Worship in the Minster

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. 100) Psalms were sung from two service books purchased in 1573 which included 'Genevaie's Psalms'. (fn. 101) 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. 102) Another encouragement to congregational worship was the saying of matins early in the morning in the nave. (fn. 103)

Both Henry VIII (fn. 104) and Edward VI (fn. 105) 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. 106) In Drake's time the preaching-table was hung over the stall of the preaching dignitary of the day. (fn. 107) 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. 108) 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. 109) 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. 110)

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. 111) 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. 112) 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. 113)

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. 114) 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. 115) 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. 116) It was an impressive instrument, built by Robert Dallam. (fn. 117) 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. 118) 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. 119)

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. 120) The city presented a canopy, a cloth of gold, and two gilt crowns to the minster in the king's honour. (fn. 121) 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. 122) 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. 123) 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. 124) In 1684 the mayor was relegated from the archdeacon's seat to a vacant stall on the south side of the choir. (fn. 125)

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. 126) 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. 127)

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. 128) 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. 129) 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. 130)

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. 131)

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. 132) 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. 133)

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. 134) For a time, also, other musical instruments were used, as they had been in the past: (fn. 135) 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. 136)

A brass eagle lectern was presented to the minster in 1686. In 1690 a donor gave a crimson velvet altar cloth: (fn. 137) both Celia Fiennes (fn. 138) and Torre (fn. 139) 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. 140) In the late 17th century some of the medieval hangings for the choir still survived, together with one cope in the vestry (fn. 141) which was seen by Gent in the early 18th century. (fn. 142) 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. 143)

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. 144) It seems that before 1617, when Dean Meriton ordered a monthly celebration, there was Holy Communion only on the great festivals. (fn. 145) 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. 146)

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. 147) There was a continual temptation for young and old to use the minster as a place of recreation, (fn. 148) 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. 149) 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. 150) 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. 151) 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. 152) 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. 153) 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. 154) 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. 155)

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. 156) 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. 157)

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. 158) 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. 159) 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. 160) 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. 161) Archbishop Markham (1777-1807) gave new velvet coverings for the high altar, pulpit, and archbishops throne. (fn. 162)

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. 163)

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. 164) 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. 165) 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. 166) The form of what may be called the 'cathedral anthem' had become established by the middle of the 18th century; (fn. 167) 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. 168) 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. 169)

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. 170) 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. 171)

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. 172) 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. 173)

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. 174) 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. 175) 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. 176) 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. 177) 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. 178) 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. 179)

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. 180) The ladies' pews were not rebuilt, and the pulpit was placed several feet farther away from the altar. (fn. 181) The altar was enclosed on three sides by stone rails also designed by Smirke. (fn. 182) 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. 183) After the restoration of the building, the whole interior was cleaned and the lime and ochre wash removed. (fn. 184)

The choir was reopened on 6 May 1832; (fn. 185) during its rebuilding, the daily services had been sung in St. Michael-le-Belfrey. (fn. 186) 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. 187) A metrical psalm was still sung before the sermon and another before the ante-communion. (fn. 188) The Nicene Creed was said and not sung, this having been so since the appointment as precentor in 1762 of William Mason. (fn. 189) 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. 190) 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. 191)

Change and reform, however, were imminent. By the provisions of the Cathedrals Act of 1840 the prebends were disendowed; (fn. 192) 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. 193) 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. 194)

In 1854 the Sunday services were matins at 10.30 a.m. (fn. 195) 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. 196) 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. 197)

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. 198) 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. 199) John Camidge, whose duties had been performed since 1848 by his son, Thomas Simpson Camidge, died in 1859, (fn. 200) 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. 201)

Monk took a special interest in Anglican chanting, being associated with Ouseley in producing The Psalter and Canticles pointed for Chanting; (fn. 202) 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. 203) 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. 204)

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. 205) 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. 206) 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. 207) 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. 208)

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. 209) 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. 210)

Duncombe especially sought to raise the dignity and frequency of celebrations of the Holy Communion. He obtained additional altar coverings (fn. 211) and frontals; (fn. 212) 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. 213) In 1876 a velvet hanging over the altar was replaced by a reredos which was embellished in 1879 and 1897. (fn. 214) 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. 215)

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. 216) 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. 217) 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. 218) Confirmation services were also improved in dignity and reverence. (fn. 219)

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. 220) 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. 221) Evening prayer was first held in the nave on Sunday afternoons in Advent 1863; (fn. 222) 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. 223) 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. 224) 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. 225)

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. 226) and replaced by gas burners in 1824. (fn. 227) Greatly improved gas-lighting was introduced into the choir in 1861 (fn. 228) and extended to the nave in 1863. (fn. 229) 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. 230)

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. 231) This was superseded in 1861 by large Gurney stoves, and in 1928 these were replaced by central heating. (fn. 232)

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. 233) 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. 234) 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. 235) 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. 236) 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. 237) To popularize the services, PureyCust had the scheme of music for the week printed from 1881; (fn. 238) and he began two special annual services: a harvest festival service in the nave in 1881, and Military Sunday in 1885. (fn. 239)

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. 240) 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. 241)

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. 242) 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. 243) 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. 244)

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. 245) 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. 246)

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. 247) 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. 248) 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. 249)

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. 250) 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. 251) 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. 252)

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. 253)

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. 254) 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. 255) 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. 256) 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. 257)

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. 258)

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. 259)

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. 260) 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. 261) 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. 262)