The Medieval Bar Fight That Lasted 470 Years: How Bad Wine Started a Two-Day War Between Oxford Students and Angry Townsfolk

On February 10, 1355, a brawl that began over bad wine at an Oxford tavern escalated into what historians now call the St. Scholastica Day riot—a two-day pitched battle between town and gown that left 63 students and 30 townsfolk dead. The trouble started at the Swaindlestock Tavern when two Oxford students, Walter Spryngeheuse and Roger de Chesterfield, complained that tavern-keeper John Croydona had served them wine that was, in their learned opinion, absolutely dreadful. Words were exchanged. The students threw the wine in the tavern-keeper's face, then escalated matters by hurling the cup at his head for good measure. The mayor rang the town bell. The university authorities rang their bell in response. What followed was essentially a medieval gang war, with armed townspeople and students battling through Oxford's streets. On the second day, approximately 2,000 countrymen from surrounding villages—already nursing long-standing grievances about students' exemption from local laws and their general haughtiness—stormed into Oxford and went on what can only be described as a rampage, attacking any student they could find. The aftermath was remarkably lopsided: King Edward III sided decisively with the university. The town was forced to pay annual penance for the next 470 years, with the mayor and bailiffs required to attend a Mass for the dead scholars every St. Scholastica's Day and pay the university one penny for each murdered student. This humiliating ritual continued until 1825, when civic pride finally won a reprieve. All because someone complained about bad wine. This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.