Life in a mediæval city

The original has a number of inconsistent spellings and punctuation. Three corrections have been made for obvious typographical errors; they have been noted individually in the text.

Text in italics in the original is shown between underlines. Superscript (three instances in this book) is marked by a caret (^).

LIFE IN A MEDIÆVAL CITY

Illustrated by York in the XVth Century

by

EDWIN BENSON, B.A.

With Eight Illustrations

London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge New York: The MacMillan Co. 1920

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER II

IMPORTANT FACTORS AFFECTING THE HISTORY OF YORK

(a) Geographical position; (b) Military value of its position; (c) Political importance

CHAPTER III

APPEARANCE

A. General appearance

Church, State, people; outside the city; population; area-divisions

B. Streets

Highways, traffic, open-spaces; Ouse Bridge

C. Buildings

Dwelling-houses, shops, inns; civic buildings (guildhalls); fortifications (castle, city walls, bars); religious buildings (Minster; St. William's College; St. Mary's Abbey; Friaries; St. Clement's Nunnery; Hospitals; Parish Churches)

D. York as a Port

CHAPTER IV

LIFE

A. Civic Life

City government, the parishes; extra municipal rights; a royal city; charter; sheriffs; mayor; city councils; civic spirit; city and trade rule; royal government; punishments; sanctuary

B. Parliamentary and National Life

Leasing of royal power; Parliament; visits of Henry IV.; Wars of Roses; Duke of Gloucester; judges of assize; royal larder

C. Business Life

Middle class of merchant employers; Jews and Italians; professions; wool trade; trade-guilds; their government; strangers; phases of guild life; merchants; apprentices; working hours; trades; artist craftsmen; markets and fairs; overseas trade; money; extracts from ordinances

D. Religious Life

The Church in the Middle Ages; the Church and daily life; merchants and religion; the Church and education; work of hospitals; priests (at Minster; parish churches; Archbishop); pluralism; religious orders; monastic life; St. Mary's Abbey; Anchorites; other types of religious (pardoner, palmer, pilgrim {original had "pligrim"}); Church services

E. Education

Higher education; grammar schools; elementary education; educational welfare work; instruction; the ways in which the citizen got news and information; vocations; literacy in fifteenth century; mediæval learning; Revival of Learning

F. Entertainments

Holidays, travelling; mediæval plays; York plays; Corpus Christi Day Processions; production of pageants; other forms of entertainment; archery

G. Classes

Fashions and dress; nobles; religious; townspeople; women; the freemen; soldiers; men in royal service; lepers; visitors (kings, lords, commoners; judges; sailors) serfs

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

York a city of destruction and a "storehouse of the past"

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

YORK IN THE XVTH CENTURY (From a drawing by E. Ridsdale Tate)

COOKING WITH THE SPIT (From the Louttrell Psalter)

BISHOP AND CANONS (From Richard II.'s "Book of Hours")

KNIGHTS DOING PENANCE AT A SHRINE (From a XVth Century MS.)

ADMINISTRATION OF HOLY COMMUNION WITH HOUSEL CLOTH (From a XIVth Century MS.)

SEMI-CHOIR OF FRANCISCANS (From a XVth Century MS.)

ARCHERY (From the Louttrell Psalter)

AN ABBOT

[Illustration: YORK IN THE XVTH CENTURY FROM A DRAWING BY E. RIDSDALE TATE]

A MEDIÆVAL CITY