10/02/2026
👨🌾 Town vs Gown 👨🎓
On this day in 1355, Oxford was shaken to the core by an outbreak of 3 days of ultra violence, in what would become known as the St Scholastica Day Riot.
Set against a backdrop of rising tensions and perceived inequalities between locals and students, the spark was lit (as it often is) after a few drinks.
An argument between University students and a tavern owner over the quality of the wine he was serving quickly escalated into a pub fight, that then spilled out into the street. Battle lines drawn between students and locals, and things escalated with groups armed themselves for the fight.
To raise help, it’s said that the locals rang the bell at town’s church St Martin’s, and the students rang the bells of the University church, St Mary the Virgin.
Things calmed down over night, but later the next day things escalated even further, with up to 2,000 people from nearby countryside coming to join the townsfolk, arriving under a black banner.
Students retreated to their halls where they barricaded themselves in, and mobs broke into what buildings they could, attacking - and allegedly scalping - as they went.
By the evening of the third day the violence had died down, with many of the scholars had fled Oxford, but not before much of the town had been burnt down.
While exact numbers are unknown, it is believed 20-30 Oxfordians, and 63 students, were killed in the violence.
The aftermath saw the town’s Mayor swearing an oath in acknowledgment of the university’s privileges, on the order of Edward III, and townsfolk sworn to attend an annual mass for the souls of the killed students on the anniversary.
