Table Of ContentThe 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
