York Minster - York, North Yorkshire
Second in importance only to Canterbury, York has one of the Church of England's two Archbishops. It's importance reflects the history of the city of York itself; once the Roman city and fortress of Eboracum, it was in York that the first Christian Caesar was proclaimed, Constantine and there is a statue of him outside the church today. Within thirty years of St. Augustine's arrival at Canterbury to convert the country, York was declared the centre of missionary Christianity in the North of England.
Little is known about the early churches here at York and it is not until the time of the first Norman archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux, who was appointed by William the Conqueror in 1070 that foundations remain visible. Thomas was responsible for the institutional pattern for non-monastic cathedrals that survives to this day. In York, unlike some other medieval cathedrals, the foundation was never monastic. Thomas of Bayeux introduced canons living the common life at York, later converting the Chapter to conform with the model to which he had been accustomed in Normandy, a fully secular Chapter of canons living in their own houses, enjoying separate incomes.
In 1137 York Cathedral was damaged by fire. The worst damage was to the eastern arm with the remainder being as patched up or improved. Newly quarried limestone was used in repairs to the walls which were re-rendered with red lines as before. However, even if the eastern arm had not been damaged in the fire, it would have been antiquated by the standards of other large churches of the twelfth century. As late as 1328, the marriage of Edward III to Philippa of Hainault took place in the Norman choir.
View of the Minster across York
Major rebuilding was undertaken under the new archbishop, Roger of Pont l'Eveque, in 1154. Over the years the east end was entirely rebuilt with the west end enlarged by the addition of a pair of towers, close together and projecting only a little beyond the side walls of Thomas's nave. Also at the west end a large chapel known as St Sepulchre's was built at an angle to the north wall of the nave. By the early thirteenth century the fame of the Norman cathedral at York had spread across Europe. Fashions were, however, changing and the first cathedrals in the Gothic style were already been built. Visitors at this time from Canterbury, where a new choir was constructed in this Gothic fashion, would have thought the York Minster to be very antiquated.
The largest Gothic Cathedral in Europe
It was not until 1220 that construction of the Minster as we know it began. Archbishop Gray and the Dean and Chapter decided to rebuild the Norman Minster on a scale to rival Canterbury. What survives is a remarkable monument to the energy and faith of the early middle ages. York's architectural styles span from the Early English style, through Decorated to Perpendicular.
The South Transept was the first section to be rebuilt between 1220 and 1250 with the North Transept both started and finished a few years later. Both transepts were built in the Early English Gothic manner and with similar interiors. The very different atmosphere created in each transept is attributable to contrast between their end walls. The south wall is in an elaborate French style featuring gables, arcading, and lancets thick on its surface with two tiers of doubled lancet windows below an ornate rose window. The north wall is so different it is hard to believe it was built at the same period: the Five Sisters, five tall, even lancets, rise above a blind arcade and are crowned by five graduated lancets in the gable. The effect is austere and graceful. While the South Transept is believed to have been the personal scheme of Walter de Gray it is his sub-Dean and eventual treasurer, John Romanus who is associated with the North Transept - whether the design was dictated by aesthetics or economics, it makes him a noble memorial.
Romanus was also responsible for the great central tower built at this period, which held the Minster bells and was almost certainly topped by a wooden spire. It is thought to have been heavier than the present tower, though carried on smaller piers, which probably explains its collapse in 1407.
The Kings of England - Richard I
The rebuilding of York Minster that began with the transepts went on almost continuously for two hundred and fifty years. The caved pulpitum, with its early English Kings facing the common worshipers dates from the fifteenth century and remains a focal point for visitors to the cathedral. York survived Henry's plunder of the great monasteries and churches at the Reformation and one of its chief glories, its glass, even survived Cromwell's iconoclasts, thanks to the Yorkshireman Lord Fairfax, who headed the siege of York and ordered the Minster's preservation.
However, later fires, in the first half of the nineteenth century destroyed much of the medieval choirstalls and a further fire during the 1980's caused great damage to the wooden roof. In the 1960's, the central tower was discovered to be on the point of collapse, but York Minster has been repaired and survives to be the focal point of this great city.