York offers a fascinating collection
of great sights mixed with
an easygoing pedestrian ambience,
all lassoed within its formidable wall.
Its rich history goes back to ancient Roman times.
This column is a scant reminder
of when York was a Roman provincial capital --
the northernmost city in the Empire.
Constantine was actually proclaimed emperor right here
in the year 306.
Later, in the 5th century, when Rome was falling,
the emperor sent a letter to Britannia,
as this part of the empire was called,
and he said, basically, "You're on your own."
When Rome pulled out, the barbarians moved in,
and York became the capital of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom.
The Vikings later took the town,
and from the 9th through the 11th centuries,
it was a thriving Danish trading center called Jorvik.
Then came the Normans.
Medieval York grew rich on the wool trade.
With 9,000 inhabitants,
it became England's second city.
Henry VIII used the city's fine church, or Minster,
as his Anglican church's northern capital.
The Minster is the pride of York.
Britain's largest Gothic church
brilliantly shows that the late Middle Ages were far from dark.
The York Minster is filled with history and tradition.
Its grand bells have called people to worship here
for well over a thousand years.
Each day at noon the huge bell nicknamed "Great Peter"
is rung from the church tower.
At 10 tons, the bell can actually ring its ringer.
[ Bell rings ]
Inside, your first impression might be
the spaciousness and brightness.
The nave, from about 1300,
is one of the widest Gothic naves in Europe.
On festival Sundays, 4,000 worshippers pack the place.
The central tower soars nearly 200 feet.
The neck-saving mirror allows you to marvel at it comfortably.
The church has more original medieval glass
than the rest of England's churches combined.
The east window is the size of a tennis court.
The Great West Window has exceptional stone tracery.
With its nickname, the "Heart of York,"
it represents the sacred heart of Christ
and reminds worshippers of His love for the world.
The intricacy of the painted and stained glass
held together by lead is exquisite.
The fine details, far too tiny to see from the floor,
are said to be for God's eyes only.
The choir screen separates the nave from the choir.
This ornate wall of carvings is lined
with four centuries of English kings,
from William the Conqueror to Henry VI.
While most of the faces are generic kings
with the same scraggly beards,
Henry, during whose reign it was carved in 1461,
is both genteel and engaged.
York's Minster is considered England's
number two Anglican Church, after Canterbury.
The Anglican Church came into existence about 500 years ago,
born out of Europe's long power struggle
between popes and kings.
England's split with the Vatican goes back to king Henry VIII.
Henry wanted to divorce his wife and marry his mistress.
The pope said no.
Henry did anyway, and declared
that he, and not the pope,
was the head of England's Catholics.
While Henry considered himself a faithful Catholic,
just not a Roman Catholic,
his church of England soon embraced
the essence of the Protestant Reformation.
Canon Jeremy Fletcher explains in a nutshell
how Anglicanism differs from Roman Catholicism.
Canon Fletcher: Henry the VIII's archbishop was archbishop Cranmer,
and he defined three pillars for the Church of England:
Scripture and reason and tradition.
The Bible, our own human understanding,
and the tradition of the church.
And that's the great difference
between the new Church of England
and the Roman Catholic Church then,
that the medieval Roman Catholic Church
was much less based on the Bible.
The Church of England is a reformation church.
It's a Protestant church.
But the structures remained
Catholic ones as well,
so it has both.
We like to describe ourselves
as being Catholic and reformed.