This work is concerned with the comparative study of three minster churches, those of Beverley, Ripon and Southwell, in the period 1066-c1300. It will seek to establish the course of their institutional development in the period, the role they played within the Archdiocese of York, and the effects of change in this period on their institutional identities both individually and collectively. As a study of non-cathedral institutions after the Conquest, it will also necessarily touch upon the relationship between central and local power, the dynamics of institutional change, and the mechanisms employed for the extension of archiepiscopal authority. [From introduction].