YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → The Entire History of York in 32 Minutes

The Entire History of York in 32 Minutes — Transcript

by Majestic Studios · 4,331 words · 857 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00Stand on the walls of York in northern
0:01England today and you're standing where
0:03[music] Roman soldiers kept watch nearly
0:062,000 years ago.
0:08Walk through the Shambles and you're
0:10following streets first laid down
0:12[music] by Vikings.
0:14Touch the stones of the Minster and
0:16you're touching a building [music]
0:17that took 2 and 1/2 centuries to
0:19complete.
0:21This is a city that has refused to die.
0:24[music]
0:24Emperors have died within these walls.
0:27Kings have ruled England [music] from
0:29here.
0:30Armies have besieged it. Plague has
0:32ravaged it. Bombs have fallen on it.
0:36And through everything, York has
0:39endured.
0:40What you're about to see is different
0:42from any history documentary you've
0:44watched before. [music]
0:46Using advanced AI techniques, we've
0:48transformed centuries-old engravings
0:50[music]
0:51and faded photographs into living,
0:54breathing scenes.
0:55You're not just going to learn [music]
0:57about York's past, you're going to see
0:59it as it actually was.
1:02This is the story of York.
1:0530 minutes, 2,000 years.
1:08Let's begin at the beginning.
1:11>> [music]
1:17>> It's 71 AD.
1:20The Roman 9th Legion pushes deep into
1:22hostile territory chasing British tribes
1:25who refuse to submit to Roman rule.
1:28They reach a strategic point where two
1:30rivers meet, the Ouse and the Foss, and
1:34there [music] they stop. Not to rest,
1:36but to stay. They build a fortress.
1:38[music]
1:40Timber walls first, then stone. They
1:43call it Eboracum.
1:45The 9th Legion makes York their home.
1:485,000 men, battle-hardened veterans who
1:51fought across the empire. They're
1:53building bathhouses and barracks,
1:55temples and administrative buildings.
1:58This isn't a temporary camp. This is the
2:01beginning of a city.
2:03But then something happens that still
2:05puzzles historians today. Sometime in
2:07the early 120s, the 9th Legion vanishes.
2:115,000 soldiers, their standards, their
2:14records, all gone from history.
2:17Where they went, [music] we may never
2:19know.
2:20The 6th Legion arrives to replace them
2:22and they remain in York for the next
2:24three centuries. Eboracum isn't just a
2:27frontier fort anymore. It's becoming
2:30something far more important. In 211 AD,
2:34>> [music]
2:34>> Emperor Septimius Severus arrives in
2:37York after campaigning against the
2:39Scots.
2:40He's old, exhausted, and dying.
2:44He draws his last breath in this city at
2:46the very edge [music] of his empire.
2:49His son, Caracalla, stands in York and
2:51makes a decision. This place, this
2:54northern fortress, becomes the capital
2:57of Britannia Inferior.
2:59Half of Roman Britain [music] is now
3:00governed from York. Then comes the
3:03moment that changes everything. Emperor
3:05Constantius dies in York [music] in 306
3:09AD.
3:10His soldiers immediately proclaim his
3:12son, Constantine, as the new emperor.
3:16Constantine doesn't just rule, he
3:18transforms the Roman Empire. He
3:21legalizes Christianity, [music]
3:22ending centuries of persecution. He
3:25moves the capital to Constantinople and
3:28reshapes the entire structure of
3:30imperial power. Western civilization
3:33pivots on decisions made by a man who
3:36begins his reign [music] right here in
3:38York. A statue of whom can be found just
3:41outside York Minster today. [music]
3:44By 314,
3:46York has a bishop attending church
3:48councils in Arles. Christianity isn't
3:51just tolerated, it's becoming the
3:53establishment. The city that was born as
3:56a military fortress is now a center of
3:59faith and imperial power.
4:01When Rome finally withdraws from Britain
4:04a century later, the greatest empire the
4:06world has ever known crumbles. But York
4:10doesn't just disappear with it.
4:12The Roman walls begin [music] to
4:13crumble. Stone is taken for other
4:16buildings. The carefully laid streets
4:18disappear beneath mud and new
4:20construction.
4:21But people remain.
4:28The Anglo-Saxons don't conquer an
4:30abandoned city. They inherit one,
4:32transform it, [music] and make it their
4:34own.
4:35Eboracum becomes Eoforwic. For two
4:39centuries, [music]
4:39York adapts to the post-Roman world.
4:42Then, on Easter day in 627, King Edwin
4:46of Northumbria,
4:47>> [music]
4:47>> a pagan warrior who spent his life
4:49fighting for power, walks into a small
4:52wooden church in York and allows himself
4:54[music] to be baptized.
4:57One man's conversion might not sound
4:58like much, but Edwin is a king. When
5:02kings convert, kingdoms follow.
5:05Christianity spreads across Northumbria
5:07like wildfire [music]
5:08and York becomes its epicenter.
5:11The small wooden church where Edwin is
5:13baptized will eventually become the
5:15Minster.
5:16But that transformation [music]
5:18will take centuries.
5:20By 735,
5:22>> [music]
5:22>> York's bishop has been elevated to
5:24archbishop. York is now on equal [music]
5:27footing with Canterbury. England doesn't
5:29have one Christian center anymore, it
5:32has two, and York is one of them.
5:35And then the city [music] produces a
5:36mind that will shape European thought
5:39for generations.
5:40Alcuin [music] becomes master of the
5:42York School in 778.
5:45Under his [music] guidance, it becomes
5:47one of the most respected centers of
5:49learning in Europe.
5:51Monks travel from across the continent
5:53to study here.
5:54When Charlemagne needs someone to lead
5:56education across [music] his vast
5:58empire, he chooses Alcuin from York.
6:02This is York's golden age of learning.
6:04While most of [music] Europe struggles
6:06in the darkness after Rome's fall, York
6:09keeps the lamp of knowledge burning.
6:11But across the North Sea, other men are
6:14building ships and sharpening weapons.
6:17They've heard about the wealth of
6:18English monasteries, the gold in the
6:20churches, the riches waiting to be
6:23taken.
6:24They're coming and nothing will stop
6:26them.
6:34November 866.
6:36The longships come up the Ouse in the
6:38pre-dawn darkness. Hundreds of warriors,
6:41Danish and Norwegian. The Great Heathen
6:44Army that has already torn through
6:46Eastern [music] England.
6:47They surround Eoforwic before the sun
6:49rises.
6:51The Anglo-Saxon defenders never stand a
6:53chance.
6:54By nightfall, the Vikings hold the city.
6:57They will keep it [music] for nearly 100
6:59years.
7:00They rename it Jorvik. And they don't
7:02just [music] occupy it, they rebuild it.
7:05This isn't a raid, this is colonization.
7:09Viking families settle here. Craftsmen
7:11set up workshops. Merchants establish
7:14trade routes connecting York to Dublin,
7:16to Scandinavia, to the wider Norse
7:18world.
7:20Archaeological digs at Coppergate
7:22[music] in the 1970s uncover Viking
7:24streets so well preserved that leather
7:27from their workshops, wood from [music]
7:28their buildings, even seeds from their
7:31gardens survive a thousand years
7:33underground.
7:35Jorvik becomes one of the most important
7:37cities in the Viking world.
7:39At its height, it may be home to 10,000
7:41people, massive for the time.
7:45They mint their own coins here bearing
7:47the names of Viking kings [music] most
7:49people have never heard of.
7:51The city hums with industry.
7:53Metalworkers, jewelers, wood carvers,
7:56[music] leather workers, all plying
7:58their trades in the narrow streets.
8:00But Viking rule is unstable, violent.
8:04Kings rise and fall. The last [music]
8:06one has a name that tells you everything
8:08you need to know about Viking culture.
8:11Eric Bloodaxe. [music]
8:13That's his actual name, earned through
8:15brutality.
8:17In 954, Eric is [music] killed in battle
8:20and the Viking kingdom of York dies with
8:22him.
8:23For a brief [music] moment, York is
8:25simply English again.
8:27The Anglo-Saxons reclaim [music] their
8:29city.
8:30But that peace lasts exactly one
8:32century. 1066,
8:35the year that changes [music] English
8:36history forever.
8:38Norwegian Vikings come first trying to
8:41reclaim what their [music] ancestors
8:42lost.
8:44King Harold Godwinson marches north and
8:46meets them at Stamford Bridge just
8:48outside York.
8:50He crushes them utterly.
8:52The Viking Age is [music] over.
8:55Harold celebrates in York. He has saved
8:57the city, saved the north.
9:00Then [music] riders arrive with
9:02desperate news.
9:03William of Normandy has landed in the
9:05south with an army.
9:07Harold has to march back immediately.
9:08[music]
9:10He covers 200 miles in four days,
9:13reaches Hastings [music] exhausted, and
9:15dies there with an arrow in his eye. Or
9:18so the legend goes.
9:20William wins.
9:21And York [music] is about to learn that
9:23Norman rule will be the harshest yet.
9:35William of Normandy, later known as
9:37William the Conqueror, rides into York
9:39[music] in 1068.
9:41He looks at the city that has defied
9:43Roman legions and Viking armies and he
9:46gives one order.
9:48Build me a castle.
9:50The foundation of York Castle is laid
9:53and William stations a garrison there to
9:55ensure the city remembers who rules
9:58England now.
9:59The people of York have other ideas.
10:02In 1069, they rebel.
10:06They ally with a Danish invasion force,
10:08storm the castle, and slaughter every
10:11Norman inside.
10:13For a brief, glorious moment, York is
10:16free again.
10:17William's response is apocalyptic.
10:20He unleashes the Harrying of the North,
10:22a campaign of systematic destruction
10:25that remains one of the darkest chapters
10:27in English history.
10:29From York to Durham, his soldiers burn
10:31every village, every farm, every field.
10:36They slaughter livestock, destroy food
10:38stores, salt the earth.
10:41The chroniclers who witness it can't
10:43find words adequate to describe the
10:46horror.
10:47People starve in their thousands. Some
10:49turn to cannibalism.
10:51Yorkshire becomes a wasteland.
10:54William rebuilds York Castle, and this
10:56time, there will be no rebellion.
10:59The message is clear. Defy me, and I
11:02will turn your world to ash.
11:05But life continues.
11:07Slowly, painfully, York recovers.
11:11Trade resumes.
11:12The Minster begins its transformation
11:15from timber Anglo-Saxon church to stone
11:18Norman cathedral.
11:19And York gains something unexpected,
11:22a saint.
11:24In 1153, Archbishop William returns to
11:27York after years of exile.
11:30The city turns out to welcome him home.
11:33So many people crowd onto Ouse Bridge to
11:36see him that the bridge collapses,
11:38hurling hundreds into the river below.
11:41And then the miracle.
11:43Not a single person dies.
11:46William's tomb in the Minster becomes a
11:48pilgrimage destination, drawing visitors
11:51from across England.
11:53But 1190 brings a horror that stains
11:56York's history to this day.
11:59England is preparing for the Third
12:00Crusade, and anti-Jewish violence erupts
12:03across the country.
12:06In York, a mob turns on the Jewish
12:08community.
12:10The Jews seek refuge in Clifford's
12:12Tower, the wooden keep of York Castle.
12:15For days, the mob besieges them,
12:18demanding conversion or death.
12:21On the night of March 16th, facing
12:24certain massacre,
12:25many choose to die by their own hand
12:28rather than give the mob the
12:29satisfaction.
12:31Those who come out hoping for mercy are
12:33murdered anyway.
12:36Around 150 people die that night.
12:38[music]
12:39The exact number is lost to history, but
12:42the shame remains.
12:44York is wealthy now, powerful, connected
12:47to royal authority,
12:49but it's also capable of terrible
12:52cruelty.
12:53The 13th century will test the city in
12:55different ways.
13:02>> [music]
13:03>> It's the year 1212. King John, probably
13:06the worst king England ever has, does
13:09something remarkable for York.
13:11He grants the city powers of
13:13self-governance.
13:14York can now run its own affairs,
13:16collect its own taxes, administer
13:19[music] its own justice.
13:20It's essentially an independent
13:22city-state within England.
13:24This isn't charity, this is business.
13:26[music]
13:27York has become rich, staggeringly rich,
13:30from the wool trade.
13:32English [music] wool is the finest in
13:34Europe, and York is one of the primary
13:36centers for processing and exporting it.
13:39With wealth comes power, and York is
13:42flexing that power.
13:44Then comes 1298, [music]
13:46and King Edward the First, Longshanks,
13:49the Hammer of the Scots, moves the
13:51entire English government [music] to
13:53York.
13:54Not just himself, but everything. The
13:57Treasury, the Exchequer, the law courts,
14:00the administrative machinery that runs
14:02the kingdom.
14:04For 6 [music] years, if you want to do
14:06business with the English government,
14:07you come to York.
14:09Why?
14:10Edward is obsessed with conquering
14:12Scotland. He needs [music] his
14:14government close to the war, and York is
14:17the perfect forward base.
14:19York isn't just [music] important, it's
14:21the temporary capital of England.
14:24The Scots notice.
14:26In 1319, they raid [music] south and
14:28come right to York's walls.
14:31In the fighting, they kill the city's
14:33mayor.
14:34This isn't some distant war, this is
14:36battle at the gates.
14:39Edward the Third has happier memories of
14:40[music] York.
14:42In 1328, he marries Philippa of Hainault
14:45in [music] York Minster in a ceremony
14:47that brings the flower of European
14:49nobility to the city.
14:52York is at the peak of its medieval
14:54glory.
14:55Wealthy from trade, favored by kings,
14:58powerful in its own right.
15:01And then comes something much bleaker in
15:031349.
15:06The Black Death arrives in York like a
15:08thief in the night.
15:10Plague sweeps through the cramped
15:12medieval streets, jumping from house to
15:15house, person to person.
15:18There's no understanding [music] of how
15:19disease spreads, no way to stop it.
15:23People die in their homes, [music] in
15:25the streets, at their workbenches.
15:28The death carts can't keep up.
15:30Somewhere between a third and half of
15:32York's population dies within months.
15:36The economic collapse [music] is
15:37immediate.
15:39Trade stops. Workshops stand empty.
15:42Fields go untended.
15:44The city recovers, but it takes [music]
15:46decades.
15:48And the 15th century brings new
15:50conflicts, political and religious
15:52battles that cut even [music] deeper
15:54than plague.
15:56Archbishop Richard Scrope stands before
15:58his congregation and preaches rebellion.
16:02The taxes are too high, the king's
16:04[music] rule too corrupt, the people too
16:07oppressed.
16:09Scrope is one of the most powerful
16:10churchmen in England, and he's calling
16:12for uprising.
16:14King Henry the Fourth responds with
16:16[music] ruthless efficiency.
16:18He has Scrope arrested, tried, and
16:21beheaded.
16:23The execution shocks England.
16:26Archbishops aren't [music] supposed to
16:27be executed. They're supposed to be
16:29untouchable.
16:31But Henry the Fourth doesn't care about
16:33[music] tradition.
16:35Scrope's head comes off, and his body is
16:38buried in York [music] Minster.
16:40Almost immediately, people begin to
16:42venerate him as a martyr.
16:45The medieval world is ending. The age of
16:48absolute royal power is [music]
16:50beginning.
16:51And York is about to be caught up in the
16:53bloodiest family conflict in English
16:56history.
17:02In 1472,
17:03after 2 and 1/2 centuries of
17:05construction, York Minster is finally
17:08complete.
17:09The Gothic cathedral that began in 1220
17:12is consecrated. Soaring pointed [music]
17:15arches, massive stained glass windows,
17:18stone vaults reaching toward heaven.
17:21It's the largest Gothic cathedral in
17:23northern Europe. The building that will
17:25define York's skyline [music] for
17:27centuries to come is finished.
17:30But all the while, England has been
17:32caught up in a horrible war.
17:35Rewind to the year 1455.
17:38The country descends into civil war.
17:41Not a war against foreign invaders, but
17:44something far more vicious, a dynastic
17:47struggle between two branches of the
17:49same royal family, both descended from
17:52King Edward the Third.
17:54They're fighting for the throne of
17:55England, and the conflict will become
17:58known as the Wars of the Roses.
18:01On one side, the House of Lancaster,
18:04wearing the [music] red rose as their
18:05symbol.
18:06On the other, the House of York with the
18:09white rose.
18:11And York, the city,
18:13isn't just caught up in this war,
18:15it's at the very heart of it.
18:18The white rose flies from these walls.
18:21Yorkist armies march from these streets.
18:24When a Yorkist sits on the throne, York
18:27prospers.
18:28When a Lancastrian wins, York suffers.
18:32Three kings from the House of York rule
18:34England.
18:35Edward the Fourth, who wins the throne
18:38through battle.
18:39His young son, Edward the Fifth, who
18:41reigns for just 2 months before
18:43disappearing.
18:45And Richard the Third, the most
18:47controversial of them all.
18:49York's champion, the city's protector.
18:52To York, he's a patron, a benefactor,
18:55someone who genuinely cares about the
18:57north.
18:59When he rides through these streets,
19:01people cheer.
19:02When he grants the city new privileges,
19:05they're grateful.
19:06Richard is York's king in a way no
19:09southern monarch ever was.
19:12And then comes August 22nd, 1485.
19:14[music]
19:16Bosworth Field.
19:18Richard the Third dies in battle, cut
19:20down by Henry Tudor's forces.
19:23The last Yorkist king falls in the mud
19:26of Leicestershire,
19:27and with him
19:28>> [music]
19:28>> dies the House of York's claim to the
19:30throne.
19:32York mourns.
19:33The Tudors have won, and for this city,
19:36>> [music]
19:36>> it feels like defeat.
19:38The white rose is finished, the red rose
19:41triumphant.
19:42A new dynasty begins, and they have no
19:45love for the north,
19:47no special affection for York.
19:50The Tudors will bring their own [music]
19:51kind of warfare,
19:53religious warfare that cuts even deeper
19:56than political conflict.
20:00By 1530, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey serves
20:03as Archbishop of York.
20:05Wolsey is more than an Archbishop. He's
20:07the second most powerful man in England,
20:10King Henry VIII's right hand, the man
20:12who runs the country while [music] Henry
20:15hunts and feasts.
20:17But Wolsey makes one fatal mistake. He
20:20fails to get Henry [music] his divorce
20:21from Catherine of Aragon.
20:24Henry wants Anne Boleyn,
20:25>> [music]
20:25>> and when Wolsey can't deliver, he's
20:27stripped of everything. He dies in
20:30disgrace in 1530, broken and abandoned.
20:34Six years later, [music]
20:36northern England erupts. The Pilgrimage
20:38of Grace, 40,000 men, women, and
20:42families marching under the banner of
20:44the Five [music] Wounds of Christ.
20:46They're protesting Henry's break with
20:48Rome, the dissolution of monasteries,
20:51the destruction of the Catholic faith
20:52they've known their entire lives.
20:55York is at the center of this rebellion.
20:58Henry crushes it with characteristic
21:00[music] ruthlessness.
21:02The leaders are executed, and the
21:04dissolution continues.
21:06By 1539, [music]
21:08York's great monasteries, St. Mary's
21:10Abbey, Holy Trinity Priory, places that
21:14have stood for centuries, are stripped
21:16of everything [music] valuable and left
21:18to rot.
21:19The religious heart of York is torn out,
21:22but the Catholic community [music]
21:24doesn't disappear. They go underground,
21:26practicing their faith in secret, hiding
21:29priests in concealed rooms, risking
21:32everything.
21:33In 1586,
21:35Margaret Clitherow [music] pays the
21:37ultimate price. She's a butcher's wife
21:39living in The Shambles, and she's been
21:41harboring Catholic [music] priests, men
21:44who are being hunted as traitors simply
21:46for saying mass.
21:48When she's arrested, she refuses to
21:50enter a plea. [music]
21:52She knows that if she pleads, her
21:54children could be forced to testify,
21:56could be tortured for information.
21:59So, she says [music] nothing.
22:01Her punishment is being pressed to
22:03death.
22:04They lay a door [music] on top of her
22:06and pile stones on the door, adding
22:08weight slowly, crushing her body over
22:11hours.
22:12She dies in [music] agony, protecting
22:14her children with her silence.
22:17Today, she's a saint, and her house is a
22:20shrine.
22:21The Reformation has turned neighbor
22:23against neighbor, family against family,
22:26but that isn't the end of York's
22:28troubles.
22:291644,
22:31England is in civil war again. King
22:34versus Parliament, royalist versus
22:36roundhead. [music]
22:38York declares for King Charles I,
22:40and Parliament sends an army to bring
22:42the city to its knees.
22:4420,000 men besiege York for 11 weeks.
22:48Inside the walls, food runs out, [music]
22:51people starve, disease spreads.
22:54The royalists try to break [music] the
22:56siege at Marston Moor, just outside the
22:58city, in one of the largest battles ever
23:01fought on English soil.
23:03They're annihilated.
23:054,000 royalists die [music] in an
23:07afternoon.
23:08York surrenders.
23:10The king will lose his head five years
23:12later.
23:13The age of [music] absolute monarchy is
23:15ending, and York is exhausted from
23:18centuries of warfare, military, [music]
23:21religious, political.
23:23The city needs peace,
23:25and finally, it will get it.
23:33The 18th century is calmer, but York
23:35still knows how to draw a crowd.
23:37April 7th, 1739,
23:40Dick Turpin climbs the ladder to the
23:42gallows at Knavesmire,
23:43>> [music]
23:44>> York's execution ground.
23:46Turpin is a highwayman, a thief,
23:49probably a murderer, but in death, he
23:51becomes a legend.
23:53The story about him riding from London
23:55to York in a single night on his horse
23:57Black Bess,
23:59complete fiction, [music]
24:00made up by a novelist decades after
24:02Turpin dies.
24:04But the legend sticks.
24:06What actually happens is less romantic.
24:09Turpin is a criminal who gets caught,
24:12and York hangs him for it.
24:14Thousands turn out to watch him die.
24:17Executions are public entertainment
24:19[music] in Georgian England.
24:21Turpin reportedly faces death with
24:23courage,
24:24but courage doesn't make a man noble.
24:27It just makes him brave.
24:29Six years later, York's gallows are busy
24:32again.
24:3322 Jacobite rebels are executed here
24:36after Bonnie Prince Charlie's failed
24:38attempt to [music] restore a Catholic
24:40Stuart to the throne.
24:42The 1745 rebellion has come close,
24:45terrifyingly close, to succeeding.
24:48But it fails, and the executions in York
24:51send a clear message about the price of
24:54rebellion.
24:55But the city is changing. The violence
24:58and drama of previous centuries are
25:00fading into history.
25:02York is becoming fashionable, a place
25:04where the Georgian gentry come for horse
25:06racing,
25:07>> [music]
25:07>> theater, and social assemblies.
25:10The ancient city is discovering a new
25:12identity.
25:13But before that transformation, the
25:15Minster will face fire from within.
25:22>> [music]
25:25>> February 1st, 1829,
25:28Jonathan Martin hides in York Minster as
25:30evening service ends.
25:32He waits in the shadows as the last
25:34priests leave, as the doors are locked,
25:37as silence settles over the cathedral.
25:40Then he emerges with candles, prayer
25:42books, and an unshakable belief that God
25:45has commanded him to burn the [music]
25:46Minster down.
25:48He piles cushions and wooden benches
25:50beneath the choir stalls and sets them
25:52alight.
25:53The fire takes hold quickly.
25:55By the time anyone notices,
25:57>> [music]
25:57>> flames are consuming the choir roof.
26:00The Minster burns through the night.
26:03The medieval roof timbers, the carved
26:05choir stalls, centuries of
26:07craftsmanship, all reduced to ash.
26:10Martin is caught, declared insane, and
26:13locked away.
26:14The Minster is rebuilt, more spectacular
26:17than before,
26:19but the message is clear.
26:21Even in the peaceful 19th century,
26:23York's treasures are vulnerable.
26:261830 brings something new, the Yorkshire
26:29Museum, built in Greek Revival style in
26:31the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey.
26:34For the first time, [music] York is
26:36treating its past as something to
26:38preserve, study, and celebrate.
26:41But 1839 [music]
26:43changes everything.
26:44The railway arrives in York, and with it
26:47comes [music] George Hudson.
26:49Hudson isn't born to wealth or power.
26:52He's a draper's son who [music] becomes
26:53the railway king.
26:55He makes York the hub of his railway
26:57empire, and the city explodes with
27:00growth.
27:01Railway workshops employing thousands,
27:04new stations, [music]
27:05hotels, warehouses.
27:07The population surges.
27:09Suddenly, London is five hours away
27:11instead of two days.
27:14Manchester is accessible.
27:16The ancient city that has spent
27:18centuries relatively isolated [music]
27:20is now connected to the entire country.
27:23Tourists [music] pour in.
27:25Middle-class families who can afford a
27:27weekend trip to see the medieval walls
27:30and the Minster. [music]
27:31York has been many things over the
27:33centuries,
27:34Roman stronghold, [music] Viking
27:36capital, royal seat of power.
27:39Now, it's becoming something new,
27:42a tourist destination, [music] a place
27:44where people come to experience history
27:47rather than make it.
27:49The transformation [music]
27:50is just beginning.
27:571938,
27:59the York Castle Museum opens its doors,
28:01and visitors walk down a recreated
28:03Victorian street called Kirkgate.
28:06Shops with authentic goods, gaslights,
28:09cobblestones. It's an instant sensation.
28:13York isn't just preserving history
28:15anymore, it's bringing [music] it to
28:17life. But unfortunately for York, it
28:19cannot escape the mercy of World War II.
28:2329th of April, 1942,
28:26the air raid sirens wail across York at
28:292:30 in the morning.
28:31People stumble from their beds,
28:32confused. Why would the Germans bomb
28:35York?
28:36There are no factories here, no military
28:39installations worth mentioning.
28:41They don't understand. This isn't a
28:43military raid. This is cultural warfare.
28:47The Germans call them Baedeker raids,
28:50named after the German tourist
28:51guidebook.
28:53Hitler has ordered his Luftwaffe to bomb
28:56Britain's most historic cities in
28:58revenge for RAF [music] raids on German
29:00cultural sites.
29:02York, with its medieval streets and
29:04ancient Minster, is a perfect target.
29:08The bombers come in waves. Incendiary
29:10bombs rain down, designed to start fires
29:14that will spread through the old [music]
29:15timber buildings.
29:17The Guildhall, which has stood since the
29:1915th century, burns to the ground. Row
29:23after row of medieval [music] houses
29:24catch fire. The sky glows orange.
29:28The Minster should burn.
29:30Incendiaries land on [music] its roof,
29:33but volunteer firefighters, ordinary
29:35people, climb up there in the middle of
29:37an air raid and put out the fires before
29:40[music] they can spread. They save it.
29:43When morning comes and the all clear
29:45sounds, 92 people are dead, hundreds are
29:49homeless, and large parts of medieval
29:51York are smoking ruins.
29:54But, the Minster stands. York rebuilds.
29:58And it grows in ways that would have
29:59been unimaginable a century before.
30:02In 1963, the University of York is
30:05founded, bringing thousands of [music]
30:07students to a city that has always been
30:10about the past.
30:12Now, it's thinking about the future.
30:15A [music] year later, the National
30:16Railway Museum opens, celebrating York's
30:19[music] Victorian transformation, and
30:21becoming one of Britain's most visited
30:23museums.
30:25Then in [music] 1984, the Jorvik Viking
30:28Centre opens, using the incredible
30:30discoveries from the archaeological digs
30:32in 1979 [music]
30:34to recreate Viking York.
30:37You can walk through reconstructed
30:39streets, see animatronic Vikings at
30:41work, even smell what 10th century
30:43[music] York smelled like.
30:46History isn't you just read about
30:48anymore.
30:49It's something you can experience here
30:51in York.
30:52But, the tragedies aren't done [music]
30:54yet.
30:55Later that year, in 1984,
30:58another fire breaks out [music] in the
30:59Minster.
31:01Lightning strikes during a storm, and
31:03the south transept roof is engulfed in
31:06flames. [music]
31:07Some people claim it's divine judgment.
31:10The Church of England [music] has just
31:11consecrated a bishop whose theology some
31:14find controversial.
31:16Others just call it bad luck.
31:19Either way, the Minster burns again,
31:21[music] and York repairs it again, just
31:24as it had done after Jonathan Martin's
31:26fire 155 years earlier.
31:312,000 years, 70 generations,
31:34one city.
31:36This city has witnessed the [music] best
31:38and worst of what humans are capable of.
31:41Constantine's vision,
31:42Viking ingenuity,
31:44medieval scholarship,
31:46unspeakable violence, unshakeable faith,
31:50the courage of a butcher's wife,
31:53the determination of firefighters saving
31:55the Minster while bombs fell around
31:57[music] them.
31:58If you're from York, this is your
32:00heritage. This is what your city has
32:02endured and achieved.
32:05If you're not from York, you've just
32:07[music] learned why this city matters,
32:09not just to England, but to the story
32:11[music] of Western civilization.
32:14Through everything, York has survived,
32:17then thrived.
32:18History isn't just something that
32:20happened, it's something that shaped us.
32:22>> [music]
32:23>> And York has shaped more history than
32:25almost any city in Britain.
32:28If you enjoyed this journey, please like
32:30this video, and subscribe for more
32:32entire histories.
32:34Don't forget to comment below the city
32:35you'd love to see next, and it might
32:38just be featured in the next video.
32:40Thank you for watching, [music] and as
32:42always, we'll see you in the past.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of The Entire History of York in 32 Minutes by Majestic Studios, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 4,331 words across 857 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to choose a caption track available on the video.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, caption language selection, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.