A project mapping medieval England’s known
murder cases
has now added Oxford and York to its street plan of London’s14th century slayings
.The research suggests that Oxford’s student population was by far the most
lethally violent
social or professional group in any of the three cities.The team behind the Medieval Murder Maps – a digital resource that plots crime scenes based on translated investigations from 700-year-old coroners’ inquests – estimate the per capita homicide rate in Oxford to have been 4-5 times higher than late medieval London or York.
Among Oxford perpetrators with a known background, 75% were identified by the coroner as “clericus”, as were 72% of all Oxford’s homicide victims. During this period, clericus is most likely to refer to a student or member of the early university.
A section of the Oxford murder map.
A section of the Oxford murder map.
“A medieval university city such as Oxford had a deadly mix of conditions,” said Prof Manuel Eisner, murder map investigator and Director of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology.
“Oxford students were all male and typically aged between fourteen and twenty-one, the peak for violence and risk-taking. These were young men freed from tight controls of family, parish or guild, and thrust into an environment full of weapons, with ample access to alehouses and sex workers.”
“As well as clashes between town and gown, many students belonged to regional fraternities called ‘nations’, an additional source of conflict within the student body,” said Eisner.
A new website, launched by Cambridge’s Violence Research Centre, allows users to compare the causes and patterns of urban violence in medieval England across three cities for the first time.
The site features a new map of York’s homicides during its 14th century “golden age” when – driven by trade and textiles – the city flourished as Black Death subsided.
Many of the York cases document feuds between artisans in the same profession, from knife fights amongst tannery workers to fatal violence between glove-makers.
Coroners’ rolls are catalogues of sudden or suspicious deaths as deduced by a jury of local residents. Recorded in Latin, they included names, events, locations, and even the value of murder weapons.
An example of the Coroners' rolls, this one recounting the 'Death of Hervey de Playford', London Roll 1315/16.
An example of the Coroners' rolls, this one recounting the 'Death of Hervey de Playford', London Roll 1315/16.
Using the rolls and maps from the Historic Towns Trust, researchers have constructed a street atlas of 354 homicides across all three cities.
Dozens of these cases now have audio versions of the inquests, so users can listen to details of the more intriguing medieval casefiles.
The original London map, published in 2018, has been remodelled and updated to include accidents, sudden deaths, sanctuary church cases, and deaths in prison – all of which the coroner recorded.
Sanctuary church incidents involved an alleged felon fleeing to holy ground, which allowed them forty days to negotiate with the coroner.
This often resulted in banishment from the realm: the felon confesses and is directed to an agreed port through which they left England for good.
