0106 - 1355 - The Tavern Brawl and Saint Scholastica Day Riot When Clerical Privilege Turned a University City Violent

About this episode

The episode discusses the St. Scholastica’s Day Riot of 1355, highlighting the conflict between Oxford's townspeople and university scholars over clerical privileges.

Title: 1355 AD - The St. Scholastica’s Day Riot: When Clerical Privilege Turned a University City Violent Website/YT/POD/FB Description: On February 10, 1355, a complaint about bad wine at Oxford’s Swindlestock Tavern escalated into three days of violence that left dozens dead and the city scarred. The St. Scholastica’s Day riot revealed the deep resentment between Oxford’s townspeople and its university scholars, who enjoyed clerical privileges that protected them from local justice. Students wore tonsures and gowns marking them as churchmen, giving them benefit of clergy—lighter punishments in church courts rather than the harsher penalties townspeople faced. When two students insulted a tavern keeper, the fight spilled into the streets, bells rang from competing towers, and armed mobs from town and countryside attacked scholars in their lodgings. Bodies were thrown into ditches, halls were burned, and books were dragged into the streets. King Edward III responded by restoring the university’s charter while imprisoning Oxford’s mayor and placing the town under interdict for over a year. He then expanded the university’s authority over Oxford’s markets and justice system…

People in this episode

Host: Bob Baulch

Topics covered

• historical riots
• clerical privilege
• Oxford University
• town and gown conflict
• medieval history
• violence in history

Keywords

• St. Scholastica’s Day Riot
• Oxford
• King Edward III
• clerical privilege
• medieval violence
• town and gown
• historical conflict

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Oxford

Places: Swindlestock Tavern, St Mary’s Church

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