, was torn from him and sent to the vestry of the minster, where
it still remains. It is seven feet in length. Smith fled to
Wycliffe-on-Tees, where he spent the rest of his life.
[Illustration: The Shambles.]
Since the reign of James II., and the last serious attempt to establish
the Roman Catholic religion in the country, the history of both the city
and the see of York has been uneventful. The city itself has declined in
importance, and is now hardly even one of the larger towns in Yorkshire.
It is known and visited chiefly for its historic interest and its
minster. The see has experienced only peaceful changes, and its
archbishops are concerned more with questions of Church discipline than
with politics. The minster has suffered two serious fires, and a
restoration, carried out on the whole moderately and judiciously.