The St William Window at York Minster is one of the greatest surviving English works of art of the late medieval era. It forms one of three monumental stained-glass narratives created at York Minster in the first decades of the fifteenth century, and like its world-famous neighbour the Great East Window, it is the work of the master glazier John Thornton. The window's monumental scale is matched by its breathtaking artistry, which bears comparison with the finest surviving artistic representations of saints' life cycles of the age. The window's subject is the life and miracles of St William of York, a controversial twelfth-century archbishop whose shrine within the Minster became the focus of a major medieval miracle cult. The modern conservation of the window, which was underpinned by ground-breaking historical research, has enabled the unravelling of its complex narrative and allowed the conserved glass to be reassembled correctly for the first time since the window's creation. This remarkable conservation story has never previously been told.

This timely study by Sarah Brown and Christopher Norton gives us new access to this visionary and striking work of art, and to the life and cult of William itself. * The Very Reverend Dominic Barrington, Dean of York *

Professor Sarah Brown is a renowned expert on medieval ecclesiastical architecture, stained glass history and conservation, and is the author of many books and articles in the field. She is current Chairman of the British Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi for Great Britain and General Secretary of the International Scientific Committee for the Conservation of Stained Glass. Sarah works as a Senior Lecturer specialising in stained glass, its history and conservation in the History of Art Department at the University of York, and since 2008 has also been Director and Chief Executive of the York Glaziers Trust, responsible for the care of the stained glass of York Minster and for projects for external clients throughout the UK. Her previous publications for Profile Editions include The Great East Window of York Minster: An English Masterpiece. Christopher Norton is a Professor in History of Art at the University of York and a member of the Centre for Medieval Studies.