Since the reign of James II., and the last serious attempt to establish the Roman Catholic religion in the country, the history of both the city and the see of York has been uneventful. The city itself has declined in importance, and is now hardly even one of the larger towns in Yorkshire. It is known and visited chiefly for its historic interest and its minster. The see has experienced only peaceful changes, and its archbishops are concerned more with questions of Church discipline than with politics. The minster has suffered two serious fires, and a restoration, carried out on the whole moderately and judiciously.
CHAPTER II
HISTORY OF THE BUILDING
The architectural history of the minster is somewhat vague and uncertain, and has been the subject of several disputes. It will be as well, perhaps, before entering into details, to give a table of approximate dates, both of the different parts of the minster as it now stands and of the buildings which preceded it. These dates are mostly sanctioned by the authority of Professor Willis.
| Edwin's Wooden Chapel | 627 | A.D. | |
| Edwin's Minster | begun | (circ.) 628 | |
| " | finished by Oswald | (circ.) 635 | |
| " | repaired by Wilfrid | (circ.) 699 | |
| " | burnt down (?) | 741 | |
| Albert rebuilds Minster (?) | 767-780 | ||
| Minster wholly or partially burnt | 1069 | ||
| Nave, Transepts, and perhaps Choir, built by Thomas | (circ.) 1080 | ||
| Choir and Crypt rebuilt by Roger | 1154-1181 | ||
| Present | South Transept built | 1230-1241 | (circ.) |
| " | North Transept built | 1241-1260 | |
| " | Nave built | 1291-1324 | |
| " | Chapter-House built | 1320 | (?) |
| " | West Front of Nave built | 1338 | |
| Vault of Nave built | (circ.) 1354 | ||
| Presbytery (or eastern part of Choir) built | 1361-1370 | (circ.) | |
| Choir (west of High Altar) built | 1380-1400 | (circ.) | |
| Central Tower built | 1400-1423 | (circ.) | |
| South-West Bell Tower built | 1433-1447 | ||
| North-West Bell Tower built | 1470-1474 | ||
| Choir injured by fire | 1829 | ||
| Choir repaired | (circ.) 1832 | ||
| Nave injured by fire | 1840 | ||
| Nave repaired | 1841 | ||
| South Transept restored | 1875 | ||
It will be seen that it is doubtful whether the fire of 741 and the rebuilding of 767-780 mentioned by historians refer to the minster at all. The fact that a wooden chapel was erected for the baptism of Edwin in 627 seems to show that no Christian church had remained at York from Roman days, as at Canterbury; this chapel, therefore, is the first Christian building in York of which we have any definite record. The church of stone with which it was immediately replaced was finished by Oswald, after the death of Edwin in battle; whose head was carried thither and placed in the Chapel of St. Gregory. It has been supposed that there are remains of this original stone church in the crypt.
In sixty years Edwin's church had fallen into great disrepair. It was restored by Archbishop Wilfrid about 669. The following account of the dilapidated condition of the building as he found it is taken from a versified life of Wilfrid, ascribed to Frithegode, a monk of the tenth century:—