Oxford (England) -- History; University of Oxford -- History
These were the geographical limits of the University, and within them
the following classes of people were held (1459) to be "of the privilege
of the University":--The Chancellor, all doctors, masters and other
graduates, and all students, scholars and clerks of every order and
degree. These constituted a formidable number in themselves when arrayed
against the town, for there were probably at least 3000 of them at the
most flourishing periods. The Archbishop of Armagh indeed stated
confidently at Avignon (1357) that there had once been 30,000, but that
must have been a rhetorical exaggeration. There can never have been more
than 4000. But in addition to this army of scholars, all their "daily
continual servants," all "barbers, manciples, spencers, cokes,
lavenders," and all the numerous persons who were engaged in trades
ancillary to study, such as the preparation, engrossing, illumination
and binding of parchment, were "of the privilege" and directly
controlled by the University. In what was afterwards known as Schools
Street all these trades were represented as early as 1190. Over these
classes, and within the limits defined, the jurisdiction of the
Chancellor was by the end of the fifteenth century established supreme.
Citizens and scholars alike had now to be careful how they lived. The
stocks, the pillory and the cucking stool awaited offenders among the
townsmen, fines or banishment the students who transgressed. Local
governments in the Middle Ages were excessively paternal. They inquired
closely into the ways of their people and dealt firmly with their
peccadilloes. Did a man brew or sell bad beer he was burnt alive at
Nürnberg; at Oxford he was condemned to the pillory; if a manciple was
too fond of cards he was also punished by the Chancellor's court. A
regular tariff was framed of penalties for those breaches of the peace
and street brawls, in which not freshmen only but heads of houses and
vicars of parishes were so frequently involved.
Endeavours were made to promote a proper standard of life by holding
"General Inquisitions" at regular intervals. The town was divided into
sections, and a Doctor of Theology and two Masters of Arts were told off
to inquire into the morals of the inhabitants of each division. Juries
of citizens were summoned, and gave evidence on oath to these delegate
judges who sat in the parish churches. The characters of their
fellow-townsmen were critically discussed. Reports were made to the
Chancellor, who corrected the offenders. Excommunication, penance or the
cucking stool were meted out to "no common" scolds, notorious
evil-livers and those who kept late hours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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