Beer riot on Feb. 10, 1355

Thankfully, no riots broke out while judging at the Upper Mississippi Mash-Out! www.rakemag.com Wine, wine, wine! Wild Horses on Bended Knee February 2004 A liquid valentineS by Oliver Nicholson The saints of February are a rum lot. The larger their reputation, the less can be said for certain about their lives and activities-and vice versa. The blameless virgin Saint Scholastica, twin sister of Saint Benedict, is relatively well documented-for someone who lived fifteen hundred years ago. But she is remembered only for the name of a distinguished college in Duluth, and for the fact that on her feast day (February 10) in 1355 no fewer than sixty-three Oxford scholars were killed in a riot, which began as a difference of opinion about the beer in the Swindlestock Tavern in the city center. [From another source--http://www.thisislimitededition.co.uk/item.asp?category=History&ID=40] But on Oxford, Saint Scholastica is remembered for a far less worthy reason, namely the St Scholastica Massacre of February 10, 1355. Initially this seemed little more than yet another town and gown dispute, such as the one which had caused the exodus of scholars to found a new university at Cambridge in 1209, and another to Stamford in Lincolnshire in 1330. This riot was destined, however, to have an influence on the day-to-day life of townspeople and members of the University alike for the next 500 years. It started with a dispute over the quality of the beer at the Swindlestock Tavern on Carfax. Although the tavern itself has long disappeared, the event is commemorated in a stone set into the wall of the Abbey National Bank. On this occasion, two scholars, Walter Sprynghouse and Roger de Chesterfield, visited the Swindlestock Tavern, having probably already indulged elsewhere. Insults and accusations were exchanged and the resultant brawling, looting, and setting fire to property went on unabated for two days and nights. Town rushed into St Martin's, Carfax, then the city church. Gown retaliated by pealing the bells of the University church of St Mary the Virgin in the High Street. The gauntlet had been thrown down, and Oxonians on both sides armed themselves with swords, daggers, and bows and arrows. By the time the riot had died down, 63 scholars lay dead, as well as nearly half that number of townspeople. King, Edward III eventually intervened in the dispute, the result being a charter in gown's favour, to the chagrin and humiliation of town. Annually, on St Scholastica's Day, the mayor and burgesses were forced to attend a church service in St Mary's. There they handed over a fine of one penny for each scholar killed in the massacre. In addition, the tower of St Martin's church was lowered to make it much more difficult for town to inflict serious injury by hurling missiles on to their enemies at street level.