York (England)

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York city (1991 pop. 123,126) and district, North Yorkshire, N England, at the confluence of the Ouse and Foss rivers. It is located at the junction of the three ridings of Yorkshire. The city of York, a rail center, is especially noted for the manufacture of cocoa, chocolate, and confections. Instrument making, printing, and light engineering are among its other industries. Tourism is central to the area's economy. York was a British settlement occupied by the ancient Brigantes. As Eboracum it was an important military post of the British province of the Roman Empire. Emperor Hadrian visited York in 120 and had an earthen rampart built to keep out the Picts and the Celts. The emperors Septimus Severus (211) and Constantius I (306) died there, and Constantine I was proclaimed emperor at York in 306. The city became a significant center in the Kingdom of Northumbria. In the 7th cent., St. Paulinus, the first archbishop of York, was consecrated. The city's archbishopric is the ecclesiastical center of N England, second only to Canterbury in importance. In the 8th cent., York was one of the most famous educational centers in Europe. Alcuin was born there and became the headmaster of St. Peter's School, one of the oldest public schools in England. The Cathedral of St. Peter, commonly known as York Minster, occupies the site of the wooden church in which King Edwin was baptized by St. Paulinus on Easter Day in 627. The edifice dates partly from the Norman period. Many other notable medieval structures remain in York. The ancient portion of the city is enclosed by walls dating in part from Norman times, but mainly from the 14th cent. Four of the gates, including Micklegate and Monk Bar, still stand. The Univ. of York was founded in 1963. The York Plays (see miracle play ) reached their height in the 15th cent. and were revived at the Yorkshire Festival of 1951.

York. York was the military headquarters of the Romans in northern Britain. A Bp. of York is recorded in 314. The Christian community was destroyed in the Saxon invasions. St Paulinus, who was consecrated Bp. of York in 625, baptized the Northumbrian King Edwin in 627 and received the pallium in 631. After another pagan invasion in 633, Paulinus fled to Rochester, and York came under the care of the bishops of Lindisfarne. The see was restored in 664 with the consecration of St Wilfrid; in 735, under Egbert, it was raised to archiepiscopal dignity and its archbishops became primates of the Northern episcopal Province. Under the first Norman Archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux (1070–1100), the struggle for precedence between Canterbury and York began. It was finally settled by Pope Innocent VI (1352–62), who decided that the Abp. of Canterbury was to have precedence and the title ‘Primate of All England’, and that the Abp. of York should be styled ‘Primate of England’.

Medieval York was important as a regional capital, and in the Middle Ages and later the Abp. of York took part in governing the North of England. At the height of its prosperity there were over 40 parish churches and nine religious houses in the city. No church can be traced back to Roman times, though Roman materials were reused in several. The Saxon cathedral, which may have been on the site of St Michael-le-Belfrey, was destroyed during the rebellion of 1069. A Norman church preceded the present York Minster, built on the same site between c.1227 and 1472. There were four restorations in the 19th cent. The foundations of the Central Tower and West Front, which rest on Roman rubbish, were strengthened between 1967 and 1972. Serious damage caused by a fire in 1984 has been repaired.

York had its first permanent theatre building, adapted from a tennis court in Minster Yard, in 1734. A second theatre was erected on the site of the present Theatre Royal in 1744, a larger theatre, erected on the same site in 1765, obtaining a royal patent in 1769 and thereafter being known correctly as the Theatre Royal. In 1766 the provincial theatre manager Tate Wilkinson took over the York circuit, which he modified to comprise York, Hull, Leeds, Doncaster, Wakefield, and Pontefract. The York theatre was remodelled in 1822, and further alterations were made to it later, so that little of the original remains. It became a theatre for touring companies in 1877 and in the 1900s was rebuilt to counteract the appeal of the new Grand Opera House (later the Empire) in New Clifford Street. In 1922 a repertory company was installed for several weeks during the summer, and from 1925 to 1929 a summer season, extending to 10 weeks, was given by a company led by Lena Ashwell. From 1930 to 1932 the theatre was used for weekly rep. during several months each year, and in 1935 a permanent company was introduced with E. Martin Browne as producer. In 1951 he was also responsible for the revival of the York Cycle of mystery plays in the ruins of St Mary's Abbey, since performed regularly at four-year intervals as part of the York Festival. The Theatre Royal, now owned by the local authority and operated by a Trust, was extensively altered and redecorated in 1967 and still functions as a repertory theatre, though some touring companies visit it. It runs a Young People's Theatre Company which works with schools and youth clubs. Seating 899, it has a foyer wing suitable for the presentation of theatrical and other exhibitions.

York A Roman legionary fortress, colonia, and provincial capital, Eboracum was founded in the early 70s AD as a fortress for legio IX Hispana. After the withdrawal of IX Hispana, its place was taken by legio VI Victrix, which remained in garrison, probably until the end of the Roman period. The fortress lay between the rivers Ouse and Foss. Across the Ouse a civil settlement grew up which was promoted colonia, probably when York became capital of the new province of Britannia Inferior at the beginning of the 3rd cent. York remained a provincial capital in the 4th cent. and a bishop attended the Council of Arles in 314. Fortress and colonia seem to have been abandoned early in the 5th cent.

York re‐emerged in historical record in 627 when the first Christian king of Northumbria was baptized there, and a bishopric established (an archbishopric from 735). By the 8th cent. it was a flourishing river port; between 866 and 954 it was in Viking hands, and was the capital of Danish and Norwegian kings, who fostered a commercial city of international importance. In 954 it was absorbed into England, and by the 12th cent. it was the fourth wealthiest English town. From about 1460 it declined, despite strong support from Richard III. A modest recovery began with the residence in York of the king's Council in the North (1561–1641), although the civil wars (especially the siege of 1644) were damaging. Late Stuart and Hanoverian York flourished greatly as a social capital, but the city fell back in relative importance in the 19th cent. Its relative lack of industrialization and war damage has left York with a rich legacy of historic buildings, including an almost intact circuit of medieval walls and gates.

York, Australia, Canada, Greenland, South Africa, UK, USA 1. In most cases, the cities and towns with this name are taken from the English city or one of several Dukes of York.2. Australia (Queensland): named in 1770 by Captain James Cook^† after Edward Augustus (1739–67), Duke of York and Albany and brother of King George III^†.3. UK (England): originally a Celtic name, Eborakon or Eboracum ‘Eburos's Estate’, with the personal name possibly meaning ‘yew tree’, but more likely ‘Yew‐Tree Estate’. The Romans arrived in 71 to build a walled fortress. They used the name Eboracum which later became Evorog. To the Anglo‐Saxons this sounded like eofor ‘wild boar’. They added wīc, thus Eoforwic, to give a possible meaning of ‘Boar Farm’. The city was captured by the Danes in 867 and they took the wīc to be the Old Scandinavian vik ‘bay’ although York is inland. Eofor was shortened to Eor and thus the name became Eorvik. In time the ‘Eor’ became ‘Jor’ and then ‘Yor’ and vik was reduced to k. The former county of Yorkshire took its name from the city with the additional scīr. York Races include the famous Ebor Handicap.4. USA (Maine): settled as Agamenticus in 1624 to become the first English city on North American soil. When it became a city in 1641 at the bidding of Sir Ferdinando Gorges he renamed it Gorgeana. When it reverted to a town in 1652 it was renamed York after the English city.

York city (1990 pop. 42,192), seat of York co., SE Pa., on Codorus Creek, in an agricultural area; laid out 1741, inc. as a city 1887. It is a market, trade, processing, and distribution center in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. In addition to food and related products, its factories make monorail systems, turbines, controls, stoneware, dinnerware, nuclear components, motorcycles, armored vehicles, swimming pools, and office furniture. York was a meeting place (1777–78) of the Continental Congress. During the Civil War, it was occupied briefly (1863) by Confederates. York College of Pennsylvania and a campus of Pennsylvania State Univ. are in the city. Several colonial houses remain.

York City and county district in North Yorkshire, n England. Located at the confluence of the Ouse and Foss rivers, it was an important Roman military post, an Anglo-Saxon capital, a Danish settlement and then the ecclesiastical centre of the North of England. York Minster cathedral dates from the 13th century. Industries: tourism, engineering (including rail workshops), confectionery, precision instruments. Pop. (1994) 104,102.

York ♂ Transferred use of the surname, which originated as a local name from the city in north-eastern England. The place name was originally Eburacon, a derivative of a Welsh word meaning ‘yew’. The Anglo-Saxon settlers changed this to Old English Eoforwīc ‘boar farm’, which in Old Norse became Iorvík or Iork.

York Ebórakon c.150, Eboracum, Euruic 1086 (DB). An ancient Celtic name meaning ‘estate of a man called Eburos’ or (more probably) ‘yew-tree estate’. Yorkshire (OE scīr ‘district’) is first referred to in the 11th cent.

York Ont.: see Toronto , Ont., Canada.

york •auk, baulk, Bork, caulk (US calk), chalk, cork, dork, Dundalk, Falk, fork, gawk, hawk, Hawke, nork, orc, outwalk, pork, squawk, stalk, stork, talk, torc, torque, walk, york •pitchfork • nighthawk • goshawk •mohawk • sparrowhawk • tomahawk •back talk • peptalk • beanstalk •sweet-talk • crosstalk • small talk •smooth-talk • catwalk • jaywalk •cakewalk • space walk •sheep walk, sleepwalk •skywalk • sidewalk • crosswalk •boardwalk • rope-walk