As said in a previous post, the York Minster is a majestic Gothic cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of York, who is the second highest office in the Church of England. Visiting the site, I learnt that this estate had hosted five different buildings: a Roman fortress to defend the Britannia Inferior's capital, a wooden church to baptise King Edwin of Northumbria, a stone structure for Saint Wilfrid and the Benedictines, a Norman cathedral, and, finally, the Gothic cathedral that we know, which has been repaired several times due to fires and collapses.
Furthermore, I learnt that it was in this Minster that Constantine Augustus was proclaimed Emperor by the legions following his father's death. In 313 A.D., the Emperor Constantine the Great would promulgate the Edict of Milan in the Western Roman Empire (and Licinius Augustus in the East), establishing religious freedom for all in the Roman Empire.
[...]it has pleased us to remove all conditions whatsoever, which were in the rescripts formerly given to you officially, concerning the Christians and now any one of these who wishes to observe Christian religion may do so freely and openly, without molestation.[...]we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have the free opportunity to worship as he pleases; this regulation is made we that we may not seem to detract from any dignity or any religion.
Constantine Augustus, Edict of Milan
Although Romans had been very liberal in general with the religions of the conquered peoples (they even included the new gods into their pantheon), they persecuted the Christians from an early stage. With the Edict of Milan, the right to observe one's own religious beliefs openly and freely was granted formally and for all within the limits of the Roman Empire. As another example of History's spiral path, please mind that we are still struggling to understand that right and make it universal 2000 years later. However, I should underline that this right was conceded by the Roman Emperors for the sake of the peace of our times and due to a number of factors.
At the time of Constantine, the power of the Roman Empire was already languishing and it wasn't capable to enforce any longer the state religion that supported the emperors' god-given right to rule and hence the Empire's unity. Immigrants, barbarians and conquered peoples practised their own customs, uses and beliefs. At the same time, the moral of most pure Roman citizens decayed but many others were appealled by new faiths claiming for more orthodox lifestyles. In contrast with the existing trend for lust and power, the Christianism offered a religion of love and justice as well as solidarity and sacrifice. After having been persecuted for 300 years, the admirable behaviour of the first Christians finally convinced Emperor Constantine to adapt to the reality for the sake of the Empire. Firstly, the observance of the Christianism was admitted; secondly, it was accepted that Christians were in the power; thirdly, the Emperor himself converted and was baptised; finally, the Christianism was institutionalised as the new official religion by Emperor Theodosious.
All these steps were taken wisely by the late Roman governors as it could be seen after the fall of the Western Roman Empire less than 200 years later. The Germanic tribes admired the Roman culture and accepted the pre-eminence of the Christianism and so they adopted both. However, the new occupants were divided and under their rule, the culture decayed dramatically. In this depressing situation, the supremacy of the Catholic Church helped conserve the Roman legacy. On one hand, the unity of the Church supported a certain degree of homogeneity in the traditions among the European nations, as there was no other power strong enough to impose its own leadership. On the other hand, the labour of the monasteries as islands of wisdom and custodies of the knowledge prevented from losing most of the classic culture (although it is true that much was not added). The Catholic Church always considered itself the Roman Church (with its connotations of universality) and thus the attached Roman culture perdured through the centuries.
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