York Minster's Chapter House and its Painted Glass Narratives

This thesis focuses on the late thirteenth-century narrative glazing scheme of the chapter house in York Minster and the political and religious context of its design. Created as an intrinsic and integrated part of one of the most elaborate and important buildings in the period, the glass has suffered interventions affecting both its appearance and the positions of its narrative panels. By examining the glass in the context of contemporary visual and textual material, it has been possible to reconstruct the original order of the panels and to identify the selection of episodes the lives of the saints, some for the first time. The study has demonstrated the extent to which the iconography was rooted in liturgy and theology relevant to the period which, in turn, reflected the priorities of a dominant group among the active members of Chapter for whose use the building was constructed and, by extension, the contemporary Church. Further, the glass shows strong Mariological themes which reflected features in the rest of the decorative scheme and the architecture of the chapter house, indicating that the glazing scheme may have been conceived as part of the architectural whole. The conclusions are supported by parallel research into the prosopography of the contemporary Chapter which additionally suggests that the conception of the programme may have had its roots in the baronial wars of the 1260s.