A team of academics, led by criminologist Manuel Eisner, analyzed 14th-century coroner's rolls and documented over 350 homicides in medieval London, Oxford, and York. Their findings, published in a peer-reviewed paper, reveal that affluent areas housed many violent incidents and that male college students were frequent offenders. Homicides tended to cluster in busy outdoor settings, reflecting an era where murder rates were significantly higher than today—Oxford had about 100 victims per 100,000 inhabitants compared to London's current rate of 1.2 per 100,000.
"Each of these stories shines a little spotlight on an event in some corner of London," Eisner said in a phone interview this week.
Homicide was much more frequent than it is in modern times," Eisner said.
Some of the deadliest hot spots were in the most affluent areas, and male college students were among the most frequent killers.
The deadliest of the cities was Oxford, which he estimated to have a homicide rate of about 100 per 100,000 inhabitants in the 14th century.
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