Paulinus of York brought Christianity to the area in the early 7th century, Edwin of Northumbria, king of Northumbria, converted, and the first cathedral is believed to have been built in 627, although the location of the early cathedral is debated. York became a centre of learning and its most famous pupil was Alcuin.
In 866, a “mighty Viking army” occupied York, and after 876, Vikings settled in parts of the Yorkshire countryside. Viking Kings ruled The region for nearly a century and are known in history as The Viking Kingdom of Jorvik. It was not until 954 that the last Viking king, Eric Bloodaxe, was expelled and his kingdom incorporated into the new Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Another famous scholar of this era was Wolfstein II, Archbishop of York.
After Norman’s conquest in 1066, York suffered the revenge of the “Northern Devil” in 1069 and caused much damage. William I of England, William the Conqueror, launched a series of reprisals against local uprisings. Each castle was built on the banks of the Ouse. By this time York was becoming an important city and the centre of Yorkshire administration. And established an archbishopric here, who in the late 13th and 14th centuries became the second most important administrative institution after the royal government. It was also an important trading center. After the Norman Conquest, several religious buildings were built here, including St. Mary’s Abbey and Holy Trinity Abbey, and the city became a royal possession, with the infanta protecting the Jewish community.
On the 16th of March 1190, a civic riot forced the Jews of York to flee to a wooden castle controlled by the county, which was set on fire and the Jews were slaughtered, most likely by the city’s wealthy who had failed to pay their debts to the Jews, and at the very least, they stood by while it happened, Jewish liturgies commemorating the York Massacre continued until 1990, when Orthodox Judaism banned Jews from living in the city.