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October 6, 2008 |
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Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council |
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by Greg Isaacson |
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Welcome to the city of York, the heart of the northern England for 2,000 years. Within its winding medieval walls (or not far from them), almost every human type will find something to please or intrigue them. Tourists and sightseers will be happy to know that York is exceptionally beautiful, with a rich and spectacular cultural heritage, while shoppers will have fun in the fashionable stores that fill the city streets. The scholastically inclined will appreciate York’s fine university, and those with a hankering for sweets will be pleased to learn that York, home to Nestlé Rowntree, is a hub of the confectionary industry. And everyone will relish this small city’s accessibility and charm, and its fascinating blend of the antiquated and the modern.  © 2006 Greg Isaacson
The origins of York lie in the obscure chaos of prehistory. The great medieval historian Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that modern-day York was founded by a certain Ebraucus, “about the time David ruled in Judea.” Ebraucus was said to have descended from Priam, king of Troy during the Trojan War, as was Romulus, founder of Rome; thus York and Rome were thought to be sister cities. But this is all pure myth. When civilization first reached York, in the form of the Roman Empire, present-day York, and in fact all northern Britain, was dominated by a Celtic tribe called the Brigantes, of which little is known today.  © 2006 Greg Isaacson
The Brigantes were subdued, in the 70’s CE, by the Roman general and governor of Britain, Quintus Petillius Cerialis. The Romans had invaded Britain under Claudius in 43 CE, and they continued to rule the island, against savage resistance by the local tribes, under the degenerate emperor Nero, finally consolidating their control under the competent Vespasian, who had proven his mettle crushing the Jewish revolt in Judea. It was under him that Petillius Cerialis, commanding the Ninth Hispanic Legion, moved into York and established a permanent military base there, in 71 CE. Owing to the continued restlessness of the northern tribes, York became the most important Roman military town in Britain.  © 2006 Greg Isaacson
In time, the Roman legions left York, and Britain. The Roman Empire dissolved, but the influence of Rome, after a millennium and a half, is still palpable in this ancient city. It lives on, for example, in the form of a lone column that once upheld the headquarters building of the Roman Sixth Legion, and now stands near the York Minster, the city’s cathedral. Another remnant of the empire sits in the cellar of the Roman Bath pub, where visitors may see the remains of a caladrium, or steam bath, where Roman soldiers relaxed during off-duty hours, perhaps on their way to go slaughter some Scottish tribe. Roman tombs, coffins, urns, and ornaments have been discovered throughout the city.  © 2006 Greg Isaacson
More astounding, though, than the scattered remnants of Roman rule, are the great structures that hail from the medieval period – after the departure of the legions and the successive invasions and conquests of the Anglo-Saxons, the Danish Vikings (led by the osteologically impaired Ivar the Boneless), and the Normans, who came to York in 1069. William the Conqueror built two wooden castles in York, of which nothing remains but a piece of a replacement castle put up by Henry III in the thirteenth century: Clifford’s Tower, sitting starkly atop a grassy mound in the city center. This fragment of a strange, distant, warlike era still inspires a little dread, though it rises apparently serene above modern city streets and parking lots. It looks almost ready to start raining arrows upon startled pedestrians from its decrepit turrets, as if the spirits of the fierce medieval Englishmen might return from their millennial slumber to reclaim possession of their ruined fortress. But if any spirits haunt Clifford’s Tower, they are more likely to belong to the 150 Jews who were massacred there (or induced to commit suicide) by a zealous mob in 1190.  © 2006 Greg Isaacson
Girdling the city center is a splendid wall built in the 13th and 14th centuries, punctuated by three gateways known as “bars,” which permit the passage of cars and buses through their narrow arches. But by far the most spectacular medieval inheritance is the York Minster, the largest Gothic church north of the Alps, towering over the city as it has for eight centuries. Construction on the monumental church began in 1220 and continued for two and a half centuries, until 1472. The stately magnificence of the cathedral is perhaps best experienced by surprise, when the pedestrian walking on a narrow street, preoccupied by the sights and sounds of the little shops and cars immediately around him, looks up casually and glimpses the mighty edifice looming startlingly large over the nearby buildings, as if reared by a race of giants. The interior of the Minster, with its lofty nave and stupendous arches, presents a spectacle even more imposing and palatial, testimony to the huge pride and ambition of the warrior prelates of York.  © 2006 Greg Isaacson
Outside the cathedral may be found a modern statue, impressive in its own right, of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, who fist legalized Christianity in the empire. And that is an appropriate place to leave off this very brief glance at the cultural treasures of York, which stretch back to Roman times and always bear the influence of Roman history and traditions – an influence that is still deeply felt in modern civilization, but especially so in the city of York, which, despite its modern sophistication and flair, is diffused with the tangible remains of empires and peoples past.
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