Who killed the innkeeper with a sword in 1315?

A spice merchant stabbed by a fruit seller over a long-standing feud. A street musician murdered for playing music too loudly after sunset. A deadly quarrel between servants of the Queen of England. And who killed the innkeeper after a battle with a sword?

These murder cases, discovered by historians in centuries-old archives, may have been closed long ago. But fans of true crime and history can now watch them interactively medieval murder map released in September by researchers at the University of Cambridge.

Users can click through the background stories of more than 300 murders in the English cities of London, York and Oxford. Entries are searchable by gender, day of the week, and even by weapon (pole ax or crossbow?).

“It allows people to engage with this medieval world, but it also allows people to see this medieval world almost as a mirror of our own world,” said Manuel Eisner, professor of criminology at Cambridge who led the project , adding that the map highlights some of the overlaps between our eras. “People get angry over a trivial altercation.”

Educators and others in the history field say such tools can help people learn about eras that are difficult for a layperson to research through laborious archives.

“This is something I would send a really enthusiastic student and say, look at this,” says Anna Hughes, a teacher in York, adding that such tools can help bring rigorous academic research to the classroom. “It’s a great piece of local history and gives students a sense of period and place.”

Details of the cases come mainly from 14th century coroners and inquests relating to sudden and violent deaths.

“It was quite an emotional record,” said Professor Eisner, who added that he was amazed when he first came across the data, which contained detailed information about places and perpetrators. “I thought it would be nice to have an electronic version of this.”

After creating an earlier version of the map for London, researchers expanded the scope to York and Oxford. To brainstorm how to present the information visually, they turned to Design Monkey, a web design and digital marketing agency.

If you click around on the London murder map you might come across the unfortunate case of Roger Stywardwho in 1326 threw away a bucket of eel skins at some shops.Eel was used as currency and to pay rent in medieval England.) Two enraged shop owners murdered him before taking refuge in a nearby church.

That story is a favorite of Louise Grainger, which offers official tours of London. When Mrs Grainger takes visitors past the spot where Mr Styward died seven centuries ago, she typically tells the eel story. The murder map also helped her add a pub fight story to her walk around one of the city’s oldest markets, Leadenhall Market.

“History is generally written by the people in power,” Ms Grainger said, adding that the map helped add “real colour” to the understanding of the time period. “It is quite difficult to get the person in the voice of the street.”

For example, there are people who have died by falling into the River Thames while trying to bathe. “Far fewer people are killed over a bucket of eel, I can tell you that,” she said.

Olivia Swarthout, 24, whose account on Xthe platform formerly known as Twitter, documents medieval art, said an earlier version of the map had helped her write a book: “Weird medieval guys”, about life during that period.

“People think of the Middle Ages as quite prudish and as a tight period, but everyone got into trouble,” she said, pointing to the stories of arguments between lovers and corrupt clergy detailed on the card.

Although historical documents have increasingly been digitized, Ms Swarthout said online archives were not always easy to use. “There is a missed opportunity to attract more involvement from the broader public,” she said, adding that tools like the murder map are a new way to synthesize large amounts of old information. “It’s just really fun to experience.”

For the team in Cambridge, there are still more murders to map, and the map can be expanded even further. But with the information already available, Professor Eisner has started a podcast hoping to spark people’s interest in medieval crime.

“Crime sells, for a number of reasons,” he said. “It’s something that scares us. We like to play detective. We love the mystery behind it.”