Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

ANCIENT ANP
raized York to the ground ; but this statement is inconsis
tent with the fact, that in the reign of Stephen an
accidental fire burnt down the Cathedral, St. Mary's
Abbey, St. Leonard's Hospital, and forty parish churches ;
which it is improbable would have risen from their ruins
in so short a space of time. But the matter is set at rest
at once by reference to the Domesday-Book ; which re
futes the assertion altogether ; describing, as it does, the
effect of the ravages committed—which were very extensive;
as well as the actual condition of York in the reign of
William I.
The notice ofYork in the Domesday is too interesting to
be dismissed without examination. Hume remarks,* that
the cities of England appear, by Domesday-Book, to have
been at the conquest little better than villages : adding,
" York itself, though it was always the second, at least
the third city in England, and was the capital of a great
province, which was never thoroughly united with the
rest, contained then but 1418 families, which, at the rate
of five persons to a family, makes about 7000 souls."
With the inference of Mr. Hume we are constrained
to disagree ; for he omits to mention facts, which seriously
effect the validity of his argument ; and is inaccurate in
the account which he professes to make on the authority
of the record referred to. In the first place, it must be
remarked that Domesday-Book was commenced in the
sixteenth yearf of the reign of William the Conqueror.
Consequently, the survey was taken after the city had
suffered severely from fires, sieges, and devastations,—
after William had burnt down the suburbs nearly a mile
in extent. It is, therefore, unfair to infer that the cities
of England were mere villages at this time, because York
had been curtailed of its fair proportions by accidental cir
cumstances. Domesday, beginning its account of this city,
says, " In the city of York, in the time of King Edward,
* Appendix 1. + A D. 1082,