York

YORK. - Ancient archdiocese and city in north-eastern England in the county of the same name.

It is the Eburacum of the Romans, who were there from 79 to 427; the Celts called it Caer Ebrauc, the Saxons Eofervic. A centre of communication between England and Scotland, it was of great importance in the Roman period and in those that followed. A Roman colony, it was the seat of the Legio IX Hispana and later of the VI Victrix; Septimius Severus assigned it to Britannia inferior; Septimius Severus and Constantius Chlorus died there; Constantine was proclaimed emperor there. In 1666 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 by King Edward II of England "in territorio Eboracensi" (Lib. Pont., II, p. 488) and the defeat of the King of Scotland in Oct. 1346 are recorded.

It is not known when Christianity penetrated there, but among those present at the Council of Arles (314) there is an "Eborus episcopus de civitate Eboracens"; the bishop of Y. took part in the Councils of Nicaea of 325, of Sardica of 343 and of Rimini of 359. Invaded in the 6th century, the Christians took refuge in the country of Wales and paganism returned to Y.

The episcopal see was then re-established in 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; in 778 Alcuin (v.) became its magister scholarum, and between 780 and 789 he composed De Sanctis Eboracensis 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 primacy of the former. 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 make an act of submission to the archbishop of Canterbury, who therefore was unwilling to consecrate him; Thurstan appealed to Pope Callixtus II, who consecrated him and established the supremacy of Y. over Canterbury, for which reason the archbishops assumed the title of primate of England, while the archbishops of Canterbury took the title of Primat totius Angliae. The following archbishops were created cardinals: Christopher Bainbridge (10 March 1511); Thomas Wolsey (10 Sept. 1515); 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 form of a Latin cross; remains of the crypt survive from the previous Romanesque building. The stained-glass windows in the interior are a local product of the 14th-15th centuries; but to the 13th century belong the five monochrome windows of the north transept in the five Gothic windows known as the "five sisters"; the great window in the eastern wall of the choir is from the 15th century.

In Y. a first Council was held in 1195, to which Celestine III sent Hubert of Canterbury as his legate, and a 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 514 parishes, 28 abbeys, 26 priories, 23 convents. Among the abbeys are remembered the Benedictine ones of Whitby, originally called Streaneshall (Cottineau, II, coll. 2451-52), of Selby (ibid., col. 2997), the Cistercian ones of Fountains (ibid., I, coll. 1205-1206), of Kirstall (ibid., col. 1521), of Rievaulx (ibid., II, col. 2464), of Sawley (ibid., col. 2939); the Benedictine priories of Bevesly (ibid., I, coll. 371-372) and of Ripon (ibid., II, col. 2474), the Augustinian ones of Bolton (ibid., I, col. 417) and of Kirkham (ibid., coll. 1521-22). In 1688 the Holy See instituted a district dependent on the apostolic vicariate of England, to which Gregory XVI in 1840 gave the title of Districtus Eboracensis; it was incorporated in 1850 into the diocese of Beverley and then divided in 1878 between the dioceses of Leeds and Middlesbrough.

Of the Benedictine abbey of St. Mary conspicuous remains of the church survive, while part of the monastery has been transformed into an archaeological museum. More than twenty medieval churches still remain in Y., although they have suffered disfigurements; the church of All Saints is also notable for its stained-glass windows.

Enrico Josi