A closer look
Higher education in the Middle Ages involved a lot less quiet studying and a lot more intense urban warfare. The infamous St Scholastica Day riot started in a local Oxford tavern when two university students threw a pint of sub-par wine directly at the landlord's head. This petty alcoholic squabble rapidly escalated into a full-blown, three-day bloodbath between the townsfolk and the scholars, resulting in nearly a hundred deaths. The aftermath firmly established the legal dominance of the university over the town, punishing the local mayor with an annual humiliating penance that continued for over five centuries.
