Life in a Mediæval City | Page 8

present form in the fifteenth century. At one time the Nave was
rebuilt: at the same time there was built, near but separate from the
main building, the Chapter House, a magnificent octagonal parliament
house of one immense chamber: later the Chapter House was connected
with the main building by the Vestibule. Then the Choir was replaced
by a larger and finer building in the then latest architectural fashion.
The new choir contained the east window, which in the eyes of
contemporaries was wonderful and unrivalled for its size and painted
glass. It occupies nearly all the central space of the east wall from a few
feet above the ground to almost the apex of the gable. Gothic
architecture was so marvellously adaptable that all these parts, built at
widely different times, at various and strongly-contrasted stages of the
development of this English mediæval architecture, together make a
single building that appears to possess the most felicitous unity of
general design and a perfectly wonderful diversity of sectional design,
for every part is in complete sympathy with the scheme as a whole.
To the east of the Central Tower is the Choir, which was kept
exclusively for the services; to the west, the Nave, the popular part. The

entrance to the Choir from the west is made through the stone screen of
Kings, which, with the lofty organ which rests on it, prevents people in
the Nave from getting anything more than a glimpse of what is taking
place in the Choir. Over the western ends of the Nave aisles are the
twin west towers, which contain the bells. The high altar and reredos
stood in the middle of the Choir between the two choir transepts, the
huge windows of which present in picture the life stories of St.
Cuthbert and St. William respectively. The Lady Chapel, the part of the
choir to the east of the reredos, was very important in pre-Reformation
days when the cult of the Virgin was very popular. To the north and
south of the Central Tower are the Transepts. From the North Transept
the Vestibule leads to the Chapter House. The church is, therefore, of
the shape of a cross (the centre of which is marked by the Central
Tower) with an octagonal building standing near and connected with
the northern arm.
The furniture was of wood and elaborately carved. In the Choir were
the fixed stalls with towering canopies, and other seats, which were
ranged along the north and south sides and at the west end. Chapels
were marked off by wooden screens, often of elaborate tracery.
The cost of erecting this huge and splendid church must have been
enormous. The Minster contained the shrine of St. William of York,
which, like those of St. Cuthbert at Durham and St. Thomas at
Canterbury of European fame, attracted streams of pilgrims, whose
donations helped the funds of erection and maintenance. This was an
established means of raising funds for church purposes. There was, also,
the money from penances and indulgences. The Archbishops were
keenly interested in their cathedral church. Citizens gave and
bequeathed sums of money to the Minster funds. In addition, the
Minster authorities received gifts from wealthy nobles of the north of
England. The house of Vavasour, for instance, supplied stone; that of
Percy gave wood to be used in building the great metropolitical church.
If the money cost was enormous, the completed building, for design,
engineering, and decorative work--in stone, wood, cloth, stained
glass--was far beyond monetary value.

The Nave, the part open to the public, was used for processions; some
started from the great west door, entrance through which was a rare
privilege granted only to the highest. The Choir was the scene of the
daily services of the seven offices of the day. All around, in the aisles
and transepts, were altars in side-chapels, chantry-chapels,[8] where
throughout the early part of the day priests were saying masses for the
souls of the departed. There were thirty chantries in the Minster.
The Minster has from its foundation been a cathedral. The Chapter of
canons with the Dean at their head has always been its Governing Body.
As a church it was served by prebendaries or canons, who had definite
periods of duty annually, and two residential bodies of priests, of whom
some, the chantry priests, lived at St. William's College. This College
was erected shortly after the middle of the fifteenth century: on the site
there had been Salton House, the prebendal residence of the Prior of
Hexham, who was canon of Salton. This picturesque building of stone,
wood, half-timber work, and tiled roofs is a little to the east of the
Minster. It consists of a series of rooms ranged round a central
courtyard. It is of much historical interest, and