Timeline

Prehistoric

Area perhaps called 'Eburacon' (meaning "The place where the yew trees grow")

71- 400 Romans

71 - City founded by the Romans and named ‘EBORACUM’
73 - Eboracum becomes the capital of the North of Britannia
306 – Constantine the Great declared Emperor of Eboracu

400-866 Saxons

400’s – Roman withdrawal leaves city open to Saxon invaders
627 – First Minster built for Saxon King Edwin of Northumbria
C640 – Completion of the first stone Minster dedicated to St. Peter
700’s – City now Saxon capital of Northumbria ‘EOFORWIC’
735 - York becomes Archbishopric. A monastry is founded which became internationally renowned for scholarship

866- 954 Vikings

866 – Vikings, under Ivan the Boneless, capture Eoforwic and name it the Viking Kingdom ‘JORVIK’
954 – Eric Bloodaxe, last Viking of Jorvik, dies

11th C- 14th C

c1000 – City known by its present name YORK.
1020’s - 60’s – York ruled by powerful Anglo & Scandinavian Earls.
1066 - Battles of Fulford and Stamford Bridge weaken Harold’s army. 1220 – Building of present York Minster begins.
1240’s - 1340’s – Construction of present City Walls

14th C- 15th C

1314 – Edward II decides to base his court in the City of York
1390’s – Richard II wants to make York the capital of England
1472 – York Minster is completed and consecrated
1486 – King Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York, thereby ending the War of the Roses

17thC –19th C

1605 – Guy Fawkes of York is arrested in London and executed after the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot.
1644 – The Great Siege of York by Cromwell’s forces
1660’s – Political importance of city gradually starts to decline
1690’s onwards – Government now becoming more centralised in London and monarchs very rarely come to York.
1829 – Arsonist Jonathon Martin sets fire to York Minster

20thC

1907 - Substantial Minster restoration programme completed
1975- Opening of the National Railway Museum, the world’s largest collection of trains
1979 - Discovery of buried Viking village leads to opening of Jorvik in 1984
1984- Fire in York Minster destroys south transept roof and Rose Window
2005- The city hosts Royal Ascot at York, the UK’s most prestigious race meeting