The St. Scholastica Day Riot: When Oxford’s town and gown went to war

The rivalry between the university and the city of Oxford is, for the most part light-hearted today, but it was nothing short of extremely violent back in the Middle Ages. It culminated in some of the bloodiest days in the town’s history, including the St Scholastica Day riot of 1355. But how did the rivalry escalate into such violence?

Oxford in the Middle Ages: A Growing Town of Trade and Learning

Oxford in the Middle Ages was initially important as a market town, so prosperous was it that it paid the third highest tallage in England by the thirteenth century. At the same time, it was increasingly becoming a centre of learning. From at least 1096, students were studying in the town, including at the Collegiate Chapel of St. George located inside the castle walls.

As war with France prevented students from studying in the University of Paris, Oxford became the place to study. By the 13^th century, this brought a large population of students and scholars to the town, leading to friction.

Power, Privilege, and Increasing Hostility

The power early medieval universities had was considerable; in the case of Oxford, it came to control the town market and much of the property inside the walls. There were also legal privileges, and students had the same rights as clergy, meaning they could only be tried in ecclesiastical courts and not by town authorities. The townspeople felt they were above the law, and in many ways, they were.

Robberies, attacks and murders were common among the students, and understandably, the townspeople fought back. In 1209, two scholars of the university were lynched by a mob, causing a considerable portion of scholars and students to flee to Cambridge, setting up the university there as a result. These tensions were heightened by the decline of Oxford during the fourteenth century, partially a result of the Black Death but also as the town increasingly relied on the university as a source of income.

A Dispute at the Swindlestock Tavern

All of this came to a head on the 10^th of February 1355. In an incident at the Swindlestock Tavern, students attacked the landlord over poor wine and service, leading to a brawl between students and townspeople. Whilst calls for calm were made, including by the university’s chancellor, things quickly got out of hand.

48 Hours of Violence: The St Scholastica Day Riot

In the subsequent 48 hours, the town bailiffs armed the people and encouraged a mob to attack students and scholars. This even included people from the surrounding countryside, enticed by the money offered by the bailiffs.

To cries of “Havoc! Havoc! Smyt fast, give gode knocks!” the townspeople broke into taverns and halls of residence. Students and other members of the university fled or barricaded themselves inside their colleges or inside the Augustine Priory in the town. Those who didn’t were killed by the townspeople.

Royal Intervention and the Aftermath

Students and scholars were allegedly scalped so as to look like the clergy they had the privileges of, and thrown into dunghills or the River Thames. Despite intervention by King Edward III, who was staying in nearby Woodstock, it would take two whole days before the violence finally began to subside. The total number of people killed is unclear, but it’s likely to be around thirty townspeople, sixty students and scholars.

The town may have won the day, with most student halls and colleges destroyed, but the university would eventually prevail. As with previous incidents, the King sided with the students and the town was punished heavily. The townspeople were not only fined and the mayor imprisoned, but in June, the university was given a charter granting it considerable commercial rights. These included the right to tax bread and alcohol sold in town, which allowed the university to dominate commerce.

Long-Term Consequences for Oxford Town and University

To add insult to injury, the mayor and other prominent townspeople had to also attend an annual mass commemorating the deaths of the students, a practice which did not end until 1825. In the end, the riot guaranteed the university’s power in Oxford and led to a long decline in the town’s fortunes during the Later Middle Ages.

Discover Medieval Oxford Today

But the riot didn’t end the rivalry. Incidents between town and gown would continue, though to nowhere near the same level of violence as had occurred on St Scholastica’s Day. The students within the castle walls have long gone, but you can come and see one of Oxford’s first centres of learning at our site, as well as one of the places students used to be locked up!

Author: Frederick Hudson

References

[1] Anne Dodd (eds), Oxford before the University, (Oxford, 2003).

[2] Janet Cooper, ‘Medieval Oxford: A history of the city by Janet Cooper’, in Alan Crossley (eds), The Victoria History of the County of Oxford Volume IV, (London, 1979).

[3] Mark Davies, Stories of Oxford Castle: From Dungeon to Dunghill, (Towpath, 2005).