There are thirty canons, each having a seat in the choir and chapter house. The dignitaries are the dean, precentor, sub-dean, chancellor, succentor, and the four residentiary canons. Collectively they are known as “The Dean and Chapter of York”. Formerly each canon was provided with an assistant priest, termed a vicar-choral. The original number of thirty-six vicars-choral has been reduced to five. There was also a large number of chantry priests. The choir entrance is set in the screen, amidst figures of the kings of England from William I to Henry VI. The western end of the choir is occupied by canopied stalls, terminated on the north side by the pulpit, and on the south side by the _cathedra_ of the Archbishop. The high altar formerly stood a bay westward from the glazed screen, being set between the choir transept windows, which depict events in the lives of the two great northern saints, Cuthbert and William. Behind the high altar was a large painted and gilded reredos, with a door at each side, opening to the sacristy, where the bones of St. William were preserved in a portable shrine. The head of the saint was kept in a reliquary of silver gilt covered with jewels. The Lady Chapel consists of the four eastern bays. Over the altar is the great window--the largest one in the world containing its original glazing. The contract for the glazing is dated 10 December, 1405, and is made between the Dean and Chapter and John Thornton of Coventry, who undertook to portray with his own hand the histories, images, and other things to be painted on it, and to provide glass, lead, and workmen at the expense of the Chapter and to finish it within three years. Thornton was to receive for every week wherein he should work in his art four shillings and each year five pounds, and after the work was completed ten pounds as a reward. The window depicts scenes from the Creation to the death of Absalom and from the Revelation of St. John. The tomb of Archbishop Scrope is on the north side of the altar in the Lady Chapel. This Archbishop joined the insurrection against Henry IV, and was beheaded in a field on Bishopthorpe Road. Four of the vicars-choral conveyed the body to the Minster and buried it in the chapel of St. Stephen. Scrope was generally regarded as a martyr.