Community and identity in the shadow of York Minster: the medieval Chapel of St Mary and the Holy Angels

This thesis examines the development of the institutional identity of the Chapel of St Mary and the Holy Angels, York, from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Following its foundation next to York Minster in the late 1170s, the chapel went through a series of reforms and re-foundations. It is these moments of activity and change which enable us to examine how the chapel’s identity was being constructed and conceived. Over the course of its history, the community and its identity developed in response both to the wishes of its founder and its relationship with the cathedral church. This thesis accordingly explores the relationship between the constitutions, administration, personnel and liturgy of the two institutions.
The thesis is split into two parts: Part One examines the foundations and constitution of the chapel. Chapter One surveys existing approaches to the chapel and examines the context of the foundation of St Mary and the Holy Angels’ within the cathedral close and some elements of its early purpose and function. Chapter Two explores the development of the chapel’s constitution in the thirteenth century, with a focus upon its administrative figures. Chapter Three considers the challenges to the chapel and its identity from external influences upon its personnel and architectural developments within the cathedral in the fourteenth century. Part Two focuses on the long fifteenth century. Chapter Four is a prosopographical study of the chapel’s canons, demonstrating the cohesion between the communities of the chapel and minster. Chapter Five offers a study of the York Antiphonal, considering its relevance to the York Use and liturgical renewal in the fifteenth century. Chapter Six addresses aspects of the liturgical identity of the chapel using the York Antiphonal. Chapter Seven concludes the history of the chapel and considers the community and dissolution of the chapel in the sixteenth century.