YORK
HISTORY |
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York was founded over 2,000 years ago, and for much of the intervening
period has been the main city in the North of England.
For the Romans, York ("Eboracum") was a major military base; Emperor
Septimius Severus died there in 211 AD, and Constantius Chlorus, the father
of Constantine I, died there in 306. In York, Constantine's troops
proclaimed him emperor.
A "great Viking army" captured York in AD 866, and in 876 the Vikings
settled permanently in parts of the Yorkshire countryside. Viking kings
ruled this area, known to historians as "The Viking Kingdom of Jorvik", for
almost a century. In 954 the last Viking king, Eric Bloodaxe, was expelled
and his kingdom was incorporated in the newly consolidated state of England. |
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On March 16, 1190 a mob of townsfolk drove the Jews in York to corner them
in the fortified Clifford's Tower, which was set alight. The Jews committed
mass suicide by fire rather than face the inquisition of the hostile locals.
It is an early happenstance of jingoism within England due to King Richard I
of England's request for Jewish involvement in his personal finances for the
Third Crusade. Because Prince John attempted to take England from his
Plantagenet base in Angevin France by using these funds (which later
prevented a ransom from being paid for the King), those who applied for
loans had justified the attack as the result of unresolved loan disputes
caused by foreigners and otherwise traitors on the Prince's side. York,
populated by relatively simple people, has been notoriously poorer than
London, which perhaps made the assault more understanding from a situational
viewpoint, when they were exposed to Scottish raids from the North. |
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