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
York is historically connected with several of the emperors. Two of
them, Severus and Constantius Chlorus, died there, and Constantine the
Great, the son of the latter, was hailed emperor at York, if it was not
the scene of his birth. At York also were the headquarters of two of the
legions, the 9th and the 6th; and there is little doubt that in course
of time it came to be regarded as the capital of the island. In fact,
according to Professor Freeman (_Macmillan's Magazine_, Sept. 1876),
"Eburacum holds a place which is unique in the history of Britain, which
is shared by only one other city in the lands north of the Alps (Trier,
Augusta Trevirorum)." We learn little of 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 the empire. For instance, in 208, Severus was in
York, and it became for a time the headquarters of the court.
The Emperor Constantius died at York in 306, and there is a tradition
that hundreds of years afterwards his body was found under the Church of
St. Helen-on-the-Walls, with a lamp still burning over it. Many churches
in the neighbourhood of Eburacum were dedicated to his wife Helena, the
legendary finder of the True Cross. It has been supposed that
Constantine the Great was born at York, but this is probably untrue,
though he was proclaimed emperor there. In the middle of the fourth
century the Picts and Scots began to make inroads, and it is probable
that they captured York about 367 A.D. They were shortly afterwards
driven northwards by Theodosius the Elder. At the beginning of the fifth
century there were further invasions repelled by Stilicho, but in 409
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 less even is known than of
the civil. There are few relics of Roman Christianity in the city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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