city in ruins, and put most of the inhabitants to the sword. And, as York became the capital of the Danish, as it had previously been of the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, these grand repositories at once of the religion and learning of the times lost nothing of their splendour or celebrity, until a yet more dreadful calamity than any that had hitherto assailed the city, overwhelmed it in 1069.

Never, from any Pagan enemy, Scot, Saxon, or Dane, did York suffer such terrible devastations, as it was now destined to undergo from a Christian tyrant. The arbitrary Norman, who, three years previously, had obtained the crown of England by his victory at Hastings, by his many subsequent oppressions had instigated the English in general, and the Northumbrians more particularly, to repeated revolts. The refractory spirits of these descendants from the Saxon and Danish conquerors of a former period, could ill brook the severities of the Norman sway; and having resolved upon a desperate effort to recover their freedom, they assassinated the governor of Northumbria appointed by William, together with his seven hundred followers, at Durham, and called in Sweyn, king of Denmark, to their assistance. Sweyn readily obeyed the call, and dispatched a fleet, under the command of Osbern, his

brother, who, landing his troops, was immediately joined by the malcontents, among whom were several lords of distinction, and especially Edgar Atheling, the last of the Saxon line, and the real heir to the throne. The Norman garrison in York, not doubting but that William would hasten to its relief, resolved to hold out to the last extremity. With this view, they set fire to the suburbs, near the strong castle that had been erected to over-awe the inhabitants by the Conqueror, to prevent the houses from being used by the besiegers for the purpose of filling up the ditches that surrounded the fortifications. But the fire spreading farther than was intended, great part of the city was reduced to ashes; when the cathedral church, together with Egbert's noble library, perished in the conflagration. The confederates without, availing themselves of the confusion occasioned by this catastrophe, entered the city without opposition, took the castle (or castles, for some authors mention two) by assault, and put not less than three thousand Normans to the sword.

But terrible was the retributive vengeance of William; who no sooner heard of the destruction of his garrison at York, than he swore,

by God's splendour," that he would not leave one soul of the Northumbrians alive. Shortly entering Yorkshire, he began the execution of

his menaces by the most horrible ravages: and at length, having bought off the Danish general, he sat down before York itself with the whole disposable force of his kingdom, and compelled the garrison and inhabitants, after suffering the extremities of famine, to surrender. Then, notwithstanding the honourable capitulation granted them by the Conqueror, the wretched citizens, and their military defenders, began to feel the full weight of his insidiously smothered resentment. York was razed to the ground, and the major part of its occupants, including nearly all who were of superior condition, consigned to death; the few who escaped the general destruction being obliged to redeem their lives with such heavy fines, as reduced them to the most deplorable poverty and distress. The surrounding country was so totally laid waste, that such of its miserable inhabitants as had escaped the slaughter, after eating dogs, cats, and even human flesh, in a vain effort to prolong their existence, at last perished by famine. "It was shocking," says Simeon of Durham, "to see, in the houses, the streets, and highways, human carcases swarming with worms, dissolving in putridity, and emitting a most horrible stench: nor were any living to cover them with earth, all having perished by sword or by famine, or, stimulated by

hunger, having abandoned their country. Between York and Durham not a house was inhabited: all was a lonely wilderness, the retreat of wild beasts and robbers, and the terror of travellers." This melancholy relation is fully confirmed by the other historians of those times: : nay, Odoricus Vitalis, a Norman monk, who wrote in the reign of Henry the First, stated that above an hundred thousand human beings perished in William's desolation of Yorkshire; adding with solemnity, "I have no doubt in asserting, that so horid a butchery is a crime that cannot pass unpunished; for an Omnipotent judge, and most rigorous avenger, will strictly scrutinize the actions, and punish the guilt, of the highest as well as of the lowest delinquent."-Such was one of the vengeful acts of that Norman Duke, in reward for the endeavours of the English to retrieve their liberties, whose establishment upon the throne of England as a direct consequence of those acts, and of his previous triumph over Harold, has been ridiculously denied to constitute a Conquest.

William, in the year following this dreadful. visitation, elevated his chaplain and treasurer, Thomas of Bayeux, to the archbishopric; when that prelate found his cathedral a heap

Sim. Dunelm. p. 199, &c.

+ Odor. Vital. lib. IV. p. 514.

of ruins. He resolved therefore to rebuild it on a larger and nobler plan; and under his auspices it arose ere long with an increase of splendour. But before the lapse of half a century, it was again almost totally destroyed by an accidental conflagration, which involved the greater part of the city in its fate. For nearly forty years following, it appeared condemned to sink under this last calamity; till at length, in 1171, Archbishop Roger commenced the rebuilding of the choir, and witnessed the completion of that part of the edifice before his death. His structure was in all probability as magnificent as the taste and genius of that age would allow. But the Norman style of the twelth century constituted but a very trifling improvement upon what is commonly, though not very properly, designated as pure Saxon; since this latter might with equal propriety itself be called the Norman, having been found to have existed under as decided peculiarities in Normandy prior to the Conquest, as it had among the Saxons of this island. The arches, in this improved style, were for the most part still circular; the pillars single, and massive, with plain capitals: no canopied niches, no statues, no escutcheons, broke the dull uniformity of the wall: within, the vaulting of the roof was unadorned with the rich tracery