Minster (church)

Common card · No. 311877

Minster is an honorific title given to particular churches in England and Wales, most notably York Minster in Yorkshire and Westminster Abbey in London. The term minster is first found in royal foundation charters of the 7th century, when it designated any settlement of clergy living a communal life and endowed by charter with the obligation of maintaining the daily office of prayer. Widespread in 10th-century England, minsters declined in importance with the systematic introduction of parishes and parish churches from the 11th century onwards. The term continued as a title of dignity in later medieval England, in instances where a cathedral, monastery, collegiate church or parish church had originated with an Anglo-Saxon foundation. Eventually, the word minster came to be applied occasionally in a more general way to "any large or important church, especially a collegiate or cathedral church". In the 21st century, the Church of England has designated certain parish churches as minsters...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Steve Cadman from London, U.K., CC BY-SA 2.0