👀 A murder of students

#330 | Scratch that - many murders by students

Hey there,

You wouldn't generally think of students as a murderous lot, would you? No? Boy, have I got a spooky story for you!

Picture this: medieval Oxford, where the cobblestone streets echo not just with the lively chatter of students but also with the sinister whispers of deadly secrets.

As it turns out, these scholars from the 14th century might have been far more dangerous than any fictitious murderous barber like Sweeney Todd or even the real-life nightmares of Jack the Ripper in London’s history.

Researchers from Cambridge, diving deep into the bloody tales of medieval England through a project dubbed the Medieval Murder Maps, discovered that Oxford's student population was notably perilous during this era. Using centuries-old coroners’ reports, which were meticulously recorded in Latin, they mapped out scenes of 354 homicides across medieval York, Oxford, and London. And guess what? Students from Oxford were linked to a whopping 75% of all homicides. Yikes!

Go ahead, explore all these maps and see which other parts of medieval England pushed their students so hard they let their hair down by murder.

Or maybe sign up for their podcast for an audio immersion into murder most foul.

Baaa

Dolly