Published for the Yorkshire Archaeological Society in 1899, this first volume of a two-volume survey sets out to collect and put into historical context the extant documentation relating to the foundation and early history of three ancient Yorkshire schools - in York, Beverley and Ripon - from their origins up to the Reformation. The earliest of these is what later became York's St Peter's School, founded in 627 by St Paulinus of York and where Alcuin was an early headmaster. An extract from his Latin poem The Bishops, Kings and Saints of York relating to his time at the school is printed here, alongside a wealth of letters, charters and other documents (many in Latin) concerning the history and traditions of all three schools. Arthur Francis Leach (1851–1915), dubbed 'the father of the history of education in England', provides a narrative account to accompany the primary sources.