This collection of charters, published in 1993, illuminates the ecclesiastical, economic and social history of medieval York.

This second volume of documents from the extensive medieval archive of the vicars choral of York Minster provides an edition of charters from the earlier 13th century onwards relating to the vicars' property in Yorkshire (the first volume having concentrated on their property in the city of York), together with texts describing the process by which four parish churches (one of them in Hampshire) were appropriated to the vicars in the 14th and 15th centuries.The latter documents are especially detailed, and include grants of advowson, archiepiscopal confirmations consequent on inquiries (with witnesses testifying on the vicars' poverty in 1332 following the disruption caused by Scottish invasions and in 1351 after the Black Death), descriptions of the manner in which the churches were physically handed over, and ordinations of vicarages.Drawing also on the vicars' financial accounts, the introduction to the volume sets the acquisition of both city and Yorkshire property in the context of the vicars' fluctuating economic fortune, which reflected on general changes in urban prosperity and more specifically impinged on the vicars' ability to maintain a common life. The charters relate to the Vicars' property in Yorkshire, and to their holdings of appropriated churches (including the church of Nether Wallop in Hampshire). The editor's introduction examines the reasons for the Vicars' acquisitions, and places them in their economic context.NIGEL TRINGHAM is lecturer in history, University of Keele.

From 1973-1980, under the threat of redevelopment, the York Archaeological Trust undertook excavations at the site of Bedern, just south of York Minster. A notorious slum in the 19th century, only three structures remained on the site, once part of the College of the Vicars Choral of York Minster: a medieval stone and timber hall, Bedern chapel and a medieval gatehouse. This volume is the final report of the excavations and analysis of finds from the site.

The first study of the poetics of vocational crisis in Langland, Hoccleve, and Audelay, and many unattributed works, The Clerical Proletariat and the Resurgence of Medieval English Poetry discusses class, meritocracy, the gig economy, precarity, and the breaking of intellectual elites, speaking to both past and present employment urgencies.

York was one of the most important cities in medieval England. This original study traces the development of the city from the Norman Conquest to the Black Death. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries are a neglected period in the history of English towns, and this study argues that the period was absolutely fundamental to the development of urban society and that up to now we have misunderstood the reasons for the development of York and its significance within our history because of that neglect. Medieval York argues that the first Norman kings attempted to turn the city into a true northern capital of their new kingdom and had a much more significant impact on the development of the city than has previously been realised. Nevertheless the influence of York Minster, within whose shadow the town had originally developed, remained strong and was instrumental in the emergence of a strong and literate civic communal government in the later twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Many of the earlier Norman initiatives withered as the citizens developed their own institutions of government and social welfare. The primary sources used are records of property ownership and administration, especially charters, and combines these with archaeological evidence from the last thirty years. Much of the emphasis of the book is therefore on the topographical development of the city and the changing social and economic structures associated with property ownership and occupation.

York explores the archaeology, art, architecture and cultural heritage of the city in the late Middle Ages. In the years since the resurrection of the British Archaeological Association conference in 1976, the association has met in the city only once (in 1988), for a conference that celebrated Yorkshire Monasticism. As a consequence, the secular and vernacular architecture as well as the architecture, art and imagery of York Minster were excluded from its scope, something redressed in the meeting that took place in 2017. As many recent publications have focused on York in the earlier medieval period, this book shines a much-needed light on the city in the later medieval ages. Starting with a range of essays on York Minster by authors directly involved in major conservation projects undertaken in the last ten years, the book also includes information on the vernacular architecture and transport infrastructure of York, as well as the parochial and material culture of the period. Illuminating the extensive resources for the study of the late Middle Ages in England’s second capital, this book provides new research on this important city and will be suitable for researchers in medieval archaeology, art history, literature and material culture.