The website of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York said that Philip Stell had a data base of over 500,000 persons from medieval York that could be searched in a variety of ways. It seemed an obvious way to see if I could find new leads. I have looked everywhere I could find to look, but he may have found places to look I do not know about. So, I contacted the centre. Mr. Stell does not do email I was told, but the secretary did pass along my questions. I received a letter in response -- written by hand. I could imagine 500,000 3 by 5 cards with careful handwriting or, perhaps, punch cards from a much earlier generation of computer equipment. My fears were not realized when I finally got to him on Wednesday morning.

Philip Stell was not a retired historian. He was a retired m.d. and professor of medicine who got an m.a. in medieval history when he retired because he was interested in things old. He wrote his m.a. thesis about the practice of medicine in medieval York because he was interested in medicine and in York -- where he was born and where he had lived all his life. Now, he has been translating and he had accumulated a large database of references that he would search for 12 pounds 50. He said he raised about 10,000 pounds a year this way that he contributed to the department of history or the centre for medieval studies or somewhere. He was a large man who was enthusiastic about what he was doing -- gardening, learning about things medieval, and making a contribution to the university. He searched for Boynton on the spot, in every spelling he had, producing several pages of references. We talked for an hour and I was back to York before noon. It was an enjoyable bit of searching for new leads on the Boynton trail. I have been too busy to do more than glance at it, but I would have no way to pursue new leads while here. That awaits return to Iowa.

Walter de Boynton was the senechal [chief financial officer, we would say] of St. Mary's Abbey, York for three or more decades. His conference room -- the chapter house -- was a very fancy place. After lunch we headed for the museum of the Abbey. We had seen it two years ago, but this was a chance to see it again. The entry to the chapter house was very elaborate -- including carvings on the inside of the door frame much like we had seen in Snainton and would see lots of other places. The pillars of the building were carved as statues. Out of doors you can see remains of the large church of the abbey and their walls, but nothing remains of the chapter house except for a few pieces -- a statue or two and part of the carved doors. When we got to London we went to the chapter house at Westminster, which was also very impressive, and it gave a frame of reference for thinking about the scale of the St. Mary's abbey chapter house. The one in London was large but not gigantic. Perhaps that was also the scale in York.

We passed through the shop; that required much careful viewing of the opportunities. A Penguin Series of re-issues at 1 pound per book attracted much interest from our bargain hunters. Anna is the most careful of the shoppers, and she said she was saving her money for a better day.

Then it was time for the pigeons and St. Leonard's hospital. The museum is located in the park formed by the walls from the original abbey. It is full of pigeons, and Anna was happy to be back to feeding them. The pigeons were happy to be fed, but what was missing this year was the peacocks. At first I thought it was because of the crowds. This was a 3 day holiday weekend, and BBS had scheduled Music Live, with lots of loud music and many people, at the park of St. Mary's. But the peacocks did not show up on Tuesday or Wednesday -- either. We got no explanation for the missing peacocks, but it was a bit of disappointment.

After running out of food for the pigeons we moved on to St. Leonard. St. Leonard was a hospital established by the king in the 11th century as a charity hospital. He gave land to help establish the hospital, and he expected his men in Yorkshire to continue the support at a rate of one thrave per plough [a bit of very ancient measurement] per year. In 1421 the king commissioned Christopher Boynton to look into why his men in Yorkshire were not acting responsibility toward St. Leonard. He expected charitable giving from them, and the head of the hospital said he was not getting it. In 1431 Christopher was involved in a settlement in court in which it was agreed that the king's men should be producing the charitable contributions. Life was relaxed in the 15th century; no instant messaging. But getting sick during that decade was not to be recommended.

St. Leonard was just over the wall from St. Mary's abbey. All we had to do was walk through a gate. Except, the gate was locked. So Anna and Anne climbed around on the wall looking through windows and cracks to see what they could see of the remains of the hospital.

And that was it for York. Tomorrow, off to Hull and Beverley.