2 
THE ANCIENT GLASS IN YORK MINSTER. 
and summer, or grey and colour, and if the grey predominates, 
yet we do get some sunshine, and so some colour is demanded in 
our edifices. 
If we look at the Minster as it is, we notice that colour has 
been restricted to the windows: the ‘cold’ effect has been ‘warmed.' 
Nearly all the windows are filled with coloured glass which pro¬ 
duces that charming effect which we look for in vain in other 
large churches. 
The first mention of glass in connection with our city occurs as 
early as the year 669, when Wilfrid, Bishop of York, filled the 
windows of the Minster with glass, which “ excluded the birds and 
rain and yet admitted the light.” Another writer remarks that the 
windows had formerly been filled with boards pierced with a 
number of holes, and also with linen. The word “window - ’ 
according to Skeat is derived from a Scandinavian word meaning 
“ wind eye,” an eye or hole for the admission of air and light. In 
small churches the early windows were mere slits 1 in the exterior 
masonry, but with sloping sides the internal opening in the wall 
could be increased to a width of about five feet. 
The glass was made in small pieces and by joining them together 
by lead it was possible to fill in a window of any size. Eventually 
leaded lights came into general use. The glazier dealing with 
plain glass relied for artistic effect on his leads which he arranged 
in geometrical patterns. At first, glass was coloured throughout 
by oxides of metal fused with it in the furnace, hence termed “pot 
metal.” Ruby, however, was flashed on the top of the glass in a 
thin coat. The first coloured glass windows were formed of pieces 
of different colours arranged in patterns similar to mosaic work. 
As the patterns increased in size, geometrical forms were adopted ; 
later their outlines were widened to form borders. On the pot- 
metal glass, ornament was painted in a dark-brown fusible colour. 
That glass was made in England is evident, for it is on record 
that the house used by the Abbot of Vale Royal 2 and his pre¬ 
decessors for the manufacture of glass had been burned down. 3 
A great advance in decoration was the introduction of foliage, 
which was treated in the true spirit of art by being conventionalised. 
The Romans had adapted from the plant world a leaf known as 
the acanthus and the volute coming out of a scroll of leaves. The 
1 As in the east end of Askham Bryan Church. 2 Cheshire. 
3 1309, March 15, Cal. Pat. Rolls. 
