Scandals and street justice. Students make Oxford the murder capital of medieval England

Phys reports that the team behind Medieval Murder Maps, a digital resource that maps crime scenes based on translated coroner’s inquests from 700 years ago, found that the murder rate per capita in Oxford was 4-5 times higher than in late medieval London or York. He writes what he guesses. organ.

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Analysis of known offenders in Oxford shows that a significant number of them, 75 per cent, were described by the coroner as ‘clergy’. It is important to note that in this historical context “clergyman” usually referred to a student.

Professor Manuel Eisner, who is also director of the Cambridge Institute of Criminology, commented: “A medieval university town like Oxford had a lethal combination of circumstances. Oxford students were all male and generally between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one – this was the highest level of families. “They were young men freed from the strict control of the congregation or guild, thrown into an environment filled with weapons, with wide access to bars and sex workers. The fact that students belonged to regional fraternities called “nations” became an additional source of conflict among students.”

The Center for Research on Violence at the University of Cambridge has launched a new website that, for the first time, allows users to compare the causes and patterns of urban violence in medieval England between three cities.

The website features a new map detailing murders in York during its 14th-century “golden age” when the city flourished through trade and textiles. Many of the cases documented in York concern disputes between craftsmen of the same profession, from knife fights between tannery workers to fatal brawls between glove makers.

A valuable source for this research were coroner’s lists recording sudden or suspicious deaths determined by juries of local residents. These records, documented in Latin, include details such as the names, events, locations and even the value of the murder weapons. After carefully analyzing these lists and using maps from the Historic Towns Foundation, researchers compiled a street atlas covering 354 homicides in all three towns.

“When a suspected murder victim was found in late medieval England, a coroner was called and a jury was constituted by the local bailiff for the inquest,” says Eisner, “the typical jury consisted of local men of good repute. “The aim was to determine the course of events by evaluating and then naming the suspect. These incriminating findings were summarized by the coroner.”

But investigators admit these reports amount to a combination of detective work and hearsay. Although some jurors strategically constructed narratives to influence their decisions, there is no concrete evidence to suggest intentional lying. In most cases, these studies probably represented the best approximation to the truth based on available information.

By the early 14th century Oxford had emerged as one of the major centers of learning in Europe, with a population of around 7,000 and around 1,500 students. Eisner and Brown’s research allowed them to estimate that the murder rate in Oxford in the late Middle Ages was around 60–75 per 100,000 people; this is 50 times the modern murder rate in 21st century British cities. The unstable combination of young male students and alcohol consumption was often the catalyst for these cases.

An argument between students in a pub on Oxford High Street escalated into a massive street fight using swords and battle axes, resulting in the death of student John Burel.

Several Oxford cases shed light on disputes between men from different parts of the British Isles. Living conditions often reflected the students’ regional backgrounds, leading to tensions between northerners and southerners and between the Irish, Welsh and English.

In the spring of 1303, a student named Adam de Sarum was attacked by three Irish students while playing ball in the street. They stabbed him in the face and throat. Just a month earlier, two Welsh students had provoked riots by attacking passersby. In response, a Durham student attempted to intervene, resulting in the death of a student.

Stephanie Brown said of clashes between men to keep the peace: “Before the advent of modern policing, victims or witnesses had a legal duty to publicly report a crime by shouting and making noise. This was called ‘tinting’.” “

The prevailing notion of street justice in the Middle Ages, combined with the widespread availability of weapons in everyday life, meant that even minor disagreements could escalate into murder. Some cases in London, for example, started over little things like an eel skin rash or careless urination and ended in fatal violence.

Brown noted the prevalence of knives in medieval society, particularly the type known as “thwytel”, which later became the word for “white”. He explained: “This was a small knife, usually costing a penny, used as cutlery or for daily tasks. Axes for chopping wood were common in homes, and many men carried a staff.”

Approximately 12 percent of murders in London were committed with a sword. Even officials responsible for public order, such as bailiffs, police officers and sergeants, were not immune from attacks.

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