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The Misericords and history of York Minster,.

York Minster has two 15th Century misericords, and one 19th century copy

Corpus of misericords

Please click on the thumbnail misericords for larger images.

History of York Minster, Yorkshire.

The first wooden church was built close to the site of the current minster in 627 AD for the christening of King Edwin of Northumbria, after his christening,  Edwin  ordered that a stone church should be built, however, this was not complete at the time of his death in 633, so Oswald, his successor supervised its completion in 637.  This church was enlarged several times over the next centuries even surviving the Viking occupation, until in 1069 it was heavily fire damaged during the Norman pacification of the city. In 1070 the new Norman archbishop ordered repairs to be carried out, but before they were completed, the Vikings attacked again in 1075 and destroyed the church.  

In 1080 a new minster church was started on the current site to replace the old Saxon church.  The church was consecrated around the year 1100.  This 11th century minster was built in the early Norman / Romanesque style.  In 1137 fire damaged the minster, but it did not take long for the damage to be rectified, including remodelling the choir and crypt.  

By the mid 12th century the  early gothic style had come into vogue, so in 1220 building restarted with the addition of the north and south transepts, and a central tower.  The Chapter house was the next part of the construction was the chapter house, completed in the mid 1290’s.  The nave was next to get the gothic treatment with the outer roof being completed in the 1330’s and the vaulting in the 1360’s.   The eastern chapels and the choir were demolished in the 1390’s with reconstruction being completed in 1405.  

The mid 13th century central tower collapsed in 1407, which appears to have been caused by the piers not having been strong enough, so that the rebuilt tower included much stronger piers.  The western towers were built between 1433 and 1472.  The minster was re-consecrated in 1472.  

The English reformation was particularly hard on the cathedral, with much destruction and looting.  The civil war, however, was relatively kind, due mainly to the protection of Thomas Fairfax.  

Fire has been a constant enemy of the cathedral - in 1829 an arson attack heavily damaged the choir - this included the destruction the all but two of the misericords.  Another, accidental,  fire in  1840 destroyed the nave and south aisle and the south-west tower rooves .  Fire again raised its ugly head in 1984 when the south transept was badly damaged - repairs took 4 years.

The Official York Minster website.

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