able
that they captured York about 367 A.D. They were shortly afterwards
driven northwards by Theodosius the Elder. At the beginning of the fifth
century there were further invasions repelled by Stilicho, but in 409
the Emperor Honorius withdrew the Roman troops from Britain, and the
Roman period in the history of York came to an end.

Of the early ecclesiastical history of York less even is known than of
the civil. There are few relics of Roman Christianity in the city.

A stone coffin, with an apparently Christian inscription, and several
Roman ornaments bearing crosses have been found and placed in the York
Museum, but this is all. There is no evidence, documentary or other, of
the manner in which Christianity reached York. The Christian historians
give us only the most meagre references to the history of the faith in
Britain. Tertullian, for example, mentions that parts of the island as
yet unvisited by the Romans had been evangelised by British
missionaries, and, if this were so, it would seem to prove that the
Church in Britain was early active and flourishing. It is not until 314
A.D. that we come upon a definite historical fact. This was the date of
the Council of Arles, convened by Constantine, to consider the Donatist
Heresy, and among the bishops there assembled were three from
Britain--"Eborus, Episcopus de Civitate Eboracensi; Restitutus,
Episcopus de Civitate Londinensi; Adelfius, Episcopus de Civitate Col.
Londinensium" (perhaps Lincoln). These bishops are mentioned in the
order of precedence, and it would appear that the See of York at that
time was the most important, or perhaps the oldest, in Britain. Bishops
of York were also present at the Councils of Nicaea, Sardica, and
Arminium. With these facts our knowledge of the Roman see of Eburacum
begins and ends. The Episcopal succession probably continued for some
time after the Roman evacuation, and the legendary names of Sampson,
Pyramus or Pyrannus, and Theodicus have been handed down as bishops of
York during the struggle with the Anglo-Saxon invaders. For a long time
after the Roman evacuation jewels and plate were discovered in the
neighbourhood; and in the Pontificate of Egbert, an archbishop in the
eighth century, there is a special form of prayer for hallowing vessels
discovered on the sites of heathen temples and houses. The great Wilfrid
also, in the seventh century, speaks of recovering the sacred places
from which the British clergy had been