On 10 February 1355, the entire town was celebrating the feast day of Saint Scholastica.
But by afternoon, some 2,000 men from the countryside had broken through the gates.
The men raided all hostels and inns and either killed or maimed any student found.
The carnage continued the next day.
The students suffered the most with more than sixty dead, although some historians put the figure at forty.
Casualties among the townspeople was no lesser.
About thirty or so may have been killed.
The towns mayor paid the price for the violencehe was sent to the dreadedMarshalsea prison.
Swindlestock Tavern stone, Oxford.
The townsfolk resented the scholars and regarded them with disdain.
Some students openly encroached local laws with impunity knowing they are immune from civil authorities.
Violent confrontations between town and gown were commonplace in university towns, and Oxford was no stranger to riots.
In 1209, two Oxford scholars were lynched by the town’s locals following the death of a woman.
A fight ensued and several scholars were forced into exile.
Some of them settled in Cambridge and they started what is now the University of Cambridge.
Between 1297 and 1322, twenty nine counts of violence was recorded between the town and the students.
Of these 12 arose due to murders committed by students.
Many of these went unpunished by the university.
The St. Scholastica Day Riot was by far the worst, but the consequences of it were predictable.
The town was punished and the students were pardoned.
This ritual continued for an astounding 470 years until it was repelled in 1825.
By the mid-15th century, things started to change when it was realized that universities were growing too powerful.
An effort was made to end student power within the universities.
Papal legates were ordered to reform the universities and restrict student boycotts and strikes.
Over the centuries, the relationship between town and gown improved.
Eventually, towns began to take pride in their universities rather than look upon them as adversaries.
