1209 Migration from Oxford

Scholars migrated from Oxford to Cambridge, Reading and Paris after two of their number were hanged in connection with the manslaughter of a townswoman. Normally the clerks would have achieved immunity through the ecclesiastical authorities but King and Pope were in conflict at the time.

The reason for choosing Cambridge is not clear. There were already religious establishments at Ely Cathedral, Crowland Abbey and Barnwell Priory. Cambridge furthermore had good communications, at least in summer. Its location enabled it to draw scholars from East Anglia, the East Midlands and the North, which represented populous and prosperous regions at the time. Little also notes how such an establishment may have preferred to be at a comfortable distance both from Bishop and King. Finally, the Oxford Master of the Schools (forerunner to Chancellor), John Grim, and others may simply have been going back to their family home.

King John was reconciled with Pope Innocent III in 1214 and many scholars then returned to Oxford. The activity in Cambridge may well have quietened down as a result. However, the continued existence of a studium at Cambridge may be inferred from a writ of Henry III in 1218, directing the Sheriff to expel clerici who still remained under excommunication for adherence to Louis and the Barons.

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