│By Benjamin Armus, Gale Intern│
From the raucous atmosphere of college sports to emergent subversive online cultures, the university experience has always been defined by a tension between institutional discipline and youthful rebellion. However, a rejection of decorum is by no means a modern invention; the halls of Oxford and Cambridge four hundred years ago were frequently just as rowdy, and more dangerous, than the campuses of today.
To capture the spirit of these interactions, we must turn to the paper trails left behind by the students and masters themselves. Drawing on the extensive archives within Gale’s Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) and British Literary Manuscripts Online, this post will examine a selection of primary texts – from jestbooks to memoirs.
By analysing these firsthand accounts, we can understand the deeper function of humour and violence, revealing how these disruptive behaviours shaped the social and intellectual climate of the early modern university.