York

Richard III’s associations with the city of York and the north both as Duke of Gloucester and king were extensive and mutually advantageous. During his many years based in the north of England Richard did a great deal for the benefit of York and its residents and always showed respect for the city’s liberties. For example he gave active support in their efforts to have illegal fish garths removed; these were weirs which restricted the flow of the water and thus the amount of fish available to the common people. He also actively urged Edward IV not to remove the city’s Charter of Liberties in 1476. For a full account of Richard’s relationship with the north, click here.

When the king was defeated and killed at the Battle of Bosworth, the York authorities had no hesitation in recording in their records that ‘King Richard, late mercifully reigning over us,…was most piteously slain and murdered to the great heaviness of this city.’ Brave and sincere words in the early days of the new Tudor regime.

As Duke of Gloucester, Richard, when visiting York, would stay at the Augustinian Friary on Lendal. The Friars had moved to the city by 1272, and lasted there until the Dissolution in 1538. In Richard’s time the friary would have stretched along Lendal from approximately where the Post Office is to Museum Street. It occupied the land between Lendal and the river, and is likely to have had more than one entrance. The alleys that today lead off Lendal in the direction of the river may well be the remains of these. Part of the site is now occupied by a restaurant called Zizi; its lower floors may contain fragments of the friary’s original cellar.

There are a number of extant buildings and sites within the city which would have been known to Richard III. The principal ones are listed below together with links to sources of further information.

Details of a walking tour focussing on a number of these buildings and sites can be found here.

The City Walls

York is England’s best preserved medieval city, indeed the fifteenth century street patterns that Richard III would have known still exist in the city’s historic centre. Its walls run for 2.5 miles and originally enclosed both the city and its castle. Beneath the medieval stonework are the remains of earlier walls dating back to Roman York or Eboracum as it was then known. These survived until the ninth century when the Vikings invaded and named the city Jorvik. They buried the Roman walls under earth banks topped with a palisade. These were replaced in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries with the stone walls we see today. Attempts in the nineteenth century to have them demolished met with strong opposition, and unlike many other cities most of York’s walls survive and are now a Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade I listed. For more information about the walls visit www.yorkwalls.org.uk

The Bars

The medieval city walls originally included 4 main gates or ‘bars’: Bootham Bar, Monk Bar, Walmgate Bar and Micklegate Bar. The two of particular interest to Ricardians are:

Micklegate Bar was first documented during the reign of Henry II in the twelfth century. Two of the shields on the outer wall depict the arms of the City of York and a third bears the royal arms. All date to c.1370-75 and are likely to be the earliest surviving examples of the city’s arms. The three statues set on top of the bar are modern replacements of earlier statues. The bar is the southern entry into the city and for centuries the severed heads of rebels and traitors were displayed above the gate, including Sir Henry Percy (Harry Hotspur) in 1403 and Richard, Duke of York in 1460.

It was through Micklegate Bar that King Richard on his post-coronation progress entered the city on 29th August 1483. At the bar, Richard would have been greeted by the Mayor and the city’s leading figures, and possibly also a pageant.

Monk Bar dates from the early fourteenth century and is the largest and most ornate of the bars. It was constructed in several stages, with the top storey added in 1484 during the reign of Richard III. For many years the Richard III Museum run by Mike Bennett occupied parts of the bar. This has now been replaced with the Richard III Experience, which explores the king’s history and his legacy in the city. (The Richard III Experience is currently closed. It is hoped it will reopen in due course).

St Mary's Abbey

St Mary’s Abbey was founded in 1088 and its ruins are located in the Yorkshire Museum Gardens. The abbey was once one of the wealthiest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England. Following the Dissolution of the monks of St Mary’s were pensioned off and the abbey buildings were converted into a palace for the king when he visited York. Eventually most fell into ruins and were used as agricultural buildings before being excavated by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in the 1820s.

One part of the abbey that survives relatively intact is St Mary’s Lodge, built around 1470 as an addition to the late twelfth century buildings that formed the gatehouse at the main entrance to the abbey. The lodge now forms the Marygate entrance to the Museum Gardens. Another building that survives is the Hospitium, a timber and stone structure; the ground floor is medieval and would have served as a guest house or barn for the monastery.

For more information go to www.yorkmuseumgardens.org.uk/about/st-marys-abbey

The King's Manor

The King’s Manor was originally built in the thirteenth century to house the abbots of St Mary’s Abbey; however the earliest remains date from the fifteenth century. When the abbey was dissolved in 1539 it became the seat of the Council of the North until 1641 when the council was abolished. It is now a Grade I listed building and is home to the Archaeology, Medieval Studies and Eighteenth century studies departments of the University of York.

For more information go to www.york.ac.uk/about/campus/landmarks/kings-manor

St Leonard's Hospital

St Leonard’s Hospital was one of the largest medieval hospitals in England and was run by the Augustinian order. The remains of the hospital’s undercroft can be found next to the York Central Library and can be accessed from the Museum Gardens. For more information go to www.yorkmuseumgardens.org.uk/about/st-leonards-hospital

Clifford's Tower

Clifford’s Tower and its mound are iconic landmarks in the city and are Norman in origin. The original timber structure was constructed by William the Conqueror in 1068 to reinforce his power in the north. The present stone tower was constructed during the reign of Henry III.

For more information go to www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/cliffords-tower-york

The Guildhall or Common Hall

The Guildhall or Common Hall as it was then known was built in 1455 on the site of an earlier hall dating from the thirteenth century. It was for the use of the York Corporation and the Guild of St Christopher and St George; Richard III may well have been entertained there during his three week stay in the city in 1483. The hall was a victim of one of the ‘Baedeker Raids’ during the Second World War when it was badly damaged by bombs in 1942. Restoration took 18 years, and it was re-opened by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother in 1960.

For more information go to www.york.gov.uk

Merchant Adventurers' Hall

Merchant Adventurers’ Hall is located in the centre of York and dates from 1357. There are three main rooms in the Hall: the Great Hall where the medieval merchants first gathered to conduct business and to socialise; the Undercroft which was used as an alms house to help the sick and the poor, and the Chapel offering spiritual care.

For more information go to https://www.merchantshallyork.org/

Merchant Taylors' Hall

Merchant Taylors’ Hall was built in the fourteenth century and received a new red brick cladding in the seventeenth. The Company of Merchant Taylors is one of seven guilds in York and dates back to the thirteenth century.

For more information visit www.merchant-taylors-york.org

Barley Hall

Barley Hall was originally built as a townhouse for Nostell Priory in the fourteenth century and a new wing was added in about 1430. In 1480 it became the home of William Snawsell, Goldsmith, Alderman and Lord Mayor of York, someone who would certainly have been known to Richard III. The hall was bought by York Archaeological Trust and work to restore it began in 1990 and it reopened to the public in 1993.

Members of the Society receive a discount on the entry price on production of a valid membership card.

For more information go to www.barleyhall.co.uk

Bedern Hall

Bedern Hall was originally part of the College of the Vicars Choral and was the refectory (or dining hall) for the college from the 1390s until the mid seventeenth century.

For more information go to www.bedernhall.co.uk

The Shambles

The Shambles is one of the best preserved medieval streets in the world and can be found in the heart of the many twisting and narrow lanes which remain from medieval York. Many of the buildings on the street today date back to the late fourteenth and fifteenth century.

There are a number of museums and other heritage centres that will be of interest to Ricardians, in particular the following:

The Yorkshire Museum

The Yorkshire Museum is located in the York Museum Gardens and was opened in 1830 by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. It was one of the first purpose built museums in the country and currently has five galleries showing archaeological treasures, rare animals, birds and fossils.

There are a number of exhibits of particular interest to Ricardians, especially the Middleham Jewel. This was found near Middleham Castle in 1985 and was purchased by the Yorkshire Museum in 1991 following a national appeal for funds. The Richard III Society and many of its members donated to the appeal. The jewel dates from the third quarter of the fifteenth century and is likely to have belonged to a lady of high social standing. Possible owners include Anne Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick, Richard III’s mother in law, Cecily Neville, Richard III’s mother, and Anne Neville, his wife, since they all spent time at Middleham. Other items of jewellery in the museum’s collection found in the vicinity of the Middleham area include a copper alloy boar badge which could have been a gift to a retainer of Richard III, and the Middleham Ring.

In 2015, to commemorate Richard III’s reinterment, the museum held an exhibition Richard III Rumour and Reality and created this associated website www.richardiii-ipup.org.uk

The Tempest Anderson Hall

The Tempest Anderson Hall is attached to the Yorkshire Museum. The Society’s founder Dr Saxon Barton, gave a lecture here in 1934. For the story behind this lecture, you can read The Bulletin article.

For more information about the Yorkshire Museum go to www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk

Dig Centre

Dig Centre is a hands on archaeological adventure focussing on children. It has four special indoor excavation pits, based on real digs in the city and filled with replica Roman, Viking, Medieval and Victorian finds.

For more information go to www.digyork.com

Jorvik Viking Centre

Between the years 1976-81 archaeologists from York Archaeological Trust revealed the Viking city of Jorvik as it stood nearly 1,000 years ago. The centre is built on the very site of the excavations and it recreates the experience of life in Viking York.

For more information go to www.jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk

York Minster and the city's medieval churches

In addition to the magnificent York Minster, the city had around forty parish churches in the fifteenth century. Twenty survive, in whole or in part, a number exceeded in England only by Norwich. Twenty are still used for worship, two in particular to note:

All Saints Church in North Street was founded in the eleventh century, but most of the present building is fourteenth and fifteenth century. It has a fifteenth century hammerbeam roof and is noted for the most extensive collection of medieval glass in York. The glass dates mostly from the early fourteenth century, and includes the famous ‘Prick of Conscience’ window.

For more information go towww.allsaints-northstreet.org.uk

Holy Trinity Micklegate was originally part of Micklegate Priory, a Benedictine foundation founded in 1089 and dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The church building dates from the twelfth century with additions in the thirteenth and fourteenth, its tower was built in 1453.

The guild of Corpus Christi was one of the most important guilds of later medieval York. It placed considerable emphasis on practising charity and its shrine was in Holy Trinity until 1431 when it was removed to the civic chapel of St William on Ouse Bridge at the end of Micklegate. Richard, Duke of Gloucester and Anne Neville became members of the guild in 1477.

For more information go to www.holytrinityyork.org

A leaflet with further details about the medieval churches of York can be downloaded from http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/tpl/uploads/1Church.pdf

York Minster is also known as St Peter’s, its full name being the ‘Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York’, and is one of the finest gothic buildings in Europe. Its site has always been an important one for the city; indeed the remains of the Basilica, the ceremonial centre of the Roman fortress, have been found beneath it. The first Christian church on the site has been dated to around 627 with the first Archbishop of York, appointed in 732. The present Gothic style cathedral was built between 1220 and 1472.

The first recorded visit of Richard, Duke of Gloucester to the Minster was in 1465 when he witnessed the investiture of George Neville as Archbishop of York. As king he created one of the largest colleges in Europe within the Cathedral with no fewer than one hundred priests to pray for the souls of the king and the royal family. Documentary evidence shows that by March 1485 the college was fully endowed and the chantry priests had begun their daily round of prayers and masses on behalf of their royal founder and his family. A collegiate building to house the chaplains was begun during his reign, but work ceased following his defeat at Bosworth. The college was to be dedicated to the worship of God, the Virgin Mary, Saint George and Saint Ninian, saints favoured by the king. This may indicate that the king planned at this point in his life to be buried in the Minster. There is also the possibility that Edward of Middleham is buried there given that the tomb in Sheriff Hutton is certainly not that of the prince.

There are a number of buildings associated with York Minster that have medieval origins. St William’s College was built in 1465 for the Minster’s Chantry Priests, this Grade I listed building is named after William Fitzherbert, Archbishop of York (1143-1147), who was canonised in 1226. It is a fine example of a medieval timber-framed building.

For more information go to www.jorvik.co.uk/st-williams-college

The Archbishop’s Palace lay to the north of the Minster and comprised an open court surrounded by buildings; however by 1600 it had fallen into disuse. This area today is located at the back of the Dean’s Park where some of the remains of the palace can be found. These include six bays of a late twelfth century blind arcade, known as the ‘Cloister’ which now serves as a war memorial and there is also an L-shaped block which housed the thirteenth century bishop’s chapel and this is now the Minster Library.

During his 1483 visit to York, Richard III stayed at the Archbishop’s Palace and would have used the Bishop’s chapel for his private prayers. The highlight of this visit was the investiture of his son, Edward of Middleham, as Prince of Wales and this ceremony took place at the Archbishop’s Palace during the evening of 8th September 1483. Here is a contemporary account:

‘On the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the King and the Queen both crowned, went in procession to the aforesaid church, the Prince and all other Lords, both spiritual and temporal being in attendance. The Bishop of Durham was the officiating prelate, and the High Altar was ornamented with silver and gilt figures of the twelve Apostles and many other relics given by the Lord King. These remained there until the sixth hour. After Mass they all returned to the Palace, and there before dinner, he (i.e. Edward) was created Prince by the Lord King, in the presence of all. And so they sat, crowned, for four hours. there being present the Dean, Robert Booth, the Canons, that is Treasurer Portyngton, Archdeacon Poteman of York and the Sub-Dean, and four other prebendaries, ten parsons and twelve Vicars with other ministers of the church.’ (From the York Minster Library, Vicars Choral Statute Book, p. 48, transcript in P.W. Hammond and A.F. Sutton, Richard III: The Road to Bosworth Field (London, 1985) pp. 140-41.)

For more information about York Minster go to www.yorkminster.org

In 1966 the Richard III Society presented a gift to York Minster – The York Vellum – in the form of a hand lettered inscribed vellum, with illuminated coats of arms, of contemporary accounts of Richard III’s 1483 coronation year visit to the city. The vellum was for display in the Minster’s Chapter House, where it was presented to the then Dean of York, Alan Robinson, by Society Chairman Patrick Bacon on 9 July 1966. The art work was carried out by the York School of Art, Joan Dodds undertook the lettering and Lilian Sloane the illumination. The text of the vellum provides a vivid description of the preparations for King Richard’s visit to the city in August and September 1483 and the events that took place during it, including the investiture of Edward of Middleham as Prince of Wales. Richard spent three weeks in the city, a stay which was filled with festivity, including welcoming speeches, pageants, gift giving and feasting. The city had been warned of the royal visit a little over a month earlier but received detailed instructions of the scale and style of display expected just a few days before Richard’s arrival. The York Vellum is not currently on public display.

The vellum also illustrates the close and positive relationship that King Richard enjoyed with the city, and its regard for him. Its text reads as follows:

‘RICHARD PLANTAGENET a good friend to the Minster and city of York, during the years 1472-83 when, as Duke of Gloucester, he served his brother King Edward IV, as governor of the northern parts of the Kingdom, and after, as King Richard III from 1483 – 1485. When he fell at Bosworth Field on 22nd August 1485, the Council recorded that he had been “piteously slain and murdered to the great heaviness of this City”. In August 1483, King Richard came to York with his Queen, in the course of the triumphal progress which followed their coronation During their stay in the City, some of the ceremonies associated with it took place in this Chapter House.’

The following extracts from contemporary and near-contemporary records describe this occasion.

Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council of the City of York. Fourth August, first year of King Richard III:

‘At the which day it was agreed that my lord the Mayor, and all my masters his brethren, the aldermen in scarlet, and all my masters of the twenty four, and the Chamberlains, and also all those that have bought out their charges of all offices in this City, shall, in red gowns, on horseback, meet our most dread liege lord the King at Breckles Mills, and over this, the Bridgemasters and all other persons, of every occupation, in blue velvet and muster devers, shall meet on foot our said sovereign lord at St James’s Church…’

John Kendal, Secretary to King Richard, to the Mayor and Council 23rd August 1483:

‘…I verily know the King’s mind, and entire affection that His Grace beareth towards you, and your worshipful City, for manifold your kind and loving designs to His Grace showed heretofore, which His Grave will never forget and intendeth therefore so to do unto you that all the Kings that ever reigned did never so much…’

Minutes of the Council of the City of York, 28th August 1483:

‘At the which day it was agreed that our sovereign the King shall be presented at his coming with 100 marks in a pair of basins of silver gilt, or in a cup of gold, or in a gilt piece, and that our sovereign Lady the Queen presented with a hundred pounds of gold in a piece…’

2nd September 1483:

‘At which day it was agreed that the Creed play shall be played before our sovereign lord the King on Sunday next coming, upon the cost of the most honest men of every parish in this City.’

Hall’s Chronicle, 15:

‘He came to the city of York, where the citizens received him with pomp and triumph, according to the qualities of their education and quantity of their substance and ability, and made, divers days, plays and pageants in token of joy and solace. Wherefore King Richard magnified and applauded of the North nation, and also to show himself…before them in habit royal with sceptre in hand and diadem on head, made proclamation that all persons should resort to York on the day of the Ascension of Our Lord, where all men should behold and see him and his Queen and Prince in their high estates and degrees, and also for their good wills should receive many thanks, large benefits and munificent rewards At the day appointed the whole clergy assembled in copes richly revested, and so with a reverent ceremony went about the City in procession after whom followed the King with his crown and sceptre, appareilled in his surcoat robe royal, accompanied with no small number of the nobility of his realm; after whom marched in order Queen Anne his wife, likewise crowned, leading on her left hand Prince Edward her son, having on his head a demi crown appointed for the degree of a Prince. The King was had in that triumph in such honour, and the common people of the North so rejoiced that they extoiled and praised him far above the stars…’

The Reception of King Richard III, Queen Anne and Prince Edward at York:

‘It is to be remembered that on the 29th August, the Festival of the beheading of St John the Baptist, 1483, Richard III, King of England and France, came to the City of York, accompanied by the Queen (Anne) and Prince (Edward) and by many other Lords, both spiritual and temporal, namely the five Bishops of Durham, Worcester, St Asaph, Carlisle and St David’s, the Earls of Northumberland, Surrey and Lincoln, the Lords Lovell, Fitzhugh, Stanley, Strange, Lisle and Greystoke, and many others.

He was solemnly received by a civic procession at the Chapel of St James outside the walls and he entered the City honourably, passing between various sights and decorations in the City to the Metropolitan Church of St Peter, and there at the west door he was honourably received by a procession of the Very Reverend the Dean and Chapter and all the Ministers of the said Church, dressed in copes of blue; he was sprinkled with holy water and incense, at an ornate prayer stool by the font he said the “Our Father”, and the Subchanter of the Vicars began the Response to the Trinity, “Honor, virtue”, and it was finished by the Choir before the step of the High Altar, and at that point there was a pause about as long as an “Our Father” and a “Hail Mary”, then the Dean began the prayers, namely, “And lead us not” for the King, and this done the Dean and Canons with the Ministers retired to their stalls while the Amen was finished with the organs and then the Psalm “We praise Thee, O God” was begun by the Prelate acting as celebrant of the Mass and finished by the Choir and organs, and immediately the Subchanter began the Antiphon to the Trinity, namely, “Thanks be to Thee, O God” with the Versicle and the Collect to the Trinity. And so he went in procession to the Palace of the Lord Archbishop, And on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mary next (September 8th) the King and Queen, wearing their crowns, came to a procession in the said Church, attended by the Prince and all the Lordsm both spiritual and temporal, and the Bishop of Durham celebrated Mass at the High Altar, which was decorated with figures of the Twelve Apostles of silver gilt and with many other relics given by the Lord King, which stood there until the sixth hour in the evening. And after Mass all returned to the Palace, and there in the Hall before the whole company Prince (Edward) was created (Prince of Wales) by the Lord King before dinner and so they sat at dinner for four hours wearing their crowns, and there were the Dean, Robert Booth, and of the Canons, Treasurer Portington, Archdeacon Poteman of York (or rather Cleveland), the Subdean, and four other Prebendaries, ten Chantry Priests, twelve Vicars Choral, together with other Ministers of the Church.’

Grant of King Richard III to the City of York and its Mayor, AD 1483:

‘Made that the 17th day of the month of September…our…sovereign lord the King of his most special good grace remembering the good service that this City had done to his good Grace, called before his good Grace the said day into the CHAPTER HOUSE OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF SAINT PETER AT YORK the Mayor, his brethren the aldermen and many other of the Commons of the said City and then and there our said sovereign Lord openly rehearsed the said service to his good Grace done and also the decay and great poverty of the said city, of his most special good grace, without any petition or asking of anything by the said Mayor, or of any other, our said sovereign lord, only of his most abundant grace most graciously and abundantly gave, in relief of the said city, in easing of the tolls, murage, butcher pennies and skaitgild of the said City yearly for ever £58 1Is.2d…so that from then forward it should be lawful to every person freely to come to the said city with their goods and chattels and them freely to sell in the same without anything going or paying for toll or murage of any of the said goods; and over that most graciously granted to the Mayor and Commonality of the said city yearly £11 for ever…’

Extract from a Minster Inventory:

‘Item, a Cross standing on six bases, having six angels on the pinnacles of the said bases, and two angels on the bases holding in their hands the reliques of the chasuble or vestment and shoes of St Peter the Apostle; having white images of crucifix and of the Two Thieves, with other images by the foot, and many precious stones, rubies and sapphires. The gift of King Richard III.’