AN HISTORICAL & DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE Dork ITS ANTIQUITIES. GEO. AYLIFFE POOLE, M.A., VICAR OF WEI.FORI), AND J. W. HUG ALL, ESQ., ARCHITECT. WITH A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION Y O R K PUBLISHED $£ BY P. SUNTEK, STONEGATE. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/historicaldescriOOpool_0 PREFACE. [HE Authors of the following Historical and Descriptive Account of the Cathedral Church of St. Peter at York, have endeavoured to pro- duce a work more correct and scientific than an ordinary guide, and, at the same time, less diffuse and elaborate than the voluminous work of Drake. It would be unjust to dismiss the results of their labours, without acknowledging the help they have derived from those who have toiled in the same wide and fruitful field before them. First in time, in authority, and importance, is the Chronicle, which is known as " Stubbs's Chronicle." The author of this valuable history carries his work down to iii YORK CATHEDRAL. the time of Archbishop Thoresby, with whom he was doubtless contemporary. There can hardly have been a generation during which an ecclesiastical body of so great importance as the Cathedral clergy of York was without its chronicler, noting from time to time the more striking events which passed under his own eyes : and the fruits of such labour were doubtless within reach of Stubbs, when he aspired to the more comprehensive task of fram- ing a continuous history of the Church of York to his own time. Whatever were his sources of information, we are enabled, from our present antiquarian knowledge, fully to corroborate their truth, in almost every minute particular, so that we have no hesitation in admitting his entire authority. Nor should we forget the a priori reasons for giving the greatest weight to the testimony of the monkish chroniclers on subjects relating to the build- ings, beneath the shadow of which they dwelt. They were not only nearer in time than we are to the events which they record, but (which is much more important) they lived while each generation recognised as a benefactor, and admired as an example, those who had procured the iv YOEK CATHEDRAL. erection of any material part of the fabric, which was daily growing up to its perfect form and beauty. They may or they may not have had the skill to decide from the character of a building in which they had but an antiquarian interest, whether it was of the Norman or of the Plantagenet era; but they certainly could not readily be deceived as to the benefactors to whom they owed the nave in which they daily walked, or the choir from which they daily sent up their prayers and praises to Heaven. Who Stubbs was, and whether the name is correctly given, as has been doubted, is perfectly unimportant. It is enough that the work is clearly of the time to which it professes to belong, and that its author was in possession of authentic sources of information, which he used with industry and judgment : and the same remark holds good of the Chronicle since Thoresby's time, which is quoted under the same name. Drake's "Eboracum" holds a middle place, as well in character as in age, between a mediaeval chronicle and a modern descriptive work. We need not add that it is YORK CATHEDRAL. most valuable in its own province; but all who have used the topographical and antiquarian works of the last century as guides in architectural history, will know that however useful as references to authorities, they are most unsafe masters in the application of the records to which they refer. Few, therefore, of the authorities of Drake have been used without reference to their original sources, and none without testing their truth by the character of the fabric to which they relate. The work of Mr. Halfpenny, entitled " Gothic Orna- ments in the Cathedral Church of York," has a value far beyond that which it shares with all drawings of the details of mediaeval art, from being the only authentic memorial of several parts of the Cathedral destroyed by the fire of 1829. Partly on this account, and partly from the great number of subjects of which it gives engravings, it is largely referred to in the present volume. Mr. Britton's " History and Antiquities of the Metro- political Church of York," is singularly valuable for its beautiful plates. To Mr. Britton we have to express our thanks for permission to reprint his catalogue of Arch- VI YORK CATHEDRAL. bishops, with the contemporary Kings of England and Popes, to which we have added a column, showing the parts of the Cathedral in progress during each Epis- copate. To Professor Willis the obligations of the authors of this volume are somewhat peculiar. Though it has ap- peared so long after, the MS. of this work was completed before the publication of the Professor's " Architectural History of York Cathedral." A careful perusal of that work led often to strong confirmation of what had been already written, sometimes to additional information, and in one or two instances to a change of statement on important questions. We have in all cases acknowledged such obligations, and have sometimes even referred to the Professor as an authority, when we had ourselves made the same assertion, or used the same materials. In no case can we hesitate to defer to the better judgment, and more felicitous arrangement of one who stands alone in combined ecclesiological and constructive knowledge, and in the happy tact to make buildings and documents in- terpret and illustrate each other. vii YORK CATHEDRAL. All these materials would have been far less valuable, but for the kindness of Mr. Charles W. Thiselton, to whom we are indebted for many extracts from original docu- ments, now in the custody of his father, the Secretary to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of York. We have one other debt to acknowledge, and that not the least. The perfect professional knowledge of Mr. Bannister, the present master-mason, which he freely communicated, enabled us, in a few days, to make far more perfect notes of the fabric, than we could have done without his help, in many weeks. G. A. P. J. W. H. viii 1 § ■♦ ♦ m § At RftVrrncf io tbr .fHuhumrrtts Sc £ B Arrbb p ltiTntftan^e>a)tt^»« V fnnc t Milium be UniUtlti From »TW m button's York Catliedrid "Reference O A.rrljb\fl[IiiUbfroB - - IT AtcSb X S*Tr$i3iU™ <&ee*2x&&3>cr^&> (Conunuft) X -Jan* *)0ifloii,>«*^etf«*e*ft>e>9 1 &otttfa rt»aj> *r 2 &Uuxauu tc Kcrosft lurr/m 3 ©Pi rtrggU0fn,C 5Jran»t:pt B 4 SWrroavtVomtf At*lr of biUo . r > SioormaD to tftreiibulr .-•>- € l^oornjap toiTbapm 'fjou«r b F. Bedford Lith. Iky I As toh^i* the Qurt> CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Early History of the Cathedral 1 CHAPTER II. Examination of the Saxon and Norman Remains .... 22 CHAPTER III. History of the Transepts 39 CHAPTER IV. Description of the Transepts 46 CHAPTER V. The Chapter-house 56 CHAPTER VI. History of the Nave 59 CHAPTER VII. Description of the Nave 65 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII, PAGE History of the Choir 81 CHAPTER IX. Description of the Choir 101 CHAPTER X. The Central, or Lantern Tower, and the Western Towers . 120 CHAPTER XI. General Observations on the foregoing History . . . . 129 CHAPTER XII. The Monuments 160 CHAPTER XIII. Recent History of the Fabric 169 CHAPTER XIV. The Vestries, and Archbishop Zouch's Chantry . . . . 186 Description of the Plates 192 A Chronological List of the Archbishops of York, &c. . . 201 York Cathedral Organ 207 CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PETER'S, YORK. Feet. In. Total length, externally 524 6 Width of East end, ditto 130 Width of West end, ditto 1400 Length of Transepts, ditto 250 Width of ditto, ditto 117 G Length of Minster, internally 486 Width of East end, ditto 990 Width of West end, ditto 109 6 Length of Choir, externally 2366 Ditto, internally 223 6 Width of ditto, externally 130 Width of ditto, internally 996 Height of ditto, ditto 102 Length of Nave, ditto 264 Width of ditto, ditto 104 6 Height of ditto, ditto 99 6 Height of Lantern or Central Tower, externally 213 Height of Arches of ditto, internally 1 85 Height of East Window 760 Width of ditto 32 Diameter of Chapter-house, externally 99 6 Ditto, ditto, from glass of opposite windows 63 Height of ditto 67 Height of Western Towers 202 Length of each of the Five Sisters 54 Breadth of ditto 5 3 Length of Transepts, internally 223 6 Width of ditto, ditto 93 6 Height of the Organ Screen 25 Breadth of ditto 50 Height of West Window 54 Width of ditto 30 Western Towers are 32 feet square. I 53 fa »o co o CO 10 o 00 cm o GO 00 CM CN CO CO pq . CO CO GO ICS »o CM 00 00 GO CM I— 1 CM CM CM H*> CO CO OS CM CO CM CO (M CM O O IO CM CM CM 1— 1 (M cm o CS 1-1 xii YORK CATHEDRAL. A TABLE, POINTING OUT AT ONE VIEW THE PEEIODS IN WHICH THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CATHEDRAL WERE BUILT, AND BY WHOM. South End of the Cross Aisle or Transept, begun by Archbishop A. D. 1997 North End of the Cross Aisle or Transept, completed by John le Romaine, Treasurer of the Church — temp. Henry III. . . . 1260 The Nave, begun by Archbishop le Romaine — temp. Edward I. 1291 The Nave, finished, with its Western Towers, by Archbishop 1330 The Choir, begun by Archbishop Thoresby — temp. Edward III. 1361 The entire finishing of this part of the edifice is uncertain, probably about 1406 — temp. Henry IV. The Central Steeple, or Lantern Tower, as it is commonly called, begun by Walter Skirlaw, Bishop of Durham — temp. Edward III 1370 The entire finishing did not take place till the reign of Henry V., about 1412. The Chapter House. — No records remain to certify the exact period, or by whom it was built; though generally believed coeval with the West End or Nave, about the reign of Edward I. 12D1 Total number of years in erecting the whole edifice, about 150. Since the commencement of the building to the year 1850, G23 years. xiii 3 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER I. EARLY HISTOEY OF THE CATHEDEAL. HERE is scarcely a city in England of which the ancient ecclesiastical history is better deter- mined than that of York. The most remote accounts must, indeed, be confessed to be almost legen- dary in their character, but this is the case with the early history of almost every city; and nothing can be more unphilosophical than to discard legendary history altogether, especially where it is consistent with pro- bability and with well-ascertained facts. Of great importance as a Roman station, 1 York may be probably presumed to have had a church under the 1 The Roman remains in York are among the most curious in the kingdom. b 1 YORK CATHEDRAL. empire; 1 and accordingly Sanso, or Sanxo, whose name is latinized into Sampson, 2 is said by Matthew of West- minster to have been placed here as Bishop by King Lucius, who erected metropolitan churches at London, York, and the City of Legions, or Caerleon on Usk. We should give up this history with regret, for, at all events, it had its influence on the churches of York in after times; and is, therefore, whether true or not, a part of the archaeological literature of that city; for a church (as Drake observes, the only one in the kingdom,) was dedicated here to St. Sampson, and we cannot help suspecting that the history of Sampson carved on certain panels, in the interior of the present nave, has at least a covert allusion to this archbishop. The history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, though it is derived from a still more ancient Armorican MS., is 1 It should not be omitted that York is generally supposed to have given the first Christian emperor to Rome, Constantine the Great being commonly accounted a native of that city. 2 Godwin questions the truth of this on account of the name of the supposed prelate. " Mos siquidem," says he, " nondum erat receptus veterum, seu Hebrceorum, seu sanctorum Christianorum, nomina usurpandi ;" but if this is the only difficulty, it must vanish at once, on the ground that Sampson is the latinized form, used afterwards by a Latin chronicler, for the British name. 2 YORK CATHEDRAL. hardly accounted worthy of implicit faith. We must not, however, omit to mention that he tells us how Aurelius Ambrosius, after the death of Vortigern, sum- moned the consuls and princes of the kingdom to York, when he gave orders for the restoration of the churches which the Saxons had destroyed, and himself undertook the rebuilding of the metropolitan church, and of the other cathedrals in the province. 1 In a subsequent part of his history, the same author brings in the renowned King Arthur as a benefactor of the church of York, and also incidentally establishes, so far as his authority goes, the existence of Archbishop Sanxo, as reported by William of Malmesbury, though he refers his appointment to Aurelius Ambrosius. " The king," says he, speaking of Arthur, "after his general pardon of the Scots, went to York, to celebrate the feast of the Nativity, which was now at hand. On entering the city, he beheld with grief the desolation of churches; for upon the expulsion of the holy Archbishop Sanxo, and of all the clergy there, the temples, which were half burnt down, had no longer divine service performed in them, so much had the impious rage of the Pagans 1 Geoffrey of Monmouth, viii. 10. YORK CATHEDRAL. prevailed. After this, in an assembly of the clergy and people, he appointed Pyramus, his chaplain, metropolitan of that see. The churches that lay level with the ground he rebuilt, and (which was their chief ornament) saw them filled with assemblies of devout persons of both sexes." 1 And now, (again protesting against such accounts as these being set down as utterly useless,) we descend to undoubted history, which tends rather to confirm than to discredit the accounts of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and of William of Malmesbury; for it assures us of the existence of an episcopal see at York, long before the time of Paulinus, who is ordinarily reckoned the first Archbishop, though we have no better circumstantial notices of that see, than those just quoted. Now, as early as the year 314, Eborius, Bishop of York, was among the representatives of the Church of England, in the Council assembled at Aries, to condemn the heresy of the Donatists; 2 and where there was a Christian Bishop, there was, we may at least reasonably presume, a Cathedral Church. 1 Geoffrey of Monmouth, xix. 8. We have used Dr. Giles' translation. 2 Collier's Ecc. Hist., Book I. Cent. iv. 4 YORK CATHEDRAL. In the interval between the fourth century and the sixth, the Christians of this island suffered so grievously from Pagan invaders, that they were nearly extirpated ; and the preachers who came, under happier auspices, to revive the half-expiring Church, had the labours of Mis- sionaries before them, and required the faith and courage of Apostles to support them in their task. 1 The early History of the Cathedral of York is identical with that of the revival of Christianity in the northern half of the Island, and it would be idle to follow other authority than that of Venerable Bede. Edwin, King of Northumbria, sought in marriage Edil- burga, daughter of Ethelbert, King of Kent, who had been converted, with his whole house, to the faith of Christ, by Augustine. And as her mother before her, so was Edilburga, an instrument in the hands of Providence in preparing the way for the Gospel. The Christian lady 1 The history of the Church of England, during the Saxon rule, is very obscure; but it is too important to be omitted, that when Augustine came from Rome, he not only found Luidhardus, a Christian Bishop, in Ethelbert's household, but that there were many British Bishops, with whom Augustine sometimes came in contact. One of the questions of Augustine to Gregory is as follows : — " IIoio are we to deed with the Bishops of France and Britain V And a part of the answer is, — " We commit the Bishops of Britain to your care." — Bede. YORK CATHEDRAL. was sent only on condition that she might follow the faith of her father, with all her retinue; and Paulinus was consecrated to accompany her, (July 21, 625.) The good Bishop was intent on higher espousals than those of Edwin and Edilburga. He was earnestly bent on espousing the nation to which he was sent to one husband, that he might present her as a chaste virgin to Christ. After many incidents, which, interesting as they are, we must pass over, as not bearing directly on our subject, King Edwin held a council, at which Coifi, the chief of the heathen priests, was the first to recommend that the idols and the temples should be destroyed. Nor was he slow to perform what he had proposed. He presently requested the king to give him arms and a horse, that he might mount and ride forth to destroy the idols ; and having girt a sword about him, with a spear in his hand, he got upon the horse, 1 and proceeded to the idols. The multitude, beholding it, concluded he was distracted; but he lost no time, for as soon as he drew near the temple he profaned it, casting into it the spear which he held ; and, rejoicing in the knowledge of the worship of the 1 " Arma dare et equum emissarium: non enim licuerat pontificem sacrorum, vel arma ferre, vel praeter in equa equitare." — Bede, II. 13. 6 YORK CATHEDRAL. true God, he commanded his companions to destroy the temple, with all its enclosures, by fire. This place, says Bede, where the idols were, is still shown, not far from York, to the eastward, beyond the river Derwent, and is now called Godmundingham, where the high-priest, by the inspiration of the true God, profaned and destroyed the altars which he had himself consecrated. " King Edwin, therefore, with all the nobility of the nation, and a large number of the common sort, received the faith, and the washing of regeneration, in the eleventh year of his reign, which is the year of the incarnation of our Lord, 627, and about one hundred and eighty after the coming of the English into Britain. He was baptized at York, on the holy day of Easter, being the 12th of April, in the Church of St. Peter, the Apostle, which he himself had built of timber, whilst he was being catechised and instructed, in order to receive baptism. In that city, also, he appointed the see of his instructor, Paulinus, and began to build, after his directions, in the same place, a larger and nobler Church of stone, in the midst whereof that same oratory which he had first erected should be enclosed. Having, therefore, laid the foundation, he began to build the Church square, encompassing the former YORK CATHEDRAL. oratory. But before the wall was raised to the proper height, the wicked assassination of the King left that work to be finished by Oswald, his successor." 1 As for Paulinus, he continued for six years, to the end, that is, of the reign of Edwin, preaching the word of God, under the protection and countenance of the King; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed and were baptized, among whom were Osfrid and Eadfrid, sons of King Edwin, whom Quoenburga, daughter of Cearl, King of Mercia, had borne him in her exile; and afterwards his other children, by Edilburga the Queen, iEdilhun, and his daughter, iEdilthryd, and another son named Vuscfrea, the two former of whom, dying in the white garments of their baptism, were buried in the Church at York. 1 " Baptizatus est autem Eburaci die sancto paschse, pridie iduum Aprilium, in ecclesia sancti Petri apostoli, quam ibidem ipse de ligno cum catechizaretur atque ad percipiendum baptisma imbueretur, citato opere construxit. In qua etiam civitate ipse doctori atque antistiti suo Paulino sedem episcopatus donavit. Mox autem ut baptisma consecutus est, curavit, docente eodem Paulino, majorem ipso in loco ot augustiorem de lapide fabricare basilicam, in cujus medio ipsum quod prius fecerat, oratorium includeretur. Prseparatis ergo fundamentis in gyro prioris oratorii j)er quadrum coepit sedificare basilicam. Sed prius quam altitudo parietis esset consummata, rex ipse impia nece occisus opus idem suc- cessori suo Osualdo perficiendum reliquit." — Bcedce Ecc. Hist. II. xiv. 8 YOKK CATHEDRAL. The direct history of the Church of Paulimis closes here; but we collect, incidentally, that though it was square in form, 1 yet it had, like other churches of that age, at least one portions, called " Porticus Sancti papas Gregorii." Notwithstanding the etymological rela- tion between the Latin Porticus, and the English Porch, 2 the word Porticus is perhaps most correctly translated Apse, at least when it forms part of a description of a Saxon or Norman edifice, though it sometimes, where a later building is referred to, designates an aisle. In all pro- bability, the " porticus sancti papa? Gregorii," mentioned 1 But in gyro seems to indicate that part at least was round, though per quadrum would lead to the conclusion that it was rectangular. Is it not consistent with this description, or at least as consistent as anything else would be, to suppose that an Eastern apse encircled the old baptistery, in gyro, the body of the church being built per quadrum 1 This, however, must be accepted as purely conjectural, and as an attempt to interpret the language of description by the most probable form of the object described. 2 It is worthy of remark, that even the word porch is not so strictly appropriated as may be supposed. It often signifies aisle in mediaeval records. See Bloxam's Gothic Architecture, (ninth edition,) p. 265, note. Mr. Bloxam does not seem to have remembered the reasons which Pro- fessor Willis gives (Canterbury Cathedral, p. 39) for translating porticus, apse. In the passage quoted below (p. 13) this must almost necessarily be its meaning : porticibus circumdata multis, cannot be surrounded by many porches, — it can hardly be surrounded by many aisles; but it ex- presses well enough the way in which the apsidal Chapels of a Saxon Church, in all probability, surrounded it on all sides. YORK CATHEDRAL. by Bede 1 as the place where the head of Edwin was buried, was a Chapel, with an altar of St. Gregory, in an apsidal ter- mination, before which the head of King Edwin was placed. The next mention of the Church of York is in con- nexion with the greatest ecclesiastical architect of Saxon times. Wilfrid 2 was made Bishop of York in 669, and retained the See, with some intervals, 3 into the causes of which we shall not here enter, till 691. When he came 1 The words of Bede are as follows : — " Adlatum est autem caput iEduini regis Eburacum, et inlatum postea in ecclesiam beati apostoli Petri, quam ipse coepit, sed successor ejus Osualdus perfecit, ut supra docuimus, positum est in porticu sancti papa? Gregorii, a cujus ipse disci- pulis verbum vita? susceperat." Is it possible that a wooden head, found in the choir, and then sup- posed to belong to an effigy of Archbishop Rotherham, can have any relation to the head of King Edwin, which would be treated as a relic, and perhaps exhibited by proxy; or to the head of Archbishop Scrope, who we know, after his judicial murder, was accounted and reverenced as a martyr? Why the head especially of Rotherham should have a wooden substitute is quite unaccountable, even on the presumption that he died of the plague, and that his obsequies were performed over an effigy, instead of his true remains. 2 He was the founder of the Churches of Hexham and Ripon. Eddius, and after him Richard of Hexham, and William of Malmesbury, (the two last writing after the introduction of the Norman style had cast all except very noble Saxon edifices into the shade,) describe the former as a very magnificent structure. 3 The right to the metropolitan throne was contested by Wilfred and Cedda ; the latter is reckoned the second, and Wilfred the third archbishop. 10 YORK CATHEDRAL. to his Church, in the reign of King Edwy, he found the very stone walls half ruined; the roofs, already grown old, let in the water ; the windows were open ; birds built their nests in the Church, and the walls were con- taminated with their filth, and with the stains of the weather. All which, when the holy Bishop saw, accord- ing to the words of Daniel, his spirit was grieved within him, because he found the house of God and of prayer converted, as it were, into a den of thieves, and lie presently determined on restoring it, according to the will of God. First of all, he repaired the roof, skilfully covering it with sheets of lead: he shut out the weather and the birds, without impeding the light, by glazing the windoivs. He washed the walls, and made them, as the Prophet speaks, whiter than snow. Moreover, he not only adorned the house of God and the altar with rich furniture, but he acquired, also, many estates, with which he enriched it, and so converted its poverty of worldly goods into abundance. 1 1 Igitur supradicto Rege regnante, beataa memorise Wilfrido Episcopo Metropolitano Eboracse civitatis constitute*, Basilicse oratorii Dei, in ea civitate a sancto Paulino Episcopo in diebus olim Eadwini Christianissimi Regis primo fundatae, et dedicatse Deo, officia semiruta lapidea eminebant. Nam culmina antiquata tecti distillantia, fenestrseque apertae, avibus nidifi- I I YORK CATHEDRAL. This passage is perhaps more interesting from the light which it throws on the resources of the ecclesiastical architect of that day, than for any additional information which it gives us of the fabric of the Church at York in particular. We find the use of glass and of lead thus early introduced; and probably of lime in the form of whitewash, for nothing besides would be described by the terms parities lavans super nivem dealbavit. We have next two notices, which historians have hitherto referred to the Minster, the use of which the provoking but most just preciseness of Professor Willis's examination obliges us, however reluctantly, to forego. These are (first), Roger Hoveden's mention of a fire, which destroyed a monastery at York, on Sunday, the cantibus intro, et foras volitantibus, et parietes incultse, omni spurcitia imbrium, et avium, horribiles manebant. Videns itaque lisec omnia sanctus Pontifex noster secundum Propbetam Danielem, horruit spiritus ejus, in eo quod domus Dei et orationis quasi speluncam latronum factam agnovit, et mox juxta voluntatem Dei emendare excogitavit. Primum culmina corrupta tecti renovans, artificiose plumbo puro tegens, per fenestras introitum avium et imbrium vitro probibuit, per quod tameu intro lumen radiebat. Parietes quoque lavans secundum Propbetam, super nivem dealbavit, earn enim non solum domum Dei, et altare, in varia supel- lectili vasorum intus ornavit, verum etiam deforis multa territoria pro Deo, adeptus, terrenis opibus paupertatcm auferens copiose ditavit. — Eddius. 12 YORK CATHEDRAL. ninth of the calends of May, a.d. 741, but without any- thing to specify the Cathedral Church, especially as that of the monastery in question; and (secondly), the descrip- tion which Alcuin gives of a new church, 1 erected by his patron, Archbishop Albert, 2 but again without any indica- tion that he speaks of the Cathedral Church, indeed, with some indirect signs that he was relating the erection of a distinct edifice. As the passage from Alcuin is, however, valuable as a description of a church of the eighth century, by a contemporary and an architect, for he was himself employed by the Archbishop in its erection, we shall transcribe it. The passage occurs in a poem on the Church and on the Archbishops of York. It is as follows : " Hsec nimis alta domus solidis suffulta columnis Suppositfe quae stant curvatis arcubus, intus Emicat egregiis laquearibus atque fenestris; Pulchraque porticibus fulget circumdata multis, Plurima diversis retinens solaria tectis Qua? triginta tenent variis ornatibus aras." 3 1 We had ourselves thus cited it until we saw Professor Willis's work, though we were unable to assign any existing portion of the crypt to the age of Albert. 2 To Wilfred succeeded Bosa, 677; John, 685; Wilfred IL, 718; Egbert, 731; Albert, 7G7. 3 This lofty temple, supported by solid pillars, on which curved arches rest, is resplendent within with beautiful ceilings and windows; and shines in its beauty with surrounding apses; and having beneath its several roofs many Chapels, in which are thirty altars, with their furniture and decorations. 13 YORK CATHEDRAL. It will be observed, that the terms are so vague as to afford little knowledge of the character of the particular fabric to which they refer; but Ave have, what is ex- tremely important in the general history of architecture, the multiplication of Altars and Chapels, which so greatly modified the arrangements of Churches throughout the middle ages, and which we shall have to bear in mind in our conjectural plans of the early Cathedral of York. The laquearia, inner roofs or ceilings of wood, here mentioned by Alcuin, rendered the Saxon Churches extremely liable to be destroyed, or greatly damaged, by fire; and the Church of York, with its noble library, thus perished immediately after the Conquest. In the year 1068, the Northumbrians called in the assistance of the Danes, to drive out the Norman invaders. " Osbern, the Danish general, at the head of the con- federate army, marched directly towards York, where, we may imagine, they were not unwelcome to the citizens. The Norman garrison in the castle were resolved to hold out to the last extremity, not doubting but their King would speedily come to their assistance. Making all things ready for a siege, the Normans set fire to some houses in the suburbs, on that side of the city, lest they i i YORK CATHEDRAL. should serve the enemy to fill up the ditches of their fortifications. This fire, spreading by an accidental wind, further than it was designed, burned down the great part of the city, and with it the Cathedral Church, where that famous library, which Alcuin writes of, 1 placed there by Archbishop Egbert, about the year 800, to the unspeakable loss of learning, was entirely consumed in the flames." 2 The architecture of the Normans was so unquestionably superior to that of the Saxons, that it would hardly be a cause of regret, after the first shock was over, that the metropolitan church had to be rebuilt by Thomas, a Canon of Bayeaux, a Norman, and Chaplain to the Conqueror, who was made Archbishop in 1070. 3 1 In the Poem just quoted. 2 Drake's Eboracum, p. 87. Drake follows the authority of Hoveden. 3 William of Malmesbury gives Thomas a very high character, and attributes to him precisely the qualities which would make him zealous and successful in all his attempts to promote the splendour of the Church and of its services. " Vir fuit omni vita integer, et cui nihil vel in gestis, vel in dictis succenseri debeat, nisi quod primo Archiepiscopatus tempore, in causa primatus Cantuariensis, magis errore quam pertinacia certavit. Elegantia personatus spectabilis, desiderio videntibus erat; juvenis vigore et sequalitate membrorum commodus, senex vivido faciei rubore, et capillis cygneus. Liberalitate sua successores suos contristavit, ut qui multam terrarum Episcopalium partem in Clericorum usum, nimie YORK CATHEDRAL. Stubbs, the faithful chronicler of the Acts of the Archbishops of York, here comes to our aid. He thus relates in how terrible a time of devastation, both of the country and of the Church, Thomas entered upon his Archiepiscopate. When this Thomas accepted the Arch- bishop's throne, the city of York and the whole surround- ing country were almost utterly destroyed with fire and sword by the Normans, at the command of William. The metropolis and the Church of St. Peter, with its ornaments, were burnt, and all the records and monu- ments belonging to them were either reduced to ashes or dispersed abroad. Nor was the more immediate neighbourhood of York the only part of the north that suffered. Nine years had elapsed before the country between the Humber and the Tyne again repaid the toil of the husbandman. Under the care of Thomas, the (ut dicunt) prodigus distraxerit. Clerum sufficientem opibus et Uteris adunavit : ecclesiam a fundamentis inclioatam consummavit. Ccelibatum ejus nunquam sinister rumor aspersit : philosophus antiquis scientia com- parandus, nec elatus sermone, et vultu comis, moribus dulcis. Nec cantu nec voce minor, multa ecclesiastica coniposuit carmina. Siquis in auditu ejus arte joculatoria aliquid vocale sonaret, statim illud in divinas laudes effigiebat : illud apud Clericos quam maxime agere, ut masculam in eeclesia musicam haberent, nec quicquam effceminate diffungentes, tenero (ut Persius ait) supplerent verba palafo." 16 YOKK CATHEDRAL. Church and its establishment soon assumed a happier face. He roofed the Church, and restored it, as well as he could; he rebuilt the refectory and the dormitory; he appointed a prior, and recalled the scattered canons. He built the Church which now is from the foundations, and adorned and enriched it with clergy, books, and decorations. At length, after he had lived to crown King Henry I., 1 on the 5th of August, 1100, he finished the course of a virtuous and painful life at Ripon, and was buried in his own Cathedral, next unto Aldred, his immediate predecessor. 2 " Once more raised to grandeur," as Drake continues the history, " the church continued in great prosperity 1 Drake. 2 Quando Thomas iste archiepiscopatum suscepit, civitas Eboraca et tota regio circa jubente rege Willielmo a Normannis ferro et flamma penitus fuit destructa. Incensa quoque beati Petri Metropolis, ecclesia et ornamenta, illius cartas et privilegia combusta vel perdita fuerunt. Cuncta circumcirca hostili vastatione invenit depopulata : patria vero a cultore destituta a magno flumine Humbrae usque ad ultimos fines fluminis Tynae per ix. annos horrida solitudine squalebat Ecclesiara quae nunc est a fundamentis fecit, et earn clericis, libris et ornamentis ornavit et munivit Vixit autem in archiepiscopatu annis ferme xxx. et octavis sancti Martini hoc est xiiij. kal. Decembris apud Rypon obiit. Sed delatus Eboracum juxta prsedecessorem suum beatae memoriae Aldredum in Eboracensi ecclesia sepultus est. — Stubbs, Actus Pontifaum, Hist. Any. Scrip. Decern, pp. 1708, 1709. I 7 YORK CATHEDRAL. till the year 1137, when, June 4, a casual fire began in the city, which burned down the Cathedral again, and along with it St. Mary's Abbey, and thirty-nine parish churches. This accident happened in the episcopacy of Archbishop Thurstan ; and we find an indulgence granted soon after, by Joceline, Bishop of Sarum, setting forth that, ' Whereas the metropolitical Church of York was consumed by a new fire, and almost subverted, destroyed, and miserably spoiled of its ornaments, therefore to such as bountifully contributed towards the re-edification of it, he released to them forty days of penance enjoined.' m Almost all succeeding notices implicitly copy the assertion of Drake, that the Church lay " in ashes all the time of Archbishop Henry Murdac and St. William, Thurstan's immediate successors, until Archbishop Roger, anno 1171, began to rebuild the choir with its vaults, and lived to perfect them." But it is in itself very improbable that a Church of such importance as the Metropolitan Church of York should be in a state of such utter destitution for six and thirty years. There is, however, no reason to doubt the earliest account of the rebuilding of the choir and its crypts by Archbishop 1 Drake, 473. is YORK CATHEDRAL. Roger, the nave and transept of Archbishop Thomas of course remaining. This Roger (says Stubbs) rebuilt the choir of the Cathedral Church, with its crypts, and the archiepiscopal palace situate near the Church. 1 He also founded a Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, at the gate of the Palace itself, and on the north side of the same Church; and this Chapel he endowed with eleven Churches, five of which had been erected at his own charge. The remain- ing six were already founded by certain of the faithful of his diocese. He provided also for the service of thirteen Ministers of the several orders, for the celebration of the divine offices there, four of whom were to be Priests, four Deacons, and four Subdeacons, and one Sacrist, who was set over the rest, and was charged with the custody of the Chapel itself, and with the proceeds of the before- mentioned eleven Churches. And for their sufficient maintenance he provided that each Priest should receive yearly, from the Sacrist, ten marcs, each Dean a hundred shillings, and each Subdean six marcs of silver, the rest of the proceeds being retained by the Sacrist for his own use. And because the Canons of the Cathedral were very 1 The remains still exist on the north side of the Minster close. 19 YORK CATHEDRAL. angry that the Chapel was erected too near the mother Church, the Archbishop provided for the acquittal of the said Canons, and the future peace and goodwill of the Archbishop and Canons, that the Sacrist of the Chapel should discharge the expenses which fell on the Canons for the ceremonies of Maunday Thursday, both for food and wine, for ale and vessels, and for warm water for the washing of the feet of the said Canons, and of the Clergy, and of the poor, as well as ten shillings of silver, to be distributed to sixty poor men, after the washing of their feet, and the victuals, which, according to the custom of the mother Church, were distributed on that day. 1 1 Idem etiam Rogerus chorum ecclesise cathedralis sancti Petri Eboraci cum criptis ejusdem et palacium archiepiscopale in Eboraco, quod juxta ipsam ecclesiam situm est, de novo construxit. Condidit etiam capellam Sancti Sepulcri ad januam ipsius palacii ex parte boreali ejusdem ecclesise beati Petri, ac ipsam in bonore Dei genitricis Marise et sanctorum Ange- lorum dedicavit, eamque undecim ecclesiis quarum quinque ex propria sua largitione, sex vero ex collatione quorundam fidelium sme diocesis, extiterant quas eidem capellse conferri procuraverat, dotavit et xiij. ministros eccle- siasticos diversi ordinis ad celebrationem divinorum in ea perpetuos instituit, quorum quatuor esse sacerdotes, quatuor diaconos et quatuor subdiaconos et unum sacristam qui prseesset reliquis decrevit, quern cus- todem ipsius capellae et procuratorem proventuum omnium dictarum xj. ecclesiarum ad eandem capellam pertinentium constituit. Et ne eisdem ministris competens deesset sustentatio, statuit idem archiepiscopus, ut 20 YORK CATHEDRAL. Archbishop Roger died in 1181, 1 and was buried, as historians relate, in the middle of the choir which he had built. No traces of his monument have ever been discovered, though a tomb in the north aisle of the present nave has been assigned to him, in defiance of all history, and to the confusion of all archaeological principles. unusquisque praedictorum presbyterorum decern niarcas; unusquisque autem diaconorum c. solidos, unusquisque subdiaconorum sex marcas argenti quolibet anno per manus sacristse perciperet. Residuum vero prsedictorum reddituum in usum sacristse converti disposuit. Et quia canonici prsefatae ecclesia? beati Petri super situm dictse capellse, eo quod nimis adhsesit matrici ecclesia?, penes Arcbiepiscopum Rogerum graviter murmurabant, statuit idem archiepiscopus ad eorum canonicorum et suc- cessorum suorum exonerationem, et perfectse pacis et caritatis et unitatis inter ipsos arcbiepiscopum et capitulum ecclesise beati Petri et successores ejusdem perpetuam firmitatem, ut sacrista ejusdem capellse ea quae ad eosdem canonicos spectant in die csense Dominicse tarn in epulis quam in vino, cervisia et vasis et aqua calida ad ablutioncm pedum ipsorum canon- icorum et clericorum et pauperum et x 8 - argenti Ix. pauperibus post ablu- tionem pedum suorum distribuendos, et victualia quae secundum consuetu- dinem matricis ecclesise solebant ipso die pauperibus post ablutionem pedum ministrari, sumptibus suis propriis inveniret. — Stubbs, p. 1723. 1 After Albert the succession of Archbishops to Roger was as follows : — Eanbald, 780; Eanbald II., 707; Wulsius, 812; Wimund, 831; Wilferus, 854; Ethelbald, 900; Redward, 921; Wulstan, 941; Oskitellus, 955; Athelwold, 971; Adulfus, 992; Wulstan II., 1002; Alfric Puttoc, 1022; Kinsius, 1050; Aldred, 1061; Thomas, 1070; Gerard, 1100; Thomas II., 1108; Thurstan, 1114; Henry Murdoc, 1144; St. William, 1153; Roger, 1154. 21 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER II. EXAMINATION OF THE SAXON AND NORMAN REMAINS. AVING now followed the general history of the Church to the close of the twelfth century, we proceed to examine the fabric for traces of the several works which have been recorded. We are indebted to two most unhappy events, for the means of testing the generally-received history of the Saxon and Norman portions of the Cathedral at York. On the second of February, 1829, the roof and all the wood-work of the choir were destroyed by fire, and in the course of the consequent works a crypt, of which the existence had not been suspected, was laid bare. The remains were excavated with great diligence, and most 22 YORK CATHEDRAL. carefully preserved; but unfortunately no one was at hand with sufficient knowledge of ecclesiastical archi- tecture to read their history aright, while they were exposed to the open light of day; indeed, however suc- cessfully individual ecclesiologists may have worked out the history for themselves, Professor Willis is certainly the first person whose published account can be at all relied on. Again, on the 20th of May, 1840, the nave suffered the same calamitous destruction which had befallen the choir so shortly before; and now again, the pavement having been partially removed, sufficient traces of the Norman nave were discovered to throw considerable light on the history of the Church. In both cases, the accounts before given from Stubbs were verified, as we shall pre- sently find. Before we ask the reader to follow us in our description of the plan of the earliest Cathedral, we must make some general remarks, applicable to the ecclesiastical buildings of the twelfth and preceding centuries. Saxon and Norman Cathedral Churches differed in several respects, besides the details of their architecture, from more recent fabrics of the same relative importance. 23 YORK CATHEDRAL. The most remarkable differences were, — that the choir, 1 or the eastern limb of the cross, was always much shorter in the most ancient Churches; that a crypt, with its several altars, was generally carried beneath the choir, or part of it; and that the eastern termination of the choir, and the eastern end of some or other of the Chapels in the transepts, and sometimes even the north and south ends of the transepts themselves, were usually apsidal, or semi- circular, a form very soon discontinued in the subsequent style. Thus the general plan of the Saxon or Norman Church was that of a cross, with a short eastern limb, and an eastern apse at least, and with a crypt beneath the choir: and in studying any traces of Saxon or Norman work, the arrangements of which may have been obscured, this is the normal form with which they must be compared. Now the crypt beneath the choir of York, where alone the Saxon remains, and where chiefly the Norman remains are discovered, has suffered many mutations, and requires to be examined with great care, and with every available 1 The term is here used in its architectural, not in its ritual sense. The ritual choir, in Saxon and Norman Churches, was, in fact, extended into the western arm of the cross. 24 YORK CATHEDRAL. help. Its several parts are of very different forms, cha- racters, and proportions ; and it has undergone strange and confusing restorations. As seen at present, by the light of a lantern, and choked up with the successive walls of Saxon, Norman, and Perpendicular periods, besides the system of brick arches introduced after the recent destruc- tion of the choir, this crypt is quite unintelligible. In describing it we shall, therefore, imagine the floor of the choir opened, and, with the light of day and the whole structure laid bare, we shall try to reduce it to some consistency with the preceding history, and with the arrangements to which it must be referred. As the structure was probably uniform, we have given little more than one half in the plan ; and, indeed, the southern side is so much more intercepted and covered with recent work, that it could only be completed by conjecture. And first, we search for traces of the Saxon Church. Immediately beneath the first northern pillar of the present choir, reckoning from the great tower piers, are the jambs of a richly decorated Norman door-way. 1 (a, Plate I.) Passing through this, and proceeding eastward, we find ourselves between two Norman walls, which form 1 This is figured in Plate II. E 25 YORK CATHEDRAL. a passage or ambulatory (E), fourteen feet in width, and more than twice that length. The northern wall of this passage is the outer wall of a Norman Church ; but the southern wall, or that to our right hand, though Norman in its present features, invites farther examination, and proves to be, in its core, of more remote antiquity. This core (A), or central portion of the wall, is of herring- bone masonry, 1 and is nearly five feet thick. 2 There is nothing in this character of masonry alone to determine its date; but when it is remembered that the casing, which is clearly posterior to the formation of the original wall, is Norman, and that the entire obscuration of the fabric thus cased over cannot be supposed to have taken place until long after its erection, we shall be prepared to infer that this inner wall of herring-bone masonry must be of Saxon date, and may be part of the first stone Church of Paulinus. The part thus determined is of course but a very small portion of the Saxon church, and it would be most hazardous to infer from it the dimensions or proportions 1 The character of this masonry is given in Plate III. 2 To speak more exactly, the inner wall or core is 4ft. 8in. thick; the outer Norman casing, 3ft. 6in.; and the inner Norman casing, 2ft. 26 / YORK CATHEDRAL. of the original structure. We may, however, almost without hesitation, presume that after the analogy of Saxon Churches in general, the choir of the church here indicated, terminated at the east end in an apse, and we should be disposed to place the centre of the chord of the apse at the point (&), which is directly under the place of the high altar in the original arrangement of the present Cathedral. It is certainly in some degree con- jecture, but it is at least a plausible conjecture, that here was the place of Edwin's baptism; — that here, in the porticus or apse of St. Gregory, mentioned by Bede, the head of Edwin was buried, the only part of this prince which found a tomb being deposited in the place where he had been made a member of Christ; — that here, or immediately over it, the spot being thus consecrated to the affections of the people, the high altar has always stood. 1 We have still the crypt of the Saxon Church unac- counted for, and this, we believe, may be done by borrow- 1 At Brixworth, in Northamptonshire, portions of the crypt of the Saxon chancel still remain. For other instances, see Buckler's ground plan of St. Albans, and Professor Willis's Conjectural Restorations of Canterbury and of York. In the latter case, the Professor has not carried the apse so far to the east as we should be disposed to do. 27 YORK CATHEDRAL. ing the suggestion of Professor Willis, that the slab of stone (c), now shown as an altar within the Saxon choir, and the steps said to be the ascent to this supposed altar, are, in fact, part of the floor of the Saxon choir, and of the steps leading down to the " Confession," a crypt beneath the high altar of the Saxon Church. 1 Of the Western extent of the Saxon Church there is not the slightest trace ; but, judging from analogy, there can be no doubt that the nave was of very considerable length. 2 Having thus described the Saxon remains, we proceed to those of the Norman Church of Archbishop Thomas. Now we must bear in mind that the cycle through which the greater Churches have passed is usually of this kind. The choir being first wanted for Divine service, was first erected, and it was, so long as it continued of the original fabric, successively beautified and enriched, till it was found too small or mean to receive the addi- tional decorations of more luxurious times. Meanwhile 1 See Willis's History, p. 19, and Section, p. 16. 2 The total interior length of the Saxon Church of Brixworth, a remote and insignificant cell of the monastery of Medeshamstede, now Peter- borough, was 134 feet. 28 YORK CATHEDRAL. the transepts and the nave were rebuilt in the style of successive generations, until there was a church with nave and transepts of a higher order of architecture than the choir. Then, at last, the choir was rebuilt, and the har- mony of the whole edifice was restored. York has twice run through this cycle, a noble Norman choir having completed it the first time, under Archbishop Roger; a still more gorgeous perpendicular choir having completed it the second time, at the close of the fifteenth century. When Thomas, the first Archbishop after the Conquest, came to his throne, he found a Saxon nave and choir, and perhaps transepts. The whole Church retained traces of the desolation which had fallen on it before, and imme- diately after, the Conquest. The first and most essential work before him was to restore and beautify the choir, and that with a rapidity inconsistent with its re-construc- tion, for it was required for the daily service. This done, "he built the Church which now exists," (ecclesiam qua; nunc est, a fundamentis fecit,) says Stubbs, "from the foundation ;" 1 i. e. most probably he determined on its erection, — laid down uniform plans, — and, commencing 1 Or may it not be supposed that Stubbs transcribes some record of Thomas's work written before the time of Roger, and inadvertently con- 29 YORK CATHEDRAL. with the nave and transept, carried on the work without intending to touch the choir, in which Divine service continued to be celebrated, and which, besides, had been rendered by his repairs the most perfect part of the whole, till the last. This part he did not, in fact, live to finish, so that he still left room for Roger, after an interval of nearly a century, to build "the chancel with its crypt." And now, what traces shall we find of this work? We will first turn to the nave. We have already stated, that here again occasion was taken to determine the proportions of the original nave, after the fire of 1840. It was impracticable, and, indeed, it was unnecessary to lay bare any large portion of the original foundation; but in No. I. of Professor Willis's plans is shown the spot where a portion of the south aisle wall was discovered, which proved that " the Norman nave was about twenty feet narrower than at present, from side-aisle wall to side- aisle wall." 1 Thus, we have a nave of ample width, as compared with the average of Norman Churches, and allowing ten feet for the width of each of its aisles, tinues the expression, quce nunc est, though, in fact, it had long ceased to exist in Stubbs's time ? 1 Willis, p. 9. 30 YORK CATHEDRAL. which is a fair proportion for Norman aisles, 1 the central portion was of the same width that it is now. As for the extent westward, we can only supply it by analogy with other Churches, 2 and we may fairly presume that it was not much shorter than the present nave, and that, according to the almost universal type of large Norman Churches, its west front was flanked by two towers. Such a nave as this demanded proportionate choir, tran- septs, and tower. But the choir we have already found attributed to Archbishop Roger, after an interval of nearly a century; we do not, therefore, look for the work of Thomas in the choir, though it is clear that he could not intend that the Saxon choir, of extremely limited proportions, should ultimately remain as the eastern limb of his new foundation. Of the transepts and the tower, traces are still visible, and we may even infer their proportions with considerable probability. About the base of the present tower are certain remains (B), which do not belong to the present structure, 1 It is about the width of the nave aisles of Durham. 2 The present nave of York is 2G4 feet in length. The Norman naves of Ely, Peterborough, and Norwich are respectively 327, 231, and 230 feet : that of Winchester, originally Norman, is 247 feet. 31 YORK CATHEDRAL. especially an arch (/), which was in all probability the support of a circular stair still visible in an angle of the transept roof, and a wall running in the direction of the present North transept, which is joined by an- other at right angles to it, terminating in the com- mencement of an apse (g). If carried round with the same radius as that of the very small segment remaining, this apse would be of about 30 feet exterior, and 22 feet interior span. This is a very suitable size for an apse, and it is in a place where such an appendage might be expected. Thus far, then, we can have no hesitation in restoring the Norman transept by the completion of this apse, and as there was clearly no Eastern aisle, we infer, following an universal analogy, that there was no Western aisle to the transept. 1 The area of the tower will be decided by that of the nave, at least with great probability ; and we shall find traces of a tower of about the same dimensions with the present tower, in several places; indeed, the present tower piers are in fact (though they do not seem so at first sight) Norman piers, cased 1 For this latter inference we are indebted to Professor Willis. The apse we had already supplied, or rather completed, from its remaining fragments, before his work appeared. 32 YORK CATHEDRAL. and otherwise altered to their present form, a process which, we need hardly observe, was carried through the whole of the nave piers of Winchester Cathedral. The visible indications of the size and character of the Norman tower consist chiefly of certain remains in the angles, both in the crypt and over the aisle roofs. These are a portion of a newel staircase (e), 1 which appears in the North-east angle of the tower, between the outer roof and the vaulting of the North aisle of the choir; and a portion of the Norman wall, with a base of a shaft in an arcade remaining outside, at the North and South-west corners of the tower. Now these remains were attached to a tower of even larger external dimensions than the present, which is the largest existing tower in England. 2 1 Their situation is marked in the bases of the tower piers, in Plate I., though they are only visible above. 2 Stated somewhat roughly, but nearly enough for the present purpose, the following are the external dimensions of several towers : — York, present 65 York, ancient about 66 Canterbury 48 Winchester, (Norman) 62 Hereford, (Norman) 55 Durham, (Norman) 52 Old St. Paul's, (originally Norman) . . 68 St. Alban's 55 p 33 YORK CATHEDRAL. The staircases must necessarily follow the history of the tower: they were probably carried up in angle turrets above the roof of the tower, as at St. Alban's, which was in course of erection during Thomas's episcopate. The area of the body of the old nave was equal in width with that of the present nave, with aisles as wide as those of Durham, and many other Norman Churches: indeed the Normans, who seldom attempted to vault a large space, built their aisles, which they did vault, of narrower pro- portions than were afterwards admitted. Supposing, then, that each aisle was ten feet narrower than at present, the body of the nave would not be disproportioned to the vast tower which rose at the intersection of the cross. We may now briefly describe, of course in some degree conjecturally, the Norman Church of Archbishop Thomas. It consisted of nave and aisles, and transepts without aisles, with a very massive tower at the intersection. The choir was still the same as that of the Saxon Church, and ended, probably, in an Eastern apse. There was certainly an Eastern apse to each transept, and not improbably more, but no traces remain to determine this point. The nave was shorter than the present nave, but yet of very considerable length, and it had probably two Western 34 YORK CATHEDRAL. towers, flanking the principal entrance. The tower was of vast proportions, with large stair-turrets running up the Eastern angles, and seemed to demand a choir of greater mass to support it on the Eastern side : for this addition it had to wait till the episcopate of Roger, which extended from 1154 to 1181. The upper part of the choir of Archbishop Roger was wholly removed, as we shall find by and bye, at the erection of the present choir, but the crypt ascribed to him is almost entirely visible. 1 Descending, as it may be presumed that the brethren of York in Roger's time descended, by a passage cut through the work of Thomas, to form an entrance to the crypt from beneath the central tower, we find ourselves in a chamber (D), nearly square, but necessarily deranged in its form by ancient founda- tions, with which it would not be safe to interfere. We advance, therefore, Eastward, to the first place where there is free opportunity to commence rectangular arrange- ments; and here occurs the door (a), of very rich Nor- man work, which may be called the entrance to the crypt. We have still, however, to pass Eastward through the 1 The walls of the choir and crypt of Roger are marked C in the plan, Plate I. 35 YORK CATHEDRAL. passage (E), before the crypt expands to its proper dimen- sions. This passage is formed by a Norman casing of the Saxon wall (A), and by the outer wall of the Norman Church, and, from the remains of vaulting shafts and springers, was evidently groined. The crypt itself consisted of a body and two aisles, with transepts near the east end. The north aisle (F) is still visible; it is separated from the body or central space (G) by clustered pillars (&), of great strength and considerable beauty ; and this space was again, as is uni- versally the case in crypts of large size, subdivided by two rows of slighter pillars. The whole of this space was covered with a groined roof. At H we turn into a North transept, which had its cor- relative at the South, and find a four-clustered pillar (7), to carry the vault over the opening of the transept. This aisle is still continued Eastward, until it reaches the end of the Church. Thus far all is uniform, and of one date; but there are a few insertions which require to be mentioned. At m m are the bases of two shafts, of a very rude quatrefoil section, which are not in a line with anything around them, and of which the use is not very apparent. 3G YORK CATHEDRAL. They may have served as supports to some masonry con- nected with the high altar over the point (6), in the Church above. At n 71 n, in the chamber D, are bases of shafts clearly introduced after the building of the door-way. Now we have already supposed that the door (a) was chosen as the more imposing entrance to the crypt, as being in the first place, where a rectangular arrangement could be followed. But, practically, the chamber D was the en- trance from the Church, and would, therefore, ultimately receive some reasonable enrichment. After, therefore, all the rest was finished, and probably after Roger had built his own palace, and the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, of which works mention is made in the before cited passage from Stubbs, this chamber may have been groined. The bases have the same section which still remains in the arcade forming part of the palace, but is not found in any portion of the crypt, which gives a reasonable colour to this supposition. Over this crypt was built the choir of Roger's founda- tion. Unlike most Norman choirs, it had no apse at the East end, and it was also longer than usual, and had transepts, an arrangement very rare until the next cen- 37 YORK CATHEDRAL. tury. These Professor Willis supposes to have been the bases of towers, analogous with those in the choir of Can- terbury ; nor does he neglect to mention, that Roger had first been Archdeacon of Canterbury, and to compare the two fabrics, in which he finds several common features. With regard to proportions, the choir, though rebuilt on a much larger scale, was still narrower than the nave; but, on the other hand, its aisles were wider, which gives a nearer approach to later proportions. 38 YORK CATHEDEAL. CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF THE TRANSEPTS. RCHBISHOP ROGER died November 22, 1181, and after an interval of ten years, Geoffrey Plantagenet, natural son of Henry II. , by the fair Rosamond, was translated from Lincoln to York. He died December 18, 1212. The See was vacant four years, and at length Walter Grey, Bishop of Worcester, was appointed, whose Archiepiscopate extended to the great length of forty years. At his accession, the Church remained in the state in which it was left by Roger; that is, it had a nave, transepts, and choir, all of Norman character; and since we hear of no accident or other cause of destruction, or premature decay, we may presume that, having lately been so exten- 39 YORK CATHEDRAL. sively restored and enlarged, it was still in a fair con- dition. Other buildings, however, had made an advance upon it in point of style, and the new fabrics everywhere spring- ing up displayed beauties to which the metropolitan Church was a stranger. This, probably, excited the desire of Archbishop Walter to beautify his Cathedral Church, and render it worthy of its higher rank among ecclesiastical edifices. To him is universally attributed the South transept; and so far do the two transepts resemble one another, that to him must also be given the design of both : no greater change occurring than may have been found even in the work of the same man extending through a large portion of time. Of the par- ticular date of the beginning of this great work we have no account. We may, however, certainly infer from the character of this portion of the fabric, that not many years elapsed between the commencement of Walter Grey's Episcopate and the beginning of the work. Scarcely less propitious to the fortunes of the Cathedral than the possession of so munificent a Prelate as Walter Grey, was the canonization, in the year 1226, of one of his predecessors, Archbishop William, since known as in YORK CATHEDRAL. St. William. This prelate had the reputation of great sanctity, and of having wrought many miracles, which are thus summarily stated in the anthem sung on the feast of his translation, (January 7) : — " Claudi recti redeunt, furor effugatur, Epilepsis passio sanitati datur. Purgantur ydropici, laudes fautur muti, Dat paralyticis, suis membris uti Leprse tergit maculas, membra dat castratis Lumen datur plurimis sine luce natis." 1 One of the most remarkable of his miracles is so intimately connected with the antiquities of York, that we shall be excused for narrating it more at length. On his return from Rome, whither he had gone to plead his cause against numerous and unjust persecutors, so many of the people crowded to meet him as he entered York, that the wooden bridge over which he passed gave way under their weight. Hearing their cries, he turned round, and making the sign of the cross, rescued the whole crowd from impending destruction, or, as it is narrated in the anthem sung at his festival, — Eboracum prsesul redit, Pontis casus nullum laedit De tot turbse millibus. 1 York Breviary, quoted from Drake. G II YORK CATHEDRAL. The wooden bridge was afterwards replaced by a stone one, on which was a Chapel dedicated to St. William, 1 marking the place of his most famous miracle. His residence in his diocese was but short. He died June 8, 1154, having been poisoned, as is by some believed, and as is positively asserted in the anthem before cited, with the Holy Eucharist. His body gave the usual sign of sanctity, distilling a healing oil, by which, on account of his merits, the Almighty healed many sick persons. 2 The canonization of this Prelate was procured from Pope Nicholas, by the earnest solicitation of Stephen Maule, Archdeacon of Cleveland, and an indulgence of forty days was granted to all who should visit his tomb on the day of his festival (June 8); and thus was York provided with its own peculiar saint, as Canterbury had been, nearly fifty years before, and in both cases the fabric of the metropolitan Church was greatly indebted to the offerings of the devotees at their respective shrines. 1 In Carr's Picturesque Views of York there is an engraving of this chapel, which shows that part of it was of a date not long after Saint William. 2 See Brompton, Stubbs, and the York Breviary; or Drake, where all are quoted. 42 YORK CATHEDRAL. It was well that Archbishop Walter Grey was at hand, to apply the wealth which would certainly flow into the treasury of York on this occasion to no selfish or un- worthy purpose. In 1227 the Archbishop issued a mandate to all Abbots, Priors, Officials, Archdeacons, &c, requiring them to send a portion of their first-fruits, and other goods, for the fabric of the mother Church. 1 Other means were resorted to, of a like kind, from time to time, and about 1241, in which year Archbishop Walter Grey founded a chantry in the second bay of the Eastern aisle of his great work, where his tomb still remains, 2 the South transept may have been concluded. That the North transept was immediately commenced, even if it was not already in progress, cannot be doubted. This work is attributed to Johannes Romanus (John the Roman), so called from the place of his birth, who was a Canon and then Treasurer of the Church. We should be disposed to believe that he merely expended the wealth 1 Britton, Professor Willis. - Ordiuavit insuper et statuit iij. cantarias perpetuas celebrandas ad altare sancti Michaelis infra eandem ccclesiam Eboraci ubi corpus ejus jacet humatum. — Stubbs, p. 1 725. 43 YORK CATHEDRAL. of the Church, which, as a part of his office, he had to administer in this work, but for the express testimony of Stubbs, who says that he built at his own cost 1 the north part of the cross, which extends towards the palace of the Archbishop, and the noble bell tower in the middle of the cross. Hence we infer, that the tower, also, in the state in which it was left by John the Roman, still existed in the time of Stubbs. At present his egregium campanile is replaced by a more recent lantern, (campanile, vulgo lantern, as we shall find it called by a subsequent historian,) and it is worthy of remark, that all traces which remain of older work are not early English, but Norman : yet it would be hazardous to desert an authority which has led us, and will continue to lead us, faithfully. In all probability, John the Roman did in the thirteenth century, what was done again in the fifteenth: he cased the Norman tower in part, and added an upper story to it, in the style of his day. When the later style was substituted, the old parts still remained, only the 1 Johannes genere Romanus Eboracensis ecclesise Thesaurarius ct canonicus partem crucis ecclesise beati Petri Eboraci borialem, quae se extendit versus palatium archiepiscopi, et egregium campanile in medio crucis ejusdem ecclesise erectum sumptibus suis propriis construxit. — Stubbs, p. 1727. 44 YOKK CATHEDRAL. additions gave place in their turn to still more recent work. We may now consider the transepts finished. It must be observed, however, that in speaking of any portion of a building like York Minster as finished, we do not forget that many matters of detail, and even some con- structive features, were probably added subsequently; and in the present case it is certain that at first only the aisles of the transepts were vaulted, as they now appear. The body of the transepts was left open to the timbers, expecting the addition of a wooden groined roof, which it did not receive till the nave was completed. 15 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE TRANSEPTS. N the description of the transepts we commence with the exterior, and first with the South front of the South transept. (Plate V.) The whole composition is divided laterally by enriched buttresses, into three portions: a centre and two aisles. Two arcades of pointed arches, with numerous foliated capitals, occupy the space immediately above the base- ment, both of the centre and of the aisles; and, in the upper arcade, the arches are pierced with single lancets. Over these, in each aisle, are three smaller lancets, and above these, again, three lancets, of still reduced dimen- sions, within the roof. In the centre, three lofty windows, richly decorated with brackets and shafts, and with the 16 YORK (iSTtt&IDRff L SOUTH T«SHS£PT. Published by R Sunter, Sionejfate'. York YORK CATHEDRAL. dog-tooth in their mouldings, fill the second story, while a magnificent rose window, with a triangular window at the apex, fill the gable. A pinnacle, not originally intended for this position, crowns the whole. 1 The entrance to this transept is gained by two flights of five steps each, leading to a richly-carved pointed door- way, set in a shallow porch, of very meagre composition and execution. The lower arcade throughout this front, is so miserably restored as to deprive it of half its effect ; indeed, an extremely rich foliated moulding in the door- way arch is almost the only feature retaining its original beauty in the lower part of the South transept front, which is the more to be regretted, since this is the ordinary entrance to the Minster. 2 Each bay on the sides is separated from the adjoining bays by buttresses of considerable width and projection, and is divided into two parts by a smaller buttress, which, however, runs up like the main buttresses to the corbel table, above which it rises in a pedimental head. An arcade of pointed arches extends along the whole 1 The turreted terminations of the buttresses are also not original. 2 The doors are good perpendicular work, but cannot, of course, be described as a portion of the original design. \7 YORK CATHEDRAL. length, and is carried round the larger buttresses, but is interrupted by the smaller ones, on each side of which it is pierced with a lancet window. The parapet is plain. The clerestory has buttresses between the several bays of small projection, which die into a corbel table of beautiful foliage. An arcade of five compartments in each bay, the three central ones pierced, occupies the whole length. A continuous hood-mould runs over each compartment of the arcade, and the dog-tooth is freely used, though it does not appear in the aisle windows. The side elevation of the North transept differs from that of the South, chiefly in the aisle buttresses being lower, rising only to the spring of the window arches, and in the absence of buttresses in the clerestory. The pro- portions, also, are a little more slender throughout, espe- cially in the windows, and the dog-tooth is more freely used. The North front of the North transept is, perhaps, the most noble Early English composition in the kingdom. 1 As there is no entrance, the elevation is unbroken by a door or porch, and from immediately above the arcade, 1 Plate VI. 48 YORK CATHEBRAl. NORTH TRSNS&PT PiWishri't bv R Suntvr.S»on£#rie.York / YORK OS-'f H-^BRL PiMishedlyB Sant6E,5tmifigate.Tari . YORK CATHEDRAL. over the basement, rise five splendid lancet windows, occupying the whole width of the transept, and almost the whole height to the spring of the roof. 1 The gable is adorned with an arcade of seven compartments, rising by gradations towards the apex, all of which, except the two exterior and smaller ones, are pierced. Entering by the South door of the South transept, it is impossible not to advert, first of all, to the splendid group of windows of which we have just described the exterior, although, in order of time, they ought to be last noticed. The five great lights, commonly called " The Five Sisters," occupy the whole of the space immediately before the eye, 2 and their abrupt termination upwards, from their being all of equal height, is relieved by the five windows which rise into the apex of the roof. 3 The details are simple, but very beautiful. The lower arcade, which forms a base to the whole composition, is of trefoiled arches, springing 1 These lights are each about fifty feet high and six feet wide. 2 Plate VII. 3 These, as well as the circular window in the South gable, were formerly cut off by the groinings of the wooden roof erected in the fourteenth century, but the line of the roof has lately been raised at the ends of the transepts, so as to restore those beautiful features to the interior view. i [ 19 YORK CATHEDRAL. from shafts with moulded bases and foliated caps. Over these, clustered columns, rising from moulded bases, twice banded in their length, and terminating in foliated capi- tals, relieve the masses of wall which separate the lights, before which they form an open screen. The hood-mould rises over each light, and unites in knots of foliage between them, and the same features are repeated in the upper lancets. The glass of the five sisters is far from perfect, but it presents one of the best studies that we have of Early English glazing. The composition of the opposite end of the transepts 1 is very inferior to this, and the effect is reduced to a very low comparative grade, by the wretched glass which fills the windows. Still the great rose window must always be a fine object. The general features of the rest of the interior are an arcade of trefoiled arches, in some parts without shafts, round the outer walls, with the single lancets over it. The great arcades on either side have consisted of three arches, of nearly equal span, with a narrower one opening upon the nave and choir aisles, resting on deeply-hollowed 1 Plate VIII. 50 YORK €5? T H-H> K) RSf L SGUTtt TR.SWSSPT. Pubhcii'id by R Sunlsr.t'toui-gate.Ynrk.. YORK C^T-WSSmftL YORK CATHEDRAL. pillars, the hollows filled with shafts of Petworth marble, attached at the bases and capitals, and once in their length, by a deeply-moulded band. The capitals are richly foliated. The casements, or cavetto mouldings of the great arches are filled in the South transept with two, and in the North transept with three continuous series of dog-tooths. Each compartment of the triforium arcade in both transepts is of four lancets, grouped two and two, under pointed arches, and these again united under a semicircular arch; a pierced quatrefoil occupying the spandrils of the smaller, and a pierced cinquefoil the spandril of the larger connecting arch. 1 The clerestory arcade is of five arches in each compartment, and behind the three central arches are the windows already noticed in the exterior elevation. From the point where the arches of the great arcade meet, vaulting shafts rise through the triforium and clerestory to the roof. Origin- ally the roof was open to the timbers, and then the whole elevation of the North and South ends was visible within as well as outside the building. The groining, which is of wood, was added in the fourteenth century, the principal 1 In the South transept there are, besides, projecting foliated bosses in the spandrils. YORK CATHEDRAL. ribs springing from the base of the clerestory, and the ridge pieces not rising over the rose window at the South, and the five upper lights at the North end. This defect has lately been remedied, by raising the vaulting at the two extremities. The aisle roofs are of stone, and coeval with the walls from which they spring. As the whole of the work throughout the Minster may be taken as admirably characteristic of the periods to which its several parts are to be referred, we will so arrange our remarks on the minute details as to make them examples of the successive periods of ecclesiastical art. In the crypt we have had the cylindrical Norman pillar, 1 without vertical mouldings, and with large heavy capitals. Here the pillars are indented with vertical hollows of three quarters of a circle, which are filled with insulated shafts of a different material, and the capitals bear a much less proportion to the section of the pillar. In the arrangement of mouldings, the Norman presents strongly marked right-angled forms, and in their decora- 1 The Norman details are given in Plates II. and III. 52 YORK CATHEDRAL. tion the prominent parts or bowtels are adorned ; whereas in the next style the rectangular arrangement gives place, in many cases, to the diagonal, and the characteristic dog- tooth, or the foliage of the age, is carried along within hollows, instead of upon convex faces. In the place of the surface carving of the Normans, well exemplified in the capitals of the Eastern crypt, 1 we have, in the Early English, bosses and brackets standing out from the surface of the wall, and themselves receiving decorations in alto- relievo, and the foliage is often very deeply undercut. Throughout the whole of the middle ages, foliage was the principal source of decoration, but it constantly changed its character. At present we are only concerned with its Norman and Early English types. Beneath the Norman chisel (except where it was a feeble imitation of the Corinthian acanthus) 2 it was stiff and awkward, with extremely little variety, and almost wholly composed of rudely-lobed leaves, with dotted ribs, growing on coarse stems, and intermixed with fruit resembling very lax and 1 See Plate III. 2 In Becket's crown, however, in Canterbury Cathedral, it almost emulates the grace of the classic form; but this is a rare, if not a solitary instance. YORK CATHEDRAL. poor clusters of grapes. The same form was convention- ally used for every kind of tree and every variety of foliage. 1 In the Early English, the most general form is, perhaps, derived from that before used, but it has gained much in grace and richness. The leaves rise from the neck of the pillar on slender stalks, which form part of the composition, and curl over beneath the abacus, free and almost pendulous; clusters, such as these, sometimes rise in three or more tiers one over the other, 2 the stalk always appearing, and always springing upwards, instead of encircling the capital as in the next style. There are several bosses in the aisle roofs and between the arches of the great arcade which afford examples of the attempts of the Early English masons to represent the human form; but it must be confessed that here their 1 There was certainly no intention of individualising foliage till very- late in the Early English era. As for the Normans, the tree of know- ledge, the palm branches spread before our blessed Saviour, and the ordinary forest-tree, are alike represented by the foliage above described. The real origin of the Norman and Early English foliage is to be found almost certainly in the classic acanthus. In the next style, or rather, late in this, it is equally clear that natural foliage was copied, and that with very great force and skill. There are many unrivalled specimens in the Chapter-house and its vestibule. 2 See, for instance, the bracket of six tiers of foliage in the South transept figured in Plate XXXII. 54 YORK CATHEDRAL. cunning failed them. When they indulge in sports of fancy, however, and portray grotesques and monsters, it is far otherwise. It would be difficult to imagine any- thing more perfect in design and execution than the dragons in some of the bosses, in the triforium of the North transept. There is a force and nature (to adopt a term which will be well understood, even when speaking of arbitrary creations of the fancy,) about the knotted body, and the strongly-set teeth, in these and several similar representations, which entitle them to be classed with the happiest efforts of decorative sculpture of any age. In the description of Archbishop Walter Grey's monu- ment, we shall have occasion to point out characteristics of the decorative sculpture of the latter part of the Early English era. At present we pass on to the history of the Chapter-house, or rather so much of it as is absolutely necessary to connect the chronological account of the transepts with that of the nave. 1 1 It is the intention of the Publisher to give descriptions of the Chapter-house with another volume on the rest of the Ecclesiastical Buildings of York. 55 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER V. THE CHAPTER- HOUSE. [HE next portion of the fabric in date and style is the Chapter-house, which has been placed both too high and too low by several authori- ties. The generally received tradition is, (or perhaps was,) that it was erected during the prelacy of Walter Grey, 1 who is already recorded to have built the South 1 We are surprised at the weight which the very valuable Glossary of Architecture gives to this opinion. The note on the Chapter-house at York, in the Companion, (Plate XXXVI.) is as follows : — " The date of the erection of this magnificent building cannot be accu- rately ascertained from any records now remaining. It is generally ascribed to Archbishop Walter Grey, as a figure in the window over the entrance corresponds with the representation of that prelate on his tomb ; and the arms of several of his contemporaries are painted in some of the other windows. The style corresponds with this age, Early English, rather late in the style, with foliated circles in the head of the windows." 06 YORK CSTttfiORffiL YORK CATHEDRAL. and commenced the North transept; but this is clearly impossible, for he must have anticipated, and carried to perfection, a style only just commencing with the next generation, had he been the designer of this exquisite work. A later theory makes it range, with its vestibule, from 1280 to 1340, though at the latter date the flowing decorated was thoroughly established, and all the details of Gothic art had undergone a revolution, of which no trace is found in the Chapter-house or in its vestibule. In the absence of all records we must only state, as certain, that the North transept and the Chapter-house were both finished before the vestibule was commenced. This is demonstrable from the fact, that parts of the North transept are cut away to admit of the addition of the vestibule, and that the very parapet mouldings of the Chapter-house itself appear within the vestibule which has been built against it. The style of the whole work perfectly agrees with this, for the geometric tracery of the Chapter-house, which may be justly placed at about 1280, 1 1 The cusping of the circles in the windows is very decisive of an early date : this is changed in the vestibule, and the last window, i. e. that nearest the transept, begins to assume a character very nearly approaching to those of the nave aisles. It is worthy of note that the dog-tooth does not occur throughout. i 57 YORK CATHEDRAL. gives way, in some degree, though but slightly, before more advanced forms of tracery in the vestibule. We should be disposed to assign the commencement of the Chapter-house to about 1280, or at most a few years later, and to suppose that both Chapter-house and vesti- bule were concluded very early in the fourteenth century. Professor Willis says, however, that this is too early by fifty years, on account of the advanced character of the geometric tracery; but before 1330 the flowing decorated was well established, nor does the Chapter-house seem more advanced than the crosses of Queen Eleanor. 58 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER VI. HISTORY OF THE NAVE. [HE translation of St. William took place in the year 1284, (January 8 and 9,) in the presence of Edward I. and his Queen Eleanor, no fewer than eleven Bishops, with the whole Court, being present at the solemnity. It was a great part of the policy, as well as of the devotion, of the authorities to make such ceremonials as gorgeous as possible, nor did the Arch- bishop and the Chapter fail to put forth all their energies on this occasion. The connexion, however, of this cere- monial with the subject of the present work is limited to the stimulus given by it to the zeal and devotion of the people, which took, as usual, the form of large offerings towards the erection of the Cathedral and its 59 YORK CATHEDRAL. adornment, and enabled the authorities to make additions, even on an enlarged scale of magnificence, to the Church, already enriched with the splendid transepts of Walter Grey and John the Roman, and with the Chapter-house, commenced very shortly after the conclusion of the latter. Subsequent accounts have pretty generally echoed the assertion of Torre, that the nave had been reduced before the period at which we have now arrived, by the effects of time and accident, to a state of pravity and deformity : we suspect, however, that it was only so in the eyes of a rich body of ecclesiastics, who had ceased to find any beauty in the heavy forms of Norman architecture, and had seen fairer edifices rising around them in all directions. Whitby, Bolton, Rievaulx, Fountains, and countless other Churches, had parts, at least, of far greater splendour than the nave and choir of York. St. Mary's Abbey, within the same city walls, greatly surpassed it in elegance, and even the new Chapter-house cast the beauties of the Church to which it was attached into the shade. Besides, the honour of St. William would not brook so great inferiority in the place so immediately under his patron- age. Under these circumstances, it was determined that 60 YORK CATHEDRAL. the nave of York should be rebuilt. The honour of commencing the work is conceded on all hands to Arch- bishop Johannes Romanus, the son of the treasurer of the same name, to whom Stubbs attributes the North transept and the campanile, as they existed in his time. The chronicler thus describes the commencement of the work, and it will be observed that so circumstantial an account implies his access to authentic records : — " In the same year of the pontificate of John, and in the year of our Lord 1291, on the 8th of the Ides of April, on the Friday next after the Sunday on which Lcetare Jerusalem was sung, the foundation of a greater nave to the Church of St. Peter at York was commenced, at the South-east angle, the said Archbishop John, Henry de Newerk, Dean of the Church, Peter de Ros, Precentor, and other resident Canons, being present. 1 Meanwhile, Archbishop John the Roman, and his suc- 1 Eodem autem anno pontificatus dicti patris Johannis et anno Domini m.cc.xcj. scilicet viij. idus Aprilis, scilicet die Veneris proxima post Domi- nicara qua cantabatur Lcetare Jerusalem, iiichoatum fuit fundamentum navis majoris ecclesise beati Petri Eboraci a parte Australi ad oricnteiu, praesentibus prsefato Jobanne arcbiepiscopo Henrico de Newerk ejusdem ecclesise decano, Petro de Ros prsecentorc, et aliis canonicis ipsius ecclesiaj tunc residentibus. — Stubbs, p. 1728. 61 YORK CATHEDRAL. cessors John de Newarke, Thomas de Corbridge, and William de Grenefield, had gone to their rest, 1 and William de Melton, to whom the completion of the nave is generally attributed, succeeded in 1317. It is, indeed, certain that some of the Avindows were glazed towards the close of his episcopate, a part of the work which would not be commenced until the fabric was very nearly com- pleted. Of this fact Torre's MS. contains the following evidence : — " On Monday next after the feast of St. Agatha the Virgin, a.d. 1338, it was then covenanted by indenture, that Thomas de Boneston, Vicar Choral, should, at his own proper costs, glaze two windows of this Cathedral Church, viz., on each side one, find all the glass for the same, and pay the workmen their wages for the finishing thereof. Thomas de Leedham, Custos of the fabrick, became bound to pay him twenty-two marks sterling, viz., eleven marks for each window. " Likewise, in a.d. 1338, another indenture was made 1 The succession of Archbishops from Walter Grey, who died in 1255, is as follows: — Sewall, 1256; Godfrey de Kinton, 1258; Walter Giffard, 1265; William Wickwane, 1279; John le Romain, 1285; Henry de Newarke, 1298; Thomas de Corbridge, 1299; William de Grenefield, 1305. 02 YORK CATHEDRAL. between one Robert on the first part, and Thomas de Beneston, Custos of the Fabrick on the other, for the making of a window at the West gable of this Cathedral Church, and to find all sort of glass for the same. And for doing the work the said Thomas was to pay him sixpence a foot for white, and twelve pence a foot for coloured glass." 1 The constant issue of briefs and indulgences, however, with notices of the need of the fabric during the pontifi- cate of the two succeeding Prelates, lead to the conviction that much still remained imperfect in the new work. We pass over the time of William de la Zouch, therefore, whose name will occur again, however, as the founder of a chantry, of which the fabric still remains, and pass to the episcopate of Archbishop Thoresby, 1354 — 1373, of whom there is no question that he was not only permitted to see the nave completed, but that he also began the fabric of the new choir. Here, then, we close the history of the nave, which we presume to be finished, so far as its walls are concerned, and to be receiving its roof for a few years to come; 1 Torre's MS., folio 3. 63 YORK CATHEDRAL. and now York Cathedral possessed nave, transepts, and Chapter-house not to be paralleled in the kingdom, taken together, nor surpassed each in its separate splendour. 64 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER VII. DESCRIPTION OF THE NAVE. [HE architectural features of the nave entirely correspond with the history here given. The lower parts of the building, as, for instance, the arcades all round the interior, and the great West door, are but little removed in style from the Chapter- house ; with part of the vestibule of which, at least, they are doubtless contemporary; 1 while the upper parts, as especially the great West window, and the whole of the composition around and above it, are of the most fully developed Decorated of the reign of Edward III. 1 If it seem difficult to imagine that two so great works should be proceeding at the same time, Ely Cathedral supplies a parallel, where the octagon, the presbytery, and the Lady Chapel were all in progress during the second quarter of the fourteenth century. 65 YORK CATHEDRAL. We commence the description with the West front, including the towers; though the upper portion of these is to be referred to a later date. The normal form of the West end of a great Cathedral Church is here followed; the high gable of the nave being flanked with two towers, which form the Western termi- nation of the aisles. Externally, the separation between the nave and aisles is marked by far projecting and very highly enriched buttresses, with canopies filling their whole surface, and with enriched pediments at each set off. 1 In the centre of the central division is the great West entrance, consisting of an outer arch of several very deeply-recessed suites of mouldings, all highly enriched, and subdivided by a central shaft into two doorways, the arches doubly cusped, supporting a circle filled with early Decorated tracery. 2 The whole is surmounted by a pedi- ment decorated with several niches, with rich crockets, and a finial. In the central niche is the figure of an Archbishop, with the model of a Church in his hand, always called Archbishop Melton, but contrary to all the rules of ecclesiological interpretation; for the Church in 1 See Plate X. 2 This beautiful entrance is engraved on a larger scale in Britton. 66 YORK € KTWgfi RJRL W £ S T K R Q H T . Published by Ft .SnntPr..Stoneg^te,Yoik YORK CATHEDRAL. the hand of a person indicates that he was the founder, not the continuator or finisher, of a work; and, besides, this portion of the Church was concluded long before Melton's time, and is in a style already out of date in his Archiepiscopate ; so that neither the commencement nor the completion of the work could entitle him to this place. The figure must be that of Bishop John le Romaine, who commenced this portion of the edifice. On each side of the entrance are two series of enriched niches, and in those immediately adjoining the pediments of the doorway, on either side, are statues of a Percy to the North, and a Vavasour to the South, with their arms 1 on a shield near them. The Percy holds a piece of moulded stone, the Vavasour a piece of unwrought stone, their respective benefactions to the fabric being thus com- memorated. 2 Over this entrance, and forming the centre of the whole composition, is a window of eight lights, branching in the head into the most elaborate flowing 1 Percy bore a Lion Rampant; Vavasour, a Fess Dancette. 2 Percy gave the quarry of Thevesdale in the first instance, and after- wards Vavasour confirmed the right of way, which was necessary for working it, and bringing its produce to the Minster, while the Archbishops gave the timber. The statues, as they now stand, are renewed by Michael Taylor, of York, but they still retain their allusive character. 67 YORK CATHEDEAL. tracery, and surmounted by a pediment, also filled with flowing and open tracery, which rises above a pierced and crenellated parapet. This parapet covers a passage extending along the whole front, and thence round the towers, and along the roofs of the nave. Behind this, again, rises the actual gable of the nave, the surface of which is covered with panelling, of forms harmonizing with the great window, while the whole is terminated with pierced parapets, and a highly enriched niche and pinnacle. When it is added, that the whole of the surface of the wall around and above the central window is finely panelled, it will appear that no single space of this vast surface is without its appropriate enrichments. The window we cannot dismiss thus summarily. Although not the largest Decorated window in the king- dom, the East window of Carlisle Cathedral exceeding it in size, and in the number of lights, it is undoubtedly by far the finest, even taken without its accessories. Its great beauties are variety of design and fulness of tracery, without confusion as a whole, and without poverty of separate parts. The window at Carlisle consists of two perfect compositions, united under a common head, by the interposition of a third. That at York is one vast 68 PUle iX. y o r k c « y «• s ro k .$ u . Si &-t'ihl8KS op 3i>ftg£ prom Ttte >r« IV I H l.u>W YORK CATHEDRAL. design, of which no part is perfect without the rest. The tracery, which is often poor and thin in Decorated win- dows, is here, if anything, a little too massive, seeming to overweight the monials ; but the error, if it is one, is on the right side. But it is when viewed in connexion with its perfectly harmonious pediment, and with the gable of the nave above it, which, more perfectly than in any other Decorated instance, takes up the spirit of the composition, that this glorious creation is as pre-eminent among Deco- rated windows, as Decorated windows are pre-eminent above windows of all subsequent forms. We may add, by far the finest view of this window is from the upper gallery of the opposite East window of the choir. The West front of the towers, which is also, in its lower portion, that of the aisles, fully supports the dignity of the central compartment. Over each of the two doors is a window, resembling those in the aisles, to be described presently. With the next story commences a marked change in character; the windows are of four lights instead of three, and of more distinctly flowing character. In the jambs and monials of that on the West face of the Northern tower may be traced the introduction of later mouldings, in the place of the earry Decorated ones of the 69 YORK CATHEDRAL. original composition. 1 Above the gallery which has been already mentioned as running round the tower, and along the nave gable, the character of the towers is altogether different. 2 The windows are now decidedly Perpendicular, but they do not yield in beauty to any in the Church, when judged with reference to their position. Their pediments are ogeed. They are flanked by Perpendicular panels. The buttresses, which are in continuation of the Decorated buttresses below, terminate abruptly beneath the parapet, which is pierced very richly, and rests on a 1 The fillets on the bowtells are discontinued, though the general contour of the mouldings is of necessity observed. 2 The material also is different. Britton has a very judicious note on this subject. " The stone, of which the lower part of the West front is constructed, was brought from Bramham Moor, near Tadcaster, about ten miles from York ; but that of the two towers was probably obtained from the quarries of Stapleton, near Pontefract : for among the archives of the Duchy of Lancaster (Somerset Place) is a grant, dated 17th July, 1400, 1st Hen. IV., to the Dean and Chapter, to be exempt from the payment of tolls and other customs in the river Air, for stone to be carried to York Cathedral, for the new works. The stone of the lower part is of a greyish colour, when exposed to the weather; the grit is fine, but has sadly failed in preserving its substance where delicately cut, as almost all the sculpture is much mouldered, and even the ashler work, or plain walling, owing to the slow but continual decomposition of its surface, has never acquired the fine russet that clothes the exterior of Lincoln and Peterborough Cathedrals, or the neighbouring fabric of Beverley Minster." 70 YORK CATHEDRAL. corbel table, carried round the whole of the tower. 1 Light lofty pinnacles terminate the composition. On comparing this with other Western fronts, we have no hesitation in giving it the preference over all with which it can fairly be brought into competition. Peter- borough and Ely (supposing the latter restored) are, per- haps, finer, and have certainly more individuality of expression, but they are altogether of a different type. Wells is inexpressibly gorgeous, but it does not aim at the same character of beauty with that of York, and it is therefore no dispraise to say that it does not reach it. Lincoln is marred by the Norman portions still remaining 7 and Beverley is smaller, besides being directly imitated from that of York, which would remove it from all com- petition with it. The spires of Lichfield give it a partial superiority, but the rest of the composition does not sustain the dignity of those features, though the great entrance is exquisitely rich. The beauty, moreover, of the front of Lichfield is greatly diminished by the bar- 1 On this feature Britton well observes : — " The only alteration that might, perhaps, be wished in this part of the structure would be, that the buttresses had been carried up into the pinnacles, as the cornice at the angles, and the oversetting of the pinnacles beyond the line of the walls, look awkward and unsafe." 71 YORK CATHEDRAL. barous use of Roman cement, and, if we mistake not, by the substitution of wood pinnacles to the canopies for those originally stone; the whole has the appearance of a plaster copy of what Lichfield Cathedral once was, and is indeed the most disappointing Cathedral elevation we know. To return to the nave of York. The bays of the North and South of the nave 1 are separated by buttresses, those to the South much enriched, and rising in tall finials far above the aisle roof, over which they formerly threw off flying buttresses, which have perished, and are not yet restored. The aisle windows are of three lights, with trefoil heads, 2 (the central taller than the others,) supporting three quatre- foils, the whole of a somewhat early character, and not, perhaps, of the most pleasing composition. A crocketed rectilinear pediment rises over the window arch, and breaks through the pierced parapet and the battlements. The clerestory windows are of five lights, the two outer 1 See Plate XI. 2 The distinction must be observed between trefoiled lights and lights with trefoil heads. The former have an arched head, which is cusped with three foils, the latter form a trefoil with the tracery bars. 72 YORK CATHEDRAL. ones, on each side, forming a separate composition, and supporting, together with the lower central lights, a large circle, filled with trefoils and quatrefoils, very singularly arranged, the quatrefoils being unique, perhaps, in that they are included in a square. The parapet is again enriched, and the battlements are pierced. The general character of the North side, 1 which was originally concealed by the episcopal palace, is less elabo- rate than that of the South side. The chief effect of the latter is due to the tall pinnacles rising above the aisles, with their projecting gargoils, their tabernacles filled with figures, and their richly foliated finials. In the interior, besides the features which are neces- sarily common to it with the exterior, we must notice the clustered columns, with extremely rich capitals, supporting acutely pointed arches, which rise to about forty feet from the floor. The triforium is merged, as a part of the composition, in the clerestory, the gallery being masked by the prolongations of the monials of the clerestory windows, appropriate cuspings and finials appearing only as a broad transom, at the top. This should be especially noted, as indicating a great change, as well in principle 1 See Plate VI. i. 73 YORK CATHEDRAL. as in detail, since the design of the transept was per- fected; for in the Early English the triforium still con- tinued, as it had been in the Norman, a very essential feature in the internal elevation, whereas, during the progress of the next style, it ceased to be treated as a separate feature. This veiling of the triforium would seem to indicate, also, that not only in point of detail, as in the tracery of windows, (in which there is a marked difference between the aisle and the clerestory,) but also in greater matters, and those affecting primary arrange- ments, modifications of the first plan were admitted, for the triforium would still, in all probability, be treated as a separate feature, when the nave was commenced in 1291. Below the aisle windows, and along the West end of the interior, a rich arcade is carried, the several orbs or compartments of which are filled with tracery of a very early Decorated character, agreeing with the lower portions of the West front, and scarcely different in date from several portions of the vestibule of the Chapter- house. In the central light of each bay of the triforium gallery is, or rather was, a full length figure ; most of these are now destroyed. In the fourth bay from the West, at the 74 YORK CATHEDRAL. North side, a great beam, carved at the end, to represent a dragon's head, and formed at the other end into the beam of a huge crane, protrudes far into the Church. This once supported the canopy of the font, which Gent describes as elaborately finished with Gothic pinnacles. Opposite to this dragon is a figure of an armed knight, — his shield charged with a cross. This figure is commonly called St. George, but it is intended, in all probability, for a general representation of the soldier of Christ con- tending with the great serpent, over against which he is placed; and all with reference to the baptismal vow, and the Christian's fight, of which Holy Baptism is the beginning. 1 The same subject is common upon old fonts, and in other situations, and is found long before the legend of St. George became popular. The roof is of wood, and the several OToinin"; ribs are decorated at the intersections with carved bosses. 1 Under the arms, beneath the figure, were the words Jcsu ! Mercy ! These words are doubtless associated with the contest which the Christian is waging. Had the families to which these coats belong any especial relation with the font? We should certainly expect in so glorious a fabric as that of York, and in one which must have been perfected with the zealous co-operation of many persons, to find that particular portions of the furniture would be the offerings of several individuals. YORK CATHEDRAL. In the spandrils of the great arcade are several shields, all charged with heraldic bearings, two over each arch. As these arras are those, without all doubt, of benefactors to the fabric, they form a part of the history, as well as of the description of the Church. They are as follows : — Commencing at the Nortli-East Angle of t/ie North Arcade. 1. Seme of fleur-de-lys Old France. 2. Six lions rampant Ulphus. O. On a chevron, three lions passant guardant Cobham. 4. Barry of ten, an orle of martletts . . . . Valence. 5. A bend, cottised, between six lions rampant . BOHUN. 6. A fess, between six cross crosslets . . . . Beauchamp. 7. Quarterly, in the first quarter a mullet . . . Vere. 8. Paganel. 9. Barry of ten, three chaplets Greystock. 10. Billette, a lion rampant Bulmer. n.\ 12. 13. >- Three water bougets Roos. 14., 15. ' 16., • Five fusils in fess Old Percy. SoutJi-West Angle of South Arcade. 17. 18. ■ Five fusils in fess Old Percy. 19. Mowbray. 20. A lion rampant Percy. 76 YORK CATHEDRAL. Blank shields 21/ 22.. 23. Two bars, in chief, three roundels .... Wake. 24. A fess, in chief, three roundels Colville. 25. On a bend, three cross crosslets Mauley. 26. ) A bend Mauley. 27.i 28. A fess dancette Vavasour. 29. Three chevronelles Clare. 30. A cross moline Paganel. 31. Three lions passant guardant, with a label of three points Edward Prince of Wales. 32. Three lions passant guardant England. Descending to the details of decoration, the first place is due to the enriched mouldings of the great West entrance, especially to one of the hollow mouldings, con- taining within it a representation of the fall of man, and its consequences : l — a most appropriate series for the entrance to the Christian temple. The statues, also, of Archbishop le Romaine, and of Percy and Vavasour, ought to be noticed; but these, like most of the other features of the lower part of this facade, are recent restorations, — happily in a far better style than those of the South entrance. In the interior, the sculptures over the West doors of the aisles, consisting of several figures 1 See one group, given at large, in Halfpenny, Plate LXXI. 77 YORK CATHEDRAL. engaged in the chase, and of four quatrefoil panels, representing the history of Sampson, 1 deserve attention, especially if, as we have already suggested, there is an allusion here to Sampson, the first Prelate of York, according to the history of Malmesbury. 2 The roof (describing it as it was before the fire) afforded a very curious series of bosses, representing the following events, sacred and legendary, in their order. The Annunciation, the Nativity, the Offerings of the Wise Men, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the Assumption, and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin. The treatment of these subjects is a matter of some interest, but it would lead us into too large a disquisition. They are figured in Halfpenny's Gothic Ornaments. In deferring the description of the Chapter-house, we lose the opportunity of describing the connecting link between the thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries, so far as decorative sculpture is concerned. We must 1 Plate XXXIII. 2 It ought to be mentioned, however, that the contest of Sampson with the lion was a favourite subject with mediaeval masons; it is only the addition of another subject here from the same history which makes us suspect an allusion to the first archbishop of the see. 78 It om the Oiapt e r Bra 3e FromtheY/emi of S Aisle of Nave . !• B-«Hur«Unh & SCULPTURF.B PflfNKI. Published by R SanUt .Stonc^yiteYork YORK CATHEDRAL. notice, however, en passant, that the designing and exe- cution of foliage were now at their height for richness, grace, variety, and truth ; and that the statues and small heads of this day were never before, and never have been since, surpassed, or even equalled. There is nothing here, or elsewhere, superior to the figure of the Blessed Virgin and the infant Saviour, sadly, and it seems wilfully mutilated, in the entrance door to the Chapter-house. In short, it would be difficult to find any single decoration, or any class of decoration, which was not better conceived and executed, in the last ten years of the thirteenth century, and the first ten of the fourteenth, than it ever was before or afterwards. We have still, however, during the whole time occupied in the building of the nave, considerable variety and truth in the foliage in the various patterns of bosses and capitals. It will be observed that upright stems no longer form a part of the composition, and that the whole group assumes the form of a chaplet, environing the member which it adorns, the stems where they appear at all being wreathed around it. The leaves, also, are almost uni- versally marked with prominences in each lobe, and this whatever kind of leaf is represented. Grotesques are 79 YORK CATHEDRAL. inferior in character and force to those of the Early English style, and the dragons and monster especially lose half their frightful development- Perhaps, to speak generally, we should say, that the Early English design and execution had more force, and the Decorated more grace ; and that the intermediate or transition style stands alone in nature, while it is inferior to neither of the others in their more distinctive excellence. 80 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY OF THE CHOIR. jEFORE we enter on the history of the choir, we must briefly allude to the existence of several fabric rolls still remaining among the archives of the Cathedral, which throw additional light on the progress of the structure during the latter part of the fourteenth and the early part of the fifteenth century — that is, during the erection of the choir, with its pres- bytery, of the central tower, and of the two western towers. These rolls are indeed intermittent, and ex- tremely defective; still, considering that they are docu- ments of the highest authenticity, and valuable not only for the light which they throw on the History of York Minster, but for their connexion with the arts and manners and terminology of a period most interesting to the ecclesiologist, we cannot but regret that no one — M 81 YORK CATHEDRAL. competent alike from a knowledge of archeology and architecture, and from a habit of applying such materials to the elucidation of the history of particular fabrics — has undertaken their publication with full illustrations from the parts of the successive works to the erection of which they respectively belong. We naturally looked to Professor Willis for this arduous work, for he is by far the most competent person to deal with such materials; his more important engagements, however, interfere with such a labour, and he confesses that he " cannot pretend to any original research among these papers," and regrets " that his distance from York has prevented him from consulting the manuscripts." For ourselves, we cannot pretend, in a work rather popular than formal or elaborate, to make a very large use of such rugged and recondite materials; we have, however, in some instances, consulted the original documents, and have regretted more and more in the course of our search, that the whole have not found a publisher. Might we not suggest that it would be a work very worthy to occupy the attention, and to employ the resources, literary and pecuniary, of the Yorkshire Architectural Society, — a society with larger funds than almost any of the sister societies, and with a 82 YORK CATHEDRAL. very wide and rich field, but which stands alone in having as yet issued no publication beyond its annual reports. 1 But we return to the History, which, so far as the Choir is concerned, is thus given by the continuator of Stubbs's Chronicle : — " In the tenth year of his pontificate, on the 3rd of the calends of August, (July 30, 1361,) John Thoresby, Archbishop of York, commenced the fabric of the new choir of his church of St. Peter at York, with the unani- mous consent of his Chapter, towards the building of which he gave at the laying of the first stone one hundred marcs of his own proper goods, and so afterwards he annually expended two hundred pounds on the aforesaid fabric; and that he might the more effectually stimulate the devotion of the faithful to the same work, he procured by his intercession with the most holy apostolic fathers very ample indulgences; and to the relief of the souls of his own people, and of all others who should lend a helping hand, he did with most ardent affection afford 1 The publication of Torre's MS., a most valuable and curious docu- ment, and perhaps without a parallel in ecclesiology, which contains accounts, ecclesiastical and antiquarian, of the churches of the county, with a great number of drawings, seems also to fall quite within the province of the same society. 83 YORK CATHEDRAL. them indulgences of his own authority, and his blessing. The same archbishop, too, as a true lover of the Virgin, perfected a chapel of the same Mother of God and Virgin Mary, with sculpture most artfully executed, and with exquisite painting. And there, at his own expense, he caused the bodies of several of his venerable predecessors in the episcopate to be entombed, having been removed up from the choir; and there, too, for his own soul, and for the souls of all the faithful departed, he constituted a chaplain to celebrate for ever. He lived in his archi- episcopate of York twenty-one years and twenty days, and departed from this world to the Lord, on Sunday, the Feast of St. Leonard the Abbot, at Thorpe, near York, and was buried before the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the Vigil of St. Martin, a.d. 1373 (47 Edward III.)" 1 1 Anno pontificatus sui x. viz. iij. calend. Augusti, novi cbori susc ecclesise beati Petri Eborac. fabricam incboavit, communi capituli sui assensu, quam in primi positione lapidis centum marcis de suo proprio datis dotavit, et sic postea annuatim dum vixit, fabricre prsedictae ducentas libras persolvebat. Et ut operi prsedicto subvenire devotionem fidelium ardentius excitaret, omnibus ejusdem fabrics benc- factoribus, indulgentias largissimas a sanctissimis patribus Apostolicis concessas, sua petitione impetravit, et ad remedium animarum suorum subjectorum et aliorum quorumcunque manum adjutricem prsebentium, cum propriis indulgentiis et benedictionc miro affectu illas participavit. 84 YORK CATHEDRAL. This passage from the Chronicle is so concise, and at the same time so circumstantial, that we may conveniently give to the history of Thoresby's work the form of a commentary upon it. We have only to premise, that it is not to be supposed that the part to which Thoresby contributed was the whole eastern limb of the church, which is now popularly called the choir, still less that so large a portion was concluded during his life. The part commenced in 1361, and sufficiently completed to receive the remains of Thoresby and his predecessor in 1373, was the most eastern portion, containing the Lady Chapel and the presbytery ; the most western portion of the choir, including the little transept, being commenced some time after the death of Thoresby, but at what exact date there are no means of deciding. Mem vero archiepiscopus ut verus amator Virginis capellam ejusdem dei genetricis et Virginis Marise niirabili artis sculptura, atque notabili pictura peregit. Ibicme plurimorum venerabilium pontificum praidecessorum suorum corpora a cboro supcrius translata, propriis expcnsis fecit tumulari, ct ibidem pro anima sua et animabus omnium fidelium defunctorum Capellanum pro suo perpetuo celebraturum constituit Vixit autem in suo archiepiscopatu Eborac. xxj. annis xx. diebus, transiit autem de hoc mundo ad Dominum die Dominica in festo sancti Leonardi Abbatis apud Thorpum juxta Eboracum. Sepultuscpie est coram altari beata; Marire Virginis in novo opere chori, die Jovis, in vigilia sancti Martini, Anno Domini m.ccc.lxxiij. — Stubbs, p. 1732. 85 YORK CATHEDRAL. " Johannes de Thuresby," says the chronicler, " anno pontijicatus sui x. viz. Hi. calend. Augusti, novi chori sua? ecclesiw fabricam inchoavit, communi capituli sui assensu." Now the assent of the Chapter was signified by a special instrument dated ten days before the laying of the first stone as here described ; for an indenture, dated July 20, 1361, to which the Archbishop and the Chapter were parties, declares " that every church should have its different parts consistently decorated, and that the choir, which is destined for the offering of the sacrifice, should be more especially ornamented." " Moreover that in the church of York there was no suitable place where the mass of the Virgin could be daily performed with proper decency;" they therefore agree to " begin such a choir, that the old choir, which, compared with the beauty of the nave, seems rude, should be taken down piecemeal, as it may seem expedient, and used for the completion of the new choir. They also agree that the decayed hall and chamber at Shirburn be taken down, and its materials at once applied to the finishing of the work." 1 We shall have occasion by and bye to show, that in the 1 Quoted from Professor Willis, p. 31, who subjoins parts of the original document in a note. 86 YORK CATHEDRAL. more recent crypt, which is in fact a late portion of the work of the choir, there is very large use made of the materials of the old choir, thus appropriated as materials for the new one ; nor should we expect to find the materials thus taken from the old choir to appear in the first portion of this work, since it would not be till the new work was ready, or nearly ready, for use that the old choir would be taken down. It is more diffi- cult to point out the contributions of Shirburn Hall ; but as the quarries of Huddlestone were in the parish of Shir- burn, we may infer that all the scattered pieces of Huddle- stone stone found in portions of the building completed before the same stone is largely and regularly employed, and before the Huddlestone quarries seem to have been at the disposal of the Cathedral authorities, were brought from the Hall. It must not be supposed that the assent of the Chapter was testified only by their permission to recommence the work, and to pull down a ruined and useless hall to advance it. They had already, February 13, 1361, "laid an imposition or subsidy of the twentieth part of all ecclesiastical benefices — viz., of dignities, prebends, administrations, and offices belonging to the Church, for 87 YORK CATHEDRAL. the necessary repairs and re-edification of the choir, steeple, and defects of other places, &c, to continue for the term of three years ensuing, and payable at the feast of the purification of St. Mary, her nativity, and St. John Baptist, by equal portions." 1 Still the greatest individual contributor was, out of all doubt, the Archbishop himself, for the chronicler continues — " quam in primi positione lapidis centum marcis de suo proprio datis dotavit" and on 18th August, a.d. 1361, the said Archbishop Thoresby directed his letters to William de Wickleworth, his receiver, ordering him to pay into the hands of John de Codyng- ham, then custos of the fabric, the sum of one hundred marcs, which he had before given to the new foundation of the fabric of the choir: 2 and again, on the 3rd of October in the same year, he gave to the fabric fifty marcs more. 3 This may probably have been before the commencement of the annual gift next recorded in the history : " et sic postea annuatim, dum vixit, fabricce prcedictm ducentas libras persolvebat." Professor Willis has calcu- lated the sum of the recorded benefactions of Thoresby, and finds that they amount to two thousand four hundred pounds ; and that the Archbishop accounted himself re- 1 Torre's MS. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 88 YORK CATHEDRAL. sponsible for the payment of his annual gift by half- yearly instalments, we should infer from the fact that in ordering the payment of £10 on account of the stones for the tombs of his predecessors, he declares it to be given out of the £100 due by him to the fabric at Easter next, (1368.) But he was not content with his individual offerings, for, says the chronicler, " ut operi prcedicto subvenire devotionem jidelium ardentius excitaret, omnibus ejusdem fabricce benefactoribus, indulgentias largissimas a sa?ictissimis patribus Apostolicis concessas sua petitione im- petravit; et ad remedium animarum suorum subjectoimm et aliorum quorumcunque manum adjuticem prmbentium, cum propriis indulgentiis et benedictione miro affectu Mas participavit" Of these indulgences Torre mentions the following. In the year 1361, that is, the year of its com- mencement, the Archbishop granted an indulgence of forty days' relaxation to the benefactors of the fabric of the new choir. Likewise Pope Innocent the Sixth granted another indulgence of two years and two quarters' relaxation to the liberal contributors unto this new work. Thus stimulated, the faithful doubtless contributed liberally to the work, and in 1360 we find, from a cata- N 89 YORK CATHEDRAL. logue then made of the chantries in the Cathedral, that four of those, whose place was in the crypt, were already suspended, on account of the progress of the new fabric. 1 This gorgeous addition to the Minster soon soared over the roof of the old choir, which still remained, and cast its massive grandeur into the shade by its more splendid beauties. And now the Archbishop seems to have de- termined on the more immediate completion of that ex- treme Eastern portion which was to be separated from the presbytery as a Lady Chapel, which the chronicler says — " mirabili artis sculptura atque notabili pictura peregiV There yet remain, under the great East window, traces of distemper painting, and of very rich decorations in figures and canopies: nor do we see any reason to doubt that this more elaborate part of the work was really completed under Thoresby's immediate super- intendence, though the whole presbytery was hardly brought to a conclusion so early as 1373, when Thoresby died. 1 Altare b tE Mariae Magdalenae in Cryptis, suspensum propter novam fab™. Altare sanctarum Martyr™ Agatha[ffi] et Scolastica[:e] in cryptis in aus- trali parte, suspensum propter novam fabricam. Altare b tv Katerinse in cryptis, suspensum propter novam fabricam. Altare s tK Ceciliai in cryptis ex parte boreali, quod nunc suspenditur propter novam fabricam. — Quoted from Willis, p. 59. 90 YORK CATHEDRAL. The presbytery, however, (that is, the whole of the eastern limb of the Church between the little transept and the last bay eastward,) was so far completed by that time as to receive the tombs of Thoresby's prede- cessors ; for — " Ibi plurimorum venerabilium pontijicum prcedecessorum suorum corpora a choro superius translata, propriis expensis fecit tumulari." The details of this translation of the Archbishop's are to be gathered from scattered notices. These are given by Professor Willis, and consist of three several orders on the Archbishop's receiver, dated February 18, 1369, August 23, 1369, and June 12, 1373, for the payment of ten pounds, ten marcs, and one hundred shillings respectively, (the second ex- pressly said to be in part payment of £40,) to Robert de Patrington, for six marble tombs for his predecessors. The place where these tombs were to be set is not only collected from the chronicle, but is inferred with con- siderable force from an expression in one of the orders above mentioned, for the Archbishop says expressly that the ten pounds were to be paid out of the hundred pounds which he had promised to the fabric on the coming Easter. Now this would have been a clear misappropriation of a part of the money given to the new fabric, unless the 91 YOKK CATHEDRAL. tombs were in the presbytery, towards which Thoresby's donations were made. The last of these payments was made in June, 1373, and by that time the stones were probably finished, but the death of Thoresby was near at hand; 1 and unless he had already removed the bodies, of which there is no direct evidence, the entombment, which was " at his expense" was provided for by his will, and may have taken place at or shortly after his own funeral. The stones, however, were visible in Leland's time, as appears from the following entry in his Itinerary : 2 — " Sepul. archiepiscoporum in orient, parte ecclesise. 1277. " Walterus Gisfart, obiit 7 Cal. Maii Anno Dom. 1277. " Henry Murdak obiit Anno Dom. 1153. " Gerardus obiit 12 Cal. Jun. Anno Dom. 1108. " Defuit inscriptio. " Joannes de Thoresby quondam Menevensis postea Wigorn. & Ebor. Archiepiscopus, qui fabricam. . . . obiit 6 die Novembris, Anno Dom. 1373. " Thomas Junior obiit Anno Dom. 1113. 5 Idus Mart. " Johan. Eomanus obiit Anno Dom. 1295." 1 He died November 6, 1373. 2 Folio DC. a. 'J 2 YORK CATHEDRAL. Now the authority of Leland in such matters is very great. He was not only an industrious antiquary, but he lived at a time when such matters must have been remembered accurately, even if the visible records had perished. His Itinerary was written in 1536 — 1542. Let us suppose that he visited York in 1540. This was before the first attack was made on the decorations of Churches, and the inscriptions were therefore, in all pro- bability, entire ; but, at all events, they must have been so within the memory of some members of the Chapter, and they would supply the necessary information. In- deed, the mention of one stone with the words " defuit inscriptio," seems to indicate very clearly that there was no necessity to have recourse to tradition in the other cases. Finally, the exact spot is yet remembered, where some large stones, with the inscriptions defaced, were to be seen, before the centre of the Eastern altar in the pres- bytery ; so that there can be little doubt that it was there, viz., " before the altar of the Blessed Virgin, in the new work of the choir" that Archbishop Thoresby was buried according to his own appointment. Thus exactly is the account of Stubbs borne out by existing documents. 93 YORK CATHEDRAL. The death of Archbishop Thoresby deprived the fabric of a great benefactor, and a zealous promoter. It is not clear how soon after the presbytery was completed; but that it was not long after seems pretty certain, from the probable state of the works when he removed the remains of his predecessor (if it was actually done by him,) and when he himself was buried in the new work. So, again, it is doubtful how soon the western part of the choir was commenced; but we have curious and indirect notice of the progress of that portion of the fabric, which goes far to take the place of documentary evidence. We may presume that the resources of the Church would be turned to the completion of the choir, so soon as the presbytery could be considered finished ; and when we find a complaint in 1390, 1 that the fabric was delayed, and the rents and income diverted from their proper purpose, we shall rather interpret it as we do the parallel complaint at other times, of an insufficient nave or choir, as it may happen, which is clearly a stimulus to still greater exer- tion rather than a just rebuke for the past. However, in 1379, that is, soon after the consecration of Archbishop Nevile, a Bull for the appropriation of the Rectory of 1 Willis. 94 YORK CATHEDRAL. Misterton, recites that a large part of the choir still remains to be completed (1379). Henceforward we have no direct evidence of the progress of the works, but we have very strong grounds for fixing on the year 1385, or thereabouts, for the time at which the western portion of the choir, including the little transepts, had risen above the aisles, and on the year 1409, or thereabouts, for the substantial completion of the work. The first of the dates, that is, the commencement of the clerestory of the choir, with the upper part of the little transepts, about 1385, is deduced from the use of the Huddlestone stone, before it had been anywhere else largely and continuously employed, 1 together with the fact that the quarries at Huddlestone were first appropriated to the fabric about that date. The following places in which the Huddlestone stone is used is given by Professor Willis : " The Huddlestone stone is employed (1) at the East end for the four spires, with the battlement round them, and down as low as the roofs; (2) for all the pinnacles and battlements on each side of the roof of the centre and side aisles, from the East end to the centre tower; (3) in 1 The use of scattered pieces of Huddlestone stone has been already accounted for by the appropriation of the Hall of Shirburn to the fabric. 95 YOKK CATHEDEAL. the transepts of the choir it is used amongst the Bramham- moor stone, from the roof of the side aisle upwards, and in many other parts; (4) for the centre tower from about the window sill; (5) for the West towers from about eight feet below the window sill of the belfry; and (6) for the floor of the whole Church." Now the quarries of Huddlestone were first used in 1385, 1 that is when, according to our calculation, the Western part of the choir may have been eight or ten years in hand, and may very well have been completed up to the top of the aisles. The second date, that is, the completion of the choir in all substantial respects, about 1409, we infer from an instrument first adduced by Professor Willis, by which Thomas de Haxey was appointed supervisor of the work of the " fourth pier;" the fourth pier, that is, of the central bell tower, in the year last mentioned. Now the work of this pier was its being cased with perpendicular work to bring it into harmony with the choir. We may presume, therefore, that the choir itself was then perfected, 1 " On the 1st of April, 1465, an indenture, which had heen held for the last eighty years, and had expired, was renewed for the quarries of Huddlestone. This would carry back the first occupier of this quarry to 1385."— Willis, p. 43. 96 YORK CATHEDRAL. and that the funds of the Church had become available for work requisite indeed for the completion of the fabric, but so far superfluous, that the service need not be deferred till its completion, so that it would probably be done last. Some time, therefore, in or before 1409, the choir was probably finished, with the exception of the battlements, pinnacles, Eastern spires, and such other works as were left even till the central and Western towers were concluded. And it accords very well with this, that the first testa- mentary burial in the new work was that of Stephen le Scrope, first Lord of Masham, who by his will, proved January 25, 1406, gives his soul to God Almighty, St. Mary, and all Saints, and his body to be buried in the new work of the Cathedral Church of York, in the midst of the Chapel before the steps of the altar of St. Stephen : at the same time bequeathing " twenty marks to the new work of the same Church," 1 from which we must infer that although it had long been sufficiently advanced to become a fit place for burial, the new work was yet in a condition to receive aid towards its completion. On the 8th of June, 1405, occurred the judicial murder 1 Torre's MS. fo. 311. 97 YORK CATHEDRAL. of Archbishop Scrope. His body was buried between the Easternmost pair of pillars on the North of the new choir, or rather presbytery. As he died in a cause popular in those parts, and before possessed the love of the people, he was reckoned a martyr, and his reputation after his death was even more valuable to the fabric fund than his beneficence while living. The next important matter relating to the fabric, is the agreement of the Dean and Chapter with John Thornton of Coventry, Glazier, for the painting of the great East window. Mr. Torre in his MSS. refers to the original indenture as being in existence in his time: it is now lost, but the following entry of it occurs in the Harleian MS. " Indenture between the Dean and Chapter of York and John Thornton of Coventry, glazier, for the glazing of the great window in the East gable of the choir of the Cathedral Church of York, which he shall complete the work of within three years from the beginning of the said work; and he shall portray the said window with his own hand, and the histories, images, and other things to be painted on the same; and he shall also paint the same as necessary, according to the ordinance of the 98 Plate Xiil. YOKK C« TWfi & ft -foil YORK CATHEDRAL. Dean and Chapter. And the aforesaid John shall also provide glass and lead, and the workmen, at the expense of the Chapter, for the convenience of the Dean and Chapter, in the same manner as he would work if the like had to be done at his own cost and charges, where- unto he shall take his bodily oath. And the said John shall receive of the Dean and Chapter, for every week wherein he shall work in his art during the said three years, four shillings, and each year of the same three years five pounds sterling, and after the work is com- pleted, ten pounds for his reward. Dated at York, the 10th day of December, a.d. 1405. " l This notice of the glazing of the window will of course 1 MS. Harl. 6971, p. 238. — " Indentura inter Dec et CapitlTn Ebor. et John Thornton de Coventre, glasier, sup. vitreacoe magnse fenestra in orientali gamolo chori Eccl. Cath. Ebor., qd. opus perficiet intra trienniu ab inchoatione operis, et manu sua propria portroiabit dictam fenestram et historias imagines et alia quecunq. pingenda in eisdem, et etia depinget quatenus opus fuerit secundu ordinacoe Decani et Capituli; et prsefatus Johes oia providebit vitm et plubu et operarios sumptibus capituli, ad commodu Decani et Capituli sicut faceret si opus hujusniodi fieri deberet suis sumptibus et expensis, ad qd. corporale prestitit juramentum; et dictus Johes percipiet a Decani et Capitulo singulis septimanis quibus laborabit in arte sua durante dicto triennio 4 s . et quolibet anno ejusdc triennij. 5 Lib. sterl. et post opus completu 10 Lib. pro regardo suo. Dat. Ebor. 10 Dec. 1405. 7 H. 4." 99 YORK CATHEDRAL. indicate that that portion at least of the choir was now finished; the erection of a tomb for himself by Bishop Bowett, in 1415, which still remains, so that there is no question of its situation, is the last recorded matter, touch- ing the erection of the choir, which we shall note ; except the completion of the choir crypt, which involved also the final stopping up of the more ancient crypts, which is to be referred to the same year. 100 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER IX. DESCRIPTION OF THE CHOIR. Wm mm IN a description of the choir, the first place is due to a peculiarity in the ground-plan, which it shares with many other churches. The choir is not carried on in a right line with the nave, but it has an inclination towards the North. This arrangement is often supposed to bear allusion to what may have been the position of our Lord's head, as He hanged upon the cross ; but it is far from certain that this is the right view of the matter. In order to satisfy the intention of recal- ling this view of the crucifixion, the inclination of the choir out of the right line ought to be so marked as to be distinctly and almost obtrusively visible. In a few cases this is so: at Stratford-on-Avon, for instance, and at 101 YORK CATHEDRAL. St. Michael's, Coventry, 1 and still more remarkably in the Abbey Church of Whitby; 2 but far more frequently, and at York among other instances, the deflection is so slight as to be hardly perceptible on a general view of the church, though it is obvious enough in a correct ground- plan. Nor does it seem sufficient to account for this peculiarity in this instance, that the choir was probably erected over the old choir, and without its removal, until the more recent fabric was nearly concluded ; for it is as easy to build parallel with a wall at a few feet from that in course of erection, as it is to build in a right line with another wall at a like distance. There must be design in this change in the line of the building, but what the design is, in this and similar cases, seems doubtful. We should be disposed to refer it to the same class with the questions on orien- tation in general, and not to account for it by any supposed connexion it may have with the probable position of the body of our Saviour while suspended on the cross: but this is only to throw the question farther back, without 1 The ground-plan of this Church is so irregular, that scarcely any part is at right angles with that adjoining it. 2 See plate of Plans in Sharpe's " Parallels." 102 £ ft JS T & N » . Published by R Sunler.Stoncgate.YoT k YORK CATHEDRAL. resolving it, for the whole question of orientation is as yet unsettled. Confessing our inability, then, to determine its cause, we content ourselves with drawing attention to the fact, as it is above stated, and proceed with . a general description of the choir, commencing with the exterior of the East end. Plate XIV. Here the great feature is the window of nine lights, occupying the whole of the space between the buttresses, and rising to the very crown of the roof, while the ogeed dripstone is carried up in a foliated finial, far above the parapet. Though early in the style, and not without details of a transitional character, this window is perfectly Perpendicular in its general composition. The lights are twice transomed, 1 and are first grouped into three equal and perfect compositions, and the space between the heads of these, and the apex of the window, is filled with almost countless ramifications of tracery. At the point of the 1 The monials of the West window, notwithstanding their great length, are entirely without the support of transoms. This is mentioned in con- nexion with the transoms of the East window, hecause the difference is very distinctive of the two styles. In the Decorated style, to which the West window belongs, the transom is very rare ; in the Perpendicular, to which the East window belongs, it is altogether as common. 103 YORK CATHEDRAL. arch, and between it and the dripstone, is the figure of an Archbishop, holding the model of a Church, as was before noticed, over the West door of the nave ; and this figure must be assigned to Thoresby, in whose Episcopate the presbytery was commenced, and, at least, nearly completed. 1 The buttresses flanking the body and the aisles are covered with panelling and niches, and so is the wall both of body and aisles over the windows. The open parapet of the central portion is a continuation of the design of the panelling, with a crocketted finial, over each compartment. In the aisles this connexion between the decorations of the wall and of the parapet is not observed. The buttresses are crowned with octagonal spires, at the crocketted angles. 2 In the aisle buttresses are figures of Vavasour and 1 In 1824 the stone work of this window was renewed, and most happily timed was the restoration, for the old tracery could scarcely have withstood the fire which destroyed the roof of the choir. The restoration, however, was not conducted with so strict regard to the old work as it ought to have heen, as may be seen on comparing Halfpenny's (Plate XCVII.) drawings with the present window. 2 It will be noted that the parapet of the East end of the South aisle is very different in proportions from that of the East end of the North aisle, and far inferior to it in effect. This has arisen from a very injudicious system of restoration too often followed ; that of copying not the original work, where authority for it can he found or certainly implied, but recent restorations. The parapet in question had been badly restored once, and 104 YORK CATHEDRAL. Percy, as at the West end, with their shields, and the allusive records of their respective benefactions to the fabric ; and under the East window is a series of quatre- foils, inclosing seventeen heads, commonly supposed to represent our blessed Saviour with his Apostles, the Arch- bishop, the King, and two princes of the time. Turning Southward (Plate XIII.) we have the exterior of the choir, separated into two well marked divisions by the Eastern or little transept, which occupies one bay. On each side of this transept are four bays, the four Easternmost being of an earlier date, as mentioned in the history, than the four others, together with the transept. The several bays in both portions are distinguished by buttresses rising in enriched pinnacles over the parapets, both in the aisles and in the clerestory ; but in the Eastern portion the buttresses are wider and more lofty. The aisle windows are of three lights, with tracery of an early Perpendicular character, and with bases and capitals to the bowtels in the jambs and on the monials, which give them something of a Decorated character. Their most so it has been badly restored again ; and thus, if the same system is continued, it can never be restored otherwise than badly. The matter is one of principle, and concerns the whole fabric. r 105 YORK CATHEDEAL. marked difference from those in the nave isles is, that instead of a straight-sided pediment, they are surmounted by an ogeed dripstone, crocketted through its whole length, and ending in a foliated finial. This breaks through the parapet, which rests on a highly enriched table, and is itself pierced with quatrefoils. In the clerestory the windows are of five lights, with tracery of a very usual and well established Perpendicular pattern : and before these, in the four Easternmost bays, is a singular open screen, which is in composition a square headed window of three lights, cinquefoiled in the head, and once transomed. This is the most obvious distinction between the windows of the four Easternmost and the four Westernmost bays — but there is, besides, a constructive difference in the window arch, those both of the aisles and of the clerestory in the first or Easternmost portion being more acutely pointed than the others. The upper member of the basement all round, is the scroll moulding, which agrees fully with the early date 1 of the first part of the choir, as does also the tracery of the 1 The Perpendicular cannot be said to have been introduced till the time of Bishop Edington, who began the West end of Winchester Cathedral in 1350 ; the choir of York was commenced in 1361. 106 YORK CATHEDRAL. aisle windows. The changes before noted are less than could be expected, considering the interval between the commencement and the completion of the choir ; 1 and the whole is a very interesting example of the carrying out of one plan, with trifling modifications, through so great an extent of building, and so large a space of time. The little, or Eastern transept, is of the same character with the Western, or more recent portion of the choir. Its plan is that of a transept to the clerestory, carried out only so far as the aisles. Its great North and South windows reach from the roof to a level with the sill of the aisle windows, each side also being pierced with a window down to the roof of the aisle. The clerestory parapet is carried round this transept. The North side of the choir does not need a separate description. We now proceed to the description of the interior. The general proportions and the character of the com- position of the nave are so exactly followed in the interior of the choir (Plate XVI.), that no change is felt in passing 1 They are, for instance, scarcely so great as the difference between the works of Edington and his successor, William of Wykehain, in the nave of Winchester. 107 YORK CATHEDRAL. through the organ-screen, though there are some features peculiar to the choir; and, of course, all the details, when closely examined, reveal their later date. The great East window must always be the first object to arrest the eye. The reredos, or altar-screen, is of exquisite beauty, and though of recent work, the original screen having perished in the fire of 1829, it is so perfect a restor- ation, that it may be treated as a study of Perpendicular screen work. It is so admirably figured in Plate XVI., that we will not occupy space with a description of it. But the most truly remarkable feature, though it is only visible from some situations, is the second transept. The exquisite and unique effect of the tall windows, rising almost from the floor into the roof, and occupying the whole width of the transept, is beyond all praise; it is one of those felicitous efforts of architectural skill, in which the creative genius of a master hand is recognised. The groinings of the present roof, which are copied exactly from the old roof, are more complicated than in the nave, and the effect is not improved. The fan roof becomes more beautiful the more elaborate it is ; the lierne vault is apt to become confused. Of mere details, the most remarkable are the canopies 108 YORK €3£Ttt 6 13 R&L T-H-S C-H-OIR Looking" East. Published by R Sunter Stuiu-u.iteYoi k YORK CATHEDRAL. under the East window, and those on the six most Eastern pillars. Five of the last were renewed by John Scott, the Minster mason, after the fire, and changes were very injudiciously admitted into them. The wanton alteration, even of a minute feature, must always be deprecated in such instances ; for there is often so much involved, even in a moulding, or the turning of a cusp, that a slight innovation falsifies that portion of history, of which archi- tectural detail is the exponent. There is less difference between the two ends of the choir, at an interval of nearly fifty years from one another, than has been wantonly produced between canopies on adjoining pillars, whose place in the history of the Church is identical. There is also a series of curious grotesque carvings on the capitals in the North aisle of the Western portion of the choir. Attempts have been made to connect them with the history of Archbishop Scrope, and other events of the reign of Henry IV. ; but there is too little about the carvings in question peculiar to York, to induce a conviction that they are allusions to anything in the history of any particular Prelate of that See. 1 Nor is it 1 The subjects are such as the following: — An old woman flogging a boy. A bear squeezing a man to death. A fox in a friar's dress preaching 109 YORK CATHEDRAL. very consistent with the opinion that these are allusions to Archbishop Scrope, and his times, that the system of interpretation by which it is supported, makes the carvers of these grotesques, in their admiration of the Archbishop and his friends, represent Judge Gascoigne as an old woman, and the Archbishop himself as a goose. The fullest proof, however, that there can be no allusion to Henry IV. and his victim in these carvings is, that they were* finished before Scrope's murder; for we have seen that the clerestory of the choir, which rests upon the pillars in question, was begun in 1385, or thereabout, whereas the death of Scrope took place in 1405. In the spandrils of the arches of the great arcades, the following armorial devices are arranged, in the same manner as those already enumerated in the nave. Commencing at tlie North-East end of North Arcade. 1. Two keys in saltire Chapter of York. 2. Six lions rampant Ulphus. 3. Three lions passant guardant, a label of three points, each point charged with three fleur- de-lys Thomas Duke of Lancaster. to geese. A blacksmith shoeing a goose. We need not tell any one in the habit of observing such things, that these are among the com- monest representations in the grotesques of the Middle Ages. 110 YORK CATHEDRAL. 4. Three lions passant guardant, a border . Edmund op Woodstock. 5. A bend between six lions rampant .... Bohun. 6. Cheeky, a fess Clifford. 7. A cross flore Latimer. 8. Barry of ten, three chaplets Greystock. 9. The Instruments of the Passion. 10. Three estoiles of six points, a border .... St. Wilfred. 1 1 . Two keys in saltire, a border engrailed ... St. Peter. 12. Two swords in saltire, a border engrailed . . St. Paul. 13. Seven lozenges conjoined, 3, 3 and 1 . St. William, Archbishop. 14. On a bend, a lion rampant Musters. 15. A chief, three chevronelles interlaced in base . Fitz-Hugh. 1 6. On a saltire, a crescent Neville. 17. 18. A fesse dancette Vavasour. South Arcade, com/mencitig at the West. 1. A cross St. George. 2. A cross flore between five martlets . . Edward the Confessor. 3. Three crowns, 2 and 1 King Edwin. 4. Barry of six, on a chief, two pallets between as many esquires based Mortimer. 5. Six lions rampant 3, 2, 1, with a horn on the West-side of the shield Ulphus. G. A lion rampant Percy. 7. Quarterly, 1 and 4, a lion rampant, for Percy, 2 and 3, three luces hauriant, for Lucy . Percy. 8. A bend, a label Scrope of Masham. 9. Six osier wands interlaced in cross .... Bishop Skirlaw. 10. A bend, a border charged with mitres, over all a label Archbishop Scrope. 1 1 . Three water bougets Roos. 12. A saltire Neville. 13. On a cross, five lions passant guardant . . . City of York. Ill YORK CATHEDRAL. k- 14. Three fusils in fess Montague. 15. A fess between six cross crosslets Beauchamp. 16. A lion rampant Percy. 17. France (ancient) and England quarterly, with a label of three points .... Edward Prince of Wales. 18. France (ancient) and England quarterly. North Transept of Choir. — East side. 1. A chief, three chevronelles interlaced in base . Fitz-Hugii. 2. A bend, a label of three points Scrope of Masiiam. North side. 1. Three escallopes Dacres. 2. A fess between six cross crosslets Beauchamp. West side. 1. On a saltire, a martlet Nevile. 2. A bend Scrope of Masiiam. South side. 1. Cheeky, a fess Clifford. 2. A cross flore Latimer. South Transept of Choir. — East side. 1. A lion rampant Mowbray. 2. A lion rampant Percy. West side. 1. A fess dancette Vavasour. 2. Blank shield. North side. 1. A fess between six cross crosslets Beauchamp. 2. Three escallopes Dacres. 112 YORK CATHEDRAL. There yet remain to be mentioned two accessories to the choir of far greater importance than any mere details ; these are, the Crypt, and the great Rood screen, or organ loft. We will now, therefore, descend into the crypt; not that which has been already described, as the remaining portion of the Norman Cathedral and its predecessors, but a more recent crypt, designed to supply places for three altars, and also to carry a raised floor for the High Altar in the new choir. This crypt is a very remarkable fabric, chiefly from the unusual application of older materials to its formation, a course very seldom pursued to the same extent by archi- tects of the Middle Ages. Almost all its details are Norman, and, on entering it, nothing can be stronger than the first impression, that it is really of the twelfth century. The general aspect is Norman. Norman details abound throughout; and, though Perpendicular portions also appear, these are so naturally referred to mere in- sertion or alteration, that, except on a very close obser- vation, they do not excite great distrust of the early date of the general fabric. This crypt (K) 1 is entered by the steps (oo) from the 1 The references .are to the plan, Plate I. Q 11.3 YORK CATHEDRAL. aisles of the present choir. It is nearly square, 1 and is divided into three parts in its length from East to West, and into four parts in its breadth from North to South, by three pairs of pillars, with responds in each wall, except that to the East, into which the vaulting-ribs die abruptly, without any intervening bracket, and before they have finished their natural course Eastward. Now all the columns are circular and Norman; all the responds are semioctagonal and Perpendicular. All the groinings, also, are Norman ; i. e. they have a Norman section ; but at the East, where, instead of springing from brackets or re- sponds, they spring at once from the surface of the wall, (their first ribs being cut out of the masonry of the wall), they are certainly not of Norman date, though the section is still retained. In this wall are two quatrefoil openings, clearly Perpendicular, and coeval with the choir above, and as clearly a portion of the original masonry. The wall, then, is as certainly Perpendicular, as the pillars and the section of the groining-ribs are Norman ; and as it is im- possible that the masons of the twelfth century should have imitated the mouldings and foliations of the fifteenth, 1 To speak more exactly, forty by thirty-five feet ; the greater length being from North to South. 114 YORK CATHEDRAL. but not impossible, though certainly contrary to general usage, that the masons of the fifteenth century should make a constructive use of Norman remains, and adapt to them such portions of masonry as it was necessary to supply, we should be forced to conclude, even though history were silent on the subject, that, in spite of the general aspect of this crypt, and the vast preponderance of Norman work in its details, the whole is of the date of the choir. Moreover it is clear that, whether in the twelfth or in the fifteenth century, this crypt was erected out of ma- terials not originally intended for the places which they occupy ; so that it would not really lessen the difficulty to suppose the fabric of either of the Norman dates with which we have already become familiar. The base of the pillar at p is an inverted Norman capital; those at qq are bases, but made for pillars larger than those which they now bear. The bases of the pillars at rrr are octagonal, and their section looks rather Perpendicular than Norman, though it is not very characteristic of any style. With respect to the groining, the arches are slightly pointed; and whereas the ribs are composed of stones 115 YORK CATHEDRAL. of seven and eight inches in depth, agreeing with the masonry of the Norman or Western crypt, the springers are composed of stones two feet in depth, apparently carved afterwards, to supply what was deficient of the old groining-ribs. The key-stones of the groins are also in deep courses of two feet, or thereabouts. The external face of the arches, next the aisles of the choir, is finished with a deep chevron moulding, like that still to be found in the Norman crypt, and is unquestionably the work of a Norman chisel, (see Plate II., A and B,) but it is imme- diately surmounted by a hood or outer member of a section commonly employed in the choir. The minor features would not go far to determine the date, with the exception of the quatrefoils in the East wall already noted. There is a piscina at s, which is Perpendicular. The well at t may be of any date. The lavatory at u has over the drain a figure of a man holding a rabbit, in a style very like the tympanum of a Norman door now preserved in the library. The entrance into the Western crypt at w is a recent arrangement, but we must pass through it to observe upon the other side of the wall. We there find, as in the other masses of masonry in this crypt evidently intended to 116 YORK CATHEDRAL. render it a secure foundation for the present choir, frag- ments of moulded masonry, and one piece is of the section found in the parts assigned to Archbishop Roger, and in the palace, also ascribed to him, so that we have parts of the most recent Norman fabric here employed as mere rubble. 1 It may seem superfluous to describe the crypt as if we were obliged to deduce its date from the character of its details, but it really presents a phenomenon of which such a description alone can convey an adequate impression ; for it stands alone, perhaps, among the productions of English mediaeval architects, as a building which, if it were reduced to a ruin, and were studied without any extraneous help, would be assigned to a period three hundred years before the actual time of its erection. The great rood screen is perhaps the most gorgeous of all the decorations of the noble fabric which it adorns. It was the last great work in the Cathedral to be commenced and perfected, though it must be described here as a com- ponent part of the choir. Examined in detail, 2 this elaborate screen is found to 1 In another part, which does not touch the question of the Eastern crypt, is a little piece of early English stone. 2 See Plate XV. 117 YORK CATHEDRAL. be composed of fifteen compartments, seven on the North, and eight on the South side of a central door, leading into the choir. Each compartment is separated from its neighbours by a buttress, which rises in two stages, till it supports a canopy enriched with numerous crocketed pinnacles. Under this is a statue of the size of life of one of the Kings of England, in royal robes, standing on an arcaded pedestal, the basement moulding beneath the feet of the statues being filled with delicate foliage, among which figures of various animals occur. From the top of the canopy rise five smaller pedestals, each with its subordinate canopy, the central one rising in a foliated finial into the lower members of a very rich parapet. The first hollow of this is now filled with figures of angels playing various instruments, cast in plaister, after no authority, by Bernascone. 1 The next hollow is filled with foliage, and the crest is a highly enriched modifica- tion of the Tudor flower. The outer arch of the door-way, or entrance to the choir, is of four orders, surmounted by a crocketed and ogeed pediment, under the apex of which is a niche (the 1 The same artist did a good deal in plaister about the Minster. 118 c to % us sr ft1nt-wJ.b7.Day It Son l.ith r *to *}f tynfai YORK CATHEDRAL. figure is gone) supported by two angels, one playing an organ, into which the other is blowing with a pair of bellows; and beneath this group are two boys supporting an open book. At the sides of the niche two angels are waving their censers. This splendid work narrowly escaped removal from its proper place, during the repairs after the fire of 1829. All competent judges were, of course, against this innova- tion, and the zeal of many prompted them to a very strong expression of their feelings on the subject. We trust that, for the future, it is safe. 1 1 Three compartments, a base, the door and the central ogeed termina- tions, with the figures playing the organ, in this screen, are engraved by Halfpenny, Plates 59. 64. 65. 66. ll'J YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER X. THE CENTEAL, OE LANTEEN TOWEE, AND THE WESTEEN TO WEES. H mm the relative proportions of the several parts of the Church, when it consisted of a Norman choir of the twelfth, a much wider Norman nave and tower of the eleventh, and Early English tran- septs of the thirteenth century, be remembered, it will be found that great changes in the tower and transepts were requisite, to adapt them in character and proportions to the more recent nave and choir, each of greater dimen- sions than the same part in the Norman Church. We have before observed, that the great tower piers are not, strictly speaking, rebuilt in the style which they now exhibit. They are the original Norman in their core, though they agree, in external section, with the later 120 YORK CATHEDRAL. structures immediately surrounding them. In short, they are cased with later masonry, though their substance is of the time of Archbishop Thomas; and even above the piers, in parts of the tower, which are not visible except on a particular search, and which do not therefore affect its general character, there are still remains of the Norman structure. The first change which the tower required, was at the completion of the Early English transepts, and accordingly we have seen that the " very noble bell tower," as it existed in Stubbs' time, is by him attributed to Johannes Romanus, who also built the North transept. It would seem more than probable, however, that the tower was no farther changed than by the addition of an Early English lantern to the original Norman fabric. When the nave was being erected, there was still, therefore, a Norman tower, so far at least as the substructure was concerned, at the intersection of a Norman choir, Early English transepts, and a Decorated nave ; but the Western faces of the two Western piers were presently cased with Decorated masonry, so as to render them similar to the nave in the portions immediately connected with it. There remained a yet more important difference be- R 121 YORK CATHEDEAL. tween the nave and the transepts, which, as its remedy was connected with the tower, we mention here. When the transepts were erected, the span of the first arches of each transept, reckoning from the tower, would of course be regulated by the width of the aisles to the nave and choir; but these were far from uniform one with the other, or with the present Church ; for the choir with its aisles was about ten feet narrower than the nave with its aisles, and the nave was twenty feet narrower than the present choir, in both cases including the aisles. The first arch of the transepts, therefore, as first erected, would be greatly too small for the same relative position now. Originally there must have been three bays to each transept, with arches of a great span, and one smaller bay, with the arches adapted to the span of the nave and choir aisles respectively. Now, at the opening of the whole length of aisles on their present scale, with the erection of the present lantern tower, which was contemporary with this improvement, the first bay had to be enlarged, which was done at the expense of the second bay, the others retaining; their original width, so that in effect the first and second bays changed places, the first, which had been the smallest, being now the largest, and vice versa. 122 YORK CATHEDRAL. And in this operation the pillars were wholly rebuilt, and made, together with those of the tower, to harmonize with the nave pillars; but for the arches, and all other parts that were affected by the change, the old materials were employed, so that the parts of the transept adjoining the tower have perpendicular pillars, surmounted by the Early English arches, triforium and clerestory. As, however, the increase of height in the tower would make additional support necessary, the two smaller bays, now thrust one step farther off, were filled up with solid masonry, intensifying the support which the tower receives from the pillars and arches of the transept. 1 The completion of a perpendicular choir, about the beginning of the fifteenth century, called for similar changes in the Eastern piers of the tower, and the two faces of each of the Western piers not yet changed ; and the document already referred to, and given entire by Professor Willis, 2 tells us, that in 1409 the casing of the fourth pier 1 The whole of this description will be better understood by reference to the plan. And the filling up of the smaller, together with the substitution of a perpendicular pier next the tower, while the Early English pier is retained on the other side the same arch, will be seen in the view of Haxby's tomb. Plate XXI. 2 Page 40, foot note. 123 YORK CATHEDRAL. (the rest having most likely been already finished) was committed to Thomas de Wacey. The place of the work- shop was also fixed between the consistory and the door of the Chapter-house, i. e., at the end of the North transept, so that on the presumption that the Western piers were first transformed, that to the South-west was also con- cluded, and the " fourth" was the North-west pier. Thus we have the history of this casing of the tower piers as minutely given as that of the parallel changes in the nave of Winchester. Those who have studied Pro- fessor Willis's work on the latter Cathedral, will not be contented without referring to his History of York Minster for his elucidation of the details in this instance. And now we proceed to the erection of the ujmer part of the Lantern tower, in its present form. We left it Early English, but thus it was not likely to remain. In 1409 the docmnent before cited, as giving the history of the North-west pier, indicates also the commencement of changes in the upper and external fabric, for it is ordered that " the corners at the angles of the Bell tower on the outside shall be reduced or removed; that the wall shall be carried up plain at the corners." But before any considerable additions were made to the lantern, the bells 124 YOKK CATHEDRAL. had to be removed, and to receive them the South-west tower was commenced during the treasurership of John de Birmyngham, 1 whose rebus and name appear in the string-course under the window in the "West face. In 1471 we find, from accounts for timber, lead, and glass, the vaulting and glazing of the great lantern tower in progress, and in 1472 the items refer to the painting of this tower, which would indicate its completion. In the same year, the Church, now retaining scarcely a fragment of the Norman fabric, was reconsecrated, the substantial completion of the Cathedral having occupied 111 years since the laying of the first stone of the choir by Archbishop Thoresby in 1361. It must not be supposed, however, that the exertions of the builders relaxed, for the upper parts of the exterior of the choir and presbytery, as well as of the Western towers, together with some important interior decorations, remained unfinished. The fabric rolls lead us to refer the completion of the North-west tower, in all substantial 1 The age of Birmyngham is decided by the commencement of his treasurership in 1432, and by the inscription on his tomb : — " Orate pro anima dom. J ohannis Birmyngham, thcsaurarii istius ecclesie, ac propositus ecclesie beati Johannis Beverlaci, qui obiit xxiii die mcnsis Maii, A. Dom. 1458. Cujus anime propitietur Deus. Amen." — Drake, p. 499. 125 YORK CATHEDRAL. respects to about 1475, though the pinnacles were not concluded till 1498. The Western towers were described as part of the West front of the Cathedral; the Central tower is so plain, that it requires little to be said on its details. It rises in one lofty story over the roof of the cross, each face being pierced with two windows of three lights, flanked by canopies, and surmounted by ogeed and foliated drip- stones, rising to the base of the parapet, which is crenel- lated and pierced. The buttresses are in pairs at each angle, of small projection, and terminating abruptly a little above the battlements. In the interior a rich arcade intervenes between the great arches and the windows, over which the vault is carried at a height of ninety-six feet from the pavement. There are some persons who regret that the exterior elevation of this tower is not greater; but the interior effect is beyond all praise, and as this is no longer a bell tower, its use is satisfied by its perfect effect as a lantern ; and as there is no positive want of dignity in the exterior elevation, this is all that can be justly demanded. In the spandrils of the arches are coats of arms in the following order: — 126 YORK CfiT«€E>.R»L See of York Wilfred JSutdi&deT 1 3«dford lath.. Dsyi Son lath" tx) the Ouctn YORK CSTW8 DR8L SMfSL&S from CHG CSHGRffil, GOWSR YORK CATHEDRAL. On the Nortli side of the Tower. 1. Three crowns, 2 and 1 King Edwin. 2. Three crowns in pale King Oswald. On the West side. 1. A cross flory between five martlets . King Edward the Confessor. 2. Quarterly, modern France and England. On the South side. 1 . Six osier wands interlaced in cross .... Walter Skirlaw. 2. Two keys in saltire, in chief a mitre .... Chapter op York. On the East side. 1. Three estoiles of seven points St. Wilfred. 2. A pastoral staff surmounted by a pall, charged with six cross-crosslets fitche .... See of York. The occurrence of the arms of Walter Skirlaw, together with the mention made of it by William de Chambre, 1 has 1 " He built the bridge of Shincliffe, and the bridge of Yarm: for which latter he purchased certain lands, which he afterwards gave for the repairs of the said bridge : he built also the bridge at Auckland, and he raised the great stone gateway at Auckland from the foundation to the topstone at his proper charges. He built also the great bell tower of Howden, [campanile de Houldon,) in the county of York, which he caused to be made of a great size, (summce magnitudinis,) that it might afford a place of refuge to the people of Howden, if there should chance a great inundation of their town. He laid out also vast sums in the repair of the said Church; and he erected an exquisitely beautiful Chapter-house (domum capitularem perpulchrani) adjoining the same Church. He built also the manor house of Howden, and laid out besides considerable sums in the buildings on the said manor. He also constructed a great part of the bell tower or lantern, 127 YORK CATHEDRAL. given rise to the tradition that he was the builder of this tower, though, in fact, he died before it was commenced, and his benefaction of 100 marks to the Church was as it is commonly called, of the Minster Church of York, and placed his arms in the centre of the work. (Magna/m partem campanilis, vulgo lantern, Ministerii Eboracensis construxit, in medio cnjus operis arma sua posuit.) There also did he found a chantry, on the South angle of the cross of the said Church, where he endowed a chantry priest for the per- petual celebration of the mass for his soul. He expended six hundred pounds in the erection of the cloisters in the monastery of Durham. He gave, moreover, three hundred and thirty marks towards the erection of the dormitory; and to the construction of the cloisters, his executors gave three hundred pounds, he himself having already given two hundred. And on all these buildings he placed his arms, viz. six osiers interlaced after the manner of a sieve. (6 virgas vicissim flexatas, in forma crebri.)" US YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER XL GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE FOREGOING HISTORY. IHUS from the time of Walter Grey, 1 in 1215, to Thomas Wolsey, in 1530, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, at York, was in constant progress, no period passing at which some material part of the fabric was not assuming the magnificent form which it still displays. A method of proceeding so different in itself and in its results from any to which we are now accustomed, leads to some questions of very general interest, as to the spirit in which such works were commenced, and carried on; the pecuniary, or other aids, which enabled those 1 The crypt cannot be called a part of the present fabric, so far as general effect is concerned, or we must go back still further. s 129 YORK CATHEDRAL. charged with the fabric to make so long sustained efforts ; and the social condition and technical skill and science of the persons employed upon it. Why was York Minster so long in building? Simply, because the means for its more rapid completion were not at hand. Why was it not calculated on such a scale that it might be finished at once, though with less splendour? Simply, because the builders of Churches, in those days, rather desired perfection in their works than rapid exe- cution; and when the space absolutely requisite for the performance of the divine offices was gained, feeling them- selves to be parts of a great whole, extending from the past into the future, preferred working at parts of a great whole, scarcely less unlimited than the spiritual church itself, in the time within which it was to perfect its existence. Whatever there was of good, whatever of imperfec- tion in this character and its results, was carried through the whole state of the people, and all that was brought to pass. National, as well as ecclesiastical works, laws and constitutions, as well as palaces and Churches, all followed the same unhasty, but untiring course. The times had neither the curse nor the advantage 130 YORK CATHEDRAL. of facility in anything intellectual, moral, political, or physical. A reference to the recent History of the Cathedral will illustrate these remarks. Twice within the present gene- ration the Minster has suffered extensively from fire. The whole nation felt the calamity ; public meetings were held, subscriptions raised, architects employed; masons, and all manner of artificers were found, on the instant, to undertake the works, and it was done, as if by magic. It would be unjust and ungracious not to add well done, on the whole ; but, for a but there must be, not quite so well as would have satisfied Archbishop Grey or Thoresby. They could no more have done it so rapidly, than they would have been content to leave the work when done a little inferior to that which it had replaced. They wanted the facilities of the present day, but they would have repudiated its results. If we seek for examples in other buildings, they are sufficiently abundant. The Cathedral of St. Paul, for instance, was designed and erected by one architect, with the aid of one master mason, and during the episcopate of one man : and that, too, while a whole city was being rebuilt : but the new fabric can no more compare with 131 YORK ^CATHEDRAL. the old in splendour, than the old could compare with the new, in unity of design and rapidity of execution. The present Houses of Parliament present a similar example, even on a larger scale. To these ecclesiastical and national, we will add an academical instance. One long vacation, the students of Cambridge went down, leaving the works of the new buildings at St. John's College not above the ground. They returned : the louvre over the centre of the roof was almost finished. We are so much in the habit of fancying that the resources of ecclesiastical bodies before the Reformation were inexhaustible, that we are indisposed, perhaps, at first to admit the fact of their inability to work at once on the large scale which they evidently proposed to them- selves. Let us then look at one or two more instances, in which the means, even of the most wealthy bodies, were evidently much limited, and in which great works were therefore slowly carried on, or even necessary resto- rations were made with difficulty. Jocelin of Brakeland, in his gossiping Chronicles, which throw much light on the social condition of the monastic institutions at the end of the twelfth century, gives several amusing hints of the difficulty with which the 132 YORK CATHEDRAL. sacrist and sub-sacrist found means to keep the Abbey of St. Edmund in repair; and when the two Western towers were still unfinished, it was a sufficient cause for the Saint to appear in a dream to one of the brethren, to predict by whom they should be erected. The conster- nation of the monks of Canterbury at the burning of their Church, at about the same period, and their despair of finding means to restore it, are graphically described by Gervase. However, the late Archbishop Thomas a Becket had been canonized shortly before ; funds therefore poured in, and the work was magnificently concluded. When the central tower of Ely fell, and destroyed part of the choir, the brethren of that house were as much at a loss for the means of its rapid restoration, as the Dean and Chapter of York were for the repair of their Minster after the late fires. It is true that the work was begun on a noble scale, without public meetings, and country solicitations, and Government grants of timber, but its progress was comparatively slow. And the erection of the Lady Chapel in the same Church, with the extraordinary efforts made to obtain the necessary funds by John of Wisbeach, the projector of the glorious fabric, are among the most inter- esting pieces of architectural history. We are prepared, 133 YORK CATHEDRAL. then, from our general acquaintance with the history of such undertakings, to believe that there would be con- siderable difficulty, from want of funds, in carrying on with rapidity so expensive works as those of which we have been tracing the history. And, indeed, so it was. So far as we are able to collect, the Chapter of York had not ordinarily a very large fund available for the sustentation, enlarging, and enriching of the fabric. Let us inquire how their resources were swelled by extraordinary exertions and sacrifices on their own part, by private devotion and munificence, by ecclesi- astical discipline, and by devices, not always disinterested, or even honest, of ecclesiastical authorities. The self-imposed taxes of one-tenth, one-seventh, or even one-fourth of Prebends and Benefices occur pretty frequently in the documents belonging to the Chapter, the proceeds being devoted to the fabric in its several stages. The successive Archbishops, almost without exception, 1 meet the devotions of the Chapter with liberal donations, and aid them yet more effectively by briefs and indul- gences, the profits of which swell the fabric fund. Two 1 Perhaps, without exception, though the gift is not always recorded in extant documents. 134 YORK CATHEDRAL. Popes successively (Innocent VI. and Urban V.) assist the Church of York with relaxations of penance to those who shall contribute to it; and more effectually, though less directly, the canonization and translation of St. William, appeals to the liberality of the faithful. The appropriation of benefices was a direct robbery, yet this means was often resorted to on such occasions; and the history of York Minster is not without instances of this kind. 1 The offences of others were made to contribute as well as robbery 2 by the Chapter itself. Thus "Archbishop Greenfield contributes £14 i de quodam mulcte;'" and this is by no means a solitary instance, fines for offences being sometimes made payable directly towards the fabric. 3 The donations and bequests of individuals in money, jewels, vestments, and the like, are also very numerous, 1 "In 1377 the Church of Misterton was appropriated to the fabric of the choir for ten years." — Willis, p. 42. 2 In the case of Edraondsbury, before alluded to, Jocelin of Brakeland not obscurely hints at something very like direct theft by the Sacrist, that the works may not stand still. 3 In other parts of the kingdom some whole churches have been erected as acts of penance. Thus the Cathedral of Norwich was built by Herbert Lozing, in satisfaction for his simony in the purchase of the See. The beautiful Tower of St. Stephen's, Bristol, was erected by a merchant in that place, as an act of penance for the part he had taken in a serious disturbance. 135 YORK CATHEDRAL. not only in the history of York Minster, but of every great ecclesiastical edifice, the progress of which has been recorded by contemporaries, or is to be collected from documentary evidence. Sometimes these are curious, as throwing light on the manners of the age, and on the principle on which they acted. The will of Agnes de Holme (11 Oct. 1361) is a remarkable example. She gives, in the usual form, 100 pence of silver to the fabric of the Church, and adds : — " Item, I bequeath to the new fabric of the Choir of the Cathedral Church of St. Peter at York, so much money, of my goods, as may be ordi- narily sufficient to hire a person to make a pilgrimage for another, to St. James the Great, for the making of the glass of one window, and I will that in one of the lights of the said glass window shall be placed the figure of St. James the Great, and in another light a figure of St. Katherine the Virgin." 1 Donations in kind, so to speak, have a spirit quite their own, and one which we gladly see reviving in the present day. Such are, for instance, the well-known grant of quarries and of right of way, by Percy and Vavasour; the gift of timber, and of the materials of a palace at Cawood, 1 Torre's MSS. 136 YORK CATHEDRAL. by Archbishops ; and the gratuitous carriage of stone : nor was it unusual to make a gift of money especially for the employment of so many labourers for a certain time, — the nearest possible approach to actual labour at the fabric with one's own hand. Gifts of particular portions of the building, too, are not unfrequent, as, for instance, of the Screen at Durham, by a Nevil, and of several windows in the same Church, by different benefactors; or again, the Spire of Oakham, built by Roger Flore; and, indeed, innumerable cases of the like kind, in which, however, York is not remarkably rich; one window, which, from the frequent repetition of the Bowett arms, must have been a gift of that family, and another already mentioned as the bequest of Agnes Holme, being the only ones that occur to us. It is clear that such gifts as these must have greatly facilitated the works ; but they are cited here as indicating, moreover, the spirit with which the people entered into the progress of the fabric, and of the feeling embodied in their benefactions. It is marvellous how nearly we arrive at an exact knowledge of the extent to which all sources of income were made available, and how they were expended. The fabric rolls already mentioned, which were discovered at T 137 YORK CATHEDRAL. the time of the removal of the records to the present vestry, give, in many instances, the exact sum received and expended in each year. Without entering on minute details, we may, perhaps, state the average income avail- able for the fabric during the time of the more animated progress of the greater works at about £500 per annum. This sum would not suffice for the completion of the whole of the choir of York within the time that has usually been assigned to it ;* and, perhaps, we may suggest a doubt whether we do not in general rather crowd the execution of the particular parts of our great churches into too short a time. But we cannot do better than recommend the reader to pursue this subject in the very valuable note of Professor Willis, in his work so often quoted, on the time occupied in the erection of our Cathedrals. And now we turn from the pecuniary resources of the Church, and from the acts of dignitaries, to another part of our subject. We must advert to the names and state of certain functionaries, not indeed of the same importance 1 For instance, the choir, in its fullest acceptation, is generally said to be the work of Thoresby in about ten years; whereas, in fact, the pres- bytery was barely finished by him. 138 YORK CATHEDRAL. with those who filled a metropolitan chair, but yet of no slight interest as connected with ecclesiastical art in the middle ages. It is to the skill of master masons and carpenters, with the handicraft of their inferiors, that we owe the beauty of the fabric we have been describing, and we cannot help feeling that they left an impress of some- thing more than mere manual dexterity on the several decorations of the fabric, which grew into life and spirit under their chisel. Coarse, satirical, playful, grotesque, fanciful, imitative, graceful, and devotional, did not surely come from the same hand ; and we can imagine how the Canons would admire the finer skill and taste of a master in his art, displayed in a group such as that in the Chapter- house door, while his companions in the work would laugh outright at the rude jest embodied in some less reverent boss or capital by the second mason. Nor must we suppose that coarse and broad humour is the only characteristic of these carvings, even where they aim the least at severity or refinement. A playful wit is often found embodied in them, and sometimes a deeper tone of satire, touching, whether justly or no, the manners and institutions of the day. There is something of the spirit of iEsop in the farrier shoeing a goose, amid the 139 YORK CATHEDRAL. laughter of the bystanders, and in the old woman flogging a boy for theft; and there is meaning enough for a homily in the oft repeated design of a fox in a friar's habit, preaching to geese. We may imagine the carver to listen well pleased, when some one expounding his emble- matic group says with Bishop Latimer — " When we see a fox represented in a friar's hood, nobody imagines that a fox is meant, but that craft and hypocrisy are described, which are so often found disguised in that garb." A very slight acquaintance with the works of these artificers in wood, and stone, and iron, will be sufficient to interest one in their persons and conditions, and we shall collect from existing documents some notices of their names, wages, stations, and mode of living. In the year 1350 Philip of Lincoln was invested by the Chapter, by letters under their seal, with the office of carpenter [officium carpentarie] of the Church for life, and his salary was fixed at two shillings of silver weekly, with all benefits attached to the office, as it had been held by his predecessors. By the same instrument a suitable residence, with other advantages, was secured to the said Philip, by his being appointed porter [ad officium janitoris] with a salary of ten shillings a year, to be 140 YORK CATHEDRAL. made by two equal payments, at the feasts of Whitsunday and of St. Martin. The indentures by which William de Hoton was ap- pointed mason of the fabric, an office which had been held by his father of the same name, is somewhat more specific in its provisions. The Chapter, in consideration of the elaborate skill and industry [pro artificiosa indus- tria et labore] of William de Hoton, mason, son of Master William de Hoton, mason of the fabric of the Church of York, agreed to give to the said William a yearly pension of ten pounds of silver, together with a residence within the Close, in which Thomas de Patenham dwelt while he lived, to be entered upon by the said William, at the death of his father. And this appointment, with the salary and residence, was secured to him for life, on con- dition that he undertook no other work which should let or hinder him in the work of the Minster. And this sum was to be paid by the keeper of the fabric [per manum custodis ipsius fabricae.] The said William agrees that if he should be afflicted with blindness, or any other incurable disease, which should prevent his labouring at the said work, and conducting it as he ought, he will pay half of his said salary, while the hindrance remains, Ul YORK CATHEDRAL. to the under mason, who is the next master of the masons [subcementario qui est magister secondarius cementari- orum.] And if by the negligence of the said William while he is able to work, or by his voluntary omission, or by his being occupied in other business, the work of the Minster should be neglected, omitted, or in any way hindered, then that the whole of the said pension should cease. Other indentures of a like kind with glaziers, and with plumbers, show how carefully these offices were filled up, and how well the interests of both parties were secured; the artificer being secured in his place, with all its advantages, [commoditates] for life, and the Chapter ex- acting the most punctual performance of its duties. We may observe, too, on the names of the persons thus employed, that the greater Churches were then (as in- deed they continue to be to a certain extent) schools of such arts as were requisite for their completion, susten- tation, and adornment. Among the masons and carpen- ters set over the fabric of York occur William de Col- chester, Philippus de Lincoln, Kobert de Patryngton, and Hugo de Hedon, all names which indicate that the persons to whom they belonged came from places at which was 142 YORK CATHEDRAL. a large ecclesiastical establishment, with a Church of pro- portionate splendour. The two last places would naturally supply artificers to the Cathedral of their own diocese, and Hedon and Patrington Churches are popularly known as the king and queen of Holderness, for their magnificence. Lincoln must have always been a nursery of ecclesiastical art. In the cotemporary rolls of expenses in the building and adorning of St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, we find that Lincoln provided a painter, and Patrington, though so remote in its position, a carver of images. Norwich, St. Albans, and Reading each supplies its work- men ; and Walsingham, which had already given the great name of Alan of Walsingham to Ely Cathedral, sup- plied a William of Walsingham to paint the images at St. Stephen's. In the present revival of ecclesiastical art we shall doubtless find a similar result, from the care taken of our greater Churches. There is not a day passes without the careful restoration of some detail at the least of York Minster, and so perfect in many cases is the retention of the old spirit in the carving, that it would be impossible to say which is new and which is old, but for the greater freshness of the former. The work of Michael Taylor is always excellent, and often of a still higher 143 YORK CATHEDRAL. degree of merit, as will be admitted by those who examine his masterly figure of Archbishop Greenfield, on the top of the canopy of his tomb : nor would it be just to omit the mention of the present master mason, Mr. David Bannister, who has laboured at the fabric without inter- mission, till he has imbibed the spirit of the best portions of the details which he has to restore. Men who have worked under such masters cannot fail to be valuable assistants in the erection or restoration of other Churches ; and so we have, even at a distance, a very great interest in all architectural restoration, carried on with due respect to the character of the original fabric. From the names, wages, and conditions of the principal workmen, we naturally proceed to the regulations by which the whole body of labourers was kept in due order ; and here we find the Chapter promulgating rules, which ex- tend even to the smallest matters, and which are certainly not deficient in wholesome rigour. The document is so curious that we give the whole, in the original language, in a note. It is ordered by the Venerable the Chapter of the Church of St. Peter at York, that the ancient customs which the masons, carpenters, and other workmen labour- 144 YOKK CATHEDRAL. ing at the fabric of the said Church, have been used to observe, at the several seasons of the year, shall still be observed in the accustomed manner; and in order to such observance, the principal and second masons, who are called masters, and the carpenter of the aforesaid fabric, who are now admitted, or shall hereafter be admitted by the Chapter, shall swear before the Chapter, that they will cause the old customs, hereunder written, to be faithfully observed by the rest of the masons, carpenters, and other workmen engaged at the same work : viz. That the said masons, carpenters, and other workmen shall begin to work at sunrise on all working days in summer, from Easter to the feast of St. Michael, and shall work from that time till the ringing of the bell of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and then shall sit at breakfast within the Lodge of the fabric, for which the space of half an hour shall be allowed ;* and then the aforesaid masters, or one of them, shall knock at the door of the Lodge, and all shall at once proceed to their work, and so shall remain engaged in their several places, till three o'clock, 2 and then shall go to 1 We do not know what other sense to put on the original language of the document, which will be found sufficiently obscure. 2 See note, next page. u 145 YORK CATHEDRAL. dinner. And in winter, that is to say, from the feast of St. Michael to the feast of Easter, they shall come to their work at daybreak, and shall at once enter upon their task, and so continue as before mentioned till three o'clock. 1 But after dinner, from the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross till the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, they ought to sleep within the Lodge; and when the Vicars have come from the table of the Canons, after dinner, the master mason, or his substitute, shall awake them, and send them to their work, and so shall they work till the first ringing to vespers ; and then they shall sit to drink in the Lodge, from the said first ringing to vespers till the end of the third ringing, as well in summer as in winter. Also, from the aforesaid feast of St. Peter ad Vincula to the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, 1 " Usque ad horain nonam." We are in doubt how to translate these words, here and in other places. According to classic usage, hora nona is three o'clock in the afternoon; according to popular language, it is nine o'clock in the morning. The ecclesiastical sense will be the hour of nones, which is two or three o'clock, but neither of these hours was likely to be the dinner hour of a body of masons. In the document next quoted, the corresponding passages have the hour of "none," or again, " hegh none," i. e. high noon, the very time we should expect to be set apart for dinner. We wish we could, by any method of interpretation, give the same sense to the passage above. 146 YORK CATHEDRAL. immediately after their own dinner, which shall be taken at the proper hour, they shall go to their work, without waiting for the return of the Vicars from the Canons' table ; and each one as he returns shall begin to work, and so shall work on until the first ringing of vespers, and then they shall drink within the Lodge to the end of the third ringing, and shall return to their work, and continue thereat until the ringing of the bell of St. Mary's Abbey, called le Lange bell [qusere, Large-bell], that is to say, on every workday from the feast of St. Peter in Cathedra to the feast of St. Michael ; and from the feast of St. Michael to the said feast of St. Peter, in each year, they shall continue at work so long as daylight lasts. Also each mason shall receive one day's less wages by the week in winter than in summer, viz. from the feast of St. Michael to the feast of Easter. Also when two feasts shall occur in one week, each man shall lose one day's wages; and when three feasts shall occur, each shall lose half his week's pay. And on vigils and on Saturdays, when, on account of the solemnity of the day following, they are accustomed to give up work at nones, they shall labour till the clock strikes three. 1 Moreover, the two master 1 " Ad pulsationem horse nonse." I 17 YORK CATHEDRAL. masons aforesaid, and the carpenter of the fabric, shall be present at each [pacacoe?] and there shall notify to the keeper of the fabric, and to the keeper of the rolls thereof, the faults and absence of the masons, carpenters, and other workmen, and in proportion to the delay and absence of each, deduction shall be made, either of half or of a whole day's wages, as shall be most just. Moreover, the said two master masons, and the carpenter, for the time being, shall faithfully observe the aforesaid customs, in virtue of their oath, and shall cause them to be observed by the rest of the masons and workmen, on pain of dismissal; and if any workman shall refuse to observe them, as aforesaid, he shall be at once dismissed, and not admitted again to the said works until he is willing to observe them in all and every particular." 1 1 Ordinatu est p ven! capittm ecclie bi petri Ebof qd consue- tudines antique quib3 Cementarii & carpentarii & ceti oparii opantes in ffabrica ecctie pdicte uti solebant p sing l a tempa anni de ceto more solito observen? ad qua? obfvacom principal & se- cundari 9 cementari 9 qui vocat 9 magri eosdiii ac carpentari 9 ffabrice pdce qui sunt recepti p capitltn et impostm recipiendi jurent cor capittu qd consuetudines antique infrascripte faciant p cetos ce- inentarios carpentarios & cetos oparios ibidm opantes de ceto fideli? observari videlicet qd ipi cementarii carpentarii & ceti oparii incipe debent opari singtis dieb3 opalib3 i estate a festo Pascb MS YORK CATHEDRAL. We may assume that the recognition of an after- dinner sleep, as a part of the daily regime of a body of workmen, in a formal instrument of this kind, will be new to many of our readers. Perhaps, also, the rigid computation, by which the wages for feast days were deducted, by an ecclesiastical body, will seem hardly equitable, or at least, barely liberal. It is certain, how- usq, ad fin sci Michis statim ad solis ortu & ab ilia hora diei debent opari usq, ad pulsacom campane bte mar virg 1 & tuc sedeant ad Iantaculu infra logm ffabrice cii non remnauint p spacm dimidie lente & tuc p>dei magri vt unus eor pulsabit sup ostm logii & omnes statim accedent ad opa sua & sic officia sua diligent complebunt usq, ad horam nonam & tuc ad prandia sua ibunt Itrn in yeme videlt a fo sci Michis usq, ad fin Pasch lucestente die ad opus suu veniet & statim un 9 quisq i cii veiiit in'jipiet opari & sic continuare in forma pdca usq, ad horam nouam Post prandiu v'o a festo Invencois see Crucis usq, ad fin bi Petri ad vincla dormire debent inf 9 logiu et cu vicarii venint de mensa Canonicor post prandiu magf Cemcntar vl ejus substitut 9 faciet eos de sompno sur^e & ad opus suii accedere & s c debent opari usq^ ad pma pulsacom ad vespas & tuc in logio ad potand 9 sedebunt a dca {?ma pulsacoe usq^ ad ttiam pulsacom ppulsata ta i estate qfh in yeme Itm a festo bi Petri ad vincla pdea usq, ad fm Invencois see crucis statim post prandiu suu ppu hora compe- tenti sumptu ad opus suu redibunt no exsp c tanto recessu vicarior de mensa canonicor & un 9 quisq, cu rcdierit incipiet opari & sic opabunt usq, ad pma pulsacone vespar & tuc potabunt inf logiu usq> ad Ptiam pulsacom ppulsata & redibunt ad opa sua & sic 149 YORK CATHEDRAL. ever, that the labourer thought it a hard tax, in some instances, to give up the privilege of working, and of being paid for his work on the oft-recurring festivals, for this was one of the grievances complained of before the Reformation. We ought, however, to observe that, practically, the aggregate of wages must have been at the same level then as now, for the workman's wages opabut usq ad pulsacom Campane Abbathie bte Mar que vocat le Langebett vidett singlis diehj opalib3 a fo sci Petri in Cathedra usq ad fm sci Micbis & a f o sci Micbis usq ad dcm fin sci Petri qm diu p luce diei videre pofunt opa sua cotinuabunt anuatim Itm quilt Cementari 9 min 9 capiet p septimana in yeme qm in estate ad valorem uni 9 diete videlt a fo sci Micbis usq ad fm Pascb Itm quando duo festa accederint inf septimana amittet unusquisque una dieta & cu tria evenlint medietate illius septi- mane Itm in vigil & in Sabbis qudo post nona requievlnt ppt solempnitate diei obseqiitis tuc opabunt usq ad pulsacom hore none Itm p>dci duo magri Cementar & Carpentar ffabrice intcsunt in qualt pacacoe & ibi notificabunt Custodi fFabrice & cont rotu- latori ejusdm defectus & absencias cementar carpentar & cetar opa? & scdm moram & absencias cuitt deducat de salarie suo tarn p diete integra q p dimidia put justu fuit in hac pte Itm pfati duo magri cementar ac carpentar qui p tempe fftint debent pdtas consue- tudines fideli? observare in virtute juramenti pstiti ac p cetTs cementar & opar ibidm opantes facient sub pena amocois observare Et si quis opar noluerit in forma pdta statim amovea? n c amodo ad dtam ffabricam recipiaP quo ad usq eas voluerit in omibj & singlis suis pticulis observare. 150 YORK CATHEDRAL. will never be much more, and can never be much less, than will maintain him in decency and comfort; and if he was subjected to arbitrary deductions, it must have been from a somewhat higher rate of payment, and so the aggregate would be much the same. A subsequent order in some degree modifies that last given. " Itte es ordayned by ye Chapitre of ye Kirk of Saint Petyr of York yat all ye masonns y* sail wyrke till ye werk of ye same Kirk of Saynte Petyr sail fra Mighelmesse day untill ye firste Sonday of Lentyn be ilk a day atty morne atte yayre werk in ye loge yat es ordayned to ye masonnes at wyrk in wich ye close bysyde ye forsayde Kirk als arly als yai may see skilfully by day-lyghte for till wyrke and yai sail stande yar trewly wirkande atte yare wyrke all ye day aftyr als lange als yai may se skilfully for all wyrke if y* be alle werkday outher elles till ette be hegh none smytyn by ye clocke when halyday falles atte none sauf y* in wich y* forsayde tyme bytwyx mighelmes & lentyne and in all other tyme of ye yer yai may dyne byfore none if yai wille andals wa ette atte none whar yam likis swa y* yai sail noghte dwell fra yair werke in ye forsayde loge na tyme of ye yer in dyner tyme bote swa schort tyme yat 151 YORK CATHEDRAL. na skilfulman sail fynde defaute in yare dwellyng and in tyme of mete at none yai sail na tyme of ye yer dwell fra ye loges ne fra yare werke foresayde ovyr ye space of ye tyme of an houre and aftyr none yai may drynk in ye loge ande for yaire drynkyng tyme bytwyx mighelmes & lentyn yai sail noghte cese no lese yare werk passand ye tyme of half a mileway ande fra ye firste sonday of Lentyn untill mighelmesse yai sail be in ye forsayde loge att yaire werke atte ye son risyng ande stande yare trewely ande bysily wyrkande apon ye forsayde werke of ye kyrk all ye day untill itte be namare space yan tyme of a mileway byfore ye sone sette if itte be werkday outher elles untill tyme of none als itte es sayde byfore saf y* yai sail bytwix ye firste Sonday of Lentyne ande Mighelmes dyne ande ette als es byfore sayde ande slepe ande drynke aftyr none in ye forsayde loge ande yai sail noghte cese no lese yair werke in slepyng tyme passande ye tyme of a mile- way no in drynkyng tyme aftyr none passande ye tyme of a mileway and yai sail noghte slepe eftyre none na tyme botte bytwene saynte Elennies and Lammes And yf any mane dwell fra ye loge ande fra ye werk forsayde outher make defaute any tyme of ye yer agayne yis forsayde ordinance he sail be chastyde with abatyng of his pay- 152 YORK CATHEDRAL. ment atte ye lokyng ande devys of ye maistyr masonn And all yer tymes and houres sail by reweled bi a bell ordayned yarefore Ande alswa it es ordayned y t na masonn sail be receavyde at wyrke to ye werk of ye forsayde kyrke bot he be firste provede a weke or mare opon his wele wyrkyng and aftyr y* he es foundyn souffissant of his werke be receavyde of ye comune assente of ye mayster & ye kepers of ye Werk ande of ye maystyr masonn & swere apon ye boke y* he sail trewly ande bysyli at his power for oute any maner gylyry fayntys outher desayte hald & kepe haly all ye poyntes of yis forsayde ordinance in all thynges y* hym touches or may touches fra tyme y* he be receavyde till ye forsayde werke als lang als he sail dwell masonn hyryd atte wyrk til y l forsayde werke of ye kyrk of saint Petyr And noght ga away fra y* forsayde werke bote ye maystyrs gyf hym lefe atte parte fra y* forsayde werk botte ye maystyrs gyf hym lefe atte parte fra y* same werk Ande wha sum evyr cum agayne yis ordinance and brek itte agayn ye will o ye for- sayde chapitre have he goddys malyson and saynt petyr." 1 Interesting as these documents may be as introducing us to the artizans of the middle ages, in their workshop 1 From original in the Minster library. x 153 YORK CATHEDRAL. and their lodge, there is yet a more interesting and a more important matter, one, indeed, which concerns their whole social position, and their comforts, as they were sur- rounded by their wives and families : What was the rela- tive value of their wages and salaries as compared with the prices of the necessaries and comforts of life, and with the expenses of that social position which we may suppose them to have occupied? The actual sums paid to several master workmen have been mentioned in docu- ments already cited, and the fabric rolls in some instances specify the payment even for very trifling works: but these sums have to be compared with the price of articles of domestic consumption at the same time, before they are of any real use in determining the question we have proposed. Mr. Winston, in his very valuable work on glass painting, has some calculations, based in part on the contracts already mentioned for glazing the great West and East windows, of which Ave shall give some of the more general results. It will be remembered that in 1338, according to the contract for the glazing of the great West window, the glazier was to find the glass, and to be paid at the rate of sixpence, equal to about nine shillings, per foot for plain, 154 YORK CATHEDRAL. and twice as much for coloured glass : thus the price of the coloured glass would equal eighteen shillings per foot, leaving a very fair remunerative profit to the artist. Again : " In 1405, John Thornton, of Coventry, con- tracted for the execution of the great East window. It was to be finished in three years, and he was to receive four shillings a week, and one hundred shillings at the end of each year; and if he performed his work to the satisfaction of his employers, he was to receive the farther sum of ten pounds in silver. Including the ten pounds, the cost of this window would be equal to above nine hundred pounds of our money. At the present day, such a window would probably cost not less than two thousand pounds." In another place he observes : "It would probably be found that the gains of the ancient artist [and with respect to the inferior workman, the rate of wages was something higher than now] bore at least as high a pro- portion to the incomes of the gentry, and to the salaries attached to offices of trust and dignity, as those of his modern successor. Thus, in the reign of Edward I., according to Mr. Hallam, ' an income of £10 or £20 was reckoned a competent estate for a gentleman; at 155 YORK CATHEDRAL. least, the lord of a single manor would seldom have enjoyed more: a knight who enjoyed £150 per annum passed for extremely rich ; yet this was not equal in com- mand over commodities to £4000 at present.' With regard to official salaries, we find that William of Wykeham was appointed, October 30, 1356, surveyor of the King's works at the Castle, and in the park of Windsor, with a salary of one shilling a day when he staid at Windsor, and two shillings a day when he went elsewhere on his employment, and five and sixpence a week for his clerk. The following year he received an additional salary of one shilling a day. In 1389, Chaucer was appointed by Richard the Second clerk of the works at the Palace of Westminster, the Castle at Berkhamstead, and several other royal resi- dences, with a salary of two shillings a day. The salaries of the judges in Edward the Third's time varied from forty to eighty marks a year. The chief and puisne barons of the Exchequer, 36 Edward III., had forty pounds. 39 Edward III., the justices of the Bench had forty pounds, and the chief justice one hundred marks. It seems unnecessary to seek for other instances of this kind. Enough has been stated to show that the ancient work- man was very liberally rewarded. From the modes of 156 YORK CATHEDRAL. thinking prevalent in the middle ages, he, no doubt, held a less honourable place in society than the modern artist, yet there was ample inducement for men of genius to devote themselves to the cultivation of art, and if we could free ourselves from the prejudice that attaches to names and terms, we might conclude, even without appeal- ing to the testimony afforded by his productions, that the ancient workman was much more than a mere mechanic, and that in intelligence and education, according to the measure of his age, he was in no respect inferior to the modern artist." These remarks of Mr. Winston, though more expressly intended to apply to a workman in one kind, are yet appli- cable, in their general principle, to all the higher artizans of the same day, — to the master masons and carpenters, for instance, of whom we have said so much ; and it has been already said that the mere labourer had rather more wages than the modern labourer, as compared with the price of the necessaries of life. A more diligent search among the records of the Minster might furnish us with yet farther particulars about the artisans of the middle ages; enough, however, has been said to excite interest on a subject which we 1.37 YORK CATHEDRAL. have no pretensions to have exhausted. We shall only observe, in conclusion, as a matter very worthy of con- sideration, that there is nowhere any mention of an archi- tect in the ordinary sense of the word. And this remark, like so many others before made, applies equally to other Cathedrals with York, and is indeed remarkably true of Gothic buildings in England especially, as distinguished from even contemporary edifices in the ecclesiastical style of their several localities. South of the Alps, we have very frequently the name of the architect, and of the sculptors and painters engaged on the fabric, as well as of the founder of a Cathedral or other Church. In England, and North of the Alps, where the Teutonic forms of art have alone flourished, it is far otherwise; and with respect to York in particular, the South and North transepts, the Chapter-house, the Nave, the Choir, each in its turn was commenced on a plan which was respected through all the whole progress of the work, and which would be a triumph of design scarcely to be dreamed of in these days; but there is not a word to indicate who formed the design in any one case. It is too often assumed that the several Ecclesiastics whose names are associated with such works, were, in fact, their 158 YORK CATHEDRAL. own architects: but this is altogether without evidence, except in a few cases, such as those of Gundulf, and Alan of Walsingham, and William of Wykeham : and York pre- sents no such case, so far as can be proved or probably inferred. It will be better to attribute the design to the master mason than to the Bishop, treasurer or sacrist of the day: yet this will scarcely be admitted as a general rule. To ascribe all to the freemasons will only be to throw the question one step back; and, besides, we have already said, that too much is assigned to that body. We must needs conclude, as we began, with a confession that we are altogether at a loss for a satisfactory solution of the difficulty ; though it will not be too much to refer it, in part at least, to a moral characteristic of the Teutonic race, in whose great works it is most universally found. Perhaps among them there was not less art, but less worshipping of art as an end ; less value for it, except as rendering an offering on the altar more worthy of the service for which it was intended. Perhaps self as well as property was in general more freely sacrificed. 159 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER XII. THE MONUMENTS. E have before had occasion to mention the monument of Archbishop Walter Grey, the founder of the North transept, as on all accounts the most remarkable in the Cathedral. This Prelate died May 1, 1255, after having filled the archiepis- copal throne thirty -nine years, and was buried before the altar of St. Michael, which he had himself erected, and of which his monument still remains to determine the site. It is figured in Plate XVIII., and its place in the East aisle of the North transept is marked (A) in the plan. Both in design and execution it is an admirable specimen of art in the thirteenth century. The recum- bent figure of the departed Prelate lies upon a raised 160 YORK CATHEDRAL. tomb, the mitred head resting on a cushion. He is dressed in the pontifical robes, but without the pall; his right hand is raised in the act of blessing : he treads on a dragon, into the mouth of which his pastoral staff is thrust with his left hand. A canopy, supported by shafts, of which the base is at the foot of the figure, and with an angel at each side, is over his head. The whole is surmounted by a gorgeous canopy of trefoiled arches supported by shafts, with moulded bases and flowered capitals, and with foliage within spandrils, which again supports a second canopy of corresponding trefoiled arches beneath crocketed pediments capped with rich fmials. There is not a single portion of this elaborate monu- ment which is not worthy of the closest study. We would call especial attention to the singular assemblage of birds in the foliage of the fmials; to the crockets, very early and very characteristic examples of this form of deco- ration ; to the foliage in the spandrils, and to the crook of the crosier, which last is a most elegant adaptation of the Early English conventional foliage to a detail of eccle- siastical costume. But there is yet another more minute characteristic in the treatment of foliage. In the caps of the shafts, besides the leaves that curl downwards from 1G1 YORK CATHEDRAL. the abacus, there are some which turn upwards, and attach themselves to another member of the mouldings, passing over an intervening hollow: the same thing is yet more remarkably the case with the leaves which spring from the slab of the tomb, and curl upwards, embracing the shafts which support the canopy over the head of the effigy. Now this treatment of foliage, by which two mouldings, or groups of mouldings, are brought together, is confined to the fullest development of Early English, and it is of so great elegance as to excite regret that it did not retain its hold in the succeed- ing styles. Immediately North of Walter Grey's tomb (B in the plan) is that usually ascribed to Archbishop Kimeton, who died on the 12th January, 1264, having held the See not quite six years. It consists of a massive slab, sup- ported by trefoiled arches, resting on low shafts. 1 That it is very nearly of the same date with the monument of Walter Grey is at once apparent ; but the contour of the arches, and still more the square abaci of the shafts, would seem to indicate that instead of being later it is earlier than its most gorgeous companion. It would not, how- ' See Plate XIX., B. 162 YORK C Pi'V M V, K.>K Ti l< WoKitMKWTWl. KKrt.S.s V <5R6fiMP»StjD YORK CATHEDRAL. ever, be right to disturb, on these grounds, the traditional appropriation of this tomb. The tomb of Archbishop Grenefeld, who died in 1314, still remains in its original position (E in the plan) in the East side of the North transept, near the place where was the altar of St. Nicholas. Its design is a low tomb, with a brass, of which a plate is given (Plate XVII.,) the whole surmounted by a very rich canopy, with a profusion of finely sculptured finials, and in the centre above all a figure of the Archbishop. The latter is the work of Michael Taylor, and is a most admirable piece of sculpture; of course it occupies the place of a more ancient statue. The monument of Prince William, of Hatfield, (F in the plan,) second son of Edward III., is figured (Plate XXXIV.) by Britton. It is thus described in page 62 of that work : — " This royal youth, who died at the early age of eight years, is here represented in a recumbent posture. He is habited in a doublet, finely flowered, with long- sleeves, a mantle with foliated edges, plain hose, and shoes richly ornamented with flowers ; his head is adorned with a narrow chaplet, and a magnificent belt encircles his loins. The head was formerly supported by two angels, which have been destroyed, probably by some zealot, who 163 YORK CATHEDRAL. could endure no superstition but his own. The feet rest against a lion. This statue, which was long neglected, now lies under a beautiful canopy in the north aisle of the choir. It is to be regretted that the face is much injured." Britton figures (Plate XXXVI. C) a recumbent effigy which he gives to a Mauley, on the authority of the arms on the shield, and which is probably of about the same date with the figure of William of Hatfield. The arms of Mauley occur very frequently on various parts of the fabric, and in the windows, so that it may be presumed that this family was a frequent benefactor to the fabric. In 1423 died Archbishop Bowett. He had already made a tomb for himself, between the piers at the North side of the chantry of AH Saints, which he had founded, at the East end of the South aisle of the choir, (T in the plan;) for in 1415 this tomb is alluded to in the will of Archdeacon Pyttes, as newly built. 1 The design of the Archbishop's monument is too com- plicated to be understood from a mere description. Its general character is a low tomb, of ample proportions, surmounted by a lofty elliptical arch, the jambs and soffit of which are richly panelled, over which rise three 1 Willis, p. 46. 164 ft 5 YORK CATHEDRAL. splendid tabernacles, each enclosing a full length figure. The whole is enclosed within the last arch, Eastward, of the South of the choir, above the spring of which the centre tabernacle rises. This tomb, in its composition and in all its detail, is a perfect study of the style of the day. The present floor, or base of the tomb, is a late resto- ration. " The slab, which originally covered the tomb, was cut up to be used in the pavement !" as Mr. Britton records, who gives a beautiful view of this tomb, with the adjoining parts of the choir. This is not the only memorial of Archbishop Bowett. There is a window at the West of the North aisle of the choir, placed there either by himself or his surviving relatives, in which the name and arms of Bowett occur repeatedly. This may fairly rank among the most inter- esting specimens of memorial windows. Next to this in date is the monument of Treasurer Haxby, (D in plan,) who died in 1424. It is so well represented in the accompanying Plate (XXL) as to render description needless. This tomb is of some interest, from the payment of certain monies being made there, according to ancient limitations of the Church 105 YORK CATHEDRAL. estates. It was removed to its present situation, in the West aisle of the North transept, at the time of the new- paving of the nave, so that Thomas Haxby has his tomb, not inappropriately, near to " the fourth pier of the tower," which was committed to his care in 1419. Archbishop Savage died intestate, in 1507; and as he therefore made no provision for his tomb, it has been attributed to his chaplain, Thomas Dalby, Archdeacon of Richmond, whose name appears in an inscription on the cornice. 1 The design is a high tomb, of four compartments of quatrefoils, with shields, and a recumbent figure of the Archbishop in pontijicalibus upon it. Over this is a low triangular-headed arch, of which the soffit is finely panel- led, and on either side is a deeply-recessed niche, also panelled, flanked with buttresses. The cornice is sup- ported by angels, bearing shields. In the spandrils of the principal arch are also shields, with supporters, and angels waving their censers. This monument is among those figured in Britton's work. 1 Thomas Dalby himself died in 1525, and if the representation of his monument, given by Drake, (Eboracum, p. 502,) be correct, the declension of art, during these twenty years, was very great. 1G6 YOKK CATHEDRAL. The monuments of Archbishops Rotherham and Scrope are not of sufficient architectural interest to demand notice. But there is One monument as yet by no means satisfactorily referred to its owner, in the North aisle of the nave, near to the door which formerly opened to the Chapel of St. Mary and the Holy Angels, which must be noticed. It consists of a tomb of open quatrefoils, resting on the bench table of the aisle wall, and occupying the length of two compartments of the arcade, which are cut away for some height to receive it. A low four-centred arch, without enrichment, covers the tomb, and a crest of the Tudor flower, with a figure and a bracket in the centre, crowns the whole. The open quatrefoils in the tomb reveal a leaden and a wooden coffin, which still retain the exuviae of the person there buried. The popular tradition gives this tomb to Archbishop Roger, who built the second Norman Cathedral, and founded the adjoining Chapel, and, dying in 1181, was buried, according to all authorities, in the choir. The character of the tomb is as little consistent with its being that of Archbishop Roger as the tradition that he was buried in another place. It has also been conjectured that this is the resting- 167 YORK CATHEDRAL. place of Archbishop Thoresby, who died in 1373, but this conjecture is contrary to positive historical testimony, and the character of the tomb is too recent for that date. We have nothing to suggest as to the actual tenant of this sepulchre, except that he can hardly be placed earlier than about 1480. 1 A reference to the places which they occupy, as given in the plan, is all that the rest of the monuments deserve. We may add, however, that several, which are too recent to be made the subjects of criticism, are designed with Gothic details, so as to harmonize more nearly with the fabric than the cumbrous pieces of heathen or barbarous statuary with which they are surrounded. One or two of them have unfortunately been allowed to encroach on the arcading of the aisle walls, but this, perhaps, may be inter- dicted in future. 1 This tomb will be found figured in Plate XXI. of Britton's volume, among the details of the West end of the North aisle of the nave. 168 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER XIII. RECENT HISTORY OF THE FABRIC. HE history of York Minster, since the first movements of the Reformation, is comparatively devoid of interest ; we may add, happily so : for where much is to be related of our sacred edifices during this interval, the interest is too often a painful one, centered as it is in the spoliation which took place at the Reformation ; in the still more wanton, and infinitely more destructive mischief of the Puritans; and in the intolerable perversions of all propriety in recent additions or repairs. At the Reformation, the Cathedral of York suffered little that can be said to have robbed the fabric of any portions of its true glory. Edward Lee was installed Archbishop, December 10, 1531. In 1541 the shrine of St. 1G9 YORK CATHEDRAL. William, which exercised so great an influence over the Church in which it was kept, was demolished, the jewels and ornaments being applied to the use of the Church. The several injunctions of the reign of Edward VI. scarcely touched, or, at least, they were not interpreted by the authorities as touching any of the architectural features of the Church; but the fabric fund was hope- lessly curtailed by the statutes vesting the moveable properties and revenues belonging to chantries &c. in the Crown. The High Altar, with the several chantry altars, was probably destroyed during the Episcopate of Holgate, to whom the See, and his successors in it, owe no thanks, for most unjustly alienating large parts of their property. Under Queen Mary, Nicholas Heath was made Arch- bishop. He and the Queen did much to repair the damage which the See of York had sustained at the hands of Henry VIII. and Archbishop Holgate ; but there is no note of anything beyond restoration of the details of de- coration, the setting up anew of images, and the painting and adorning of the furniture of the Church. Charles I., in the course of his progress to Scotland, came to York, on Friday, May 24, 1633. He was met on 170 YORK CATHEDRAL. Tadcaster Bridge by the sheriffs, with six score liveries, and conducted by them to the city. He was received at Micklegate Bar by the lord mayor, recorder, and alder- men, on a scaffold erected for the purpose, 1 and having here received the homage of the civic authorities, he pro- ceeded at once to the Cathedral. Having arrived at the West entrance, he alighted from his carriage, into which he had been driven by the rain, [e curru, quern ad vitandam pluviam conscendisset,] and with bended knees worshipped the Omnipotent God, through whom kings reign, and princes exercise dominion. And then advanc- ing a little into the Church, he stopped by the font, or baptistry, 2 [in Ecclesiae paulo progressus, consistebat prope lavacrum seu Baptisterium,] where the Venerable Henry Wickham, S. T. P., Archdeacon of York, and Canon Residentiary, addressed him in a Latin speech, the King having first seated himself in a chair there set for him, [Domino Rege in Cathedra ibidem parata prius discum- bente.] The speech ended, the King rose, and advanced into the choir, where he remained during the solemni- 1 Drake, p. 134. 2 Then placed under the figure of the dragon, which supported its glorious canopy, about the middle of the North side of the nave. 171 YORK CATHEDEAL. zation of divine service, under a veil or canopy, supported on silvered staves, [velamen seu canopeum barulis dear- gen tatis impositum super Dominum Regem.] The canopy being borne over him, he returned to the nave, and thence proceeded to the Chapter House, and having again walked for awhile in the nave 1 he retired to the manor of St. Mary. 2 Besides this visit of ceremony, the King after dinner went again to the Minster, and so up to the top of the Lantern, " to view the city and country," and his Majesty ever after remembered York as one of the most magnifi- cent fabrics in his dominions; for, " In the year 1641, King Charles the First came down to Waltham for the last time, and went, as he was wont, where there was anything remarkable, to see the Church, the Earl of Car- lisle attending him. His Majesty told him, after having minutely inspected what was most worthy of observation, that he divided his Cathedral Churches into three ranks, as he did his royal ships of the line; accounting St. 1 In medio ambulario, in the middle walk ; in what was then, and long afterwards, called, in St. Paul's Cathedral, " Paul's Walk." 2 From a MS. in Fothergill on Liturgies, Vol. I., 17th sheet, left page, in the Minster Library. 172 YORK CATHEDRAL. Paul's 1 at London, and the Cathedrals of York, Lincoln, and Winchester, of the first: Chichester, Litchfield, &c, of the second ; and the Welsh Cathedrals, with which he ranked this Church of Waltham, of the third." 2 Unhappily, however, some other matters caught the royal eye, such as encroaching buildings without, and high pews within, which called forth his just indignation, and three days after his attendance at the Minster in state, he addressed the following orders to the Dean and Chapter : — " Litters Regime de amovendis Stallis nuper erectis in Choro et de diruendis domibus contiguis eccle- SUE, ETC. " Charles R. — Trusty and welbeloved wee greet you well when wee were lately in o r Cathedrall Church of St Peter's in Yorke there to give God thank for our safety thus farr onward of our Journey towarde Scotland, wee observed at the west end of that Church where wee entred certaine Houses built on either side close upon the wall, and one w th in the very Cross Isle, w ch wee conceive tend much to the detriment of the Church and altogether to 1 It will be rememberd that it was Old St. Paul's of which they spoke. 2 Fuller's History of Waltham Abbey. 173 YOKK CATHEDRAL. the disgrace of that goodly ffabricke After this, lookeing aside wee sawe the like meane Tenem ts in many places erected upon the South side of the Church, w ch gave us cause to enforme our selfe of that great abuse in builde- ing houses and Stables w th their uncleane passages a greate deale too neare to the house of God " Wee likewise observed, when we came up into the Quire that there had been a removeing of divers Seates, w ch wee after understood were placed there for the use of the wyves of the Deane and Prebends and other woemen of quality, and particularly one seate remayneing w ch in- closeth three or fower Stalls belongeing to the Archdeacons and Prebends ; All w ch Seates, and that especially, cannot but bee a great trouble to the service in the Church and a great blemish to soe goodly a Quire as wee found y l to bee, and doe utterly dislyke that such Seates as they should any way be continued there. " Our expresse will and pleasure therefore is and soe wee will, and comande that neither you, the Deane and Chapter for the time being, nor any other Deane and Chapter that shall hereafter bee, doe either cause or suffer any dwelling house Stable or other edyfice to be built w th in or against any part of that o r Cathedrall Church 174 YORK CATHEDRAL. aforesaid, or the Quire or Chapter House of the same : And further that neither you nor they renew any lease or leases of any the houses Stables or other Edifyces whatsoever, w cb are already built against the walles of the said Church Quire or Chapter house, for any yeare or terme of yeares whatsoever; But that yee suffer the leases now runing to expire and then pull downe the houses, or sooner if any shall be soe well minded to the Church as to relinquish their dwelling : But wee will that the house in the Cross Isle be forthwith pulled downe. " And o r further expresse will & comand is, that the seate w ch incloseth the Stalles aforesaid bee psently taken downe and set upp noe more : As alsoe that all the Seates w ch were now taken downe against o r comeing (the Lord Archb ps Throne excepted) be never sett up againe, that soe the Quire may ever remaine in its auncyent beauty : And yet, that woemen of quality may have fayre and free access thither to pforme their service to God, Our expresse will and pleasure is, that there be a fayre seate lefte or made upon the North side of the Quire above the Stalls for the L d Presidents Lady and her Company and noe other : And likewise that there be moveable Benches or Chayres for other woemen of quallity when they come to Church, w ch 175 YORK CATHEDRAL. may be putt into the Vestry or some other convenient place at all such tymes as they are not used. " And lastly o r expresse Comande is that these o r Ires be kept safe by you the Deane and Chapter in the place where you keepe yo r Evydences : And further that a Copie of them be transcribed into yo r Register booke and there kept; And that a Copie be likewise transcribed by yo r officer and delived to our Right Trusty and wellbeloved Counsellor the Most Reverend ffather in God Richard now L d Archb p of Yorke, and soe to ev^y Archb hp from tyme to tyme, that he and they successively may have care of the performance of this our will and Comand. And all this wee strictly enjoy ne upon the Deane and Chapter carefully to obey and putt in execucon in every part, according to Our Royal intencon before expressed to the hono r of God and his house, as you or any of you will answer the neglect hereof in any particular at yo r utmost perill, Given at Our Palace in Yorke May the 27 th and in the ninth year of o r Raigne. " To our Trusty and wellbeloved the Deane and Chapter of our Cathedrall Church of S l Peters in Our Cittie of Yorke." Nor did the important affairs of the King, in his I7ti YORK CATHEDRAL. Northern capital, divert his mind from the same subject, as appears by the following : — " Litters Regime pro Stallo erigendo pro Consilio, etc. " Charles R. — Trusty and wellbeloved wee greet you well: At our late being in Yorke wee tooke order by our Lfs that noe Seat or Seats should be sett above the Stalls on either side of the Quire, save onely the Archb ps Throne on the one side, where the Lord President sitts w th the Lord Archb p , and one seat on the other syde for the L d President's Lady and her Company ; and this wee did comand that the Quire might be kept in its auncient beauty and not be filled up w th soe many Seates. " Now for this busines though wee tooke all the care wee could, yet because the time of our stay was but short, wee could not enforme o r selfe soe throughly of every cir- cumstance as wee intended to have done; for since wee finde that the Seate w ch was lately appointed for the counsell of ffee in ordinary, and stood just before the place where the Lord President sitts, may well be sett up againe w th out any disgrace to the Quire, because it doth not goe further into the breadth than the Stalles and Seats before A A 177 YORK CATHEDRAL. them doe. And wee further fynde that if they have not a Seat by themselves the Company is many tymes soe great that they can have little or noe roome in the Stalls. But the reason that moves us most is to take all dislikes w oh were like to arise about choyce of places in the Church between Baronets Knights and our Counsell of ffee, w ch might phaps breed differences amongest them to the great disturbance of the Country and of our service there especially. " Our expresse will and pleasure therefore is in this particular to dispense w th our former Lrs. And wee doe hereby coiiiand you the Deane and Chapter to see this Seat sett up againe in decent manner before the place where the Lord President sitts ; but to take care that the seat be not too high, and that it extend not into the breadth beyond the auncyent Stalles and Seats. And for yo r soe doeing this shall bee yo r sufficient warrant : but for all other particulars whatsoever wee will have our former LPs fully obeyed. Given at Our Court at Edinburgh this two and twentieth of June in the nineth yeare of our raigne 1633. " To our Trusty and wellbeloved the Deane and Chapter of Yorke." 178 YORK CATHEDRAL. In 1644, York surrendered to Sir Thomas Fairfax, with stipulations that neither churches nor other buildings should be defaced ; and the state of the Minster, and other Churches, especially of the painted glass, which so very generally suffered under the rough hands of the rebels and murderers of those times, proves that the stipulation was kept in good faith. Drake, however, gives a tradition, which seems extremely probable, both from the temper of the times, and from the very frequent fate of sacrilege, — that " this noble structure [the Chapter-house] had like to have met its fate, in the late days of rapine and sacrilege ; for we have a tradition, very much credited, that a certain person in this city had obtained a grant, from the pious legislature of those days, to pull down the Chapter-house as an useless part of the Church. We are further told, that the man had certainly effected it, and had designed to build stables out of the materials, had not death surprised him a week before the intended execution of his wicked project." 1 In 1726, by order of Dean Finch, the old Reredos was removed. Drake mentions this change with just com- mendation. " The altar has lately received a considerable improvement, as to its situation, and the whole Church in 1 Drake, p. 478. 179 YORK CATHEDRAL. its beauty, by taking away a large wooden screen, which almost obstructed the view of the East window. This screen was handsomely painted and gilt. It had a door at each end, which opened into a place behind the altar, where, anciently, the Archbishops used to robe themselves at the time of their inthronizations, and thence proceeded to the high altar, where they were invested with the pall. On the top of the screen was a gallery for musick, for the celebration of high mass. At the taking away of this, the altar was carried back one arch, to a stone screen behind it, of an excellent Gothick architecture, which now not only shows a beauty in itself, which was hid before, but also opens a view of one of the noblest lights in the world." 1 In 1736 a new pavement was completed, from a design by Mr. Kent, under the direction of Lord Burlington. There is nothing in this design to add lustre to a name usually accounted great in matters of taste ; but the whole history is so characteristic of the way in which such changes are brought about, that we shall give it at some length. And first let us hear Drake's well-timed lament for the 1 Drake, p. 523. 180 YORK CATHEDEAL. old pavement : — " At my entrance into the Church, before I look upwards and dazzle my eyes with the loftiness and spaciousness of the building, it will be necessary to cast them on the ground. Here, in the old pavement of this Church, were almost an innumerable quantity of grave- stones, many of which formerly shone like embroidery, being enriched with the images, &c. in brass, of Bishops, and other ecclesiastics, represented in their proper habits, of which the grave-stone of Archdeacon Dalby, as the draught of it expresses in the sequel, though the original is long since torn off, is a shining instance. These stones had also monumental inscriptions upon them, in order to carry down the names and qualities of the venerable dead to the latest posterity. But to see how all sublunary things are subject to change or decay, what was thought the most durable, by our forefathers, for this purpose, by an unaccountable turn of fate, proved the very occasion of destruction by their sons. Let no man henceforth say ' exegi monumentum aere perennius' in the strict sense of the words. I have given one instance of the loss of a fine palace for the lucre of the lead upon it, and now this ' aeris sacra fames' has robbed us of most of the ancient monu- mental inscriptions that were in the Church. At the 181 YORK CATHEDRAL. Reformation this hairbrained zeal began to show itself against painted glass, stone statues, and grave-stones, many of which were defaced and utterly destroyed, along with other more valuable monuments of the Church, till Queen Elizabeth put a stop to these most scandalous doings, by an express Act of Parliament. In our late civil wars, and during the usurpation, our zealots began again these depredations on grave-stones, and stripped and pillaged them to the minutest piece of metal. I know it is urged that their hatred to Popery was so great, that they could not endure to see an ' orate pro anima,' or even a cross on a monument, without defacing it ; but it is plain that it was more the poor lucre of the brass, than zeal, which tempted these miscreants to this act, for there was no grave-stone, which had an inscription cut on itself, that was defaced by anything but age throughout this whole Church." 1 In the new pavement the very stones were used, which before had at least marked the place of burial of those who lay beneath them. The white stone was given by Sir Edward Gascoigne, of Partington, Bart., from his quarry at Huddlestone; the black stones required to form the 1 Drake, p. 488. 182 R K. CSTtt £ O R 5ft I SfiPULC-ftRft L CROSSES YORK CATHEDRAL. pattern were collected from among the old graves, and even from other Churches, repayment being made out of such parts of the old pavement as were in less requisition. 1 The expense of the work was £2500, contributed by the clergy and gentry of the country, a liberality which the Dean and Chapter acknowledged, not without a little self- complacency, in an act of Chapter, April 21, 1735. " Munday the Twenty first Day of April in the year of our Lord One thousand Seven hundred and thirty ffive . . . Then the said Dean and Chapter taking into Consideration the Generous Contributions which they Sollicited and Re- 1 Fryday the seventh Day of ffebruary in the year of Our Lord (accord- ing to the Computation of the Church of England) One Thousand Seven hundred and thirty four whereas the parishioners of the Parish Church of Saint Martin in Conney street are about to Build a new Church Porch to their said Parish Church A Sketch or plan whereof they have Laid before the said Dean and Chapter Requesting that they would Give them some of the old Stone belonging to the old ffloor of the Church to build the said Intended porch with They the said Dean and Chapter take- ing into Consideration that the said parishioners Did ffreely and willingly Give a Considerable quantity of Blue Marble Stone out of their said parish Church for and towards the making the new pavement in the said Cathedral Church Did Unanimously Agree and Order That A Sufficient Quantity of the old Stone belonging to the old ffloor of the said Cathedral Church be given and Delivered to the said parishioners or the Workmen Imployed by them to build the said Church porch with according to the Dimensions Specified in the said Sketch or plan thereof. 183 YORK CATHEDRAL. ceived within three years past from His Grace the Lord Arch Bishop of York, the Nobility and Gentry of this County and Elsewhere, and the Clergy of this Cathedral and Diocese towards the Laying A New floor or pavement in this Cathedral Church, with which they have already laid A Beautyful and handsome floor through the whole, Exclusive of the Choir, and also placed the Font and Haxbies Tomb in more Comodious Scituations; Therefore that the said Dean and Chapter might Testifie their Grati- tude to their said Generous Benefactors and Contributors, they Unanimously Decreed that forthwith A Table or Schedule, Containing the names and Sums of Each Bene- factor respectively Subscribed towards this pious and Laudable Undertaking, be fairly Engrossed and fixed or hung up in the Vestry or other publick part of the said Church, with thanckfulness to perpetuate the memory of the Bounty and kindness of the said Subscribers." Fortunately, through the industry of Mr. Dodsworth and of Mr. Torre, with the care of Mr. Drake, in compar- ing and arranging their accounts, we have a very perfect plan of the old pavement, with the places of the several stones, and their inscriptions, where they could be re- covered. 184 YORK CATHEDRAL. The history of the Minster unhappily terminates with two recent and most destructive fires, that which de- stroyed the roof and all the carved work of the choir in 1829, which was the work of an incendiary; and that which occurred through the culpable neglect of a person repairing the clock in the South-west tower in 1840, and which destroyed the roof of the nave. In both cases the central tower acted as a sufficient barrier against farther progress of the flames. The history of these fires, and of the repairs which they rendered necessary, will be found in any guide book. The conversion of the Minster to the purposes of a mu- sical festival is too painful a subject to be touched here. B B 185 YORK CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER XIV. THE VESTRIES, AND ARCHBISHOP ZOUCH'S CHANTRY. E have already alluded to the labours bestowed by Torre in compiling a record of all particu- lars relating to the Cathedral, and as a specimen of his industry we print, verbatim, the following extracts from his work, which embody all that need be given of the history of the vestries, and of Archbishop Zouch's chantry. 14 The Comon Vestry. By the side of the South Quire & opposite to the Middle Quire door is the Vestry situate, w ch is a long square building about 18 y ds long & 7 broad. Entrance — The Entrance thereunto is at a pair of foald doors by a descent of 8 Stepps. " Stone benches (about ^ y d high) run encompass the Inner sides of it. 186 YORK CATHEDRAL. " And 5 Setts of pillars run up the side Walls on whose Chapiters are founded the bases of the Arched Stone Roof w ch is paynted over on the ridge at equall distances. " Windows — At the East end is a Window of 3 Lights, & near the S. Corner thereof remains still an holy Water Stone, near w ch has probably been some Altar & ordained for the Chantry designed for Ab p Zouch of which more hereafter. " The South-side is Enlightned by 4 Windows of 2 Lights a piece. " S* Peter's Well— At the South West Corner thereof is a draw-well (called S l Peter's- Well) of very wholesome clear water much drunk by the Comon people. " Cubboards — The West End and the North side are filled w th Cup-boards having locks for the safe keeping the Churches plate &c. " Chests — There are two great Treasurers Chests in it strongly bound w th Iron-barrs wherein are now laid up the hangings Quoshions & other Ornaments for the Quire and prebendaries Vestments &c. "On 11 th Apr AD 1350. " Zouch Chantry — W m de la Zouch Abp of York de- signing to build a certain Chappell ag st the South side of 187 YORK CATHEDRAL. the Quire of his Cathed: Church w ch should no ways prove an Impediment or deformity to the s d Quire : — " And to have the same Consecrated for the Augmen- tation of Divine Worship & Increase of the number of Ministers in the Church ; Also to ordain therein a certain pptual Chantry at his own pper Costs & expences, hereby made his request to the Dean & Chapter of the same, That they would be pleased to further his so pious Intention, & solemnly permitt the Master of the Fabric to sett on Masons belonging to it for erecting the s d Work at the Ab ps Expences, & to signifye to him by their Letters their determination in this matter. (° 36.) " This Chappell as it seems was built accordingly for I find that " On 25 Apr AD 1351 " The s d W m Zouch Abp wrote to W m de Wyrkesworth his Receiver of York, to deliver to John de Acome Canon of the Chappell of S' Mary & Holy Angells, 40 lb Sterling for divers expences layd out by him about the building of this new Chappell ( A y f 271.) " And again on 10 th May AD 1352 " The s d John de Acome & Rob' de Swetmouth, Masters of the New Fabric of the s d Abps Chappell newly erected 188 YORK CATHEDRAL. on the West side of the Quire of this Cath: Ch: , obtained their acquittances and discharges for all their receipts & disbursements they had been at in the building of the same from 23 Apr AD 1350 untill 28 Apr AD 1352. ( A y f 272.) " Yet after all this viz " On 14 June AD 1352 Licence was granted by the Chapter of York (the Dean being then in remote parts) to the s d W m la Zouch Ab p for to build his s d Chappell to the Honour of S* Mary Magdalen & Martha who was our Lord's Hostess, ag st the West side of the Quire of the s d Church, w ch he had so designed to have built for the exercise of Divine Worship, & the more ample sustentation of Ministers serving in the s d Chappell at all times. " They therefore expressly granted that the s d Ven ble Father his heirs or Extors may lawfully cause the Wall of the s d Cathed: Ch: to be broken, & one or 2 Arches at the West end thereof taken down, & in those breeches to set up Doors for free Ingress & Regress through the middle of the same Wall. "Also to set on Masons and other Workmen for the 189 YOEK CATHEDRAL. Fabric of the s d Chappell; Provided always that he his heirs or Extors do at their pper Costs repair & maintain the Walls Windows and Doors of the s d Chappell when it shall be so erected & finished. " dated in the Chapter house of York ut supra (GJ|4) ( A /|273.) " Furthermore it may be observed that this Chappell thus erected was afterwards viz Ad 1361 taken down w th the old structure of the Quire; For then was the New Foundation thereof layd, & so this work about the Vestry Walls was carryed on w th the other buildings of the Quire & Incorporated w th it according to this Intire workmanship of it. " Middle Vestry — On the W: end of this last is a Door that opens into the Middle Vestry w ch is a square building Chambred over & beset w th wooden benches. " It hath a Window at the South end And a Chimney at the East side. " Also a long Table in the midst where the Dean & Residentaries sometimes sit to consult about the Affairs of their Church & c " Treasury — On the W: Side of this last a Door opens into the Treasury of the Church w ch is a place appointed 190 SMCIKMT P>3STO«H), STRfP. RibliskdhyR^unra.StoriogateYurk YORK CATHEDRAL. for the safe keeping the Comon Seal & original Records of the Dean & Chapter." In the vestry are deposited several articles considered of great value and interest, and amongst them we find a beautiful silver pastoral crook, upwards of six feet in length, the scroll of the head terminating in a figure of the Blessed Virgin, with the infant Saviour in her arms; the horn of Ulphus, made of the tusk of an elephant; some patens and chalices; other smaller articles, and the mazer cup or bowl of Archbishop Scrope. 191 YORK CATHEDRAL. DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. [HE title-page is designed from the door leading into the vestibule of the Chapter-house from the North transept, with the addition of several heraldic insignia, connected with the ecclesiastical history of York. The first at the top is the ancient coat of the see, and the other is the arms of the city of York. Below these is the archiepiscopal mitre, as it is now borne with the ducal cincture, an appendage not found in the ancient mitres of Archbishops, as may be seen in the brass of Archbishop Greenfield, figured in Plate XX. The four lower coats are those of the Chapter of York, and of Bishop Skirlaw, at the top, and of St. Wilfrid, and of King Edwin, at the bottom. These four occupy the sides of the great Lantern-tower, in the interior: the two last 192 YORK 0STH6D fi £ L i: L ! C -■3 m Ficrmwt of <5{ioma£ Fltrewan of Riujeusi £ : E ; 6 r ait f p t '.^«5Gi5 IHh3 y T * rt PL>&N op SXXON skd NORMSN R.SMSINS. YORK CATHEDRAL. are of course only conventionally appropriated to the persons whose names they bear. Plate I. — Ground plan of the Saxon and Norman remains in the crypt. A Saxon choir, probably part of the stone church of Paulinus. B Norman church of Archbishop Thomas. C Norman church of Archbishop Roger. D Chamber of access to crypt from the church. E Ambulatory to crypt. F GH Aisle, body and transept of crypt. K Crypt of present choir. M Base of walls of present choir. a a Enriched Norman door to crypt. b Place over which the High Altar stood, and proba- bly the centre of the chord of the Eastern apse, both of the Saxon and of the Norman choir. c Floor of Saxon choir. d Steps to Saxon crypt. e Place of Norman staircase in the tower above, sup- ported by arch /. g Commencement of apsidal chapel in the North tran - sept of the church of Archbishop Thomas. c c 193 YORK CATHEDRAL. k Clustered pillars in crypt. I Pillar supporting Eastern transept. mm Pillars probably connected with the arrangement of the space around the High Altar. nnn Commencement of groining of the date of the episcopal palace of Archbishop Roger. oo Descent to present crypt from choir. p qq rrr Pillars with bases and shafts variously fitted, from the Norman church, used in the more recent crypt. s Piscina. t Well. u Lavatory. x Wall at the East of the present crypt. z Tomb of Norman date, unappropriated. Plate II. — Details of Norman crypt, showing the large clustered columns at k, and the jambs of the door at a, in the plan, Plate I. Plate III. — Herring-bone masonry, from the Saxon Cathe- dral at A in the plan ; also capitals, originally part of the Norman Cathedral, but now found in the crypt of the date of the present choir. Plate IV — General ground plan of the present Minster. 194 YORK RMflf.HT ft ILV;.K <'MA<.M'r.S, WIT« <'<>Vf,R % ttxl »tjt jhnttd l/y Standidgc i. ff YORK C R TH6 R R R ti RHCffiKT Srf.KK «£HO, MfitjMf.T. SPUR * R»M on to all tbo tiat orinkis of tbtg rope XS'.' baut;3 to ■Parbomt . Kobart Gobsomt .Begrbopr . ntejhn (jrantt* in £amr forme . a fore ^iieXU , . t *iagt£ to iStoborm • .Robert ^tccn^aU. k..HC«e3 .lei* PB':<3ibrdL Litia ffift€«- BP SCROPS'8 fdWZgR ROY/L iCmfi) turtb Stlotr, iatt 1338. YORK CATHEDRAL. of the Dean and Chapter. Although the bowl was for many years in the possession of the Cordwainers, by whom it was constantly used on convivial occasions, its original destination was of a very different character. There can be little doubt that it is the same Indulgence Cup which was presented to the Holy Guild of Corpus Christi, of York, by Agnes Wyman, the wife of Henry Wyman, who was Lord Mayor of York in 1407, and the two following years. It is minutely described in the Register of the Guild, which is now preserved in the British Museum. 1 The original inscription on the rim of the bowl may be read thus, giving the contractions in extenso : — ' •J'Recharde arche beschope Scrope grantis on to alle tho that drinkis of this cup xl" dayis to pardonne Robart Gybsune — Beschope Mesin grantis in same forme afore said xl tt dayis to pardune Robart Strensalle.' It is difficult to account for the introduction of the names of Robert Gysburne and Robert Strensalle into the second part of the legend. Mr. Drake takes these persons ' to have been suffragan Bishops of the See,' 2 but they are not found in any published list of the suffragans of the diocese of York. It is not im- probable that they were office bearers of the Corpus Christi 1 Lansdowne MS., 403. 2 Eboracum, p. 439. 197 YOKK CATHEDKAL. Guild, at the time of the presentation of the cup. The word next after ' Beschope,' in this part of the inscription, has given occasion to many ingenious conjectures as to its true reading and meaning. A distinguished antiquary 1 has recently suggested that in this puzzling word, which has hitherto been read ' Mesm,' or ' Musm,' we really have the surname of a suffragan Bishop — viz., Richard Messing, latinized ' Mesinus,' who succeeded to the Bishoprick of Dromore, in 1408, and whose name appears among the Chorepiscopi Diocensis Eboracensis, in the Rev. Henry Wharton's list, published by Mr. Pegge, from the MS. in the Lambeth Library. When the Fraternity of Corpus Christi was dissolved, in the reign of King Edward VI., their effects were confiscated and sold, and their Indul- gence Cup would probably pass into private hands; but at what time, or in what manner it became the property of the York Cordwainers cannot now be ascer- tained."— R. D. Plate XXIX. — Ancient coronation chair. Plate XXX. — Encaustic tiles, now kept in vestry. Plate XXXI. — Carved stone, found in the East wall of the choir, after the fire of 1829. 1 J. G. Nichols, Esq., F.S.A. 198 YORK CRTWfiORHL. JLH CatesDd' flHC I6HT COROHK'f'lOH €MStft F Bedford Utho .Sljni'.f lljr Rrisngim«iit of U)( (>Ur H AH Cater. Bel" HHflCHT gMCWUSTfC Tll.f'.K / YoR K 03&T fvSrL YOEK CATHEDEAL. Plate XXXII A Bracket in South transept. B B Finials in the arcade of the nave. C Finial of stall work in the choir. Plate XXXIII. — A Head in the Chapter-house. B Capital in South aisle of nave. C Panel in West of nave. Interior. Sampson and Delilah. Plate XXXIV.— A Gurgoil. North side of East end. B Gurgoil. North aisle of nave. CD Suspended brackets from Chapter-house. E F Bosses from Chapter-house. G Head, with coat of arms, from choir. Plate XXXY. — Ancient chest. " This very curious oaken chest, in which the records of the Dean and Chapter are kept, is proved, by the cos- tume its carved work displays, to be of the latter part of the reign of Henry V. This exhibits a representation of the legend of St. George, in which is allegorically expressed the marriage of Henry V. with the daughter of the King and Queen of France. These last-named personages are watching from the citadel of a walled town, probably Paris, the fate of their dependencies exposed to an enemy, portrayed by the daughter ex- 199 YORK CATHEDRAL. pecting to be devoured by the dragon, while the English alliance is shown by the lion, who guards the town. The English monarch appears to the damsel, and under- takes to subdue the dreadful cause of havoc and de- struction. He is next seen thrusting his lance into the horrid monster, aided by her prayers for his success, while she is attended by her lamb. The enemy is con- quered, and now we behold him delivered into her hands, bound and submissive, while he is narrowly watched by the King of England. The peculiarities in the armour are noticed in the critical inquiry by Sir Samuel R. Meyrick ; it is only necessary here to point out the very curious berge board exhibited in the gable of one of the houses, and to draw attention to the dress of the lady. The two figures under niches may have been the Princess Catherine, and St. Eoque, with his dog." 1 1 This description of the ancient chest is by the late Sir Samuel Meyrick, and was given to the publisher by Rev. E. J. Raines, of York. 200 ft T.W- £ D ft 35 L ■j M T C -ft £ S T • R Sunter.Steiegare.Yori YORK CATHEDRAL. D D 201 YORK CATHEDRAL. 33 §S p < ^3 s •1 8 «3 W P3 O i* pH O CO P-i o w CO i— i w W o M H Ph O CO e3 CO % 3 o CQ 3 CO -a O -c O ,3 ^3 1 =9 O t» EH o Ph o m m i— i PQ W o ;3 o c3 3 3 '3 cs be 3 > B •8 -3 1-1 m 1-1 C > -S § o « « S ~ 3 cd co 53 co £ ^ ^ □ g (— 1 8 *8 3 3 CO CO B B t? 3 CO B B Ph O H 03 W o DQ B is ly j~J j— j ^" j B M M B B W B •a bo 3 05 bo 3 <1 g g I" m 10 CI 1— t CO cT rH CO ug. 18 u -tJ m CO K Oct< 3 "i C33 t CD CO "53 CM o « a O Sz; 8 b -S .2 £ f, ° 3 Choir. Choir. Choir. d M 1— I o o pril ft < O . OS .0 O CQ • o § *S 3d »-3 b- ft W O hJ (Q i-l o 02 3 -f aj u 0) 3 02 a 02 ft a •B ^2 a o _= EH eld d 3 « U tsj O O 0) a a a .2 .s % w u -* •S 2 c 3 iville deU O n> T3 Arun Waldl 1 Scroj fl cS a chard -d EH pq pq 02 3 1-3 204 YORK CATHEDRAL. 1 8" "8 I 8 <3 W P3 O Fr O GQ Ph o w I— l m W o Ph o i-^ o o P3 o ft, 0) o bo O 02 "8 "3 O Q & E-i (5=1 o &3 02 fc> o K X K ^ - 2 Q a ft ftp r— J ■en*? -a o -J8 H < Eh 02 o CO t= O □ 50 e S 2 a to oo o »o o of ncoln, Aug. 5, jndon, April ! urhani, Sept. ] «5 ^ to" r so" j§ oi - 10 J R j5 £ A -3 J f B 10 >>t- ° C ^= J= J c hi: S £ b 'si o ^ T3 h-< 3 ^5 J 02 Q ^3 bo ^ » > fc. as cu b* /2 -fl P* 0) .2 O h k1 ■a o >H tn o .a H C5 3 - 02 a .2 £ W a 205 YORK CATHEDRAL. o3 £> £ S I PS cS o3 ' ,0 o a g .1 o =8 P3 O O co PL, O w CO i— i pq M o P3 a - © .= .S jH 13 •8 is* 03 1-1 1-1 H * 1 Is 03 s 03 O r3 O PS « O CO o 6 o o o — O 02 03 f o pq 03 03 <3 ^ ^' ^ ol 3 03 3 h -? ^ -9 "3 03 • £ o3 Q "8 "S V rH O CM S3 ot £ d J feS ► J d 41 d S Q SfiaSssSZ,""-! M re re e3 c3 ^ « 5£) pq P3 02 02 O O 5 T3 02 ES a 206 YORK CATHEDRAL. YORK CATHEDRAL ORGAN. ROM a pamphlet published by the late lamented Mr. Jonathan Gray, of York, in 1836, it appears that in 1632, King Charles I. granted £1000 to the Dean and Chapter for the purpose (among other matters) of procuring a new organ. A contract was accordingly entered into with Robert Dallam, of London, " Blacksmith," for a complete organ, at a cost of £297. The contract was extended, and the gross expenditure on the instrument before it was finished was £609 14s. lid. By the King's direction, this organ was not placed upon the organ screen, but on the North side of the choir, nearly opposite the Archbishop's throne. The reason for the removal was, that in the old place the organ was an impediment in viewing the interior of the Church. About 1690 it was again placed over the stone screen, at the ex- pense of Archbishop Lamplugh and the Earl of Strafford. In the first instance, it was not remarkable either for power 207 YORK CATHEDRAL. or sweetness, but after several additions by York and London builders, it became, in 1821, by the fulfilment of Dean Markham's kind promises made to Dr. Camidge, (when a lad, officiating as deputy organist to his father,) that he should have the organ made to his own fancy as soon as the Church funds would allow, the " largest and most complete instrument in Great Britain." — Vide " the account of the grand Musical Festival held in September, 1823, in the Ca- thedral Church of York, (in which is given a detailed descrip- tion of this organ,) by John Crosse, Esq., F.S.A., F.R.S.L., M.G.S., published in 1825." When it was destroyed by the fire of 1829, it contained 52 stops, 3254 pipes, 3 rows of keys, 60 notes in compass, and 2 octaves of pedals. The largest pipe it contained was 24 feet in length. It must, therefore, be observed, that York has for above two centuries been " famous for its organ," and, also, as Tommy Gent recorded, for its " great psalm tune;" but in later, more especially in our time, it has, through Dr. Camidge's steady and unflinching perseverance, become the birth-place of what really may be termed the " Cathedral organ" — the organ, par excellence, as much excelling the usual Church organ, as a grand pianoforte does a square one. The construction of the organ above-mentioned, was the commencement of a new aera of organ building in England. What was then so well begun, was destined, YOEK CATHEDRAL. phoenix like, to rise to that proud pre-eminence now at- tained; and had it not been for this excellence in the York organ, it may be asked, where would have been the Birmingham, so much boasted of? The vast space of York Minster will absorb a sound, and reduce it to softness, which would almost crack the tympanum of the ear in the Birmingham Town Hall. The internal space of the former is more than ten times that of the latter. The Minster organ stands in the centre of the spacious building; the choir, the nave, the transepts, and the Lantern-tower, each absorbing its share of sound. This space, which gives effect to the "plump and lusty" tones of the large scale stops, subdues all harshness ; and it is a fact, ascertained by experience, that for this building, the great manual organ pipes cannot be voiced too power- fully. It was the original fault of the present organ, that having had the operation of voicing performed in the builders' workshops, instead of in the place it was intended for, its brilliancy and distinctness were not such as they ought to have been, and such as is now produced. It is true, indeed, that such a building requires an instru- ment of vast power to fill it with sound ; — but when it is filled, as with its magnificent organ, it now is, the effect is grand and affecting in the highest degree, and yet there are in this organ many solo stops of such beautifully vocal, soft, E E 209 YORK CATHEDRAL. and varied qualities of tone as actually to require (as they fascinatingly claim) the closest attention of the listener. And we may also inform our readers, who take an interest in such matters, that the scales of the stops which the London builders persisted in asserting to be sufficiently ample for the York Minster organ (even with all the advantages of the building for musical effect), were very soon found to be greatly inferior in producing that satis- factorily rich body of sound for which the old organ was so celebrated. That instrument owed its peculiar excel- lencies to the judgment and taste of Dr. Camidge and the workmanlike diligence of Mr. Ward, in voicing every pipe on the spot, with a view to the attainment of the greatest effect of which the situation was capable. The new organ was presented by the late Right Hon. and Rev. John Lumley Savile, Earl of Scarbro', and Senior Prebendary of York Cathedral. Its specification was composed by Dr. Camidge, of York, the present organ- ist, and the instrument built by Messrs. Elliott and Hill, of London, in 1832, since which time, and the death of the Earl of Scarbro', it has been very considerably enlarged, through the liberal aid of the neighbouring nobility, clergy, and gentry of the county and city of York, upon Dr. Camidge' s solicitation, which has now enabled him to render the whole instrument as remarkable for purity and beauty 210 YORK CATHEDRAL. of tone as for its surpassing richness and grandeur of sound. On the two next pages we give a list of the whole of the stops, with their scale or dimensions affixed, which doubt- less will be particularly interesting to our musical readers. The pipes of the manual part of the present organ that are in sight are bronzed, which gives a very lugubrious appearance to the otherwise beautiful design. The case (which only contains the manual organs) is of oak, carved to correspond with the architecture of the screen on which it stands. The largest metal pedal pipes stand at the entrance to the South aisle of the choir, and in the North side aisle may be seen the largest wood pedal pipes ; the other pedal pipes are placed behind the stalls and within the screen, right and left of the manual organ case. In proceeding to lay before the reader the names and dimensions of the stops in this prodigious organ, we will first state that a stop being specified as of eight feet, indi- cates the pitch of its lowest note to be in unison with the violoncello or bass viol lowest note, and known as C C ; the four-feet stop, C, is in unison with the viola (tenor fiddle) lowest note; the C C C is in unison with the lowest note of the grand pianoforte ; and the pedal, C C C C, an octave lower still. 211 -|J HH> H-> HJ ^-^■+ J r^ o a; v ^ u , tS eJS «S h «B _ H-h p O *h OO00NtDI0Tfn(MHOOC0NOlQ- a> -2 2 ^ «S X a> ,!» ,9 ^ ,9 ^ ^ t,-H 6*H *frH <-t-« H 1— I i— I i— I l-l O CO Ph & r-H p o3 a; P -a > cfl » r^H 1 o3 P o3 h* a 03 CO 03 t*H Ch O Pi O o o Ph P. o a o 93 Ph S3 SO s « Ph V 03 Ph O - - — ' — Q ,C0 ,C0 <-H Ph — C+_| ^4-" C+H M-t Z*-, hp; *-H •9 S p- o O o > T3 3 O Ph — _o> Ph G T3 rr; ^ +=> a o ~ ft I I a, E ad's o oooaol o ^ S CO ,0) .CO .CO ,0) ,

1 HO" a — — - o -p=» d- 05 Ph Q "§ s*/ i/j H> c3 a ^ p O o t s s ° ° o IM H O O GO N C O « N H 00 N O LO t)( CO W r- 1 a e3 Ph CO -tP Cp>CJC0Cp>CDCp>OC0 .oo ,cj _ao ,o> ,co ,cj ,co .a> c+-t 6*H 0OQ0 00 0OCOlO(MomT) -so to a r3 2 o "a 01 ^ ^ o « a tS 0) ^ Ph 3 « < _ O Ph =g 5 o u » "•-Pi g a « f-H

o pr -> C ^ a c> *p a Oo «s3 CP II ^ 2? CP CtH ° P O 213 LONDON : SAV1LL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET, COVENT GARDEN. BOUND BY JOSIAH WESTLEY, adjoininc'THE'TIIIES' office LONDON,