The Intemperant Origins of Oxford

University students in England have a certain reputation for intemperance, and although Oxford is the nation’s pre-eminent university, students there have always obeyed the stereotype. Indeed, one could say that is how the university was founded.

Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world but, prior to its foundation, scholars were educated at the University of Paris. Here, however, the English apparently comported themselves so badly that Henri II banned them as of 1167. Forced to return to their homeland, they had no choice but to found a new seat of scholarship: Oxford. The university is not one single organisation, but is comprised of 38 separate colleges, each of which has its own residence in the town.

Over the generations, the Oxford students continued living in the same intemperant style that had so angered Henri II, but now it was the townspeople of Oxford who suffered their company. In 1209, the tension between ‘town and gown’ (the townspeople and students) exploded after some students were responsible for the death of a young woman. In retaliation, two students were lynched. It was at this point that a sector of Oxford’s scholars moved away to found England’s other pre-eminent university, Cambridge.

Periodic explosions of violence between townspeople and students during the 13th Century resulted in the Oxford colleges being constructed with high walls that closed the students’ residences off from the street, the cloistered interior being built around a central quadrant. Although famous now for their beauty, the original impetus behind this design of college was security.

The final climax of rioting came in a two-day battle between students and townspeople on St. Scholastica’s Day in 1355 during which scores of students were killed and injured. The rioters was severely punished, and the town forced to observe mourning on the anniversary of that day for the next 500 years.