Town and gown are two distinct communities of a university town; 'town' being the non-academic population and 'gown' metonymically being the university community, especially in ancient seats of learning such as Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and St Andrews, although the term is also used to describe modern university towns as well as towns with a significant public school. The metaphor is historical in its connotation but continues to be used in the literature on urban higher education and in common parlance.
Origin of the term
During the Middle Ages, students admitted to European universities often held minor clerical status and donned garb similar to that worn by the clergy. These vestments evolved into the academic long black gown, worn along with hood and cap. The gown proved comfortable for studying in unheated and draughty buildings and thus became a tradition in the universities. The gown also served as a social symbol, as it was impractical for physical manual work. The hood was often adorned with the colours of the colleges and designated the young scholar's university affiliation. Thus by their distinctive clothing, the students were set apart and distinguished from the citizens of the town; hence the phrase "town and gown".
Middle Ages
The university as sanctuary The idea of a school of higher learning as a distinct and autonomous institution within an urban setting dates back to the Academy founded by Plato c. 387 BC. The Academy was established as a sacred sanctuary for learning outside the city walls of Athens. Successors of the Academy existed over nine centuries until the final iteration was closed, along with other pagan schools, by Emperor Justinian in AD 529.
In the 12th century, when the early medieval universities came into existence – first in Italy and then across Europe – they were founded without physical campuses. The masters simply rented lecture halls in the host cities. Early on, there were few identifiable campus buildings (other than the residential colleges that were established at some universities). Most students took lodging in the university towns. The scholars often congregated in identifiable areas of cities, most famously the Left Bank (Rive gauche) of the Seine in Paris – what became known as the Quartier Latin ("The Latin Quarter", due to the use of spoken Latin). Thus, the medieval institutions were more integrated into the cities than in the case of the Academy. It is no accident that most medieval universities were founded within cities. The schools' existence required a permanent population and an infrastructure that included a vibrant marketplace and system of governance, but their dependence on the host towns was limited. In most instances, the endowment of the medieval universities was drawn largely, if not entirely, from the revenues of the Catholic Church. Consequently, the universities were largely independent of municipal revenues and, to a great extent, of civil authority. The medieval studium remained a sanctuary in its status as beneficiary of the Catholic Church and in the scholars' exemption from civil law. Such special jurisdictions were by no means uncommon in the Middle Ages. The applicable law varied greatly by person, organisation and area: the towns themselves had legal systems totally different from the surrounding countryside, and even inside the town, every guild usually had its own special privileges and rights. The independent jurisdiction of the universities essentially was part of this system.
Anatomy of an adversarial relationship The initial relationship between the medieval universities and the host town was adversarial for various reasons, and over time, the universities' growing autonomy and independence from local control led to increasing tensions with host towns. Also, the steady encroachment of universities upon neighbouring areas created a point of contention between town and gown (continuing to the present).
The medieval universities formed as guilds of masters (teachers) or scholastic guilds of students on the model established by the crafts guilds. Once the scholars were able to receive a charter, they would begin negotiations with municipal authorities to secure fair rents for lecture halls and other concessions. Because they had no investment in a physical campus, they could threaten to migrate to another town if their demands were not met. This was not an empty threat. The scholars at the University of Lisbon in Portugal migrated to Coimbra, and then later back to Lisbon in the 14th century. Scholars would also go on strike, leave the host city, and not return for years. This happened at the University of Paris after a riot in 1229 (started by the students). The university did not return to Paris for two years.
Many university students were foreigners with exotic manners and dress who spoke and wrote Latin, the lingua franca of medieval higher education in Western Europe. Students often could not speak the local dialect, and most uneducated townspeople spoke no Latin. The language barrier and the cultural differences did nothing to improve relations between scholars and townspeople. The tenor of town–gown relations became a matter of arrogance on the one hand and resentment on the other.
Students in the medieval universities enjoyed certain exemptions from the jurisdiction of the ordinary civil courts. These privileges were normally safeguarded by a conservator Apostolic, usually a bishop or archbishop appointed by the pope. By the Papal bull Parens scientiarum ("Father of the Sciences"In the original, unrestricted sense of "science" (from the Latin scientia: "knowledge") as "knowledge" or "disciplines of study", used in this instance of the sciences of theology, philosophy, law, and medicine, inclusive of the narrower sense the word would take during the Scientific Revolution, denoting the disciplines that were then called by the name "natural philosophy") (1231), the charter of the University of Paris, Pope Gregory IX authorised the masters, in the event of an outrage committed by anyone upon a scholar and not redressed within fifteen days, to suspend their lectures. This right of cessation of lectures was frequently made use of in conflicts between town and gown. On various occasions, the popes themselves intervened to protect the scholars against encroachments by the local civil authorities. Pope Nicholas IV in 1288 threatened to disrupt the studium at Padua unless the municipal authorities repealed within fifteen days ordinances they had framed against scholars. It became quite common for the university to lay its grievances against the city fathers before the Holy See, and its appeal was usually successful. (See The Catholic Encyclopedia for a more in-depth discussion.)
Thus, medieval students were under the legal protection of the clergy, who protected them from physical harm. They could be tried for crimes only in a church court under canon law. The protection from civil law gave students free rein in the urban environs to break secular laws with near impunity. This often led to abuses and outright criminal behaviour among students who realised they enjoyed immunity from civil authorities. The anomalous jurisdictional situation only exacerbated tensions between town and gown.Robert F. Seybolt, 1921, 1927, 1933.
Town versus gown Conflict was inevitable in the medieval university towns, where two separately governed bodies with different priorities and loyalties shared the same restricted space. Moreover, violence was commonplace in medieval life, not only between scholars and townsmen, but also among ordinary citizens, as well as between scholars from different regions of Europe who attended the universities.
Violent confrontations between town and gown erupted on a recurring basis. One of the most famous was the Battle of St. Scholastica Day, which occurred on 10 February 1355, at the University of Oxford. An argument in a tavern – a familiar scenario – escalated into a protracted two-day battle in which local citizens armed with bows attacked the academic village, killing and maiming scores of scholars. The rioters were severely punished, and thenceforth, the mayor and bailiffs had to attend a Mass for the souls of the dead every St. Scholastica's Day thereafter and to swear an annual oath to observe the university's privileges. For 500 years, Oxford observed a day of mourning for that tragedy.
The University of Cambridge was originally set up after a fight between the townspeople of Oxford and scholars from the University of Oxford forced many scholars to flee to a new location in 1209. Later, the tension between the scholars at Cambridge and the townspeople forced the king to grant special privileges and protection to Cambridge University, which helped enormously in the survival and future success of the university.
By the mid-15th century, kings were putting an end to student power within the universities. They ordered papal legates to reform the universities and restricted student boycotts and strikes. From then on, whether under king or revolutionary government, dictator or Parliament, European universities would customarily be ruled by the central authority – although the degree of control varied widely over time and place.
Following the upheavals of the High Middle Ages, relations between the European universities and the host towns evolved toward a pattern of mutual support. Cities, on some occasions, took over payment of salaries and provided loans, while regulating the book trade, lodgings, and the various other services students required. Eventually, cities began to take pride in their universities rather than look upon them as adversaries.
Early modern Over the centuries, the relationship between town and gown has remained ambivalent. There have been points where a university in crisis has been rescued by the urban dynamics surrounding it, while at other times, urban developments have threatened to undermine the stability of the university. Conversely, there have been occasions where the university provided a focus and coherence for the cultural life of the city; though at other times, it has withdrawn into itself and undermined urban culture.Thomas Bender (editor). The University and the City: From Medieval Origins to the Present. Oxford University Press, 1988.
Despite generally improved relations between town and gown in the post-medieval era, disputes and conflicts were a recurring phenomenon. The City Council of Oxford had numerous quarrels with the University of Oxford, one such incident saw both parties pressing their rights to license citizens in different trades in 1675. The dispute ended with the university keeping its right to grant privileges to craftsmen (a right it had enjoyed since the 14th century) while the city held the power to grant freemen the right to pursue trades that were without reference to the university.
Yale and New Haven Another brief chronicle of incidents involving Yale College students and residents of New Haven, Connecticut, illustrates the continuing strain upon town–gown relations. The nature of these disputes ranged from theological to martial.
Founded in 1701, Yale moved to New Haven in 1716. In 1753, President Thomas Clap began holding separate Sunday worship services for students in the college instead of at First Church, because he felt that the minister, Joseph Noyes, was theologically suspect. (Yale was founded by Congregational ministers but currently has no religious affiliation.) This move alienated the Connecticut clergy and marked the beginning of the Yale undergraduates' ambivalent relationship with the town of New Haven.