OF THE PRIVILEGE
While money and books were the twin bases on which the fabric of the
University reposed, it is plain that a great institution of the sort
would involve the employment of numerous agencies not strictly concerned
with the work of instruction, but engaged upon the not less necessary
functions of maintaining order and ministering to the needs of the body.
All persons so occupied were accounted as "of the privilege of the
University," and were subject to the jurisdiction of the Chancellor.
From an indenture between the University of Oxford and the Town, dated
1459, we find that the Privilege embraced:
"The Chaunceller, alle doctours, maistres, other graduats, alle
studients, alle scholers, and alle clerkes, dwellyng within the precint
of the Universite, of what condicion, ordre or degree soever they be,
every dailly continuell servant to eny of theym bifore rehersed
belonging, the styward of the Universite wyth their menyall men, also
alle Bedells with their dailly servants and their householdes, all
catours, manciples, spencers, cokes, lavenders, povere children of
scolers or clerkes, within the precinct of the said Universite, also
alle other servants taking clothing or hyre by the yere, half yere, or
quarter of the yere takyng atte leste for the yere vi. shillings and
viij. pence, for the half iii. shillings and iv. pence, and the quarter
xx. pence of any doctour, maister, graduat, scoler or clerc without
fraud or malengyne; also, alle common caryers, bryngers of scolers to
the Universite, or their money, letters, or eny especiall message to eny
scoler or clerk, or fetcher of eny scoler or clerk fro the Universite
for the tyme of such fetchyng or bryngyng or abidyng in the Universite
to that entent."
Parchment-makers, illuminators, scribes, barbers, and tailors were also,
by convention, members of the Privilege.
Before going farther, it will be well to inquire what is intended by the
"precinct of the University." There appears to have been some amount of
uncertainty as to the radius included. In 1444 Henry VI. granted
authority to the Chancellor to banish any contumacious person from the
precinct of the University, which was taken to mean a circuit of twelve
miles. On the other hand, on March 17, 1458, David Ap-Thomas swore on
the Holy Gospels that he would keep the peace towards the members of the
University, would inform the authorities of any plot against them which
might come to his knowledge, would not assist in rescuing Richard Lude
from prison, and would leave Oxford on the following day, nor presume to
come within _ten_ miles of the University for twelve weeks.
THE BEDELS
Of all the persons named as of the Privilege the bedels, as the
executive officers, most distinctly represent its character and extent.
The office of bedel was, of course, not confined to the Universities. In
London, for example, the wards had their bedels, who were sworn, _inter
alia_, to suffer no persons of ill repute to dwell in the ward of which
they were bedels, and to return good men upon inquests. They were also
to have a good horn and loud sounding. At Oxford the bedels were bound
to make summonses for scholars at their request, and to arrest
wrong-doers. The latter duty was naturally attended with some peril; and
in 1457, one Richard of the Castle, flying from the hands of Came,
Bedel, with drawn dagger, because he refused to go to prison, was
banished from the University. Fines also were levied by the bedels, and
they played a conspicuous part in the ceremonies of Congregation and
similar assemblies. As the position was liable to abuse, they were bound
by certain restrictions. Thus, they were forbidden to ask or receive
[extraordinary?] fees from inceptors[3] and to carry anything away with
them from the feasts at inceptions. They were required to attend
funerals, but might not ask for a share of the offerings, nor for any
present from the executors of the dead. And they had to give up their
maces at the first congregation after Michaelmas, but were eligible for
reappointment.
The bedels were of two grades--higher and lower; and the superior bedels
were bound by immemorial usage to provide the inferior bedels with board
and lodging and ten shillings a year for shoes. In 1337 the latter, on
resigning their office in congregation, according to custom, complained
that the superior bedels had neglected to furnish them with board.
Thereupon the University decreed that the inferior bedels should be
granted the option of standing at meals with the superior or receiving a
weekly allowance of sevenpence as compensation. This allowance was to be
suspended during the absence from Oxford of any inferior bedel, whether
occasioned by his own affairs or those of the University. The annual
payment of ten shillings for shoes was confirmed. Failure to observe
these regulations subjected superior bedels to the loss of their office
when the time came for the maces to be resumed.
The question will naturally arise--From what source, or sources, did the
superior bedels obtain the means not only to provide for their
necessities, but also to feed, house, and, to some extent, clothe their
hungry and dissatisfied dependents? Light is thrown upon this subject
in a way which shows that the superior bedels themselves may not have
been without a grievance. At any rate, about seventy years later--in
1411--an ordinance draws attention to omissions on the part of the
students, evidently inconvenient at the time, in the following words:
"The charity of students has in these latter days grown cold, so that
they no longer make collections for the Doctors and Masters of their
several faculties, nor _make due presents to the Bedels_; therefore it
is decreed that henceforth all scholars, on receiving notices from a
Doctor, Master, or Bedel of their respective faculties shall pay regular
contributions according to the ancient statutes on pain of losing the
current year of their academical course, and of forfeiting their
privilege; and all principals of halls, at the notice of the Doctors,
Masters, or Bedels, shall within a month from the commencement of such
collection, take care that the members of their societies contribute,
and send in the names of those who fail to do so to the Chancellor under
a penalty of twenty shillings: and every Doctor or Master shall pay the
Bedel honestly within a month from the commencement of the collection."
From a notice of the year 1432 it transpires that the bedels received
one-twelfth of all fines inflicted for misdemeanours; and, in 1434,
prior to the admission of inceptors, the Chancellor announced that each
inceptor would be required to pay the ordinary fee of thirty shillings
and a pair of buckskin gloves for each bedel, or, in lieu of gloves,
five shillings to be divided among the bedels. Two licentiates protested
against such payment, stating that it was contrary to the statutes,
whereupon an inquiry was held, by which it was established that these
fees had been paid to the bedels from time immemorial and were therefore
due.
The appointment of the bedels rested with the Regent Masters, and was
one of their most jealously guarded prerogatives. Mention has been made
of John Came, who for many years held the office of bedel. When he was
elected, in 1433, by four Regent Masters and the two Proctors in
congregation, an attempt was made by the Chancellor and the Doctors of
the four faculties to substitute a nominee of their own, one Benedict
Stokes, on the ground that they were the senior members of the
University, and represented a majority of their faculties. Realizing
that the supremacy of the Faculty of Arts was menaced, the Proctors
resisted this claim and demanded the admission of Came, with the result
that the Chancellor reluctantly gave way. An appeal was entered by
Richard Cauntone, a doctor of laws, and the candidate, Benedict Stokes,
but three days later was renounced by both of them as frivolous, and
their cautions were forfeited. Even then the matter did not end. Two
days afterwards, information came to the Proctors that one of the
doctors had given his scholars to understand that the election would
have been invalid but for a vote recorded by a doctor. Thereupon the
Proctors, in order to settle the question once for all, summoned a
congregation, by which it was determined that the phrase "major part"
imported a numerical majority.
The election of bedels was conducted in the same way as that of the
Chancellor. Every such election was preceded by three proclamations made
within eight "legible" days after the office had become vacant.
The relations between the University and the Town will be dealt with
presently. Here it may be noticed that the bedels exercised some control
over the proceedings of the townsmen which concerned the interests of
students. As an illustration, when the goods and chattels of Harry Keys,
a scholar, which had been left in the house of Thomas Manciple, were
"presyd" betwixt Thomas Smyth and Davy Dyker, the valuers were sworn
before John Wykam, Bedel.
If the bedels, as public officials, were necessarily and conspicuously
of the Privilege, the remark is not less true of those humbler
functionaries, the personal attendants of the scholars. As we have seen,
the payment of the bedels depended in part on collections, and the gains
of the scholars' servants were derived from the same source. Every
master was compelled by statute to exact contributions from his scholars
at the end of term at what was called "collection." At the present time
the expression is applied to terminal examinations, and this use of it
originated from the circumstance that fees were paid by the scholars
varying in accordance with the subject of study. For grammar the
statutable amount was eightpence, for natural philosophy fourpence, and
for logic threepence per term, and it was usual to reckon four terms to
the year. To each scholar were allotted two servants--a superior and an
inferior; the former receiving threepence, and the latter one penny per
term. There was no evading these charges; even the poorest student had
to pay "scot and lot" towards the support of both classes of menials,
some of whom were doubtless better off than himself. The division of
these servants into orders, resembling those of the bedels, has
descended to modern days, most Oxford colleges having their upper and
under "scouts." This, it has been well observed, "is a curious instance
of the vitality of insignificant customs, which exist while the greater
give place to new."
At the commencement of the chapter, a list was furnished of various
occupations--more or less connected with the work of the University--the
professors of which were regarded as of the Privilege. The term
"privilege," in this and similar contexts, denotes administrative
autonomy and special jurisdiction; and members of these trades were
amenable to the Chancellor, while the Chancellor had to answer for their
good behaviour to the King and Parliament. In the Middle Ages the
Chancellor was not, as he is to-day, a permanent and ornamental
figure-head, the duties properly pertaining to the office being
discharged by the Vice-Chancellor. He was the active and dominant
centre of University life, and, as such, took cognizance of numerous
details which would now be deemed too petty, and even ridiculous, for a
personage of his dignity and importance. So great, however, was the
pressure of judicial and other business that it was necessary that he
should be relieved of part of the burden, and thus we often find
commissaries sitting in his room and stead.
THE MINISTRY OF TRADE
The powers of the Chancellor were very considerable. They did not extend
to questions of life or death, but he could fine, he could imprison, he
could banish, and, being an ecclesiastic, he could excommunicate; and
these methods of reproof and coercion were constantly employed by him as
ex-officio justice of the peace and censor of public morals. The
privilege of the University was of a dual nature. It protected the
scholars in any court of first instance but a University court; on the
other hand, the University obtained full control over its scholars, who
were forbidden to enter a secular court. Litigants were allowed to
appeal, and very frequently did appeal, from the Chancellor's decision
to Congregation, and, if they were still not satisfied and the matter
was sufficiently grave, to the Pope--that is, in spiritual causes. In
temporal causes an appeal lay to the higher tribunals of the realm and
the King. The Chancellor, also, might appeal to the King, invoking the
secular arm in cases where the voice of the Church proved ineffectual in
dealing with rebellious subjects, and the letter addressed to the
sovereign for this purpose was called, in technical language, a
_significavit_.
Sometimes the King, moved perhaps by a petition from his lieges in one
or other of the University towns, admonished the Chancellor to be more
alert in the performance of his duty. In June, 1444, the head of the
University of Oxford was in receipt of the following missive from Henry
VI.:
"Trusty and welbeloved, we grete you wel, and late you wyte that we have
understanden by credible report of the greet riotts and misgovernance
that have at diverse tymys ensued and contynelly ensue by two circuits
used in oure Universite of Oxon in the vigile of St. John Baptist and
the Holy Apposteles Peter and Paule to the gret hurt and disturbance of
the sad and wol vituled personnes of the same Universite, wherefore We,
wolling such vices and misgovernaunce to be suppressyd and refused in
the said Universite and desiring the ease and tranquillite of the said
peuple in the same, wol and charge you straitly that ye see and ordeyne
by youre discretione that al such vices and misgovernaunce be left and
all such as may be founde defective in that behalve be sharply punished
in example of all other; and more over We charge you oure Chancellor, to
whom the governance and keeping of our paix within oure said Universite
by virtu of our privilege roial is committed that in eschewing of all
inconvenience, ye see and ordeyne that oure paix be surely kepe within
oure Universite above said, as wel in the saide vigiles as at all other
tymes; and for asmuch as We be enformed that the sermons in latin which
ever before this tyme, save now of late, be now gretly discontynued, to
the gret hurt and disworship of the same, We therefore, desiring right
affecturusely the increse of vertu and cunning in oure said Universite,
wol and commande you straitly that ye with ripe and suffisant maturite,
advise a sure remede in that party, by the which such sermons may
thereafter be continued and inviolably observed, wherein ye shal do unto
Us right singulier pleisir.--Geven under oure signet at Farneham the 20
day of Juyn."
The reader will no doubt be interested to learn the occasion of this
reprimand. The concluding portion invests it with a somewhat general
character, and may be interpreted as pointing to a lamentable decline
from a previous high standard of piety and learning, which only
incessant preaching was calculated to rectify. Neglecting this
postscript, it is pretty evident that the scandal arising from the
observance of vigils was produced by the inconsiderate carousals of
craftsmen included in the Privilege, and was therefore obnoxious to the
magisterial notice of the Chancellor. It will be sufficient to refer to
the riots on the Eve of St. John Baptist.
As was the custom in mediæval towns, different trades had different
stations assigned to them, and the tailors, who must have driven a
flourishing business in caps and gowns, had their shops in the
north-west ward of St. Michael's Parish. In ancient days these
satellites indulged at certain seasons--more particularly on the Eve of
St. John Baptist--in unseemly demonstrations. They waxed very jovial,
and, after eating, drinking, and carousing, "took a circuit" through the
streets of the city, accompanied by sundry musicians, and "using certain
sonnets" in praise of their profession and patron. As long as they kept
within these limits there seems to have been no complaint, but the thing
increased more and more. People were disturbed and alarmed, the watch
beaten, and from blows the outrageous tailors passed to murder. And so
it came about that their revelling, with the "circuit" of another
profession on the Eve of St. Peter and St. Paul, was prohibited first by
Edward III. and then by Henry VI. in the letter above cited.
Another trade closely associated with the University was that of the
barbers. In the twenty-second year of Edward III. (1348) the whole
company and fellowship of the barbers within the precincts of Oxford
appeared before the Chancellor and announced their intention of "joining
and binding themselves together in amity and love." They brought with
them certain ordinances and statutes drawn up in writing for the weal of
the craft of barbers, and requested the Chancellor to peruse and correct
them, and, afterwards, if he approved, attach to them the seal of the
University. The regulations having been seriously considered by the
Chancellor, the two proctors and certain doctors, it was resolved to
comply with the petition on the day following and constitute the barbers
a society or corporation.
The first article stipulated that the said craft should, under certain
penalties, keep and maintain a light before the image of our Lady in our
Lady's Chapel, within the precincts of St. Frideswyde's Church; the
second, that no person of the said craft should work on a Sunday, save
on market Sundays and in harvest-time, or shave any but such as were to
preach or do a religious act on Sunday all through the year; while a
third provided that all such as were of the craft were to receive at
least sixpence a quarter from each customer who desired to be shaved
weekly in his chamber or house. One shave per week does not coincide
with our modern notions of what is attractive and presentable in the
outer man, but the same rule prevailed at Cambridge. The statutes of St.
John's College in the latter university affirmed: "A barber is very
necessary to the college, who shall shave and cut once a week the head
and beard of the Master, Fellows, and Scholars, as they shall severally
have need."
In the statutes of New College, Oxford, there is an injunction against
the mock ceremony of shaving on the night preceding magistration. It is
called a _ludus_ (or play), and is believed to have been affined to the
ecclesiastical mummeries so popular in the Middle Ages, in one of which
the characters were a bishop, an abbot, a preceptor, and a fool shaved
the precentor on a public stage erected at the west end of the church.
There was also a species of masquerade celebrated by the religious in
France, which consisted in the display of the most formidable beards;
and it is recorded by Gregory of Tours that the Abbess of Poitou was
accused of allowing one of these shows, called a _Barbitoria_, to be
held in her monastery.
The only men of religion permitted to wear long beards were the
Templars; and, speaking generally,[4] the presence or absence of hair
was one of the marks of cleavage between the clergy (_tonsi_) and the
laity (_criniti_). Even those privileged to wear long hair--we refer, of
course, to the male portion of the community--were required to be shorn
so far that part of their ears might appear, and that their eyes might
not be covered. At first it may seem strange that the question of
trimming the hair should come under the cognizance of the Church--the
person himself or his barber might have been deemed at liberty to
consult his own taste. The canon, however, which regulated the usage was
based on the apostolic challenge: "Doth not nature itself teach you
that, if a man hath long hair, it is a shame unto him?"
This ordinance applied a fortiori to priests, who had to be content with
very little hair. At a visitation of Oriel College by Longland, Bishop
of London, in 1531, he ordered one of the Fellows, who was a priest, to
abstain, under pain of expulsion, from wearing a beard and pinked shoes,
like a laic. It would seem that this spiritual person had been
accustomed to ridicule the Governor and Fellows of the college, since he
was commanded to abjure that bad habit also.
The correct explanation of the custom condemned by the New College
statutes is doubtless that already furnished. Hearne, however, had an
idea that it was a reflexion on the Lollards. Wiclif is always
represented with a beard, and, as most of his followers were lay-folk,
it was possibly a symbol of the sect, which may have recollected the
text: "Neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard."
The interest of the University in expert tonsure is now well understood,
but the craving for the subjugation of falsifying hair must have been
quite secondary to that for the sustenance of the bodily powers, and
accordingly the cooks stood very near to the purveyors of intellectual
aliment. Nor did the Chancellor concern himself merely with the
ratification of their ordinances; as the natural sequence, he, or his
deputy, saw to it that they were properly respected, and formed a court
of appeal for the settlement of internecine differences. Thus, on August
19, 1463, two persons, proctors of the craft of cooks of the University
of Oxford, petitioned the Commissary against one of the members who had
declined to contribute to the finding of candles, vulgarly called
"Coke-Lyght," in the church of St. Mary-the-Virgin, and to a certain
accustomed feast on the day of the Cooks' Riding in the month of May. A
day was appointed for investigating the matter, when the defendant did
not appear, but several witnesses were produced to confirm the
plaintiffs' assertions. Robert, the cook of Hampton Hall, deposed that
all the cooks of Colleges and Halls had been used to contribute to the
annual feast; that he had been a cook for six years, and that the cooks
had always nominated two of their number to gather contributions. His
testimony was corroborated by Stephen, the cook of Vine Hall, as also by
Walter, another cook, and John, the cook of "Brasenos." It is worthy of
note that in the record of these proceedings the names are entered as
"Stephanus Coke," "Walterus Coke," and "Johannes Coke," thus throwing
light on the formation of one of our commonest surnames.
Not only were questions of public policy and "constitutional usage"
determined by the Chancellor's court, but delinquents of all
descriptions were brought up for judgment. Here we shall do well to
remember that this was an ecclesiastical court, and therefore offences
against good morals as well as the law of the land were dealt with. A
person unjustly defamed as guilty of incontinence could clear himself by
a voluntary process of compurgation--that is, by the sworn testimony of
reputable friends. If, unhappily, he was guilty, he might rehabilitate
himself by formally abjuring his indiscretions. Both scholars and others
of the Privilege frequently appeared before the Chancellor in the
character of penitents. In 1443 a certain Christina, laundress of St.
Martin's parish, swore that she would no longer exercise her trade for
any scholar or scholars of the University, because under colour of it
many evils had been perpetrated, wherefore she was imprisoned and freely
abjured the aforesaid evils in the presence of Master Thomas Gascoigne,
S.T.P., the Chancellor. In 1444 Dominus Hugo Sadler, priest, swore on
the Holy Gospels that he would not disturb the peace of the University,
and would abstain from pandering and fornication, on pain of paying five
marks on conviction. In this case four acted as sureties, singly and
jointly. In 1452 Robert Smyth, _alias_ Harpmaker, suspected of adultery
with Joan Fitz-John, tapestry-maker, dwelling in the corner house on the
east side of Cat-strete, abjured the society of the same Joan, and swore
that he would not come into any place where she was, whether in the
public street, market, church, or chapel, on pain of paying forty
shillings to the University. On August 22, 1450, Thomas Blake,
_peliparius_, William Whyte, barber, John Karyn, _chirothecarius_,
"husbundemen" (householders), presented themselves before the
Chancellor, and, touching the Holy Gospels, abjured the game of tennis
within Oxford and its precinct.
At this point it will be convenient to refer to a custom not by any
means confined to the Universities, about which there appears to be some
degree of misconception. "Love-days," as they are called, have been
strangely confused with _law_-days, whereas the very essence of the
institution was the avoidance of litigation with all its expense and
ill-feeling. The practice of submitting disputes to friendly arbitration
was seemingly founded on the text: "Dare any of you having a matter
against another go to law before the unbelievers and not before the
saints?" In these circumstances it is not surprising that the clergy
bore a great part in such proceedings; and thus we find Chaucer
avouching of his Frere:
In love-dayes ther coude he mochel helpe,
For ther he was nat lyk a cloisterer,
With a thredbare cope, as is a poore scoler,
But he was lyk a maister or a pope.
The University, being a microcosm of the entire kingdom, an _imperium in
imperio_, by virtue of the "privilege roiall," cases occur in which
deplorable misunderstandings were referred to the decision of one or
more graduates of position--either in the first instance, or, it might
be, ultimately, to the Chancellor or Commissary--by persons subject to
academic tutelage. When the affair had been adjudicated, forms of
reconciliation were prescribed, the parties being required to shake
hands, go on their knees to one another, give each other the "kiss of
peace," and provide a feast at their mutual expense, the menu of which
was sometimes determined by the arbiter.
This interesting and admirable feature of old English life receives such
copious illustration from the annals of Oxford that it seems worth while
to specify examples. Thus, on November 8, 1445, a dispute between John
Godsond, stationer, and John Coneley, "lymner," having been referred to
two Masters of Arts and they having failed to compose it within the time
stipulated, the Chancellor intervened and decided that John Coneley
should work for John Godsond for one year only; that his wages should be
four marks, ten shillings; that he should himself fetch his work and
return it to his employer's abode; that he should be thrifty in the use
of his colours; and that his employer should have free ingress to the
place where he sat at work. On July 7, 1446, four arbitrators, having in
hand a quarrel between Broadgates and Pauline Halls, imposed the
following conditions: That the Principals should implore reconciliation
from each other for themselves and their parties; that they should give,
either to other, the kiss of peace, and swear upon the Holy Gospels to
have brotherly love toward each other for the future, and bind
themselves to its observance under a bond to pay one hundred shillings
for the violation thereof. The bond was to be in the keeping of the
Chancellor, and he was to deliver it, should hostilities be renewed,
into the hands of the aggrieved party. David Philip, alleged to have
struck John Coneley, was commanded to kneel to him, and ask and receive
his pardon. It is worthy of remark that the invariable phrase applied to
past quarrels is "ab origine mundi," which left no loophole for the
revival of ancestral feuds, however remote in point of time.
On July 21, 1452, Master Robert Mason, having delivered judgment in the
case of Thomas Condale, a servant of New College, and John Morys,
tailor, required both parties, as a pledge of goodwill, to invite their
neighbours to an entertainment, and provide at their joint charges two
gallons of good ale.
On January 10, 1465, Thomas Chaundler, S.T.P., Commissary-General of the
University of Oxford, having been chosen as arbitrator between the
worshipful Sir Thomas Lancester, Canon-regular and prior of the same
order of students, and Simon Marshall, on the one part, and John Merton,
pedagogue, and his wife, on the other, decreed that none of them should
abuse, threaten, or make faces at each other, and that they should
forgive all past offences. None of them was to institute further
proceedings, judicial or extra-judicial, and within fifteen days of the
date thereof they were to furnish an entertainment at their joint
charges--one party to furnish a goose with a measure of wine, and the
other bread and beer.
Finally, on February 6, 1465, Dr. John Caldbeke, arbiter between certain
members of "White Hall" and "Deep Hall," ordered the parties to pardon
each other and commence no ulterior proceedings. He imposed perpetual
silence on them, and as to a certain desk, the _causa teterrima belli_,
reserved the decision to the Chancellor. The disputants, accompanied by
four members of each hall, were to meet at a time and place to be named,
wine was to be provided for their mutual entertainment, and, before
parting, they were to shake hands.
The question has been deferred too long--Against whom did the University
maintain its privilege? In part, no doubt, against the King's officers,
but, mainly, against the Mayor and Burgesses of Oxford, between whom and
the scholars there was a simmering hostility bursting into periodical
mêlées answering to, but infinitely more sanguinary than, the "town and
gown rows" of more recent days. The general result of these
disturbances, assumed to be acts of aggression on the part of the
citizens, but more probably provoked by the insolence of the
undergraduate portion of the University, of which there is abundant
evidence, was to fortify the authority of the Chancellor and extend his
powers. We have seen that the townsmen, at an early period, were mulcted
in an annual tribute, of which they were afterwards relieved, for
hanging certain clerks. This might have served as a sufficient warning
of the inviolability of the erudite persons in their midst, but it
failed of effect. Altogether there were three capital riots in the later
Middle Ages, which we shall proceed to notice, together with the
consequences.
Of these three great conflicts between townsmen and scholars the first
occurred in 1214. This was ended by a compromise brought about by the
Bishop of Tusculum, the Papal Legate, the King granting jurisdiction to
the University in all cases where one of the parties was a scholar or a
scholar's servant. The second tumult, which took place in 1290, induced
the King to confer upon the University the custody of the peace, the
custody of the assize of victuals, and the supervision of weights and
measures jointly with the Mayor, who had hitherto borne full sway in
matters of police. The third battle was in 1357. This was the famous
riot of St. Scholastica's day--_satis periculosa_--which resulted in
the excommunication of the Mayor, while he and the commonalty of the
town of Oxford were laid under an interdict by John, Bishop of Lincoln.
The Mayor, who was a vintner and drawn into the quarrel through it
having arisen in his tavern, is stated in one account to have been
originally in the service of the University--protected by the
Privilege--and this, of course, was regarded as an aggravation of his
offence. The end of it was that the rights before mentioned were
confirmed with certain extensions--namely, the supervision of the
pavement, and the custody of the peace as well between laics as
scholars, while the Mayor was excluded from the custody of the peace
between scholars.
As a species of penance the Mayor and his fellows were enjoined by the
Bishop of Lincoln to attend an anniversary mass at St. Mary's on St.
Scholastica's Day; and the scholars were forbidden, on pain of a long
term of imprisonment, to inflict on any layman of the town, whilst on
his way to the church, during the celebration of the mass, or in the
course of his return, any injury or violence, lest he should be deterred
from the observance of the duty. This caution was proclaimed through the
schools year by year on the "legible day" immediately preceding the
festival. Good relations were hard to restore, and as long after as 1432
the authorities were reduced to publishing the following edict in the
hope of abating the scandal:
"Whereas there are no more suitable means of allaying the lamentable
dissensions between the University and the Town, which are a sign of the
wrath of the Almighty, than the devout supplications of priests walking
in procession, therefore this ordinance is made for the regulation of
such processions. First shall walk the Chancellor, after him the Doctors
by two and two, in the rank of their several faculties, then Masters of
Arts, then Bachelors in Theology, then Non-Regents, then beneficed
Bachelors, then all other Bachelors, then secular priests non-graduates,
then scholars, all by two and two, and all silently praying for the
King and other benefactors living and dead, and for the peace and
prosperity of the University. Priests non-graduates shall be bound to
attend on pain of a fine of sixpence, but no licentiates of any faculty
soever may in any wise be present at the act."
It would not be fair to conclude this account without giving the
townsmen's version of the way in which the Privilege was exercised. This
can be conveniently presented in the terms of two petitions, one of
which certainly, and the other probably, dates from the second year of
Edward III. (1328). If there be any truth in the allegations, it must be
owned that the Chancellor abused his judicial position to a degree quite
intolerable to the victims.
I
"To the King and Council; the Burgesses of Oxford complain, whereas the
Chancellor and University of Oxford have cognizance of contracts,
covenants, and trespass between clerk and clerk, or clerk and lay, they
encroach on the franchise of the town, and draw to them these contracts,
etc., between laymen, especially in certain gifts and actions brought
before the Chancellor, wherein a clerk has some concern, who, by covine,
are made to incur large sums which were not due, and thus the defendants
are condemned and afterwards excommunicated in all the churches of the
town, unless they agree thereto; and if they are not absolved of the
sentence before the Chancellor, they are despoiled even to their
breeches, and must give all their goods to the clerk. In the same way a
plea of trespass in which there has been a cession to a clerk is made to
terminate in a plea of debt, and thus charges of rent upon free
tenements are proved, against law and in great burden to the tenements
of the town. Thus the Chancellor encroaches on the franchises of the
town, to the damage of the King's profits on writs and issues on pleas
of debts, &c., pleadable before the Justices, or before the Mayor and
bailiffs of the town. And with such proceedings taken before the
Chancellor concerning merchants and other strangers passing through, as
well as residents, the merchants will not repair thither on account of
such evil doings, and the town is thereby greatly impoverished."
II
"To the King and Council: Walter de Harewell, burgess and inheritor in
Oxford, showing that whereas the Chancellor of the University has
cognizance of offences and contracts between clerk and clerk, and clerk
and lay, in the town, but nowhere else, one William de Wyneye, clerk,
impleaded him before the Chancellor for offences done out of his
jurisdiction in a foreign county; the said Walter justified himself
before the Chancellor, but the said Chancellor, notwithstanding,
condemned him to prison and kept him in prison in Oxford till he
contented the said William with a large sum of money, and made an
obligation of £20 to be at the will of the said University, and still he
had to find mainprise before he could be set free. And because when he
was taken and led to prison by the bedels of the University, he entered
his house and shut his coffers and chests and the door of his room for
the safety of his goods and chattels, the said Chancellor banished him
out of the town, and had it proclaimed everywhere, as though he were an
outlaw, and sequestered all his goods and chattels, threatening if he
entered the town to imprison him again for six days. No one ever had
such franchise or power thus to outlaw, destroy, and banish the King's
burgesses in the said town. Prays a remedy for charity."[5]
Owing perhaps to their peculiar position as the King's chattels, neither
the chartered rights of the citizens nor the Privilege of the University
could be directly asserted against the Jews, of whom a considerable body
appears to have been settled at Oxford, but the unbelievers were not
allowed to do as they pleased. A critical instance occurred at
Ascensiontide, 1268, in connexion with a solemn procession to St.
Frideswyde's, when certain horrible Jews, _demoniaco spiritu arrepti_,
seized a cross from the bearer, broke it, and trampled it under foot.
Complaint was made to the King, who happened to be at Woodstock, and he
issued an order for the making of two crosses at the expense of the
Jews, one of which was to be of silver gilt and portable, and the other
of marble and stationary. These were to be preserved for the perpetual
remembrance of the outrage; and the silver cross was presented to the
Chancellor, masters, and scholars, to be borne before them in their
solemn procession. An ordinance states that "since the relics of the
Blessed Frideswyde repose in the borough of Oxford, and more especially
ought to be deservedly honoured as well by the University as by others,
particularly by all who dwell in the aforesaid town, that the said
University may obtain, through the intervenient merits and prayers of
the same, more abundant tranquillity and peace for the future, a solemn
procession be made in the middle, to wit, Lent term, to the church of
the same virgin, for the peace and tranquillity of the University, and
that solemn mass be held there in respect of the above-said virgin."
ACADEMIC