[bb123]

Reminds me of the fact that for 500 years everyone graduating with a BA from Oxford had to swear that they would never agree to the reconciliation of Henry Symeonis, despite no one having any idea who he was for most of that time.

[jgrahamc]

Yes! I was disappointed to learn when I graduated with my BA that this oath was no longer required. However, I continue refuse to reconcile with Henry Symeonis. It's only been 800 years, you never know when it might be important. After all, the Anglo-Portuguese is still in force 650 years on!

[avhception]

Clearly a case of Chesterton's Fence. Who knows what eldritch horrors might result from the removal of that oath!

[jvvw]

Looks like it was removed in 1827. I don't actually remember having to say anything at any of my graduation ceremonies there (BA, MA, DPhil), just walking on to the stage. I do wonder if at matriculation we all had to make some oath together but I think I would have remembered if that had been the case. I have a strong feeling though I might have had to make an oath when I became a scholar - there was definitely a ceremony we had to go to - but that would have been college-dependent.

[mrweasel]

I was reading some stories and notes made by my grandfather, they where written sometime in the 1980s. He's recalling stories and people in the area where we lived, out in the country side. Apparently my family has feud with a priest from the late 1700 hundreds. The priest complained that people (my family included) wouldn't travel the 7 - 8 kilometers to the church during the fall and winter. The area is in between would flood and freeze, becoming dangerous to travel. The priests refusal to understand the danger (and long travel time, during the winter), caused the feud, which apparently lasted at least until the 1920s.

[fakedang]

Understandable, in my experience, because priests and clergymen of whatever religion tend to be the most obnoxious backbiters.

[moomin]

Had to look this one up. Apparently the answer is he was a rich *hole who murdered a student, got fined £80 (which might have been a lot of money, but he was rich), stayed away from Oxford a few years and then The Powers That Be told everyone to get over it.

I can kind of understand the statute, tbqh.

[M2Ys4U]

According to the Bank of England's inflation calculator, £80 in 1242 is worth £119,600 today.

[triclops200]

Thanks for that, looked it up and was a interesting rabbit hole: Basically, that oath was Oxford University saying "fuck you" to a request of the King (1200s England) officially after he effectively tried to order them to break their collective line and accept a rich fuck who murdered a scholar in the past. Feels kinda like a proto-union-action to me https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/archivesandmanuscripts/2023/...

[adolph]

Which reminds me of The Cagots were a persecuted minority who lived in the west of France and northern Spain [0]

  The origins of the Cagots remain uncertain . . . . Despite the varied and 
  often mythical explanations for their origins, the only consistent aspect of 
  the Cagots was their societal exclusion and the lack of any distinct physical 
  or cultural traits differentiating them from the general population.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cagot

[eleveriven]

Bureaucratic tradition at its finest

[fsckboy]

Chesterton's fence