Blood Libel

In the 1100s many Christians were outraged that Jews refused to convert to Christianity, viewing this refusal as a willful denial of what they perceived as God’s truth. Their anger was at times expressed in accusations that dehumanized and demonized Jewish people, one of these being the false claim that Jews practiced ritual murder.

The myth of Blood Libel emerged from an incident in England in 1144, when the body of a young boy was discovered on Good Friday near the city of Norwich. He would later be known as William of Norwich. The only account of the event came from a monk named Thomas of Monmouth, who, after hearing rumors spread by the woodsman who first found the body, claimed the boy’s death to have been a ritual murder carried out by Jews, meant to be a reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus. Monmouth further asserted that every year an innocent child, such as William, would be taken in the same manner. These claims were never supported by any evidence. Nevertheless, this incident gave rise to a dangerous myth in England: that Jews required the blood of a Christian child—especially during Holy Week, the week before Easter beginning on Palm Sunday—for religious rituals, particularly in the preparation of matzah (unleavened bread for Passover). This accusation had no basis in Jewish religious law, which strictly forbids the consumption of blood. Despite its falsehood, the myth spread rapidly, fueling antisemitic sentiment and leading to violent persecutions, expulsions, and massacres of Jews across Europe.

The story of William played a role in inciting violence, including an attack on a Jewish delegation attending the coronation of Richard the Lionheart in 1189. The following year, most of the Jewish population in Norwich was murdered. Another notorious case occurred in 1255 with the so-called "murder" of Little Hugh of Lincoln, in which Jews were again falsely accused of ritual killing. This story gained wide attention and was even featured in literature, notably in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Prioress’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales, further entrenching antisemitic stereotypes. Accusations of ritual murder and blood libels continued throughout England in the years that followed. Ultimately, in 1290, King Edward I expelled the Jews from England entirely; it marked the first official expulsion of an entire Jewish population from a European kingdom, Jews were not officially allowed to return until 1655, under the rule of Oliver Cromwell.