Edward I. made York his capital during the war with Scotland, to the expense of which the archbishop and clergy gave one-fifth of their income. Parliament assembled there in 1318. The archbishops were great politicians and intriguers, now plotting against the king and now supporting him; great military leaders, sometimes defeated, like Melton at Myton-on-Swale, where he led 10,000 men against the Scots, or victorious, like William La Zouche (1342-1352) at Neville’s Cross near Durham; and nearly always great builders and benefactors of the Cathedral. Richard Scrope’s rebellion is famous. Lord Chancellor of England and Bishop of Lichfield before he became Bishop of York in 1398, Scrope was advanced by Richard II. In 1405 he headed a rebellion and was captured. The Chief Justice refused to try him. He was taken to his own palace at Bishopthorpe, condemned to death and beheaded near York in 1405. Buried in the Minster, thousands flocked to his tomb in the north-choir-aisle. Naturally enough the king who had murdered him tried to check the stream of offerings; but Scrope’s tomb became more popular than that of St. William. Scrope was a Yorkshireman, the son of Lord Scrope, of Masham, and the Scropes had a chantry in the chapel of St. Stephen, now destroyed. The great central tower was erected in 1400-1423 and the church was re-consecrated on July 3, 1472; and so, at the close of the Fifteenth Century, York Minster existed as we see it: save for two fires (1829 and 1840) and a judicious repairing and restoration in 1871, the great Minster has not been changed. When Henry VIII. disestablished the monasteries there were many outbreaks in York, and the famous “Pilgrimage of Grace” (1536) was much excited by the seizure of St. William’s head, still a beloved relic of the Cathedral. Lee, then archbishop, was taken by the rebels and forced to support them. Before this, however, Thomas Wolsey had been arrested at Cawood. Though Archbishop (1514-1530), it is said that he was never at York. When York was besieged by the Parliamentarians in 1644, Fairfax restrained his soldiers to some degree, which explains why so much of the ancient glass is left. Thomas Mace’s description of the siege, however, shows how little respect the army really had for the Minster: “The enemy was very near and fierce upon them, especially on that side of the city where the church stood; and had planted their great guns mischievously against the church; with which constantly in prayer’s time, they would not fail to make their hellish disturbance by shooting against and battering the church; insomuch 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.”