York is one of England’s most famous medieval cities, with its cobbled streets and wobbly buildings. Originally a small Celtic settlement before the Romans left their 400-year-long mark, by the Anglo-Saxon Period, York was a thriving medieval city. Today, visitors to the city can see evidence of every part of York’s 1,000-year medieval past, from the Anglos who took over the city after the Roman withdrawal, all the way to the grand architecture of the High and Late Medieval Period.
The Middle Ages in Northern England
The Kingdom of England was one of the most centralized European states throughout the High Medieval Period. Without the powerful dukes of France or the patchwork of counties, bishoprics, and republics of medieval Germany (the Holy Roman Empire), the Kings of England were able to manage a well-oiled bureaucracy that saw the nobility and the clergy mostly working in harmony for the governance of the land.
Nonetheless, the north of the country was markedly separate from the south; a tradition which northern Englanders proudly maintain to this day. This can arguably be traced to the Roman division of the island of Britain into Britannia Superior (in the south) and Britannia Inferior (in the north).
Following the Anglo-Saxon invasions, the northernmost kingdom of Northumbria was one of the most powerful in England, maintaining independence while the southern kingdoms came under the dominion of Wessex and Mercia. The subsequent Viking attacks and settlements in the north of England, and the establishment of a separate area of “Dane Law” helped to further distinguish this part of Britain from the rest — an effect which can still be seen in the place names across Yorkshire and the surrounding counties.
Even after the unification of England under Aethelstan and the conquest by William of Normandy, the kings of England, based in London, were forced to accept a degree of autonomy for the northern regions. The most independent of these was the city of Durham, governed by a cleric with the title prince-archbishop, and with the necessary independent powers to ensure a stalwart defense against any Scottish incursions. York’s position as a center of royal and ecclesiastical power in the north of England ensured its relevance and flourishing during the whole Medieval Era.
Dark Age York
York’s Medieval Period begins in the “Dark Ages” — the period between the withdrawal of the Roman army in 410, and the Norman Conquest in 1066. After the end of Roman Britain, migrants and invaders began to arrive from Germanic Europe, beginning the Anglo-Saxon Period. York and the north of England were largely settled by the Angles, a tribe from the north coast of Germany.
Anglian York is somewhat hard to locate among the later medieval architecture, yet one of York’s best-kept secrets is the Anglian Tower. This unassuming stone tower, sandwiched between the Yorkshire Museum Gardens and the King’s Manor, is thought to have been part of the royal fortifications of the Anglian kings.
Extant structures from this period are rare enough in England: only around 50 of England’s churches are visibly Anglo-Saxon in origin, and more often than not, just a single wall or entranceway remains of the pre-Norman stonework. The Anglian Tower is special because it is the only secular, non-church stone building from the entire Anglo-Saxon Period. Equally, the impressive Coppergate Helmet (York’s rival to the Sutton Hoo helmet in the British Museum!) dates from this period and demonstrates the wealth and power projected by the rulers and nobility of Anglian York.
York’s Viking history is perhaps its most famous; indeed, the modern name of the city comes from the Norse name, Jorvik, rather than the Anglo-Saxon Eoforwic, or Latin Eboracum. Viking York needs a whole article of its own, but the best place for any visitor to start is the Jorvik Viking Centre. This interactive museum contains the artifacts recovered from the excavation of Coppergate and a ride that takes visitors through a faithful reconstruction of the streets as they would have looked in the 10th century.
The second half of the museum contains the finds themselves. Though there is much evidence of the violent part of York’s Viking history in swords, axes, and wounded skeletons, by far the most interesting part of the Coppergate artifacts are the items that grant a glimpse into the everyday life of residents 1,000 years ago. Highlights include a single woolen sock and a shabbily repaired frying pan.
The High Middle Ages in York
York’s importance continued into the High Middle Ages. One of the great centers of wealth in the city was St Mary’s Abbey, first built in 1088 under the instruction of William the Conqueror to assert control over the region. Though all that remains visible today are some romantic ruins in the gardens of the Yorkshire Museum, St Mary’s was once one of the wealthiest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in all of England.
The abbot was comparable in power to the Archbishop of York, and the two great church buildings would have formed an impressive and imposing pair over the city. Unfortunately, the destruction of the Reformation and the dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII and his children left the abbey stripped of its wealth and then left to ruin.
Another enduring reminder of York’s High Middle Age is the King’s Manor, mere meters from the site of the ruin. This building was originally built in 1270 as a house for the influential abbot of the neighboring monastery, but the earliest remains of the present building date from the 15th century.
Upon the dissolution of St Mary’s, King Henry VIII instructed that the building host the Council of the North, until the organization’s abolition in 1641. The Council of the North was first established by Richard III of York, with the aim of controlling the legal affairs of Yorkshire and the northern counties. Henry VIII reestablished the council once more in 1537 after resistance to his reformation spurred mass Catholic revolts, notably a 30,000-strong rebellion in York. King James I also stayed in King’s Manor, during a three-day visit to the city.
In modern times, the manor was rented out to private tenants, then home to the Yorkshire School for the Blind, before coming under the ownership of York City Council. The council leased the building to the University of York, where it became home to the university’s Centre for Medieval Studies, though a recent announcement has suggested their plans to move education out of the historic building.
The Walled City
As with a lot of cities in the Medieval Period, York was protected by a network of walls around its perimeter. Unlike most of these towns in England, however, York still retains its historic walls. Though heavily restored and “smartened up” by the Victorians (with the occasional fantastical restoration, like the Robin Hood Tower), York’s walls demonstrate its rich history, with many segments displaying the medieval defenses built atop the previous Roman ones.
Visitors to York can walk the complete circuit of the walls and get a sense of the boundaries of the old parts of the city. York’s walls retained their integrity and purpose right up to the English Civil War. As a Royalist stronghold, the city was besieged by Cromwell’s Parliamentarians on July 16, 1644, and evidence can be seen in both musket holes and modified musket loops, used to fire outward. The walls were then repaired upon Parliament’s taking of the city.
The walls come to a halt between the River Foss and York’s castle, Clifford’s Tower. In times gone by, the river was used to flood the area around the castle to create a natural moat. Clifford’s Tower is a typical Norman castle, with its “motte” (the mound with the keep on top), and a “bailey” of supportive buildings and outside ring wall.
Through the years, the castle’s purpose has changed with the city’s needs. It played a part in the Royalist defense of the city during the English Civil War and the outer walls and bailey buildings were deconstructed to make room for a women’s prison in the 18th and 19th centuries, which are now part of the York Castle Museum.
Clifford’s Tower’s darkest period came in 1190 when antisemitic riots forced 150 of York’s Jews into the castle where they committed suicide and burned the wooden keep to the ground. The stone keep, built afterward by Henry III in the 13th century, stands to this day.
York Minster
York Minster is one of the greatest cathedrals in Britain and one of the largest medieval Gothic churches in all of Europe. York Minster was actually built atop the site of the basilica of the old Roman fortification. A trip below the floor of the church into the Undercroft Museum reveals evidence of the Roman site, but also many signs of the earlier constructions which stood before the present structure today.
The church of York Minster can be traced back to its original structure from 627, which was probably a temporary, wooden building for the sole purpose of the Northumbrian king, Edwin’s conversion to Christianity, and his marriage to Ethelburga of Kent. A stone building soon followed in the late 7th century and, despite numerous raids and attacks from the Vikings in the succeeding centuries, it appears to have survived up until the Norman Conquest. As with every other facet of society, William’s conquest brought about huge change, and the Saxon building was demolished in favor of a grand new minster in Norman Romanesque style.
By the High Middle Ages in the 12th century, York Minster was looking somewhat dated compared to the fashionable new Gothic style popular throughout Europe. This began an over 200-year-long process of rejuvenation, in which an outer “skin” of Gothic masonry was built outside the Norman building, and the older, inner walls were subsequently demolished. York Minster was only declared finished in 1472. Despite the destructive English Reformation, and several fires — both natural and arson — the minster stands proudly at the center of York to this day.
Aside from its stunning architecture, York Minster boasts the greatest single collection of medieval stained glass in the world. The Great East Window is one of the most impressive, depicting the Biblical Creation and Apocalypse—the beginning and the end of all things—and was designed and executed by esteemed glazier, John Thornton. The bottom of the window depicts historical and important figures, notably Bishop Skirlaw (1330-1405) who is credited with the window’s donation. The above 81 panels in a nine-column grid depict the Apocalypse Cycle, and the 27 above that, depict the Old Testament account of creation.
Finally, in the arching Gothic curves of the top of the window sit the company of Heaven: angels, Moses, Abraham, and the other prophets; the disciples and the Four Evangelists; saints, popes, and priests from across Christian history; and God at the very top as Alpha and Omega (the beginning and the end).
York’s Guilds
Guilds were at the center of life in the medieval world and York was no exception, boasting 96 of them at their height in 1415; surprisingly, nowadays, seven still remain. To do business in medieval York required joining a guild and failure to do so could have severe consequences, like social ostracization or even getting hounded out of the town.
Joining a guild came with benefits for a medieval craftsman too, however, such as a guaranteed fair wage, and a pension to ensure a member’s wife and children were cared for after the individual’s death. Guilds also offered a forum for price-setting, controlling competition, ensuring fair wages, and negotiating disputes between tradesmen.
A few guildhalls survive in York, but none are as magnificent as the Merchant Adventurers’ guildhall. No medieval tour of York is complete without a visit to the hall, which is rare in its survival, let alone its included chapel — most guildhalls fell foul to religious persecution during the English Reformation due to their participation in Catholic tradition. York’s Merchant Adventurers’ Guild continues to this day, offering charitable funds for the city and young entrepreneurs.
These guilds also collaborated together once a year to put on a fantastic performance for the people of the city and beyond. York’s so-called “mystery plays” were a spectacle and one of the most costly and impressive across England.
These plays recounted 48 biblical scenes and toured around the city, with each guild taking ownership of the actors and baggage trains for their allocated performance. Viewers would have therefore seen these plays in the “wrong” order — perhaps seeing Jesus’s crucifixion before his birth! Organizing such an event in a time before radios, instant messaging, and GPS would have been a feat in itself. Historians have estimated that the spires of York’s many churches would have made excellent watchtowers for marshals with flags and smoke signals to communicate with and direct the processions below.
Today, efforts have been made to recreate the plays, which were suppressed by 1569 after the Reformation. Though nothing of the scale of its medieval might has been achieved, several modern revival attempts have taken place, most recently in 2022.
