TIL that from 1264 to 1827, anyone who received a Master of Arts degree from Oxford had to swear that they would never forgive Henry Symeonis. By 1608, no one knew who he was or what he had done

For those who didn't follow the link:

But what was the reason for Henry’s condemnation by the University to five and a half centuries of infamy? It was a murder. In 1242 he and a number of other men of the town of Oxford were found guilty of murdering a student of the University. Henry and his accomplices were fined £80 by King Henry III in May 1242 and were made to leave Oxford as a result, forced to stay away (and allowed no closer than Northampton) at least until the King returned from abroad.

Further research is needed to discover the exact details of what happened here but it seems that Henry Symeonis had bought the King’s pardon and his permission to return to Oxford. The King was willing to allow his return if the University agreed to it. But the University refused and chose to ignore the King’s order of 25 March 1264, resuming its hostility to Henry Symeonis. In fact, it felt so strongly about it, that it gave Henry Symeonis the unique honour of being named in its own statutes, making the University’s dislike of him official and perpetual.

Fuck Henry Symeonis, all my homies hate Henry Symeonis.

Meanwhile, Ea-Nasir and his shitty copper will never, ever be forgotten.

I'm going to try and make "You look like you're friends with Henry Symeonis" a casual insult. Wish me luck.

I know what you did in 1263

Forget, but don't forgive!

Spite is one of the greatest human emotions.

A grudge worse than the sin, apparently.

So over time, the number of people lying about that particular statement reduced, until it was eventually zero.

I wonder what would have happened if someone refused to swear. I'm the kind of stubborn bastard that would refuse to swear to something I didn't understand. I imagine the university probably just ignored it if someone refused to swear because it wasn't worth the headache to deal with someone refusing.

Colleges do some incredibly fucked up things to control what people think. I do not view them as sacred, infallible, or even run and attended by generally good people.

I'm starting to form some theories that it's why we herd so many of our children to it. If they ever go off and find knowledge on their own, then they can't be monitored as easily.