YORK. – Ancient archdiocese and city in north-eastern England in the county of the same name.
It was the Eboracum of the Romans, who were there from 79 to 427; the Celts called it Caer Ebrauc, the Saxons Ebrevici. A centre of communication between England and Scotland, it was of great importance in the Roman period and subsequently. A Roman colony, it was the seat of the Ninth Legion Hispana and later of the Sixth Victrix; Septimius Severus assigned it to Britannia inferior; Septimius Severus and Constantius Chlorus died there; Constantine was proclaimed emperor there. In 1066 it was taken by Harald Hardrada; then reoccupied by the Normans, then reconquered by the Saxons; and finally burned by William the Conqueror. Under the reign of Henry II it received its municipal charter. In the biography of Clement VI (1342–52) the bloody siege of King Edward II of England in the territory of Eboracum is recalled (Lib. Pont., II, p. 488) and the defeat of the King of Scotland in October 1346.
It is not known when Christianity first penetrated there, but among those present at the Council of Arles (314) is found an Eborus episcopus de civitate Eboracensi; the bishop of Y. participated in the Councils of Nicaea in 325, of Sardica in 343 and of Rimini in 359. Invaded in the 6th century, the Christians took refuge in Wales and paganism returned to Y.
The episcopal see was then reconstituted at the time of St Gregory the Great by the monk Paulinus, who, consecrated bishop in 625, received the pallium in 631 and died in 632. Bishop Wilfrid founded in 676 the cathedral school of Y., which flourished especially under Bishop Egbert (v.) in 735; Alcuin (v.) became magister scholarum there in 778 and between 780 and 789 composed De Sanctis Eboracensi Ecclesiae, containing the history of the Church of Y. and of its bishops. After the Norman conquest the archbishop of Y. had jurisdiction over Worcester, Lindsey and Lincoln, as far as Scotland. The first Norman archbishop was Thomas I of Bayeux (1070–1100). In 1071 Pope Alexander II sanctioned the pre-eminence of the primacy. Subsequently, in a synod it was established that the future archbishop of Y. would be consecrated in the cathedral of Canterbury. This lasted until 1118, when Thurstan, archbishop-elect of Y., refused to perform an act of submission to the archbishop of Canterbury, who therefore refused to consecrate him; Thurstan appealed to Pope Callistus II, who consecrated him and established the supremacy of Y. over Canterbury, whereupon the archbishops assumed the title of Primate of England, while the archbishops of Canterbury took the title of Primate of All England. The following archbishops were created cardinals: Christopher Bainbridge (10 March 1511); Thomas Wolsey (10 September 1513); then Edward Lee (1531); Henry De Bruto (1546); Nicholas Heath (1555). The episcopate ceased in 1579.
The Cathedral, built between 1225 and 1247, is in the shape of a Latin cross; remains of the previous Romanesque building survive in the crypt. The stained glass in the interior is a local product of the 14th–15th centuries; but the five monochrome windows of the north transept in the five Gothic windows known as the Five Sisters date from the 13th century; the great window in the east wall of the choir dates from the 15th century.
In Y. two councils were held: the first in 1195, to which Celestine III sent as his legate Hubert of Canterbury, and the second in 1367, presided over by Archbishop John Thoresby.
At the time of the Protestant Reformation the suffragans of Y. were Durham, Carlisle and Sodor-Man. The archdiocese comprised the counties of Y. and Nottingham and was divided into the four archdeaconries of Y., Cleveland, East Riding and Nottingham; at the time of its suppression it counted 14 parishes, 28 abbeys, 26 priories and 23 convents. Among the abbeys are remembered the Benedictine ones of Whitby, also called Streaneshall (Cottineau, II, cols. 3451–52), of Selby (ibid., col. 2997), the Cistercian ones of Fountains (ibid., I, cols. 1205–1206), of Kirkstall (ibid., col. 1521), of Rievaulx (ibid., II, cols. 2464), of Sawley (ibid., col. 2039); the Benedictine priories of Beverley (ibid., I, cols. 371–372) and of Ripon (ibid., II, col. 2474), the Augustinian ones of Bolton (ibid., I, col. 417) and of Kirkham (ibid., cols. 1521–22). In 1688 the Holy See established a district dependent on the Apostolic Vicariate of England, to which Gregory XVI in 1840 gave the title of Districtus Eboracensis; this was incorporated in 1850 into the diocese of Beverley and then subdivided in 1878 between the dioceses of Leeds and Middlesbrough.
Of the Benedictine abbey of St Mary substantial remains of the church survive, while part of the monastery has been turned into an archaeological museum. More than twenty medieval churches still remain in Y., although they have suffered damage; notable also for its stained glass is the church of All Saints.