CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION CHAPTER II IMPORTANT FACTORS AFFECTING THE HISTORY OF YORK ( a ) Geographical position; ( b ) Military value of its position; ( c ) Political importance CHAPTER III APPEARANCE A. General appearance Church, State, people; outside the city; population; area-divisions B. Streets Highways, traffic, open-spaces; Ouse Bridge C. Buildings Dwelling-houses, shops, inns; civic buildings (guildhalls); fortifications (castle, city walls, bars); religious buildings (Minster; St. Willia

In English history the fifteenth century is the last of the centuries that form the Middle Ages, which were preceded by the age of racial settlement and followed by that of the great Renaissance. Although the active beginnings of this new era are to be observed in the fifteenth century, yet this century belongs essentially to the Middle Ages. Perhaps the most attractive feature of the Middle Ages is that they were so intensely human. A naïve spirit appears in their formal literature, as in Chauc

Among the factors affecting this particular city geographical position is evidently the most important. It is to this, combined with the consequent military value of the site, that York owes its origin as a city, its importance in the Middle Ages, and its practical importance to-day. York, which is the natural centre for the North of England, is the halfway house between London and Edinburgh, and is on the shortest and quickest land or air route, however the journey is made, between these two ca

York is situated on the higher ground, in the angle made by the rivers Ouse and Foss at their junction; a little to the south, the east and the west there are low ridges of mound. The outer, main series of hills which border the central plain, are some dozen miles away, their outer faces being more or less parallel and running very roughly north and south. It seems clear that the site was chosen from the first for its immediate defensive value, the direct result of its geographical features. The

York, then, whatever its name (for it had many names) or condition, inevitably became an occupied place, a stronghold or a town from earliest times. When the Church attained great importance in the north, York, in addition to its natural and military values became, in 735, an ecclesiastical metropolis, for from this date the Archbishop of York was not only the ruler of the diocese of York, but in addition spiritual head of the Church in the North of England. Further, there were established in th

A general view of fifteenth-century York ("Everwyk" in Anglo-French and "Eboracum" in Latin) would give the impression of a very compact city within fortifications. Almost immediately it would be noticed how the three great elements of national society were very clearly reflected in the general appearance. First, the Church , the tremendous and ubiquitous power of which is emphasised by the strikingly beautiful and wonderfully constructed massive Minster, but so recently completed, standing, wit

Streets, as we use the word to-day, were quite few in number. They were usually called gates and were mostly continuations of the great high-roads that came into and through the city, after crossing the wild country that covered most of northern England, a desert in which a city was an oasis and a sanctuary. In the lofty and graceful open lantern-tower of All Saints, Pavement, a lamp was hung to guide belated travellers to the safety and hospitality that obtained within the city walls. For the s

Dwelling-houses ranged from big town residences of noble or distinguished families, by way of the beautifully decorated, costly houses of the rich middle-class merchants, to the humble dwellings of the poorest inhabitants. Every type of house from the palace to the hovel was well represented. The Archbishop's Palace, consisting of hall, chapel, quadrangle, mint, and gateway with prison, was near the Minster. Beyond the fine thirteenth-century chapel (now part of the Minster library buildings) ha

The Ouse was tidal and navigable right up to York. Trade, especially in woollen goods, was carried on in the fifteenth century by river and sea directly between York and ports on the west coasts of the continent and, especially, Baltic ports. On arriving at York the boats stopped at the quays, adjacent to which were warehouses, just below Ouse Bridge. The sea-going boats were not large. They were usually one-masted sailing ships, built of wood; they had high prows and sterns, with a capacious ho

"Parish government formed the unit in the government of the city. Each parish was a self-governing community, electing its own officers with the exception of its rector, making its own bye-laws, and, to meet expenses, levying and collecting its own rates. Its constables served as policemen, attended the Sessions, and acted as the fire brigade. They looked after the parish-trained soldiers, acted as recruiters, and had the care of the parish armour, which was kept in a chest in the church. They d

According to the general principle, the King was the ultimate and absolute owner and ruler of the land and people. The rights, liberties, customs, and powers possessed by individuals and corporate bodies were specified parts of the royal power which the King had granted on some consideration or other. Thus, knights, archbishops, and nobles received lands and rights in return for the provision, when required, of military service by themselves and a certain force of their retainers, except that no

Business, in one form or another, was the occupation of the majority of the citizens. There were a few capitalist merchants, many traders, and thousands of employed workpeople, skilled and unskilled. Such street names as Spurriergate, Fishergate, Girdlergate, Hosier Lane, and Colliergate would suggest that men in the same trade had their premises in the same quarter, possibly in the same street. The English middle class, which had taken form in the fourteenth century, was well established in the

Insistence can hardly be too great on the tremendous and wide-spread influence of the Church in the Middle Ages. The greatness of the Church continued during the fifteenth century; it derived from the traditions of an age when absolute power prevailed, from the undisputed usage of centuries, from a logical system of dogmas, and from international sanctions. The ornate services, allegiance to the distant Pope, the immense hold of the priests on the laity, the large territorial possessions of eccl

The only school engaged in higher education in York in the century was St. Peter's School, a very old foundation, where Alcuin, who (in 782) had carried educational reform to the land of the Franks, had been master. At this school, which was attached to the cathedral, were educated those who were to spend their lives in scholarship, especially, as now, after residence at Oxford or Cambridge; future priests and clerks; the sons of the nobility and of the more wealthy members of the merchant class

In the Middle Ages holidays were taken at festivals marked in the Church calendar. Some feasts, like that of Whitsuntide, were universally observed. The ordinary length of a festival was eight days, that is, the full week—the octave. Apart from pilgrimages, the ordinary people travelled little. Moreover the life and property of travellers were not altogether secure in the forest land, with the result that treasure and distinguished people travelled under the care of an armed escort. A large city

Class divisions were well marked. They appeared in manners, in dress, and in occupation. Fashions varied considerably as the century progressed. There were close-fitting dresses and loose ones, small head-dresses like the caul (a jewelled net to bind in the hair) and high and broad erections that went to the other extreme. Men now wore their hair long; later they had it close-cropped. Perhaps the most wonderful fashion was that which men followed in wearing hose of different colours. With all th

Life in York in the fifteenth century was active. Trade, home and continental, was flourishing. Building operations were in hand; work was always proceeding at the Minster or at one or other of the religious houses and churches. There were so many social elements established in and visiting York that something of interest was always taking place. Entertainments were plentiful and pageants were as well produced in York as anywhere in the kingdom. The city enjoyed a particularly large measure of l