York began as a Roman camp when the 9th Legion arrived to suppress the Celtic Brigante tribe. The camp eventually became a major town called Eboracum and was the capital of Britannia Inferior. The Emperors Hadrian, Septimus Severus, and Constantine all used it as their headquarters when campaigning in the north of Britain.

After the Roman withdraw of 410 AD, the Saxons invaded and eventually took Eboracum, naming it Eoforwic. The city became the capital of the independent Kingdom of Northumbria. In 867, the city was taken by the invading Vikings, destroyed, and rebuilt as Jorvik. Jorvik was the capital of the Danelaw, that area of England that was ruled by the Danes until the King of Wessex, Alfred the Great, united England under Saxon rule. York suffered under William the Conqueror for it’s rebellion against Norman rule. During the Middle Ages, York was known as the “capital of the North” and was a center of religion. It suffered as a result under King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries as it was a center of clerical wealth. The Parliament forces took the city after the Battle of Marston Moor during the English Civil War.

With the coming of the railroads in the 1830s, York regained some of its former glory as an important rail hub. Today, with its medieval streets and buildings, York is a popular tourist destination.

Jorvik Viking Center

The Jorvik Viking Center is built on the site of Viking Jorvik, recently discovered well preserved in wet mud. The museum recreates life in the Viking town in a series of tableaux depicting markets, street scenes, and other aspects of daily life, including a rather popular latrine scene. One can actually experience the sights, sounds, and even smells of Jorvik of about the 9th Century. There is also a recreation of the archeological dig, including explanations of how scientists interpreted the evidence they found.