IMPORTANT FACTORS AFFECTING THE HISTORY OF YORK
A. GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION
Among the factors affecting this particular city geographical position
is evidently the most important. It is to this, combined with the
consequent military value of the site, that York owes its origin as a
city, its importance in the Middle Ages, and its practical importance
to-day. York, which is the natural centre for the North of England, is
the halfway house between London and Edinburgh, and is on the shortest
and quickest land or air route, however the journey is made, between
these two capitals. The Ouse and Humber have enabled it always to be
within navigable distance of the North-East coast. The city itself is
situated on an advantageous site in the centre of a great plain, the
north and south ends of which are open. The surrounding hills and
valleys are so disposed that a large number of rivers radiate towards
the centre of the plain. Civilisation--if we must rank the ultra-fierce
Norsemen, for instance, among its exponents--proceeded westwards from
the coast, and wave after wave of the invading peoples crossed with
ease the eastern and north-eastern hills, which are far less
formidable than those on the west. York was already an important place
in the days of Britain's making, the days when the land was in the
melting-pot as far as race and nationality are concerned.
B. MILITARY VALUE OF ITS POSITION
York is situated on the higher ground, in the angle made by the rivers
Ouse and Foss at their junction; a little to the south, the east and
the west there are low ridges of mound. The outer, main series of
hills which border the central plain, are some dozen miles away, their
outer faces being more or less parallel and running very roughly north
and south. It seems clear that the site was chosen from the first for
its immediate defensive value, the direct result of its geographical
features. The position was of both tactical and strategic importance.
In Roman times, however, its tactical value decreased when the great
wall was built that stretched with its lines of mound, ditch,
stone-rampart, and road, and its series of camps and forts, from near
the mouth of the Tyne to Solway Firth. Henceforth the wall marked the
debatable frontier, but York never lost its strategic value. It was
thus used by the Romans, William I., Edward I., Edward II., and Edward
III. in their occupation of and their expeditions against the North.
It has served as a base depôt and military headquarters for centuries.
C. POLITICAL IMPORTANCE
York, then, whatever its name (for it had many names) or condition,
inevitably became an occupied place, a stronghold or a town from
earliest times. When the Church attained great importance in the
north, York, in addition to its natural and military values became, in
735, an ecclesiastical metropolis, for from this date the Archbishop
of York was not only the ruler of the diocese of York, but in addition
spiritual head of the Church in the North of England. Further, there
were established in the city branches of the civil government.
Business of the state, both civil and military, and of the Church was
regularly conducted at York from early times. This political
importance lasted long and is intimately connected with many events in
the city's history. The fort and military defences were renewed from
time to time, and staff-work and general administration, whether Roman
or Edwardian, were conducted from York. The king, from whom York was
rented by the citizens, had his official representatives with their
offices permanently established here. The siege of 1644 after the
royalist defeat at Marston Moor, was due mainly to the political
importance of the city. In Danish times there were kings of York. The
Archbishops, besides owning large areas of land in and around the
city, had their palace in the city. Monasteries grew up and flourished
till the Dissolution; churches and other religious buildings were
everywhere. Further, from century to century, York was the home of
important nobles of the realm.
This political importance has persisted through the centuries. York
still claims its traditional rank of second city in the kingdom.