Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-04-12
The Origin Of an Ancient Dispute
at Oxford.
STALE FISH AND BAD BEER.
The University Authorities Objected to
These, and Then Came the Battle Of
St. School, stica's Day and Open War;
fare. Massacre and PillaQe.

for strife. The Juniors fight. and the
seniors separate the combatants. In
the old days there was really some
thing to fight about. and the seniors
were rs pugnacious as the juniors and
joined US pugnaciously in the ARRAYS
The dispute arose in the first instance
out of disagreements between overlap.
ping Jurisdictions. The origin was in
the divergent views entertained by the
municipal and university authorities on
matters of sanitation and hygiene, and
it will not be denied that the univer-
sity authorities were in the right.
They objected to the sale Of sinking
fish and the brewing of beer from wa.
ter contaminated with sewage. The
townsmen thought such objections fas'
tidious and were very angry when the
university appealed to the king to in.
terfere: hence constant chickering's and
a frequent exchange Of abusive Ian
guage: hence ultimately open war and
that battle of st. Scholastica's day,
which takes rank in history as the
earliest of the recorded town and gown
rows.
The trouble began in a tavern on
Feb. 10. 1854. Some scholars who were
drinking there found fault with the
wine. and the vintner said that it was
quite good enough wine for them. The
scholars threw the wine at the vint-
ner's head. and the vintner summoned
his friends and neighbors to the res
cue. They rang the bell Of the Church
Of st. Martin at Carfax. and the pop
ulace. summoned by this tocsin, shot
at the scholars with bows and arrows.
The chancellor of the university ap-
peared upon the scene, ingeminatin
peace where there was no peace. and
be also was shot at. Then the bell of
the university Church Of st. Mary was
started ringing, and the melee became
general and lasted until the setting Of
the sun. No one was killed. The
gownsmen got the best of it, and the
chancellor was under the impression
that the riot was over. He issued q
proclamation bidding the scholars 90
to their lectures as usual on the FOL-
lowing day.
They went as he babe them. but not
with the impunity which he expected.
The townsmen had vowed aud planned
vengeance and were lying In wait
for them. INSTRUMENTATION peas
ants carrying an omnibus black flag
swarmed into the city from Cowley.
Headington and Hinksey. The Carfax
tocsin pealed out a second time, just
after the midday dinner hour, and the
tocsin Of st. Mary's responded as be-
fore. The townsmen not only assailed
the scholars in the streets. but. when
they fed before superior forces, pur-
sued them into their lodgings, inns
and halls. killing all that they could
and stealing or destroying all the prop
erty that they could lay their hands
on.
Peacemakers were badly needed. and.
the chancellor having called for peace
in vain. the monks tried what they
could do. There sailed forth a vail
ant band of friars. carrying their cru
cifix and seeking to compose the strife
by chanting litanies. Without avail
They themselves became the objects
Of the popular fury: scholar was
struck down while actually clinging
to the crucilix. Other scholars were
followed into the churches and massa-
cred at the foot of the altar Dead
bodies were flung on to dunghills; the
wounded were hailed to prison, and
even torture was not spared. 'The
crowns of some chaplains." says the
chronicler-"viz. all the skin. so far as
the tonsure went-these diabolical
imps tlayed Off in scorn Of their
clergy"
At last the university could resist
no more. The gownsmen began to fee
into the country. all Of them save the
scholars of Merton. who alone had
solid walls behind which they could
retire. Withdrawing to their college.
while the town triumphed outside. the
sole representatives Of learning in a
deserted city which the bishop had
laid under an interdict the scholars
ance and redress of grievances.
1t came. The king sent down a spe-
cial commission to investigate. The
mayor of Oxford and his bailiffs were
sent to prison. the sheriff was removed
from Office. and presently the town
was further Inundated by the be-
stowal of fresh privileges upon the
gownsmen. The gownsmen and not
the townsmen were henceforth to de-
eide whether fish skunk. and IL they
decided that it did stink they were to
send it to the hospitals for the con-
sumption of the sick. They were also
adjudged pecuniary compensation for
the damage done. and their supremacy
was in various other ways established
on a firm basis.
Such was the first town and gown
row. in which Merton may be said to
have saved the university. But for
Merton the university would then have
been wiped out and its clerks would