62 
THE MONKS OF MARMOUTIER. 
And when did it cease to be called the deanery of Christianity ? 
Again, nobody knows. 
My contention is this : that the word Ainsty is a contraction 
of the word Christianity : that for a long time “ Ainsty ’ was 
the popular, the colloquial name of the Deanery, and the 
longer word the one that was used in legal and other formal 
documents ; and that at some time or other the long name 
has been dropped, and the shorter one become the commonly 
recognised name. When I wrote a short article a couple ol 
years ago on this matter, I suggested that “ Christianity ” 
would probably be written Xanity; since then I have come 
across a confirmation of this conjecture in the parish records 
of S. Martin’s, Coney Street, the rural-dean there signing 
himself as “ Dean of Xanity.” 
The word Christianity is one easily pronounced, but it 
is a long one to write, and if you will write it you will 
see that there was some justification for the Dean and other 
people abbreviating it in writing; and I believe that 
“ Ainsty” is simply the latter part of the word Christianity, 
the Greek X being left out. In Lincoln, Leicester, and 
Exeter, the deaneries of Christianity remain ; in York it form¬ 
ally existed; when it disappeared no one knows ; but the 
Ainsty remains, and it seems to me that the ecclesiastical 
district lying to the west of York is a Deanery with a legally- 
recognised nickname. The'members, therefore, of the \ork 
and Ainsty Hunt, ought to be very grateful to the Church ol 
Holy Trinity, alias Christ’s Church, for furnishing them with 
such a respectable name, and the least that they should do 
would be to send some liberal subscriptions to aid in the 
restoration of the Church which has given them their name : 
What kind of a Church the Saxon Christ’s Church was we 
have no certain means of knowing. That it was a House of 
Canons is an indisputable fact; and that it was well-endowed 
and architecturally ornate are equally certain. But that is all. 
A theory was started about half a century ago, however, by 
Professor Willis, of Cambridge, (to whom we are indebted for 
one of the finest accounts of York Minster), which helps us to 
understand something about the character of the Saxon Church 
which stood where now Holy Trinity stands. On Sunday, the 
