York Minster is, at the same time:
- A church where worship services are regularly held
- A cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of York
- A minster.
The Original Minster
Before construction even began on the current cathedral, around 1215, York was already a minster. It was built for the baptism of Anglo Saxon King, Edwin of Northumbria, on Easter Sunday in 627. In order to marry the sister of the Christian King of Kent, Edwin, a Druid worshipper, agreed to convert. A wooden church, the first minster, was built for the occasion, and later replaced by a stone church.About 1100, the Normans replaced that with a much larger church, which forms part of the foundation of the current minster.
An Earlier, Roman History
Constantine was proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire while in York - then called Eboracum. York had been an important Roman stronghold from about 70 A.D. and, between 208 and 211 A.D., the Emperor Septimus Severus ruled the entire Roman Empire from York.In 313 A.D., Constantine proclaimed religious tolerance throughout the Roman Empire, later becoming the first Christian Emperor.
The proclamation of Constantine as Emperor may well have taken place in a Roman basilica that lies beneath York Minster. The basilica, part of the long established Roman settlement, was only discovered, along with the foundations of the Norman church, in 1967 during works to shore up the foundations of the Lantern Tower. These early finds are exhibited in the Undercroft.
