WORSHIP IN THE MINSTER
The Middle Ages
It has been said (fn. 1) that the earliest liturgical traditions of the north were closely linked with Rome:
this is perhaps illustrated in the beginnings of
Anglian Christianity at York when Paulinus baptized
Edwin there in 627, for it is to be presumed that
Paulinus brought with him the Roman pattern of the
liturgy—the Roman canon of the mass, the system
of daily offices and the chanting of the schola cantorum. With Paulinus's flight from York after the
battle of Hatfield only James the Deacon remained
to carry on the Roman tradition in the north but he
has no known connexion with York. Oswald, upon
his victory in 634, called upon the Scottish bishops
for help and so brought Aidan to Lindisfarne but it
is doubtful how far Scottish Christianity penetrated
to York. Some parts of the Celtic forms of worship
may have persisted even after the Synod of Whitby
and the Council of Cloveshoo, for Alcuin, in a letter
to the archbishop in 801, urged that they should be
abandoned. (fn. 2)
Of the liturgical documents surviving from the
period only Egbert's Pontifical has any direct link
with York but this comprises usages brought from
Rome for the guidance of English bishops. (fn. 3) Egbert
did, however, introduce the services of the canonical
hours and improve the music in the church. Æthelberht's new basilica, consecrated in 780, with its
apsidal chapels and numerous altars, no doubt reflects
the more marked liturgical developments that came
with the introduction of Low Mass. (fn. 4)
Little more is known about the architectural
setting for this early worship or about its ornamentation. Three 8th-century archbishops devoted some
care to the ornamentation of the church. (fn. 5) Wilfrid II
(718-32) had silver vessels made for use at the altar
and covered the altar and the crosses with gold and
silver leaf. Egbert himself (732-66) adorned the
church with goldsmiths' work and silken hangings
woven oversea. Æthelberht (767-80) added two
altars to the church, one dedicated to St. Paul and
the other to the Martyrs and the Cross. The first
was ornamented with gold and jewels and surmounted by the banner of the Cross while above it
was a great candelabrum having three oil containers
and nine rows of lights; the second altar was clothed
with silver and jewels. Æthelberht also ordered the
manufacture of an ampulla of refined gold. Such
embellishments were in accordance with general
developments in the western Church. (fn. 6)
There is no evidence about the nature of worship
in the minster in later Anglo-Saxon times and the
changes brought about after the Norman Conquest
supply information only by implication. The new
church built by Thomas of Bayeux comprised, like
most early Norman cathedrals, a nave with aisles,
north and south transepts with one, or perhaps two
apses on their eastern sides, a central tower and an
apse-ended chancel. It thus conformed to the
original twofold division in a church of sanctuary
and nave, when choirs occupied the eastern part of
the nave. Later generations found the eastern ends
of these churches too small and perhaps too austere,
and they lacked the space required for the still increasing number of masses. Bishops, also, were
anxious to mark the distinctiveness and dignity of
their cathedral clergy. Subsequently, therefore,
these eastern ends were rebuilt and extended to form
the typical English medieval long arm at the east,
into which the choir was moved from the nave and
placed between the crossing and the high altar, the
division between choir and sanctuary being marked
by an eastern transept. (fn. 7)
This rebuilding was done at York in the archiepiscopate of Roger of Pont-l'Evêque (1154-81).
Before his elevation Roger had been Archdeacon of
Canterbury where Prior Conrad some twenty years
earlier had set the new fashion by adding the great
choir to Lanfranc's Norman cathedral. The existing
crypt at York suggests that Roger's new choir had
a square-ended processional ambulatory within the
main structure as at Jervaulx and Romsey; there
were also flanking towers at the east end which formed
small transeptal chapels projecting from the aisles. (fn. 8)
The reconstruction under Archbishop Thomas of
the cathedral body and its constitution on the model
of Bayeux was probably accompanied by changes in
the services. It would seem likely that these were also
drawn from Bayeux, though the Uses of Bayeux and
York had little in common two centuries later. (fn. 9) For
the York Use, evidence is lacking during this early
period: a consuetudinary is mentioned in the earliest
statutes but it has not survived. (fn. 10)
These early statutes, compiled before 1221 but
probably in the 13th century, give some indication
of the services in the minster in laying down in
general terms the liturgical duties of the dean, precentor, and other principal dignitaries. The dean
was to be the celebrant on greater days or festivals
and reverence was to be shown him by the choir.
He was to bless the candles on Candlemas Day, the
ashes on Ash Wednesday, and the palms on Palm
Sunday while on Maundy Thursday he gave the dole
and washed the feet of the poor. (fn. 11) There was also a
sub-dean, who in order of precedence ranked after
the four 'greater persons' and the archdeacons but
before the canons. After the Fourth Lateran Council,
York seems to have been the first English cathedral
to annex the title and function of bishop's penitentiary to the sub-dean who then began to assist
in preaching, hearing confessions, and enjoining
penance. (fn. 12)
By the time of these statutes the precentor had
established his right to second place in the order of
precedence, above his rival the treasurer, who seems
to have ranked next to the dean in the 12th century.
As late as 1472 the north side of the minster choir
was described in a visitation detectum as pars
thesaurarii not cantoris, the two sides being usually
termed cantoris and decani. The precentor controlled
the singing of the services. (fn. 13)
The statutes of medieval cathedrals did not commonly give prominence to preaching, but at York it
was laid down that the chancellor should preach on
the first Sundays in Advent and Lent. (fn. 14) By custom
the archbishop preached on Palm Sunday to the
people. (fn. 15) The pre-Reformation preaching table does
not, however, exist. The chancellor had a deputy,
the sub-chancellor, who assigned the reading in the
choir and supervised the deacons and thurifers. (fn. 16)
Lastly among the four 'greater persons' the treasurer, who had charge of the church (ecclesiam debet
custodire), provided all that was necessary for worship. This included, at different times of the year,
lights in the choir and at the altars (about which the
statutes give minute information), the Paschal taper,
the dove at Whitsun, and the stars for Christmas Eve
and the night of the Epiphany; bread and wine for
all the masses and for the communion of the faithful
at Easter; wine for washing the altars on Maundy
Thursday; fire-wood and an oven to bake the
oblates. (fn. 17)
The four dignitaries were regarded as being in
perpetual residence, which was defined as the greater
part of each year. An ordinary canon who intended
to reside, first kept the continuous greater residence
of 26 weeks when he had to reside in his prebendal
house and attend the hour offices; secondly, if he
chose, he kept the discontinuous lesser residence of
24 weeks in the year which was counted by the
number of attendances at matins, vespers, and
mass, only the greater festivals being obligatory. (fn. 18)
After 1221 the six months' greater residence might
be protested in two periods of three; and after this
date those archdeacons who were also canons might
protest a residence of only three months so that they
might be free for other duties. (fn. 19)
It is impossible to say how soon the canons at
York failed to keep their residence with sufficient
regularity for the maintenance of worship. Residence was enforced only by the economic pressure of
making it a qualification for a share in the common
fund and, no doubt, as prebends became richer such
a share was less desirable. In 1159 Pope Alexander
III by letters mandatory to Archbishop Roger
ordered that none should celebrate mass at the high
altar except a bishop or canon and that the gospel or
epistle should be read at the office only by the canons
because the dignity of the church had been diminished by other priests celebrating there. (fn. 20) In the next
century it was ordered that the canons of St. Sepulchre's Chapel were to celebrate in place of absent
cathedral canons. (fn. 21) The earliest statutes also indicate
that vicars-choral were employed by the canons as
deputies. (fn. 22)
From the time of the earliest statutes the precentor
was allowed two deputies: the succentor canonicorum
or succentor major, who was a minor dignitary instituted in 1232 by Walter de Gray to perform the
duties of the precentor in his absence, and the
succentor vicariorum who was his deputy among
the vicars-choral. The succentor vicariorum was responsible for drawing up the 'singing table' which
was not so much a list of music to be sung—this was
provided in the service-books—as a rota of persons
who were to take part in the services for a stated
period. In the absence of the precentor and the
succentor canonicorum, he fixed the tone of the antiphon on double festivals, which regulated the tone
of the psalm that followed it. He was also responsible for the discipline of the vicars and choristers
within the church but the master of the choristers
undertook their musical education. (fn. 23)
There were originally seven boys in the choir, increased to twelve in 1425 by the munificence of
Thomas Dalby, Archdeacon of Richmond. (fn. 24) The ancient statutes directed that when older the boys were
to become thurible bearers, sub-deacons, deacons
and vicars if they were worthy. (fn. 25) The great day
for the choristers of York was St. Nicholas's Day
(6 December) when one of their number was elected
boy bishop while others acted as priests, discharging
all the offices except the mass until Holy Innocents'
Day (28 December). The custom probably started
in the 12th century: restrictions were placed upon it
in many cathedrals in the later Middle Ages but at
York the boy bishops still had wide powers in the
14th and 15th centuries. Lists of the boy bishops are
extant from 1416 to 1537 when the custom was
suppressed by Henry VIII. (fn. 26) The treasures of the
minster contained several jewels and vestments for
the use of the boy bishops. (fn. 27)
An official not mentioned in the medieval statutes
is the organist, though a deed dated 1236 mentions
'a pair of organs' in the minster played by 'John the
organist', while Archbishop Holgate's injunctions in
1552, which forbade the use of the organ in the
minster, stated that it had been customary for the
masters of the choristers to play the organ. (fn. 28)
The earliest mention of organs in the fabric rolls is
in 1399; thereafter they are mentioned frequently.
They seem to have been portable organs, probably
with one or two ranks of pipes and blown by a pair
of bellows, such as could be carried in procession
to support the singers in the plainsong chants. (fn. 29) In
1485 a payment was made for carrying an organ to
the house of the Friars Minor. (fn. 30)
The regularization of vicars or deputies for the
canons was achieved under the statutes of 1252
whereby the college of vicars-choral was established,
and such evidence as has survived of early ceremonial is to be found in orders regulating the work
of the vicars. The earliest statutes had already provided that no vicar was to take his place in the choir
later than the Gloria Patri at the end of the first
psalm. These statutes had also directed that, at the
singing of the Gloria Patri and the Gloria in Excelsis,
all in the choir should stand and bow towards the
high altar and that, on entering the choir, each vicar
should bow first to the high altar and then to the
crucifix. (fn. 31)
In 1252, in order to regulate the attendance of
the vicars, the greater and lesser services were defined. The greater services comprised matins, prime,
High Mass, and vespers; the lesser, terce, sext, and
nones. In Lent, compline (with placebo and dirige as
one hour) was counted a greater service; for the
remainder of the year it was a lesser service and was
followed by chapter mass and commendation. From
matins a vicar might absent himself once or twice a
week so long as he did not make a habit of it; and
he might miss daily one of the other greater offices or
two of the lesser. The vicars were to be able to read
and sing and had to learn by heart within the first
year of their appointment the psalms and canticles
of the services. (fn. 32)
During the period that followed the foundation of
the college of the vicars-choral, the appointment of
papal provisors and royal officials to the chapter
caused increasing non-residence. Such canons did
little more than draw their revenues and the effective
chapter was very small indeed. (fn. 33) As a consequence,
the vicars-choral gained a greater importance in the
daily worship of the minster than had been intended
when their college was founded. Instead of being
deputies, all 36 came to perform the duties of the
canons whether they were absent or not. The domestic rules passed by the vicars-choral themselves
between about 1350 and 1380 show that by this time
all the regular services of the minster depended for
their performance upon the vicars rather than the
canons. (fn. 34)
Meanwhile, during the same archiepiscopate
which had brought into being the college of vicarschoral, the final rebuilding of the minster was begun
and was to continue for 250 years (1220-1472).
Gradually the Norman church was replaced by the
present much larger one and the whole new building
was rededicated on 3 July 1472, the day being afterwards observed as the feast of dedication. Like all
its predecessors, it was dedicated in the name of
God and St. Peter the Apostle; and the great work of
the year 1482 was the making for the choir of a
tabernacle and figure of St. Peter, covered with
beaten gold. (fn. 35) It is not known whereabouts in the
choir this stood. The massive stone choir screen,
constructed between 1475 and 1505, was adorned on
its western side with figures of English kings from
William the Conqueror to Henry VI. This arrangement was perhaps due to Richard Andrew, dean
1452-77, who had been secretary to Henry VI and
wished his figure to be placed in this prominent
position. In 1473 he had erected a statue of the king
somewhere in the cathedral; it was probably soon
removed. In 1479 Archbishop Booth, presumably at
the instigation of Edward IV, ordered that no one
should venerate any statue or image of Henry VI.
This probably referred to the image on the choir
screen; Drake thought the archbishop had it removed but it seems to have still been in place in 1516
and probably remained there until the Reformation. (fn. 36)
In this final rebuilding of the minster, contemporary developments in worship again had their influence. The replacement of the short, aisle-less
Norman transepts and the extension of the nave
gave the minster a procession path worthy of a great
church. The new transepts also might be lined with
altars. Most important, however, was the eastern
arm, extended four bays beyond the Norman east
end and enclosed by the choir screen. The high
altar, raised by a gradation of fifteen steps through
the choir from the nave, originally stood one bay
farther west from its present position and not immediately in front of the stone altar screen. Behind
the altar was a wooden screen, 'handsomely painted
and gilt, with a door at each end', leading into the
space between it and the stone screen; on top of it
was a music gallery. (fn. 37)
The cult of relic veneration also affected ecclesiastical architecture at this time. Compared with
some other cathedrals York was late in acquiring a
saint of its own. The chapter desired the canonization of William Fitzherbert (archbishop 1143-7 and
1153-4) but, perhaps because of the years when he
had been under papal displeasure and suspended
from his see, this was not obtained until 1227. He
had been buried in the nave of the minster, but on
8 January 1284 his remains were translated in the
presence of Edward I and Queen Eleanor. (fn. 38) The
statutes made in 1294 ordered that the anniversary
of the translation of St. William was to be kept as
a double feast, and his burial is again included
among the double feasts in 1325. (fn. 39) The relics were
placed first in Archbishop Roger's choir and then in
the new one, resting in a richly decorated feretory,
which on great festivals was carried in procession on
a cushion beneath a canopy borne by four deacons. (fn. 40)
The head of the saint, kept by itself in a reliquary of
silver, gilt, and covered with jewels, was the minster's
greatest treasure and was brought for Princess
Margaret, daughter of Henry VII, to kiss when she
visited the church in 1503. (fn. 41) Edward I's Wardrobe
Book contains several notices of offerings he made at
the feretory, including two clasps of gold. There
were many such gifts, (fn. 42) but St. William's shrine
never attained the wealth or reputation of St.
Cuthbert's at Durham.
Popular veneration for Archbishop Scrope, beheaded in 1405, provided another shrine. Thousands
visited his tomb in the presbytery and made offerings
at it, while miracles were said to have occurred there.
Henry IV forbade the offerings and ordered the
cathedral officers to pull down the screen—clausure
de charpenterie—around the monument and pile wood
and stone over the tomb to prevent access by the
people. Offerings, at any rate, were still made and
deposited in St. Stephen's Chapel, adjoining the
tomb on the north side, where the Scropes had their
burial place and chantry. At the Reformation the
treasures of the chapel were among the richest in the
minster. The inventory of 1500 lists these treasures,
which included silver ships and oars, probably the
gifts of sailors promised in some time of danger, and
hands, feet, and heads, placed there by those who
owed the healing of diseases in those parts of the
body to the archbishop. (fn. 43)
The minster had numerous other relics. An inventory drawn up in the mid-13th century listed
nearly 200 items, some of which had been pledged to
raise money towards the ransom of Richard I in
1193. Archbishop Roger had given many of the
relics and arranged and dedicated others. He erected
a great crucifix, which stood over the choir screen
and contained in the figure of Christ relics of the
apostles Peter, Paul, and Matthew and several early
martyrs; another crucifix, which stood behind the
high altar, similarly contained relics of St. Luke and
other early martyrs. Other relics were in the high
altar, other altars, or feretories. They included,
besides bones and pieces of clothing of apostles,
martyrs, popes, and bishops, stones from the Holy
Sepulchre, pieces of the Cross, some of the manna
which fed the Israelites and a piece of the staff of
Moses. (fn. 44) The statutes made in 1325 include
Festivitas Sanctarum Relliquiarum among the double
feasts. (fn. 45)
The Virgin was honoured at York in a chapel
occupying the last three bays of the eastern arm. The
chronicler Thomas Stubbs states that Archbishop
Thoresby (1352-73), as a true lover of the Virgin,
adorned the chapel with outstanding sculpture and
painting. The chapel was finished before Thoresby's
death. He reinterred the remains of five previous
archbishops near the altar and was himself buried
before it. (fn. 46) In the statutes made in 1325 five of the
28 double feasts to be observed in the minster were
feasts of Mary. (fn. 47) The earliest statutes state that two
lights were to burn before the statue of the Virgin on
the south side of the high altar at matins, vespers,
and Mass. (fn. 48) In 1419 an image of the Virgin was
placed before the altar of St. Stephen at the east end
of the north aisle of the choir—an altar frequently
mentioned as a place of burial in 15th- and 16thcentury wills. (fn. 49) Other statues of the Virgin included
one over the 'red chest' against the pier at the south
end of the screen. (fn. 50)
The foundation of obits at York reached its height
by the end of the 14th century. During the 13th century not more than 15 were founded; in the first
half of the 14th, 17, and in the second half, 50; during the whole of the 15th, about 24; and in the first
35 years of the 16th, only 4. (fn. 51) At York, as elsewhere,
the great number to be celebrated was probably
among the reasons which led to the regularization
of the vicars-choral: (fn. 52) by the mid-15th century they
were responsible for over 100 obits, the foundation
of many stating that they should be sung 'with
copes in the choir'. (fn. 53)
York, like all the larger cathedrals in important
cities, received many endowments for chantries. An
unusually early example of a chantry with a college
of priests to serve it was the chapel of St. Mary and
the Holy Angels, commonly known as St. Sepulchre's Chapel, which adjoined the north wall of the
church. (fn. 54) At least 55 perpetual chantries are known
to have existed within the minster, of which 17 were
founded in the 13th century, 22 in the 14th, 12 in the
15th, 2 in the early 16th, and 2 at unknown dates.
The number of altars in the minster increased as
chantries were founded. In 1364 there were fewer
than 20 in existence. By the 16th century there were
probably about 32 altars for about 64 chantry priests.
At several altars there was more than one chantry
and chantries were sometimes removed from one
altar to another or lapsed. For instance, the chantry
of St. Saviour, founded in 1475 by Dean Andrew, in
a 'loft' or platform over the canons' stalls on the
south side of the choir, had at least five other
chantries united with it at different times. In particular, the rebuilding of the choir brought about
many changes among the altars in the crypt at which
some of the earliest chantries were founded. In 1364
the chantries at four altars at least in the crypt were
suspended propter novam fabricam. Few foundation
deeds mention the location of a chantry altar and the
Reformation and the two 19th-century fires have
removed nearly all traces of the chapels. The probable
position of 26 altars can be stated—5 in the presbytery, 4 in the crypt, 5 in the choir, 3 in the
south transept, 1 in the north transept, and 8 in
the nave. (fn. 55)
Unlike most English cathedrals, York had only
one chantry chapel erected outside the regular
ground plan of the building. Archbishop Zouche,
towards the end of his life, obtained permission
from the chapter to build a chapel adjoining the
south wall of the choir. It was probably finished by
1350 and was dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene and
St. Martha. This must have been much altered when
the Norman choir was superseded by Thoresby's
choir and was probably replaced by the present
Zouche Chapel. (fn. 56) Again unlike most English
cathedrals, York had only one self-contained chantry
chapel, and this was, most rarely, of wood, not stone.
It was the chantry of God's Will in the north transept of the choir, over the tomb of Archbishop
Savage (d. 1507). It may originally have been intended as a loft for the watchers who guarded St.
William's shrine. (fn. 57)
The growth in the number of chantries brought
its own problems. As several chantries were attached
to one altar, the chapter arranged times at which the
different masses were to be celebrated, ordering the
chantry priests not to say masses too loudly lest they
should disturb services at nearby altars. (fn. 58) These
masses also had to be fitted into the round of services
in the church. The morning offices of matins, lauds,
prime, and terce were regarded as a preparation for
the daily masses and the chantry priests were expected to say the masses after the offices and before
Capitular Mass at the high altar: presentments made
at visitations of the minster as late as 1519 and 1544
show that this was still proving difficult to enforce. (fn. 59)
The chapter similarly desired to control the chantry
priests themselves, and in 1291 it strengthened its
hold over them by ordering them to take an annual
oath of obedience and fidelity to the chapter. They
were also directed to be present at the minster
services on great festivals. (fn. 60) By the mid-14th century,
at any rate, the appointment of priests to obits and
chantries seems to have been shared almost equally
by the chapter and the vicars-choral, though not
without opposition from the latter. In 1344 three of
the canons appointed the succentor canonicorum to
the chaplaincy of the chantry founded at the altar of
St. John of Beverley by Richard of Taunton, a clerk,
who had provided it should be held by a vicar-choral.
The vicars-choral testified to the commissarygeneral of the diocese that, not only this chantry, but
all the chantries in the cathedral, except a few that
were named, had been served by vicars-choral, and
that very few in the cathedral might be served by
priests who were not vicars-choral. The chapter had
to set aside the appointment, and the former chaplain, a vicar-choral, was reappointed. (fn. 61)
For over two centuries the vicars-choral provided
most of the chantry chaplaincies. In 1379, for instance, they celebrated obits for 45 persons and
chantry masses for 8 more; but by the 15th century
the number of these foundations had so increased
that not even the help of the canons of St. Sepulchre's
Chapel was enough. (fn. 62) And so, at York, as elsewhere,
chantry priests who were neither canons nor vicarschoral were engaged. Moreover, in the late 14th and
early 15th centuries common halls of residence were
being founded for priests who had no residence
attached to their chantry, and St. William's College,
founded in 1461 and housed in a building close to
the east end of the church, may be considered as an
outstanding example of this kind of institution. (fn. 63)
At the end of the 15th century political events
deprived the minster of a large college of chantry
priests of the older type. Richard III, who visited
York in 1483, ordered the foundation of a college of
a hundred chaplains in the minster. The fabric roll
for 1485 indicates that six altars had already been
erected in the minster for the king's chaplains; but
the will of William Poteman, canon residentiary and
Archdeacon of the East Riding, who died soon after
the king, contains a bequest of certain timber taken
down from the house which was being erected for
the king's chantry priests. The foundation was
abrogated by the battle of Bosworth. The college
was pulled down, and nothing more can be found
about the altars or the priests. (fn. 64)
From the early 14th century it is possible to have
an increasingly comprehensive view of the services
owing to the survival of service books—the Missal
and Breviary with their respective musical counterparts, the Gradual and Antiphonal. Together with
the Processional and the Pontifical they provide
complete evidence about the rites of the York Use. (fn. 65)
But the absence of a consuetudinary means that the
ceremonial is largely unknown, for the rubrics inserted in the service books are mostly very brief.
Moreover, there is a tendency for the York service
books to incorporate extracts from the ceremonial
documents of the Sarum Use, a tendency which increases with time and becomes considerable after the
invention of printing and is especially marked in the
rubrics regulating ceremonial. These considerations
suggest that York probably never had any codified
ceremonial regulations and was forced to draw upon
the Sarum Use. The York Use, however, had a
distinctive calendar. In the York Missal the older
constituents are much as elsewhere, but there is a
conspicuous independence in the sequences, which
were comparatively late additions to the Mass. In
the York Breviary there is a more marked distinctiveness, the lessons, hymns, and antiphons particularly showing differences of usage. (fn. 66)
In the later Middle Ages the main mass of the
day, the Capitular High Mass, was probably sung in
plainsong by the canons and vicars. On Sundays
and the chief festivals it was preceded by a procession through the church, in which, as ordered by the
statutes of 1291, all chantry priests, vicars, and
inferior clergy in the minster were to take part. (fn. 67)
Apart from the individual masses said by chantry
priests and others in the minster, there was another
choral mass, usually the Mass of Our Lady, which
by the end of the 15th century or the beginning of
the 16th was usually sung in 'pricksong' instead of
plainsong—harmonized, not unisonal music. It was
usually sung by choirboys and professional men
singers, forerunners of the post-Reformation choir. (fn. 68)
There is no trace of a daily recitation of the
psalter at York. It seems to have had its own
custom, which prescribed that certain psalmi familiares were to be said on weekdays in Lent pro familia,
that is on behalf of the minster and its benefactors.
The rubric is rather obscure, but it seems to assign
the psalms Ad Dominum to In Convertendo (cxixcxxv), one to each of the day hours from lauds to
compline. If this was all, the requirements of the
York Use were very moderate compared with other
Uses. (fn. 69) Besides the canonical choir offices, there
were also the supplementary Hours of the Blessed
Virgin said in the choir in cathedrals after the
canonical hours, and this practice is mentioned at
York in the statutes of 1294. (fn. 70) In addition, the
service of the dead was said on occasions in the
choir either as an independent intercession for all
the faithful departed or in connexion with a requiem
mass. On the night after a vicar's death, the whole
college accompanied his body to the minster and
there sang the psalter through as an act of remembrance, besides saying his funeral service the next
day. (fn. 71)
Special services in the minster were rarer than
might be supposed. The archbishop did not very
often perform service there; ordinations were usually
held elsewhere. The earliest statutes enjoined that
at his installation and upon his return from overseas,
the archbishop was to be received by a procession at
the door of the minster. (fn. 72) According to Drake, the
paved floor of the church, before being replaced in
the 18th century, was marked with a number of
circles to assist the disposition of processions. (fn. 73)
An account is extant of one special ceremonial
occasion—Richard III's visit with his queen upon
the feast of the Decollation of St. John the Baptist in
1483. They were received at the west door of the
minster by the dean and all the clergy of the church
in blood-coloured silken copes. After the thurificator
had sprinkled holy water and said Pater Noster at
a stool by the font, the succentor vicariorum began
responses which were taken up by the choir placed
before the high altar step. Then the dean began
prayers for the king and, with all the clergy, processed to the stalls, where a Te Deum was sung
with choir and organ, after which the procession
proceeded, to the singing of an anthem, to the archbishop's palace. The next day, the Nativity of the
Virgin, the king and queen, wearing their crowns,
walked in procession again in the minster and attended a mass, the high altar being adorned with
gold and silver images of the apostles and other relics
belonging to the king. (fn. 74)
Against this, the visitations of the 14th and 15th
centuries reveal a state of neglect and carelessness in
the church and the conduct of its services. (fn. 75) Illegal
non-residence appears to have flourished and increased; services were often slovenly and irreverence
was rise; singing, when not discordant, was said to
be inaudible. At the same time, these conditions
were not peculiar to York; nor perhaps, should too
much emphasis be placed upon charges made in the
detecta of visitations, since few visitors considered it
their business to praise the proper performance of
duty. The decline at York was perhaps no greater
than that at any other pre-Reformation cathedral.
The Reformation
The first events of the Reformation brought few
changes to the minster. In 1539 Richard Layton, one
of the royal visitors of the monasteries, was appointed
Dean of York and prevailed upon the king to issue in
1541 a new set of statutes intended to promote residence and enforce obedience to ancient customs and
regulations. Residence implied living in a prebendal
house, in or near the close, and attendance at
vespers, matins, and High Mass at least. (fn. 76) In 1547,
however, Edward VI's injunctions reveal that a
renewed attempt had been made to limit the number
of residentiaries. The injunctions required the prebendary to be 'a man of honest conversation, good
learning, able to preach, and using the same'. (fn. 77)
The object of Henry VIII's statutes was not only
to increase the number of residentiaries, but also to
encourage them to reside for a time in their houses
in the close, without protesting residence, and so to
take part in the worship and administration of the
minster; Archbishop Lee, at his visitation in 1534,
had enjoined non-resident canons, whenever they
were in York, to attend matins, processions, High
Mass, and vespers, especially on double and principal feasts. (fn. 78)
It was probably at about the time of Layton's
appointment to the deanery that the figure of Henry
VI was removed from the choir screen; and St.
William's shrine was destroyed in 1541. (fn. 79) Layton
obtained a special grant for the minster to use the
reliquary which had contained the saint's head, but
it is not known what happened to it. (fn. 80) The remaining
treasures of the shrine went to the Crown, as did
most of the minster's jewels, plate, copes, vestments,
and other ornaments. The office of treasurer was
suppressed in 1547. (fn. 81) The extent of the loss can be
seen by comparing the rich inventories made in
about 1500 and early in Edward VI's reign with one
of 1616, which consists of only 27 items, mostly of
little value. (fn. 82) Inventories of the chantries, which by
1546 numbered 45, (fn. 83) show what further loss was
occasioned by their dissolution. (fn. 84)
The most revolutionary changes were naturally in
the cathedral liturgy, ceremonial, and ornaments.
The purchase in 1544 of 'three processioners in
English' marked the beginning of vernacular services; (fn. 85) the Paraphrases of Erasmus, also in English,
was bought in 1550. (fn. 86) York was among several
English cathedrals which adopted a dual performance
of the Litany by two vicars, one on either side of the
choir: in 1581 Anthony Iveson, who had been a vicarchoral since 1545, recalled that the vicar's succentor
had directed this to be done. (fn. 87) The petitions of the
Litany were still chanted by two vicars as recently
as the early years of the 20th century. (fn. 88) Another
change involved the reading of one chapter of the
Old Testament at matins and one of the New at
evensong; to accommodate them, it was ordered
that when nine lessons would normally have been
read at matins, they should now be replaced by six
lessons and six psalms with the Te Deum or Miserere
as time permitted, while at evensong and compline
the responds should be omitted. Prime, dirige, and
commendation were to be abolished as corporate
services, and said by individuals at their discretion.
The only anthems to be sung in the minster were two
in English given in the injunctions of 1547 and any
others that might be set forth by the king in council. (fn. 89)
Matins was to be daily at 6 a.m. in the summer and
7 a.m. in winter; evensong and compline at 3 p.m. in
summer and 2 or 2.30 p.m. in winter; and High
Mass sung at 9 a.m. was to be the only mass of the
day. (fn. 90)
The end of the York Use came with the Prayer
Book of 1549. The rubrics directed that at mass the
priest was to wear 'a white alb plain, with a vestment
or cope' and the other ministers 'albs with tunacles'.
Albs, and in addition incense, are mentioned in the
York chamberlain's roll for 1550. (fn. 91) Archbishop Holgate's injunctions, following the issue of the Prayer
Book of 1552, enjoined the utmost austerity in the
worship of the minster. The church was to be cleared
of all monuments and images, and scriptural texts
were to be painted upon the cleansed walls; the
organ was silenced; singing was practically confined
to Sundays and festivals and was to be only in plainsong. (fn. 92)
Both Prayer Book and injunctions, however,
appeared on the eve of the Marian reaction. A large
sum was spent in re-decorating the minster and
ornamenting the walls; the accounts of the clerk of
the works for 1556 included expenditure on altars,
tabernacle, and candlesticks. (fn. 93) The minster also
received testamentary gifts of a 'frontclothe' and a
canopy to make good the seizures of the royal commissioners. (fn. 94)
The progress of the Reformation in the north after
1558 proved slow: despite sales of plate in 1559 and
1564, it was not until 1567, when Matthew Hutton
with his puritan sympathies became Dean of York,
that the Marian redecorations were swept away. (fn. 95) In
that year the clerk of the works paid for the removal
both of certain aumbries and of the 'Sallutacon of
th'alters'; for white-washing the site of the altar and
painting in the choir before the communion table;
he also sold the cloth from the table. (fn. 96) Not until
1580 was the site of the high altar obliterated when
a tiler paved 'the ground under the table in the
choir'. It seems also that at this time the creed, the
Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments were
placed upon the reredos over the altar. (fn. 97)
Archbishop Grindal directed in 1572, as Holgate
had before him, that all ministers in the church should
communicate regularly. Holgate required them to do
so every Sunday, and on other days as they felt
necessary. Grindal required communication at All
Saints, Christmas, Epiphany, Purification, Easter,
and Pentecost, and on the first Sunday of months
in which none of those festivals occurred; Communion might be celebrated on other Sundays or
holy days according to the Prayer Book. (fn. 98) Both
archbishops also required the clergy to attend other
services: Holgate the Litany, and Grindal all minster
services. (fn. 99)
Previously, matins and Holy Communion, following the medieval pattern, had been said at
different hours in the minster, but Grindal ordered
Morning Prayer, Litany, and Communion to follow
without intermission to encourage the people's
attendance. (fn. 1) Psalms were sung from two service
books purchased in 1573 which included 'Genevaie's
Psalms'. (fn. 2) In Charles I's reign, choir and congregation sang a psalm before the sermon, a custom prevailing into the second half of the 19th century. (fn. 3)
Another encouragement to congregational worship
was the saying of matins early in the morning in the
nave. (fn. 4)
Both Henry VIII (fn. 5) and Edward VI (fn. 6) ordered more
frequent preaching by minster clergy or their
deputies. Holgate issued a new preaching-table, assigning turns to all dignitaries and prebendaries,
while Grindal drew up another table, a copy of which
was to be placed in the choir; he also forbade anyone
to walk in the church during preaching. (fn. 7) In Drake's
time the preaching-table was hung over the stall of
the preaching dignitary of the day. (fn. 8) In Elizabeth I's
reign preaching was required as a test of the orthodoxy of the canons, several of whom were deprived
by the High Commission for not complying with the
order; (fn. 9) and the city council directed two members of
every household, besides worshipping at their parish
church as required by statute, to attend sermons in
the minster on Sundays and holy days. (fn. 10) In 1583 a
'little pew in the midst of the choir' was made, this
possibly referring to the new pulpit which in the
17th century used to be placed in such a position on
preaching days. (fn. 11)
The substitution of Prayer Book for Latin services
and the continuing poverty of the vicars' estates
accelerated the employment of lay clerks in the
choir. The first of such singing-men seem to have
appeared early in the 16th century. Holgate ordered
in 1552 the appointment of as many vicars as could
be paid £10 a year from the corporate funds of the
Bedern; if they were fewer than twenty, the chapter
were to pay singing-men to take their place. In fact
there were only ten vicars in 1564 and the number
continued to fall. (fn. 12) The employment of singing-men
was also necessitated by the replacement of unison
by four-part singing. This change seems to have been
completed by the end of the 16th century, and thereafter the vicars sang only the priest's part in the daily
services of the Prayer Book; the singing men sang the
alto, tenor, and bass parts, while the boys, who had
previously sung only the music at obits and chantries,
now sang the treble part. (fn. 13) The free selection of
anthems and hymns fell to the precentor, if he were
absent, to the canons' succentor, or, if both were nonresident, to the vicars' succentor (now commonly
called the sub-chanter of the vicars); this last
probably also supervised the musical instruction of
the choir and selected those who were to sing the
anthem. A few customs survived the change in the
composition of the choir: in 1703 the chapter suspended the sub-chanter because he refused to attend
the practice of anthems and until the 19th century
every vicar on appointment had to sing an anthem
before competent judges. (fn. 14)
The 17th Century
A change in the attitude to church ceremonies
took place during the archiepiscopates of Samuel
Harsnett and Richard Neile from 1628 to 1640; both
were friends and supporters of Laud. In 1632 Neile
inquired into the adequacy of the minster's ornaments, furniture, and vestments, (fn. 15) and in the same
year a fine of £1,000 imposed by the High Commission at York was granted to the minster by Charles I
for repairs, furnishings, a new organ, and the maintenance of a library keeper. (fn. 16) It seems that the organ
was not placed on the choir screen because the king
objected that this would spoil the view of the east
window from the nave, but erected opposite the
archbishop's throne. (fn. 17) It was an impressive instrument, built by Robert Dallam. (fn. 18) Other acquisitions
were two altar frontals, a large carpet, two richly
ornamented books 'of Common Prayer and Ordination', and several items of plate. The altar screen
was painted and gilded (for which seventeen books
of gold leaf were bought) and the font repaired. (fn. 19)
An inventory of 1634 shows that the minster's
ornaments and furnishings, though but a fraction of
its medieval possessions, had been enriched by these
and other acquisitions. (fn. 20)
To mark James I's visit in 1603, the chapter
placed his statue in the vacant niche in the choir
screen where that of Henry VI had originally been;
it remained there until replaced by another of Henry
VI in 1810. (fn. 21) The city presented a canopy, a cloth of
gold, and two gilt crowns to the minster in the king's
honour. (fn. 22) When Charles I visited York in 1633, he
ordered the removal of the ladies' seats above the
choir stalls; movable benches were to be provided
elsewhere for 'women of quality.'
Civic dignitaries had long attended worship in the
minster, (fn. 23) and the right of the lord mayor to occupy
a particular seat in the choir was frequently disputed.
In 1633 the archdeacon was persuaded to give up his
stall to the mayor who had vacated his own to
accommodate the lord president's lady. (fn. 24) Four years
later Charles I instructed the civic representatives to
conform to the established order of the minster: all
were to receive Holy Communion on certain occasions, and the mayor's banners were not to be
taken into the church. (fn. 25) In 1684 the mayor was
relegated from the archdeacon's seat to a vacant stall
on the south side of the choir. (fn. 26)
A Sunday morning service, attended by the lord
mayor, with civic officials and servants, and many
city residents with their retinues, was described by
three visitors to the city in 1634. They heard a
domestic chaplain of the archbishop preach and a
'deep and sweet snowy robe of quiristers' accompanied by the new organ. They thought that the
whole occasion 'did represent a second London'. (fn. 27)
The minster acquired still more the character of a
metropolitical cathedral in 1639 when Charles I
again visited the city: in April he kept Maundy
Thursday in the minster, when the Bishop of Winchester, as Lord Almoner, performed the usual
ceremonies; St. George's Day was celebrated by the
Knights of the Garter who met in the chapter house
for the investiture of James, Duke of York, aged nine;
while in June Archbishop Williams was enthroned
in the presence of the king and his court. (fn. 28)
Despite occasional interruption by cannon balls,
a full choral service was continued on Sunday
mornings during the eleven-week seige of 1644, and
congregations were said to exceed a thousand. (fn. 29)
After Marston Moor the three parliamentary generals
entered the city with their forces and proceeded to
the minster for a thanksgiving service taken by
Robert Douglas, chaplain to the Earl of Leven. The
minster and the city churches were taken over by
a special committee; the keys of the minster were
given to the mayor and council who temporarily
settled the dispute with the archdeacon about the
seat in the choir by securing it with lock and key. (fn. 30)
Damage to the minster was minimized, largely owing
to Fairfax who was governor of the city. By order of
the mayor, various items of plate and brass were
sold; the organ loft, the canopies in the choir where
chantry altars had been, and three copes were removed. (fn. 31)
It is difficult to know how long the cathedral clergy
continued to officiate, but Presbyterian discipline
seems to have immediately been established in
York in 1644: four ministers were appointed, two at
the minster and two at All Saints', Pavement. The
chief of these was Edward Bowles, who preached
and expounded the scriptures every Sunday in the
minster and took his part in week-day expositions
and lectures. (fn. 32)
At the Restoration Bowles is said to have refused
the Deanery of York: it is unlikely that he could
have accommodated himself to Anglican worship.
Instead, Richard Marsh, who had been nominated
Dean of York by Charles I at Oxford in 1644, was
installed in August 1660. (fn. 33) In addition, 25 new
canons were instituted and installed. At the cessation
of services in the minster there had been five vicarschoral: now only one, Thomas Mace, remained, and
he was made sub-chanter. In 1667 there were four
vicars and seven singing-men, who were poorly provided with prayer-, service- and anthem-books. (fn. 34)
The minster was only slowly refurnished. Archbishop Frewen ordered in 1662 that the great organ
should be set up; and in 1685 Archbishop Dolben
required the organ to be repaired and made fit for
service. In 1693 the organ was removed to the choir
screen at the cost of Archbishop Lamplugh (168891). (fn. 35) For a time, also, other musical instruments
were used, as they had been in the past: (fn. 36) when
Sir Francis North visited the minster in 1676, he
noted that wind music was played in the choir but
soon afterwards given up. (fn. 37)
A brass eagle lectern was presented to the minster
in 1686. In 1690 a donor gave a crimson velvet altar
cloth: (fn. 38) both Celia Fiennes (fn. 39) and Torre (fn. 40) stated in
1697 that the donor was, in fact, Archbishop Lamplugh, who also gave three Prayer Books, a Bible, and
tapestry for the altar, and railed in and paved the
sanctuary. (fn. 41) In the late 17th century some of the
medieval hangings for the choir still survived, together with one cope in the vestry (fn. 42) which was seen
by Gent in the early 18th century. (fn. 43) In 1676 all the
minster plate was stolen, and Archbishops Sterne
(1664-83) and Dolben (1683-8) both gave pieces to
replace those lost. (fn. 44)
Efforts were made after the Restoration to establish more frequent celebrations of Holy Communion
in the minster. The weekly celebration enjoined by
Archbishop Holgate in 1552 fell into disuse in
Elizabeth I's reign. Archbishop Dolben in 1685
ordered the practice to be resumed. (fn. 45) It seems that
before 1617, when Dean Meriton ordered a monthly
celebration, there was Holy Communion only on the
great festivals. (fn. 46) Daily matins and evensong had, of
course, been revived at the Restoration.
At the same time, efforts were made to improve
the preaching arrangements. In 1613 and 1626 the
chapter had given £10 to a deputy preaching for an
absent prebendary. In 1662 Archbishop Frewen enjoined the observance of Canon 51 of 1603 which
forbade a stranger to preach in a cathedral unless
allowed by the archbishop of the province, the bishop
of the diocese, or by either of the universities. He
also ordered every canon missing his turn to pay 20s.
and to arrange for a substitute with the chancellor
a fortnight before or else pay a further 6s. 8d. In 1665
special week-day sermons were ordered to be
preached in the minster during the plague. Archbishop Dolben, in 1685, appointed canons to preach
on the festivals of St. Barnabas and the Conversion
of St. Paul, and the 'royal' days, and ordered the chancellor to provide sermons for Wednesdays and Fridays
in Lent. Dolben also directed that canons should not
come into the choir only to preach but should be
present in their stalls throughout the service. (fn. 47)
The conduct of the citizens in the minster, both
during and out of service time, also needed to be reformed. This was a long-standing problem, frequently complained of in 15th-century visitations. (fn. 48) There
was a continual temptation for young and old to use
the minster as a place of recreation, (fn. 49) especially as
after the Reformation the nave was unfurnished and
only the choir used for services. In 1632 Archbishop
Neile inquired into disorderly and unseemly behaviour, especially during services, (fn. 50) and such disturbances were attacked by John Lake, from 1680 to
1682 Archdeacon of Cleveland and later Bishop of
Chichester, who pulled off the hats of all who wore
them in the nave during services in the choir. (fn. 51) The
general problem, however, continued into the 18th
century. Rich and poor still used the minster during
their leisure time in their own manner. In 1725 Lord
Harley noted that people walked in the main aisle
after the evening service during summer, while in
1740 the magistrates of St. Peter's Liberty issued a
notice stating that disorderly behaviour, the bringing
of young children into the minster, tobacco-chewing,
and the wearing of pattens and clogs shod with iron
would be punished in their court in future. (fn. 52) Not
until the early 19th century do complaints of such
behaviour in the minster cease.
The 18th Century
Indeed, the atmosphere in the minster in the 18th
century can hardly have been such as to induce a
more reverent behaviour. It was a time of conservative and unemotional piety; the furnishing and decoration reflected the prevailing desire for plainness
and simplicity in church interiors. In 1732 the old
pavement, including its tombstones, was replaced by
the present one of grey stone, (fn. 53) and in 1793 the whole
of the interior was lime-and ochre-washed, not even
the gilded and decorated portions nor the Purbeck
marble shafts being spared. (fn. 54) Dean Finch (1702-28)
and Dean Osbaldiston (1728-47) removed the remaining woodwork of the chapels in the choir to lay
open the east end, (fn. 55) and in 1726 the wooden reredos
was removed and the altar set one bay farther eastward to stand immediately in front of the stone altar
screen. At first, the tapestries given by Archbishop
Lamplugh were hung on this screen, but in 1760
Dean Fountain (1747-1802) removed them and filled
with glass the openings of the screen as far as the
springing of the arches. (fn. 56)
In Drake's time, four books were placed along the
back of the high altar—a Bible, a Prayer Book, and
another Bible in two volumes. The Bible and Prayer
Book had been bought in 1633 and the two-volume
Bible was given by Archbishop Lamplugh. (fn. 57) Little
is known about the other altar furnishings: William
Robinson, the evangelist, on an occasion in 1769
when he attended evensong, was greatly affected by
the distant sight of the candles burning upon the
High Altar. (fn. 58)
Dean Finch ended the practice of placing the
pulpit, on preaching days, at the first ascent of the
choir and brought the old pulpit into use so that
preaching might be easily heard. (fn. 59) In 1741 Dean
Osbaldiston rebuilt the ladies' pews together with
the pulpit and archbishop's throne, and all the doors
of the minster were freshly lined and adorned; (fn. 60) he
also had doors put to the passages of the uppermost
stalls to reserve them for 'the dignitaries, gentlemen,
and better sort of citizens'. (fn. 61) The wooden door in
the stone choir-screen was replaced early in the century by a painted and gilded iron one, and Dean
Finch placed at the ends of the two side-aisles ironwork doors, so enclosing the choir, the only part of
the church then used for worship. (fn. 62) Archbishop
Markham (1777-1807) gave new velvet coverings for
the high altar, pulpit, and archbishops throne. (fn. 63)
Some use of the body of the church was made
from 1753 when the chapels of St. Michael and of
the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist, in the
east end of the south transept, were made into a
single chapel for early prayers; it was fitted with
pews, ecclesiastical courts were held there, and early
morning prayer was said at 6 a.m. in the summer and
7 a.m. in the winter. The two chapels had been disused for half a century; morning prayer had previously been said in the choir at 6 a.m. throughout
the year. (fn. 64)
Early morning prayers were traditionally read by
the deacons, who were admitted into the minster to
qualify for appointment as vicars-choral and in the
18th century were known as probationer vicars; (fn. 65)
the vicars read them on Sundays and holy days, including 'royal' days, possibly because the service had
once been sung on those days. By the middle of the
century the vicars had become very negligent of
their share, but in 1759 they agreed that, unless any
vicar chose to pay a deputy, they should read morning prayer on 80 days of the year and the deacons on
the remaining 285. (fn. 66) In 1730 there were 5 vicarschoral, 7 songmen and 6 boys; and during the greater
part of the century there were 6 songmen, that is
only 3 on each side for the 3 adult male parts, and not
more than 12 choristers with 6 probationers. (fn. 67) The
form of what may be called the 'cathedral anthem'
had become established by the middle of the 18th
century; (fn. 68) the first organist of the minster to compile and publish a book of anthems was Charles
Murgatroyd, whose Full Verse and Anthems . . . to be
sung in the Cathedral appeared in 1715 and achieved
three editions. Another organist, Thomas Elway,
published An Anthem Book in 1736, with a second
edition in 1756. James Nares, organist from 1734
to 1756, also published anthems and services. (fn. 69) His
successor, John Camidge (1756-1803), started as a
chorister at the minster and studied in London as a
pupil of Handel and Maurice Greene. As organist,
he began the custom of singing excerpts from the
Messiah at Christmas and Easter, not without considerable criticism at the time. (fn. 70)
The 18th century saw the desertion of the minster
by almost all the prebendaries except the residentiaries. As a result, the prebendal houses decayed or
were let to laymen; and the residentiaries occupied
the Residence (now the York College for Girls), a
house available for their common use. (fn. 71) During this
century the prebendaries rarely preached in the
minster. The chapter ordered in 1760 that if they
intended to preach they should give notice not later
than after evensong on the Friday before their
appointed Sunday; otherwise the dean or senior
residentiary was to appoint a deputy, usually a vicarchoral or city clergyman, who received the fine of
20s. (fn. 72)
The Methodist and evangelical revivals seemed to
have touched the minster but little. On 7 June 1755
a Mr. Williamson invited John Wesley to preach for
him at York, but one of the residentiaries warned
him that it would be the worse for him if he did, and
Wesley declined; but on 3 October 1756 Charles
Wesley preached for Williamson and later communicated at the minster. (fn. 73) William Richardson became
a great evangelical figure in York, being for 50 years
from 1771 Perpetual Curate of St. Michael-leBelfrey, and a vicar-choral at the minster. (fn. 74)
The 19th Century
The first half of the 19th century saw worship in
the minster at a low ebb. At first morning prayer
was still said in the chapel in the south transept at
6 a.m. in summer and 7 a.m. in winter; (fn. 75) about 1820
the time was changed to 7 a.m. all the year, but in
the middle of the winter of 1826-7 the service was
discontinued and not revived. (fn. 76) Similarly, Dean
Cockburn (1822-58) replaced the weekly by a monthly communion in 1825 because he found it 'entirely
neglected, sometimes not a single communicant'. (fn. 77)
Matins was sung in the choir at 10 a.m. with an
anthem unless there was a sermon or the Litany;
evensong at 4 p.m. in the summer and 3 p.m. in the
winter on weekdays, but at 4 p.m. on Sundays all
the year, and always with an anthem. Sermons were
preached in the morning on Sundays and holy days,
and from about 1820 on Wednesdays and Fridays in
Lent as well. Both morning and evening prayers were
said on Wednesdays and Fridays in Advent and
Lent and during the six days before Easter. (fn. 78) It was
reported that in 1802, when Dean Markham was
appointed, the choir was scarcely able to execute the
ordinary choruses in the anthems which were often
therefore omitted. (fn. 79) These were the last years of the
long period as organist of John Camidge; he was
followed in 1803 by his son Matthew who raised the
standard of the services. (fn. 80)
The fire of 1829 destroyed all the woodwork of
the choir. It was replaced by a close copy of the
original by Sir Robert Smirke. He similarly replaced
the original stone altar-screen, which was again
glazed. (fn. 81) The ladies' pews were not rebuilt, and the
pulpit was placed several feet farther away from the
altar. (fn. 82) The altar was enclosed on three sides by
stone rails also designed by Smirke. (fn. 83) The organ
also was destroyed; a new one was built in 1834 and
placed again on the choir-screen, but only after considerable controversy. (fn. 84) After the restoration of the
building, the whole interior was cleaned and the
lime and ochre wash removed. (fn. 85)
The choir was reopened on 6 May 1832; (fn. 86) during
its rebuilding, the daily services had been sung in St.
Michael-le-Belfrey. (fn. 87) The services were restored as
before and displayed local usages of varying origin.
After the psalms an organ voluntary was still played
to allow the reader, after the Gloria Patri, to go to the
lectern. (fn. 88) A metrical psalm was still sung before the
sermon and another before the ante-communion. (fn. 89)
The Nicene Creed was said and not sung, this having
been so since the appointment as precentor in 1762
of William Mason. (fn. 90) The Litany was still performed
in the middle of the choir facing east. Formerly the
litany desk had been movable and placed in the
choir three times a week, but in 1800 had been replaced by a large, square, box-shaped one, and a
similar one was erected after 1829. (fn. 91) The Litany
also was only said, although until the end of the 18th
century a litany by Thomas Wanless, organist of
the minster in 1695, had been sung. (fn. 92)
Change and reform, however, were imminent. By
the provisions of the Cathedrals Act of 1840 the
prebends were disendowed; (fn. 93) worship in the minster
was more directly affected by the general visitation,
the first since 1691, held in 1841 by Archbishop
Harcourt, who ordered that the weekly Communion
should be resumed. (fn. 94) On Easter Day 1849, however,
no vicar was present at the morning services. The
chapter ordered, therefore, that in future sufficient
must be present to ensure that there were at least
four ministers at the Holy Communion, and that no
vicar must be absent from York for more than a week
without permission. (fn. 95)
In 1854 the Sunday services were matins at
10.30 a.m. (fn. 96) and evensong at 4 p.m.; on weekdays
they were at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. All were choral except on Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent and the
whole of Passion Week. Sermons were preached
every Sunday morning, on holy days and 'royal'
days, and on Fridays in Advent and Lent. There was
Holy Communion every Sunday and on Christmas
and Ascension Days. There were five vicars-choral,
each holding a benefice in or near the city. John
Camidge, the organist, who had succeeded his
father, Matthew, in 1842, (fn. 97) stated that about
twenty years previously the choir had only eight
regular songmen but he had persuaded the dean and
chapter to reduce the number to six and, with the
salaries saved, engage six supernumeraries who
attended on Sundays and at Evensong on Wednesdays and special occasions. Two more choristers had
also been added to the choir to bring the number up
to ten. The result of these changes in the choir, he
said, had been greatly to increase the congregations. (fn. 98)
The greatest changes in worship during the century began with the appointment in 1858 of the Hon.
Augustus William Duncombe as dean. He had
graduated at Oxford in 1836, when the new Tractarian movement displayed undiminished vigour; he
'was a thorough and in some senses an advanced
High Churchman'. (fn. 99) By the appointment of Archbishop Longley he held the precentorship with the
deanery, which gave him a greater authority over
the services of the minster than any previous dean. (fn. 1)
John Camidge, whose duties had been performed
since 1848 by his son, Thomas Simpson Camidge,
died in 1859, (fn. 2) and was succeeded by Edwin S. Monk,
who was organist until 1883; between them, dean
and organist set out to bring the worship of the
minster into conformity with contemporary developments in the Church, though not without opposition. (fn. 3)
Monk took a special interest in Anglican chanting,
being associated with Ouseley in producing The
Psalter and Canticles pointed for Chanting; (fn. 4) and
early changes were the division of chants in the
choir between decani and cantoris sides and the
introduction of a harmonized setting of the general
confession. (fn. 5) This was followed by the adoption in
1861 of a new anthem book in place of Mason's
which had run through several editions. (fn. 6)
Changes were also made in the arrangement of the
choir. A new and smaller litany desk was placed in
the middle of the choir in 1860, and in 1863 the
Litany was again sung to Tallis's setting. (fn. 7) The
17th-century brass lectern was removed in 1863
from the centre of the choir and placed near the
pulpit and the archbishop's throne. (fn. 8) Duncombe told
the Ritual Commission that when he became dean
there were six men and five boys in the choir, but he
had by then increased the number to twelve men
and fourteen boys. (fn. 9) In 1860 the choir was given new
desks, in 1869 a change was made in the position of
their seats, and in 1871 cassocks and surplices were
provided for the choristers. Their previous habit
had been coats trimmed with fur, introduced about
a century and a half before, and black gowns in
Lent and times of mourning. In 1872 the men, who
had always worn surplices, were given cassocks as
well. (fn. 10)
Duncombe also instituted prayers in the choir
before the beginning of service and later had them
said in the south aisle before the procession of choir
and vicars into their stalls; his successor compiled
a sequence of prayers and responses for the use of
the choir before each service. (fn. 11) In 1865 the number
of vicars-choral was fixed at five and they were to
attend the minster two weeks out of every five. (fn. 12)
Duncombe especially sought to raise the dignity
and frequency of celebrations of the Holy Communion. He obtained additional altar coverings (fn. 13) and
frontals; (fn. 14) flower vases were first placed on the altar
in 1863; the old custom of placing holly and
mistletoe on the altar at Christmas lapsed; and in
1896 candles were first lit at a celebration. (fn. 15) In 1876
a velvet hanging over the altar was replaced by a
reredos which was embellished in 1879 and 1897. (fn. 16)
In 1866 the stone rails round the altar space were
replaced by one of brass and iron which extended
entirely across the choir; the stone rails were reerected in the Lady Chapel. (fn. 17)
At celebrations, Duncombe told the Ritual Commission, he began the service at the north end of
the altar, but performed the act of consecration
facing eastwards, while he and the other clergy of
the minster always celebrated in surplice, hood, and
black stole or scarf. (fn. 18) There was a celebration every
Sunday and on the feasts of the Circumcision, the
Annunciation, St. Peter, All Saints, and Maundy
Thursday, while on Whit Sunday, Christmas Day,
and Easter Day there was also an early one at 8.30
a.m. From 1868 this early celebration also took place
each first Sunday in the month and from 1873 every
Sunday. (fn. 19) During the meeting of the Church Congress in York in 1866, Duncombe arranged a choral
celebration in the minster—the first in an English
cathedral, he claimed, since the Reformation—which
was sung to Ouseley's setting in C; but it was not
repeated because of Archbishop Thomson's strong
protests. On the first Sunday in the month and on
the great festivals, however, the Sanctus and the
Gloria in Excelsis were sung at the celebration and
from 1869 an introit, while in 1874 a choral celebration, to an adaptation of Merbecke by Monk, was
again introduced, this time permanently. (fn. 20) Confirmation services were also improved in dignity and
reverence. (fn. 21)
Perhaps Duncombe's most remarkable achievement was the introduction of nave services. In 1863
the nave was fitted with choir seats, pulpit, and
lectern and, for the congregation, movable benches
(which were replaced by chairs just before Duncombe's death); (fn. 22) and since the console of the organ,
being on the east side of the screen, could not be used
for accompanying a choir in the nave, a small nave
organ was placed in the third arch of the north aisle;
it remained there until 1903 when the minster organ
was reconstructed and toned down in deference to
prevailing opinion. (fn. 23) Evening prayer was first held
in the nave on Sunday afternoons in Advent 1863; (fn. 24)
in 1866 this nave service was held as an additional
evensong at 7.30 p.m. The purpose of these late
nave services was 'to induce the working classes
more especially to attend divine worship'; it was
said to have succeeded only at the expense of congregations in parish churches. (fn. 25) The service was repeated during the winter months in subsequent years
when Duncombe invited eminent preachers to
address the large congregations which were said to
have numbered two to three thousand. (fn. 26) The service
was congregational in character, the singing being
led by a supplementary voluntary choir formed by
Duncombe in 1860. The responses were said, the
canticles and psalms sung to simple chants, and
before the sermon and at the end of the service a
hymn was sung from Hymns Ancient and Modern
(first published in 1861); this hymn later replaced
the metrical psalms in the other cathedral services.
Duncombe was also able to ensure that the congregation at the nave service rose upon the entry of clergy
and choir, but it still remained seated at services in
the choir. (fn. 27)
The nave services would not have been possible
without an improvement in lighting and the introduction of heating. The old candle-lighting was improved in 1820 (fn. 28) and replaced by gas burners in
1824. (fn. 29) Greatly improved gas-lighting was introduced into the choir in 1861 (fn. 30) and extended to the
nave in 1863. (fn. 31) Incandescent gas lighting appeared in
the choir in 1895 and in the nave in 1914. The installation of electric lighting began in 1908, when three
lights were placed over the high altar and one over
the nave pulpit; it was completed in 1926 with the
introduction of pendent lighting throughout the
minster. (fn. 32)
Until the 19th century the minster was entirely
unheated. After the fire of 1829, a large stove was
erected in the Norman crypt, having flues with
openings into the choir to distribute warm air, but
this was considered dangerous and was replaced in
1845 by a system of iron hot-water pipes in the
crypt. (fn. 33) This was superseded in 1861 by large Gurney
stoves, and in 1928 these were replaced by central
heating. (fn. 34)
The 20th Century
Duncombe was succeeded by Arthur Percival
Purey-Cust, who was dean from 1880 to 1916. He
made no great changes in worship, but 'was a moderate adherent of the old Tractarian school and did
much to popularize the minster services'. (fn. 35) The
Sunday services until 1914 were Holy Communion
at 8 a.m. and 11.30 a.m., matins at 10.30 a.m., evensong at 4 p.m., and the nave service at 6.45 p.m. (fn. 36)
For some years after 1883 a service comprising the
Litany and a short sermon was said during the
summer months at 3 p.m. in the Lady Chapel for
those unable to attend morning service. (fn. 37) Also from
1883 the choristers were excused evensong on
Wednesdays, the service then being sung to a
Gregorian tone with an anthem for male voices;
from 1886 the men were similarly excused and evensong was said. (fn. 38) A daily celebration at 8 a.m. was
instituted in 1908, and the ten commandments were
omitted from Holy Communion for the first time on
Easter Day 1906. (fn. 39) To popularize the services, PureyCust had the scheme of music for the week printed
from 1881; (fn. 40) and he began two special annual
services: a harvest festival service in the nave in
1881, and Military Sunday in 1885. (fn. 41)
The beginning of modern developments in worship came with the appointment in 1917 of William
Foxley Norris, who declared himself ashamed of the
bareness of the minster. (fn. 42) In 1919 Norris moved
the litany desk into the side aisle; the eagle lectern
he placed in the nave and used for services there,
lessons in the choir being read from a vicar's stall;
the brass altar rails he replaced by a movable oak
kneeling desk; and a new frontal was placed on the
high altar. (fn. 43)
Within this setting, Norris sought to make the
worship of the minster as pontifical as possible.
Copes and festival banners were introduced in 1923
and eucharistic vestments soon afterwards. The
2nd Viscount Halifax gave a set of gold vestments
for festivals, and a cope and mitre for the archbishop's use on great occasions in the minster. (fn. 44)
With the help of Horace Spence, who was a vicarchoral from 1926 to 1933, the Sunday sung communion became a solemn Eucharist with three
ministers. (fn. 45) By Michaelmas 1926 a rota of old
choristers had been drawn up to provide a server for
every celebration and two for the Sunday Eucharist;
the availability of servers for holy day Eucharists on
weekdays had also been ensured. (fn. 46)
Norris also refurnished the Lady Chapel and
restored it for regular worship; it had previously been
used by the songmen for vesting. In addition, the
gates and railings that divided the Lady Chapel
from the choir aisles were removed to make an open
pathway to the chapel and placed at the eastern end
of the north and south aisles. Holy Communion was
first celebrated in the Lady Chapel in 1923, and it
was thereafter used for the 8 a.m. celebrations on
Sundays and holy days and on special occasions. (fn. 47)
On either side of the Lady Chapel, two chapels
were restored for occasional services in 1923: St.
Stephen's, at the east end of the north aisle, and All
Saints', at the east end of the south aisle, the latter
becoming the memorial chapel of the Duke of
Wellington's Regiment. (fn. 48)
Similarly in 1926 the Zouche Chapel, after many
years of use as a vestry, was refurnished for private
prayer and occasional services; and the two eastern
bays of the crypt were fitted up as a chapel with an
altar against the eastern wall. (fn. 49) Norris was seen at
the height of his originality in the new use he devised
for the minster's double transept aisles: on the east
side of the north transept St. Nicholas's Chapel was
restored in 1918; (fn. 50) St. John's Chapel, the King's
Own Yorkshire Light Infantry memorial chapel, was
established in 1925 in the west aisle of the north
transept; and St. George's Chapel, the West Yorkshire Regiment's memorial chapel, was founded in
the west aisle of the south transept. (fn. 51)
Norris was succeeded as dean in 1926 by Lionel
Ford, the chief event of whose period of office was
his imaginative commemoration in 1927 of the
1,300th anniversary of the founding of the minster.
It was inaugurated with a midnight service on New
Year's Eve and culminated in a week of services
during the octave of St. Peter. For this week the
nave altar, first temporarily erected in 1926, was
placed permanently upon a raised sanctuary beneath
the central tower, and the loud-speaker system was
introduced into the building. (fn. 52) This commemoration
was part of his policy to identify the worship of the
minster more closely with the diocese; other aspects
of this policy were the inauguration in 1927 of parish
pilgrimages and in 1928 of the Diocesan Music
Festivals for parish church choirs. The Friends of
York Minster were established in 1928 and have
since contributed much to the furnishing of the
building. (fn. 53) Ford also introduced a scheme of daily
intercession for the parishes of the diocese and began
to reserve the Host, a practise which lapsed under
his successor but was revived after 1941. (fn. 54)
Ford was followed by Herbert Newell Bate, dean
from 1932 to 1941. In 1934 notice boards giving times
for confessions were placed in the minster and processional candlesticks were introduced. Bate also replaced
the Victorian high altar and reredos in 1937 by a great
new altar, with a mensa consisting of a single slab of
black Belgian marble together with new altar rails. (fn. 55)
Very great changes in furnishing have been made
under Dr. Eric Milner-White, appointed dean in
1941. An additional frontal was provided for the new
altar in 1942; in 1949 a 16th-century Spanish silver
cross was placed on the altar, together with two 17thcentury candlesticks; and in 1952 Sir Albert Richardson designed a gospel ambo and new altar rails. (fn. 56)
For the nave, a new altar and choir and canons'
stalls were designed by Richardson in 1947 and the
archbishop's throne in 1959; a new pulpit was
designed by J. N. Comper in 1947. The Hanoverian pulpit was restored from the nave to its
original place in the Lady Chapel; and a small onemanual organ was obtained for occasional services.
A small altar was erected at the west end of the nave
for private devotions; and some additions have been
made to the Zouche Chapel.
In 1942 the two side altars in the crypt were rebuilt, a reredos was placed over the central altar of
Paulinus, and the crypt was also made the baptistry
of the minster. (fn. 57) During the Middle Ages the
minster's font stood under the stone dragon beam
in the nave and its cover was attached by a rope to
the dragon's mouth; according to Gent, the font
stood in 1725 opposite Archbishop Melton's tomb
in the north aisle of the nave; and in 1735, when the
nave was restored, it was removed to the west aisle
of the north transept. (fn. 58) Later the minster seems to
have been without a font. Duncombe told the Ritual
Commission that no baptisms or weddings were
performed in the minster; and, in fact, between
1804 and 1883 there were no baptisms. A font was
then set up in the west aisle of the south transept,
and between 1883 and 1911 there were 40 baptisms.
This font was removed when St. George's Chapel
was established and a movable stone holy-water
stoup was used until, in 1941, the 15th-century font
from the Bedern Chapel was placed in the crypt. (fn. 59)
Of the services in the minster, the solemn Eucharist
on Sundays and festivals was in 1956 that of the
1662 Prayer Book as introduced by Spence in 1926.
Sunday services were held in the nave during August
and on Easter, Whitsun, and Christmas Days, as
were ordinations and consecrations and special services. The number of special services increased
after the Second World War: from St. Mark's Day
1955 to St. Mark's Day 1956 there were, for example,
25. Since 1947 a body of honorary chaplains—
drawn from parish clergy near York—has been
formed to help in conducting visitors round the
minster. (fn. 60)
These developments in services have been accompanied by changes in the music of the minster during
this century. Thomas Tertius Noble was organist
from 1897 to 1913 and is still remembered for his
service in B minor. His successor, Sir Edward
Bairstow, extended the fame of the choir and maintained a high musical standard. Upon his death in
1946 he was succeeded by Francis Jackson, Esq., a
former chorister. The office hymn had now a regular
part in the services, one being first sung at the first
Evensong of the Conversion of St. Paul in 1928.
There were in 1956 20 choristers and up to 10 probationers and usually 9 songmen. After 1955 only the
choristers sang weekday matins so that the songmen
might fit other work into their day. (fn. 61)
There were also changes in the duties of the
clergy. Until the end of the First World War the old
system was practically unaltered. Canon A. D.
Tupper-Carey described his residence in the summer of 1918: he had nothing to do in the services,
not even reading the lessons, and was obliged to
live in some discomfort in the Residence. (fn. 62) After
1919, however, the residentiaries were allowed to
live in houses within the precinct and the Residence
was sold; in 1931 the period of residence was
changed from three months to one. (fn. 63) In 1935 the
college of vicars-choral was dissolved, and new
statutes for the minster were confirmed by the king
in council in 1938. The office of treasurer was then
revived, so that the canons residentiary were from
that time the four majores personae. There were in
1956 three vicars-choral, the senior being subchanter,
another acting as chamberlain, and the third as
headmaster of the Song School; they chanted the
services, but no longer read the lessons. (fn. 64)