Table Of Content

The Blood Libel Legend Edited by ALAN DUNDES The Blood Libel Legend A Casebook in Anti-Semitic Folklore The University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press 114 North Murray Street Madison, Wisconsin 53715 3 Henrietta Street London WC2E 8LU, England Copyright © 1991 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System All rights reserved 54321 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Blood libel legend: a casebook in anti-Semitic folklore / edited by Alan Dundes. 396 pp. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-299-13110-6 ISBN 0-299-13114-9 1. Blood accusation. 2. Christianity and antisemitism. I. Dundes, Alan. BM585.2.B58 1991 305.8'924-dc20 91-12592 Contents ~cl~ ~ Acknowledgments ix Thomas of Monmouth: Detector of Ritual Murder 3 Gavin I. Langmuir Little St. Hugh of Lincoln: Researches in History, Archaeology, and Legend 41 Joseph Jacobs Little Sir Hugh: An Analysis 72 Brian Bebbington The Prioress's Tale 91 Geoffrey Chaucer The Ritual Murder Accusation in Britain 99 Colin Holmes The Hilsner Affair 135 Frantisek Cervinka The Present State of the Ritual Crime in Spain 162 Sanford Shepard Damascus to Kiev: Civilta Cattolica on Ritual Murder 180 Charlotte Klein Ritual Murder Accusations in Nineteenth-Century Egypt 197 Jacob M. Landau Twentieth-Century Blood Libels in the United States 233 Abraham G. Duker The Feast of Purim and the Origins of the Blood Accusation 261 Cecil Roth v Contents The Blood Libel: A Motif in the History of Childhood 273 Magdalene Schultz The Ritual Murder Accusation: The Persistence of Doubt and the Repetition Compulsion 304 Ernest A. Rappaport The Ritual Murder or Blood Libel Legend: A Study of Anti-Semitic Victimization through Projective Inversion 336 Alan Dundes A Selected Bibliography: Suggestions for Further Reading on the Blood Libel Legend 379 Index 383 vi Preface The prospective reader should be warned at the very outset that the subject of this volume is not a pleasant one. This is not a study of a folktale like Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood. Instead it is an assemblage of essays all treating one of the most bizarre and dangerous legends ever created by the human imagination: the blood libel legend. According to this legend, which goes back to at least the twelfth century in Europe, Jews murder an innocent Christian infant or child for the ritual purpose of mixing the victim's blood with their matzah around Easter time. Strange though this legend may sound to anyone who has not encountered it previously, it has a sordid history which has caused great grief to count less numbers and generations of Jews. It continues to be be lieved as true even in the twentieth century, and it has had a demonstrable effect on the perpetuation of the worst kind of anti-Semitism, that is, anti-Semitic behavior which has caused the death of Jews. In order to better understand the blood libel legend, we should perhaps make several basic distinctions. Ritual mur der is a general term referring to any sacrificial killing-of either animal or human victim for some designated reason, e.g., to place in a cornerstone so as to ensure a successful building or bridge. Jewish ritual murder, in particular, refers to Jews killing Christians for some alleged religious reason. The blood libel is a subcategory of Jewish ritual murder. Not only is a Christian killed-usually a small child, typically male-but the child's blood is supposedly utilized in some ritual context, e.g., to mix with the unleavened bread eaten at Passover. One of the first reported cases of ritual murder allegedly carried out by Jews is that of William of Norwich in 1144. The first essay in this volume by Gavin 1. Langmuir discusses this case in ample detaiL The second essay, by nineteenth century folklorist Joseph Jacobs, considers a more famous case in England, that of Hugh of Lincoln in 1255. From cases we move to more folkloristic or literary renditions of the legend. vii Preface Brian Bebbington's symbolic analysis of the ballad of Little Sir Hugh is followed by Chaucer's classic Prioress's Tale. From cases and texts, we shift to surveys of ritual murder or the blood libel in different locales. Colin Holmes's review of modern English instances, Frantisek Cervinka's account of a well-known case in Czechoslovakia, and Sanford Shepard's consideration of Spanish examples are representative. Char lotte Klein samples the many reports of ritual murder found in an important Catholic periodical sponsored by the Vatican. Then follow examinations of ritual murder reports in nine teenth-century Egypt by Jacob M. Landau and in the twen tieth century in the United States by Abraham G. Duker. After these cases, texts, and surveys, the final section of the volume concerns the analysis of the blood libel legend. Cecil Roth seeks an origin for the legend in the Christian misunderstanding of the Jewish feast of Purim, and Mag dalene Schultz emphasizes the child abuse component of the legend in her essay. The last two selections by Ernest A. Rappaport and the editor attempt to bring psychoanalytic theory to bear upon the content of the blood libel legend. One should keep in mind that these fourteen essays were written at different time periods and were addressed to very different audiences. So it was almost inevitable that there would be some repetition and overlap in the essays. On the other hand, taken as a whole, these diverse studies of the blood libel legend give a remarkably complete picture of the legend in all its complexity. The intent of the casebook is to hold an evil legend up to the light of reason with the hope of nullifying its pernicious influence. To do so, I had to take the risk of introducing the legend to some who may never have heard it before. I would hate to think that this volume would in any way help spread the legend. On the other hand, the legend has existed for nearly nine centuries up to the present time and it has had dire consequences for many, many individuals. I believe the risk is worth taking because such an evil legend must be analyzed and shown to be the dangerous fantasy that it surely is. viii Acknowledgments I thank the diligent and resourceful interlibrary loan staff of Doe Library at the University of California, Berkeley, for their success in locating rare and arcane publications on the blood libel legend. I am also grateful to Simone Klugman of the reference department of the same library for carrying out a .computer search on the subject. A number of specialized libraries were kind enough to send me photocopies of their card catalogue entries on the blood libel. I am indebted to the Blaustein Library of the American Jewish Committee of the Institute of Human Relations in New York City and to the Hebrew Union College Library in Cincinnati for such as sistance. I am also obliged to the Library of the Jewish Theo logical Seminary of America in New York City for reproduc ing a copy of Louis Ginzberg's unpublished "Reply to Mr. Pranaitis" at my request. To the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, I express my thanks for sending me trans lated excerpts from General Mustafa Tlas's book The Matza of Zion. Finally to my dear wife, Carolyn, who is ever by my side, I wish to signal my heartfelt appreciation for her con tinued assistance and support during my research on this painful and unpleasant project. ix