Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

60 ANCIENT AND
cular sweep at the east end, as at Canterbury, Winchester,
and some other Anglo-Norman churches.
"In the early ages of Christianity," observes Mr. Browne,
in his history of the Metropolitan Church of St. Peter,
York, " when the church was almost incessantly harrassed
by persecution, it was necessary for the believers to meet
for the purpose of worship in the most secret places, in
natural or artificial caves, and in the subterraneous cham
bers under dwellings. In such places also they were
accustomed to bury the most distinguished officers of
the church, and those who had suffered for the faith.
Hence the term crypt, denoting a concealed place, came at
length to signify a church under ground. The practice of
assembling in such places, or of resorting to them frequently
for the purpose of meditation, of confession of sins, and of
prayer, continued after the necessity of concealment had
ceased ; in these also, the most illustrious dead were
interred; and hence it was customary to erect in them
altars and oratories, at which divine rights might be per
formed, and prayers might be offered by the living for the
benefit of departed friends." In the crypt of the Norman
church at York, before the fourteenth century, we find that
there were seven altars endowed for the health of the foun
ders or testators respectively ; viz., the altar of the blessed
virgin Mary, supposed to be coeval with the church itself ;
the altar of St. Nicholas and St. Gregory, founded by John
Lumbard, a. d. 1240 ; the altar of St. Mary Magdalene,
founded by the testament of Godfrey of Norwich, dean
of York, 1241 ; the altar of St. Lawrence, founded by
Lawrence of Lincoln, a.d. 1249 ; the altar of St. Agatha,
St. Lucy, and St. Scholastica, founded by Eudonis de
Punchardon, a.d. 1255; the altar of St. Katherine and St.
James, founded by Gilbert de Sarum, 1285 ; and the altar
of St. Petronella, St. Agnes, and St. Cecily, founded by
one Jordan, a.d. 1370.
From the crypt we now enter a series of vaults, which
extend westward, beneath the choir, nearly to the great