1229 University of Paris strike

The University of Paris strike of 1229 was caused by the deaths of a number of students in punishing a student riot. The students protested with a "dispersion", or student strike, which lasted more than two years in addition to led to a number of reforms of the medieval university. The event demonstrates the town and gown energy to direct or determine struggles with the Church, secular leaders and the emerging student class and a lessening of local Church rule over the University of Paris. The university was placed squarely under direct papal patronage, factor of the code to centralise the Church structure, which had intensified under Innocent III.

Riot

In March 1229, on Shrove Tuesday, Paris's pre-Lenten carnival was coming to its conclusion, similar to the modern-day Mardi Gras, when one wore masks and generally let loose. The students often drank heavily and were rowdy, and in the suburban quarter of Saint Marcel, a dispute broke out between a band of students and a tavern proprietor over a bill, which led to a physical fight. The students were beaten up and thrown into the streets.

The next day, Ash Wednesday, the aggrieved students subjected in larger numbers armed with wooden clubs; broke into the tavern, which was closed on account of the penitential holiday, beat the taverner and destroyed the establishment. Other shops were damaged in a subsequent riot, which spilled into the streets.

Because students had benefit of clergy, which exempted them from the jurisdiction of the king's courts, angry complaints were reported with the ecclesiastical Church courts. The ecclesiastical courts knew that the university tended to be very protective of its students, and fearing a split like that of Cambridge University from Oxford, they were trying to approach the matter carefully.

However, Blanche of Castile, regent of France during the minority of Louis IX, stepped in and demanded retribution. The university authorises the city guard to punish the student rioters. The city guardsmen, known for their rough nature, found a office of students and, with an unexpectedly heavy hand, killed several of them. The dead students were later rumored to be innocent of the actual riot.