St Scholastica Day riot
The disturbance began when two students from the University of Oxford complained about the quality of wine served to them in the Swindlestock Tavern, which stood on Carfax, in the centre of the town.
The violence started by the bar brawl continued over three days, with armed gangs coming in from the countryside to assist the townspeople.
John Gynwell, the Bishop of Lincoln, imposed an interdict on the town for one year, which banned all religious practices, including services (except on key feast days), burials and marriages; only baptisms of young children were allowed.
[10][11] During the first part of the fourteenth century the population was aware of the decline of Oxford's fortunes, and this coincided with disturbance and unrest between the town and university.
[17][18] In 1248, a Scottish scholar was murdered by the citizens; Robert Grosseteste, the Bishop of Lincoln, enforced a ban of excommunication on the culprits and Henry III fined the town's authorities 80 marks.
[15] In a 1314 riot between the two main factions of the university—the Northernmen and the Southernmen, 39 students were known to have committed murder or manslaughter; seven were arrested and the remainder sought religious sanctuary or escaped.
[35] Humphrey de Cherlton, the Chancellor of the University, tried to calm both sides before things got too far out of hand, but arrows were shot at him and he retreated from the scene.
[37] About eighty townsmen, armed with bows and other weapons, went to St Giles' Church in the north part of the town, where they knew some scholars were, and chased them to the Augustine priory, killing at least one student and badly injuring several others on the way.
[38] Late in the day of 11 February, up to 2,000 people from the countryside came in the western gate of the town to join the townsfolk, waving a black banner and crying: "Havoc!
[42] The citizens broke into five inns and hostels, where they finished off much of the food and drink; any student found there in his rented rooms or hiding place was killed or maimed.
[43] After the violence subsided that night, the authorities from the town and the university went through the streets proclaiming in the king's name "that no man should injure the scholars or their goods under pain of forfeiture".
[42] In the early hours of the following morning de Cherlton and other senior members of the university left for nearby Woodstock, having been summoned there by Edward III, who was staying in the village.
They again rang the bell at St Martin's to rally their supporters and that day fourteen more inns and halls were sacked by the rioters, who killed any scholars they found.
[45][51][53] While the royal commission of inquiry was in place, John Gynwell, the Bishop of Lincoln, imposed an interdict on the townspeople, and banned all religious practices, including services (except on key feast days), burials and marriages; only baptisms of young children were allowed.
According to Cobban, "the St Scholastica's Day riot was ... the last of the extreme bloody encounters" between town and gown; subsequent grievances were settled in the courts or by appealing to the government.
[61][62] The historian C. H. Lawrence observes that the charter "was the climax of a long series of royal privileges which raised the university from the status of a protected resident to that of the dominant power in the city".
[12] One unintended corollary of the growing power of the university was that the town's weakened authorities did not accommodate plays or theatre until the sixteenth century.
[65] The annual penance undertaken by the mayor continued until 1825 when the incumbent refused to take part and the practice was allowed to drop.
[67][68] The historian Alan Cobban observes that the two contemporary histories of the events differ in their allocation of blame; he considers that "given that propaganda and exaggeration were involved in these accounts, the whole truth may never be found.
