York has gone by a plethora of different names but it’s role as England’s second most ecclesiastical city and a major region of trade, commerce and innovation in the north of England hasn’t changed. Originally founded as the Roman city of eboracum, becoming the capital of Britannia inferior. After the Romans the saxons, jutes and angles invaded Britain, replacing the native Briton/Roman population. By this time Eboracum had already became one of the major centers of Christianity in England and the Anglo Saxon invasion did not change this. Renamed Eoforwic, the city became the seat of Northumbria and the Kingdom of Deira. Major church figures such as a Bede came from Northumbria and it was one of the first Saxon areas to convert to Christianity, thanks in part to Gaelic and Frankish missionaries. Later York was sacked by the Vikings in 867 and fell under the influence of Vikings, this time being renamed Jorvík. You can still see the Viking influence in some of the dialects of county York and Northumbria especially in words like “Bairn” and “Blaeberry” meaning child and bilberry respectively. Even the Norman invasion didn’t change much and it remained a major city to this day being known as the “chocolate city” due to the large amount of chocolate companies in the Georgian era like Terry’s and Lazenby. Well enough ramble here’s some coins. Coinage has been stuck by the bishops of York for a long time from the Saxon period to Henry 8, stopping after the abolition of monasteries. The one to the left is a saxon styca of the archbishop of York Wigmund. Not much is known of him except he was bishop from 837 to 854 and minted plenty of coinage. Or the right is a penny of Edward iv first reign from 1465 to 70 and is minted by archbishop Neville. Archbishop George Neville came from the wealthy and influential Neville family and was a brother of Richard Neville, the earl of Warwick who was a famous warrior who was nicknamed “the kingmaker” for having a role in putting to power both Yorkist and Lancaster kings.
