Town versus Gown
Today is the Catholic feast day of Saint Scholastica who was the twin sister of Saint Benedict, founder of the Benedictine Order. She also provides her name to the infamous “Saint Scholastica Day Massacre” of 1355 in Oxford, England.
As is to be expected it was an argument over beer, but it resulted in the death of 63 “scholars” and 30 locals.
The University got to the King first, received a Royal charter which required the mayor and town council to go to the University without their hats every year on February 10 and pay a penny for each of the “scholars” who died. The practiced stopped in 1825 when the mayor of Oxford apparently felt the practice was silly and refused to do it.
The mayor was obvious a Liberal. Who else would cast aside almost 500 years of tradition just because it was a stupid waste of time and money?
