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The Topography of Altars, Chantries and Shrines in York Minster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

Eric Gee
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Summary

York cathedral shows virtually no signs of the existence of chantry chapels or shrines, although there is documentary evidence for as many as sixty altars, dedicated to a bewildering variety of saints and often serving as multiple chantries. There are the remains of a shrine of St. William and possibly also of shrines at the tombs of Archbishops Richard le Scrope and Henry Bowet, but there are no stone chantry chapels like those found at St. Albar's Abbey or Winchester Cathedral, while any wooden parclose screens have long since vanished. This paper is an attempt, based on documentary and physical evidence, to show the location of altars within the cathedral church. Many of these altars were originally founded in the great Romanesque choir which was rebuilt after 1360, and they were suspended in 1364 until repositioned in the new building.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , September 1984 , pp. 337 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1984

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References

Notes

1 Aylmer and Cant, pp. 94–8.

2 Willis, appendix B.

3 Y.F.R., pp. 274–6.

4 See ‘Main Sources’ (above).

5 Willis, p. 58, quoting Steven’s Monasticon.

6 Y.F.R., p. 11.

7 Borthwick Institute Wills, vol n, p. 413.

8 Henry Johnstone, Bodleian MS. Top. Yorks. C14 f. 174.

9 Yorkshire Museum Catalogue, vol. 1, p. 142.

10 Y.F.R., p. 79.

11 Browne, p. 297.

12 Ibid., p. 297.

13 Fabric Roll 1557, D. & C. archives E3/48.

14 Fabric Roll, D. & C. archives E3/50.

15 York Minster Library, LI(7) 110.

16 Torre, ibid., f. 110.

17 Longley and Ingamells, p. 14.

18 I ft. 6 in. (46 cm.) square. B.M. KL XLV 7.8.2.

19 D. & C. archives M/PYM/A644; illustrated in Longley and Ingamells, pl. 7.

20 400 Years, p. 20.

21 Friends 10th Report (1938), p. 26.

22 Lethaby, W. R., Westminster Abbey Reexamined (London, 1925), p. 254Google Scholar.

23 Browne, p. 14.

24 Ibid., p. 238.

25 Y.F.R., pp. 84–5.

26 Bishop, H. E. and Prideaux, E. K., The Building of the Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exeter (Exeter, 1922), p. 59Google Scholar.

27 Y.F.R., p. 279.

29 Browne, p. 156.

30 Y.F.R., p. 286; Willis, p. 59.

31 Y.F.R., p. 286 and Chantry Surveys.

32 Willis, p. 59.

33 Y.F.R., p. 276.

34 Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 31.

35 700 Years, pp. 32–3.

36 Ibid., p. 34.

37 Browne, p. 156; Y.F.R., pp. 294–5; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 24.

38 Britton, pl. xxv.

39 Browne, pl. cxxxvii.

40 Ibid., pl. CXLI.

41 400 Years, p. 27.

42 Ibid., p. 19.

43 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1494–1509, p. 394.

44 Browne, p. 266.

45 Ibid., pp. 190, 292; Y.F.R., p. 304; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 441 ; Fasti, iii, pp. 10, 19, 84.

46 Fasti, 1, pp. 14–15; Fasti, 11, p. 122.

47 Willis, p. 58.

48 Y.F.R., p. 292.

49 Cal. Pat Rolls, 1467–77, p. 340.

50 Y.F.R., p. 293.

51 Ibid., p. 300; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 3.

52 Y.F.R., p. 300.

53 Willis, p. 58.

54 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1452–61, p. 506.

55 Y.F.R., p. 274.

56 Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 12. 28 Willis, p. 59; Y.F.R., p. 249; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 13.

57 Rites of Durham, Surtees Society, evil (1902–3), p. 347.

58 Chapter Acts Book 1717–28, Minster Library, D. & C. archives H8(4), quoted by Wilson, Christopher, The Shrines of St. William of York, Yorkshire Museum (1977), p. 20Google Scholar.

59 Y.F.R., p. 73.

60 Browne, pp. 112–13; Y.F.R., p. 283.

61 Ibid., p. 290.

62 Ibid., p. 290.

63 Ibid., p. 290; Fasti, 11, p. 65.

64 Y.F.R., p. 290; Fasti, 11, p. 65.

65 Y.F.R., p. 98.

66 Willis, appendix B (1364), p. 58.

67 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1452–61, pp. 200–1; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 40.

68 Y.F.R., pp. 277–8.

69 Willis, appendix B, pp. 58–9.

70 Y.F.R., p. 304; Chantry Surveys, I, p. 23.

71 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1467–77, p. 569.

72 Y.F.R., pp. 300–1.

73 Vallance, pp. 83–4.

74 Browne, p. 256.

75 Y.F.R., nn. on pp. 79 and 80.

76 Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 10; 11, p. 431.

77 Y.F.R., pp. 168–70.

78 Ibid., p. 297.

79 Fasti, 11, pp. 139–44.

80 Y.F.R., p. 299.

81 Ibid., p. 299; Chantry Surveys, 1, pp. 18,39.

82 Y.F.R., p. 53. Harrison, F., The Painted Glass of York (London, 1927), p. 12Google Scholar.

83 Minster Library, Memo Book B/Y ff. 76b–78.

84 Y.F.R., pp. 284–5.

85 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1391–6, p. 278.

86 700 Years, p. 29.

87 MS. plan B.L. MSS. Add. 43, p. 50.

88 Hist. Church of York, iii, pp. 138, 141.

89 Gee MSS., S. transept, 2.

90 Harrison, op. tit. (note 82), p. 11.

91 Y.F.R., p. 53.

92 Cook, G. H., Mediaeval Chantries and Chantry Chapels (London, 1968), p. 154Google Scholar; Y.F.R., p. 297; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 19; Willis, p. 59.

93 Browne, pp. 71–2.

94 Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 79; Willis, p. 59.

95 Browne, p. 113.

96 Y.F.R., p. 289.

97 Hist. Church of York, in, pp. 165–7; Fasti, I, PP. 34–5.

98 Y.F.R., p. 293; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 32.

99 Y.F.R., p. 278; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 40.

100 Y.F.R., p. 285.

101 700 Years, p. 26.

102 Y.F.R., p. 288; Willis, p. 59; Browne, p. 59.

103 Y.F.R., p. 293.

104 Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 42.

105 Y.F.R., p. 302.

106 Ibid., p. 288.

107 Wilson, op. tit. (note 58).

108 Hist. Church of York, 11, p. 417.

109 Wilson, op. tit. (note 58), pp. 12–17.

110 Y.F.R., p. 302.

111 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1317–21, p. 18.

112 Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 19; Y.F.R., p. 303.

113 Ibid., pp. 303–4.

114 Accurate Description, p. 79.

115 Y.F.R., p. 276; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 23.

116 Y.F.R., p. 277; Chantry Surveys, I, p. 14.

117 Y.F.R., p. 281.

118 Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 13.

119 Quoted by Poole, G. A. and Hugall, J. W., An Historical and Descriptive Guide to York Cathedral (York, 1850), p. 128Google Scholar.

120 Chapter Acts Book 1344–53, York Minster Library, DHi (1) 867V.

121 J. Raine (ed.), Testamenta Eboracensia, Surtees Society, XLV (1865), p. 18; Wilson, op. tit. (note 58), pp. 12 and 39 n.

122 Willis, p. 59; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 17.

123 Y.F.R., p. 306.

124 Ibid., p. 282; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 34.

125 Willis, p. 58.

126 Vallance, p. 84.

127 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1485–94, p. 260.

128 Y.F.R., pp. 283–4; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 11.

129 Y.F.R., p. 227 n.

130 Y.F.R., p. 285; Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 9.

131 Y.F.R., p. 285.

132 Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 9.

133 For chantries (a) and (c) see Browne, p. 133.

134 Y.F.R., p. 279.

135 Ibid., p. 280; Chantry Surveys, 1, pp. 20–1.

136 700 Years, p. 21.

137 Chantry Surveys, 1, p. 5 ; 11, p. 428.

138 Accurate Description, pp. 67–8.

139 Y.F.R., p. 305 n.