Black Assize

The Black Assize is a name given to multiple deaths in the city of Oxford in England between July 6 and August 12, 1577. At least 300 people, including the chief baron and sheriff, are thought to have died as a result of this event. It received its name because it was believed to have been associated with a trial at the Assize Court at Oxford Castle.

Reports vary as to the total number of deaths that occurred in the "Black Assize". The casualties in Oxford itself are consistently recorded as approximately 300, but some reports say that further deaths occurred outside the city. One report records:

'There died in Oxford 300 persons, and sickened there, but died in other places, 200 and odd, from the 6th of July to the 12th of August, after which day died not one of that sickness, for one of them infected not another, nor any one woman or child died thereof.'

This reported lack of deaths among women and children led to speculation about the causes of the casualties.

On the wall inside the Main Hall of the Old County Hall of Oxfordshire in New Road, an inscription reads:

Near this spot stood the ancient Shire Hall, unhappily famous In history as the scene in July 1577 of the Black Assize, when a malignant disease known as Gaol Fever caused the death within forty days of the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Sir Robert Bell, the Lord High Sheriff (Sir Robert D'Oyly of Merton) and about three hundred more.

The malady from the stench of the Prisoners developed itself during the Trial of one Rowland Jenkes, a saucy foul-mouthed Bookseller, for scandalous words uttered against the Queen.
Anno 1875. JMD pie posuit.(JMD erected this monument out of piety, 1875)

From the time of the Black Death in the mid-14th century until the second half of the 19th century, Oxford was regularly visited by plague, cholera, smallpox and typhoid fevers. In 1348, the Black Death reduced the city's population to such an extent that Gloucester College (from which Gloucester Green derives its name) was forced to close. In 1571, Oxford University had to postpone the start of term because of an outbreak of plague, and the 'gaol fever' six years later may have been part of the same epidemic, being considered more worthy of note because its victims included the Lord Chief Baron and the Lord High Sheriff.

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