1181 



YORK. 



YORK. 



1182 



opened with the civil war, and in March the king fixed his head- 

 quarters at York, where he was joined by many of the Yorkshire 

 gentry, and several of tbe peers from London. After a stay of five 

 months he removed to Nottingham. In the beginning of the next 

 year the queen, having landed at Bridlington, proceeded to York, and 

 continued there some time ' with great advantage to the king's cause.' 

 In the month of April, 1644, Sir Thomas Fairfax, commanding the 

 parliamentary force*, joined by the Scotch, invested York, which had 

 been strongly fortified and held out for the king. Several batteries 

 were erected against the city ; the suburb*, then very extensive, were 

 set on fire ; one of the gate* was nearly demolished, and a tower of 

 the abbey of St. Mary, in which the chartulariea of many of the 

 northern monasteries had been deposited, was blown up, and many 

 important records were destroyed. After the battle of Marston Moor 

 the city was compelled to open it> gates to the Parliamentarians. 

 Many who took part in the rebellion of 1745 were tried and executed 

 at York ; and tbe noble gate* were again defiled by a spectacle worthy 

 only of an age of the grostett barbarism. 



Among th* interesting relic* of Eboracum, or of York, under the 

 Rou.ans, ar* remain* or memorial" of Roman templet. About the end 

 of th* 6th century. Ethelbart, the Saxon king of Kent, was converted 

 to the Christian faith by the preaching of the monk Augustine. 

 Edwin, the fifth Saxon king of Northumbria, and a native, it is said, 

 of York, had married Ethelburga, the daughter of Ethelbert, and, 

 through her influence and the zeal of Paulinus, a companion of 

 Augustine, beoam* a convert, and with Coiffi, the heathen priest, and 

 a oornidarabl* number of the noble* of hi* kingdom, was baptized by 

 1'aulinu* on Easter-day, hi the year 627, at York, in the church of 

 St. Peter, which, says Brde, be had hastily constructed of wood while 

 he wa* a cateebumrn, and preparing to receive baptism. Soon after- 

 wards, by the advice and with tbe aid of Paulinus, to whom he had 

 given York as hi* episcopal tee, th* king mad* preparations for build- 

 ing a larger and a nobler church, in tbe midst of which the oratory 

 that ha had previously eonatructed, and in which he had been baptised, 

 Might be inoloaad. H* laid th* foundation and began to raise the 

 date*; but bator* the walls war* completed h* WM abin. The work 

 was finished by hi* aoacattor Oswald ; but when he also bad fallen, 

 and Paulinus (who during tbe life of Edwin had received the pallium 

 from Rome, and bean elevated to th* rank of archbishop of York) 

 had been compelled to retire with Ethslburga into Kent, tbe church 

 wa* wholly neglected, and fell into mint. In the episcopate of the 

 celebrate.) Albert, who wa* elected to the see of York in the year 767, 

 a new church wa* begun, finiabed. tad dedicated ; this edifice appear. 

 to have been OB* of the most magnificent of th- Anglo-Saxon churches. 

 A small bat very it* treating portion of this chorea, oomprUing a part 

 of th* earlier church built by Edwin, was brought to light during ths 

 excavation of th* pntiot choir, after th* calamitous fir* in February, 

 IMaV 



Archbishop Thomas, who wa* appointed to the see by William the 

 Conqueror in th* yaw 1070, nbuilt th* ehurch, which had been in 

 groat part deetroyed by fire. From remains of th* crypt, discovered 

 in tb* recant excavation and preserved beneath tbe floor of the prtMnt 



choir, a good idea may 

 which th* ootir* 



be formed of tbe grandeur and beauty by 

 t hav* baao "-*W--*"- Archbishops 



Roger, Orey, and Thoratby. with other dignitaries, at varioua period* 

 ', attend, and addad to tho 



KK wanting U 



,is ai 



aUaatiua i* low and confined ; vat it* mat*, and th* grand teal* on 

 which every part i* eon*rniet*d, render to aa imposing object from 

 whatever point H i* viewed. Tho watt front i* very grand ; the 

 immensity of th* ttiaaUqs nan appears very striking. Tbe window 



York Mioatar, 



ot th* oatbaiiral. 



of a building eon- 

 It* 



is an nnriraOad anaaiman of tho rich tracery that mark* th* ttyle of 

 th* middle of th* I4th century. The lofty towers arising from th* 

 watt ant aisl** an uniform and vary graceful ; they an terminated by 



ftavMttaMHal AVaVl OppOrttsWl 99 MMCPBtMtMa 1O t99TJ pW* OtWDiy aMirUUMQ* 



Almost tho whole of thai front it domed with a profusion of tracery 

 and sculpture. Th* sooth transept i* a noble piece of workmanship. 

 Attached to it U a fine porch. Tbe central tower is very fine, but 

 appears hardly high enough compared with in* tower* at th* waatorn 

 ad, which are a few feet loftier ; it ha* been snppoaed that it wan 

 intended to be crowned with a lofty spire. Th* cathedral rnntartt 

 internally of a nave, choir, tnd Lady chapel, each with it* two aisles; 

 north sad tooth transepts, with two aklat, and a Ian tern in tbe centre; 

 and a chapter-room, with a vestibule on tbe north tide. The elevation 

 of the north trsastpt presents five tell and very beautiful windows. 

 commonly known a* 'the five sisters;' shore these an five other 

 t-iirrt window* of varied height*. Th* tooth transept it neither to 

 regular nor *o fiajahad M th* other, though rather richer in th* details. 

 The nave i. remarkably beautiful, and th. aisle, ar* unequalled for 

 gna*ntr in thai kingdom ; they an a* lofty a* tho** at Westminster, 

 bat not so narrow. Th* aast window i* about 78 feet high and SO 

 feet wida. It i* divided into compartments, aach containing the 

 i of an historical event : in all about 200 subjects an 

 The singularly elaborate and very interesting Mrs in 



i statue* of th. king* of England from William I. to Henry VI. 

 That of Henry VI. i* a modern statue, the original having been 



1 in th* reign of Edward IV. It* place was upplial until 



recently by a statue of James I., which was placed in the vacant niche 

 when he visited the minster. Upon this screen, now stands the organ, 

 perhaps the finest in the kingdom. 



This magnificent cathedral is cruciform, measuring in length from 

 base to base of buttresses east and west about 519 feet, and from base 

 to base of the transepts 249 feet. The internal length east and west 

 is 483 feet, of the transepts 222 feet 6 inches. The internal height 

 of the nave is 93 feet, of the choir 101 feet, of the central tower 

 externally about 198 feet, internally 182 feet 6 inches. The height of 

 the western towers is about 201 feet to the top of the pinnacles, 178 

 feet 3 inches to the top of the battlement. 



The chapter-house u a noble room of an octagonal form, the angular 

 diameter being 60 feet 6 inches, and the height of the central boss 

 from the floor 62 feet 2 inches. The roof is unsupported by any 

 pillar. It has an elegant window in each of seveu of its sides, the 

 eighth having corresponding tracery. Under the windows are fifty four 

 tails for the canons, the stalls being surmounted with rich crocketed 

 canopies. It has a handsome wooden roof, which was brilliantly 

 painted and gilt by Willement. The floor is laid with a tesselated 

 pavement. 



During the Commonwealth period the interior of the cathedral 

 offered much injury, and several of the ancient monuments were 

 demolished or mutilated. There are however still many ancient monu- 

 ments of great beauty and interest. The most important is that of 

 Archbishop Walter Grey, who built the south transept, in which it is 

 placed. This splendid relic of the 13th century consists of two tiers 

 of trefoil arches, supported by eight slender columns, with capitals of 

 luxuriant foliage, sustaining a canopy divided into eight niches, with 

 angular pediments and elaborate fiuials. On a flat tomb under this 

 canopy is a recumbent effigy of the archbishop in bis pontidcah. 



The earlier cathedrals were successively destroyed by fire: the pre- 

 sent Minster has twice within the latt thirty years narrowly e>caprd 

 a similar fate. The first time was on February 2nd, 1829. It was the 

 work of a maniac, Jonathan Martin, who had concealed himself in the 

 Minster the proceeding day, Sunday, after prayers. He was soon 

 apprehended and tried, but acquitted on the ground of insanity. He 

 was of course sent to a lunatic asylum, where he died in October, 

 1838. By this fire the whole of the roof of the choir, 222 feet long, 

 wa* destroyed, with the woodwork on each side; and the walls above 

 the arches of the choir were so much damaged that it was found 

 neceatary to rebuild them ; the organ was burnt, and the altar-screen 

 to much injured as to render a new one necessary ; the communion 

 plate too was melted. No time wa* lost in repairing the parts 

 injured; but the restorations were scarcely completed, when another 

 fire occurred, hardly lest destructive in its results. A workman who 

 had been employed to repair the clock, with most culpable negligence 

 left his candle burning when he quitted his work. This was on the 

 evening of May 20th, 1840, and by nine o'clock the south-western 

 tower, in which he had been employed, was discovered to be in Haine.". 

 By twelve o'clock the south-western tower, with its fine peal of bells, 

 wa* destroyed, and the whole of the roof of the nave had fallen in. The 

 progress of the flame* was on both occasions checked by the great 

 central tower. The parts destroyed w< re reconstucted under the din c- 

 tion of Sir Robert Suiirke, at a cost of above 100,0002., and the oppor- 

 tunity was taken to remove many irregularities and incongruities 

 which in the course of time had to a certain extent been allowed to 

 deface the noble edifice. Th* whole is now undoubtedly in a far more 

 perfect state than it ha* been for centuries. 



In replacing the various fitting* of the Minster a new peal of 12 

 bell* of large size and fine tone, presented to the Minster by the late 

 Ur. Beckwitb, was substituted for the old peal of 10 bells. A new 

 great bell was also cast for the cathedral by Mr. Meara, of London, at 

 whoa* foundry the peal was cast, and paid for by subscription. This 

 it th* largest bell in the kingdom, weighing 114 tone, and exceeding 

 by four ton* Great Tom of Oxford, previously the largest. 



The palace of th* archbishop was anciently on the north side of the 

 cathedral. Archbishop Roger it laid to have rebuilt it towards the 

 end of the 12th century, and a small portion of his work is still 

 remaining, a* it the chapel of the palace, of a later date. This elegant 

 building, having been long an unsightly ruin, was repaired in the time 

 of Dean Markham, and is now used as the library of the dean and 

 chapter. Near it is the new deanery. 



No establishment of regular monks is known to have existed at 

 York prior to the Norman conquest. Shortly before that event 

 Siward, the Danish earl of Northumberland, laid the foundation of a 

 monastery near the walls of York; but the building did not advance 

 beyond tbe erection of flie church ; and the foundation was laid anew, 

 and a great part of the monastery completed, by William Rufus. It 

 was dedicated to ' Tbe blessed Virgin Mary.' About the end of the 

 18th century the church tnd a great part of the monastery were 

 rebuilt; but several portions of the original structure still remain. 

 During tbe government of the third abbot, Qaufridus, in 1131, thirteen 

 of the monks, desirous of adopting the Cistercian rule, seceded, and 

 founded the abbey of Fountains near Ripon. William Thornton, the 

 last abbot, surrendered to the king, November 29tb, 1540, when there 

 were in the monastery fifty monks, including the abbot, prior, and 

 sub-prior, and one novice. The clear annual value waa reckoned to 

 bo IftWW. 0. T\d. The abbot enjoyed the dignity of the mitre, and was 



