[MR] Science Alert: Medieval Oxford as Murder Capital of Britain

[Elizabeth Caldwell]

Oxbridge fighting?   Never!  /s

-Isabella D'Angelo


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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2023 06:01:10 -0400
From: Garth Groff and Sally Sanford <mallardlodge1000 at gmail.com>
To: Atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org,  "Garth Groff & Sally Sanford"
        <mallardlodge1000 at gmail.com>,  Garth Groff Sally Sanford
        <sarahsan at embarqmail.com>, Ginny Barnett <bethoc at verizon.net>
Subject: [MR] Science Alert: Medieval Oxford as Murder Capital of
        Britain
Message-ID:
        <CAHgmDuAjc-=vzVek7+nnTKi87029+6P3Q28p4xjcymfFDr6fGw at mail.gmail.com>
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Noble Friends,

Yesterday Lady Bethoc ingen Alpin called this story to my attention. It is
certainly worthy of a post here on Merry Rose.

During the 14th century, Oxford experienced the highest murder rate of any
place in Britain. Per capita deaths from violence were four to five times
higher than London or York. Though Oxford only had about 7,000 residents,
some 1,500 were university students. A staggering 75% of the known perps
were students, as were 72% of the victims.

Researchers point to the young age of the students, lots of alcohol, and
ready access to weapons, particularly the "feast daggers" that everybody
carried. Add an overload of testosterone, and whammo!, you have a deadly
mix.

The murders are explored in the interactive Medieval Murder Map project,
which traces these crimes based on surviving coroners' reports. The reports
themselves are available to peruse, translated into modern English for
those of us who don't read medieval Latin. Murder Maps for York and London
are provided for comparison. The data was, perhaps gleefully, compiled by
researchers at rival Cambridge University. One wonders if someday they will
include Cambridge's own statistics. (Smirk!)

The story is published on Science Alert at
https://www.sciencealert.com/oxford-was-the-murder-capital-of-late-medieval-england-and-it-was-all-because-of-students
.

The maps and reports are at https://medievalmurdermap.co.uk .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  ?
Continuing a crusade to keep Merry Rose relevant and in business.


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End of Atlantia Digest, Vol 248, Issue 15
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