Finally, on February 6, 1465, Dr. John Caldbeke, arbiter between certain
members of "White Hall" and "Deep Hall," ordered the parties 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.
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