’ BE LL S C ATHE DRAL S E RIE S : E DITE D BY G LE E SON W HITE N DWARD F STRA G A D E . N E

Y O RK

THE CATHEDRA L CHURCH OF Y O R K A DESCRI PTI ON OF ITS FABRI C AND A BRI EF HISTORY OF THE ARCHI—EPISCOPA L SEE

A C L TTON—BROCK . U

W ITH FORTY -ONE I LL US TRATI ONS

LO NDO N G E ORG E BE LL SONS 1 9 0 9 Fir st s e d Fe b ruar 1 8 . Publi h , y , 9 9 S e con d d on re s ed Oct ob e r 1 8 E iti , vi , , 99 R e n e d 1 0 2 1 0 pri t 9 , 9 7 . Third d on 1 0 E iti , 9 9 .

S W K P R R TT G M AND CD CHI IC ESS : CHA LES W HI IN HA .

TOOK S COURT C NC ERY L N E LON DON . , HA A , G E N E R A L PR E FA C E

THIS series of mon ograph s has been planned to supply visitors t o the great English Cathedrals with accurate and well illus t rat - of e d guide books at a popular price . The aim each writer has been t o produce a work compiled with sufficient knowledge and scholarship t o be of value t o the student of Archaeology n ot u se and History, and yet t oo technical in language for the i of an ordinary vis tor or tourist . To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each case would be difficult and tedious in this place . But amongst the general sources of information which have been almost invariably found useful are 1 ) the great county of in i histories, the value which , especially quest ons of gene is 2 alogy an d local records , generally recognised ; ( ) the numerous papers by experts which appear from time to time in the Transactions of the Antiquarian an d Archaeological Societies ; (3) the important documents made accessible in the series issued by the Master of the Rolls ; (4 ) the well known works of Britton and Willis on the English Cathedrals and ( 5 ) the very excellent series of Handbooks t o the Cathedrals originated by the late Mr John Murray ; to which the reader may in most cases be referred for fuller detail, especially in reference to . the histories of the respective sees . A UT H O R ’ S PR E FAC E

I HAVE usually followed Profes sor Willis in his account of the

Minster, and my obligations to his excellent works are general and continuous . Professor Willis made careful and extensive observations of o the Crypt and other parts of the Minster during the restorati n , n ow which gave him opportunities for investigation impossible . He also brought to these observations a learning an d sagacity probably greater than those of any other writer on English

Gothic Architecture , and his little book remains the standard work on the history of the Minster . I regret that I have been unable to agree with several of m an d the theories of that ost enthusiastic diligent writer, Mr

John Browne, or even to discuss them as I should have liked ; but his books must always be of great value to every l b o n e interested in the history of York . I am a so inde ted to ’ Canon Raine s excellent works and compilations ; to Mr Winston for his remarks on the glass in the Minster ; and to Professor Freeman for his interesting criticisms of the fabric generally .

- B . A . C . C O N T E NT S

— C PT E R I . H s o of the S ee a n d HA i t _ry City — CHA PTE R II . His tory of the Build in g

— r n f r CHA PTE R III . De sc iptio o the Exte ior

The We s t Fron t

The N o rth T ran se pt

Th e Ch a pte r- H o u se

The Ch oir

TheS outh Tran se pt

The Cen tra l Towe r — PT E R IV esc on of t h e n e r o C HA . D ripti I t i r

The Na ve

Th e Tran se pt s

The Cha pte r- H ou se

The Cho i r

The Crypt

Th e R e cord R oo m

M on um e n ts

S tain ed Glass

V —Th CHA PTE R . e Archbishops

I N DE" I L L U S T R A T I O N S

P AG E Y o n s e r t he e s on a n d N a e rk Mi t , W t Fr t v Arm s of t he S e e Th e n s e a n d B ootha m Bar i m on S are Mi t r , Exhibiti qu ’ S t M a ry s Abbe y Booth am B ar W alm ga t e Ba r Mickl egat e Bar Th e Sh a m bl e s Th e Mi n ste r (from an Old Pr i n t) The We s t F ron t ( 1 8 1 0) The as En d r B E t (f—om ritton ) The Wes t Fron t Ma i n E n tran ce The e r or o t he S o - as Ext i , fr m uth E t Th e e o ro the N or Ext ri r—, f m th Bay of Ch oir E—xte ri or S outh Tra n se pt Porch ’ S ea l of S t M ary s Abbe y Th N e ave— Th e N ave S outh A sle S o an se or m an d le e s or uth Tr pt—, Trif iu , C r t y Cha pte r H ous e E n tran ce an d S e d ilia The Choir S cre e n The o o ok n as Ch ir, l i g E t Ba of o — n e or y Ch ir I t ri . The o oo n es Ch ir, l ki g W t C ompartm e n t of A n cie n t Ch oir S talls C ompartm e n t of Altar S cre en The Ch oi r i n 1 8 1 0 The Vi rgi n an d Child (a Carvi n g be hi n d the Altar) The Crypt Ca pita ls in C rypt Effigy of M an le y Effigy of Arc hbish o p d e ( ire y M on um e n t of Willia m of H a tfie ld M on um e n t of A rchbi s h op Bowe t Th e E as t Wi n d ow Effigy of Archbish op S a vage Tom b of Archbish op S a vag e

PLAN OF M i Ne R

Y O R K M I N S TE R

C HAPTE R I

HISTORY OF TH E S EE AND CITY

AT York the city did not grow up round the cathedral as at or Ely or Lincoln , for York , like Rome Athens , is an imme — — " morial a prehistoric city th ough like them it has legends of its foundation . Geoffrey of Monmouth , whose knowledge of Britain before the Roman occupation is not shared by our modern historians , gives the following account of its beginning . “ Ebrau cu s M e m riciu s , son of p , the third king from Brute , did build a city north of Humber, which from his own name, he Eb rau c— Eb rau cu s— called Kaer that is , the City of about the ”

. as time that David ruled in Judea Thus, by tradition , both Ebrau cu s Romulus and were descended from Priam , Rome and York are sister cities ; and York is the older of the two .

One can understand the eagerness of Drake , the historian of

York, to believe the story . According to him the verity of

Geoffren history has been excellently well vindicated , but in ’ " Drake s time romance was preferred to evidence almost as ’ as easily in Geoffrey s, and he gives us no facts to support h as . his belief, for the very good reason that he none to give M O11 Abandoning, therefore, the account of Geoffrey of mouth, we are reduced to these facts and surmises . Before the Roman inva sion the valley of the O use was in the hands of 011 a tribe called the Brigantes, who probably had a settlement n or ear the Site of the pre sent city of York . Tools of flint and bronze and vessels of clay have been found in the neigh ' bo rh in t e rm it t n u ood . e t war The Brigantes, no doubt, waged s upon the neighbouring tribe , and on the wolds surrounding the city are to be found barrows and traces of fortification s to which they retired from time to time for safety . The position 4 YO RK M I NSTE R

of York would make it a favourable one for a settlement . It stands at the head of a fertile and pleasant valley and on the banks of a tidal ri ver . Possibly there were tribal settlements on the eastern wolds in the neighbourhood in earlier and still B more barbarous times , before the rigantes found it safe to c on e c make a permanent home in the valley, but this is all j ture . I t is not until the Roman conquest of Britain that York b enters into history . The Brigantes were su dued between the

8 0 A . D Pat iliu s e re ali A 0 C s . years 7 and . by and gricola The Eb u ra u m Romans called the city by the name of c . The deri has vation is not known . It been suggested that it was taken U re from the river , a tributary of the Ouse , but variations of the word are common in the Roman Empire, as , for example , Eb r r n m r v u ob ri a Eb u od u u Eb u o ice s . g , , and the These are prob ably all derived from some common Celtic word . I n process S — of time, perhaps in the reign of the Emperor ever—us that is sa A . D . to y, about the beginning of the third century the name was changed to Eboracum : from this was derived the later hr i r - S British name Caer Eab o g or Eb au c . The Anglo axon Eofe rwic name was , corrupted by the Danes into Jorvik or Y orv ik , which by an easy change was developed into the n modern ame of York . I n the York Museum is preserved a

- th monument to a standard bearer of the 9 legion , which is is probably of the period of Agricola, and it likely that Eb u racu m became the headquarters of the Roman army in t he the north soon after the conquest . It became chief military town in the island ; for, whereas the southern tribes s were soon subdued , those in the north were long rebelliou , and it was natural that the chief centre for troops Should be i establi shed in the more disturbed parts of Brita n . Close to t h e I su riu m York was town of (Aldborough), where remains of c an d pavements have been dis overed , where it is probable that Ebura m the wealthier citizens of York had their homes . cu was fortified in or before the reign of Trajan , and was con n e ct e d by a system of roads with other important Roman towns . The Roman Camp lay on the east side of the river, on or near the site of the present minster . One of its corner wall towers and fragments of the still remain , and parts of the city gates have been discovered . The camp at first covered about seventy acres of ground ; it was afterwards enlarged r s s P e t e r at e S on the south . The mode n treet of g and tonegate HISTORY OF TH E S EE AND CITY 5

represent the roads which passed through this camp, and

B ootham Bar is on the site of on e of the gates . Remains of

Roman pavement have been discovered below S tonegate . The city itself spread westward over the river, and fragments of houses and tesselated pavements have been discovered . In 1 84 1 remains of public baths were found and there are many signs that there was a large population on this Side of the river . In 1 8 5 4 there was found near the southern gate of the camp a tablet dedicated to Trajan , and commemorating the conclu th 1 0 8 - sion of s ome work done by the o legion in the year 9 .

This work was perhaps the palace of the em perors .

Ncar the south gate also was a Christian Church of St . Crux . t o The road Tadcaster was lined with tombs , and remains of cemeteries have been discovered all round the city . of As in London , there are few remains Roman masonry has above ground , and this is but natural , for the city been burnt and destroyed , wholly or partially, many times and there is no doubt that Roman buildings were used , as in Rome and

as . other cities , a quarry for later erections

York is historically connected with several of the emperors . wo S hloru s T of them , everus and Constantius C , died there, and son of Constantine the Great , the the latter, was hailed emperor

of . at York , if it was not the scene his birth At York also were of th 6th the headquarters two of the legions, the 9 and the ; and there is little doubt that in course of time it came to be

of . regarded as the capital the island I n fact , according to ' ’ a m lla n a n M c z s M a z i e S . Professor Freeman ( g , ept Ebu racu m of holds a place which is unique in the history Britain , which is Shared by only one other city in the lands north of the of Alps (Trier, Augusta We learn little the history of York from Roman historians , and next to nothing of the early Christian Church . There is mention of York at rare intervals , when it became connected with the general history of 8 . 2 0 S the empire For instance, in , everus was in York , and it became for a time the headquarters of the court . 0 6 The Emperor Constantius died at York in 3 , and there is a tradition that hundreds of years afterwards his body was found

- - - St . on under the Church of Helen the Walls , with a lamp still burning over it . Many churches in the neighbourhood of Eb uracu m were dedicated to his wife Helena, the legendary

finder of the True Cross . It has been supposed that Con 6 YO RK MI NSTER

t an tin e is s the Great was born at York , but this probably

h . untrue, t ough he was proclaimed emperor there I n the middle of the fourth century the Picts and Scots began to is t make inroads , and it probable that they cap ured York D about 3 6 7 A . . They were Shortly afterwards driven north wards by Theodosius the Elder . At the beginning of the c S fifth entury there were further invasions repelled by tilicho, but in 4 0 9 the Emperor Honorius withdrew the Roman troops from Britain , and the Roman period in the history of York came to an end . Of the early ecclesiastical history of York le s s even is known r n than of the civil . There are few e lies of Roman Christia ity in the c ity . c f A stone o fin , with an apparently Christian inscription , and several Roman ornaments bearing crosses have been found and placed in the York Museum, but this is all . There is no m evidence , documentary or other, of the anner in which

Christianity reached York . The Christian historians give us only the most meagre references to the history of the faith in

Britain . Tertullian, for example, mentions that parts of the island as yet unvisited by the Romans had been evangelised by n s British missio aries , and , if thi were so, it would seem to prove that the Church in Britain was early active and flourishing . I t

1 A D . c is not until 3 4 . that we come upon a definite histori al fact . This was the date of the Council of Arles, convened by s Constantine , to con ider the Donatist Heresy, and among the “ s ss — Eborus bi hops there a embled were three from Britain , E isco u s Eb orace n si R e st it u t us E isco u s p p de Civitate ; , p p de

Lon d In e n SI Ad e lfiu s E isco u s . Civitate ; , p p de Civitate Col ” Lon din e n siu m (perhaps Lincoln) . These bishops are men

t ion e d . in the order of precedence, and it would appear that the S e c of York at that time was the most important , or perhaps

the oldest , in Britain . Bishops of York were also present at ' m Nicae a Sard ica Armin iu . the Councils of , , and With these facts our knowledge of the Roman see of Eburacu m begins c and ends . The Episcopal su cession probably continued for

some time after the Roman evacuation , and the legendary S P ran n u s The od icu s names of ampson , Pyramus or y , and have been handed down as bishops of York during the struggle

- with the Anglo Saxon invaders . For a long time after the Roman evacuation jewel s and plate were discovered in the H I STORY OF TH E S EE AN D CITY

Pon tificat e neighbourhood and in the of Egbert , an arch in the c bishop eighth century, there is a Spe ial form of prayer for hallowing ves sels discovered on the Sites of heathen t e mples and houses . The great Wilfrid also, in the seventh century, Speaks of recovering the sacred places from which t h e British i w clergy had been forced to flee . It s unknown hen or how was York finally captured , but in the seventh century it was certainly in t he hands of the English though there still remained a n Elm e t e independent British kingdom of , only a few miles to the west of the city . Close to York has been discovered a - lace ' of large burying p heathen Angles , in which the ashes were deposited in urns ; the date of thi s is probably . the beginning of the sixth century, and at that time the invaders must have been settled in the country, and perhaps in the city itself. The m conquest arks a change in the position of York . Under the Roman occupation it had been an important city for military purposes , and for that reason it was the Seat of an important c c s bishopric . After the se ond onver ion of England it becomes a n d s and important more more for eccle iastical reasons , when it plays a part in the hi s tory of England it is because of the s s action of its bishop ; from this time , therefore, it become necessary to say less about the city itself and more about the see . After the An glo~ Saxon conque st of the North of England the country between the Tweed and the Humber was divided into two kingdoms , Bernicia to the north of the Tees , and Ethelfrith Deira to the south . In the reign of these two king doms were united, under the name of Northumbria . Edwin , his successor, was the most powerful king in England, and every state except Kent acknowledged his supremacy .

In the troubles after the Roman evacuation , it is probable that York lost some of its importance , which it regained under is Edwin , and became again the capital of England . It at this period that the authentic ecclesiastical history of the see, and 6 0 1 indeed of England , really begins . In Gregory the Great, in a letter to Augustine , gave him authority to appoint twelve who bishops in England , and among them a bishop of York , , was s if his mission was prosperous , to ordain further bishop m in the North of England, remaining himself the chief of the , and being invested with the pall , the mark of a metropolitan bishop . Provision was made that the first bishop of York 8 YORK M I NSTER

should be subordinate to Augustine, but that subsequently the question of seniority was to be decided by priority of c on secration . Thus early did the question of precedence between

York and Canterbury arise . We may take it that the early Christian church had entirely died out in Northumbria, and that prior to the mission sent by Gregory there had been no effort in the southern part of the

m e . kingdom , at least, to reclaim the inhabitants fro h athendom York was chosen as the seat of the metropolitan bishop In the

i . 1 5 north , entirely because of its importance as a c ty It after this event that it becomes chiefly remarkable for its ecclesias

tical importance . Augustine died before he had followed ’

s c 6 2 . Gregory s in tru tions , and they were not carried out till 5 was In that year, Justus, the fourth bishop of Canterbury, led by unusually favourable circumstances to consecrate a bishop of was York and to send him to N orthum b ria . Edwin the king

over lord of England , and he wished to be allied with Kent ,

the only other independent kingdom in the country . H e there of fore proposed to marry Ethelburga, the daughter of the King h . S e w Kent and her father ere Christians , and Edwin , though w still a heathen , agreed that She Should be allowed to take ith

her a Christian chaplain to Northumberland . Paulinus , per f haps a Briton by birth , was chosen for this o fice , and was

consecrated Bishop of York before he se t out . H e has been

identified with a certain Rum the son of U rien . This enter

prise met with great and immediate success, in which political reasons probably played a considerable part ; and on Easter d a 6 2 t he y 7, the most important date in ecclesiastical history m of of York , the king Edwin , his family, and any his court were baptised there In a wooden chapel temporarily erected 011

the Site of the present minster . I mmediately afterwards Edwin

t o S t . on begun to build a church of stone , dedicated Peter, the w same Site . The baptism of the king was followed by a hole of sale conversion thousands of his subjects, and it is stated that Paulinus was forced to stay over a month in on e place to

baptise the crowds who flocked to him . Paulinus was con se six firmed in his appointment to the e by the king, and t h e n of years afterwards received pall , together with Ho orius s t o Canterbury , which authori ed him assemble councils and to n ot consecrate bi shop s . The pall was given to any of his suc ce ssors u ntil Egbert ( 73 2 I n View of the subsequent

H ISTORY OF THE S EE AN D C ITY I I struggles for precedence between the sees of Can t erbury an d Ed wm York , the following passage in a letter from the Pope to IS ” t wo on e of interest We have ordered, the Pope says , palls , for each of the metropolitans , that is for Honorius and Paulinus, that in case one of them is called from this life, the other may, ”

o . in virtue of this our authority, appoint a bish p in his place ” 1 . t S . . . (Bede , Eccl . His , mith edit , book ii , cap 7, p Th is early pro sperity of the northern Church d id not last 6 was long . I n 3 3 Edwin defeated and killed at a battle near

rc . Hatfield , and a period of ana hy and persecution followed

Thereupon Paulinus , with Ethelburga, the queen , fled to Kent, m leaving behind him only one evangelist , by na e James the orthu mb n a Deacon . It is probable that the greater part of N of thereupon fell back into paganism , and by the flight c of Paulinus the Catholic Chur h , or that part it immediately of under the influence and control of the bishops Rome , lost its hold on the north , which it was not to regain without a of struggle . The anarchy came to an end with the accession l a Oswald , Christian , who had been converted , not by Paulinus , but by the Celtic Church of Iona . I t was this circumstance which led to the establishment of the influence of that Church n t r in N ort h u m b ria . Oswald did o look to Rome o Canterbury for evangelists whe n he se t to work to establish Christianity in

D . wa his 6 A . s kingdom , but to Iona, whence , in 3 5 , dispatched

s n . a bishop , Aidan , who settled at Lindi farne (Holy Isla d) From this time there were two influences at work among the — Christians in Northumbria that of the older an d traditional British Church which had survived t h e flood of heathen inva o f w sion ; and that the later Catholic Church , hich originated with the mission of Augustine . The conflict between these two influences reac hed it s height in the time of Wilfrid . Oswald completed the church began by : Edwin it remained under the rule of Aidan , as no evan elist s s g were sent from the south to take the place of Paulinu , though it is said that James the Deacon continued his mis 6 2 sion ary work in the North Riding . In 4 O swald was killed in i battle, and Deira and Bernicia were again split up nto two kingdoms . With this division came also religious difficulties between the Church of Iona and the Catholic Churc h of the f ” . S south These di ficulties culminated in the ynod of Whitby, 6 6 a t 4, which the Catholic party, led by the great Wilfrid, Y O R K MINSTER

of perhaps the greatest of all bishops York, defeated their n opponents . After the council , Colma , then Bishop of Lindis farne, resigned , and his successor, Tuda by name , was killed

of . with many his monks , by a pestilence at Lindisfarne The ground therefore seemed t o be cleared for Wilfrid . At this sw of Alchfrid son time O y was king Bernicia, and his governed Al hfri . c d Deira, probably as an independent province induced

Wilfrid to accept the se e of York . Wilfrid at once set to work to strengthen the position of the Catholic Church and to destroy the influence of the Church of I ona in his diocese . He refused to be consecrated by a bishop of the Church of I ona, sent for that purpose to Gaul . He probably was determined not to acknowledge the supremacy of any other English se e over his

. Osw own He was absent for three years , and y, who favoured the Church of Iona , took advantage of his absence to appoint hi Cead d a se e . s (Chad) to the of York On return , after being s duly consecrated , Wilfrid retired without a truggle to his own 6 . 6 monastery at Ripon I n 9 , Theodore , the Archbishop of m Canterbury, intervened to ake peace between the two factions , and at his instigation Ce ad d a resigned the se e in favour of

Wilfrid , who at once began his great period of activity in the diocese . Whatever may be our sentimental liking for the older h and more national Church of Iona, there can be no doubt t at t he the Catholic Church was chief support of culture , learning , wa s re re and civilisation in Europe, and Wilfrid a worthy p se n tat i v e of it . During his episcopate the see of York probably played the most important part it has ever taken in the his tory

of . England At that time, more than any other, the future of learning, civilisation , and humanity was in the hands of the ’ ’ ' Zol a d z vzsz a ") or ée priests , and the English were kept in touch with the slowly reviving culture of Europe by the cosmo t he politan Church of Rome . Wilfrid was undoubtedly best representative of that culture in England . It was his object

d . not only to Catholicise the north of Englan , but to educate it He t ravelled continually through his vast diocese with a train

of . builders , artists , and teachers His architectural activity in the particular was very great . He repaired minster at York , which had fallen almost into ruins , and built large churches at

Hexham and Ripon . But he was not allowed to continue rit his work unopposed . n h had become king of the whole of Northumbria, and a quarrel arose between him and Wilfrid . H ISTORY OF TH E SEE AN D CI TY 1 3

t e who At las the king induced Th odore , had formerly interfered ’ who n ow of in Wilfrid s favour, but was perhaps jealous his t o great activity and fame, assert his supremacy over the north and t o d ivide the great diocese of N orthu mb ria into four Wi h rn h t e e . bishoprics, York , Lindisfarne , Hex am , and Theo dore had received the pall Wilfrid had not . It was therefore contended that Theodore had authority over him . Wilfrid retired to Rome t o claim the support of the Pope . I t was t o 68 0 given to him , but when he returned York , in , he was rith . S imprisoned and afterwards banished oon after n died, h n and T eodore , again interveni g, obtained a reconciliation r between Wilfrid and the new king Alchf id . Wilfrid again became Bishop of York , but another quarrel caused him again to resign his see, and this time for good . During all this period there is n o doubt that the Bishops of York were subordinate to t o those of Canterbury . The constant disorders which the Orthum b ria kingdom of N was subjected for a century, and the quarrels between bishop and king, lessened the power, both wa of . s civil and ecclesiastical , the kingdom I t not till 734 of ] had that a bishop York , Egbert, received the pal , which been granted only to Paulinus , and from that time the northern arch t o of bishops seem have been independent Canterbury , especially h f 8 6 is after York fell into the ands o the Danes in 7 . I t possible who that Gregory, directed that York and Canterbury Should t o each appoint twelve suffragan bishops, intended make _the of sees equal in every respect . The anarchy and divisions the northern kingdom prevented this plan from being carried out . of The kings Northumbria themselves , from time to time, of acknowledged the authority Canterbury, and during the hundred years between Paulinus and Egbert that York was of without a metropolitan archbishop , the Primate Canterbury, of without a rival , increased his power . With the advent the ort hu mb ria Danes , however, N was naturally much isolated from of the south , and the diocese York , though smaller and poorer than that of Canterbury, was a rival power . I n fact, until the year 1 0 72 the archbishops of York either held them s elves or appointed others t o the diocese of Worcester . I t was not until the Conquest that the independence of the n orthern bishops of was seriously questioned . Under the Danish rule two the —Wolfst an archbishops were probably of that race , appointed in

2 8 Osk t e l his . 9 , and y , successor The Danish supremacy was 1 4 YORK MI NSTE R

u t e n d to Ead re d r e N p an in 9 54 , when incorpo at d orthumbria

n 8 6 - . 1 0 0 0 into the kingdom of E gland From 7 to , or after,

‘ York was ruled by an earl, either under the Danes or the kings

. as of England The city was important, not only a strongly e ' fortifi d place , but as a centre of commerce, and it had a large as population . I t had as many inhabitants in the tenth century . There are traces of the Danish supremacy in the s language and faces of the people in York itself Danish bead , s gla s , jet and amber, and carved horns have been found . Ae ld re d s At the time of the Conquest, was archbi hop of

York . After Hastings he swore allegiance to William . For i this act he was bitterly reproached . It s said that he exacted a promis e from William that he would treat his Engli sh and his

Norman subjects alike . He crowned William at Westminster . 1 0 6 8 I n Edwin and Morcar, Earls of Mercia and Yorkshire,

’ lli n in t o re b e o . broke They soon submitted, but the people of t he York had been roused , and remained in rebellion . On approach of the Conqueror, however, they also submitted . o William built a castle in York , at the juncti n of the Ouse and F the oss, and garrisoned it with Normans . He then returned s S o southward . soon as his back was turned, the city revolted s a again and be ieged the castle . But Willi m was soon upon them . He took and plundered the city, and erected another H 1 0 6 . fortress on Beacon ill . I n 9 occurred the final rebellion is Gos at ric A Dan h fleet sailed up the Humber under Edgar, p , Walth e of a Eald red and . This last cal mity is said to have killed , the archbishop . He had endeavoured to make peace between conquerors and conquered , and he saw that now a desperate w orthumb ria struggle was inevitable . The hole of N rose as the a Danes m de their way up the Ouse . The Norman garrisons in se t York fire to the houses near them , and the whole city was burnt down . The minster was either wholly or partially ’ destroyed . On the site of William s fort at Beacon Hill there have lately been discovered several deposits of silver pennies of the earliest coinage of William . These were probably hidden s there by the Norman garrison . After a desperate ortie, these forts were taken . Thereupon the Danes sailed away with their plunder, and the revolt suddenly came to an end . But William swore an oath of vengeance . He caught and destroyed a i number of the Danes in Lincolnsh re . When he reached s York he found it de erted . He repaired his castles, and then

1 8 YORK MINSTE R

1 0 2 an d tions with regard to his successors . I n 7 Worcester, see soon after Lindsey and Lincoln , were taken from the of

S St . York . The abbeys of elby and Oswald in Gloucester were given t o the archbishop by way of some return . Mean while the archbishops of York also claimed supremacy over the northern bishops of the Isles and Scotland . They certainly visited and consecrated in these dioceses . After many quarrels, 1 1 these pretensions were finally disposed of at Rome . I n 54 the sees of Man and Orkney were placed under the Archbishop Dron theim 1 1 8 8 r of , and in the whole Scottish Chu ch was released from any subjection to York and placed under the of S direct control the Pope . Only one cottish prelate, the of Bishop Whithorn , remained a suffragan to York , but in the fourteenth century Whithorn also was lost to the archbishops , and became a part of the S cottish Church . The Bishop of Durham remained nominally in subjection to of the see York , but in reality he was often a greater man than 1 1 his superior . I n 34 the Bishopric of Carlisle was founded f S od or and placed under the authority o the archbishops . and 1 2 Man afterwards fell again under his jurisdiction , and in 54 n ow the diocese of Chester was founded . The archbishop has authority over nine bishoprics . But to return to Thomas . In 1 0 7 1 h e went with Lanfranc to Rome to receive the pall . The of question precedence was there argued , and the Pope decided f o . in favour Canterbury Afterwards , at a synod held by was William , it decided that the Archbishop of York should t o an d m ust swear allegiance Canterbury, be consecrated in

Canterbury Cathedral, that the diocese of York from that time of Should not extend south the Humber, and that the arch bishop Should lose his authority over the se e of Worc ester .

On the death of Lanfranc, however, the dispute broke out see again . For four years there was a vacancy to the of

Canterbury ; Anselm , the new archbishop, was consecrated by

Thomas , who took the opportunity to insist that Anselm should not be styled Primate of all England . The quarrel with Canterbury remained in abeyance until Thurstan was appointed Archbishop of York ( 1 1 1 4 H e refused to make su bmis of sion to Canterbury, and the Archbishop Canterbury was determined not to consecrate him until he submitted . There was , therefore, a deadlock . Thurstan had the support of the o was o 1 1 1 P pe, but he not c nsecrated until 9 , when the Pope H ISTO RY OF TH E S EE AN D C ITY

Calixtus himself performed the ceremony at Rheims . Thursta n obtained a Bull from the Pope releasing him and his successors for ever from supremacy of Canterbury, and for a time York was triumphant .

. s In the reign of Henry I I . the quarrel again broke out Thi ’ l Ev e ue time the Archbishop of York , Roger Pont q , the builder of of t he N orman choir of the minster, had the support the

wh . o king, o was engaged in the struggle with Becket R ger,

Phot ochrom Co. L td . , P /zot o J

WALMGATE BAR .

has as indeed, been bitterly reviled an accessory to the murder 0 11 of Becket . He carried the quarrel with Richard of Can ’ t e rb u r of y , Becket s successor , and at the Council Westminster D ( 1 1 76 A . . ) the rivalries of the two prelates came to a head in a ridiculous scene . The papal legate was present at the council , and the Archbishop of Canterbury seated himself at his right hand . Shortly afterwards entered the Archbishop of York , who, refusing to take a lower place , sat down in the lap of Canter bury . He was seized , beaten , and kicked for his pains . 1 1 0 I n 9 the people of York , incited by the priests , rose and 2 0 YORK MI NSTER

0 0 massacred the Jews , killing nearly 5 . For this they were

fined by the king . The minster contributed to the ransom of

I . . Richard , pawning a golden cross which Roger had given w The cross as afterwards redeemed . was Roger succeeded , after an interval of ten years , by

son . Geoffrey, the bastard of Henry I I He quarrelled con t in u all k y with John , who on one occasion fined the city of Yor 1 0 0 £ for omitting to meet him when he visited the city .

In the war between Henry I I I . and the barons , the arch bishops Gray and Gifford took the part of the king, and owing to their efforts their diocese was little affected by the struggle . 1 2 In 65 a quarrel broke out between the Abbey of St . Mary and the townspeople, owing to the abuse of the privilege of sanctuary possessed by the convent . Much blood was shed and the suburb of B ootham was burnt down .

I n the reign of Edward I . York played a great part in the history of England , as the king made it his capital during the

St . war with S cotland . He was present at the installation of ’ 1 2 William s relics in the choir, and in 9 7 he held a great

Parliament there . The archbishops and clergy contributed —f one fi th of their income to the expenses of the war . The Courts of the Exchequer and King ’ s Bench were also removed from London to York, and remained there for seven years . At this time York was a more important city than it has been at any period since the Roman occupation . It was both the civil and military capital of England , and its archbishops and wa . s prebendaries had great power It also, naturally, a period of great building activity . I n a hundred and fifty years the

is . whole fabric of the minster, as it now , was erected 1 1 8 Edward I I . also spent much of his time at York , and in 3 Ba-n n ockb urn S c another Parliament met there . After the ots 1 1 made continual inroads into York shire . In 3 9 an army of

S . cots , in number, advanced to the very gates of York

Melton , the archbishop, hastily got together men and S S fell in with the cots at Myton , on the wale , where he was

utterly routed, and narrowly escaped with his life . This battle

was known in derision as the Chapter of Myton . The quarrel between York and Canterbury was not finally was settled until the time of John of Thoresby . He one of the was most remarkable of the archbishops of York . When he made 1 2 o S archbishop ( 35 ) the di cese, owing to the cottish inroads, ' H ISTO RY OF THE SEE AN D CITY

the black death, and other causes , stood in great need of reform . Anarchy and brigandage were rife . The people were ignorant and poor, and the chief posts about the cathedral , including even the deanery, were held by Italian absentees appointed by the Pope . The ecclesiastical discipline was naturally very lax . Thoresby drew up his famous Catechism , 1 se t which was translated into English verse, in 3 5 7, and to work to abolish the abuses caused by pluralism and immorality of among the clergy . The question precedence was settled by

Innocent VI . , who determined that the Archbishop of Canter bury Should be styled Primate of All England, and the

Archbishop of York Primate of England . “ ” “ sa1 d on ic Thus , says the Fuller, when two children cry the for same apple, the indulgent father divides it betwixt them ; yet so that he giveth the bigger and better part to the child that is his darling . It was also settled that each archbishop s hou ld carry his s A cro s erect in the diocese of the other, but that the rchbishop of York Should send a golden image to the shrine of S t . Thomas of Canterbury .

Edward I I I . had been married in York Minster, and there w as . his little son , William of Hatfield , buried His is the only royal tomb in the minster . ’ 1 2 I n 39 the Court of the King s Bench again sat at York .

r Richa d I I . visited the city several times . The archbishop s Neville and Arundel played a great part in politics at this period . After the deposition of Richard I I . a prebendary, by M an d el n name y , who bore a great resemblance to the king , was personated him and headed a revolt, but he captured and put to death . The chapter in general were strongly In favour of Richard, and three other prebendaries were imprisoned . 1 0 S In 4 5 occurred the rebellion , headed by crope , the arch bishop . After he had been trapped and captured, the king had c great difficulty in bringing him to trial, as the Chief Justi e , s Ga coyne, refused to try him . H e was finally condemned in his own palace, at Bishopthorpe , and executed near to the walls of the city . Henry IV . withdrew also the liberties an d privileges of the city, and the citizens had to beg for pardon on their knees with ropes round their necks . The archbishop was buried in the minster, and his tomb was much frequented by pilgrims in the n orth . 2 2 YORK MI NSTER

1 0 f In 4 7 the rebellion broke out again , and the citizens o

York were again severely punished . In the fifteenth century the importance of York began to decline , and from that time it owes the position it still holds chiefly to its ecclesiastical emin ence . Richard I I I . visited York several times, and gave a 0 11 six great cross to the minster, standing steps , each of which was ornamented with the figure of an angel . The figures were all of silver, and the whole was decorated with precious stones . Richard also planned the establishment of a college of 1 0 0 1 8 six u se . chaplains , and in 4 5 altars were erected for their

But the scheme came to an end on the death of the king .

York had been greatly devoted to Richard , but it submitted to 1 8 6 Henry VI I . when he made a state entry into the city in 4 , lo al S and it remained y in the rebellion of Lambert imnel , when

s s . the rebels be ieged the city, but were repul ed c In the reign of Henry VI I I . the importan e of York was steadily declining . He only visited the city once . The whole 11 0 of Yorkshire, which was doubt poorer and more ignorant than most other counties , was much disturbed by the abolition of the monasteries and the spoiling of the churches , especially t f S . o by the seizing of the head of William, the chief treasure 1 6 the minster . In 5 3 the insurrection known as the Pilgrimage

s . of Grace broke out, and the city willingly received the rebel “ ” rs Aske, their leade , made a proclamation that all the religious s hould be reinstated in their old plac es " and the friars sang 1 11 matins the same night . In 5 5 7 Aske was hanged 0 a gallows

se t on e . upon of the bars of York Henry entered York , and the citizens sued for pardon , which was not granted to them 1 6 0 until 5 . Henry ordered the removal of such shrines as had s s not already been de troyed , and fragment of these have been s found buried near the minster . Henry determined to e tab s s s lish his authority firmly in the north , and e tabli hed the famou c s coun il which appointed the Duke of Norfolk their pre ident . ’

was S t . s The council held in the house of the Abbot of Mary . s It took away most of the power of the Mayor and Corporation , but gave renewed importance to the city . The diocese was much neglected during the episcopacy of s Wolsey and his uccessor Lee . Both were statesmen rather s e t c . than ecclesiasti s Indeed , it is said that Wolsey never foot in York itself, though he was arrested at Cawood , where was ’ n s o e of the bi hop s palac e s . Lee was employed continually on H I STO RY OF TH E SEE AN D CITY 2 3

missions and embassies . H e happened to be in York , however, of was at the time of the Pilgrimage Grace , and seized by the o rebels , carried to Pontefract, and compelled to swear supp rt to se e of the rebellion . The was much impoverished in the time ’ 1 Holgate, Lee s successor ( 5 45 who supported Henry in his quarrel with the Pope . Much of the property taken by Henry was restored by Mary to Heath , the next archbishop, who was the last appointed by a papal bull with the acknowledgment of the Government . Heath was depos ed by Elizabeth in 1 5 5 9 . I n 1 5 69 occurred another rising in the north in favour of the of of S old religion and Mary Queen cots , under the Earls of m r l n N orthumberland and We st o e a d . I n R ichm on d shire and the Cleveland di s trict the new prayer l o d . books were destroyed , and the service restored York itself e favoured the rebels , but before it could be enter d a force arrived ’ from the south and the rebellion sank to nothing . The queen s h t e . army exacted a loan of 95 5 0 0 from citizens of York Eleven persons also 1 n the city were sentenced to death . The Earl of Northumberland al s o was afterwards executed and buried in

York . After the rebellion the Roman Catholics in the diocese r were much persecuted . They were forced to attend the e

formed services and the Holy Communion , and their priests

were hunted down . Attempts also were made to abolish the

Christmas mummeries and the miracle plays . The archbishop

of this period , Thomas Young, is accused of plundering the c 1 own estates of the hu ch in the interests of his family . r Cha le S I . had a great affection for the city and minster of

York , and enriched the latter with many gifts . For instance, 1 0 0 0 he gave to the chapter for the building of a new organ , and out of the same the chapter also bought some Communion b - 1 11 r plate , and a Bi le and prayer book richly bound pu ple velvet

- and ornamented with Silver gilt plates . These latter are Still

preserved . He further removed certain houses and offices

which had been built close to the west and south doors . He also destroyed a building which had been erected inside one of

the transepts , and ordered certain seats in the choir, which hid

the stalls and woodwork, to be taken away . 1 6 Charles also wrote to the Corporation in 3 9 , ordering them i not to bring the official sword and mace into the m nster, and o the t receive Holy Communion there on certain fi xed occasion s, 2 4 YORK M I NSTE R

The Mayor and Corporation evaded the order by entering the “ ” n church with sword and mace abased . They have ever yet officially attended Holy Communion . They also had a quarrel with the dean and corporation owing to their practice of using ’ of r the north aisle the nave, known as the Lo d Mayor s Walk, as a common promenade . The dean and chapter endeavoured 1 6 2 to put a stop to this in 3 , but it continued until the end of the century . During the Civil War York suffered less than many cathedral 1 6 n c ities . In 44 it was besieged by the Parliame tary troops

‘ t d P /z P o . L o /z oz oc/z r oflz C , l o . ]

W AL M GAT E BAR .

s and the S cots under Fairfax and Le slie . During the iege the as minster seems to have been spared far as possible, mainly,

perhaps , through the influence of Fairfax, but it did not escape “ ’ s s entirely scatheless . Thoma Mace, the author of Mu ick s was n Monument, in the city duri g the Siege, and he thus de “ scribes the way in whi ch the minster suffered : The enemy c was very near and fierce upon them , espe ially on that side the city where the church stood ; and had plan t ed their great guns mischievou sly against the churc h ; with whi c h c onstantly In ’ i t e h d s prayer S t me , they would not fail o mak their ellish i turb

HI STORY OF TH E SEE AND CITY 2 7 ance by shooting against and battering the church ; ins omuch that sometimes a cannon bullet has come in at the windows and bounced about from pillar to pillar (even like some furious fiend or evil spirit) backwards and forwards and all manner of sideways, as it has happened to meet with square or round opposition amongst the pillars . During the siege the citizens suffered much from the pres ence of the soldiery who were billeted upon them . Each citizen , in addition to giving free quarters to as many soldiers as pos 2 Sible, had to pay £ a month for their support . The siege six s lasted for weeks, and in the cour e of it the Marygate

Tower, which was used as a record office for the whole of the north , was attacked and spoiled , all the records in it, an irre

s . parable lo s , being destroyed The city was captured soon after Marston Moor, and the defenders obtained very good

of . terms , marching out with all the honours war The citizens also were well treated . They were t o enjoy all their old privi leges and were to be preserved from plundering . All churches and public buildings were to be treated with respect . A Pres byt e rian service was at once held in the m inster by the con qu e rors . The Corporation presented to Fairfax a butt of sack and a tun of French wine in gratitude for the good offices he had rendered them . There can be little doubt that the great amount of stained glass still remaining in the minster is owing to the control he exercised over the Parliamentarians . On October the 2 4th of the same year the Corporation ordered that the Solemn League and Covenant should be tendered to the aldermen and citizens . Then all the Royalist members of the ed Corporation were remov , and both the bishop, Williams , and

S . the dean , cott, were deprived of their offices They left the ’ 1 6 6 country, and the dean died in a debtor s prison in 4 . Fair of fax, however, who remained as governor the city, maintained of the minster in scrupulous repair, and paid all the salaries the f necessary o ficials . A Short time before the Restoration a large m ha su . s of money was spent on the bells I t been said, indeed ,

- that the Puritans wished to pull down the chapter house , but there is no authority for the statement . But the control of the minster was taken out of the hands of the chapter and given t o the Corporation , and this transference was only effected by the interference of the troops . The organ given by Charles was an also taken down , and silver candlesticks d other ornaments, 2 8 YORK M I NSTE R

St . including the brass about the shrine , perhaps, of William , re al r and also the lectern in the choir, were sold for the p of the 1 6 6 fabric and bells . In 4 the organ loft, the canopies over the 1 6 altar in the side choir, and the font were removed . I n 4 7 a cushion was made of the dossal . The library was left untouched and thrown open to the public , and the keys of the minster placed in charge of the Mayor and Corporation . In place of the — dean and chapter, the precentor, and chancellor all removed c four city prea hers were chosen by the Assembly of Divines , s and paid out of the revenues of the min ter . Meanwhile the s churches in the city suffered far more than the minster it elf. I n 1 646 all superstitious pictures in glass and images were 1 6 8 ordered to be broken , and the fonts were removed . In 4

- twenty four churches in the city were without incumbents . After the Restoration the Corporation did everything in their 1 66 power to resist a return to the old order of things, and in 3 — there was a small rebellion , as a result of which twenty one persons were executed at York . Discontent, however, con t in u e d 1 68 2 Sir , and in it became necessary to appoint John R r 0 0 e e sb . y governor of York, with a garrison of 5 men The governor said that York was one of the most factious towns in the kingdom . About this time , also , the dean and chapter cau sed a riot by i ssuing a proclamation forbidding the nave to be used as a promenade . They succeeded, however, in finally putting an end to the practice . 1 68 6 S - ih - S I n Lady trafford , daughter law of the great trafford , s was buried in the minster . Party pirit still ran very high , and the mob rushed at the hearse and endeavoured to tear the was coats of arms from it . The military called out, and there was a sharp struggle in the minster itself.

c . The Catholic designs of James I I . were ill re eived in York His proclamation for liberty of con scien c e was read in hardly s c any of the York churches, and an attempt to to k the Corpora tion with Roman Catholics was re si sted . At last there came S a crisis . The king appointed James mith , the Roman Catholic — s Bishop of Callipolis, one of his four vicars apo tolic, and in c August 1 6 8 8 he appeared at York . The ar hbishopric had was been vacant for two years, and it rumoured that the king se intended to appoint S mith to the e . was York , therefore , ripe for the revolution , and it broke out

e 2 2 . E there on Nov mber Lamplough of xeter, a discreet and H ISTO RY OF TH E S EE AN D C ITY 2 9

timely supporter of both James and William , was appointed arch S s bishop, and mith was attacked by the mob as he was pas ing — s . through the streets in proces ion His silver gilt crozier, f o which had been given to him by Catharine Braganza, was torn from him and sent to the vestry of the minster, where it still re I t mains . is seven feet in length . S mith fled to

Wycliffe on Tees, where he spent the rest of his life . Since the reign f o . James I I , and the last serious attempt t o estab lish the Roman Catholic religion in the country, the history of both the city and the s ee of York has been u n eventful . The city itself has declined in importance, and is now hardly even on e of the larger towns in Yorkshire . It is known and fOI' P /z ot oc/z r am Co. L td P /zo visited chiefly , to. ] o TH E SH M BL S its hist ric interest A E . and its minster. se e The has experienced only peaceful changes, and it s arch b IShops are concerned more with questions of Church discipline

i i i . than W th pol t cs The minster has suffered two serious fires , an o ou t on d a restorati n , carried the whole moderately and i i jud c ously . CHAPTE R I I

HISTORY OF TH E BU I LD IN G

TH E architectural history of the minster is somewhat vague

has . and uncertain , and been the subject of several disputes

I t will be as well, perhaps , before entering into details , to n give a table of approximate dates , both of the differe t parts of the minster as it now stands and of the buildings which preceded it . These dates are mostly sanctioned by the authority of Professor Willis .

’ Edwin s Wood e n Ch ap e l ’ Edwi n s Mi n st e r be gu n fi n ish e d by Oswa ld re pa ired by Wilfrid bu rn t d own Albe r t re build s Mi n s t e r (P) Mi n st e r w h olly or partia lly burn t N a e a n se s an d e a s o v , Tr pt , p rh p Ch ir, built by 1 080 Th om as (circ . ) Ch o ir an d C rypt rebuilt by R oge r 1 1 54 - 1 1 8 1 - r Pre se n t S outh T ran se pt built 1 2 30 1 24 1 ( c i c . ) North Tran se pt 1 24 1 - 1 260 Nave built 1 2 9 1 - 1 324 Cha pte r- H ou se built 1 320 We s t Fron t o f N ave built 1 338 V a ult of Na ve built ( circ . ) I 354 - Pre sbyt ery (or e as t ern pa rt of Cho i r ) built 1 36 1 1 370 ( c irc . ) - Choir (we s t of High Altar) built 1 380 1 400 ( ci rc . ) - Ce n t ra l Towe r built 1 400 1 42 3 (circ . ) S outh W es t B e ll T owe r built 1 433 - 1 447 North West B e ll T owe r built 1 470 - 1 474 Ch oir inj ured by fi re 1 8 29 1 8 2 Ch oi r re pa i red ( circ . ) 3 N av e i nj ured by fire 1 840 N ave re pa ire d 1 84 1 S outh Tran se pt re s tored 1 875 It will b e se en th a t it is d oubtful whe th e r th e fire of 74 1 an d th e rebuild i n g of 767 780 m en tion e d by his torian s re fer t o the mi n s te r a t all . H ISTORY OF THE BUI LDI N G 3 1

The fact that a wooden chapel was erected for the baptism of Edwin in 6 2 7 seems to show that no Christian church n had remained at York from Roma days , as at Canterbury ; is this chapel, therefore , the first Christian building in York of o of which we have any definite record . The church st ne with which it was immediately replaced was finished by

Oswald , after the death of Edwin in battle ; head _ whose t was carried thither and placed in the Chape l of S . Gregory . It has been supposed that there are remains of this original stone church in the crypt . ’ I n sixty years Edwin s churc h had fallen into great d is

6 6 . repair . It was restored by Archbishop Wilfrid about 9 The following account of the dilapidated condition of the is e v e rsifie d building as he found it tak n from a life of Wilfrid , Frit he od e ascribed to g , a monk of the tenth century

cc e s ae e ro fun damin a cassa v e tustae E l i v , n a d issut o v iolab an t t a e alumb e s Culmi r b p ,

H um id a con trito s tillab an t asse re . t ec ta ; Livid a n ud a to s uggrun dia parie t e passa Imb ricib us m s luviae uacun ue v a an tur ulli , p q q g , en d a d iscis sis fluit an t a ea a n s P ul l qu ri tig i , m an t a a d a Forn ice arceb catar ct e ilapid to .

Wilfrid glazed the windows, repaired the holes , painted and sa decorated , and , strange to y, whitewashed the building . We now come to the first disputed point in the history of H o e n the minster . I n the chronicle of Richard v d en it ’ is stated that M on aster z um in E bor a ca Cir/{fa re S uccem um ’ ' ’ ' ’ est 720720 K a lemz as M a zz Fer za r zm a —l t hat is t o sa p y, that a church was burnt down in the city of York on S un day the 2 rd 1 A D 3 of April 74 . . It has been contended that the word ’ mon as ter z um need not of necessity mean the minster, that ' ' czaz fas e ccle si the word may perhaps mean the diocese , the as tical state, and not the city of York , and that, therefore, the church mentioned may be not the minster, but some other large church in the city or diocese of York . Professor Willis of is Opinion that this is probably the case . Flaccu s is I n the poem of Alcuin or Albinus , there a 6 8 0 in passage speaking of a church built by Albert ( 7 7 7 ) , the following terms :

Ast n ova Basili cae mirac s tr u ctura d ieb us Praesuhs h u us e ra am coe t a eract a sac a a j t j p , p , r t , 3 2 YORK MI NSTE R

H ae c 11 i111 is a lta d omus s olid is s uffulta colum n is S u ositae ae s a n c u rv a s a rcub us n s pp qu t t ti , i tu Em ica t egre g1 is l aq ue a ribus a tqu e fe n est ris Pulch ra ue orticib us ful e t circu m d ata s q p g multi , r m a d iv e rsis re tin e n s so ar a t e c t is Plu i l i ,

Quae t rigin ta t en e t v ariis orn a t ib us aras .

I t is plain that this church , wherever it was, and the poem i does n ot ment on Its locality, was a very important one . It ar t ia l s was very lofty, and had many porches, or apses (p may mean either) , and thirty altars . Just before this passage in the poem there is an account of

se t . altars up by the archbishop , probably in the cathedral Professor Willis thinks that if the church referred to imme d iat e l se t y after were the cathedral , an account of altars up in it would not be given before an account of the building of is the church itself. But , as Professor Freeman points out, it Flaccu s most improbable that two writers , the chronicler and

Albinus , should allude to a church other than the minster is without giving its name . I t , of course, j ust possible that se t Albert up his altars before rebuilding the cathedral , in ’ which case Professor Willis contention would lose its force . It is curious that no other chron icler mentions either the fire c ss or the rebuilding of the chur h , but this omi ion would be almost equally strange whether the building in que stion were m s s the in ter or ome important church in the diocese . is On the whole , therefore , it perhaps most probable that the Flaccu s church referred to by Albinus was the minster . If is that so , this church remained until it was ruined by the 0 Danes in 1 69 . Then it was certainly either wholly or partially burnt down . Thomas , the first Norman archbishop, appointed 1 0 0 c s in 7 , found the minster, the ity, and the diocese , all wa te h was and de s olate . At first e satisfied with roofing in what remained of the cathedral and otherwise restoring it as best he

. 1 0 8 0 could Afterwards, before , he began to rebuild it . It is uncertain whether he rebuilt the whole church , or merely the nave and transepts . S tubbs on this point seems to give two different accounts . “ s Thomas, he tates, restored the canons of the church after he had rebuilt it as well as he could . Afterwards he says , i ” He built the c hurch as it now is from t s foundations .

Probably, this first passage refers to the immediate repairs

34 YORK M INSTE R

' On the one hand we have positive testimony that Thomas rebuilt the whole church ; on the other, the walls of the crypt , as they existed up to the time of Roger s choir, are a part of

S . S ah d the axon church Their masonry is axon , they mark the lines of a chancel far too narrow to have been that of s Thoma , even if we suppose that his choir was necessarily his small , from the want of funds at command , and the wasted condition of the diocese . This would seem to support the theory that Thomas left the S axon choir as it was , and contented himself with rebuilding the ruined nave and transepts . I n that case, of course, the

Saxon choir remained until the time of Roger . T he alternate theory is that Thomas rebuilt an enlarged , but S still a small , choir, leaving the axon crypt as it remains to this day and that even this choir proved too small for the wh o m magnificent ideas of Roger, utterly demolished it to ake his n o of ab ov c room for own great building, leaving trace i t s su ground . Thi is the more probable supposition , and it is p ported by the fact that the inner wall of t he crypt is composed

- of fragments of masonry, buildings, etc . , of early Norman date , ’ which might well be parts of Thomas s choir, if it was destroyed , of as we suppose . Some the stones are covered with white of plaster, showing they are parts of the interior a building, and they are of the same red sandstone as the remains of the tran w as b m . sept apse , which undoubtedly built y Tho as

As has been said , the choir of the minster remained unusually s small for o important a church . The eleventh and twelfth centuries were periods of great activity in church building, and many of the Norman architects planned their works on a vast

. t S . scale With the examples of Durham , Winchester, and was Albans before them , it natural that the archbishops of the Metropolitan Church of York Should be di s satisfied with the size of their own choir . I t fell to the lot of Roger, the rival of

a . of his Thomas Becket , to rebuild it The date nave is 1 1 - 1 1 8 1 approximately 5 4 . The remains of his work in the crypt Show that it was in the latest style of Norman archi ’ tecture and con siderably influenced by Flambard s work at h h Dur am , with c anneled and fluted pillars . The detail appears ’ to have been richer and later in character even than Flambard s . f The outer wall of the crypt shows the dimensions o —this choir . I t was square at the end , and had flanking towers two bays

3 6 YORK MI NSTE R — from the east which served as transepts inside . The eastern transepts of the present choir still keep the position and tradi tion of these towers . The aisle probably ran round the east end as at Romsey and Byland . The two b ays east of the tower were wider than the others . Roger, it should be said , had been Archdeacon of Canterbury, and he was therefore well acquainted with the glorious Choir of Conrad built by

Anselm . There is much in the planning of his work to show ’ that he was influenced by the example of Conrad s choir . At the end of the twelfth century the minster was utterly

b u . unlike the present ilding Except in the crypt, and in cer 1 t . in parts of the nave and tower not visible to the c asual s s w ob erver, there are n o ve tiges of the ork of the earlier i builders . There s now n o N orman work to be seen in the 1 2 0 0 s minster itself, and in , nave , choir, transept , and towers

“ were all Norman . Of these the transepts appear to have been the poorest part . They were probably Short, and had no aisles . The nave also was of rude Early Norman character .

The Early English architects having determined , probably, to m n rebuild the nave and transepts , ade a begi ning with the ’

1 2 0 . transepts about 3 Roger s choir, only finished about fifty years before , no doubt seemed to them grand enough . The transepts were built 011 a totally different scale to the rest of t h e church as it then stood . They were both longer and h ad s s 0 11 . broader, and they ai le each side of them No doubt the object o f this was to get a standa rd for the ultimate rebuilding of the nave . The greater width of these transepts made it difficult to j oin their aisles with those of the nave and c e hoir, and were the caus of a curious and daring expedient, whi c h will be described in the architectural acc ount of the

n s . buildi g . The south tran ept was the first to be rebuilt It w c 1 2 1 6 1 2 6 is the ork of Walter de Gray, ar hbishop from to 5 , wh o a b was buried under an rch of his own building , in a tom w c u s t h e hi h Still remains the most beautif l, perhap , in minster. The north transept seems to have been begun as s oon as the south w as finished ; it is said to have been t he work of

John Romeyn , or the Roman , an Italian , and the treasurer of York . Walter de Gray probably also had a large part in the building of them . These transepts are the earliest part s an of the existing minster . John Romeyn al o built Early English central tower in place of Thomas ’ s Early Norman H ISTO RY OF TH E B UI LDI N G 3 7

t h e son tower . I t remained for John Romeyn younger, of the 1 2 8 6 1 2 6 t o treasurer, and archbishop from to 9 , begin the on rebuilding of the nave . It was planned a far larger scale was wid e r than the old nave, and even than the Early English old 8 transepts . The nave had been 3 feet wide, the transepts

n e w 1 0 . were 9 5 , and the nave 3 The difference in width between the transepts and the new nave is in the aisles . The plan of the transepts had n o influence on the plan of the n ave .

- The large triforium , small clerestory, and moderate sized main t o arches give way a large clerestory, large main arches , and

- practically non existent triforium . These are unusual propor n of tions in E glish Churches that period . At Ely, West an d minster, Beverley , many other places , the proportions of Norman or Early English work influenced those of the later Decorated and Perpendicular . The records of the building of the nave are somewhat S scanty . tubbs tells us that the foundation stone was laid 0 11 6 1 2 1 it on April , 9 , and that was begun the south Side towards the east . I t has been supposed that the chief object of making the new nave so much wider and loftier than its predecessor , was that i t might be built round the old work without interfering with its utility . 1 2 8 But a petition , dated 9 , states that the old nave had long ' din est t or r a l t a so Since fallen ( ) . If this were there was no t h l object in refraining from disturbing e o d work . It is u n ce r had tain whether the nave had been purposely destroyed , or fallen of its own weight . It may be , though we have n o record ’ of as so the fact , that Thomas s Norman tower fell down , did many Norman central towers , destroying with it some part m -of of the nave , and so ade the rebuilding that part of the church necessary . n The ave is fully developed geometrical Decorated work . s I t is loftier than the transept , and its roof is low pitched . The main part of t he rebuilding seems to have been done n 1 2 8 1 2 0 betwee 9 and 3 . The indenture for glazing the great i 1 8 s . west window is still extant , and dated 3 3 The nave must have been roofed before this .

The vault was probably intended to be stone , but the great a m width of the building seems to h ve ade the builders afraid, and they erected a vault of wood , but Shaped and ribbed to look like stone . The outer walls of the clerestory, and the 38 YORK M INSTER pinnacles of the south Side of the nave Show vestiges of flying buttresses . It IS uncertain whether these were merely intended when a stone vault was projected , or whether they were n actually erected , and afterwards , bei g unnecessary for the w support of a ooden vault , were allowed to fall into disrepair .

There are no flying buttresses on the north side, and the pinnacles are much smaller . The west front was undoubtedly the latest part of the work to be finished , except the vault . The lowest stages , though n geometrical in style, are later in character than the ave itself. w The great est window, and the upper stages are of florid is curvilinear Gothic . The west front said to have been sh fini ed , and the great west window glazed by Archbishop 0 0 60 0 m t o in 1 8 Melton , who gave 5 or arks the fabric 3 3 . The chiI rch was vaulted in 1 3 5 4 ; Archbishop Thoresby is said f . o to have given the wood Before the beginning the nave,

S t . the relics of William had been carried into the choir, and in stalled there with great pomp . The offerings of the faithful of at his shrine helped to defray the expense the building . Further funds were gained by m eans of indulgences granted by successive archbishops . The houses of Vavasour and of Percy gave wood and stone , and statues their representatives of were placed over the main porch the west front .

- The date of the chapter house, and the passage connecting it with the north transept is disputed . Browne thinks it was

1 2 8 0 1 0 . begun about , and finished about 34 H e partly bases his contention on the fact that the Acts of the Chapter from

’ 1 2 2 in a zt u lo E /wmmz 1 0 0 3 to 1 3 0 0 are given C p . After 3 ’ ' ' ’ ’ [0 0 a zt u la u / t in Ca zt u/o E cclesia e in 5 C m z sz s E ff estae . p , or p p After 1 34 2 in d omo From this he argues that 1 2 - up to 34 the chapter house was not in existence , or

d u se . unfinishe , but that it was in from that date The c h m geometrical aracter of the tracery, and the Purbeck arble shafts used in the chapter- house might seem to support that w view . Professor Willis, ho ever, considers there is little [ 72 ca zt u/o Significan c e in t he difference m the phrases used . p ” in [0m ca zt ul a n 27: simply means in chapter, and p and t a zt ul a m p are vaogue phrases which may either mean

- lace . a chapter house, or a p used for the Sittings of the chapter

- was n ot At any rate, he thinks the chapter house begun until

1 2 0 an d t h e ss is . after 3 , pa age leading to it still later If this 0 T HE W EST F RONT I N 1 8 1 . 4 0 YORK MI NSTE R

- is the case, however, there is no reason why the chapter house 1 2 u should not have been finished in 34 , and that would acco nt h t e . for change of phrase in the Acts Though , at first sight ,

in - the building appears to be Early Decorated style, on a closer examination it will be seen that the slender mouldings , the of r character the ca vings, and the details , especially on the outside, all point to a later date . I t is curious , however, that was 1 2 0 if the building not begun until after 3 , the tracery was not curvilinear, as in the great west windows , and the middle windows of the towers built about the same time . s Perhap , however, the geometrical forms were found to give s the greater support , neces ary owing to the absence of a t h art ic u . e w central pillar On hole, the evidence of details , p larly of the foliage in the beautiful arcading inside the chapter 1 2 0 house, seem to point to its not having been begun until 3 or later . 1 6 2 I n 3 John of Thoresby became archbishop . The n times were u propitious for building . Yorkshire was suffer ing much from the black death , there was great poverty was n among the peasantry, and the diocese in great eed of h r s discipline and reform . T o e by gave himself up for nine 1 6 1 years to this work , and in 3 he thought the time had come for the rebuilding of the choir . We have already seen how at York , one great work led to another . The transepts were rebuilt that they might be in harmony with ’ u of the grande r Roger s choir, the nave that it might not be eclipsed by the transepts and now it was contended that the choir must not be inferior t o the rest of the church . 0 11 2 o t h 1 6 1 Therefore, the of July 3 , it was resolved by the “ archbishop and chapter that It was right that every church whatsoever Should agree in the fitting decoration of each particular part , and that the choir in particular, where the t he s c holy sacrifice of ma s took pla e , should be especially rich in ornament . Thereupon they d ecided to rebuild the choir . The foundation stone was laid on the 3oth July 1 6 1 3 , and the work was begun at the extreme east end .

There was a very good reason for this procedure . The th e design of the new choir, both as to size and planning

on o f . of the bays , was modelled that the nave It was ’ Th ore sb y s object to build the largest and m ost magnificent choir in England . I t was therefore both wider, loftier, and

4 2 YORK M INSTE R

a presbytery had been completed unusu lly quickly . Indeed , we 6 2 know that £ 7 were spen t upon it in one year, and this was an unusual amount . The average expenditure , for instance , wa 1 8 . s o on the choir of Ely was £3 I t natural , theref re, that there should be a halt to collect further funds . The work of the choir itself proceeded much more slowly . There ’ ’ was a complaint in 1 39 0 on the archbishop s v isitat ion fi guozz ' ’ — fa br zm et c/asid e n eglzgen ter t a r a a t ur and it was n ot roofed in until 1 40 0 . The contract for the glazing of the great east window is 1 0 1 0 — sa December , 4 5 that is to y , thirty years and more from the date of its construction . But there is nothing u nusual in wa this . It s customary before filling windows with stained glass t o cover them with linen cloth which admitted a sufficien t l amount of light , or to glaze them with p ain glass ; and it was only natural that a long time should elapse before stained glass could be supplied to the largest window in the world . 1 0 0 Burying was begun at the east end soon after 4 , and ’ 1 0 Scrope was buried there in 4 5 . B owet s monument also

1 1 was . was erected there in 4 5 , while he still alive 1 1 8 n ew A new high altar was projected in 4 , and the crypt was fitted with iron work and paved in the same year . The so building of the choir had caused a subsidence in the crypt , the work of Roger and others was broken into fragm ents and ’ patched together, older capitals being placed on Roger s pillars , in the condition in which we now see it . Nothing is known of the history of the vaults of the choir and eastern transept s .

Like those of the nave and transepts , they are of wood , though of the same shape and d e s ign as a stone vault . 0 0 1 The great Central tower was erected between 1 4 and 4 2 3 . Hith erto there had been the Early English tower of the elder

John Romeyn , supported by Norman piers which , perhaps , had received a partial casing of Early English stonework . These re case d piers were afterwards , not simultaneously, but as the arches between them were erected , in the following manner Taking the s outh - we stern pier for an example : when the present nave was begun , the western face of the pier was cased with masonry, so that three parts still remained Norman when 1 was the Decorated arch in the transept erected south of it, it

1 Fo r th e e a n a o n o f t h e e e c on of s e cora e d arc see the xpl ti r ti thi D t h , arc e c ra acco n of h an s e s hit tu l u t t e tr pt . HISTORY OF TH E BUI LDI NG 43 received a further Decorated casing on It s south side ; when

E ST rom r on . THE A END . F B itt t h e h c central tower was built, its nort ern and eastern fa es were s : so c ased with Perpendicular ma onry , in the case of the 44 YORK MI NSTE R

o - com north and s uth eastern piers , their eastern faces were let el p y cased when the choir was built , their western only when To the tower was in course of erection . this day it may be seen that there is no bond between the different periods of masonry, and that the courses are at different levels .

The piers were probably completely re case d by 1 4 0 9 . ’ Nothing is known of the elder Romeyn s tower, or the manner in which the present one replaced it . A great part of n e w Skirlawe the work has been attributed to Walter , Bishop of

Durham . I t will be seen it is of the same character as the lower part of the central tower at Durham . I t has never been

finished, as the corners and the condition of the masonry at t o sa the p still Show, but it is impossible to y whether it was so intended to receive another storey , and if , of what character

o . that ther storey was to be At one time , as may be seen in Old on e 2 engravings , it had a turret in corner, 4 feet high ; wa this s probably destroyed in the last century . The south - west bell tower was built probably b e twe e e n 1 4 3 3 1 - 1 0 1 and 44 7, the north west between 4 7 and 4 74 . They are

thus both Perpendicular in style .

At the end of the fifteenth century, therefore, the minster as S we now se e it was fully built . ince that date it has suffered n o changes of importance, and the record is only one of

occasional damage from fires or fanaticism , and of necessary

restorations .

The minster suffered to a certain extent at the restoration , 1 and in a less degree at the hands of the Puritans . I n 734 S ' the n ave was repaved . everal tombs were found when the

old pavement was removed, and relics taken from them and w deposited ith the other treasures of the minster . 2 n d 1 8 2 of O n the February 9 , Jonathan Martin , a brother s the apocalyptic painter, John Martin , and a religiou maniac, hid himself during evening service behind the tomb of Arch in bishop Greenfield the north transept, and when the church e t was shut up for the night s fire to the choir . The flames

were not extinguished until the stalls , the organ , and the vault

had been entirely destroyed . The actual stonework and of carving of the choir were considerably injured , and the glass

the great east window itself only just avoided destruction .

Martin escaped through a window of the transept , but was

c . re st or qui kly captured , and discovered to be insane The a HI STO RY OF TH E BUI LDI NG 4 5

on Sm irke 1 8 2 tion , carried by , was begun in 3 , and on the whole was fairly done . At any rate , the authorities of the minster may console themselves with the knowledge that it was absolutely necessary . The stalls were a reproduction , as exact as possible, of the old woodwork , but the design of the throne f . o and pulpit are original , and not successful The cost the restoration was most of which was contributed by S 0 0 0 ubscription . Timber, to the value of £5 , was given by S Sir of the tate, and Edward Vavasour, following the example

of . his ancestor the fourteenth century, supplied the stone n 1 8 0 Another fire broke out o the 3oth May 4 . I t began in

- the south west tower, and is said to have been caused by some c workmen who were repairing the lock . The whole tower, it s excepting Shell , including the bells , was destroyed , and the fire was not extinguished until the wooden vault of the nave s had been burnt . The restoration on thi occasion cost

and was finished in a year , under the superintend

S Sm irke son m . ence of ydney , of the for er restorer In 1 8 7 1 the south transept was discovered to be in a d ilapi dated , and , indeed , a dangerous condition , and the advice of hi Street was asked on the question of restoring it . I n s report he stated that the design of the clerestory , constructed as it was - for of two thin walls , was not strong enough the weight it had f o . to support , even though the vault was wood The whole wall of the transept had given way, and the clerestory , in par t icular was t , in a very bad condi ion . It became necessary, therefore , to rebuild the side walls of the clerestory and the

flying buttresses under the steep roofs of the aisles , to remove the heavy Slates from the roof, and to renew the pinnacles . was On investigation , it discovered that the inside portion of the walls had been made up of stone chippings without c ement . is u It c rious that builders in the thirteenth century , whose system of ornament was most profuse and thorough , often scamped the more important details of structure . At Peter borough, no less than at York , instances have been discovered

- of what would , in these days , be called j erry building .

The walls were rebuilt with solid masonry , held together by

- Portland cement , and strengthened by wrought iron bars the Purbeck marble shafts were in places renewed ; the groining of the vault was stripped of the whitewash which concealed its material ; the lath and plaster work of the vault between the 46 YORK MI NSTE R

groins was removed , and replaced by oak boarding ; the bosses were gilded , and picked out with vermilion paint . The cost in all of this restoration was about In the course of it it was discovered that there were many remains of tombs and coffins under the pavement, but they have not yet been thoroughly explored . — The reredos, made of terra cotta and wood , was designed by in worth S T . treet , the figures by Modern stained glass windows have from time to time been placed in the minster . I n the last century a certain Peckett patched and rearranged much of the older glass . A I I I C H P T E R .

TH E E"TE RIOR

YOR K MINSTE R consists of a nave of eight bays and a c hoir of

has . nine . It a large central tower and two western towers

The main transepts project three bays from the nave and choir . There are also two eastern transepts four bays west of the east

e n d . , which do not project beyond the aisles of the choir The

- chapter house lies to the east of the northern transept, and is connected with it by a lofty passage projecting three bays from the transept . The east end of the cathedral is square, as in most English Gothic churches . The best views are to be obtained from the north, especially from the walls , which will B ootham be most conveniently ascended at Bar, or from the extreme northern corner of the close . From the walls the of whole the vast bulk of the minster may be seen , broken by

- the great central tower and the lofty cap of the chapter house .

Other English cathedrals are more finely placed , several are richer in ornament, one or two have a more delicately varied so so is outline . None are stately and magnificent and there hardly a church in Europe that appears so vast as the minster viewed from the north . Compared with it the great French c so o athedrals , with their stilted roofs often unbr ken , except by a small fleche and with their outlines concealed in a crowd a r e of flying buttresses, apt to look Short and huddled when seen from a distance .

- The low pitched roof of the minster , the solidity of the central tower, the Simpl e and tranquil front of the north s tran ept , give the building an air of masculine and stately s m repo e , and of perfect finish seldo to be found in foreign churches ; while the apparent uniformity of style , though the is f s architecture of three dif erent period , frees it from the picturesque inconsequence of many English cathedrals . Yet neither inside nor outside does the minster appear to be the 4 8 YORK MI NSTE R

r r expression of the spiritual aspirations of a people . I t e p e sents rather the secular magnificence, the temporal power of a h Churc , that has played a great part in the history of the of nation . The archbishops York have been forced by circum n stances to be militant prelates , contendi g with Canterbury for S precedence, leading armies against the cotch , sometimes even heading rebellions against the king and in their cathedral they have expressed their ambition and their pride . — Th e W e s t F ron t The west front of York Minster is free from the t wo faults most common to the facades of most English s cathedrals . It is not a mere undi tinguished ending to the church , like those at Norwich and Winchester, and it is not a magnificent misrepresentation of the height or width of the build ing itself, like the west fronts at Peterborough and Lincoln . Most of the English cathedrals are n ot lofty or wide enough to give fa ad e opportunities for an impressive e , unless they are fronted with a mere screen of masonry ; but this is not the case at so York . No other Gothic church in England is wide , and '

b is . only Westminster A bey as lofty The builder, therefore, was not tempted to any expedient to conceal the dimensions so of his church , and the front consists of the natural end of of the nave, which a great part is filled by the west window, with a gable above it representing the Space between the vault and the roof, and with the porch below it . It is flanked by two s towers built in front of the ai les, with two smaller porches at the base of each . The three divisions of the west front are one marked by buttresses , prominent and richly ornamented , on each Side of the west window and two at the external corners of the towers . The buttresses, covered with niches and n panelli g, grow narrower and less prominent as they rise , until they are cut Short with three cornered caps some feet below the o f battlements the towers. The central window and the prin ci al is p entrance are surrounded with niches , and there an s elaborate gable above each of them . The west front exhibit three different styles ; the lowest part , containing the porches of m c and the west windows the aisle, being of the geo etri al

Decorated style ; the middle portion , including the great west of the window, the gables above it, and the middle windows towers of the later or curvilinear Decorated ; and the towers f o . above the roof, Perpendicular the fifteenth century The central gable and the great west window are almost flamboyant

5 0 YOR K M INSTE R

are statues of the Percy and Vavasour, who gave the wood and stone necessary for the building of the nave . These statues, and the greater part of the porch , have been restored . But even after restoration the fine proportions and delicate work manship of the porch are evident . The Slender shafts support ing the arches are well grouped and contrasted . The capitals, m though characteristically small , are ost delicate, and the mouldings are admirably varied with foliage, figures , canopies, of and brackets for statues , formal decoration, and courses T plain stone . hese mouldings contain the history of Adam S and Eve . Even the porches at ienna and Orvieto, though s made of far more costly material , can hardly be more beautiful t than was this porc h at the time of i s completion . There is n h but little other statuary remaining o t e west front . A few s i in n c of figures of saint rema n the upper i hes the buttresses, f and there are fragments of sculpture on some o the lowest . 2 0 1 The towers are feet high , and are uniform In design . The front of each contains three large windows ; the highest,

Perpendicular in style , containing three lights ; the middle, curvilinear Decorated, containing four ; an d the lowest, the

' we st win d ows of the aisle, being geometrical Decorated, and containing three lights . The middle windows to the north and south are of very curious half geometrical, half curvilinear of tracery . The highest and lowest windows the towers have ornamented gables above them , the lowest being triangular,

- the u pper ogee shaped . The towers are topped with large battlements and pinnacles .

I t will be seen , therefore , that this west front is planned on the most regular lines and the most ambitious scale . True , some c fa ad e s s Fren h e are loftier, as at Amiens for in tance, but, as s has Profes or Freeman pointed out, the effect aimed at at York is one of breadth rather than of height , and it is an advantage that the front is not too high for the towers to ri s e some way above it . I t is also richly decorated and well proportioned in the mass , and yet nearly every one, on first seeing it, must be it s it s struck by curious ineffectiveness when height and breadth , l its regu ar outline , and profusion of ornament are considered .

To tell the truth , the English architects have here endeavoured to rival the French on their own ground, and have not su c

c e e d e d . The English cathedral , as has been said, was not usually planned on such lines as to make a sumptuous faead e TH E E"TERI OR 5 1

c possible . Throughout the whole course of English Gothi h e sit at architecture, the treatment of the west end is curiously

. S ing and arbitrary ometimes it is altogether unambitious, as as at Winchester and Norwich ; sometimes boldly illogical, at S Lincoln or Peterborough and at alisbury, where everything else is beautiful , it is altogether unsatisfactory . I n all these cases circumstances were against the architect, but at York there was every opportunity for a great architectural triumph . was Yet the designer not able to throw off his English timidity, to forget the small English features to which he was used , and h to conceive is front as a gigantic whole .

To begin with , he made his west window so large that every other important feature of the central divi s ion of the front had to be sacrificed to make room for it . In the great French facades the customary circular window leaves ample Space for vast porches below it . These are pushed forward to a level with the great flanking buttresses, so that the actual wall of the church above it appears to be recessed . As the Side porches fronting the aisles are on the same level with the main porch , is the bottom part of the front bound together, and the divisions s of nave and aisle, emphasi ed above by the prominent buttresses, m are inimised below . This arrangement gives at once unity and variety to the whole de sign . The towers do not appear to s be external addition rising from the ground, but an integral part , the very crown and flower, in fact, of the whole design . At York the central window is so large that it leaves but little room below it for the porch . This porch , though ex uisit e s q in itself, is not pu hed forward , but flat with the wall, n e ce s and appears a mere hole cut in the surface . It has sarily no connection with the entrances to the aisles and the fa a finest feature of the great French e d e s is wanting . But the h a size of the west window s other disastrous effects . It would f s have been di ficult , almo t impossible, to assimilate an opening so large, and of such an elaborate pattern , to the rest of the design , and hardly an effort even has been made to do so . I t appears, therefore, like the porches, to have been cut bodily out of the front without regard for the rest of the plan , and its acute arch harmonises badly with the gable above it . No doubt the designer saw the fault ; he placed an acute orna s n mental gable above the window, ri i g to the top of the front, and he covered the actual gable of the roof with flamboyant 5 2 YORK M IN STE R

tracery of the same character as that on the window ; but , by so doing, he merely weakened the contrast between tracery and bare Spaces of masonry so necessary to every great design . The weakness of the central division is not made up for by any excellence in the towers . These, though fine on their v lower storeys , are strangely feeble abo e . They are, in fact , s the wor t part of the minster , and have been condemned by all s critics , from Mr Ruskin downwards . In mo t towers of this kind there are two windows above and a single one below . At York the three storeys of single windows give the design h an air of monotony and weakness . Further, the ighest c window is not only far too large, but is pla ed too low . Like s w the great we t windo , it appears to have been cut out of the is s wall . I t also peculiarly unfortunate that the buttres es

Should die into the wall below the pinnacles . Where a tower s is buttre sed , it is a natural and logical device to make the pinnacles a continuation of the buttresses . Here both pin n acle s s s and buttre se , unusually prominent and elaborate , do not s seem to be an integral part of the de ign . They have been s called a kind of architectural confectionery , and the critici m is just . The fact that the battlements and pinnacles project walls of a few inches over the the towers, only adds to the air k s of of wea ness and in tability the whole . Nowhere else surely has a Gothi c architect approached so closely to the ideals of c his chur hwarden imitators of the beginning of this century . s s But the e faults, though seriou enough , do not include everything that can be said against t he west front of the t riu m minster . Gothic churches have often been noble and n for phant works of art in Spite of errors almost as grave . U t u n at e ly the west front suffers from a tendency first beginning of to Show itself in the middle the fourteenth century, which afterwards became the mo s t serious drawback of the whole i Perpendi c ular style . It s not only because the porches do not n s proje c t that it appears flat and thi . The we t front of Notre s Dame at Pari has no projecting porches , yet the alternations of c d ss of bare spaces wall and of ri h and eep ma es of carving,

- the strong horizontal lines, and the deep set windows, give it a

boldne ss and strength altogether wanting at York . Like all

Norman and earlier Gothic work , it has this great merit, often m s o t strongly felt by people who are quite unable to explain it, s s that the de ign eems to emphasise , and to be dictated by, the

TH E E"TE RI O R 5 5

materials in which it is carried out . The Norman architect — never forgot for a moment he was not skilful enough to for — So get that he was building with stone . he did not conceive s of his we t front as a flat space to be ornamented , but as a his wall to be built, and naturally ornament followed and emphasised the main lines of his building . His Single pillars , with their heavy capitals , bore witness that they were made of great stones piled on e 0 11 the top of the other ; his simple ' windows were merely openings in the wall to let in light .

But as masons grew more skilful , and designers more sophis t icat e d wit n , they found it pleasant to play their material ; to turn their single pillars into bundles of clustered shafts to fill as their windows with tracery, structural at first , but afterwards

is . free and fantastic as lacework . The result often beautiful ’ The method gave the freest play to the artist s invention , but it had its dangers , and they are exemplified at York . There the designer has evidently regarded his west front as a large space of wall to be played with , to be decorated much as if it were a his piece of embroidery, and , in anxiety to decorate it richly, he has lo st his sense of unity and proportion . He has forgotten to use his ornament merely to emphasise the main lines of is the structure . Where this is done, where the ornament 011 massed on the porches , on the windows , and the lines

fa ad e . dividing the storeys , the rest of the e may be left alone The bare Spaces of masonry only serve to give relief to the decoration . But at York the main lines are so neglected , they offer so little opportunity for decoration , that the designer was afraid to leave his walls plain , lest the whole Should appear

. has lean and cold H e , therefore, spun his tracery and panelling over the whole surfac e . Nowhere can the eye rest on a plain piece of wall everywhere it is fidge t e d by monotonous rows of niches and mouldings . I n fact, it may be compared to so l an etching ful of unnecessary details that composition , bal ance of mass, and beauty of line are all smothered in them .

And yet there is much to be said on the other side . The mere — — size the height and width go far to make the front impres v sive and the detail , e en now when so much of it has been restored , is usually beautiful . If it is not great architecture, it is at least living architecture , and as such infinitely superior to the most scholarly works of the Gothic revival . It is only when we compare it to the magnificent west fronts of France 5 6 YORK MINSTER that we are inclined to regret that it has not rivalled them . T h e n orth S id e of the exterior of the nave differs from t h e s the south in several particulars . Thus, on the south ai le buttre ss es are crowned by lofty pinnacles having at their bases

n of . iches, in some which statues still remain These pinnacles appe ar to have been originally connected with the nave by flying h buttresses , which ave recently been restored both on the north ’

f . and south sides o the minster I n H ollar s eng raving , in a ’ “ ’ later print in Dugd ale s M on ast icon and in Willis s ” Cathedrals these buttres ses are represented as exist of ing, but the accuracy the pictures in these books cannot be trusted . I t is possible that a beginning only was made of c these flying buttresses , and that when it was decided to pla e c s as a wooden vault on the athedral, they were di continued being unnecessary . At any rate, there were no pinnacles to the on aisle buttresses the north side, and, consequently, no flying n s buttresses . The plainer style of the orth ide was perhaps owing to the fact that a great part of it was c oncealed by the ’ c t h e ar hbishop s palace, yet at present day it is certainly more beautiful than the south . I t closely resembles the exterior of s s c the beautiful nave of Beverley Min ter, and for impli ity and Th delicacy of de sign could hardly be surpas sed . e bays are s — marked by plain aisle buttre ses , terminating i n three cornered s caps, with a battlement of cu ped stonework ornamented with ss n fi n ials behind them . The buttre es of the ave are plain narrow bands of stone topped with small pinnacles . The roof is low pitched ; the only other decoration is given by the uniform tracery of the windows and by a c rocketed gable above each of the windows of the aisle . — North Tran s e pt The walls of the n orth transept are it s lower than those of the nave, and roof, covered with a

u c is . particularly gly coating of zin , much more highly pitched a Thus the ridges of the two roofs are pr ctically level , while the battlement of the tran s ept is only 011 a level with t he p oint at n which the arches of the clere s tory in the nave Spri g . The union of the two and the contrast between the low- pitched roof of the nave and the stilted roofs of the transept are rather awkward . I t should be said that the zinc roof of the north w as c ss as transept a ne e ity, the old roof of stone tiles proved to be too heavy . But for these inevitable differences the

TH E E"TERI O R 5 9 exterior of the north transept blend s most successfully with n s it s that of the ave, though , of cour e, details are altogether f A di ferent . S an example of the great effect to be attained by the lancet windows, delicate proportions , and restrained ornament of the Early English style, it has never been sur n passed . I t exte ds three bays from the nave . The aisle buttresses end some little way below the battlements of the s aisle . There are no buttresse against the main wall of the s s tran ept ; but it is ornamented with a row of arche , some blank , and some pierced with the clerestory windows . These windows are in groups of three separated by two blank arches . s The blank arches are wider than the windows . All the arche

- are decorated with dog tooth mouldings . The absence of buttresses and the continuous row of arches cause a remark able freedom from vertical lines in the exterior of the transepts, s which is also characteristic of the interior . The battlement , both of the aisles and of the transept itself, are quite plain .

The most admirable portion of this transept is its north front, which contains the famous group of lan c et windows known “ ” as the five sisters . These are five very narrow and long windows separated only by Slender Shafts . Below them is a blind arcade almost entirely without ornament , and above m of the another group five lancet windows of different Sizes, gradually diminishing from the central window to follow the outline of the gable . The details of these upper windows “ closely resemble those of the five sisters, and they are

flanked by two blind arches . The buttresses are also orna m e n t e d with blind arches, and appear never to have been

finished, as they are truncated in an unusual way where one s would expect pinnacles . The exterior of the western ai le of is this transept is very curious in arrangement . There an almost complete absence of division into bay s . There are ss s two lancet windows to each bay, and buttre es ri e between e them as well as between the bays . Thus th re is nothing to mark the interior division of the main arches , clerestory, and f triforium . All o these buttresses are cut short by caps a little way below the tops of the windows . Between the groups of aisle windows are blind arches narrower than the windows themselves . There is a blind arch of the same width at the southern extremity, and a wider one at the northern . The aisles , like the rest of the transept, are almost perfectly plain . 6 0 YORK MI NSTE R

The Ch a pte r- H ous e is connected with the eastern aisle of the transept by a vestibule projecting three bays beyond the s n north front . Thi vestibule the turns eastward for two bays ,

- at which point it joins the chapter house . Both vestibule and

- chapter house are magnificent examples of Decorated work . of Their date is doubtful , and is discussed in the history the n building . They are certainly amo g the finest works of Gothic

- architecture in Europe . The chapter house is octagonal in

Shape, and is crowned by a lofty pyramidal roof. Its chief, almost its only decoration , is provided by the buttresses and

- the beautiful tracery of the acutely pointed windows . The buttresses are of very curious design . They are joined to the

- h wall of the chapter house for nearly half their eight, and up to this point are quite plain . They are then narrowed into lofty pinnacles , and these pinnacles are connected with the s wall by two small flying buttre ses , the lower one plainly t o wall moulded and sloping upwards the , the upper one being horizontal and richly decorated with arcading, two arcades to each side of every buttress . At the point at which the buttress narrows into the pinnacle t here are cusped gables with gar o le s g y on the outer side of the buttresses . The pinnacles are decorated with slender shafts and richly ornamented gables .

- The windows of the chapter house c ontain five lights . They will be further described in t he account of the interior n of the buildi g . Above them is a plain battlement, with t wo rows of ornament below it , and three figures in each bay above it . There is a very curious buttress at the point - is of junction of the vestibule and the chapter house . It joined

- to the wall of the chapter house up to the battlement , and con sis t s of an irregular m ass of masonry ornamented as far as po ssible in the same manner as the other buttresses with gables s and panelling . The two bays of the vestibule neare t to the chapter-hou s e have nothing unusual about them except their buttresses . One of these is se t close t o the wall up to the ll Spire of the pinnacle . A the other buttresses of the vestibule, except the one built against the buttress of the transept end, have pinnacles j oined to the wall by a pierced arch of curious and ingenious design . The vestibule is crowned by plain c - battlements like that of the hapter house , with small square of headed windows of two lights each . The windows the two n bays nearest the transept end are of most unusual desig , TH E E"TERIO R 6 1 which will be explained in the account of the interior ; these ba ys are narrower than the others , that nearest to the transept f being the narrowest o all . —The T h e Ch oir . exterior of the north side of the choir is almost identical with that of the south but there are some points of difference between the four earlier bays east of the of transept and the four later ones west it . I n particular, in the four eastern bays the triforiu m pa s sage runs outside instead of inside the building . The clerestory windows are recessed , of s and in front them , running flush with the buttre ses , is a

b a . screen of three divisions to each y (see illustration , p a The triforium p ssage, hidden by the roof of the aisle , runs below the screen and the windows , and between the two . The mullions dividing the screen run straight up to the battlement . The tops of the divisions are ornamented with cusped arches o f is open stonework . There a transom crossing the mullions of

- ffi the screen about on e third of the way up . I t is di cult to say s what was the object of this creen . I t must have been included s in the original design , and so cannot have been added afterward to strengthen the walls . Whether it was a merely decorative experiment or an architectural device for the purpo s e of allow ing the walls to be pierc ed with very large windows for the display of glass cannot now be decided . The effect from the t he outside is not good . The mullions break surface into too w many vertical lines , and , with the transom , take a ay from the

of . s dignity and purity outline of the exterior In ide , whether by a lucky chance or not, this screen , by darkening the of t h e clerestory windows , has greatly added to the effect wall s of glass at the east end . There are al o slight points of differ e nce i n the clerestory windows, Showing the transitional char t he acter of those in the four eastern bays . The windows of aisle are delicately moulded with capitals to their shafts , and

- are ornamented with a crocketed gable , ogee shaped and topped with a prominent finial rising just above the battle c ments of the aisle . These battlements are pier ed with cusped e i c s s . ircle , b low them a cornice ornamented with foliage The buttresses of the aisles are decorated with gargoyles and crowned with pinnacles of a considerable size with crocketed spires and fin ials c w . The front of these pinna les is ornamented ith char act e rist ic Perpendicular panelling . The buttresses of the main wall are thin and plain , and , with the pinnacles , much resemble 6 2 YORK M I NSTER

those of the nave . The battlements are of pierced stonework of a common

Perpendicular pattern . The e asern transepts do not pro

j e ct beyond the aisles . Their fronts contain very long

windows of five lights, each

with three transoms . The southern one has strong buttresses ornamented with

panelling , and gargoyles at

the corners . The northern i is much plainer . Their S de windows are like those of

the clerestory . Britton con je ct ure s that the unfinished state of the stonework 0 11 the north side of the choir beneath the window shows that a Cloi s ter or other low building was intended in

, which was never this ‘ part c he executed . The corni e , s s U s ay , nder the battlement is more perfect towards the western part and Shows

beautiful foliage . The spouts are sculptured with bold projecting figures through which the water is conveyed

from the roofs . The east end of the

cathedral is square . The great east window of nine lights fills almost the whole

of t he central division . The buttresses separating it from the aisle are decorated with six c storeys of ni hes , two the to each storey, except — " I BA Y OF CHO I R E TER OR . T H E E"TE RIO R 6 3

o o on e . has l west, which c ntains only The east window an ogee

gable above it, topped by a curious pierced pinnacle at present f f o . o in process restoration The ends , both the aisles and of

the choir itself, are square, and do not reveal the roof behind of them . The arch the great east window is surrounded with

panelling, each panel curiously broken at different heights by w cusped arches . The aisle windo s have ogee gables above

. fi n ials of them with , and immediately above them a band

panelling running right across the exterior buttresses . These

buttresses are large, and capped with lofty Spires . The niches on of them contained statues Vavasour and Percy . Below the east window are the remains of sculpture representing Christ

and His Apostles , Edward I I I . (on the north) , and Archbishop

Thoresby (on the south) . These have suffered much in the of frosts recent winters . The square ends of both choir and aisles are decorated with arches with crocketed gables above them . Those of the south aisle differ from those of

o . the n rth , being fewer in number and wider All the niches on the east front except tho s e mentioned have lost their

statues . There was certainly not very much opportunity t or a fine architectural design in this east end with its great wall of glass,

but , allowing for all disadvantages , it cannot be considered successful . There is no justification for the square ends con

cealin . g the roof They are misrepresentations, and they are not beautiful . The decoration , with its monotonous rows of panelling and niches, shows the poverty of invention often is characteristic of Perpendicular architects, and sometimes f s positively ugly . The whole east ront must surpri e most people by it s apparent smallness . I t seems merely the end

of an overgrown parish church , and not of a great cathedral , and though that apparent smallness is partly owing to the of enormous Size the windows , which prevent any structural of division parts, it is increased by the monotony and Shallow of ness the decoration . It is almost impossible, in fact, to believe that this is the east end of the loftiest and widest choir n t he in England . The buildings o south side of the choir are

the vestry, the treasury, and the record room . Th e S outh Tran s e pt has a front entirely different from

s . that of the north, though the Sides are much the ame This s front has three storeys of windows . Below, on each ide of 64 YO RK M I NSTE R

c . the porch, are two lan et windows Above these are three more lancet windows, the central one of which, wider than the others , is divided by a mullion , probably a later insertion . These windows alternate with blind arches . On each side of the

- windows are slender shafts with capitals, and dog tooth mould ing runs round them and round the blank arches . Above these w “ ”— windows is a large rose indow of plate tracery tracery, sa that is to y, in its earlier form , in which the openings for the glass appear to have been cut out of the stone rather than the stone to have been added as a frame for the glass . This is of window of a very elaborate design , and consists three s c c circle , the outer being the ir umference of the window ; the

- middle about equi distant from the circumference and the centre,

- and connected with the circumference by pillars , twenty four in all , and cusped arches ; and the inner connected with the centre in the same way and ornamented with cusps . The spaces between the arche s of the middle circle are pierced with s trefoil holes, tho e between the outer arches are pierced and

filled with glass . The outer circle is ornamented with three rows of dog tooth moulding . Above this window, in the crown of the gable, is a small three cornered window ornamented also with dog tooth moulding . On either side of the rose window are small lancet windows with smaller blind arches 0 11 each side w of them . Both indows and arches are surrounded also with — s dog t ooth moulding . An arcading with hafts and cusped arches s runs along the ba e of the front, not quite reaching the t exterior buttresses . I n the cen re is the porch by which is entrance to the min s ter is generally obtained . I t reached i s . c s by an ascent of two flight of steps The por h rather small, and not particularly remarkable architecturally . I t consists of a single arch supported by an outer and inner group of clustered

is s c . shafts . On each side of it a mall blind ar h All three of

- these arche s are decorated with dog tooth moulding . The interior of the porch is vaulted and decorated with blind arches . Above this porch are three blind arches surrounded with heavy gables , the middle and largest of which runs up to the lancet c s windows above it . It is difficult to believe that these ar he and gables are not an addition later in date than the transept itself ; they are so ugly and so meaningless, but they appear in old ‘ rin t s c the p of the minster, and the an ient clock, with two s wooden statues in armour of the date of Henry VI I . , eems to

6 6 YO R K M INSTER w in si indow above them , and the porch is altogether too g h n ifican t i i i . as and plain for its prom nent pos t on But, as been stated, the front has suffered much from restoration and later additions , and must not be too severely judged . When ‘ S it was restored by Mr treet , pinnacles, which were late additions , were removed, and the present ones , more in keeping with the rest of the front, were put in their place . Th e S outh Sid e of t h e N a v e resembles the north in s most respects, but the buttresses and pinnacles of the aisle s o are altogether different . The buttresses rise ome way ab ve the battlements of the aisles . They are plain to the level of these battlements, and above them are ornamented with niches

c . containing figures , with blind ar hes above the niches They se t are cut short by three gables , on the top of which are lofty

n . pinnacles . The iches vary in detail, some of them having more elaborate canopies than others . On these buttresses and on the wall of the n ave are the marks of flying buttre ss es b e e n t which have removed, as has been sta ed in the account of the north side of the nave . Three gargoyles Spring from each buttress at the level of is the battlement of the aisle . This side of the nave only c less beautiful than the other . The pinna les, if they add it s s to the richness of decoration , break the implicity of out line so admirable in the northern exterior of the nave . The s of c ss s is c tonework the pinna les and buttre e mu h decayed , and constantly requires renewal . T h e C e n tra l T oW e r ri s es a single storey above the ridge s of the roof and is open inside to the top . But for mall gables on the buttresses , it is quite plain up to the level of the roof ridge . Above this it contains two long and narrow Perpendicular

s . windows on each side, of three lights each , with a tran om

These windows are ornamented with ogee gables, and between them are three niches, one above the other , with canopies . The external buttres ses are split up with verti cal mouldings is and ornamented with niches and panelling . The tower s crowned with a battlement . Horizontal string cour es with h gargoyles divide the buttresses at intervals . T ere are no o n pinnacles these buttresses , and they appear never to have been finished . I t is possible that it was intended to set another storey on the top of the present one, but this is merely conj ecture . c This tower, or rather its Perpendi ular casing, for it was TH E E"TE RI OR 6 7

s is s originally an Early Engli h tower, , with the we tern s is the latest part of the min ter, but it by no means the least beautiful . The English architects of the sixteenth century, if they were inferior to earlier builders in invention of and vigour, were at any rate supreme in the management

. of towers Their wonderful sense proportion , their habitual u se of of vertical lines, and the character their windows helped them to build what are perhaps the finest towers in Europe, and the central tower of York Minster is one of the finest

. s of all Even the absence of pinnacle , if it is an accident , u n seems to be a lucky accident, and gives this tower an rivalled dignity and air of restraint suitable to the charac ter of the whole cathedral . For whatever may be said against s certain parts of the exterior, as a whole it is one of the mo t s magnificent in the world . It shows best from certain point of view —from the north , for instance, or from the network of narrow streets to the south . It may be c ontended that the c entral tower is not quite lofty enough compared with the two western towers for perfect symmetry of outline ; that, seen from certain aspects, it is rather square and box - like in ap pe aran ce that from no point of view are

' s t OW GYS S AL O T AR S A B B Y M Y . the we tern E F S . E satisfac tory . But the minster produces its great effe c t by it s enormou s bulk and its it s dignity , vast length , the variety and yet unity of out lines, the severity and restraint of its form . C H A P T E R I V

T H E I NTE RI OR

—’ ’ Th e N a v e . I he most casual observer will have noticed that c hurches of the Gothic style are divided vertically into bays , and that in cathedrals and large churches these bays are usually further divided horizontally into three compartments , the lowest n of a consisti g the m in arch and piers , the highest of a window as or windows , known the clerestory, and the middle , called s of the triforium , con isting usually an arcade , sometimes blind , s ometimes pierced, and occasionally even glazed . This tri foriu m fills up the space between the top of the main arches and the bottom of the clerestory window which is covered on the outside by the roof of the aisle . As a distinct division or architectural feature, the triforium arcade is not a necessary part of the structure . In smaller churches it seldom exists .

But in most cathedrals , as at York , a passage runs behind it , and is generally lit by the holes in the arcading . As has been is stated , however , the arcading often blank , and in such cases there might be nothing but a bare space of wall in its place , it s s . S for all the practical purpo e it serves ince , therefore , form is not dictated by considerations of utility, there is far more variety in it s treatment than in that of the other two e divisions, the main lines of which are form d by structural nece ssities ; and yet the success or failure of an i nterior often depend upon the arrangement and proportion of the - triforium h sub and the arrangement of the triforium , its emp asis or of ordination , was one the chief problems with which the s builders of Gothic churches had to deal . Since uch a church is s generally divided into three storeys , the main line of the interior would naturally be expected to be horizontal , and in many interiors of the Norman and Early English periods they so s are , as, for instance , in the nave of Well Cathedral . But so the stone vault, which played important a part in the TH E I NTE RIO R 69

d evelopment of Gothic style naturally emphasised , with its ribs

converging at regular intervals , the vertical division into bays

as opposed to the horizontal division into storeys . The s up ports of the outside wall were gradually concentrated by the u se

/ P /z s ot oc t r om Co L d . ot o . t , . N VE THE A . of pinnacles and flying buttres s es placed between the windows the windows themselves grew in size with the introduction and development of tracery and the increasing taste for the decoration of s tained glass until the final organism of Gothic architecture was attained , and the typical Gothic Church , from s c e being a building of three storeys , pierced by window , be am 70 YORK M INSTER

c a structure made up of verti al supports, with the intervening spaces filled with glass . When this phase of development was c it s rea hed , the building became as organic in all parts as the S was n human body . tructure ornament, and or ament structure, and the two were fused as they have never been in any other style of architecture . Decoration and variety of outline were s supplied by the mere dispo ition of the supporting masses, the of arrangement structural lines ; to the exterior, by the flying buttresses , the pinnacles, and the window tracery ; to the a h interior, by the b nded s afts, the capitals , the groined ribs of

' th e the vaults, and the openings of the triforium . Outside church became a framework of glorified stone scaffolding ; inside, an avenue of columns rising from the ground to the s vaults, with intermediate spaces of tracery and coloured glas . But before this stage was reached there Yve re many com s s h promi es and passing phase , and every considerable c urch in England, until the end of the fourteenth century, may be i as classified and crit cised , not only for its beauty, but a link in the development of Gothic architecture . The builders were grappling with both tendencies, the vertical and the horizontal they were not consciously working on a theory of complete vertical development they made progress by structural e xpe ri for ment, and a sensitive eye possibilities of beauty and in the an d c meantime their problem, both structural artisti , was to make a happy ' compromise between vertical and horizontal lines . I t was a problem which probably presented itself to them in the question how they were to treat the different s S f toreys of the building . tructural di ficulties would be con t in u all s y at war with their ae thetic ambitions , and the heavy stone vault made structural difficulties a serious was s matter . There a growing de ire for space, for height

' and width , for light and colour . With every increase of height and width the burden of the vault became more oppressive ; with every enlargement of windows it s supports far were weakened . As a rule , the English builders were less am b ition s in their treatment of these problems than the French . Amiens Cathedral, begun at the beginning of the thirteenth century, is structurally as daring as can be . S s it s is ali bury , but for Spire, a later addition , comparatively modest and timid . The French builders quickly reac hed th e s s c limit of tru tural possibilities , and their type became T H E I NTERIO R 7 1

fixed . The English , with less economy of support, and a lower organisation of structure, were better able to play S o s with their forms . their churches present a eries of continual and often inconsequent experiments in the treatment and proportion of every storey, particularly of the triforium , and in compromise between vertical and horizontal

. S tendencies Thus at Beverley, alisbury, and particularly in the nave of Wells , the horizontal tendency is predominant , and the triforium is both important and continuous, without regard for the vertical division of the bays . I n the Early English transept of the minster itself the triforium is the most prominent feature of the design . These are all Lichfie ld examples of Early English work , but i n the nave of , is which is Decorated , the triforium still far more prominent than the clerestory . I n the same way a various and ex pe rim e n t al use may be n oticed of the Shafts dropping from S the point at which the ribs converge . At Wells and alisbury these shafts reach only to the top of the triforium . They are so insignificant as hardly even to suggest a vertical division . At Beverley they cease a little way above the capitals of the main piers , and are still very slender . At

Exeter they are much more prominent, and terminate in rich corbels reaching to the capital s of the main piers ; while in the later naves of Canterbury and Winchester, not only

' do they reach to the ground , but they are forced so far s forward , and rendered so prominent by continuous moulding 011 s each side of them , that they become the most ignificant c m part of the whole stru ture . They see to be the columns 011 which the vault is supported ; and we have at last the avenue of stone . The nave of York Min ster was built at an intermediate s t he l tage , in which neither the vertical nor horizonta ) V i . e tendency predominated m ght have —expected , there a h in fore , design something like t at the naves of Exeter or IVorce st e r but the York builders were ambitious . They were determined to build a nave both lofty and wide, and with a great Space for the display of stained glass . It 11 0 seems likely, though we have evidence to support c the theory, that they were influenced by Fren h example . b s has There can be no dou t , as Profes or Freeman pointed out, that the de sign is more French than that of any other large 7 2 YORK MI NSTE R

English church , hitherto built, except Westminster Abbey . The most casual observer will be struck at once by the large space is o c cupied by the glass . The clerestory unusually large the main arches unusually high , and thus far the greater part of each bay is filled with the clerestory and the aisle windows . With so much space given to the highest and lowest storeys, it naturally follows that the triforium is almost squeezed out of t s . exi tence Indeed , out of a total height of 9 9 feet, here are only about 1 3 between the top of the main arches and the bottom of the clerestory . It would have been almost impossible to give so narrow a triforium a separate and independent design and , therefore, by a device often found in French cathedrals , the triforium is merely a continuation of the mullions of the m clerestory windows . Behind these mullions is the custo ary triforium passage ; but the design really consists only of two if parts, the clerestory and the main arches . It is as the lower part of the light of t he clerestory windows were divided from the rest by a transom , and pierced , but not glazed , so as to let in light to the passage behind them . This is the first example h so of t is treatment , which was happily followed in the naves of Winchester and Canterbury, in an English cathedral . In c earlier examples, even where the triforium was de isively had divided into bays and ceased to be a continuous arcading, it was absolutely independent of the clerestory, as in the transepts of the minster . There can be no doubt that the plan adopted in the nave was a convenient and logical one . I t is impossible to have every advantage ; and where the his designer has set heart on a wall of glass, he cannot com

. U bine it with a rich and prominent triforium nfortunately, h t he the arc itect of nave , though ambitious and logical up to a certain point , did not carry his pursuit of the vertical tendency far enough . He aimed at unity and coherence in the design of each bay, and for the sake of that unity and coherence he was forced to sacrifice the richness and fulness of pattern given by a prominent and independent triforium . The later builders at Winchester and Canterbury made up for this, as has been said, by the emphasis they gave to their vertical lines . in si n ifican ce d But at York , while the g of the triforium eprives is the design of all horizontal continuity, there little attempt at s vertical emphasis . True, large shafts ri e from the floor to the c onverging point of the ribs of the vault ; but the se shafts are

74 YO RK M IN STE R

England of which the design is entirely dominated by the of necessities a stone vault, and yet that it is crowned by a s wooden roof. But it must not be supposed that this nave i

- altogether to be condemned, as some critics have condemned it . Each bay, looked at by itself, is not only perfectly logical and coherent in design , but is filled with delicate and appro

r . p iate detail The capitals , if small, are finely carved ; the mouldings well contrasted and subordinated ; and the window I t tracery is the finest possible . is a work of the best age of architecture with all the characteristics in detail of that age ; yet it is n ot the work of a builder of genius, but of a careful scholar, who has imperfectly assimilated the principles of his masters .

In passing this j udgment, it must be remembered that we are not rashly coming to a conclusion on insufficient data . This nave is not a mere beautiful scaffolding deprived

S s . of all its original decoration , like the nave of ali bury If s that is somewhat cold and wanting in richnes , it is the fault of later ages, which have deprived it of its stained glass . At York the greater part of the stained glass remains . The vault has s been renewed , it is true, but it can never have been sati factory and we may as s ume that in essentials we see the n ave now as s its designers intended us to e e it .

To pass to a detailed description , the nave is divided into of eight bays, which the two nearest the lantern are narrower s than the rest , no doubt with the purpose of giving increa ed i 2 6 t o . s an d support the tower I t about 3 feet long inside , 8 1 0 I ts 4 feet wide , with the aisle 4 feet wide in all . height 1 is about 9 9 2 feet . Each bay is divided into two main s of c divi ions almost equal height ; the upper half, onsisting of 2 the triforium and clerestory, being only about feet longer than the lower, which consists of the main arches . These two ' halv e s are divided by a Slender horizontal moulding running immediately above the crown of the main arches . The piers of the main arches are octagonal in Shape and unusually slender . They are made up of shafts of different

Sizes , the larger ones placed at the corners of the octagon , the smaller ones between them . The grouping of these shafts should be compared with that of the Early English piers in t h t h e c m is s e transepts . There entral mass of asonry urrounded s s with hafts of Purbeck marble alm o t detached . Here the TH E INTE RIO R 75 different shafts are closely connected together and subor dinated . The earlier pier is made up , so to speak , of a bundle of shafts ; the later is a mass of masonry cut into different shapes . There can be no doubt that in this case the treat ment of the earlier pier, if less logical , is more successful .

The piers of the nave have capitals of beautiful design, and well executed, but rather small and shallow . The moulding of the arches is narrow, almost as narrow and small in detail as Perpendicular work , but , of course, much more diversified in — t o sa outline . On each Side of the main arches that is y, in l —is their spandre s a series of Shields with coats of arms , said to ’ s — be those of benefactors of the min ter . Murray s Hand book gives the arms on the shields as follow, beginning at the north - east end of the nave

f e -d e -li —Old an c e 1 e é o fl s . . S m ur Fr — l 2 . ix on s ra an hus S li mp t U p . — On a c e on e e o n s assan a d an o a . 3 . h vr , thr li p t gu r t C bh m —V n Barr of t e n an o e o f a r e s a e ce . p- y , rl m tl t l

l —~ e n d co se d e e e n six on s ra an Bo n . J A b , tti , b tw li mp t hu V — O e ss e e e n six c oss c oss e s B e a c a . A f , b tw r r l t u h mp h —V a r e rl in t e rs a e a e e e . N Qu t y , fi t qu rt r mull t r O O n —P A cros s m oli e agan e l . — k Bar o f t e n e e c a e s G re st oc . 0 ry , thr h pl t y ' — H0 B e e a on 1 a 111 a11 e r . ill tt , li p t Bulm — Thre e wate r b o uge t s R OOS 3J

' v s — l ig} Fi e fu s il s in fe s O d Pe rc y .

' Beginning again at the s outh - we s t end of t h e nave t h e arms are

' — e ig Fiv e fu sils in fe ss Old P rcy . } — on a an o a . 1 9 . Li r mp t M wbr y — n m n e rc . 2 0 . Lio ra pa t P y

B an sh reld s . 2 l k 2 3 } — Tw b a i ro n d e s a e . 2 . o s n c e ee 3 r , hi f, thr u —l W k i r r n d e o e . 2 . e ss n ch e e e o s 4 A f , i f, th u l —C lvill 2 . On a e n d e e c os s c oss e s an e . 5 b , thr r r l t M l y

A b e n d— an 2 M l e y . ?} — e ss d an ce e Va a so . 28 . A f tt v ur h v r n e ll s — e 2 9 . Th re e c e o e Clar . 76 YOR K M INSTER — cross o n e Pa an e l . 30 . A m li g 1 e e on s assan a d an a a e of ee o n s 3 . Thr li p t gu r t , with l b l thr p i t

d a d n c e of a e s . E w r , Pri W l — ee o n s assan a d an n an d . 32 . Thr li p t gu r t E gl At the centre of each pier rise three Shafts to the point at which the ribs of the vaulting spring : a large shaft in the middle , with a smaller one on each Side of it . There are small c arved figures at the point at which the smaller of these s shafts touch the moulding of the arches . The capitals of the e

s . shaft , though small, are of a very delicate design A few inches above the top of the main arch is a horizontal string course or moulding dividing each bay into two storeys . As has been said, the triforium is merely a prolongation of the lights of the clerestory window . These lights are five in is number . The division between clerestory and triforium s marked by a band of tone ornamented with quatrefoils . Below this is a cusped arch in each light of the triforium with a crocketed gable ending in a finial above it . The centre lights of the triforium in each bay originally contained

figures , said to have been the patron saints of European nations . Of these there only remains a figure in the fourth bay from the west on the south side . Near the triforium in the opposite bay to this there proj ects the head of a dragon c t he arved in wood , from which covering of the font used to hang . The clerestory windows are of uniform pattern of the is style known as geometrical Decorated . This pattern very s fine in design . It consists of five light , the two outer of c which are grouped in a Single arch , with a quatrefoil pier ing in its head . Between these two arches and on the top of the arch of the central light is a circle fitting into the arch m of the window, and orna ented with four quatrefoils , four n trefoil pierci gs , and other smaller lights . There are capitals s to the outside shafts of the windows, and to the main hafts of the two inner mullions . All these mullions are very deli at l c e y moulded . A separate account will be given of the glass in these windows and those of the aisles , together with the rest of the glass in the minster . There is a curious mould ing running round the arches of the Windows and springing h from the capitals of the vaulting shafts, w ich bends towards tho s e arches to a point a little way above the capital s from s s which they spring, and then run parallel and clo e to their TH E I NTERIO R 7 7

s . mouldings . The vault is of wood covered with pla ter The ribs are elaborate in design , but not very successful . The fact that the vaulting is not of stone deprives the mould ings and bosses of all sharpness and deli cacy . From the 1 capital of the vaulting shafts and for about 9 5 feet above them these ribs are of stone : th e division between wood and stone is marked by a curious and heavy moulding . The aisles of the nave are bolder in design and al~ together more satis factory than the nave itself. Like the nave they are unusually wide and t wo lofty . I n the farthest bays to the e w st, above which are the western towers, the rough w ooden roof, which h a s n e v e r b e e n c o v e r e d w i t h a vault, may be seen . These bays are s eparated from the bays next to them by strong arches

1 . P lz ot oc/t r am Co. L td . o t o ] W ith tt k Shafts , S OUT ISL O NA V H A E F E , i a n d m o u l d n g s , s which were built for the support of the towers . The hafts sup n porting this arch o the outer side are five in number . The shafts s corresponding to them in the other bays of the ai le, to which the ribs of the aisle vaults converge, are only three . All

- these shafts have fin e ly carved capitals of leafage . The vault of the aisles is of stone, with only structural ribs , finely moulded and with carved bosses . The aisle windows are , like those of the clerestory, of the geometrical Decorated style, but of an earlier and Simpler, uniform , design . They each contain 78 YORK M I NSTE R

is 11 0 three lights, and there variation or subordination of

'

s . U mouldings in the mullion nlike the clerestory windows , they are somewhat deeply recessed . The mouldings of their arches are broad and bold, and are supported by five shafts with capitals . Above the three lights of the windows are three quatrefoils, pyramidally arranged . On each side of these windows, in the space between the windows and the vaulting

Shafts, is plain stone panel ing terminating in an arch with a crocketed gable above it, ending in a finial which reaches to about the level of the spring of the window arch . On each

Side of this gable are grotesque carved figures . A small pinnacle is rather s trangely inserted on each side of the arch at the point at which it Springs . Below the windows there is a rich arcade , with buttresses between the divisions ending m in pinnacles . Each division is filled with a geo etrical pattern of two panels , each panel ending in a trefoil, with a circular trefoil in the head of each division , and a crocketed gable, terminating in a rich finial above it . All the mouldings of c this arcade are very deli ate . I n the north aisle, and in the is second bay from the west, a doorway, which opened to S h a Chapel of the Holy epulchre, now altoget er destroyed . Above this doorway is a gable ornamented with foliage and s a tatue of the Virgin , which has lost its head, with statues of on of he r s c angels either side , al o mu h mutilated . T h e I n te rior of t h e W e s t E n d of t h e Na v e c ontains the famous window with tracery of the curvilinear or flowing

Decorated style , and of a design only surpassed by the east window of Carlisle Cathedral . The glass in this window was is given by Archbishop Melton , and almost the finest in the cathedral . - The tracery has been entirely and very carefully restored . The window contains eight lights . These lights are coupled in pairs by four arc hes with a quatrefoil in i the head of each , and aga n formed in groups of four by an ogee arch above the other arches . The flowing curves of these ogee arc hes are most ingeniously and beautifully worked t he into the pattern of the upper part of window, which contains five main divisions of stonework, each like the s c c t Skeleton of a leaf in hape and in the deli a y of i s pattern . Of these five divisions the top one is made by splitting up the central mullion two diverge from it at the top of the lower lights ; and two others curve inwards from the outside arch . TH E INTE RIOR 79

The central mullion runs up almost to the top of the arch . th The mullion s are alike in moulding and s ize . Below e of window is the west door, the head which is filled with is ancient stained glass . There a gable above it, running up to

the bottom of the window and containing three niches . There so are kneeling figures on each Side of the gable , that the top s of of it may have held a figure of Chri t . All that portion the we s t end not occupied by the window and the porch is filled with

storeys of niches and arcading . The lowest storey consists of a of is rich arcading, each division which ornamented with geo metrical tracery closely resembling that of the arcading of the aisles . These divisions are marked by pinnacles . Above this is c another row of ar ading of much the same character, except c that it is abo ut half as high again as the lower storey . Ea h

division of this arcading contains two niches for statues , and above the niches are gables . Above the gables the divisions are filled with tracery clo sely resembling that of the lower

arcade . This second arcade reaches to the bottom of the is great window, which marked by a string course running

across the whole part . On each side of the gable of the porch

is an extra niche rather clumsily fitted in . Above the string

so . course the arcading is not rich as below _ The third storey

consists of long niches ornamented merely with arches,

gables , and pinnacles between each niche . The fourth is of s much the same character, but that the divi ions are Shorter and

have 11 0 gable above them . The last storey consists of plain n panelling or amented a t intervals by gables . The west

windows of the aisle are Shorter than the other aisle windows , m but have tracery of the sa e character . The aisle doorways

are plain , but over both are some sculptured figures . Those

over the north door appear to repre s ent a hunt . In the middle

a woman is setting a dog on to two beasts, and behind them

there is a man blowing a horn . At the sides are two se t 1 quatrefoils , in which are figures ( ) of a man attacking 2 another man drinking, and ( ) one man driving another

away . The sculpture over the south door was destroyed in 1 8 0 bu t the fire of 4 , a careful restoration of it has been made . s I t consi ts of a man in the middle fighting with a dragon , with 1 sword and Shield , and at the Sides in the quatrefoils ( ) De S S lilah cutting the hair of amson , and amson and the lion ; 2 ( ) a man and woman fighting . The ends of the aisles are 8 0 YORK MI NSTE R

w also ornamented ith arcading in three storeys , the lowest of which is like the lowest storey of the arcading at the west end of the n ave the second a smaller series of niches ornamented sin le with gables and pinnacles ; and the third a _ g arcade on each side of the window , filled with geometrical tracery and resembling those on the Sides of the other aisle windows . I t cannot be said that this mass of niches and arcading at the I west end IS either Ingenious or successful . Arcading s a very in in beautiful decoration where it is employed , as a triforium , s ingle storeys, to cover a definite even space . But where it is used to fill up an irregularly- shaped mas s of wall which there is i t d . no need to decorate , looks incoherent and confuse Had the wall been left bare it would have afforded an excellent contras t A S to the elaborate pattern of the central window . it is , this decoration seems to be conceived in a spirit, of which there are furthe—r evidences in the decoration of the west front of t h e east end the Spirit of a builder determined to di splay the magnificence of his res ources even at the expense of ’ ’ i his is i symmetry and refinement . T a weakness that m ght be c expe ted in the designer of a London hotel , but not in a great mediaeval architect . was 1 8 6 b s l The nave fitted in 3 with enche , seats , and a smal t he has organ , which since the restoration of great organ been re moved . It is lit by gas jets round the capitals of the piers . The tombs of the nave are described In a general account of the monuments of the c hurch . was The present pavement dates from 1 73 1 . I t laid down c according to the design of William Kent, under the dire tion of

o s . Lord Burlington , the amateur architect of Burlington H u e The stone was given by Sir Edward Gascoigne from Huddle

S also u se d . stone . ome of the gravestones were for the work

2 0 0 s . The work cost £ 5 , which was collected by sub cription in offe n srve The pavement , though , IS not in keeping with the rest of the church . T - T is Th e ran s e pts . he minster generally entered by the of s Is door at the south end the south transept , and thi perhaps s isi c an advantage , as it introduce the v tor at on e to the finest view of the i nterior and one of the finest arc hitectural views in the world “ Mr Fe rgu ss on has called the lantern the weak point in the system of Gothic , or rather of English Gothic, architecture

8 2 YO RK M I NSTE R do not project beyond the outer wall of the aisles of the nave , and oftener still there is no central tower large enough to

. of allow of a lantern at all I t is a great piece good fortune, also, that the five vast lancets of the north transept end , known

as . the five sisters , still keep their beautiful original glass If we look at these windows and consider how utterly ineffective they would be if they were glazed with plain glass , we can understand how little remains of the original beauty of the interior of Salisbury .

When these transepts were planned , the minster had a an d Norman nave and choir, far narrower smaller in every way h s t an the pre ent nave and choir . There is no doubt that the transepts were begun with the intention of rebuilding the whole wa church . At that time it s not among the largest of English cathedrals, and the aspiring and ambitious archbishops naturally desired to have a cathedral worthy of their position in the church . They therefore planned their transepts without any regard for the then existi n g proportions of the rest of the as ss building, but it was impo ible to rebuild the whole minster at once , they found it necessary to fit their new transepts s on to the older and smaller nave and choir, and afterward to fit their new and larger nave and choir to these transepts . Thi s ne c essity acc ounts for and ex plains many of the peculi arit ie s of the transepts . is u l c There one pec iarity in parti ular, the arrangement of the the bays nearest to piers supporting the lantern , which must strike every observant visitor at once, and the explanation of which was only discovered by the patient and penetrating i1i v t i at i n e s g o s of Professor Willis .

For the purpose of explaining this peculiarity of arrangement, the two bays of the west side of the south transept nearest the — s outh west pier supporting the lantern may be taken as an example . s —in It will be seen that their arrangement is mo t irregular fact, they can hardly be called bays at all . For instance, the main arc h nearest to the pier is much wider than the m ain arch next to it, and this latter is filled with masonry . It will be noticed, s al o , that the pier between the two arches is Decorated in style,

s . and not Early Engli h , like the rest of the transept Further, the triforium a n d clerestory do not accord in their division with

- s is the main arche . There no triforium , but merely a blank TH E I NTE RI O R 3 3

space of wall with a small ornamental opening , next to the pier of the lantern and this blank wall only covers a small part of ’ f the space over the arch below it . Near to the centre o that is - arch a vaulting shaft , and south of it a full sized division of — of the triforium , with a full sized division the clerestory above it , and the divis ion fills the spac e above both the remaining half of s the first ar c h and the whole of the smaller second arch . I t i as if the s t r a t a of the building had been broken by a violent A has sa . s change , and this is exactly what happened been id, the old Norman nave and choir had much narrower aisles than the present nave and choir ; consequently, the bays of the tran sept nearest to the piers of the lantern were narrower than the so h of other bays , that their main arches mig t be exactly the same size as the arches of the Norman aisles which at that point joined on to them . But when the far wider aisles of the present nave and choir were built these narrower arches did not

fit them , and their outside piers blocked up the centre of the new ais les . The builders of the nave therefore determined to remove these piers and to alter the whole scheme of the arches , so as to make them fit the new aisles . By an extraordinary and daring feat of engineering skill , they were able to do so without was disturbing the triforium and clerestory above them . This effected in the following manner — The pier in the m iddle of the new aisle was removed, together with the whole of the narrow arch which it supported on the one side and the wider c ar h which it supported on the other . No doubt , in the mean time the upper storeys of the two bays were kept from falling c was by temporary props . A pier in the De orated style then so s s placed that the ar—ch above it fitted the arch of the new ai le , and the two arches the narrower one neare s t the pier of the it— lantern , and the wider one beyond were made to change c c pla es bodily, so that the same spa e was occupied by the two ss s together as before, and it did not become nece ary to di turb s the re t of the piers . This narrower arc h was then walled up l to give support to the lantern . Meanwhi e , of course, with this new arrangement , the upper storeys of the bays did not corre s on d c p with the ar hes below them . The narrower upper

was vice ver s a . division now over the wider lower arch , and It Should be said that the triforium of the division next to the c so piers of the lantern was built blank , be ause , being much w narrower than the other bays , it ould have been impossible to 8 4 YORK M I NSTE R

c c c give it de oration of the same hara ter, and also because a solid space of blank wall would give better support to the tower . An account has been given in the history of the buildi n g of the minster and the manner in which the piers of the lantern gradually received their casings . The daring shown in this alteration of the transepts and the disregard for continuity of of f de s ign are very characteristic the builders o the period .

They lavished extraordinary labour on beautiful detail , but they cared very little how one part of that detail fitted in with another . The Spirit of their art was entirely opposed to that of the re naissance architects , for the success of whose designs uniformity and continuity of plan and detail were absolutely necessary . It so is curious , also, that these very builders who were daring and so profuse of ornament, were often very careless in matters of s e tructure, and at times wer even guilty of something very like - the jerry building, as the account of the restoration of south transept will Show . The vaulting of the transepts is also most unusual and well worthy of attention . I t raises many problems which have been little noticed by most investigators of the history of the minster .

Like the vault of the nave , it is of wood, and dates probably from the beginning of the fifteenth century . I n the north tran s ept it is covered with plas ter ; in the south this has been S removed by Mr treet, and oak panelling inserted . It has been stated that the vault of the nave and choir, though wooden , resembles a stone vault in form and structure . Not so that of the transepts , which is a curious compromise between the form of the ordinary vault of stone and the Simple barrel roof.

I t is an attempt , in fact , to combine the advantages of both . I t is the merit of groined vaulting that it emphasises the ne division into bays, and is capable of great rich ss of structural decoration . On the other hand , it involves a great loss of height , for the ridge of the vault can be little higher than the c top of the clerestory windows, and it cuts off the whole spa e covered by the roof above it from the building which it covers . The stru c ture of the vault will be perhaps most easily understood if it is conceived as a flat roof of stone of the same height as the top of the clerestory, supported by fan Shaped brackets spring in i c i i g from a po nt between the lerestory windows , and r s ng and spreading out until they reach the central ridge of the

. is It s vault As the vault , but for these brackets , In essence flat, TH E I NTE RIO R 8 5 there must of necessity be a great sacrifice of space between of it and the roof above it . This sacrifice space is obviated of by the barrel roof, which nearly approaches to the Shape the outside roof, and fits into it without the loss of Space entailed by the vault . But the barrel roof does not readily submit to a structural division into bays, or a structural decoration by means of ribs and bosses such as ornament and emphasise the divisions of the intersecting vault . has t he Wishing, as been said , to combine advantages of s both forms , the de igners of the transept roof have given it the shape of a barrel roof, and have covered it with a net of s work ribs , ome of which converge between the bays of the building and meet at a point on a level with the bottom of the clerestory . The roof, therefore , has at first sight the appearance of a vault , but it remains a barrel roof divided by ribs all the same and this will be evident so soon as it is remarked that the top of the roof is not 0 11 a level with

t h e . top of the clerestory , but some way above it I t is, there fore , not to be conceived as a flat roof supported by brackets , but as an almost circ ular roof ornamented and divided by s structurally unneces ary ribs . I ndeed, it would be altogether impo s sible to Combine a vault with such a clerestory as is found in these transepts , for a vault is a roof designed to fit a pointed c ar h . Its spreading supports make it impossible to adapt it to any other than an arched clerestory; and the clerestory of as row of these transepts, consisting it does of a five lancet

s 1 5 . 0 11 window , flat at the top A barrel roof, the contrary , will fit any kind of buildings , but, unfortunately, it is seldom

ss - succe ful , except in round arched churches . To some of s — — it the e as , for example, in Auvergne has been applied c with magnifi ent effect . It is very rare in England . It s f is alway very di ficult to decorate . The fifteenth century builders having for some reason or other decided on the form , and being but little accustomed to it, determined to treat it like a vault . They covered it with a network of ribs, and where these ribs met they placed bosses . They al s o caused these ribs, as far as possible, to take the same direction that the structure of a real vault would give to them . No doubt the ribs serve some useful purpose as a support to as the roof, especially that roof is Slightly pointed and not c i ircular, like the barrel roof proper ; but the whole effect s 8 6 YO RK MI NSTER

unfortunate . The artistic merits of the real v ault are evident

It is logical , capable of much structural decoration , and it determines and explains the whole plan of the bays both inside

ou t . l n and The merits of the barrel roof are a so e v id e t . It also is logical , though in a less degree than the vault . I t does of w not determine or explain the plan the building belo it , but is it easily adaptable , and it has a Simplicity and a marked grandeur of its own . The roof at York has none of this simplicity . To the most casual visitor it is puzzling and com plicated . To the eye which looks farther, which seeks for of is the logic its construction , it still more puzzling . I t may it deceive the careless observer with the idea that is a vault, but w i it ill not convince him that it is a good one . It s a work of

. sa great ingenuity, but not of great art It is impossible to y what was there before it . If we knew, we might be able to understand why the builders of the fifteenth century hit upon such a form an d it may be that they were forced by structural c necessities to do so . Some spa e may perhaps be allowed to a conj ecture on the subject . It will be remembered that when the present transept was built no part of the present nave or choir was existing ; and only the core of the piers supporting se e the present tower . The tower itself as we it , the arches over s s the pier, and the casing of tho e pier , all date from a period

s . later than the tran epts The Norman nave and choir, existing when these transepts were begun , were, of course , much less lofty than the present nave and choir . If, therefore, the roof of the transept was of its present height , it must also have been

v far higher than the roof of the then existing na e ; and , con sequently, of the four arches supporting the central tower, those to the north and south must have been very muc h higher than those to the east and west . If the transepts had had a vault originally, this arrangement would have been plainly r impossible, as a vault would have cove ed up a great part

c s . S of the east and west ar he But , though the hape of the clerestory makes it plain that a vault was never even intended, it seems very unlikely that the north and south arches were originally loftier than those east and west . If we suppose that they were all originally designed and built of the same height, we shall find a very plau sible reason for the form which the s present roof has taken . In such a ca e the transept must have s had a flat wooden roof, the natural covering to a clere tory of THE I NTERI OR 8 7

c it s su h a design , and must have looked, with great width , very squat and low . But when the new and far loftier nave was built, it, of course, became necessary to heighten the western of the four arches supporting the tower, and after wards to go through the same process with regard to the eastern arch . At such a time, when the choir was completed, the two arches east and west would be much loftier than the two north and south . Before rebuilding the tower it would naturally occur to the bu il ders to raise the north and south arches to a level with the others, and to do this it would be necessary to raise the roof. I n such a case it would be quite natural for the builders to hit upon such a roof as at present exists . They would have before them already the example of a wooden vault in the nave, and for the sake of uniformity t hey would be inclined to make their n e w roof as much like that vault as possible . Having the size and height of their arch settled before they designed their roof, the roof would of necessity be shaped to fit the arch , and this would be the most convenient roof for the purpose under the circum was stances . This theory will explain why a new roof required in the fifteenth century, and it also helps to explain other f a di ficulties . For example, it is hard to underst nd why the W transepts , being so ide, are not loftier, and why their original de sign made a vault impossible . But if we remember that they were originally additions to a much lower nave and choir, se e we shall that their architect , having determined on a plan his s of great width, was in a difficulty . If he made tran epts much higher than his nave, the effect , both inside and out, would be very irregular . If he made them of the same height , and vaulted them , they would be far too wide for their height . He therefore determined , we will suppose, to make a wooden roof which would sacrifice as little of the his height of transepts as possible, and yet allow them to fit on to his nave without any appearance of incongruity . He m ay also have expected that a loftier nave would his soon be built, and set a temporary roof on transepts which could be easily removed and adapted to new re qu ire m e n t s .

Be that as it may, the transepts are altogether a curious patchwork , yet when entered from the south end they seem s s so s almost entirely ati factory, since the eye is engros ed by 8 8 YORK M I NSTE R

the magnificence of the five great lancets of the north front , and the great height of the lantern , that it is unable to take an note of y smaller and less satisfactory details . The two transepts are alike in the arrangement of their bays and in the general lines of their design , though they h m differ w olly in the arrangement of their fronts , and in any little points of detail . Their bays are planned on wholly different proportions n to those of the ave and choir . There every bay is divided s into two main divi ions, and the main arch is nearly half — . a of the whole H ere the divisions are three main arch , a very large triforium , and a smaller clerestory . The ornamental details are very rich and bold , but the design , taken as a whole , is . not altogether excellent . Professor Freeman says bluntly that “ the feeble clerestory and broad ” and sprawling triforium are unsatisfactory . This is true h is enough , but the w ole effect far better than might be expected . The great width of the transepts in proportion to their length , and the great size of the lantern , coupled with the fact that they are not vaulted , makes one apt to forget that they are divided into bays at all , and to regard the whole as a gigantic hall divided into three storeys and magnificently decorated . s The plan of the bay , like that of the decorated part of Lichfie ld the choir at Ely and the nave of , is probably a reminiscence of Norman proportions . I t is certainly better f suited to the bold outlines and masses o the Norman period .

Here , as in the nave, the main piers are rather thin . The “ ” triforium appears to be sprawling, because it consists of a sub - single great arch in each bay, divided into four smaller

is . ones . The clerestory small rather than feeble Its five s lancets , though not large, are boldly decorated with Shaft , carvings , and mouldings . The chief drawback to the design lies in the exceeding prom in e n ce e e of the triforium , owing to which the y is drawn to the middle storey, rather than led up from the floor to the roof. And as this middle storey consists of a single bold arch in each bay, it has not the merit of horizontal continuity, found, for example, in the triforium at Beverley, and does not lead the

c . eye , on e directed to it , from bay to bay f Like the nave, therefore, though for very dif erent reasons,

9 0 YORK MI NSTER — the south tran s ept . There is also more dog tooth in the arch mouldings of t h e clere story of the north tran s ept than of the south . I n ' the north transept the moulding between the clerestory — and triforium is dog tooth . It is plain in the south transept . The arcades of the aisles are practic ally the same in both n s aisles, except for the differe ces noted between the ea t and west aisle of the south transepts . There are two rows of dog- tooth moulding round the windows

n . in the aisles of the north tra sept, but only one in the south The clerestory Shafts in the aisle of the north transept are s bolder than in the south , and the capital , especially on the east s ide, are more elaborate and beautiful . The extra Decorated pillar on the west side of the north transept has already been noted .

The ends of the transepts are , of course, entirely different in arrangement . Purbeck marble is used lavishly all over the n transepts ; as, for example , alternately with sto e in the main piers, on the shafts of the aisles , and in the triforium and clerestory . The main vaulting shafts are altogether of Purbeck . The arcade at both ends of the transepts is entirely without

Purbe c k marble . I n the south front the Shafts of the lowest row of windows are alternately of Purbeck and stone . The arcading above

- c . the door is wholly Purbe k, with dog tooth mouldings of stone The Shafts of the central windows are Purbeck with alternate — s dog tooth moulding , and there are Purbeck shafts at the side of the rose window .

There are also Purbeck shafts on each Side of the door, beginning above the arcade below .

In the north front, the Shafts of the five sisters and of the

five lancets above them are alternately marble and stone . s As has been said , the proportions of the bays in the transept are very different to those of the nave . The triforium is much larger, and the clerestory much smaller . The main arches,

Slightly smaller in proportion than those of the nave, are extraordinarily rich and beautiful in detail . Their mouldings — are very complex and deep , and are varied with dog tooth and billet ornament . s s h The pier are perhap too thin , t ough beautiful enough in s s c them elve . They are made up of alternate Shafts of Purbe k TH E INTE RIOR 9 1

—w a . marble and stone . Those of Purbeck are ringed half y up

The , Decorated piers are altogether of stone , and not ringed at all . The arrangement of the Shafts is not quite so bold and — various as in some other Early Engli s h work the choirs of Ely IVorce st e r and , for example . are 1 11 The capitals finely carved, though small . Those the north transept are rather richer than those in the south .

The corbels of the vaulting shafts , which are placed just

P /z ot ockr om Co. P kot o j SO UTH TR NS EP T—TRI FORI UM C LE RE STORY A AND .

ve r above the capitals of the piers , are y large and richly decorated with four rows of foliage .

They support three Shafts each , one large and two very

Slender, as in the nave . On each Side of the larger shaft is — a dog tooth moulding . s The main arches, especially on the ea t Side of the south transept , are considerably out of plumb , owing to the great w eight of the lantern , and perhaps to the inferior material used in the transepts . The triforium con s ists of a single great circular arch in each c bay . It is divided by a thi k central cluster of shafts into

" two smaller arches , and these in turn are divided by Slenderer 9 2 YO RK MI NSTE R

piers into two smaller arches still . I n the head of the largest arch is a cinquefoil opening ornamented with cusps and dog tooth moulding . I n the heads of the smaller arches are quatrefoil openings decorated in the same way . The mouldings of the large arche s

- are very bold , and ornamented with dog tooth those of the lesser arches are less bold and plainer . The shafts of t h e triforium run down on to a gabled s ill which cuts into their bases . There is the same arrangement in the choir .

The clerestory consists of an arcade of five divisions, the m three iddle being windows , the outer ones blind . The clusters of Shafts dividing them are very rich and thick . d o The mouldings of the arches are broad and deep , the g tooth ornament being profusely used . Above the arches is a cornice decorated with foliage . s The vaulting Shafts terminate in the wooden rib of the roof, without the division of a capital, about two feet above the s tring course . s s The ai les are vaulted, as in the rest of the min ter, with stone . The shafts supporting the vault are very richly c lustered and s al so varied . The moulding are broad and deep in fact, some of the finest work in the whole of the min s ter is to be found in s these ai les . Below the aisle windows runs an arcade with is trefoiled arches, which very plain and simple in its details .

The ends of the transepts , as has been said , are altogether f dif erent . The arrangement of the windows of the south is b front descri ed in the account of the interior . That arrange i ment is n ot particularly happy on the outside . It s even le ss so s when seen from within . Thi is partly the result of the stained s glass of different periods now in the window , and partly of the s s cattered and confused spacing of the windows them elves .

Inside, as well as outside, the great rose window appears much s too large for its position , and the vaulting, rai ed to allow the whole of it to be seen , fits awkwardly round it . is s The north end of the transept , however, one of the mo t triumphant successes in the whole minster . Its plan is magnificently simple . It is almo st entirely filled by two s s m c rows of lancet windows , the five si ter , and five u h smaller s s windows of graduated ize above them .

9 4 YORK M I NSTE R

s quatrefoiled . From the finial at the top of the gable ri e three ribs running to the top of the arch above . I t is impossible to understand the intention of this strange we design , unless suppose that the architect was determined to cover a certain blank space of wall at any cost . It is certainly an original effort, but it cannot be called either beautiful or logical . The dates of the chapter- hou s e and the vestibule are very doub tful . The question is discu ssed in the account of the building of the minster . It may be mentioned here, however, that the vestibule is later in date than the chapter- house itself. The vestibule is a lofty and narrow passage running three bays north from the end of the transept, and then turning at right angles and running two bays east until it reaches the

- chapter house itself. Just inside the vestibule will be seen the point at which the Early English work of the transept is inter ru t e d of p by the Decorated work the vestibule . There is no attempt at continuity . The Early English arcading breaks off ju s t below the first Decorated window the Early Engli sh shaft s above it run close to the Decorated shafts of that window ; w hile the Early English vaulting rib is cut off near its crown . I t would appear from this that a passage to the chapter- house was begun and discontinued before the building of the chapter house itself. The present vestibule was certainly built after the — c chapter house , and the exterior parapet mouldings of the hapter m a was hou se y be seen within the vestibule, showing that it almost an afterthought . Over the d oorway leading into the is of on vestibule a pattern blind tracery. Here, and many of s portions the roof and walls of the vestibule, are trace of old paintings . The windows are still filled with their magni fi n c e t original glass . The three bays running north are of s unequal size , that nearest to the transept being the mallest , an d that farthest away the largest . The tracery of the two smaller windows is most curious and unusual . The smallest is also of a very odd Shape , being as r alm ost narrow as a lancet window, with , howeve , a rather obtuse arch . It is divided into two lights , which rise without further trac ery to about three- quarters of the height of the whole window . Into the upper part are crowded five trefoils of d iffere n t shapes, and piled one on the top of the other . TH E I NTERI O R 9 5

The m ouldings of the shafts have a Slenderne s s and delicac y s characteristic of the whole of the choir and the ve tibule . The Slenderness is on e of the chief arguments for the later date as signed t o them . All the shafts have rich capitals . The next window is filled with even more curious tracery . I t is divided into four lights , rising only to almost half the height of the whole window The central mullion is thicker than the h other two . Ab ove t ese lights are two gables , to the crown of

w t wo e . hich the sid mullions run , through an arch below them Above the gables are two more arches with trefoils in their heads , and in the crown of the window a circle cinquefoiled . The unusual feature of the design is the gables with the lights r running through them . They were p obably inserted to strengthen the wall . The next three windows are of splendid

t he . design , resembling that of the clerestory of nave, but richer

All the mouldings are of the same character . Under the u an r- windows r ns arcade of blind trace y, two lights to each division , with a cinquefoil ornamented with a sculptured boss above . These bosses contain alternately foliage and human s heads wreathed in foliage . The capital are also ornamented

- with leaves and curious animals . The vault is of richly moulded of on ribs , and on each side these is a pattern of white lozenges as s a red ground . The vestibule , a whole , is one of the mo t of beautiful parts the minster, not less for its fine proportions and detail than for its magnificent stained glass . Th e Ch a pte r- H ous e is entered by a doorway of mo s t w beautiful design , planned in the same manner as the estern entrance of the cathedral , but plainer in decoration . It con s c sists of a large arch divided into two smaller arche , ea h of is whic h contains a door . I n the head of the larger arch a of quatrefoil , at the bottom which are two carved brackets for is sculpture . Between the two smaller arches a niche , with a canopy decorated with a double row of gables and fin ials . The niche contains a statue of the Virgin Mary and I nfant Christ, so mutilated that little of their ancient beauty is left . Below this nic he are four n arrow Shafts with capitals . On each side of of the doors is a rich cluster Shafts, boldly cut and varied, ' n l - with fi e y carved capitals . The mouldings of the main arch and of the two subordinate arches are plain , but much thicker and of bolder than those of the western doorway . On each Side the S main arch are plain niches with mall carved brackets . This 9 6 YORK MI NSTER

doorway on the inner side is divided by a cluster of Shafts, and above it is an oblong piece of masonry ornamented with arcading enc lo s ed in an obtuse arch . Above the outer arches

c o n . of the ar ading, each side, is a niche with sculpture

- s is The chapter house it elf octagonal in form , being divided f s . S o into eight bays even these are filled with window , the h eighth , t at over the entrance, being ornamented with blank tracery of the same design as that of the windows . These windows are very acutely arched, and their tracery is of the geometrical Decorated style . They contain five lights, each light terminating in a trefoiled arch . The central light has further a very acute arch above it, also filled with a trefoil . The two outer lights on each side are j oined together by an arch above them , in which is a cinquefoiled circle . Above are three circles arranged pyramidally, each containing nine cusps . The m ullions enclosing the central light are thicker than the others . All the mullions are broken up into very slender shafts with capitals . It may be safely said that for elegance, c symmetry, and the ingenious filling of a given Space, the tra ery of these windows IS not surpassed In Europe . Between the windows are clusters of Shafts which support

of . the ribs the vault These Shafts have fine capitals, and are separated from the windows by blank spac es of wall s et s at an obtuse angle to the windows , so that the Shaft are s it s pushed forward . Below is an arcade, famou both for richness and curiously beautiful design . It consists of a series six is of canopies, to each bay, under each of which a seat s forming the half of an octagon . At each angle of these eats

c . is a Shaft of Purbe k marble The seats, or niches , are divided u s from each other also by shafts of Purbeck marble . The e of Purbeck marble, both here and in the doorway of the

- is . chapter house, worthy of note It is unusual after the Early

English period, and might be advanced as an argument of

- the early date of the chapter house . I n the bay which con

is . tains the entrance, there a seat on each side of the doorway The capitals of the Purbeck marble shafts are carved with unusual richness ; but it is the canopies which demand most attention . They are flat at the top, and each is divided into three bays in front, the central bay being divided from the other two by pendants ric hly carved with foliage of the same s character as the capitals of the shafts . Between the shaft and

9 8 YORK M INSTE R tion of the roof is dull and trivial in design and offensive in c olour . During the same restoration many of the marble shafts were replaced and the floor was paved with tiles, with a m ost unfortunate effect . The east window has also been d ba . filled with very modern glass In fact, restorers have - r done their worst to the chapter house ; but, luckily, thei i work is not rreparable . We may hope that some d ay on the glass , the tiles , and the paint the roof will all be

- removed . This chapter house marks the farthest point reached in the development of such buildings . I t differs t he - S from chapter houses at Lincoln , alisbury, Westminster, and Wells in that it has no central pillar, and this absence l is of a centra pillar supposed to be its special glory . No doubt the pillar was an i nconvenience when the chapter met , and the architect was given a fine opportunity for the display of his mechanical ingenuity when he decided to do without it . But there can be no doubt that a central s is pillar or clu ter of shafts such as found at Wells , would w be more beautiful . And as the architect at York as - his afraid to vault his chapter house with stone, mechanical ingenuity was not put to so severe a test after all . And yet , though we may regret the beautiful central pillar as we find it at Wells or Lincoln, there are other respects in which this

- c . hapter house surpasses all its rivals In size, in richness s of decoration , in boldness of outline , and in aerial lightne s six it is unequalled . Above all , it still contains windows of magnificent stained glass . Even now it seems to justify its boastful inscription :

Ut R osa flos florum sic e st o s s a Dom orum . , D mu i t

T h e Ch oir is separated from the rest of the church by a cir ca 1 - 1 0 very elaborate rood screen , which was built 4 75 5 5 , and is therefore the latest part of the original building . It is a s fine example of Gothic work of the late t period, and though , the of details are course inferior to those of thirteenth century work , and the parts are small and rather crowded , the whole effect is on e of great richness and magnificence . This screen consists of a central doorway into the choir, and of fifteen niches with rich canopies and bases , seven to the north, and eight to the c south, of the central doorway . The ni hes are filled with statue s of the Kings of England from William the Conqueror TH E INTERIO R 9 9

i . . s to Henry VI . The statue of Henry VI alone modern I t has been said that the original statue of this king was regarded with so much reverence as to have aroused the anger of the

of . iconoclasts the Reformation At any rate, it was destroyed ,

se t . and an image of James I . in its place This has been of happily removed in the present century, and a statue Henry

. of VI , a fair work , by the hand Michael Taylor, a local sculptor, has bee n inserted . The original statues are unusually good for their period , and it has been suggested that the details of their dress Show some consideration for historical correctnes s .

The same consideration was not given to the hair, for it has been pointed ou t that the Normans w ere clean - Shaven and wore of Short hair, whereas the statues the N orman kings have beards , moustaches , and long hair . The kings are dressed in

f . f robes o state The legs o Stephen alone are exposed . The of hands the Conqueror are broken off. O n the pedestals of are the names the kings, with the length of their

on . reigns . They begin the north side The figures of angels above the canopies of the niches are made of plaster designed by Bernasconi , who also restored other parts of the screen . The central archway is unusually rich and delicate for the

w c . b period in hi h it was built I t is somewhat o tuse in form , and is surmounted by an ogee pediment or outer moulding . w On each side are four narro shafts with carved capitals, an unusual enrichment in this period . Between those Shafts are

o . of rosettes and r ws of foliage The bases , both the shafts , the pedestals , and the buttresses , are very long, as is usual in late Perpendicular work . The arch itself has four divisions of ornamented mouldings, with plain mouldings between them . w h The ogee moulding is richly decorated it foliage, and terminates in a lofty finial reaching to the top of the screen. Below this finial is an empty niche with a kind of ball - flowe r ornament at the base . On each side of this niche is an angel with a censer , with rich foliage below . The interior of the s creen under the central arch is vaulted with carved bosses . The niches are divided from each other by buttresses decorated at intervals with pinnacles . The pedestals are long, and richly ornamented with tabernacle work . The greater part of the ornament of the screen is massed in the canopies . These canopies are made up of three inner arches , cusped , imme I OO YO R K MINSTER

d iat l e y above the heads of the kings , and five outer arches , cusped and gabled , round them . Round these outer arches f n is a mass o pinnacles , with three larger, richly orname ted v pinnacles , and two smaller, above them . Abo e these are three 0 11 m c small figures , apparently playing usi al instruments , with

s . other figures of the same Size, one on each side of the buttresse

These figures , in their turn , have above them canopies of much s the same charac ter as those below . Above the e canopies is a row of panelling with the plaster angels of Bernasconi above

r d P hot o l t oc/z om Co. L t . , j

T HE CHOIR SCR E EN .

it, at the beginning of the cornice . The rest of the cornice made up of a row of sculptured ornament and a row of cusped ” c ar hes terminating in the Tudor flower ornament, alternating with rows of plain moulding . l it s s The chief fau t of this screen is heavines , which the s ma s of ornament is not bold enough in its parts to lighten . m The central entrance is not cleverly anaged , and seems cut ou t s . of the screen , as if to make a way into the choir at all cost This s c reen s hould be compared to the beautiful rood screen it s at Exeter, with three bold arches and its simple yet delicate

T H E I NTE RIOR 1 6 3

decoration . After the fire in 1 8 2 9 it was pro

posed to remove it , and one is almost tempted to regret that it was not

removed . The nave at York would be enor mously improved by a closer connection with

the choir . Under any circumstances the n ave must be somewhat cold and ineffective it would be far less so if the eye could pass with scarcely a break into the sump t u ou s choir . The naves of English cathedrals are too apt to look like splendid museums rather of than places worship , and this is peculiarly the ease with the nave at

York . Doctor Milner has a stated , though p paren tly without auth orit y, that this screen was taken from the b A bey Church of S t . M a r y, c l o s e t o t h e i f cathedral . It s di ficult to understand how it could have fitted so much narrower a build

ing .

The choir itself, with the retro - choir or Lady

Chapel , is divided into is nine bays . I t con sid e rably the largest and

loftiest in England, being

EAST R N BA Y or C OI R—I I E H NTE R OR . 1 9 4 YORK M I NSTER

over 1 0 0 feet high and 9 9 wide . The altar is three bays from the east end , and one bay west of the altar are the eastern transepts . The choir was begun at the east end in d 1 6 1 a n 1 0 . 3 , finished in 4 5 There are differences between the earlier work east and the later work west of the transepts, which f w o . ill be pointed out, though the plan both is the same for d The plan , allowing differences in etail caused by the

of of . change style , is very like that the nave I t is , therefore , an interes ting example of a Perpendicular building carried out on the lines of an earlier Decorated design . When the east end . of the choir was begun ( 1 36 1 ) the Gothic style was fast reaching its fullest development in England . The nave of Winchester, a contemporary building, is the finest example of that develop ment . There, as has been pointed out , the vertical division made by the vaulting Shafts and the mouldings on each side of them becomes the most important feature in the design . The window tracery is planned merely as a frame for glass , and not as a design interesting in itself. Decoration s upplied in earlier w ork by carved foliage , deep and various mouldings , and elab orate tracery, gives way to a system of lines emphasising con struction as completely as possi ble . The contrasts between of m masses orna ent and blank walls , which play so great a part in earlier Gothic , disappear ; and the only contrast is between the ord e rly lines of the stone and the kaleidoscopic decoration of the windows . Architecture loses much of its fancy and its delicacy, but becomes more logical, more reasonable , and more organic . In the choir of the minster this change is only half carried out . There is a much greater emphasis of line than in the nave, and there is less delicacy of detail but the vaulting shafts are no more important, and the window tracery still plays a con sid e rable part in the design . Hence the choir lacks that air of s decision , that extreme lucidity, to be found in the de ign of the

c . nave at Win hester If it were not for the choir furniture , the stalls, the throne and pulpit, and the altar, this want of decision is in the design would be much more evident than it . But the builders of this choir are not therefore to be blamed . They designed it as a choir, counting, no doubt , on the effect of the furniture, and as a choir it must be judged . I t might have s been expected, perhap , that a building designed on the lines of the nave , but without the beauty of detail of an earlier age,

1 0 6 YO RK M I NSTE R

I n the eastern bays, below the openings of the triforium , the bases of the mullions are elongated to about two feet in length , and between them are cusped arches . These arches and the mullions themselves are set on a slanting ridge , like the mullions of the triforium in the transepts . The vaulting Shafts also do not terminate altogether at the of point at which the ribs the vault converge, but the outer ones on e rise some ten feet higher than the central , until they are cut

Short by the spreading ribs of the vault . This is a difference characteristic of the Perpendicular style , which tends to an interweaving of lines , and an abolition of capitals , where possible . The mouldings of the main arche s also are broader than on the nave , and the clusters of the piers bolder .

“ be I t must also remembered that , as the floor of the choir rises gradually to the east, the proportions of the eastward bays are materially altered , and the main arches are smaller relatively c to the lerestory than in the nave . There is no doubt that this c i is hange s a fortunate one . I t also lucky that it occurs in that part of the building which otherwise differs least from the f design o the nave .

Finally, it must be remembered, in accounting for the greater c is effectiveness of the later work , that a hoir design made for different conditions , and has different objects in view, from that of a nave . has I t often been remarked that the nave of York , examined n bay by bay, is logical and satisfactory enough . I t is only whe is it regarded as a whole, and j udged as an avenue of stone, that its faults are evident .

But the choir is not to be judged as an avenue of stone at all . w It is cut in half by the altar . Its lo er storey is concealed

b v . the stalls , and its continuity broken by the eastern transepts

I n the nave, the lowest storey is the weakest . The thin pillars and the broad arches make too little divisio n between is the nave and the aisle . The whole seen at a glance, and there 1 S little of the mystery and shadow generally to be found in a large Gothi c interior . Also the actual design of the pillars is poor . They do not fit well on to the arches above them .

They seem almo s t inse c ure .

If these faults exist in the choir, they are concealed by the stalls, and east of the altar by the change in proportions . The

1 1 0 YO RK MI NSTE R

At their best, the windows of the choir remind one of patches of coloured

sunlight on running water . I t is true that these windows are really filled with

pictures , but these pictures are only an excuse and a stimulus for the inventions

in pure colour of the designer . Without them his work might seem merely his kaleidosc opic . It is great merit that he has never allowed his repre se n t at ion of actual things t o interfere

with his decorative purpose . sum To up, then , this choir has not the delicate and spiritual beauty of the

choirs of Lincoln or Ely . That is never found even in the finest work of Perpendicular architects ; but for stateliness and magnificence it has not

a rival in England . These qualities may be best appreciated standing midway between the two transepts and

in front of the altar . From that point glittering screens of glass and soaring shafts of stone are to be seen on all Sides the whole effect is one of t rium

phant light and space and colour, not to be surpassed by the splendours even

of Moorish or Italian architecture . To pass to a more detailed d e sc rip tion : the original stalls were irre t rie v

ably ruined by the fire of 1 8 2 9 . An illustration of one of these stalls from

Britton is here given . They appear to have been magnificent examples of

Perpendicular woodwork , and their de

struction is an irreparable loss . There w ere twenty of them on each side of t he choir and twelve at the we st end . The modern stalls erected in the thirties s are a sim ple imitation , better perhap CO M PA R T M NT r: N I NT E o A C E than original work of the period would C O I R STALLS H . TH E I NTE RI OR I I I — have been better, certainly, than might have been expected—but Spirit less in execution . The m odern ’ bishop s throne and pulpit are not even tolerable . They replaced a throne 1 0 and pulpit erected in 74 , and , like the stalls, destroyed in the fire . The fine Perpendicular altar screen was also destroyed by the fire . The present screen is a careful and very has successful reproduction of it . It ff been glazed with very good e ect . d S The reredos , designe by treet, Tin worth with reliefs by , is made of — o n ot suc terra cotta and wo d , and is ce ssful either in colour or pattern . The carvings represent the first hour of the Crucifixion . The clerestory windows are Perpe n d ic ular in style , and contain five lights . Though the design is not beautiful in itself, like that of the great east win dow, it makes an admirable frame for

' glass . There are certain differences in detail between the windows of the eastern bays and those of the western . The windows of the eastern bays are almost transitional . Certainly their Perpendicular character is not fully developed . Thus some of their upper compart ments diverge to the left and right, whereas the windows in the choir itself are made u p of parallel and vertical divisions . I n the eastern windows, also , a transom runs through w the upper lights of the indows , which is not found at the western . The tracery of the eastern window is even CO M PART M NT O a E F more filled with transition l charac LTAR S C R N A EE . t e rist Ic s As a pattern of tracery, it is w t c s s an ing in coheren e and ubordination , and the e faults 1 1 2 YORK M I NSTE R

n . so are painfully evide t outside But it is vast, and filled with such magnificent glass , that the tracery seen from the of inside seems hardly more important than the leads the glass, and the whole is t o be j udged simply as a great wall of glass supported where necessary by stonework made as unobtrusive as pos sible . There are differences also in the eastern and western windows sub ord in at 1 0 n of the aisles, especially in th e interweaving and l n of the ines of the mouldi gs , but these differences are not so obvious as in the clerestory . The change in the placing of the clerestory window and of the triforium passage has been pointed out . Among other and minor differences the following m a he — y remarked I n the eastern bays t h e capitals of Shaft s in the of m c triforium run round the Shafts the ain ar h of the window . In the western bay s the arches between the mullions of the triforium are cinquefoiled (they are trefoiled in the eastern bays) an d c the bases are mu h shorter . h All the mullions of t e clerestory win dows have capital s . s as n The two central mullion , in the ave, are thicker than the rest . They rise also to the head of the arch . The two outer s lights are coupled by an arch above them . The upper light are broken up into a number of divisions , vertical and parallel h in the choir proper, slig tly varied in direction in the retro choir . The mouldings are as elaborate and as carefully subor d in at e d of n as in the earlier work the ave . Below the transom dividing triforium from clerestory is a row of panelling divided by the mullions of the triforium , which , as in the nave, are merely a continuation of the mul f lions o the clerestory . The arches of the triforiu m are not n ornamented with a gable, as in the ave, but with a mould

' rich fi n ial ing decorated with crockets and ending in a . f s The capitals o the main vaulting shaft are very curious . They consist of an ordinary row o f carved foliage with three pendants ending in small carved figures with cinquefoiled w u f arches bet een them . The o ter mouldings o the main arches are cut short by the small outer vaulting shafts . A

s as . little way below them are small head , in the nave The l s b ut r capita s of the main arches are like tho e of the nave, thei foliage is m ore di s connec ted . On the north side of the choir are figures on the capitals . Mr Browne, the enthusiastic and

1 1 4 YORK M INSTE R

Ba r of six on a c e t w o a e s e we e n as an e s re s 4 r y , hi f, p ll t b t m y qui — r e r based M o tim . Six on s am an 2 I a o n on th e e s s d e of th e 5 li r p t , 3 , , , with h r w t i n - shi e ld (re fe rri g t o t he fa m ou s gift of l an d s ) Ulphus . on ra an — r 6 A li mp t Pe cy . r r n d a on ra an for r 2 an d e e ces . a e 1 a e c 7 Qu t ly , 4 li mp t P y , 3 thr lu a r an t for c — e rc h u i Lu y P y . 8 n d a e — r e a S c o e of as a . A b , l b l p M h m i n d n — S x os e a s e ace d in c os B kirl w . 9 i r w i t rl r s ishop S a — o e n d a ord e c ar ed es o e all a a e rc A b , b r h g with mitr v r l b l A h o bishop S cr pe . — 1 1 . r a r R Th e e w te b ouge ts oos . — 1 2 . sa e N e l e A ltir vi l . — 1 v 3 . On a cross fi e lion s passan t gua rd an t City of Y ork . in — 1 . n 4 Thre e fus il s fess M o tagu e . — I 5 . A fe ss be twe en s ix cross c ross l e ts Be au ch amp . 1 6 n a n — e . A lio ramp t P rcy . an n n n d n an r a f ee o n s 1 7 . ce a c e a d a e r a e o Fr— ( i t) E gl (qu t ly) , with l b l thr p i t d wa d n ce of a es . E r , Pri W l

1 8 . an e an n a n n an a Fr c ( ci e t ) d E gl d (qu rte rly) .

The vault of the choir is of wood, like that of the nave ; 1 8 2 it is an imitation of the vault destroyed by the fire of 9 . It is covered with a network of ribs that obscure the main structural lines of the vaulting .

The aisles of the choir are of much the same size, design, as and proportion those of the nave . Their vault is of stone . The windows are filled with tracery of an unusual transitional character, and altogether more beautiful and interesting than that of the clerestory . They are divided into three lights , each terminating in a very obtuse arch . Above these arches are three others, also obtuse S and hardly pointed . hort mullions run from the points of the lower arches to the points of the upper . Above

- the upper arches are three irregular shaped openings , arranged pyramidally, the two lower being quatrefoiled , the upper se xfoile d . The whole is a curious mixture of

. as vertical and flowing lines They represent a design ,

- it were, of which the tracery is arrested half way in its process of stiffening from the curved lines of the Decorated as style to the straight of the Perpendicular . Here, in the clerestory, the mouldings are delicately varied .

The central shafts alone of the mullions have capitals . o On each side of every wind w are three shafts, all with capitals . TH E CHOIR I 8 N 1 1 0 .

1 1 8 YORK . MI NSTER

I n the spandrels of the arches are coats of arms as follow — S ou h S id e . No h T ran s ept Eas t S ide . rt t — 1 Ch eek a ss i ord . r h e v ron elle s n e y , f Cl ff 1 . c e ee c A hi f, th i t r e— fl r Lat rmer . — 2 . A c oss o e - a d in ase z H . r l ce b Fit ugh — e n d a a e of e e o n s S ou h T an s e t Eas t S id e . 2 . A b , l b l th p i t p r t r — 5 “ o e Of as a . on ra an o ra . p M h m I . A li mp t—M wb y on a an e c . 2 . A li r mp t P r y North S id e ide — W e s t S . ll s a e s 1 . Thre e e sca ope D cr . I A fe ss d an ce t te Vavasour 2 e s e e en S I " c oss cross e s . A f s b tw r l t 2 a n s e d . . A bl k hi l a a B e u ch mp . North S ide . W i e s S de . t e ss e ee n e e c oss c oss 1 . A f b tw thr r r n a sa i e a a e —Ne v rll — 1 . O , e . —lt r m rtl t l e ts Beau ch am—p . 2 . e n d S c o e of as a . 2 e e e scallo es ac es . A b r p M h m . Thr p D r

- The stone carving of the retro choir, as the earlier work east of the transepts , is generally called , was greatly injured by the

fire . After the fire five of the canopies on the piers were renewed by the mason of the minster, who treated them according to his own sweet will . The canopies on the piers next to the altar screen remain untouched . The eastern bays of the aisles are of the same character as the rest . The east end of the choir is chiefly filled by the great east window, which fits into its position better than the west window of the

nave, but not entirely satisfactorily . The mouldings of its n arch are decorated with iches containing figures , and follow

curv . of ing the e . the arch . This curve does not run parallel to is se t that of the vault, which less acute . The window itself is

' ~ back a little way from the wall , and on each Side of it are mould

ings with occasional niches . The outside mouldings of the window run straight up through the outside mouldings of the

arch , and are cut short by the ribs of the vault . This inter penetration of m ouldi n gs is found also on the aisle side of the of main piers the choir , and is more characteristic of later w German Gothic than of English . The wall bet een the outer mouldings of the window and the boundaries of the choir is n filled with Shallow iches , two rows to each side and four niches

to each row . These perhaps were never m eant to contain

figures , and are more like panelling than niches . The upper

outside niches on each Side are cut into by the ribs of the vault . s Below the ea t window is a row of quatrefoils , and below them of nine divisions of panelling, in unequal portions, and the same THE INTERIOR 1 I 9

simple character as that in the aisles . The upper halves of the three central panels are filled with niches with rich canopies , o each canopy being divided int three parts . The east end below the windows is n ow chiefly filled with uninteresting monuments of the later archbishops . There is no doubt that the aisles of the choir and the whole of the retro - choir could be better without the greater part of the monuments in them . The magnificent tomb of Archbishop B owet is almost the only fine one to be found i n the

- retro choir . There has been a considerable controversy about the position of the Lady Chapel founded by

Archbishop Thoresby .

This controversy, in which Mr Browne has endeavoured to prove ’ that Thore sby s Lady Chapel was placed on the north side of the nave , is far too long and intricate a business to find a pla c e in this b ook . It is enough to say that the other — authorities seem unani THE VI RG I N AND CH ILD A CA R VI NG BEHI N D “ E E A” A “ E . m ou sly to be of the opinion that the altar of the Lady Chapel was under the great east window, where an altar, used for Holy Communion , is now placed . Thither, it is said ,

Thoresby removed the bodies of certain of his predecessors . And Six h the tombs of of these were existing in the seventeent century, o f h r when drawings were made t em by Torre, the antiqua y . 1 2 0 YO RK M I NSTE R

Brasses were placed over the burial -places of these arch bishops, and were mostly destroyed in the Civil War . of The great east window, like the windows the transepts, has a double plane of tracery reaching to ab out half the height of the whole . Between the two planes a passage runs at the t o base of the window, between two doors which lead stair of cases in the turrets on each side the windows . These t he staircases, in their turn , lead to a gallery across window on the top of the inner plane of tracery . The View from this gallery is very fine . The window itself contains nine lights, and these are divided by two mullions, thicker than the rest

b - su b— into su divisions of three lights each , each division ter m in at in g in an arch formed by the curving of the mullions .

From the top of each of these arches rises another mullion , of the two outer being soon cut Short by the arch the window , the central one curiou sly splitting into t wo thick branches to right and left in straight lines until they also are cut Short by the window arch . The rest of the upper lights are filled with an infinite number of small divisions, in which the occa sion al presence of curved lines shows the transitional c haracter of the design . The window is crossed by three transoms, the two lower at equal distances, the upper close to the one below it . The gallery across the window is formed by these two upper transoms . The glass in the choir, as in all the rest of the church , is described in a separate chapter . The entrance to the crypt is from the north aisle of the a choir as it was in ncient days . There are still remains of the original vestibule to the crypt , and also the bases and one of of the jambs the N orman door leading to it . Th e Cr is y pt itself very interesting, not only for its own on sake , but for the light it throws the history of the building 1 8 of the minster . The fire of 2 9 gave Professor Willis and Mr Browne the opportunity to make elaborate and prolonged m l investigations , to which we owe uch of the ight which has been thrown upon problems connected with the c hoirs of

Thomas and Roger.

Before this fire, the only crypt whose existence was kn own of, was a small chamber under the platform of the high altar, no wider than the central aisle of the choir, and only equal to a bay and a half of that aisle in length . The greater part of this crypt was Norman in character . The vault was supported by

1 2 2 YO RK M I NSTE R

were two rows of smaller Single pillars . The earth has since been removed , and the building laid open , repaired , and vaulted . of The thicker pillars are elaborate late Norman work , diapered in a manner recalling the piers of the nave at

Durham . The vault was ribbed . These pillars were , no ’ l Ev é u e doubt, erected by Roger Pont q , and enable us to w of understand hat the character his choir must have been . The walls enclo sing the western part of the crypt are of of peculiar interest . They are made up three partitions . The 6 n o of outer wall , 3 feet inches thick , is, doubt, the work 8 Roger . The middle wall, 4 feet inches thick , is faced with - of herring bone work , and this , and the coarseness its workman

it . ship , p rove to be of great antiquity It is almost undoubtedly S has t o axon , and been supposed , though on slender evidence,

C P IT LS C A A I N RYPT . be part of the original church begun by Edwin in the seventh century . A bit of this wall is now bare , and may be seen .

The third wall is only 2 feet thick . It probably was also o f o f erected by Roger , but it is composed older materials an ’ early N orman character . It may be from Thomas s choir, if, as is probable, the earlier choir which Roger pulled down had of of been built by Thomas . The stone this wall is the same ’ coarse sandstone as the remains o f Thomas s apse u nder the of o n north transept , and there are traces plaster the stones showing that they had been used for the interior of a building . No doubt the outer wall was erected by Roger as a support for his massive piers , for which purpose the middle wall alone would f have been insu ficient . Roger also probably added the thin inner wall , and filled the whole with earth , for the same purpose . Clo se t o the remains of the Norman d oorway before men TH E I NTE RIO R 1 2 3

tion ed low of , is a arch , and the portion an apse , n o doubt o of o the w rk Thomas , the apse being the eastern terminati n

of his transept . I t was from his examination of the Side walls of this crypt that P rofess or Willis was able t o support his conjectures as

CAP ITALS I N C RYPT .

’ t o the dimensions and character of Roger s choir . Thus he traced it to the eastern transept of that choir, in the same o place as the present eastern transepts , and deduced fr m the extra thickness of the wall in that part that those transepts

had been capped by towers . Beyond this the crypt was filled n o up with graves, and there is now access, but during the repairs he was able to trace so much of the walls as t o make ’ o t o it plain that Roger s choir had a square ending, and als f mark the situation o the east end of that choir . Th e R R —A ecord oom . chantry founded by Archbishop Z 1 6 ouch, but rebuilt in 39 , during the erection of the present o choir, is now utilised as the rec rd room , and contains the

fabric rolls , and other documents con cerning the building and t h constitution of e minster . 1 2 4 YORK M INSTE R

The vestry and treasury date from the middle of the four t ee n t h century like the record room they lie to the south of the choir . o I n the vestry IS the fam us horn of Ulphu s . It was given Ul h or Ul hus son of Thorald by p , p , , a little while before the Ul hus on of o . C nquest p laid it the altar the minster, as a i Sign that he gave certain lands to the church . The horn s ’ made out of an elephant s tusk . The wide end of the horn f is ornamented with carvings of gri fin dogs , a unicorn , and a lion eating a doe . This carving Shows a strong Eastern or of Byzantine i nfluence, and may well have been Byzantine

. war workmanship The horn was lost during the Civil , but found by Lord Fairfax, who gave it back to the minster . The 1 silver gilt chain now attached to it was added in 6 75 . The vestry also contains an oak chest finely carved with the stag t S . of George, and dating from the early part of the fifteenth century, and the fine pastoral staff plundered from James S of myth , the Roman Bishop Callipolis, in the streets of York f at the time o the d eposition of James I I . Here also is the Mazer Bowl or Indulgence Cup of Arch i f s S . s o bi hop crope I t wood , with a Silver rim , and three ’ cherubs heads for feet . Round the rim is the following inscription

R e ch ard e c e Be scho e S c o e ran tis on t o a e t ho a d rin kis , Ar h p r p g ll th t o f s co e d a is t o a rd u n e R o a G u b son e Be scho e s ran t is thi p x y p , b rt , p Mu m g ” in sa e o e a fore sa id e d a is t o a rd un e R o a S t re n salle . m f rm x y p , b rt

The cup was originally given to the Corpus Christi Guild , and afterwards passed to the Cordwainers Company . When the latter were dissolved (in the bowl was presented to the minster . The vestry also contains three silver chalices and patens taken from the tombs of archbishops the rings o f Archbishops S Greenfield , ewall , and Bowet , also taken from their tombs ; and an ancient chain , probably dating from the fifteenth century .

The minster, for all its Size , age , and importance , contains

r curiously few tombs of interest . Though most of the earlie it s bishops were buried within walls , not more than three

YO RK M INSTE R

holy chalice itself. I t was perhaps the peculiar atrocity of his end which gave him so great a reputation for sanctity . During his life he does not seem to have been distinguished

or . above other archbishops for learning, piety, good deeds 1 2 8 f t o He was not canonised until 4 . I t is di ficult understand either why the minster had not obtained a patron saint before

S t . . this time , or why the choice eventually fell upon William No doubt the authorities felt the want of a shrine fit t o be of o enriched by the visitations pilgrims , and were enc uraged by the example of the shrine of St . Thomas of Canterbury n a to obtain o e s soon as possible . We can only suppose that

t . they chose S . William for want of a more distinguished patron his At all events , Shrine never obtained the celebrity of that

S t . of Th omas of Canterbury , and in after years was probably regarded as inferior in sanctity and interest even to that of S Archbishop crope in the minster . He had originally been buried in the nave , where, exactly, is his is not known , but it said that even before canonisation of his tomb was visited by pilgrims , and was the occasion IVhe n 8 t h miracles . he was canonised, the of June , the day of his death , was appointed for his festival .

1 2 8 - The visit of Edward I . to York in 3 4 was chosen by Archbishop Wickwain e as the occasion for the translation of ’ W s m hi S t . illiam relics fro s old tomb in the nave to his shrine in the choir . The ceremony was performed with great pomp in the presence of the King and of his wife Eleanor . William ’ n became one of the Ki g s patron saints , and Edward gave various gifts of j ewels to his Shrine . S 8 h t ’ t S . I n the Acta anctorum for June , William s day, it “ is recorded that Corpus ab imo in altum , a communi loco in ” V n rabilit r a l chorum e e e est t r n s atum . “ His body was translated with all reverence from the lowest ” to the highest place , from a common position to the choir . was The shrine probably placed behind the high altar, and as afterwards between the reredos and the eastern screen , at

St . Durham and . Albans The bones themselves were de in er et r u m so posited a portable f , that they might be easily

carried in procession . As of o a of in the case Th mas Becket , the original place ’ William s burial still remained an object of veneration . of was It was at the eastern end the nave , and covered with T H E I NTE RI OR 1 2 7

s is a great superstructure, o large that processions, it said , were obliged to divide and march to each side of it . The head appears to have been kept in a silver jewelled chest separate from the rest of the body . I t was exhibited to worshippers who gave offerin gs to it . At the Reformation on e the head was seized by Layton , afterwards Dean , and a follower of Thomas Cromwell its seizure was one of the chief causes of the Pilgrimage of Grace .

At this time, also , the shrine was demolished , and also the superstructure over the saint ’ s original place of burial in the nave . I t is said that no remembrance was left of the spot except a tradition that the saint had lain under a long marble slab in the nave of the church . 1 2 I n 73 , during the repairing of the nave of the minster,

Drake , the historian of York , obtained leave to search under S n ffi the said lab , and there fou d a co n of stone , containing a leaden box, in which were bones wrapped in sarcenet . There was no inscription by which the remains could be identified , and they were again buried . as Archbishop Melton was buried near the font, it then 1 6 stood, at the west end of the minster . I n 73 , when the new pavement was lard the stone covering his grave was taken f up , and a lead co fin was discovered , containing the bones f was o the archbishop . On the top of the coffin a chalice and

of - f was paten silver gilt . Inside the co fin the pastoral staff, wa re — but no ring or vestments . The archbishop s buried in the same place . — M on ume n ts in t he South Tra n s e p t I n the eastern

t he 1 2 . aisle is tomb of Archbishop de Grey, who died in 5 5 on e of This, the two or three really fine monuments in the ha s church , is Early English in style, and been very little f damaged . It consists of an e figy, with a canopy supported s is by nine pillars above it . The figure of the archbi hop hi . s is clothed in full canonicals In left hand a crozier, and hi s . The right is raised to bless feet trample on a dragon , into the mouth of which enters the butt end of the crozier . O n each side of the figure is a shaft ornamented with bunches of leafage at regular intervals . Round the head of the arch bishop is a gable cusped with censing angels on each side of it . o o The pillars supp rting the can py have fine capitals , and 1 2 8 YORK MINSTE R

c - above them are usped arches , with richly carved scroll work is f s . o in their spandrel Above a further tier arches, supported r by sho t shafts , also having beautiful capitals . Above these c an d arches are gables overed with crockets , on the gables fi n ials are elaborate . These fi n ials are an addition of the

beginning of the century, and

are of plaster . They are the

work of an Italian sculptor,

Bernasconi by name , and, con sid e rin g the circumstances , are

unusually good . Round the '

tomb is a railing, presented

by Archbishop Markham , also

of the beginning of the century, and of very poor design To the south of this tomb Is the large and elaborate modern

m onument to Dean Duncombe , c whi h has nothing, either in or re workmanship design , to

commend . To the north IS the t om b of

Archbishop S ewall de Bovill , who succeeded Archbishop de

Grey . His sepulchre , says

Drake, was much frequented 1 after his death by the common

people , who reported many

miracles to be done at it . The tomb consists of a plain slab of

marble , with a cross upon it ,

supported by twelve low pillars,

E F F IGY O R C BI S O P G R E Y . F A H H DE with plain capitals , and trefoiled

arches . — M on ume n ts in t h e North Tran s e pt I n the eastern aisle of the north tran sept is the beautiful tomb of Archbishop s 1 1 . Greenfield , who died in 3 5 This tomb belongs to the mo t - is fully developed period of the Decorated style . It orna m e n t ed with arcading in front , with gables , each partition is divid ed by buttresses with pinnacles . Above it a canopy

1 3 0 YOR K MINSTER

The effigy of the prince is fine, though much damaged . Canon Raine has pointed out that the canopy is ornamented was with the Plan t age n ista . The head formerly supported by two angels , which have been destroyed (Britton) . The feet rest against a lion . Drake relates that the vergers in his time son of S asserted that this was the the Emperor everus , buried

comb e . at A H ills, and carried thence to the cathedral The it s statue appears to have been removed from proper place, and neglected for a lon g time .

One bay east , and on the opposite Side of the aisle , is the S 1 0 tomb of Archbishop avage , who died in 5 7 . This is one of the latest of the Gothic works in the cathedral . It is a plain 0 11 oblong, with four panels , containing coats of arms each of is ffi the larger sides . I t surmounted by an e gy of the bishop , k with mitre and crozier . Dra e states that above it was a

e n o . wooden chantry, of which ther , are now traces The Tizaw a s D a lb on name, y , the inscription on the tomb , is that of an archdeacon of Richmond , who is said to have erected the of monument . Farther east , the outer wall the aisle, as also of is the southern aisle , almost covered with pompous and ugly s monuments, few of them remarkable either for their de ign s or for the fame of the per ons to whom they were erected . is The best, perhaps , that to Lionel Ingram , who died at six the age of . It is Jacobean in style , and has a pathetic Latin inscription setting forth the unu s ual v irtues of the c hild . s S s s The tomb of Archbi hop terne , at the ea t end of the ai le is an example of almo s t everything that a monument should not be . West of this is the tomb of the unfortunate

S . crope, beheaded by H enry IV It is of little interest in a 1 8 2 itself, and was restored fter the fire of 9 ; but in the

Middle Ages thousands of pilgrims flocked to it , and it was for

S t . a time more popular than the Shrine of William himself.

Henry I V . forbade offerings to be made to it , and gave these orders to the clerk of the cathedral . “ Y faces mettre su r la terre entre les pilers e t par bonne espace de hors b e ille s fuyst es e t grosses piers de bonne hautesse e t lacune iffin t gils i soy en t continuellement pour faire e s toppoil a les faux foles que y b e ign on t par couleur de

d ev ocion . ff k The o erings were not , however, thus chec ed .

was a S t . S was Close by the Ch pel of tephen , in which the chantry TH E I NTE RIO R 1 3 1

S cr a er so m of the p , and many offerings in emory of the arch bishop were deposited there that it increased in riches up to

the Reformation .

- Farther west , between the aisle and the retro choir, is the cenotaph of Archbishop Markham (died who was buried

in Westminster Abbey . To the north of the eastern altar is the tomb of Archbishop

1 0 0 . Rotherham , died 5 I t is a plain monument , Perpendicular i wa in style . The top s a later addition the whole s restored 2 after the fire of 1 8 9 . The tomb was opened when a new 1 6 t o pavement was laid in 73 , and a vault was discovered run o o of under it , in which were b nes and a wo den head a piece extraordinary sculpture for that age —with a stick thrust into

the n eck to carry it on . Under the east window are the tombs of Archbishops Frewe n S (died and harpe the latter being, perhaps , the

ugliest and most absurd in the minster . On the s outh Side of the retro- choir is the tomb of Arch bishop Matthew (died 1 6 2 8 ) on which his effigy has recently been replaced . Near it is an unknown monu ment, with bases of pillars which once, no doubt , supported a canopy . This has S B ov il been attributed to ewall de , who , however, is buried

- in the south transept . Between the retro choir and the south aisle is the beautiful tomb of Archbishop Bowet (died This is one of the finest Perpendicular monuments in the s country, and far the finest in the min ter . The stone which covered the grave was removed from it and used for the 1 6 pavement in 73 , and the remains were laid bare, Showing ’ the archbishop s episcopal ring .

The canopy consists of an arch of a curious elliptical shape ,

over which are three clusters of tabernacle work , with pinnacles between them . The curious manner in which these

clusters are joined to the arch beneath them , with fan tracery

projecting outside the arch, should be noticed . The whole has been much destroyed . At the east end of the south aisle of the choir stood the

S . altar of All aints , founded by Bowet A bay west of this is the tomb of Archbi s hop Matthew (died and north of it is that of Archbishop Musgrave (died I n the south aisle are the tombs of William Wentworth 1 3 2 YORK M I N STE R son of the great Earl of Strafford (died 1 69 5 ) Archbishop c Lamplugh (died and Ar hbishop Matthew Hutton ,

RC B IS O P B OW E T ’ S M ON M E NT A H H U .

(died All of them , like most of the other tombs in the choir, remarkable only for ugliness .

1 3 4 YO RK MI NSTER

8 Archbishop Melton in I 3 3 . This is remarkable not only for the purity and boldness of its scheme of colours , but for the admirable way in which the design of the glass fits the elaborate pattern of the tracery . It will be noticed that both the figures and the architectural orn aments are in bolder relief than in the S earlier glass of the five Sisters , or the later of the choir . ome of the faces of the figures have been restored by Peckett , but c not so as to interfere with the de orative effect of the whole . w The windo contains three rows of figures , the lowest a row s row s of eight archbi hops , the next a of eight saint , including t t . S S t . S t . S Peter, Paul , James , and . Katharine, and above this a row of smaller figures unidentified . The window at the -I west end of the north aisle is also very fine . t contains a

St . . Virgin and child , and Katharine with her wheel I n one t S . of the small lights above is a figure of Peter, crucified head downwards .

The kneeling figure below is obviously a later insertion , as m ay be seen from the incongruous colour of the arch above it . The firs t window from the west in the north aisle of the nave is plain . The other wind ows are filled with fragments . h I n the third of these the top lights ave been filled by Peckett,

1 . s and contain the date of the insertion , 779 The re t of these P k ’ windows are free from e c e t t s additions . The second of these windows from the east is particularly worthy of attention . It is said to have been given by a guild

- was Of bell founders . It probably the particular gift of the T un n oc wh o 1 0 e f Richard died in 3 3 , aft r holding the o fice of

f . Lord Mayor o York Perhaps he was the head of the guild . This window contains a most interesting representation Of “ of Tu n n oc the casting a bell, with an inscription , Richard ”

fist s Tu n n oc . me , and al o of kneeling and receiving the

c . blessing of an ar hbishop , probably Melton Above the of T u n n oc w s figure is the picture of a small windo , and thi c ertainly goes to prove that the window was given by Tun n oc s s himself. There are bell in the border of the lights and other parts of the d esign . The west window in the s outh aisle is as fine a s its fellow in s the north ai le . I t contains a representation of the Crucifixion , c in whi h the head of Christ is a later insertion , perhaps of the 'I eighteenth century . he figure below , as in the corresponding n s i s s window I the north ai le , al o of later date TH E I NTE RI OR 1 3 5

The first window from the west end is plain . The glass

in the other windows is rather finer, and less fragmentary

than in the n orth aisle .

The second window appears to have bee n largely restored . n The tabernacle work is very crude in colour . I t contai s

t . t S S . figures of Laurence, Christopher, another saint , and

three coats of arms below . The top lights are fine, and

perhaps of Perpendicular date . The third window is one of the richest in colour in the Of minster , with its gorgeous arrangement crimsons , greens ,

. n and blues There are inscriptio s by Peckett , with the 1 8 date at the bottom , 7 9 . His deep blues on the top lights

are particularly unfortunate . h The sixth window is also very brig t . I t probably

contains Norman fragments . All the windows except the

fifth contain insertion s by Peckett .

The clerestory window contains fragments and coats of arms . I n the westernmost light of the second window from the ' on t he n orth of west , side , are portions an Early English Jesse of t of window . The wheel this window, and hose the next

of . five, also contain fragments Early English glass And in the lower lights of the fifth and seventh windows from the

west are remains of the same date . The wheels in the clerestory windows on the south side of the nave all contain Early English glass , except the third from the west . There is also some Early English glass in their lower lights . The transepts contain le s s of their original glass than any I n other part of the minster. the south transept there are s s fragments of Perpendicular gla s in the ea t aisle , including

S t . figures of Michael , Gabriel , and William , and also s Perpendicular fragments in the we t aisle . The lowest row of windows at the south end of the transept has bee n filled with painted figures by Peckett , only better than the worst of efforts the Gothic revival . The figures represent Abraham, S s S t . . olomon , Mose , and Peter The glass in the five sisters , as has been said , is Early English of the simplest and most s beautiful de ign . The colour, an almost uniform scheme

Of - greyish green , is a curious contrast to the vivid blues and ws Of yello of the period which preceded it , and examples c m a t whi h y be seen in he choir of Canterbury. The pattern 1 36 YORK M I NSTER is an elaborate but restrained arrangement of the foliage of the Planta Benedicta (herb benet) . The plain border w 1 surrounding the Early English glass as inserted in 1 7 5 . is At the foot of the central light a panel of Norman glass , of is the subject which either the dream of Jacob , or Daniel ’ in the lion s den . n rod e rn The glass in the west aisle of the north transept is , and of the worst character . A window by Mr Kempe in the east aisle is almost the only good example of modern glass in the minster .

The glass in the lancets above the five sisters is modem .

The glass in the choir is almost wholly Perpendicular . As

is . in the nave , it very fragmentary and disordered The change in the character of the design will be easily noticed .

The Perpendicular glass is not so clear and delicate in colour, and the architectural and other patterns are less pronounced .

As has been said before, however, this glass, regarded Simply as decorative, is perhaps superior even to that in the nave . of M r Winton , to whom throughout in this short notice ou t the windows we are much indebted, has pointed that the earliest Perpendicular glass in the choir is contained in the third window from the east in the south aisle in the third and fourth windows from the east in the north clerestory an d in n the fourth clerestory window from the east o the opposite side .

These windows date from the close of the fourteenth century . There is also an early Perpendicular Jesse in the third window from the west in the south aisle of the choir . The other windows Of the choir aisles east of the small eastern transepts , as well as the glass in the lancet windows on the east Side of of the great western transepts appear, he says , to be the time i of of Henry IV . the rest of the glass in the choir s the reigns of Henry V . and VI . , chiefly of the latter . He notices , also , that the white glass in the windows is generally less green in tint than usual , and that he has learnt from Mr Browne that it is all of English manufacture . The great east window was glazed by John Thornton of

. of Coventry The terms the contract for this work , dated “ 1 0 4 5 , are extant . They provide that Thornton Shall portray his the said window with own hand , and the histories , images , ” and other things to be painted on it . It was to be finished

. b within three years Glass, lead , and workmen were to e

1 38 YO RK MI NSTE R

In the north aisle the east window is also very fine . It con t arn s t h e w S t a representation of Crucifixion , ith . John

E ST THE A WINDOW .

S t . . i t e s James , and the Virgin The first w ndow from h ea t is very fragmentary. THE I NTE RIOR 1 39

The next three are among the finest in the minster . Their n beautiful and unusual arrangemen t of greys , brow s , and blues ,

should be particularly noticed . Their top lights are empty . r a The other th ee windows cont in paler, and less interesting glass ; their top lights also are empty . The last of these was given by Archbishop Bowet . The two great windows in the small north and south tran

t h e St . septs contain scenes from lives of William and St . 1 6 Cuthbert respectively . They are 73 feet long by feet wide .

They have both been restored, but their glass is mostly original . t f The S . Cuthbert window was probably given by the will o 1 Longley, Bishop of Durham , who died in 4 3 7 . I t contains ,

"

sub ect s from St . beside j the life of Cuthbert , figures of members of the house of Lancaster . t he s The glass in clerestory is fragmentary, and contain restorations by Peckett . The glass in the chapter—house and vestibule is chiefly decorated . There are , however, fragments of Norman and Early English glass in the upper lights of the vestibule c — windows . The glass in the hapter house itself dates from

w . the time of Edward I I . and Ed ard I I I The design is c hiefly made up of medallions and shields . There are some modern restorations in the glass ; and one of the windows h it —is there is no difficulty i n distinguis ing wholly modern . ss All the gla , excepting the unfortunate modern example, is

of the fine st quality . C H APTE R V

TH E ARCH B ISH OP S OF Y OR K

P aulin us (6 2 7 The origin and even the nationality of

Paulinus are unknown . It is said that he was sent from Italy en n iu s by Gregory the Great to assist Augustine in Kent . N was states that Edwin of Northumbria baptised by Rum , the has son of Urien . It been supposed that this Rum may have t o originally gone Italy, and there taken the name of Paulinus , and that consequently Paulinus was a Briton but this is mere conjecture . For over twenty years Paulinus remained with 6 2 Augustine but in 5 a marriage was arranged between Edwin , ort hum b ria of r King of N and overlord England , and Ethelbu ga, f o . daughter Ethelbert, the Christian King of Kent Edwin , though still a Pagan , agreed that Ethelburga Should be allowed the free exercise of her religion , and that she Should bring a chaplain with her, who might preach the Christian faith when and where he chose . f The o fice was given to Paulinus, and before setting out he was consecrated Bishop of the Northumbrians by Archbishop

Justus . For some little time Edwin remained Pagan , but he i allowed h s daughter to be baptised so soon as she was born . l Finally, a conference took p ace between Paulinus and the of nobles Northumbria, probably at Londesborough , as a result of his which Edwin , two of children , and many of his court 6 2 were baptised at York on Easter Day, 7 while the heathen high priest Coifi took the chief part in destroying a great God m u n in ha temple at d g m (Goodmanham) . 6 But in 3 3 Edwin was killed in battle, and Paulinus fled with the Queen back to Kent . He was created Bishop of Rochester,

6 . where he remained until his death , 44 Afterwards he became the patron saint of Rochester .

6 - 6 6 3 3 4 . After the flight of Paulinus the country relapsed s into Paganism . When O wald, a Christian , became King of n ot n S Northumbria, he applied to Ca terbury but to cotland 1 40

1 4 2 YO RK M INSTE R

8 6 . of Hexham , 7 The venerable Bede was his pupil , and of d Speaks many miracles which he performed . He enlarge the church at Beverley, and founded a monastery there . He hi 1 8 was famous for s piety and good works . In 7 he resigned his see , and retired to Beverley , where he lived privately for about four years in his own foundation . He was buried in

. was 1 0 his the church there He canonised in 3 7, and relics were translated and placed in a golden Shrine . — 1 8 2 t . S . W ilfrid I I . ( 7 73 ) had been a pupil of John He is said t o have begun the dispute between York and Canterbury for precedence . Little else is known of him . r 2 - 66 Eg b e t ( 73 7 ) was brother to Edbert , King of Northum “ is his berland , and , it said , by own wisdom and the authority of of the King, greatly amended the state the Church in these ” parts . Gregory I I I . gave him the pall in 735 , and he was acknowledged Metropolitan Archbish op in the north . He o was founded the famous sch ol at York , where Alcuin edu

cat e d . , and also the library ’ 66- 8 2 had Alb e rt ( 7 7 ) been a master at Egbert s school , and had greatly contributed to its renown . He also played a large part in the establishment of the library . He retired to the 8 2 H e monastery at York , and died there , 7 . was succeeded 8 2 6 f n l 1 . W u i s by E a n b ald I . ( 7 E a b a d 1 ( 79 y (8 1 2 W ig m u n d (8 3 7 W ilfe re or W u lfe re (8 54 Et h e lbald and R e d ew ald or Re d w ard 2 8 - 6 se e W uls t an (9 9 5 ) was raised to the by Athelstan , who was now King of England . He was imprisoned by 2 Edred in 9 5 , at Jedburgh , but was released soon after, and restored to his bishopric at Dorchester . He died two years h s after i release at Oundle in Northamptonshire , and was s k l 6 buried there . He was followed by O y t e (9 5 and E t he lw old Os w a ld (9 7 2 - 9 9 2 ) had been made Bishop of Worcester in

6 1 se e . 9 , and held that , together with York

After his elevation to the sees of Worcester and York , he became a great reformer of monasteries , and founded that of f Ramsey in the Isle o Ely . He was a strong opponent of married clergy . He died suddenly at Worcester, after washing

as . the feet of beggars , was his custom He was buried at

Worcester, and miracles occurred at his tomb . He was a fterwards can onised . TH E ARC HB ISHOPS OF YO RK 1 4 3

’ Ad u lf (9 9 2 - 1 0 0 2 ) had been Abbot of Peterboro , and succeeded to both sees held by Oswald .

- f W uls t an ( 1 0 0 2 1 0 2 3) was also B ishop both o York and 1 0 1 6 Le ofsi his Worcester, but in one was appointed suffragan was at Worcester . He died at York , but buried at Ely , where there is said to have been a picture of him under the lantern . - f Alfric P ut t oc or P ulta ( 1 0 2 3 1 0 5 0 ) was Archbishop o is t o se t York alone . He said to have incited Hardicanute

fire to the city of Worcester . He was a liberal benefactor ' m a n ifi of the chu rch an d college of Beverley, and built a g S t . e cent shrine at the tomb of S . John H e di d at outhwell , ’ and was bur ied at Peterboro . ’ - o K in s i ( 1 0 5 0 1 0 6 0 ) had been a m nk at Peterboro , and chaplain to Edward t h e Confessor . A e l d re d or A l d r e d ( 1 0 60 He was successively m a onk at Winchester, Abbot of Tavistock , and Bishop of h Worcester . He is said to ave made his way by money and bribes to the see of York , with which he continued to hold

Worcester . He had been much employed by Edward in ' w r i l m at ic o k. d p o When created Archbishop of York , he i went to Rome with the famous Tosti to obtain h s pall . This h is the Pope refused , aving heard , it said , of his Simoniacal practices . But the Pope afterwards relented , on condition — that he Should resign the se e of W orcester this he did . n Eald re d a O ce established as archbishop, showed gre t as S activity a builder and benefactor, especially at outhwell and Beverley . He also built a new cathe dral at Gloucester . For s He crowned Harold , and afterwards William . thi “ ” - Drake calls him a meer worldling and an odious time server . is He said , however, to have exacted an oath from William that he would rule Normans and Saxons alike . Afterwards his he excommunicated William for disregarding oath , but

William is said to have bought him off. 1 0 6 is Hearing of the Danish invasion in 9 , he said to have sickened at the news and died of a broken heart . Thus he escaped witnessing the vengeance exacted by t h William upon e north . Th omas of Bayeux ( 1 0 70 - 1 1 0 0 ) was the chaplain of the

Conqueror . He had assisted William with all his fortune in the invasion of England . I n his time , the quarrel for t o precedence broke out with Canterbury . Thomas refused 1 4 4 YORK MINSTE R

nf t make a profession of Obedience to La ranc , and appealed o t he Pope, and both went to Rome . The P ope , however, th e discreetly referred matter back to the king, and at a synod held by William it was determined that Thomas should swear his allegiance to Lanfranc , but not to successors , and Should be installed i n Canterbury Cathedral ; also that the Humber of Should be the southern boundary his diocese, and that

Worcester should be added to the see of Canterbury .

Thomas found his diocese in a miserable condition , owing both to the Danish invasion and the barbarities of the Con

u e ror . q H e rebuilt the minster, called back the frightened canons and made a provision for them . He appointed a d n R ea , treasurer, precentor, and chancellor . He died at ipon , and was buried at York . Ge rard ( 1 1 0 1 - 1 1 0 8 ) was translated from Hereford he was a kinsman of the Conqueror . Like Thomas he refused to was submit to Canterbury, and his consecration delayed until he submitted at the command of the Pope . T 1 0 8 1 1 1 h om as ( I 4 ) was the nephew of Thomas of Bayeux , and chaplain to Henry I . H e also refused to acknowledge his the supremacy of Anselm , and in consequence con secration

a . was del yed Anselm dying , forbade any bishop to consecrate him u ntil he had made his submission . At length Thomas

s . ubmitted , and was consecrated by the Bishop of London He

was . died at Beverley, and buried in the minster Th u rs tan ( 1 1 1 4 - 1 1 40 ) was the son of a prebendary of

London , and chaplain to Henry I . Like his predecessors , but w ith more determination , he continued the quarrel with A Canterbury . H e refused to make his submission to rch bishop Ralph , who therefore refused to consecrate him . was Thurstan supported by three successive Popes , and was at length consecrated at Rheims by Calixtus I I . Thus he alone succeeded in avoiding any submission to Canterbury . n his Henry I . tak i g the Side of Ralph , deprived him of lands , but t he Pope issued a bull freeing him from all subjection to

e x corn m u n icat ion . Canterbury, and threatened Henry with I n 1 1 2 1 Thurstan returned triumphantly to York , and Henry w s . a ubmitted The quarrel s revived by William de Corbeil, h ’ Ralp s successor, who was appointed papal legate as a ’ S compromi s e . Thurstan s victory over the cots at the Battle of the Standard is perhaps his most fam ous achievement .

1 46 YORK MINSTE R

Henry uttered the words which led to t h e death of the archbishop . Roger also was the hero of the famous and ridiculous scene 1 1 6 of of in 7 at the Council Westminster, when Robert Canterbury having seated himself on the right of the papal t o legate, Roger, refusing take an inferior seat, placed himself ’ ff . o in Robert s lap The unfortunate Roger was pulled , beaten with sticks , and flung upon the ground .

Roger, however, was a good administrator, and charit

. o able He rebuilt the palace , and the ch ir of the minster, and also began a new minster at Ripon . After his death n hi the king seized o s personalty . He was buried in the of cathedral , and his tomb , though much later date, is in the nave . ffr 1 1 1 - 1 son Geo y ( 9 the illegitimate , and only faithful of ’ Henry I I . , was appointed only after ten years interval , during which time the king took the revenues . He was early in life made Archdeacon , and then Bishop of Lincoln . H e afterwards became Chancellor Of England . H e was only ordained priest when he Obtained the archbishopric . He had sworn not to go to England while Richard was away on his crusade , but he returned immediately after his consecration at Rheims , and was clapped into prison at Dover . H e was , however, soon released , and went at once to York . There he proved a better a S bishop th n was expected , according to tubbs , though Drake “ shrewdly remarks that that author has made saints of every ” is prelate he writes on . It certain that he quarrelled always

or of . with John and Richard , with the canons York At length he was suspended by the Pope , appealed , and was n hi . o s reinstated Richard , his return , seized all goods, spiritual and temporal , but Geoffry obtained their return by f o sum of . o payment a money John als seized his goods , and

Geoffry excommunicated all concerned in the seizure . He was from time to time reconciled with the king, but after a 1 2 1 2 final rupture fled to Norway, where he died in . W alte r d e Grey ( 1 2 1 6 - 1 2 5 5) was only appointed after the se e of had been vacant for nine years, during which time John k n course ept the revenues . The dea and chapter elected S S of imon Langton , brother of tephen , Archbishop Canterbury o but John would have none of him , and was supp rted by the

P ope . Walter de Grey was therefore chosen at the desire of TH E ARC H B IS HOPS OF YO RK 1 4 7

’ the king . He died just before the outbreak of the Barons war . on H e conferred many benefits his diocese , and built the of south transept the minster, where is his beautiful tomb . He th of is said to have built e west front Ripon Minster . 1 2 6—1 2 8 S ew al d e Bovill ( 5 5 ) had been Dean of York . After the death Of De Grey the se e remained vacant for some time , the king saying that he had never held the archbishopric his n o it li in hands before, and was therefore in hurry to let s ' p ’ t wal f r ou t of them . He refused his consent o S e s election o m m some ti e , who, however, obtained a dispensation fro Rome . He afterwards quarrelled with the P ope about the election w as . to the deanery, and excommunicated This sentence on is t o lay heavy the archbishop , and said have brought him

. t o S to his grave According tubbs , he began to squeak at

- on his . last , and called for absolution death bed His tomb is in the south transept . Geoffry of L ud ham ( 1 2 5 8 - 1 2 65) had been that Dean of York over whom Sewal fell out with the Pope . When ’ t o elected , he was still under the Pope s ban . H e went o Rome, however, and by bribery and much tr uble obtained his pall . Little is known of him except that in 1 2 60 he laid f the city o York u nder an interdict . W alte r Giffard ( 1 2 66 - 1 2 79 ) had been Bishop of Bath f w w o . as and Wells, and Lord Chancellor England He ith others entrusted with the regency of the kingdom during f 1 2 the absence o Edward I . in 75 . W illiam of W ickw ain e ( 1 2 79 - 1 2 86) had been Chancellor f o . . York He died at P ontigny, and was buried there J oh n le R omey n or Roman e s ( 1 2 8 6- 1 2 9 6) was the son of of o had t he that treasurer Y rk , an Italian , who built north of transept and central tower the minster . H e had been f precentor at Lincoln . H e began the nave o the cathedral as it now stands . H e died suddenly, near Burton . 1 2 - H e n ry of New ark ( 9 8 1 2 9 9 ) had been Dean of York . n ot o t o Owing to the wars in Europe , he did g Rome, and own was consecrated in his church . Thomas of C orb ridg e ( 1 3 0 0 - 1 30 4) had been Chancellor t was . o of York . He consecrated at Rome He was said

S . be a great and learned divine . H e was buried at outhwell W illiam Gre e n fie ld ( 1 30 6- 1 3 1 5 ) was related t o Giffard 1 4 8 YORK M INSTER

a past archbishop, and had been Dean of Chichester, of of Chancellor Durham , and Chancellor England . He Hi died at Cawood . s beautiful tomb IS in the north transept of the minster . ' W i ia d M 1 1 1 0 w a ll m e e lton ( 3 7 34 ) s of lowly origin . in 1 1 He was elected 3 5 , but not consecrated until two years of after, owing to the interested delays the Pope . H e took f war a large part in civil af airs, especially in the with the

S - n - H is cots, by whom he was defeated at Myton o Swale . was army was filled with clergy, and the battle derisively 1‘ of 1 2 he . be cam e known as the Chapter Myton . In 3 5 of Lord Treasurer England , and supported Edward in his

‘

. . is troubles He even intrigued against Edward I I I , it said , 1 0 was in 3 3 , and arrested for treason , but soon acquitted of the charge .

H e completed the nave of the minster, and glazed the H i . s rav e great west window . He died at Cawood g in the north aisle of the nave was opened when t he present 1 6 pavement was laid down in 73 , and a chalice and paten taken from it .

W illia m la Z ouch e ( 1 34 2 1 3 5 2 ) had been Dean of York . se t ou t Zou che When Edward I I I . for the French wars he left of as warden the northern parts of the kingdom , and such ’

S 1 6 . he defeated the cots at Neville s Cross, near Durham , 3 4 or on u He built, began , a chantry the so th wall of the choir, which was destroyed by Thoresby . He died at Cawood , and r f was bu ied in the nave o the minster . ’ J ohn Of Th ore s by ( 1 3 5 2 - 1 3 73) had been t he King s ’

of o S t . Proctor at Rome , Master the Rolls , Bish p of David s and Worcester, and . Lord Chancellor of England . He drew s up a famous catechism in Latin translated into E ngli h . In his time the controversy between York and Canterbury

finally came to an end . The Archbishop of Canterbury was c to be styled Primate of All England, the Ar hbishop was of York , Primate of England . Each also to be allowed to carry his cross erect in the province of the other . 1 6 1 In 3 he began the present choir of the minster, con tributing £ 2 0 0 a year to it during his life . He died at

has n U . Bishopthorpe . It bee said that rban VI made him was a cardinal , but this is probably not true . He buried in his own Lady Chapel .

I 5 0 YORK MI N STER

wh o and the dean and chapter, as opposed to the Pope, pro posed Fleming, Bishop of London . The Pope, whose power was fast decaying in England, at length submitted . Kemp, is of who was , it said, humble birth , rose to be Cardinal, first Bal ria St . b St R u ri . . a of , and afterwards of p He was trans l ated finally to Canterbury . 1 2 I n 43 he went as ambassador to the Council of Bale . t He buil a gatehouse to the palace at Cawood . He died soon after his translation to Canterbury . W illiam Booth or Both e ( 1 4 5 2 - 1 464) had been a

Lichfield . lawyer, and Bishop of He repaired the palaces S S was at outhwell and York , and died at outhwell , where he buried . Ge org e N e ville ( 1 464 by the interest of his brother w k - m War ick , the ing aker, became Bishop of Exeter at the age - w of twenty three . H e was not thirty hen made archbishop . His installation was the most splendid ceremony of the kind se e was hitherto seen , but his tenure of the marked by many was troubles . When Edward IV . captured by Warwick at was Oundle he given into the custody of the archbishop , who treated him with great courtesy and freedom , so that S he soon escaped to London . oon after Edward captured the archbi s hop and imprisoned him but soon released him and restored him to his se e . Again he was arrested for high treason and sent to Calais , the king having plundered all his

. an d plate and jewels He was imprisoned for four years , died soon after his release . His tomb was unknown , but Drake speaks of a grave found under the Dean ’ s vestry about 1 73 5 , which , from its contents , must have been that of an archbishop, and perhaps of Neville . L au re n ce Booth or B oth e ( 1 4 76 - 1 48 0 ) had been Bishop of S Durham and Lord High Chancellor he died at outhwell , and was buried there . Th om as S cott or d e R ot h e ram ( 1 4 8 0 - 1 5 0 0 ) had been

of . Bishop Rochester and Lincoln , and Lord High Chancellor

He was imprisoned in the Tower by Richard I I I . , for delivering

S . up the Great eal to the Queen on the death of Edward IV , but was soon released . He completed Lincoln College, “

m s . Oxford , and gave a wonderful rich mitre to the in ter

H e was buried in the Lady Chapel , where his tomb still remains . TH E ARC H BI S HOP S OF YORK 1 5 :

Th omas S av ag e ( 1 5 0 1 - 1 5 0 7) had been Bishop of

Rochester and London . He was nominated by the king, con firmed by the Pope , and installed by deputy . He was b on - uried the north west side of the choir, where his tomb remains . Ch ris top h e r B ay n b ridg e ( 1 5 0 8 - 1 5 1 4) had been Dean of

York , Dean of Windsor, Master of the Rolls, and Bishop of 1 1 1 c Durham . I n 5 he be ame

t . P rax e Cardinal of S e d . H e was sent by Henry VI I I . t o the ’ court of the Pope as King s

Proctor . There he died , poisoned by a servant . He was buried a t

S t . s Rome , in the church of Thoma the Martyr . Th omas W ol s e y ( 1 5 1 4 The facts of the life of this famous man are too well known to n eed repetition . H e was at once Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of s York , and afterwards Bi hop of Winchester and Archbishop of

1 1 . York . I n 5 5 be was created

S t . Cardinal of Cecilia, and papal legate . I t is said that Wolsey never was was at York , though he arrested at Cawood after his disgrace . Ed w ard L e e ( 1 5 3 1 The king delayed a year before he appointed Edward Lee, his

a . almoner , to the v cant see In 1 6 5 3 , when the Pilgrimage of

Y O R B H O P AVA . Grace broke out , he was seized EFFIG F A CH IS S GE by the rebels and carried to was Pontefract Castle , where he compelled to take an oath that he would support the rebel party . His tomb is in the choir . 1 - 1 Rob e rt H olg ate ( 5 4 5 5 5 4) was translated from Landaff.

H e su pported Henry i n the Reformation . H e was even c t his w an married . W hen Mary ame o the throne ife d his 1 5 2 YORK MI NSTER

. riches were taken from him , and himself cast into the Tower ’ After a year and a half s imprisonment he was released , and died soon after at Hemsworth .

- Ni ch ol as H e a th ( 1 5 5 5 1 5 5 9 ) had been Bishop of Landaff, i Rochester, and Worcester, and , under Mary, Lord Pres dent of

C S TOMB O F AR HBI HOP SAVAGE .

. a Wales and Lord Chancellor The Bull of Pope Paul IV . p pointing him to York is the last acknowledged in England . He obtained much of th e property from the Queen which

Henry VI I I . had alienated from the see . On the accession had of Elizabeth , Heath was deprived , though he proclaimed t ha her Queen . He re ired to Cob m in Surrey . The queen his c h e appears to have punished him only for Opinions , sin e him remained a firm Papist . Elizabeth even visited at Cob

1 . ham . H e died in 5 79

1 54 YOR K M I NSTER

o the R undheads , and changed his lawn for buff. He was buried at Llandegai Church . Accep te d F re w e n ( 1 66 0- 1 664) had been Bishop of Lichfield hi m 1 6 . s nominally since 44 As na e shows , he was Of m . Puritan family, but beca e chaplain to the king His monument is i n the choir. R 1 6 6 - 1 68 icha rd Ste rn e ( 4 3 ) had been Bishop of Carlisle . m He was expelled fro the mastership of Jesus College , and had imprisoned by the Puritans . He been chaplain to Laud , and was present at his death . His monument, unusually hideous , is at the east end of the cathedral .

1 8 - 1 6 8 6 J oh n Dolb e n ( 6 3 ) was translated from Rochester .

- He died of the small pox at Bishopthorpe . H is tomb, also very ugly, is in the north side of the choir . Th omas L amplug h ( 1 68 8 The se e Of York h remained vacant until the landing of William I I I . Lamplug , then Bishop of Exeter, posted to London to carry the news of the invasion to the king and to assure him of his loyalty . James i h m . thereupon appointed Archbishop of York He quickly, however, gave allegiance to William , and was confirmed in his ’ H is see . He assisted at William s coronation . monument is in the choir . J oh n Sh ar p ( 1 6 9 1 - 1 7 1 4) had been Dean of Norwi c h Of and Canterbury . He wrote an account the lives and acts of his predecessors , from Paulinus to Lamplugh . He was ’

s s . Anne s chief ecclesia tical adviser, a po ition he never abused

He died at Bath . S ir W illia m Daw e s ( 1 7 1 3 He had been chaplain t o in in ordinary William I I I . , Prebendary of Worcester, and 1 0 s s H e s 7 7 Bi hop of Che ter . is said to have lost the bi hopric of Lin c oln by a bold sermon which offended Anne . L an c e lot B la ckb urn e ( 1 7 2 4 - 1 74 3) was the subject of many slanderous stories , among others , that in his youth he had been chaplain on a pirate ship . He was certainly in the . s his Su b- We t Indies in youth . He became dean of Exeter, was 1 0 2 1 0 and forced to resign that office in 7 . I n 7 4 he was f 1 0 . O reinstated He became Dean Exeter in 7 5, and Bishop 1 s se e in 7 1 7 . He is said to have been rai ed to the of York

s s . for having married George I . to the Duche of Munster His Of manners were certainly free . Horace Walpole speaks him “ a s Old s Of m s the jolly Archbi hop York , who had all the anner TH E ARCH B I S HOP S OF YO RK 1 5 5

of of a man quality, though he had been a buccaneer, and was

a clergyman . But he retained nothing of his first profession

except his seraglio . H e died in London , and was buried ’ in St . Margaret s Church , Westminster . 1 - 1 n Th omas H e rrin g ( 743 74 7) was chaplain to the ki g . 1 2 of 1 I n 73 he became Dean Rochester, and in 73 7 Bishop ’ of Bangor . He was an ardent Whig, and when the 4 5 rebellion broke out raised in defence of the Govern

ment, besides stirring up the people . For these good services t f 1 o . o he was translated Canterbury He died dropsy in 75 7 . M a t t h e w H u t t o n ( 1 74 7- 1 75 7) was also translated from Bangor ; and from York to Canterbury . He died 1 8 in 75 . oh n i b e r 1 - 1 6 1 1 2 6 J G l t ( 75 7 7 ) became Dean of Exeter 7 ,

1 0 of S 1 . Bishop Of Landaff 74 , and alisbury 749 Rob e rt H ay Drummon d ( 1 76 1 - 1 7 76) was the second son

Of Da lin K in n oull . was Viscount pp , afterwards Earl Of H e 8 St . h 1 chaplain to George I I . , Bishop of Asap in 74 , and of

Salisbury in 1 76 1 . W illiam M ark h am ( 1 777- 1 8 0 7) had been headmaster f Be at ham f o S . O Westminster chool , H e became Dean 1 6 of 1 6 Rochester 7 5 , Dean Christ Church 7 7, and Bishop of

Chester 1 77 1 . In the same year he became tutor to the

Prince of Wales and Prince Frederick . He was buried in

Westminster Abbey . — E d w a rd Ve rn on H arcou rt ( 1 8 0 8 1 8 4 7) was the youngest Of son of Lord Vernon . H e became Bishop Carlisle i n 1 79 1 ’ I ’ He was a member of the Queen s Council during George I I . s on e of of incapacity, and the first members the Ecclesiastical Commission During his primacy there were t wo fire s in the minster, and he gave largely to the restoration fund .

I n 1 8 38 he declined the renewal of the Harcourt peerage .

H e died at Bishopthorpe . Th omas M us g rav e ( 1 8 4 7- 1 8 6 0 ) was the son of a Cam d a 1 8 bri ge tailor . He was Whig by politics , and in 3 7 was a appointed De n of Bristol . In a few months he was preferred to the bishopric of Hereford . H e is buried in Kensal Green cemetery. Ch arle s Th oma s L on g ley ( 1 8 6 0 became head Of S 1 8 2 s master Harrow chool in 9 , fir t Bishop of Ripon in H r 1 8 6 a 1 8 6 . e e 3 , and Bishop of Durh m in 5 was t anslat d 1 5 6 YORK MI NSTER

8 2 from York to Canterbury in 1 6 . He supported the Liberal 1 8 68 party in Parl—iament . He died in at Addington . 1 8 6 3 - 1 8 9 1 W illiam Th oms on (translated from Glon oester) .— 1 8 9 1 W illiam Con nor M ag e e (translated from Peter — 1 8 9 1 -1 9 0 8 W ill ia m D a l ry m p l e M a c l aga n (translated Li hfi l from c e d ) . 1 0 —C os o G o r d o n L a n OfSte n e 9 9 m g , formerly Bishop p y .

Con se c rated 2 5 January .

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Ael re d Pa n s s d c s o 1 . o 8 , Ar hbi h p , 4 uli u , Bi h p , . A s e f r m f s o o 1 1 . a e o G ace 2 2 i l Ch ir , 4 Pilg i g r , .

A c n 1 . an 1 . l ui , 7 Pl , 57 A c f - 6 s o s s o ca s o 1 0 1 . es e 1 . r hbi h p , hi t ri l li t , 4 5 Pr byt ry , 4 m r r o a s 1 1 1 1 8 . A i l , 3 , s k R e b e 2 2 . , o , Re co d oo 1 2 A rt r r m , 3 R e e d os 6 1 1 1 r , 4 , . s R m n 6 o s o a . , , Res o a on s . Bi h p t r ti , 45 f - o e c s o o b o 1 1 . , , , Re o c o r 1 1 8 . B w t Ar hbi h p t m 3 tr h i , R 2 2 c a d I I I . i h r , '

a d s 1 2 . , o , Ro e on l Eve ue c s o Ch Bi h p g r P t q , Ar hbi h p , - - C a e H o se 8 60 , 8 , 1 . R k , , o an Y or . h pt r u 3 9 5 9 39 m , 4 7 r a es I , 2 . Ro e n o n 6 3 2 . Ch l m y , J h , 3 , 4 o r 0 6 1 8 -1 2 0 on e n s in , 4 , , 9 ; , r c s o . Ch i m um t A hbi h p , 37 , 49 1 2 - 1 2 9 3 . ‘

e e s or n a e 2 c o 1 0 1 1 1 . Cl r t y , v , 7 ; h ir, 5 , S c e e n c o 8 -1 0 r , h ir , 9 3 . - C r 1 2 0 1 2 . ypt , 3 S c o e Arc b s o 2 1 . r p , h i h p, - S e e of o k 1 6 2 2 . i g Y r , 44, 4 7 D Y o k 1 a n es a t . r , 4 S a s c o 0 1 1 . t ll , h ir , D e n n s o s 1 . im i , 57

o as of a e c s o 1 2 . Th m B y ux , Ar hbi h p , 7 , 3 Eas e n d 6 2 . t , h 2 0 0 1 o e sb c b s o . E Th r y , Ar h i p , , 4 , 4 as w n d ow 2 . t i , 4 s an rc s o 1 8 . Ed w n n 8 1 1 Thur t , A hbi h p , i , Ki g , , . T - o b s 1 2 1 2 . E b e m , 4 3 , s o , 1 . g rt Bi h p 3 - an se s . 6 80 n o 6 6 Tr pt , 3 , 93 ; rth , 5 , 5 ; E e b a e e n 8 1 1 . th urg , Qu , , l so 6 -6 on en s in uth , 45 , 3 5 ; m um t , 1 2 - 2 7 1 9 . e s 1 2 . Fir , 3 , 3 , 44 , 45 a n se s e as e n 1 1 1 . Tr pt , t r , 4 , 7 o n d a on of c c 8 1 . F u ti hur h , , 3 o n a e 2 choir 1 0 . Trif rium , v , 7 ;o , 5 T ow ce n r e s , a , 2 , 66 ; wes . 2 ; la 1 0 1 -1 r t l 4 t 5 G ss , 46 , , 9 . 9 33 3 - so e s . 6 uth w t , 45 G a a e d e c s o . r y , W lt r , Ar hbi h p , 3

Ul hu H o f 1 2 Ha e d a of o of 2 1 1 2 s , o n , . tfi l , Willi m , t mb , , 5 , p r 4

U n e s of Y o k 1 . iv r ity r , 7

a e II 2 8 . J s , Va o d e n 8 1 0 1 1 m s o . ult , w , 4 , 97 , 5 , 4

m e D n 1 1 . J a s t he eaco , - Ves b e . ti ul , 9 3 9 5

ad a e 1 1 . y Ch p , 9 L l - e s n 8 8 6 . o , 3 , 4 5 b a 1 W t fr t Li r ry , 7 . d s o 1 1 1 2 1 . Wilfri , Bi h p , 7 , , , 3 - am S a n 1 2 1 2 . Willi , i t , 5 7 M a n n cen d a . rti , J . , i i ry , 44 am t he on e o 1 . Willi C q u r r, 4 n d ows e as 1 2 0 1 6 we s 1 , , , 3 ; , 37 , 5 , N a e n e o 68 - 80 n o s d e Wi t t , 37 ; , ; rth i , v i t ri r 8 c o 1 1 c e e s or 1 1 1 7 ; , 7 ; y , ; 6 so 66 on e n s in h ir l r t 5 ; uth , ; m um t , - a s e s 1 1 1 s a n ed 1 1 . - i l , 4 , 37 ; t i , 33 39 No an c c 6 . rm hur h , 33 3

f n . Oswa d K n 1 1 . Y o d e a on o a e l , i g , rk , riv ti m , 4 S

P r o usel loz/z cr ow n 8 7j o I S . 6d . n o ea f y C , , t r/z . N W E O R ADY .

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h r v N . . . . . z u n r b R e . . . d d o re 1 i e c e c e s d . A it tu y T PERKI S , M A F R A S E iti , A O - " B A . B NGOR . By P . B . IR NSIDE

. A E . . L . . . BRI STO By H J . L J M SS , M A

R . 6t h d on . C ANTE BURY By H ARTLEY WIT H ER S . E iti L C . . V. ARLIS E By C . K ELE

A A rd d on . C HESTER . By C H RLES HI TT . 3 E iti

C C . O TT 2 n d d on . . C C . H I HESTER By H RLE E , E iti ' ‘ h d on . . BY G A I . . C . . t DURHAM By J . E . E , A R A 4 E iti

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M A E . . t h d on . C . . . . . s s GLOU ESTER By H J L J , M A 4 E iti md n re se d U H . . . 2 d o HEREFORD . By A . H G FISHER , A R E E iti , vi

C L . . . C TO . rd d i ion r e v IS e d LI HFIE D By A B LIF N 3 E t ,

L h d on re se d . C . . . . t IN OLN By A . F KENDRICK , B A 4 E iti , vi - W r . L L . C . O A I L LM O T ANDAFF . By E M RG N h R C . t e R e v . . . . MAN HESTER By T PE KINS , M A ,

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" . R e v Y DE A R M E R . . 2 n d Ed 1 t 1 0n re i s e d O FORD By . PERC , M A , v

. R e v . . . W T . . rd d on re se d . PETERBOROUGH By W D S EE ING , M A 3 E iti , vi

CE C I I . A T . . 2 n d d on . RIPON . By H LI E , B A E iti

. A . 2 n d d n r s e d . C . . A M B . o e RO HESTER By G H P L ER , E iti , vi

. S . R e v . . S . . ST ALBAN By T PERKIN , M A - O B x . . . A ST ASAPH By P . B . IR NSIDE ’

P O B O z ud d on . ST . DAVID S . By PHILI R S N , E iti ’

ST t h e r R e v . e an A . 2 n d n . . C . e d o PATRI K S , DU BLI N By V y D BERN RD E iti ’

. . R e v . T M O . t h d on r s e U . e d . ST PAUL S By AR H R DI CK , M A 4 E iti , vi

S O T h n r e s e d . S . t d o ALIS BURY . By GLEE N WHI E 4 E iti , vi ’ W E . . O oR L v . S OUTHWARK, ST SAVIOUR S By GE RGE

d on re d . . R e v . T U M O . . 2 n d se SOUTHWELL By AR H R DI CK , M A E iti , vi

L . e Y DE A R M E R h n se . R v . . . t d o re d WEL S By PERC , M A 4 E iti , vi

. A n r e . C . . T . rd d o se d WIN HE STER By P W SERGE N 3 E iti , vi

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. O t h on . YORK By A . CLUTTON BR CK . 4 Ed iti Gilz e r s t o ol l w j o .

d . a r / r n gs 1 8 . 6 n e t e z . Un ifo m w it lz a bov e S o . L ON BATH ABBEY , MA MESBURY ABBEY , AND BRADFORD AVON

C . R e v . . . C . HUR H By T PERKINS , M A

L C A ATT s ra ons . 2 n d d on . BEVER EY M INSTER . By H RI ES HI 7 Illu t ti E iti ’ O U . . . R e v A O T . C C C . C ST MARTIN S HUR H , ANTERBURY By N N R LEDGE, M A

2 us r n s . 2 n d d on . F . S . A . 4 Ill t a tio E iti

R ev . . . ROM SEY ABBEY . By T PERKINS , M A - H A R OI D A . 2 n d d on . STRATFORD ON AVON . By B KER E iti W Ev oR L . THE TEMPL E C HURC H . By GEORGE ‘

BAR T H L M EW L . O O Y . S I . O O US SM ITHFIE D By GE RGE W RLE A E L . . B H . . TEWKESBURY ABBEY AND DEERHURST PRIORY . y J J M SS ,

s ra on s . rd d on . M . A . 44 Illu t ti 3 E iti V on \ ESTM I N ST ER C A S H I AT T . 2 11 d d ABBEY . By H RLE E iti

R e v . . P E R WIMBORNE M INSTER AND C HRI S TC HURC H PRIO RY . By T

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’ Bell s H an dbooks t o C on tin e n t al Ch u rc h e s.

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. he . . . . t R . . . e v . AMIENS B Yy T PERKINS, M A F R A S

NOTR E A HATT . PARI S ( DAME) . By C H RLES I E . H . . A . C L . B . . MONT ST M I HE y J L J M SS , M A

". h R M Y LN E . . t e e v . . BAYEU By R S , M A O n on s o f t h e P r e s s p i i .

For t h e os e a t c e aim he are ad a don e and e r purp whi h th y t y mir bly , th e a re fe w visitan ts t o a n y of our n o bl e shri n e s who w ill n ot enj oy the ir vis it t he e e for e n n s e d w on e of ese d e o s c ca n b tt r b i g fur i h ith th lightful b o k , whi h he s ed n o t he oc e an d ca ed h e ase an d is e t d s n c a n d lipp i t p k t rri wit , y i ti t e e . o u e s c as a o n a n e r is e ac a w e an l gibl A v l m u h th t C t rbu y x tly wh t w t , a n d on ou r n e s w e o e t o a e us . is o o e xt vi it h p h v it with It th r ughly h lpful , an d th e e w s of t he a c an d it s n o e ca e d a a r B vi f ir ity bl th r l e be autiful . o th o es ore o e s e e o e an a e o ar r ose an d are v lum , m v r, will rv m r th t mp r y pu p , ” s a —N ote" a n d u er i o a s e s d e . s tru tw rthy w ll lightful Q e . W e a e s o e ue n in t e s e co ns r e d th e an o f c e a e h v fr q tly h lum u g w t h p , w ll s ra e d a n d e - e n a nd oo s t o our c a e d a s t o t a e t he ace illu t t , w ll writt h b k th r l . k pl o f t he out - Of- d a e ca on s of oca oo se e s a w e a re ad t o t publi ti l l b k ll r , th t gl in ea a e a e e e n a e n an d essrs . eo B n h r th t th y h v b t k h by M G rge e ll S o s . ’

a 71zes s Ga z ett e. S t . j The o e s a re an d in s z e od e a e in ce e s ra e d a n d v lum h y i ,m r t pri , w ll illu t t , a r Th e s or o f a a n i in li writte n in a sc hol rly s pi it . hi t y c th e dr l a d c ity s t e l g e n tly s e t forth a n d accomp an ie d by a d e scriptive su rv e y of t he build i n g in all it s d e a . Th e s ra on s are co o s a n d e se e c e d a n d t he t il illu t ti pi u w ll l t , se ri e s bid s fai r t o be com e an i n d i sp e n sa bl e compan ion t o t he ca th ed ra l ' r _ z m es tou i s t in E n gl an d . T . “ e a re n ce od ce d in ood e on ood a e a n d con a n Th y i ly pr u g typ , g p p r , t i n e o s s a on s a re w e w r e n . a n d e c e a W e s o d im um r u illu tr ti , ll itt v ry h p . h ul a gin e a rc hit e c ts an d s tud e n ts of arc hite c ture w il l b e s ure t o buy t he serie s ” as e a e a for e con a n in e uc a a e n o a on th y pp r, th y t i bri f m h v lu bl i f rm ti . ' B r ffi s /L A ’ ’ e s a e d a S e e s so ad a ed ed is o e an a d e sc ri B ll C th r l ri , mir bly it , m r th p ' ti on of t he v ari ou s E n glis h cath e dral s . I t will b e a va lu abl e hi s to ri ca l d a n or of c se ce a o t o t he a e c T s ra on s e co d a s c . he r r , w k mu h rvi l r hit t illu t ti are w e ll s e e c e d an d in an cas es n ot e e a d a c e c a d ra n s l t , m y m r b l r hit tur l wi g re od c on s of e s e s on e fan c e s o c ed in e re a en but pr u ti xqui it t i , t u h th ir t tm t by ” — a n d d e d art S t a r . fan cy gui by . “ E a ch of th e m con tai n s e xac tly th at am oun t of i n form a tion whi ch th e in e e n s o w ho is n ot a s ec a s s t o a e . The d s os on t llig t vi it r, p i li t , will wi h h v i p iti o f t he ar o s a s is d c o s o or on e d an d t h e s e is e re ad v i u p rt j u i i u ly pr p ti , tyl v ry — a The s ra on s s a r e o an e a e e a re o bl e . illu t ti upply fu th r imp rt t f tur ; th y b th se e s c can n o a t o b e e o d b all w ho n um erou s a n d good . A ri whi h t f il w l c m e y ” - he e c e as a d n s Of n an d /as w H er a ld . are i n t e res ted in t cl si ti c l buil i g E gl . G go os e w h o e e r for ose s o f ro ess on a s d or for a c re d Th , ith purp p f i l tu y ultu ‘ ’ e c e a on fin d e e d e n t o d o t he n s ca ed a s w e co e r r ti , it xp i t E gli h th r l ill w l m ’ ’ f n a t he be gi n n in g of B e ll s C a th e d ra l S eri e s . Thi s s e t o books is a tte mpt t o con s o e c ose an d in e a e d e a an t he us a l d e - oo s ult , m r l ly , gr t r t il th u gui b k d o t h e n e ed s of s ors t o t he ca ed a o n s . The se r e s ca n n o , vi it th r l t w i t but I n e ac oo a s n e ss - e d e sc r on is prove m ark e d ly s u cce ss ful . h b k bu i lik ipti n o f th e fa r c of t he c c t o w c t he o e ela e s an d an n e giv e b i hur h hi h v lum r t , i t r The oo s a re e n s a e d or of t h e e la e d ocese . e s ti n g hi s t y r tiv i b k pl tifully illu tr t , d n r e can n o o e an d a re thu s m a e a ttra ctive as we ll as i s t u c tive . Th y t but pr v we l co me t o all c l asses o f re ad e rs i n t e re s t ed e ith er in E n glis h Church hi s tory ” —S eots m cm e c . or in e ccl e si as tica l archit ture . “ Th ey h a ve n o thi n g in com m on with t he a lmos t i n v ari ably wre t ch ed o s a e o a b a n d e r on co e o s in th e a a n d l c a l guid e s v p rt ility , th i ly mp tit r q u lity o f e r con e n s a re e e en s e an d os a e w o s e ac qu a n tity th i t t v ry xp iv m tly r r rk , h - r - The of a si z e th a t sugges t s a p ac ki n g case ra the th a n a coa t p ock e t . ‘ ’ a e e s a re m o a n c o a on s con ce rn n s or a c C a th ed r l S ri i p rt t mpil ti i g hi t y , r hi c e an d o ra an d e o a e n o for s c as a e an t e tur , bi g phy , quit p pul r ugh u h t k y ' ”— b k e l c/z . s in c e r e in t e re s t in th e i r s u b e c t s .