The Jew, the Blood and the Body in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe (original) (raw)

Cruentation, Medieval Anti-Jewish Polemic, and Ritual Murder

Antisemitism Studies, 2019

In his Bonum universale de apibus (On Bees), the Dominican Thomas of Cantimpré recorded several instances in which the corpse of a murder victim spontaneously effused blood in the presence of the murderer. In one of these stories, Thomas provided an account of a ritual murder (ca. 1260). In this article, I examine the relationship between this phenomenon of "cruentation" and the anti-Jewish exemplum. I also identify some of the distinctive features of the tale, including the claim that the Jews typically harvest the blood of their Christian victims in order to address certain defects in their own nature. Finally, I examine the unusual identification of the Christian victim as female in relation to another ritual murder account at Valreás in 1247.

From Anti-Judaism to Anti-Semitism? The Development of the Myth of Jewish Ritual Murder in England

Accusations of Jewish ritual murder have persisted into the modern era, but the medieval origins of the accusation reflect the society from which it emerged. Between 1066 and 1290 the perception and position of the Jewish population in England changed. This period also witnessed the origins of the ritual murder accusations. In 1144 the accusation was dismissed by a majority of the population; by 1255 it was accepted by the Christian community and the Jews were the first place they turned when the body of the child was found. By locating the changing position of the Jewish community, and then comparing the development of the ritual murder accusations between the case of William of Norwich and Hugh of Lincoln, it allows the Jewish community to be viewed from a different vantage point. This dissertation will also critique Gavin Langmuir’s conception of medieval anti-Semitism, by exploring the alleged ‘irrational’ nature of the ritual murder accusation. The argument will be made, that they are also based in rational financial and societal concerns, and thus not the ‘irrational’ manifestations that Langmuir outlined. By the murder of Hugh in 1255, these accusations had passed into folk legend and taken on a more malevolent form but still had a rational financial underpinning. The accusation became part of the general perception of the Jews, and lasted long after the Jews were expelled. The development of the rituals, is key to understanding the way that the position of the Jews was changing in English society

Feeling persecuted: Christians, Jews and images of violence in the middle ages

2010

Ever since R. I. Moore published his The Formation of a Persecuting Society in 1987, we have increasingly come to understand medieval society in terms of its treatment of its 'others': Jews, lepers, heretics and so forth.(1) New bureaucratic structures starting in the 11th century established themselves by persecuting these minorities. David Nirenberg added importantly to this analysis by showing the role of violence, especially symbolic violence, in enacting and policing these boundaries.(2) And Israel Jacob Yuval opened up another dimension of the historiography by showing how Jews and Christians shared a common language of violence and traded motifs back and forth over the religious barricades: Jews killed their families and themselves in the Crusades in imitation of Christian ideas of martyrdom.(3) Yuval also demonstrated how the ritual murder accusation against Jews played a key role in the production of Christian saints. For the victim-typically a child-to die at the hands of the Jews was to imitate Christ's passion. Violence by Jews was a necessary component in the Christian economy of redemption. Anthony Bale has productively built on these and other works in his brilliant study of the medieval iconography of violence. Drawing primarily-but not exclusively-on English materials, he significantly revises Moore by showing that images of violence were significant methods of inculcating Christian virtues of meekness and clemency. In a paradoxical way, to persecute the Jews was a way of enacting the Christian message of love, since the Jews had rejected that message with violence. Or, as Christopher Ocker has put it, a theology of love was just as responsible for the ritual murder accusation as a theology of hate.(4) Despite appearances to the contrary, Jews were powerful, while Christians were weak, as befit those who imitated Christ. Images of violent Jews reinforced Christians' identities as victims and thus justified their own violent attitudes toward the Jews. And in some cases, this emotional economy operated without actual Jews, such as in England after the Jews had been expelled in 1291. Bale places emphasis on feeling, for he believes that 'if we wish to uncover how medieval people thought, we must take seriously how they felt' (p. 11). As opposed to the Enlightenment hierarchy of reason over the emotions, the Middle Ages sought to inculcate feeling in its iconography, the primary means of communication when literacy was restricted to tiny elites. Love and hate were inextricably intertwined so that images aroused both of these emotions simultaneously and dialectically. In addition, the feelings aroused by images of Jews tormenting Jesus were designed to make those viewing these images feel that the