B. MILITARY VALUE OF ITS POSITION

York is situated on the higher ground, in the angle made by the rivers
Ouse and Foss at their junction; a little to the south, the east and
the west there are low ridges of mound. The outer, main series of
hills which border the central plain, are some dozen miles away, their
outer faces being more or less parallel and running very roughly north
and south. It seems clear that the site was chosen from the first for
its immediate defensive value, the direct result of its geographical
features. The position was of both tactical and strategic importance.
In Roman times, however, its tactical value decreased when the great
wall was built that stretched with its lines of mound, ditch,
stone-rampart, and road, and its series of camps and forts, from near
the mouth of the Tyne to Solway Firth. Henceforth the wall marked the
debatable frontier, but York never lost its strategic value. It was
thus used by the Romans, William I., Edward I., Edward II., and Edward
III. in their occupation of and their expeditions against the North.
It has served as a base depôt and military headquarters for centuries.


C. POLITICAL IMPORTANCE

York, then, whatever its name (for it had many names) or condition,
inevitably became an occupied place, a stronghold or a town from
earliest times. When the Church attained great importance in the
north, York, in addition to its natural and military values became, in
735, an ecclesiastical metropolis, for from this date the Archbishop
of York was not only the ruler of the diocese of York, but in addition
spiritual head of the Church in the North of England. Further, there