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MEDIEVAL YORK Gareth Dean (History Press 2008 192pp ISBN 978 0 7524 4116 0) £17.99
If 'the history of York is the history of England', as George VI once declared, it is not surprising that many books and articles have explored the city's buildings, archives and archaeology. On those crowded shelves this book occupies an important niche, integrating unpublished evidence from the excavations of the last 35 years with recent historical studies to provide a detailed picture of the medieval city. Bridges, city walls and gates, castles, parish churches, guildhalls, St Mary's Abbey, and the Minster are all examined. The book spans the centuries from the Norman Conquest to the aftermath of the dissolution of the monasteries in the mid-sixteenth century, helpfully looking back to the Roman, Anglian and Viking city as well as forward to the early modern era to place the medieval period in a broader context. Dean draws on the major excavations at Coppergate, the Jewish cemetery of Jewbury, the Minster, and the Gilbertine monastery in Fishergate, as well as archaeological work elsewhere in the city. He explores the significance of such intriguing finds as a clockmaker's seal found in Petergate, the waste left by the city’s horn-workers, and the chalice and paten buried with a clergyman at the Gilbertine priory.
He encounters instances where the archaeological evidence challenges previous assertions based solely on historical sources. Complaints about rubbish in the streets of York are well-documented, including one grievance by Edward III who apparently detested 'the abominable smell abounding in the said city more than any other in the realm', but archaeology points to a change in rubbish disposal during the fourteenth century -from spreading or heaping refuse in yards, to its removal (and the construction of substantial cesspools that could be emptied more frequently). While some historians have identified urban decay and decline in later medieval York, archaeology indicates the rebuilding of residential and industrial buildings during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Dean suggests that the Civil War was in fact a more significant turning point for the city. That period was marked by the loss of the administrative functions provided by the Council of the North and the Ecclesiastical Commission, and a shift in the city's economy towards trades driven by the needs of gentry, with areas of the former commercial waterfront becoming gardens.
Medieval York is well-illustrated with colour photographs and black and white pictures. There are no footnotes, but the select bibliography is divided by chapter titles. The author works at York Archaeological Trust and draws on its extensive archive for this work. Drawing together archaeological and historical evidence and providing useful comparisons with other medieval cities, this book describes how Viking Jorvik developed into the leading city of northern England.
JOHN S. LEE
reviewed by John S Lee
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