In 1209, after a student murdered a local woman and the townspeople exacted vengeance on two innocent professors, both faculty and students fled the vicinity and the university practically shut down.
西元一二○九年，又因為一位學生殺害一位當地婦女，惹得憤怒的鎮民對兩位無辜教授動以「私刑」，以示報復。一時學者們四散逃亡，牛津大學幾乎解體，不少人逃到劍橋，在此落地生根，這就是劍橋的濫觴。