On This Day In History: Riot Over Wine In Oxford – On Feb 10, 1355
MessageToEagle.com – On Tuesday February 10, 1355, the so-called St Scholastica Day Riot took place in Oxford, England.
There are conflicting reports on what exactly happened in what is now known as “The St. Scholastica’s Day Riots”. The students complained about the quality of the ales they were drinking, which led to assaults.
The landlord, John Barford, who was at the time Mayor of the town, replied with many unpleasant words and was hit on the head by a tankard thrown by a student. As a result of this action, he went to St Martin’s, the City Church, and rang the bell, to gather the townsmen to arms.
A ‘disagreement’ between the Oxford students and the Oxford inhabitants resulted in approximately 100 deaths and permanently soured the relationship between ‘town and gown’.
The next day, Barford rode into the countryside, seeking support, and gathered 2,000 men, who entered the city and broke into the colleges, killing students, and although the students fought back, a total of 63 were killed. The townsmen suffered a death toll of about 30.
The king, Edward III, ordered an investigation, which found in favor of the University. The Mayor and Bailiffs were ordered to walk bareheaded through the town and attend a Mass for the souls of the dead, on every subsequent St Scholastica’s Day, and to swear an oath to observe the University’s privileges, and, if that were not enough, to pay an annual fine of 63 pence to the University.
When these annual processions were made, the Mayor and his entourage were jeered and pelted by the students, and over the years, many petitions were made to the Crown, asking for the penance to be lifted. In 1825, the Mayor refused to go ahead with the ceremony and no action was taken by the University authorities, and so the annual procession ceased.
Relations between students and townies at Oxford have never been good since that time, and even today, there are unofficially designated student and townie pubs.
First version of this article was originally published on February 10, 2017
MessageToEagle.com
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