The following article is taken from The Painted Glass of York, F.Harrison: Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, 1927. This splendid account of York’s heritage of glass is worth seeking out, though sixty years of maintainance, restoration and exacting scholarship have followed. A more recent survey is 'The Stained and Painted Glass of York' by Peter Gibson, which appears in 'The Noble City of York', edited by Alberic Stacpoole and others, Cerealis Press, York, 1972.
THE medieval glass in this church is famed even in a city which is the chief home of medieval glass. Alone amongst the treasures of this kind in the parish churches of York, the glass of this church has received adequate attention and has been worthily sketched. (In An Old York Church: All Hallows, North Street, edited by the Rev, P.J.Shaw) The present church, which was built at various times from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, stands on the site of an older church, and is tucked away behind high buildings and small houses. Yet no York parish church attracts more visitors.
The old glass is contained in fourteen out of sixteen windows, four of which, however, have nothing more than fragments. It does not appear, nearly complete as the scheme of glazing remains, that the windows were inserted on any plan, except that of displaying in most of the lights and the tracery the figures of saints. Of the fourteen windows which contain medieval glass, eight are more or less completely glazed with it. The two east windows in the aisles are the earliest in the church, and will be described first. The other windows are Perpendicular in style.
The earliest glass is contained in the east window of the north aisle. Under gabled canopies which are decorated a.bove with crockets and finials drawn with yellow stain and filled underneath with quatrefoils and trefoils are three groups across the middle of the window. The Crucifixion occupies the middle light, with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John at the foot of the Cross and a skull beneath the feet of the Saviour. The Adoration of the Magi in the first light is a delightful representation. The Virgin is crowned, and the Child is standing, not sitting, on her lap. One king is kneeling and oflering a gold cup. The other two are standing, and one of them is pointing upwards with his forefinger, as though at the star which has guided them. In the third light, in the Coronation scene, our Lord is dressed in an under-robe of blue and an over-robe of gold, and the Virgin in pink and gold. Below these three groups, and under shallow canopies, are representations of the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Resurrection. The lily between the Archangel and the Virgin is very far from conventionaL In the Nativity scene the ass looks down benignantly on the Holy Family. The Resurrection in the third light shows our Lord just rising, with His right leg hanging over the slab on which He is resting, having apparently disturbed the slumber of one of the three armed soldiers below. The tracery lights show figures of St. Michael, St. George, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The borders of the side lights display leaves on opposite sides of a flowing stalk, and in the middle light cups and castles alternately, the castles probably in allusion to Eleanor of Castile, first wife of Edward I. This allusion, together with the large quantity of yellow stain used in the window, places it not much later than the beginning of the fourteenth century. In the tracery, which contains old glass in seven compartments, are figures of St. Michael, St. George, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, which are very well preserved and excellently drawn.
The east window of the south aisle is the only other Decorated window in the church, and very little of the original glass is left in it. The six figures which the window displays are set under gabled canopies and in "tabernacles " which are not broad or high enough to fill the lights. The spaces at the sides and above and beneath the coloured glass are filled with quarries, which are ornamented with leaf forms. The top three subjects are of the Crucifixion, with the Blessed Virgin and St. John; below are figures of two kneeling females, possibly donors of the window, in the sidelights, and our Lord with the cup of sorrow, probably in the Garden of Gethsemane. The borders are similar to those in the east window of the north aisle. There is some old glass in all the seven compartments of the tracery.
A much more attractive window than the two which have just been described occupies the place of honour in the church above the high altar. Each light shows a canopy and a tabernacle containing either one or two large figures which stand on pedestals, the lower portions of which form the roofs over the heads of the smaller figures below. It is unusual in a window of the date of this window, about the middle of the fifteenth century, to find that the backgrounds of the canopies and those of the large figures under them are not interchanged in colour, but are throughout red, blue, and red. The small figures below are, however, against backgrounds differently coloured: (1) a tapestry pattern of blue and gold stripes, (2) red, and (3) a tapestry pattern of green and gold stripes. All the backgrounds are beautifully diapered. As is common in York windows, the sides of the canopies contain small figures, in this case two in each light near the feet of the chief figures. The canopies are of beautiful design, and are almost uniform. The central subject is of St. Anne teaching the Blessed Virgin to read. The head-dress of St. Anne is of a curious shape and colour, red with two ermine stripes, and may be an insertion, though the ruby matches in colour the ruby of her cloak. The blue of St. Anne's dress hardly differs in colour from the blue of the background. The Virgin is dressed in a long rich robe of white and gold. She is reading from a psalter, which is open and shows the words Domine exaudi oracionem meam auribus percipe obsecracionem meam (" Hear my prayer, 0 Lord, and with Thine ears consider my calling "). The left-hand figure is of St. John the Baptist, who wears a robe of camel's hair coloured gilt, with a cloak of blue, and holds a book on which sits a Lamb with a banner, to which he points. The large figure is of St. Christopher, who wears a white robe edged with gilt, holds a strong club, and looks up at the Child on his shoulder. The water through which he is wading contains a fish. The Child's head is encircled with a scroll on which are the words Christofore dominus sedeo qui crimina tollo.
Below, the middle panel shows a group representing the Trinity. God the Father sits on a gold throne; with His right hand lie blesses His people, and with His left hand and right arm He holds the cross, on which is a figure of the dying Saviour, into Whose ear the Dove whispers. Similar representations of the Trinity are found in other York churches. The side figures are of members of the Blackburn family. The two in the left-hand hght represent Nicholas Blackburn and his wife. They kneel in prayer to the Holy Trinity. The lady wears a fifteenth-century "horned," hat, but not of an extravagant style, and a red cloak. She is reading out of a book which she holds open at the words Domine ne furore tuo arguas me neque in ira tua. ("0 Lord, rebuke me not in Thine indignation, neither [chasten me] in Thy displeasure"). Her husband wears, under a green cloak, white breeches and a red coat, the colour of the field of his shield, on which are traces of the bearings with which the shield, twice repeated in the window, is charged. In the right-hand light kneel the figures of another Nicholas Blackburn and his wife. The lady is wearing a "horned,' hat of similar style to that of her mother-in-law, with a long red cloak and a dress of white and gilt. She too holds a book, open at the words Domine labia mea aperies et os meum ("Thou shalt open my lips, 0 Lord, and my mouth [shall shew Thy praise]"). Her husband is in plate armour and a short red surcoat, and he wears gauntlets, which are prominent, as his hands are raised in supplication. His helmet rests in front of him on the ground. The scroll which proceeds from him reads: Dei venie munus nobis rex trinitus et unus ("May the King, the Three in One, grant to us pardon of our sins"). The two Blackburn panels each display two shields, one containing the letter B on a white ground, and the other, gules a lion rampant checky ermine and sable, differenced with a mullet for the son. The inscription under the left-hand panel is as follows: Orate pro animabus Nicholai Blakeburn junioris quondam maioris ctuitatis Ebor. et Margarette uxoris eius. The corresponding one under the other panel is the same except that the word senioris is substituted for junioris. It is curious that the son appears as the older man of the two. Both father and son occupied the position of Mayor of the city of York.
The modern glass in the tracery lights portrays our Lord worshipped by angels, kings, and virgins.
The window was doubtless the gift of the son and the daughter-in-law, probably about the year 1440.
The next window to be considered is the well-known "Prykke of Conscience" Window, the first from the east in the north aisle, a window perhaps without a parallel in medieval glass. Inspired by St& Jerome and by the Apocalypse of St. John, Richard Rolle, the hermit of Hampole, a Yorkshireman born in 1290, wrote "The Prykke of Conscience" some time about the end of the first quarter of the fourteenth century. This window is based on that portion of his work that describes the pains and horrors of the last fifteen days of the history of the world. Fifteen subjects, one for each day, ill the five rows of panels in the window, which should be read from left to right as the observer faces the window, and commencing with the bottom row. A restoration of the year 1861, during the incumbency of Robert Whytehead, preserved in a remarkable way the medieval character of the glass, and made no attempt to supply the missing letters of the rows of printing below the subjects. The panels below the topmost row have no canopies, but are flanked by the supports of the small transitional canopies which occupy the heads and shoulders of the three lights, which take the place of borders. About half-way up the window the borders display, two in each light, the figures of men in soft, high hats, coloured yellow. Representations of nine donors, three in each light, fill the lowest row of panels.
The events of the fifteen days are terrible indeed. The sea first rises (first day), then falls (second day), and leaves the earth once again dry (third day). On the fourth day fishes and fearful monsters of the sea rise up and invade the earth, and the sea is set on fire, burning with lurid red flames (fifth day). The fire then spreads to the earth. Trees are devoured (sixth day), an earthquake shakes the buildings (seventh day), and the rocks and the trees are consumed (eighth day). In fear, men hide themselves in holes of the earth (ninth day), and only earth and sky are to be seen (tenth day). On the eleventh day, taking courage, men emerge from the holes in which they have taken shelter, and pray in their extremity. The bones of men in coffins come to life again (twelfth day), while death in the guise of a skeleton comes to claim all mortal flesh (fourteenth day). The stars fall from heaven with a blinding yellow light (thirteenth day), and finally the fire devours everything (fifteenth day), while St. Peter receives the souls of the blessed at the portals of Heaven (tracery, left-hand compartment), and Satan, in the guise of a monster with a fork, helps the souls of the damned into Hell.
This is a real Doom window, the artist having in mind Rolle's concluding lines:
The date of the window appears to be about the middle of the fifteenth century.
The next window going westwards is almost as remarkable. Its subject is the Six Corporal Acts of Mercy. In date it belongs to the second hall of the fifteenth century. Its canopies are well developed in character, and those of the side lights each contain two little figures peeping out of the openings above the parapets. The backgrounds of the canopies and of five of the other panels are blue in colour, the remaining four being red. Again there are no borders except the shafts which support the canopies. On the whole, this is the best-preserved window in the church. It is one of the nine the tracery lights which were cut short in a modern restoration.
The same benignant figure, from his ermine hat and the ermine of his cloak a king, appears in all the panels in several dresses, and the artist has repeated with true insight the unhappiness of those to whose necessities he ministers. Reading from the top and across, the acts of mercy are: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, entertaining strangers,. clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and ministering to the prisoners. The first four scenes are laid outside the house of the benefactor. With both hands, assisted by a servant, he distributes loaves out of a basket at his feet to six hungry men, one of whom leans on a long staff. The same thirsty six hold out bowls into which he pours water out of a jug, while the servant is ready with two extra bowls and jugs. His kindness seems to be equal to the demands made on his hospitality by no fewer tban four travellers, who are clad as though on a journey. To one of five inadequately clothed men he is giving a red coat, while the servant stands in the doorway holding another for the next suppliant.
The bedroom in which the sick man lies is not so well furnished as the bedroom shown in the St. William window in York Minster, but there is the same kind of pillow-case, which shows the ends of the pillow. The sick man lies in bed, while a lady by the bedside appears to be explaining to the visitor, who is laying some coins on the bed, the serious nature of the illness. By the side of the bed, which is covered with a white and yellow counterpane or quilt, is a small bedroom chair. The three prisoners in the next compartment have their feet in the stocks, and, as though this was not sufficient, one ankle of each man is chained, and a gaoler with a long staff stands over them. In his right hand the vintor holds a pouch, the ancient form of pocket, but he appears to be giving the prisoners nothing but comfort. A loaf and a jug point to a diet of bread and water.
The left-hand of the three lowest compartments shows a cleric, habited in blue robe and almuce, kneeling at an altar on which is a book open at the words Sca. Cecilia ora pro nobis. Sc,. Lucia, ora pro nobis. The inscription on the scroll round his head is imperfect, and cannot be read. In the third light are the kneeling figures of a man and a woman both dressed in red. The scroll round the head of the man reads: Ora pro nobis; the other scroll is illegible.The middle compartment represents the sun and the seven stars in a blue sky shining over water.
This is one of the most interesting windows in the church, not only for its rare subject-matter, but also because of its illustration of contemporary dress. The woman in the scene taken from a sick-room wears her kerchief indoors, the usual custom in those days, and one which has its modern descendant in the cap of domestic servants and old ladies of the last generation. The travellers who are about to receive hospitality wear close-fitting, comfortable boots, short, wide trousers, white hose, long cloaks, ample neck-covering, and head gear of various forms. Their dress is rich compared to tbat of the groups of needy persons. The lady donor in the lowest row wears a long flowing dress with narrow sleeves, and her hair is hidden by her kerchief. The almuce worn by the kneeling cleric is similar to those illustrated in several compartments of the St. William window in York Minster. Objects of common life, such as a chair, jugs and bowls, a counterpane, a pillow, a bed, stocks, chains, and staves, have been referred to. All these combine to make this window most attractive, and well worthy of detailed study.
The only other complete and legible window in the church is the next one going westwards, the third, that is, from the east in the north aisle. Two of the figures, those of our Lord and St. Thomas, in the middle and left-hand lights, are so well preserved that one wonders at first why the third has had to be patched up so much. It appears that its original position was in the middle light of the easternmost window in the south aisle, and that, according to Gent, the third figure in the window was in his time that of St. Timothy. Even so, St. Timothy had no connection with the incredulity of St. Thomas, and it is probable that the original position of the two figures of our Lord and St. Thomas was in a former two-light window in the church. St. Thomas is in a white and yellow robe, and the scroll proclaims his words : Dominus meus et Deus meus ("My Lord and my God"). Our Lord, though wearing the crown of thorns and showing on His body the marks of suffering, is represented as the risen Lord, with wounded hands and feet. He wears a robe of scarlet. The scroll in this panel read originally: Mitte maum tuam in latus meum ("Thrust thy hand mto My side"), and Beati qui non viderunt et crederunt ("Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed"). The figure of St. Michael is clad in plate armour, and the scroll reads: Beata Trinitas laudantes animas suscipe ("O Blessed Trinity, receive the souls which praise Thee").
The canopies are of the second half of the fifteenth century, and each contains two small figures. The window has no tracery lights.
The only portions of the original glazing of the fourth window from the east in the north aisle are the canopies, which are in an excellent state of preservation. The borders are of medieval glass, but are fragmentary, and are not continued upwards beyond the canopies. The remainder of the window is filled with quarries, against which are placed six shields and three roundels. The shields, which have probably been placed in this window from other parts of the church, are as follows:
(1) Upper Row.-(a) Azure a bend or between six martlets or for Luttrell ; (b) a curious quartered shield with all four quarters different gules afess or for Beauchamp, gules a fret or for Audley, gules a bend or and argent two bars gules bezante'e or; (c) gules a chevron argent impaling a fragmentary shield.
(2) Lower Row.-(a) Argent on a fess sable between three cocks' heads erased sable a mitre or for John Alcock, successively Bishop of Rochester, Worcester, and Ely;
(b) England and France quartered, with the fourth quarter missing; (c) gules a fess or between six pears or for Beauchamp.
The windows in the south wall which contain old glass are three in number. They may be dismissed much more shortly than those in the opposite aisle and at the east end. None has any tracery lights. The one in the south-west corner contains only two figures, both under canopies. The left-hand figure, which stands against a red background, is of an archbishop, said to be St. William of York, who is mitred and m full vestments, which include white chasuble and pallium, and he holds a long cross-staff. The other figure is probably that of St. John, who is dressed in a long, flowing robe of white, against a red background. The scroll runs: Benedietus sit serm oris tui ("Blessed be the words of Thy mouth"). It may be doubted, from differences in the designs of the canopies over these figures, whether they were originally in one and the same window. As with so many windows in York, small figures appear in the canopy shafts, though in difierent positions in the two lights. These two figures are better proportioned than those of our Lord and St. Thomas in the north aisle, and the figure of the evangelist is an advance on the drawing of the earlier representation of him in the south choir aisle of York Minster. In the middle light are two modern shields, inserted at the restoration of 1861. In the side lights are figures of donors, four men and two women in all, said to be the figures of the family of Robert Chapman and his wife.
The second window from the east is the only one in this church which contains no old glass. The fragments in the third are worth careful examination by the student of old glass. They cannot be noticed in detail here. They include heads, robes, one being ornamented with the figures of running dogs, canopies, borders, and a few pieces of inscriptions. Together they produce a magnificent mosaic, which is seen at its best with the noonday sun shining through it. According to Gent, the general subject was the medieval Corpus Christi procession in York, organised by the Guild of Corpus Christi.
The glass in the fourth window from the east is almost equally mutilated below the canopy tops, which are the best-preserved portion of the window. Gent recorded in the first two lights the figures of St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, but only the crowned head of the Virgin remains identifiable. In the third light there are portions of an appearance of our Lord to an archbishop as he elevates the Host, which is stamped with the letters "I H S," at Mass. The Missal is open at the words Simili modo postquam cenatrum est accipiens et hunc preclarum. The scroll which proceeds from the hands of our Lord runs: Accipe hoc de me, hoc quocienscumque feceritis impetrabis. Our Lord is clothed in a robe of white, gold, and ermine. The incident depicted in these fragments is very probably the Mass of St Gregory
There is a little old glass in the windows of the west wall.
In the west window of the south aisle there are, in the middle light, borders consisting of fragments of glass mostly of Perpendicular date, with, however, a few pieces in the Decorated style, and, against a background of plain quarries, two shields each within an annulet formed of old glass. The upper shield consists of fragments -if indeed it ever was a shield-of-arms - and the lower is of the old arms of Percy (or five fusils in fess sable) The upper annulet contains portions of inscriptions, but nothing to give any clue to the original position or meaning of the glass; and one considerable piece is turned back to front.
There are also old borders in the middle light of the west window in the north aisle. The two coloured quatrefoils which they enclose are of modern glass, while the roundel above is hardly worthy of notice.
The central west window has fragments at the very top of the tracery, which show the mitred head of a bishop.
The glass of this church therefore takes a prominent place in a catalogue of old glass in the City of York. It shows the usual effects of lapse of time, mutilation, restoration, and destruction. At least a quarter of it has disappeared. Some of the remainder - perhaps those portions of it which picture medieval ecclesiastical ceremonies - was broken up and only the canopies left untouched. Apart from St. William of York and St. Christopher, not a single figure of a saint nor a single representation of an incident has survived except those that were taken from the Bible. There was no reason for reformers in any age to destroy the two windows in the north aisle that represent the Prykke of Conscience and the Corporal Acts of Mercy. The surviving glass of this church is thus a commentary on the attitude adoptedd towards the doctrines and the practices Of the Medieval Church in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There is little doubt that bad more of the glass in this church and in the city churches generally depicted what were regarded as medieval accretions and superstitions, the present day would have far less old glass in York to enjoy and to point out with pride.