The Topography of Altars, Chantries and Shrines in York Minster

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

E-ISSN: 1758-5309|64|2|337-350

ISSN: 0003-5815

Source: Antiquaries Journal, Vol.64, Iss.2, 1984-09, pp. : 337-350

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Abstract

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