York: The Making of a City 1068-1350

York was one of the most important cities in medieval England. In this talk, Sarah Rees-Jones will explore the impact of the Norman Conquest on its development. In particular it will focus on the consequences of the development of new styles of government that contributed to the commercial growth of the city and the emergence of a dominant mercantile civic community in the decades around 1300 during the period of the Scottish Wars of Independence. These developments provide a new historical context for understanding the later medieval landscape of the city, and the lecture will focus in particular on the context out of which the impetus developed for the construction of Holy Trinity Hall (now known as the Merchant Adventurers Hall) in 1357.