to pardon
each other and commence no ulterior proceedings. He imposed perpetual
silence on them, and as to a certain desk, the _causa teterrima belli_,
reserved the decision to the Chancellor. The disputants, accompanied by
four members of each hall, were to meet at a time and place to be named,
wine was to be provided for their mutual entertainment, and, before
parting, they were to shake hands.

The question has been deferred too long--Against whom did the University
maintain its privilege? In part, no doubt, against the King's officers,
but, mainly, against the Mayor and Burgesses of Oxford, between whom and
the scholars there was a simmering hostility bursting into periodical
melees answering to, but infinitely more sanguinary than, the "town and
gown rows" of more recent days. The general result of these
disturbances, assumed to be acts of aggression on the part of the
citizens, but more probably provoked by the insolence of the
undergraduate portion of the University, of which there is abundant
evidence, was to fortify the authority of the Chancellor and extend his
powers. We have seen that the townsmen, at an early period, were mulcted
in an annual tribute, of which they were afterwards relieved, for
hanging certain clerks. This might have served as a sufficient warning
of the inviolability of the erudite persons in their midst, but it
failed of effect. Altogether there were three capital riots in the later
Middle Ages, which we shall proceed to notice, together with the
consequences.

Of these three great conflicts between townsmen and scholars the first
occurred in 1214. This was ended by a compromise brought about by the
Bishop of Tusculum, the Papal Legate, the King granting jurisdiction to
the University in all cases where one of the parties was a scholar or a
scholar's servant. The second tumult, which took place in 1290, induced
the King to confer upon the University the custody of the peace, the
custody of the assize of victuals, and the supervision of weights and
measures jointly with the Mayor, who had hitherto borne full sway in
matters of police. The third battle was in 1357. This was the famous
riot of St. Scholastica's day--_satis periculosa_--which resulted in
the excommunication of the Mayor, while he and the commonalty of the
town of Oxford were laid under an interdict by John, Bishop of Lincoln.
The Mayor, who was a vintner and drawn into the quarrel through it
having arisen in his tavern, is