Life in a Mediæval City | Page 9

since it was restored
recently to be the home of the Convocation of the Northern Province, it
has returned to the service of the church. The minor-canons, or
vicars-choral, who were employed by the canons as their deputies, also
lived in community. They had their hall, chapel, and other buildings in
an enclosed part called the Bedern not far from the Minster.
As a counterpart to the Minster, in appearance as in use, was the great,
rich Benedictine Abbey of St. Mary, of royal foundation. With a mitred
abbot who sat among the lords spiritual in Parliament, St. Mary's was
perhaps the most important of the northern monasteries. The buildings
were proportionally large and fine. The church, dating mostly from the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was particularly long and had a tall
spire. It was only a little inferior to the Minster in magnificence. On the
south side were the Cloisters, the open-air work-place and recreation
place of the monks, while beyond were the conventual buildings--such
as the calefactory or warming-house, the dormitories, and the refectory
or room where meals were taken. The cloisters were square in plan and
consisted of a central grass plot, along the sides of which there was a

continuous covered walk with unglazed windows facing the central
open space. Benedictine abbeys usually conformed to a common
scheme as regards the planning of the church and the conventual
buildings. The cloisters were only one of the courts or open squares,
which separated groups of conventual buildings. Further, there were
gardens and orchards. Nearer the river there was the Hospitium, or
guest-house, where visitors were lodged. The abbey was within its own
walls, and on one side its grounds extended to the river. The gateway,
comprising gate, lodge, and chapel, was on the north side.
Near the Castle there was an extensive Franciscan Friary. On the other
side of the river there was the priory of the Holy Trinity, the home of
an alien Benedictine order. A Carmelite Friary in Hungate, opposite the
Castle, seems, from the few odd fragments of stone that remain, to have
had fine buildings. The Augustinian Friary was between Lendal and the
river. The Dominican house, which was burnt down in 1455, was on
the site of the old railway station.
The only nunnery in the city was the Benedictine Priory of St. Clement.
There were sisterhoods in St. Leonard's and other hospitals. It should,
however, be noted there were many nunneries in the districts round
York.
Some of the religious institutions were called Hospitals. The care of the
sick was only one of the functions of this type of religious house. Such
was the large and famous St. Leonard's Hospital, a royal institution that
was not under the control of a bishop. The beautiful ruins of St.
Leonard's, which adjoined St. Mary's Abbey, prove how well this
hospital had been built. These hospitals, of which there were fifteen in
York, were in close touch with the people. While St. Mary's, for
instance, was one of the great abbeys, where the monks, by the time
when the fifteenth century was advanced, were living luxuriously,
easily, and generally unproductively, the religious of the hospitals and
lesser houses, were still engaged in feeding the poor, tending the sick,
and educating the children of the people.
Each of these religious institutions, whether monastery or hospital, was
within its own grounds, bounded by its own walls. Altogether they

occupied a large part of the total area of the mediæval city which their
buildings adorned, and of which they were so characteristic a feature:
St. Mary's Abbey, which with its buildings and grounds covered a large
area, was actually outside the city proper, but it was immediately
adjoining it. There were nearly sixty monasteries, priories, hospitals,
maisons-dieu, and chapels. The maisons-dieu, of which there were
sixteen, were smaller hospitals. They combined generally the duties of
almshouse and chantry.
Parish Churches, which were the centres of the religious life of the
laity, were everywhere. In the fifteenth century there were forty-five
churches and ten chapels, so that there was always a place in church for
every citizen.
A church was always in use. Besides the regular public services which
took place frequently during the day, and the special services for
festivals, there were services in chantries. Both the high altar in the
chancel and altars in other parts of a church were used. Several altars
were necessary because the number of masses, for the celebration of
which money was liberally bequeathed, was very large. The parish
church was used for other than purely religious purposes. It was the
central meeting-place of the parish, and might be described as the seat
of parochial government. Meetings were held in the Nave. Parts of the
church were used as schools. The parish church