Tag Archives: York Blackfriars

In mid-April 1518 at five in the afternoon, William Stokall of York attacked William Rygg alias Scaff, a yeoman also of York, in the churchyard of York Minster. In order to defend himself, Rygg struck back, killing Stokall. In describing the circumstances of the killing, the coroner’s inquest gave the standard self-defence narrative of beingContinue reading “Cornered in the York Minster churchyard”