ST. william’s window. 
109 
they are depicted in the window as both dying the same day. 
The next occupant of the Papal See, Anastasius, granted the 
pallium to William, who having been again chosen by the greater 
and better part of the canons of York, returned to England in 1154. 
When entering the city of York to again take possession of the 
See, William passed over the bridge spanning the Ouse, and it 
was on this occasion that the most celebrated of William’s miracles 
is said to have occurred. The crowd was so great that the bridge 
gave way, precipitating large numbers of people into the Ouse, 
but none of those whose lives were thus jeopardised were drowned, 
owing, it was alleged, to the intercession of the prelate. This 
event is said to have happened on the 9th May 1154, and is pour- 
trayed not only in the window, but three times elsewhere in the 
Cathedral. The incidents connected with St. William’s reception 
and enthronisation, his feast on Trinity Sunday, his illness, death 
and burial, and the miracles subsequently attributed to him all 
find a place in this pictorial history. On his death in 1154, he was 
buried in the nave of the Minster. In 1227 the Pope granted the 
canonisation of William, and a remarkable set of panels is de¬ 
voted to the illustration of the translation of his body, which was 
celebrated in the presence of King Edward I. and Queen Eleanor ; 
the Lord Archbishop ; Bek, Bishop elect of Durham ; Tlios. Bek, 
Bishop of St. David’s, and nine other bishops, and a large company 
of nobles. The King assisted in bearing the feretory. 
The window is remarkable for the richness and beauty of its 
colouring, and the enthralling interest of the details of mediaeval 
life depicted in its panels. More than 420 studies of the human 
figure and of the ecclesiastical and civil costumes of the period are 
contained in this noble window. Many of the faces, especially of 
those of St. William, of King Edward, Queen Eleanor, and other 
principal personages are full of character. 
The colour scheme for the backgrounds of the panels in the five 
lights is blue, red, blue, red, and blue. 
In the tracery are kings and archbishops, and at the apex the 
Coronation of the Virgin between angels censing. 
The shrine is represented twenty-three times, and Mr. Fowler 
remarks, “As no two of these are exactly alike, they cannot be 
taken, I think, as intended representations of the actual shrine of 
St. William in the Cathedral, but rather an ideal representation 
of the shrine of the period as conceived by the designer of the 
window.” 
