Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: I think we can all agree that college students can
Speaker 1: be a bit rowdy. Long day studying can lead to
Speaker 1: even longer nights partying. Now, this isn't limited to modern
Speaker 1: daytailgates and frat parties. Even as far back as the
Speaker 1: thirteen hundreds, college students at Oxford University were known to
Speaker 1: get unruly when they blew off steam, and much like now,
Speaker 1: back then, the citizens of Oxford Town didn't love putting
Speaker 1: up with the scholar antics. By thirteen fifty five, Oxford
Speaker 1: University had been an education center for over two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty years, and for nearly all of that time,
Speaker 1: the citizens and the scholars town and gown had been
Speaker 1: at odds. A few times already the tension had broken
Speaker 1: out into violence. Students and the townspeople had been accused
Speaker 1: of killing each other, and tavern brawls were common events.
Speaker 1: Perhaps the worst instance was back in twelve oh nine,
Speaker 1: when a woman was murdered and two scholars were accused.
Speaker 1: A group of townspeople captured the two and they hanged them.
Speaker 1: A group of students then fled Oxford in response, ended
Speaker 1: up in Cambridge and founded a whole new university there
Speaker 1: to avoid the violence. So it's fair to say that
Speaker 1: town and gown skirmishes had become a yearly occurrence by
Speaker 1: thirteen fifty five, but all of them would pale in
Speaker 1: comparison to what happened that year. On February tenth, otherwise
Speaker 1: known as Saint Scholastica's Holy Day. That evening, a group
Speaker 1: of university students arrived at the Swindlestock Tavern in the
Speaker 1: center of town looking for a drink. The bartender, John Croydon,
Speaker 1: quickly poured them wine and then moved on to his
Speaker 1: next patrons. A few minutes later, one of the students
Speaker 1: waved down Croydon. He complained that the bartender had given
Speaker 1: them bad wine and that he should serve them something
Speaker 1: else free of charge. Tensions between the townspeople and the
Speaker 1: scholars were already high, so it wasn't long before Croydon
Speaker 1: and the scholars were arguing with each other, and finally
Speaker 1: Croydon hurled an insult and the scholar hurled his drink.
Speaker 1: The fight was on, and students and townspeople alike began brawling.
Speaker 1: The mass of people quickly spilled out into the street,
Speaker 1: and the fight became a riot that spread throughout the
Speaker 1: town and the university. For the next three whole days,
Speaker 1: violence raged in Oxford. Although both university officials and town
Speaker 1: leaders tried to stop the fighting, they couldn't get their
Speaker 1: sides to listen to them. When the university chancellor tried
Speaker 1: to calm the fighters down, he was forced to flee
Speaker 1: when someone fired arrows at him. On February eleventh, a
Speaker 1: day after the riot broke out, a crowd of townspeople
Speaker 1: swept through Oxford looking for scholars. The lucky ones fled
Speaker 1: to the university and barricaded themselves in libraries and lecture halls.
Speaker 1: The unlucky ones were killed by the mob. Even King
Speaker 1: Edward the Third, who was staying in the nearby village
Speaker 1: of Woodstock, couldn't quell the fighting, although he issued a
Speaker 1: royal proclamation. The mob raged on until finally on the
Speaker 1: evening of February twelfth, it died out. When the dust cleared,
Speaker 1: Oxford town had lost about thirty people, the university closer
Speaker 1: to sixty. King Edward immediately put the town under his
Speaker 1: direct control. The Oxford mayor and town bailiffs were sent
Speaker 1: to prison, The university was given power to tax goods
Speaker 1: on the town, and judges were appointed to oversee a
Speaker 1: trial of the rioters. Finally, the local bishop assigned the
Speaker 1: town of Oxford and annual pennants. Every year, on Saint
Speaker 1: Scholastica's Day, the mayor and at least sixty townspeople had
Speaker 1: to attend a mass for those slain in the riot,
Speaker 1: and every year the town had to pay the university
Speaker 1: one penny for each scholar killed. The pennance continued to
Speaker 1: be paid for nearly five hundred years until the punishment
Speaker 1: was dropped in eighteen twenty five, and in nineteen fifty five,
Speaker 1: six hundred years after the riot, the mayor of Oxford
Speaker 1: and the vice chancellor of the university exchanged honors to
Speaker 1: finally put the conflict to bed. Normally, in college, a
Speaker 1: bad bottle of wine might just cause a six hour hangover.
Speaker 1: In this case, it seems to have caused a six
Speaker 1: hundred year feud, and I'd call that curious. Antonio Lopez
Speaker 1: de Santa Anna, or Santa Anna for short, is a
Speaker 1: rather villainous figure in most American history books. He is
Speaker 1: best known for leading the Mexican assault on the Alamo
Speaker 1: in Texas and killing several American folk heroes, such as
Speaker 1: Davy Cross. It's a story that has spawned eight just
Speaker 1: Okay movies and at least two pretty great songs, But
Speaker 1: there's a real life sequel that not many people actually
Speaker 1: know about. The story doesn't follow any of the Americans.
Speaker 1: It follows Santa Anna, who returned to Mexico after he
Speaker 1: was defeated just a month after the Alamo at the
Speaker 1: Battle of San Jacinto. His further exploits are just as violent,
Speaker 1: but a bit more curious. You see, in eighteen twenty one,
Speaker 1: Mexico gained independence from Spain, although that doesn't mean everything
Speaker 1: went smoothly for the country after that. What followed were
Speaker 1: a few decades of civil strife with no effective central government.
Speaker 1: What government there was ruled Mexico City and the surrounding
Speaker 1: provinces fell under the jurisdiction of various territorial factions. Within
Speaker 1: the first twenty years of Mexican independence, ten different presidents
Speaker 1: were either killed or driven from power. Amidst all this strife,
Speaker 1: a renowned French pastry chef who history now only knows
Speaker 1: as Monsieur Remontel, was just doing his best to prepare
Speaker 1: the finest he could for whatever president was in power.
Speaker 1: You can imagine how hard it would be if your
Speaker 1: primary client kept dying or fleeing the country. But Rementel
Speaker 1: did keep his shop open to other customers as well.
Speaker 1: There just weren't many, and one day in eighteen thirty eight,
Speaker 1: he served his last declare to a group of drunken
Speaker 1: Mexican military officers who trashed his business. Furious, Rementel sent
Speaker 1: word to the French government demanding that they hold the
Speaker 1: Mexicans accountable for their destruction of a French business. Remontel
Speaker 1: was one of potentially hundreds of French citizens in Mexico
Speaker 1: with similar complaints, and so the French responded, sending ships
Speaker 1: to blockade and bombard the Mexico port of Vera Cruz,
Speaker 1: and with that an episode in Mexican history known as
Speaker 1: the Pastry War had begun. The Mexicans now had a
Speaker 1: common enemy to unite against, and so they rallied their army.
Speaker 1: But they needed a leader. As it so happened, Santa
Speaker 1: Ana was extremely available for the job. He had lost
Speaker 1: the respect of the military after the Battle of San
Speaker 1: Jacinto and had since retired to his ranch, But his
Speaker 1: ranch was just outside of Vera Cruz, and so he
Speaker 1: was the nearest available military leader. He got on his
Speaker 1: horse and rode as fast as he could to lead
Speaker 1: the army. By the time he rallied his men, the
Speaker 1: French had already occupied a fort in the region. He
Speaker 1: led an assault on that fort, eventually overcoming the European invaders. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: things were never that easy for Santa Anna. During the
Speaker 1: course of the battle, his horse was hit by a
Speaker 1: cannon and Santa Anna's leg was mangled. He had to
Speaker 1: have it amputated. To make matters worse, the French immediately
Speaker 1: retook the fort and forced Mexico to pay six hundred
Speaker 1: thousand pesos, putting an end to the Pastry war in
Speaker 1: March of eighteen thirty nine, just a few months after
Speaker 1: it started. However, all of Mexico now saw Santa Anna
Speaker 1: as a hero. He had stood up for their nation
Speaker 1: and even given a limb in the process. Heck, that
Speaker 1: leg was paraded through Mexico City and given an honorable burial,
Speaker 1: and Santa Anna was eventually made president in eighteen forty two.
Speaker 1: Talk about failing up, but he should have known better
Speaker 1: than to take the job. By eighteen forty four, the
Speaker 1: people had grown sick of him and they exhumed the leg.
Speaker 1: They paraded it through the streets again, but this time,
Speaker 1: instead of chanting Santa Anna's name, they screamed death to
Speaker 1: the cripple. It was just impossible to keep his people happy. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: Santa Anna's story was destined to become a trilogy. He
Speaker 1: was called into action to defend his country one more time.
Speaker 1: In eighteen forty seven, when the Mexican American War was
Speaker 1: in full swing. Santa Anna prepared to defend Vera Cruz
Speaker 1: for the second time, but victory was just not in
Speaker 1: the cards. The Americans trounced his army and he famously
Speaker 1: fled the battle, leaving his prosthetic leg behind for the
Speaker 1: Americans to take as a trophy. That leg, by the way,
Speaker 1: is on display in Indiana right now. Santa Anna was
Speaker 1: forced to give up a huge amount of Mexican territory,
Speaker 1: eventually the entire American Southwest, and once again went into exile.
Speaker 1: That wasn't the end of his story, but will leave
Speaker 1: the rest for another day. If nothing else, Santana's career
Speaker 1: and the Pastry War shows us that even the smallest,
Speaker 1: most seemingly insignificant moments in history can be filled with
Speaker 1: curious detail. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey
Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it
Speaker 1: over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time,
Speaker 1: stay curious.