Black Assize

The Black Assize was a plague of Epidemic typhus that struck the town of Oxford in England on July 6, 1577. About 300 people including the chief baron and sheriff, are thought to have died as a result of the plague. It received its name because it was believed to have been caught from prisoners under trial at the Assize Court at Oxford Castle.

On the wall inside the Main Hall of the Old County Hall of Oxfordshire in New Road one may find an interesting inscription that 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-fourteenth century until the second half of the nineteenth 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 gets its name) was forced to close. In 1571 the 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. UK-hist-stub