The Bones of the Blood Libel

It was not in Eastern Europe, or the Middle East, but in England that the blood libel was born. In 1144, a tanner’s assistant by the name of William was found dead, clearly murdered, on the outskirts of the city of Norwich. William’s hagiographer, Thomas of Monmouth, claimed that Norwich’s Jews had killed William. They were, he said, obeying the orders of an international gathering of Jews who annually selected a Christian child to be murdered in advance of Passover and Easter. William was made a saint by the Church.

Anti-Semitic feeling ultimately exploded throughout England, producing pogroms over the next several decades, including in Norwich itself in 1190. The medieval chronicler Ralph de Diceto informs us of what occurred as the libels against the Jews were joined with the fervor of the Crusades: “Many of those who were hastening to Jerusalem determined first to rise against the Jews before they invaded the Saracens. Accordingly on 6th February all the Jews who were found in their own houses at Norwich were butchered; some had taken refuge in the castle.”

From Norwich, the blood libel spread throughout the world, affecting Jewish life everywhere. Jews were often afraid to use the traditional red wine at Passover seders, lest it lead to accusations of vampirism. Far away from England, hundreds of years after William’s death, the Jews of Damascus were accused of murdering, in advance of Passover, a monk by the name of Father Thomas. These accusations were fostered by French officials and led to the imprisonment, torture, and death of members of the Syrian Jewish community.