Chapter X: Part 10

Wyatt, who had charge of the restorations in 1796, destroyed the fine Norman Chapter-House (built in 1133-1140), rebuilt the turrets on the Chapel of the Nine Altars and placed a window of his own design in the east end, removing for the purpose the great Early English window. The original glass was also taken out and piled up in baskets. After much had been stolen the remainder was locked up in the Galilee. Some of it was inserted in the great round window.

Wyatt came very near destroying the Galilee Chapel so that he could open the west doorway; but he was fortunately stopped.

The chief restorations of late years have been those of 1870-1876, when the new choir-screen and pulpit were erected, the choir-stalls replaced and the floor of the choir paved with marble mosaic.

From the large open space between the Cathedral and Castle, known as the Palace Green, we gain a fine view of the northern side of the building; the tall central tower and transept with its splendid window (1362) (The Four Doctors of the Church); and the north aisle to the Chapel of the Nine Altars that completes the eastern end.

From this side we can study the towers to advantage. The two square, solid western towers date from Norman time; but the Norman work ends at the roof of the nave; then begins what is probably work of the Thirteenth Century. Here we have four stories ornamented with arcading, blind and open. The first and third have pointed arches, and the second and fourth round arches. The open parapets and pinnacles were added at the end of the Eighteenth Century.

The =Central Tower= dates from about 1474, replacing an older tower that had been condemned. The belfry had been struck by lightning in 1429. The tower consists of two stories separated by a narrow gallery with a pierced and embattled parapet. This is called the Bell Ringers’ Gallery. The windows are arranged in pairs surmounted by ogee label moldings, crocketed and ornamented with finials. The tower is finished with an open-worked parapet, and at each corner are buttresses with canopied niches containing figures.

We walk eastward to gain a nearer view of the Chapel of the Nine Altars with the Early Decorated window and turrets crowned with pyramids. We particularly want to see on the north-west turret the panel of the =Dun Cow=, a modern reproduction of an ancient work, commemorating the legend.

We now turn and walk westwards. Then we enter the =North Door=, the principal entrance to the Cathedral. The exterior is the work of Wyatt; and though we take some pleasure in the carvings of foliage, figures, chevrons and lozenges that ornament the capitals and arch-moulds, it is the doorway, with its sanctuary knocker, that attracts our attention.

Criminals were wont to claim sanctuary at Durham from 740 to 1524. As soon as the fugitive grasped the ring he was safe. This knocker is a grotesque head of bronze with a ring hanging from the grinning mouth.

“The north entrance door tells an interesting tale. The present
door is a modern restoration, and some of the original features of
the famous entrance have been obliterated. Towards this door many a
poor wretch hastening to escape the hands of the avenger has sped
his fearful steps in days gone by. Attached to the door still
glares a fearful-looking metallic head holding a ring in its mouth.
In its now eyeless sockets were once in all probability balls of
crystal, or enamel. When once the ring was grasped by the hand of
the fugitive he was safe. He had claimed the ‘peace’ of St.
Cuthbert, and the sanctity of the neighbouring shrine shielded him.
Above the door by day and night watched relays of monks to admit
those who claimed sanctuary. So soon as ever a fugitive had reached
the door he was admitted. This done he had to confess the crime of
which he was guilty, and his statement was taken down in writing.
All the while a bell was tolling to give notice that some one had
taken refuge in the church. Then the culprit was arrayed in a black
gown with a yellow cross on his left shoulder, and remained within
the precincts for thirty-seven days. If, at the end of that time,
he could not obtain a pardon of the civil authorities, he was
conveyed across the seas to begin life elsewhere.”--(T.)

The exterior has not prepared us for the great impression that we experience on entering the =Nave= with its enormous columns and noble arches. These columns are deeply cut, some with spirals, some with zigzags, some with reeds, etc. The whole effect is solemn. Fortunately the modern screen allows the gaze to traverse the entire length of the nave and choir until it is checked by the famous =Neville Screen=.

“The triforium is almost uniform throughout the whole church. In
each sub-bay it consists of two small arches under one large one,
with the tympanum solid. Here also the capitals are cushions and
perfectly plain.

“Above the triforium is the clerestory, which contains one light to
each sub-bay, and surmounting all is the vaulting, which springs
from the piers and from grotesquely carved corbels between the
triforium arches. The vaulting ribs are ornamented with chevrons on
either side of a bold semicircular moulding. So much for the
general arrangement of the bays. Some idea of the massiveness of
the structures may be gathered when it is known that each group of
the clustered pillars separating the bays covers an area of two
hundred and twenty-five square feet at its base, while those of the
cylindrical columns of the sub-bays are twelve feet square, and the
columns themselves have a circumference of over twenty-three feet.
There is little room to doubt that the effect obtained by the old
builders of Durham was intentional. The masterly way in which great
masses of solid masonry, greater than was constructively necessary,
are handled, and the reticence and delicacy of the ornament combine
to prove this. There is in the whole scheme a delightful union of
great power and vigour in the masses, and of tenderness and loving
care in the detail.”--(J. E. B.)

At the west end of the nave stands the =Font=, a modern work in the Norman style carved with medallions depicting scenes from the life of St. Cuthbert. It is covered by a large wooden canopy, dating from 1663 and curiously carved with a mixture of Classic and Gothic ornamentation.

Durham is built in the form of a Latin cross, with transept, and in the centre of the arms rises the tower. At the east end another transept runs--the Chapel of the Nine Altars. At the west end we have the =Galilee Chapel=.

No one seems to know the origin of the word Galilee. According to Canon Talbot:

“Its name of Galilee has probably some reference to Galilee of the
Gentiles, and implies that it was considered less sacred than the
rest of the Cathedral. St. Cuthbert had a more than monkish fear of
women, and they were not allowed to approach the shrine. A cross
let into the pavement of the nave at the far west end curiously
marks the far-removed spot nearer than which women might not
approach. The prejudices of the good saint were thus perpetuated
long after his death. The whole effect is light and graceful, and
if the women were not allowed to enter farther than the western
extremity of the church, they certainly had a most beautiful place
of worship.”

The Galilee Chapel is the most beautiful example of Transitional Norman.

“Entering the chapel by the steps leading from the Norman nave, the
visitor is at once impressed with the lightness and delicacy of the
work before him, as compared with the massive grandeur of the
Norman cathedral behind. Here we have, in fact, one of the latest
uses of the round arch influenced by the rapidly developing Early
English Gothic. In plan the chapel consists of a nave with double
aisles, which perhaps might be more properly called five aisles.
These are divided by arcades, each of which is of four bays. These
arches and the columns which support them are the chief beauty and
characteristic of the chapel. The arches are semicircular, of one
order, with three lines of chevrons, one on each face, and one on
the soffit between two roll mouldings. The capitals are light and
graceful and carved with a volute, and the columns clusters of
marble and freestone shafts. The whole seems to have been coloured
in fresco, and remains of this are still to be seen. The stone
shafts, which alternate with those of marble, do not carry any of
the weight of the arch, and are, undoubtedly, an addition, probably
in the time of Cardinal Langley, when they must have been added,
with a view to improving the appearance. The dimensions of the
chapel are forty-seven feet from east to west, and seventy-six
feet from north to south. The existing roof and the three
Perpendicular windows on the west end are also additions by
Cardinal Langley. On the walls above what were once the altars of
the Virgin and Our Lady of Pity, remains of fresco painting may be
noticed, all that remains of what has evidently been beautiful
work. These were only brought to light by the removal of successive
coats of whitewash with which they had been covered.”--(J. E. B.)

The two doorways at the end of the north aisle and south aisle of the nave were made by Cardinal Langley, who closed up the great =West door=, reopened in 1846. This was built by Flambard (1099-1128) and consists of an arch of four orders decorated with chevrons. Grotesque animals also appear in medallions. Langley also made a new roof, for which he raised the walls.

In front of the principal altar stands =Langley’s Tomb=, erected by himself; but of far more interest is the resting-place of a greater man.

No visitor can look upon the stone slab that marks the grave of the =Venerable Bede= without awe. Bede, so famed for his learning and piety, was a contemporary of St. Cuthbert and spent his long life chiefly in the monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow. He died in 735 and was buried at Jarrow. In 1022 his remains were stolen and placed in the same coffin with those of St. Cuthbert. Pudsey removed them into the new Galilee Chapel. “There, in a silver casket gilt with gold, hee laid the bones of Venerable Bede, and erected a costly and magnificent shrine over it,” so the _Rites of Durham_ inform us. When the shrine was destroyed in 1542, the bones were interred beneath the site of the shrine and were left undisturbed until 1831, when they were exhumed, examined, enclosed in a lead-lined coffin and replaced in the tomb.

“The most interesting monument here is the plain altar-slab which
marks the burial-place of the great Northumbrian scholar. On the
tomb are engraved the well-known words, _Hac sunt in fossâ Bedæ
Venerabilis ossa_ (In this grave lie the bones of the Venerable
Bede). According to the old legend the monk, who was casting about
for a word to complete the scansion of his line between _Bedæ_ and
_ossa_, left a space blank until he could in the morning return to
his task with a mind refreshed. However, during the night an
unknown hand added the metrically suitable _Venerabilis_. This,
according to the legend, is the origin of the peculiar preface
Venerable, always associated with the name of Bede.”--(T.)

There are few monuments and tombs in Durham Cathedral. The most interesting is that of =Lord Ralph Neville= and his wife, =Lady Alice=, in the south side of the nave. Unfortunately the effigies of 1367 and 1364 are much mutilated. Near them is the altar-tomb of =Lord John Neville= (died, 1386), and his wife, the daughter of Lord Henry Percy, the famous “Hotspur.” Their effigies are headless and mutilated, but traces of colour and gilding are to be seen. The carving of the canopies is very beautiful and between each of the niches are two square panels bearing the arms of Neville and Percy.

We now come to the =transepts=. Each consists of two bays, with an aisle on the eastern side, to which three steps lead. In these at one time altars stood--to St. Nicholas and St. Giles, to St. Gregory and St. Benedict in the north transept; and to St. Faith and St. Thomas the Apostle, to Our Lady of Bolton and Our Lady of Houghhall, in the south transept. A large window ornaments and lights each end.

The one in the north end is supposed to date from 1362. It is composed of six lights, and the head shows late geometrical tracery. The transom crossing the mullions is not visible from the outside. Below it a second set of mullions supports a small gallery which leads to the triforium. This window was repaired in 1512 and filled with glass of the period representing its chief figures--St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory and St. Ambrose. Therefore it became known as =The Four Doctors of the Church=. Prior Castell, who had charge of the repairs, placed himself here kneeling before the Virgin. The opposite window, in the south end of the transept, is called the =Te Deum=. It contains six lights and is Perpendicular in style, dating between 1416 and 1446. There are corresponding stairways in the north-west and south-west corners of the transepts.

Now we come to the =Tower=, supported on four large Norman piers with semicircular arches. We look above about seventy feet and see the first story of the lantern with a gallery. Panels, grotesque heads, corbels, crockets and finials and a string-course ornamented with the Tudor flower give us plenty to study. Then come the windows, each with two lights and divided by a transom, and, last of all, the handsome groined roof with bosses on the ribs.

The =Choir= is the earliest part of the church. It contains Early Norman, Early English and Early Decorated work. The two later styles occur in the eastern part, and much beautiful detail is to be enjoyed. Where the one leaves off and the other begins affords interesting study.

Carileph’s work is seen in the western bays. Arcades adorn the piers on both sides of the choir. The lower row has six arches and the upper three. All these are carved with foliage, heads and half figures. On each pier of the upper arcade there is an angel under a canopy. The vaulting dates from the Thirteenth Century. It is quadripartite. Square leaves and the dog-tooth decorate the ribs. The bosses at the points of intersection are very fine.

An altar-tomb with the effigy of =Bishop Hatfield= (1345-1381), beneath the Bishop’s Throne, reminds us of the days when bishops were princes and warriors. Hatfield led eighty archers to the siege of Calais; and during his rule at Durham the battle of Neville’s Cross occurred (see page 236). Such a magnificent bishop had to have a magnificent tomb; and so, according to the custom of the day, he designed one for himself. Here he lies beneath a canopy that once was bright with painting and gilding. His effigy shows his splendid robes.

The =Screen=, separating the choir from the nave, dates from 1870-1876. The =Choir-stalls= were made from 1660 to 1672 to replace the originals destroyed by the Scottish prisoners incarcerated in the Cathedral in 1650 after the battle of Dunbar.

Above the high altar rises the splendid =Neville Screen=, erected about 1380 chiefly at the expense of John, Lord Neville of Raby. It runs along the entire choir, and forms _sedilia_ of four seats on either side. The screen was originally filled with 107 statues. The Virgin stood in the centre, and one side of her was St. Cuthbert, and on the other St. Oswald.

“The prior of the day employed at his own expense seven masons for
nearly a year to fix the screen, the execution of which is supposed
to have been the fruit of the labours of French artists. The screen
originally was much more elaborate than at present, being covered
with rich colour and every niche filled with sculptured figures,
but even now its present appearance is graceful.”--(T.)

The Neville screen is pierced by two doors that lead directly to the =Shrine of St. Cuthbert= in the Chapel of the Nine Altars just behind it; for in this chapel repose the bones of the patron saint. Facing the great rose window there is an oblong platform (37 × 23 feet), about six feet higher than the floor. The shrine was placed here in 1104 and remained until 1540, when the body was taken from it and buried beneath this spot.

The =Chapel of the Nine Altars= was so named because beneath the nine lancet windows formerly stood nine altars to the following saints: (1), St. Andrew and St. Mary Magdalen; (2), St. John the Baptist and St. Margaret; (3), St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Catherine; (4), St. Oswald and St. Lawrence; (5), St. Cuthbert and St. Bede; (6), St. Martin; (7), St. Peter and St. Paul; (8), St. Aidan and St. Helen; (9), St. Michael the Archangel.

“It is approached from the aisles by steps, the floor level being
lower than that of the church proper. It is altogether a remarkable
and interesting structure. With its lightness and loftiness
contrasting grandly with the massive Norman nave and choir, its
clustered columns of polished marble alternating with stone, its
fine bold sculpture, its splendid vaulted roof and rich arcading,
it forms a perfect example of the Early English style. Though
regular and symmetrical in general design, the detail shows great
variety, and even irregularity, a quality so often present in old
work, and so much to its advantage.

“The ‘New Work,’ as it was always called, was commenced in the year
1242. The eastern wall, with its rose and nine lancet windows, is
the earliest part of the chapel, the north and south walls being
later. The joining and blending of the work with the Norman of
Carileph’s choir had evidently been accomplished when the chapel
was almost completed. The eastern wall is of three bays, each bay
having three lofty lancet windows. The bays are not of equal width,
the centre one being regulated by the width of the nave of the
church, and narrower than the north and south bays.

“A very beautiful arcade runs completely round the walls. It is of
trefoil arches deeply and richly moulded, supported on marble
columns carved with foliage. Over the arches is a hood-mould
terminating with heads. In the spandrels are a series of deeply
sunk and moulded quatrefoils, two of which contain sculpture. The
bases of the columns rest on a plinth. Surmounting this arcade is a
moulded string from the level of which rise the windows, and above
the windows another string-course and a second range of windows. In
the centre bay, however, is the large rose window, which is over
thirty feet in diameter.

“The division of the chapel into three bays is effected by two main
vaulting arches, which spring on the western side from the piers of
the east end of the choir, and on the eastern side from responds of
clustered shafts alternately of marble and stone, banded at
intervals and having richly carved capitals. The arches themselves
are deeply moulded and ornamented with dog-tooth ornament and
foliage. The vault of the central bay has eight ribs--two springing
from each of the clusters just described, and two from each of the
choir piers. The vaulting of the remaining bays is quadripartite,
but has peculiarities which are worthy of notice, arising from
inequality of width. We must not omit to call attention to the
exquisite sculpture of the vaulting. The centre has figures of the
Four Evangelists, while in the north is a beautifully executed
carving of vine and grapes, and in the south, figure subjects.
Among the sculptured heads on the wall arcade at the south end, at
the western side of the two bays into which the south wall is
divided, are two which are portraits of the men to whom we owe the
design and execution of the beautiful sculpture of this chapel. One
is an elderly man, the other much younger, and both wear linen
dust-caps over their heads.”--(J. E. B.)

The rich and varied carving of the capitals of the vaulting-shafts and vaulting-bosses will delight the lover of beautiful sculpture.

The beautiful Early Decorated north window of six lights was originally filled with glass illustrating the history of Joseph. Hence it was called =Joseph’s Window=. It is a particularly fine example of the tracery of the period.

The two windows in the south end of this transept were once filled with glass representing the life and miracles of St. Cuthbert. They show tracery of the Perpendicular period. Each window is divided by a central mullion and is widely splayed inwards.

The rose window over the lancets of the middle bay consists of an outer circle of twenty-four and an inner circle of twelve radiating lights, the mullions of which are received on a foliated circle in the centre. This is Wyatt’s work, for, as we have seen, he removed the fine Early English window from this place.

The =Cloisters= and the =Chapter-House= we find on the south side of the Cathedral. The cloisters were begun in 1388-1406 and completed about 1438. They are much altered and restored. From them various halls of the monks could be entered.

From the eastern alley we pass into the Chapter-House, a restoration of what was considered the finest Norman Chapter-House in England when Wyatt pulled it down.

RIPON

DEDICATION: ST. PETER AND ST. WILFRID. FORMERLY A COLLEGIATE CHURCH
SERVED BY AUGUSTINIAN CANONS.

SPECIAL FEATURES: NAVE; ST. WILFRID’S NEEDLE; ROOD-SCREEN; EAST
WINDOW; CHOIR-STALLS.

Ripon did not become a cathedral until 1836. From the Eighth Century until that date it was in the diocese of York, and the Archbishop of York, having his throne in the choir, gave the church great importance.

Ripon monastery was established in the Seventh Century. The monks came from Melrose Abbey on the Tweed and represented the Christianity that was introduced into the north by way of Ireland through St. Columba’s missionaries. Their great abbot was Wilfrid, who became Bishop of Northumbria. In 669 he began a stone monastery, on the site, in all probability, of the earlier one; and this was dedicated in 670 to St. Peter. Wilfrid died in 709 and was buried in his church at Ripon. Miracles took place at his tomb, which drew such large crowds that the monks tried to restrain them. In 948, when Eadred was quelling a rebellion in Northumbria, “was that famed minster burned at Ripon which St. Wilfrid built.”

The next date of interest is the rebuilding of the church by Roger de Pont l’Évêque (1154-1181), the great rival of Thomas à Becket. It was a cruciform edifice; its nave was without aisles. Of this, the two transepts, half of the central tower, and portions of the nave and choir remain. Ripon is, therefore, one of the most important examples extant of the transition from Norman to Early English.

Archbishop Walter de Gray (1216-1255) translated the relics of St. Wilfrid to a new shrine in 1224.

The west front with its two towers was built about this time; and the eastern part of the choir was rebuilt in the Decorated style by Archbishop John Romanus (1286-1296).

The church was used as a refuge and fortress by the people of Ripon when the Scots invaded it in 1317. Many necessary repairs were made under Archbishop de Melton (1317-1340). The central tower fell in 1450 and had to be rebuilt; also the east side of the south transept and the south side of the choir. The present rood-screen and canopied stalls were erected at the end of the Fifteenth Century. Then the nave was rebuilt; but progress was delayed by the outbreak of a plague in 1506. St. Wilfrid’s Shrine was demolished by Henry VIII. In 1593 the central spire was injured by lightning. During the Civil Wars the Parliamentary soldiers shattered the splendid glass of the east window and did other damage. In 1660 the central spire fell and injured some of the canopies of the choir-stalls; and, therefore, in 1664, the western spires were removed for fear that they might fall also. Many repairs were made in 1829. Restorations on a large scale were undertaken by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1862-1870.

The =West Front= is Early English. It has two square towers and a central gable. String-courses divide the façade into four stages. In the first are three doorways adorned with gables and crosses. The central door, which is larger than the others, consists of five orders and five triple shafts. The two others have three orders and three shafts. Some of the mouldings are filled with the dog-tooth ornament. All three doors open into the nave. Between the gables spouts issue from the heads of animals. Above the doors comes a row of five lancet windows and above them a group of three small lancets placed very high. The towers are ornamented with arcades and lancets, buttresses, parapets and pinnacles. The ten bells hang in the south tower.

The =Central Tower= is interesting because it is composed of two styles of architecture. On the north and west sides it is Twelfth Century and on the two others Perpendicular. The windows on all sides are round-headed. The dog-tooth ornament appears in the moulding. Ripon, though finely proportioned, is somewhat cold and severe in general appearance. The north transept with its round-headed windows and its interesting doorway, with a rather curious inner arch and capitals of carved foliage, is a good example of the Twelfth Century. The south side of the nave is preferred to the north side by critics. In the south transept we have Archbishop Roger’s work again. The doorway is elaborate. The foliage on the capitals of the columns approaches the Early English style. The lintel is square. The south side of the choir is partly hidden by the Chapter-House with the Lady-Loft above. The buttresses that follow are of the Twelfth Century. The three western bays are Perpendicular; the others, Decorated. The two flying-buttresses are like those on the north side. Gargoyles appear at intervals along the string of the roof. The east end is Decorated. Its chief feature is the splendid window, of which the tracery alone remains.

Entering the west doorway we look upon one of the great naves of the Perpendicular period, ranking next in size after York, Winchester, Chichester and after St. Paul’s in width.

“Among very late Gothic buildings there are few indeed which are of
so good a quality as this nave of Ripon, which, like the late
church towers of Somerset, shows that Mediæval art took long to die
out in regions remote from London. It is, indeed, the architecture
of the days of Agincourt rather than of the eve of the English
Renaissance. The pillars are characteristic of the Perpendicular
style, their section being a square with a semicircle projecting
from each side, and the corners hollowed. Their bases have complex
plinths of considerable height and are polygonal, but follow
roughly the form of the pillar, and the mouldings, as usual in this
style, overhang the plinth. The capitals, with small mouldings and
many angles, are of somewhat the same form as the bases. On the
westernmost complete pillar of the north arcade are two shields,
charged respectively with the arms of Ripon (a horn) and of Pigott
of Clotherholme. The arches, instead of being of that depressed
form which is so common in late work, are very beautifully
proportioned, and their mouldings are bold, numerous and well-cut.
There is no triforium; but a passage, at a slightly lower level
than in Archbishop Roger’s bays, runs below the great clerestory
windows, which were once, no doubt, gorgeous with stained glass.
Their arches are moulded, but the splay is left plain. The
roof-shafts, which are in clusters of three and have fillets upon
them, spring from semi-octagonal corbels, and where each cluster
passes the string-course there is an angel holding a shield. A sign
of decadence may be found, perhaps, in the way in which the
hood-moulds of the windows intersect with these shafts. Though the
two sides of the nave are not quite of the same date, they are
almost alike, but for some slight differences in the capitals, the
arch-mouldings, and the hollows on the pillars; the builders
feeling, doubtless, that any marked variation would mar the general
perspective--a consideration which, of course, could not bind them
in designing the north aisle. The original Perpendicular roof may
have resembled that which now covers the transepts. About 1829
Blore put up an almost flat ceiling of deal. The present oaken
vault, by Sir Gilbert Scott, was copied from that of the transepts
of York Minster, and is adapted to the old roof-shafts, between
which have been added angel corbels of wood. As the ribs intersect
near their springing, they weave a network over the whole vault,
and the carved bosses at the intersections amount to 107. A passing
notice is merited by the pulpit, which is Jacobean.”--(C. H.)

The two great tower arches under the west towers are Early English; those of the central tower are round. Their great piers are composed of clusters of engaged shafts. Massive arches also mark the opening of each aisle of the nave into the transept. In the south aisle stands a blue marble =Font=, and near it an older one, probably of the Twelfth Century. Tradition says that the altar-tomb here is that of an Irish prince who brought home from Palestine a tame lion. On the bas-relief a lion, a kneeling man and two birds are represented, which gives cause for the story. The work is presumably of the Fourteenth Century. Above the font we can see the only Mediæval glass in the Cathedral--fragments of Fourteenth Century work left from the wreckage of the Puritan soldiers. St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Andrew will easily be recognized. There is also a shield bearing the English arms in this window. In the south wall of the nave there is a fine =Piscina= dating from the Twelfth Century. At this point we shall have to interrupt our walk through the Cathedral to examine =St. Wilfrid’s Needle=, the popular name for the Saxon =Crypt=.

“From a trap-door in the pavement below the piscina a flight of
twelve steps winds down into a flat-roofed and descending passage
2½ feet wide and slightly over 6 feet high, which, running a few
feet northwards and bending at right angles round the south-west
tower pier, extends eastward for about 10 yards, with a descent of
one step near the end, and terminates in a blank wall. There is a
square-headed niche at the turn and a round-headed niche at the
end, both meant, doubtless, to hold lights. Three feet from the end
a round-headed doorway, 2 feet wide and over 6 feet high, opens
northwards with a descent of two more steps, into a barrel-vaulted
chamber, 11 feet 5 inches long from east to west, 7 feet 7 inches
wide and 9 feet 10 inches high. In the north wall of this chamber,
and approached by three wide steps, is the celebrated St. Wilfrid’s
Needle, a round-headed aperture pierced through into a passage that
runs behind. This aperture was connected with one of those
superstitions that so often flourished before the Reformation in
notable centres of religion, and ability to pass through it, or
‘thread the needle,’ was regarded as a test of female chastity; but
it was, of course, in the later middle ages that this superstition
arose, and the ‘needle’ (or rather needle’s eye) is evidently only
one of the original niches with the back knocked out. Of these
niches (which again were doubtless for lights) there are four in
the chamber besides the ‘needle,’--one in each wall,--and, like the
niche at the end of the passage of entrance, they all have
semicircular heads, each cut in a single stone. That in the west
wall has a hole or cup at the bottom, probably to hold oil in which
a wick might float, while the others (except the ‘needle’) have a
sort of funnel at the top, doubtless to catch the soot from
lamps.”--(C. H.)

The =North Transept= is a fine specimen of the transitional from Norman to Early English, and is almost in its original condition. It is 34 feet wide, or 52 feet including the aisle. Here we find a stone pulpit of the Perpendicular period, its five

sides embellished with panelling. At the north wall was probably situated the =Markenfield Chantry=; for the aisle is still called by this name. Two family tombs remain.

The =South Transept= is slightly narrower than the north. Parts of it were altered in the Perpendicular period. In the aisle we find the =Mallory Chapel=, where members of the Studley family are buried. The northern bay is filled by a stone stairway, at the top of which are two doors. One opens into a chamber containing the bellows of the organ and the other into the Lady-Loft, or Library. This stairway was erected by Sir Gilbert Scott to replace an older one.

The elegant =Rood Screen= is of the Fifteenth Century. It contains a central doorway surmounted by a crocketed ogee hood, beneath which is a mutilated carving of The Trinity. Four large niches stand on either side of the door and a row of twenty-four smaller ones runs above these. Cinquefoils and feathered cusps decorate the whole screen, which is twelve feet thick. In the passage through it a door on the right opens into a winding staircase to the loft above and one on the left into a deep pit.

We pass on to the =Choir=. This is of three styles: the first three bays on the north side are Twelfth Century; the first three on the south side, Perpendicular; and the last three on both sides, Decorated. The triforium windows are filled with glass.

“The great window in the central compartment is one of the finest
examples of Geometrical tracery, if not one of the largest windows,
in England. It is over 50 feet high, is 25 feet wide, and has seven
lights. Of these the three at either end are comprised under a
sub-arch, in the head of which are three cinquefoiled circles,
while the central light of the seven is surmounted by an arch, not
so high as its neighbours, but impaling upon its acute point a huge
circle which fills the head of the window and contains six trefoils
radiating from its centre. The arch of this superb window is rather
acutely pointed and richly moulded, and has two very slender shafts
worked on the stones of either jamb, with foliage on their
capitals.

“The huge window, which is not splayed, has a deep rear-vault
bounded by a massive rib, whose outer edge rests on slender engaged
shafts with foliage on their capitals, while the inner edge ends in
bunches of foliage. Between this rib and the tracery is another rib
springing on the north side from a bunch of foliage and on the
south from a grotesque corbel. The inner arch has slender shafts,
and so has the moulding next to the tracery, but in the latter case
the capitals are plain. Few acts of vandalism are more to be
regretted, probably, than the destruction in 1643 of the
magnificent Fourteenth Century glass which once occupied this
window. The present very poor glass, by Wailes of Newcastle,
commemorates the revival of the See of Ripon in 1863.

“Over the window may be seen the mark of one of the earlier roofs.
The choir is thought to have received a groined vault of oak after
the rebuilding of the east end, but this vault was probably renewed
more than once, especially after the accident to the tower about
1450, and the fall of the spire in 1660. Sir Gilbert Scott found a
vault of lath and plaster (probably the work of Blore) for which he
substituted the present roof, a groined wooden vault, admirable in
its lofty pitch and judicious colouring. Its chief feature,
however, is the splendid bosses along the ridge, which are
survivals from either the Decorated or a subsequent Perpendicular
vault. In some of these bosses the figures are five feet
long.”--(C. H.)

The =Choir-Stalls= are splendid specimens of the Fifteenth Century, with very ornate canopies of tabernacle-work bristling with spires and pinnacles.

“There are ribbed vaults under the canopies, and upon the pendants
in front are hovering angels. The canopies on the south side were
wrecked by the fall of the spire in 1660, and those over the eight
easternmost stalls were then reconstructed in the ‘Jacobean’ style
with a gallery above, while of the canopies now over the other
nine, eight are said to have been brought across from the eastern
end of the north range, where more Jacobean canopies were erected
in their place. Sir Gilbert Scott removed all this Seventeenth
Century work and set up reproductions of the Fifteenth Century
design. Thus the eight easternmost canopies on either side are
modern. The _misereres_ and arms of the stalls are exquisitely
carved.

“The subjects upon the former are as follows, beginning from the
archway in the screen:--

“_North side_:--(1) (CANON IN RESIDENCE) lion attacked by dogs; (2)
dragon attacked by dogs; (3) angel with shield; (4) dragon and
birds; (5) hart’s-tongue ferns; (6) conventional flowers; (7) ape
attacked by lion; (8) vine; (9) birds pecking fruit; (10)
antelopes; (11) fox preaching to goose and cock; (12) fox running
off with geese; (13) fox caught by dogs; (14) dragons fighting;
(15) fruit and flowers issuing from inverted head; (16) man holding
club with oak leaves and acorns; (17) (MAYOR’S STALL) griffin
catching rabbit.

“_South side_:--(1) (DEAN) angel with book; (2) angel with shield
bearing date 1489; (3) lion _versus_ griffin; (4) griffin devouring
a human leg; (5) owl; (6) mermaid with mirror and hair-brush; (7)
two pigs dancing to bagpipe played by a third; (8) Jonah thrown to
the whale; (9) man wheeling another who holds a reed and a bag;
(10) fox caught carrying off goose by dog and by woman with
distaff; (11) winged animal; (12) hart, gorged and chained; (13)
pelican feeding young; (14) Jonah emerging from the whale; (15)
Samson carrying the gates; (16) head (modern); (17) (BISHOP’S
THRONE) Caleb and Joshua carrying the grapes and watched by Anakim.

“Most of these _misereres_ have exquisite conventional flowers
(especially roses) cut upon them in addition to the
figure-subjects. The desks in front of the stalls have rich
finials, and their panelled fronts form the backs of a lower tier
of seats, the arms of which are supported each on a square shaft
set diamondwise. In front of these lower seats the desks again
have carved finials and panelled fronts and on those parallel with
the Rood-Screen the tracery is distinctly Flamboyant. The finial
before the stall of the Canon in Residence has a griffin attached
to it and that in front of the Dean’s stall a lion. Before both
these stalls the ends of the two tiers of desks are richly carved.
The Bishop’s throne and Mayor’s stall have each a canopied niche on
the exterior toward the east, and two small apertures in the east
side to enable the occupant to see the altar, and in front of these
two stalls the ends of the two tiers of desks are again richly
carved. The Mayor’s stall is wider than the others, and attached to
the finial in front is a grotesque ape, beneath which the
supporting shaft is of open work. The end of this desk displays a
shield charged with two keys in saltire, for the see of York.

“The Bishop’s throne was originally occupied by the Archbishops of
York. The Jacobean canopy, which succeeded that of the Fifteenth
Century, comprised the space of two stalls, as did also the modern
structure by which it was itself succeeded and which is now in the
Consistory Court. The present canopy resembles those of the other
stalls but is higher and more elaborate. Upon the back of the
throne inside is a small mitre. The finial in front consists of an
elephant carrying a man in his trunk, and bearing on his back a
castle filled with armed soldiery, and in front of the elephant is
a centaur (renewed), the shaft under which is again of open-work.
The end of this desk displays a large mitre above a shield charged
with the three stars of St. Wilfrid and supported by two angels,
between whom is a scroll with the date of 1494.”

The altar stands against the east wall of the presbytery. The =Reredos= is a restoration of the original Decorated one. The =Sedilia= and a =Piscina= are placed on the south side.

Sir Gilbert Scott considered them Late Decorated work, but they have rather the appearance of Late Perpendicular.

Some historians think that the shrine of St. Wilfrid stood in the east end of the north-choir-aisle. The remains were kept in a superb coffer, which was carried in processions.

Passing down the south-choir-aisle from the east we first come to the vestry; then to the Chapter-House; and then to the Mallory Chapel. A round-headed door in the west wall of the Chapter-House opens upon a stairway that leads into another =Crypt= that belonged to Norman times.

The =Chapter-House= is of the Twelfth Century. Above it is a =Lady-Chapel=, called here the =Lady-Loft=. It is unusual to find a Lady-Chapel on the south side of the Choir and on an upper floor. It dates from about the middle of the Fifteenth Century. It is now used as a Library.

YORK MINSTER

DEDICATION: ST. PETER. SERVED BY SECULAR CANONS.

SPECIAL FEATURES: WEST FRONT; CHOIR; CHAPTER-HOUSE; WINDOWS.

York, “the King of Cathedrals,” is one of the noblest and best examples of Gothic architecture. In form and proportion, in detail of ornament, in exterior and interior, the famous Minster takes rank with the greatest ecclesiastical buildings. Not only is it enormous--a forest of architecture--but it contains, perhaps, more ancient stained glass than any other building in the world.

“Other English cathedrals are more finely placed, several are
richer in ornament, one or two have a more delicately varied
outline. None are so stately and so magnificent; and there is
hardly a church in Europe that appears so vast as the Minster,
viewed from the north.

“The low-pitched roof of the Minster, the solidity of the central
tower, the simple and tranquil front of the north transept, give
the building an air of masculine and stately repose, and of perfect
finish seldom to be found in foreign churches; while the apparent
uniformity of style, though the architecture is of three different
periods, frees it from the picturesque inconsequence of many
English cathedrals. Yet neither inside nor outside does the Minster
appear to be the expression of the spiritual aspirations of a
people. It represents rather a secular magnificence, the temporal
power of a Church that has played a great part in the history of
the nation. The archbishops of York have been forced by
circumstances to be militant prelates, contending with Canterbury
for precedence, leading armies against the Scotch, sometimes even
heading rebellions against the king; and in their cathedral they
have expressed their ambition and their pride.”--(A. C.-B.)

The visitor who has a short time to visit York Minster will study the west front, the choir, the Chapter-House, and the windows.

“If the beauty in the form of our _flos florum_ is due to its
architecture, very much of its beauty in colour depends on the
glowing and mellowed tints with which its windows are filled. But
it is a large subject to enter upon, for as regards quantity there
are no less than one hundred and three windows in the Minster, most
of them entirely, and the remainder, only excepting the tracery,
filled with real old Mediæval glass. Some of the windows, too, are
of great size. The east window, which is entirely filled with old
glass, consists of nine lights and measures seventy-eight feet in
height, thirty-one feet two inches in width. The two choir transept
windows, that in the north transept to St. William, and the south
to St. Cuthbert, measure seventy-three feet by sixteen feet. They
have both been restored, the latter very recently, but by far the
greater part of them is old glass. On each side of the choir, the
aisles contain nine windows measuring fourteen feet nine inches by
twelve feet, only the tracery lights of which are modern; the same
number of windows fill the clerestory above, the greater portions
of which are ancient.

“The famous window of the north transept, the Five Sisters,
consists of five lights, each measuring fifty-three feet six inches
by five feet one inch, and is entirely of old glass. There are six
windows in the north and six in the south aisles of the nave, with
only a little modern glass in the tracery. The superb Flamboyant
window at the west end of the centre aisle measures fifty-six feet
three inches by twenty-five feet four inches, and consists, I
believe, entirely of old glass, except the faces of the figures.
The clerestory windows are studded with ancient shields, but a
great part of the glass is, I fancy, modern; those of the
vestibule, eight in number, measuring thirty-two feet by eighteen,
are of old glass, including the tracery lights. The east window has
been clumsily restored by Willement. In the side windows of the
transept there is some old glass, and the great rose window over
the south entrance still retains much of the old glass; while far
overhead in the tower there are some really fine bold designs of
late, but genuine, design and execution. Altogether, according to
actual measurements, there are 25,531 superficial feet of Mediæval
glass in the Minster, i.e., more than half an acre--a possession,
we should think, unequalled by any church in England, if not in
Christendom.”--(P.-C.)

York, or, to use its older name, Eboracum, had been an important British settlement long before the Romans made it the principal seat of their power in the north between the years 70 and 80 A.D. It continued to be a Roman court until the Emperor Honorius left Britain in 409. Hadrian lived here; Severus and Constantine Chlorus died here; and here Constantine the Great was proclaimed Emperor. Many churches in the vicinity were dedicated to the latter’s mother, St. Helena, the legendary discoverer of the True Cross.

York was therefore the great military post and the great ecclesiastical seat in the north of England.

The question of precedence between York and Canterbury arose as early as the days of St. Augustine. Gregory the Great instructed the latter to appoint twelve bishops, one of whom was to be the Bishop of York, who was to ordain other bishops in the north of England. He was to be subordinate to Augustine; but subsequently precedence should be determined by priority of consecration. This occasioned dissensions for centuries, culminating in the murder of Thomas à Becket (see page 2), which Roger de Pont l’Évêque is said to have instigated. It was this Archbishop of York who, refusing to take a lower seat at the Council of Westminster in 1176, sat himself in the lap of Becket’s successor only to be pulled off and soundly beaten. The question was not finally settled until the time of John of Thorsby (1352-1373), when Innocent VI. determined that the Archbishop of Canterbury should be styled Primate of All England and the Archbishop of York, Primate of England.

The first archbishop was Paulinus, Bishop of Rochester (see page 33), who accompanied Ethelburga, daughter of the King of Kent, when she went to Northumbria to marry King Edwin. Edwin embraced Christianity and was baptised in 627, by Paulinus, in a temporary wooden church on the site of the present glorious York Minster. Immediately afterwards Edwin began to build a stone church in this same place, which he dedicated to St. Peter. This church was repaired by the next archbishop--the great Wilfrid--about 669.

When Thomas of Bayeux, the first Norman archbishop, arrived in 1070, he found the Cathedral in ruins, owing to the Danish invasion and to the wars of the Conqueror; and, if William of Malmsbury may be believed, Thomas began the church from its foundations and also finished it.

Roger de Pont l’Évêque (1154-1181) rebuilt the choir.

About this time York acquired its patron saint, William Fitzherbert, great-grandson of the Conqueror, who became Bishop of York in 1143. Expelled from office in 1147, he was restored in 1153. On his return he performed a miracle and died almost immediately afterwards, so suddenly, in fact, that he was thought to have been poisoned out of the holy chalice. The monks buried him in the Cathedral. His tomb attracted pilgrims because of the marvellous cures. St. William was canonised in 1284; and in that year his relics were translated from the nave to the choir. Edward I. and Queen Eleanor were present and gave jewels to the shrine, which was placed at the eastern end of the nave under a huge canopy. St. William’s head was preserved in a silver reliquary.

There is now no Norman work visible in York Minster except in the crypt and in parts of the nave and tower. In 1200, however, the nave, choir, towers, and transepts were Norman. About 1230 it was decided to rebuild the transepts on a big scale. Walter de Grey (1216-1265) began the south transept (Early English); and he lies there under an arch, in a splendid tomb. John Romeyn, treasurer of York, built the north transept and also an Early English tower to replace the Early Norman tower. His son, John Romeyn, also archbishop from 1286 to 1296, began the new nave.

John of Thorsby (1352-1373) began the present choir in 1361. The work was started at the extreme east end. Thorsby was a Yorkshireman, who

“had the further development of the glories of the Minster
thoroughly at heart. At once he sacrificed his palace at Sherburn
to provide materials for an appropriate Lady-Chapel, gave
successive munificent donations of £100 at each of the great
festivals of the Christian year, and called on clergy and laity
alike to submit cheerfully to stringent self-denial to supply the
funds.

“During his tenure of office of twenty-three years the Lady-Chapel
was completed, a chaste and dignified specimen of early
Perpendicular style, into which the Decorated gradually blended
after the year 1360, and unique in its glorious east window,
seventy-eight feet high and thirty-three feet wide, still the
largest painted window in the world, enriched with its double
mullions, which give such strength and lightness to its graceful
proportions, and with its elaborate glass executed by Thornton of
Coventry, at the beginning of the following century. But Roger’s
choir, which was still standing, must now have looked sadly dwarfed
between the lofty Lady-Chapel and the tower and
transepts.”--(P.-C.)

Edward I. made York his capital during the war with Scotland, to the expense of which the archbishop and clergy gave one-fifth of their income. Parliament assembled there in 1318. The archbishops were great politicians and intriguers, now plotting against the king and now supporting him; great military leaders, sometimes defeated, like Melton at Myton-on-Swale, where he led 10,000 men against the Scots, or victorious, like William La Zouche (1342-1352) at Neville’s Cross near Durham; and nearly always great builders and benefactors of the Cathedral. Richard Scrope’s rebellion is famous. Lord Chancellor of England and Bishop of Lichfield before he became Bishop of York in 1398, Scrope was advanced by Richard II. In 1405 he headed a rebellion and was captured. The Chief Justice refused to try him. He was taken to his own palace at Bishopthorpe, condemned to death and beheaded near York in 1405. Buried in the Minster, thousands flocked to his tomb in the north-choir-aisle. Naturally enough the king who had murdered him tried to check the stream of offerings; but Scrope’s tomb became more popular than that of St. William. Scrope was a Yorkshireman, the son of Lord Scrope, of Masham, and the Scropes had a chantry in the chapel of St. Stephen, now destroyed.

The great central tower was erected in 1400-1423 and the church was re-consecrated on July 3, 1472; and so, at the close of the Fifteenth Century, York Minster existed as we see it: save for two fires (1829 and 1840) and a judicious repairing and restoration in 1871, the great Minster has not been changed.

When Henry VIII. disestablished the monasteries there were many outbreaks in York, and the famous “Pilgrimage of Grace” (1536) was much excited by the seizure of St. William’s head, still a beloved relic of the Cathedral. Lee, then archbishop, was taken by the rebels and forced to support them. Before this, however, Thomas Wolsey had been arrested at Cawood. Though Archbishop (1514-1530), it is said that he was never at York.

When York was besieged by the Parliamentarians in 1644, Fairfax restrained his soldiers to some degree, which explains why so much of the ancient glass is left. Thomas Mace’s description of the siege, however, shows how little respect the army really had for the Minster: