Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of York: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Archi-Episcopal See — John Shaqi
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of York: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Archi-Episcopal SeeClutton-Brock, A. (Arthur)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of York: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Archi-Episcopal See
Clutton-Brock, A. (Arthur)
York Minster
chiefly of the Fathers and of the later Latin poets, with a few books on
philosophy and grammar.
[Illustration: Bootham Bar.]
Thomas of Bayeux, the first Norman archbishop, found everything at York
in ruin and confusion. The minster and its outlying buildings, the
library, and the university were destroyed, and only one of three canons
remained in residence. He increased the number of these, and appointed a
dean--there had not been one at York before--and otherwise changed the
constitution of the minster. He further appointed a chancellor, or
_magister scholarum_, in charge of all schools within ten miles of York.
Among these was the Grammar School in the city, which still survives and
flourishes, under the name of St. Peter's School. In the nave of the
minster there is a window known as the Chancellor's Window, and
containing a representation of Robert Riplingham, a chancellor of the
fourteenth century, lecturing to his pupils. The library was never fully
replaced. The books at the time of the Reformation were few, and were
kept in a building close to the entrance to the south transept of the
minster, and now used as the archbishop's registry. This building was
erected in 1415. Most of these books are still preserved. In due course
Thomas rebuilt the minster, or part of it, on a modest scale. In his
episcopate the struggle for supremacy with Canterbury really began.
Thomas refused to make submission to Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury;
but Lanfranc represented to the king that the supremacy of Canterbury
was necessary as a bond of union between the south and the north. Thomas
was at last compelled to submit to Lanfranc himself, though he made
reservations with regard to his successors. In 1072 Worcester, and soon
after Lindsey and Lincoln, were taken from the see of York. The abbeys
of Selby and St. Oswald in Gloucester were given to the archbishop by
way of some return. Meanwhile 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, these pretensions were finally disposed of at Rome. In 1154
the sees of Man and Orkney were placed under the Archbishop of
Drontheim, and in 1188 the whole Scottish Church was released from any
subjection to York and placed under the direct control of the Pope. Only
one Scottish prelate, the Bishop of Whithorn, remained a suffragan to
York, but in the fourteenth century Whithorn also was lost to the
archbishops, and became a part of the Scottish Church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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