Source 2

‘He told us that in the ancient writings of their ancestors it was written that Jews could not achieve their freedom or even return to the lands of their fathers without the shedding of human blood. Hence it was decided by them a long time ago that every year, to the shame and affront of Christ, a Christian somewhere on earth be sacrificed to the highest God. […] [T]he leaders and rabbis of the Jews who dwell in Spain, at Narbonne, where the seed of kings and their glory flourishes greatly, meet together, and cast lots of all the regions where Jews lived. Whichever region was chosen by lot, its capital city had to apply that lot to the other cities and towns, and the one whose name comes up will carry out the business, as decreed.’ 

Thomas of Monmouth, The Life and Passion of William of Norwich, 1150.

This source is one of the earliest examples of the Blood Libel. Thomas of Monmouth, a monk living in Norwich, is writing here in response to the death of a boy named William in 1144. After William’s death, it was claimed that he had been murdered by the Jews, despite no evidence of this. Writing several years after William died, Monmouth alleges that there is an international Jewish conspiracy. A number of the stereotypes we encounter in this source form the basis of antisemitic ideas which endure to this day. It is important to stress that Thomas of Monmouth’s account is made up – it is the twelfth-century equivalent of ‘fake news’. Designed to damage the Jews’ reputation, this source begins with ‘He told us’, which immediately signals that what follows is presented as alleged hearsay, and not even something Monmouth is claiming to have seen directly. Monmouth’s claim is that Jews need to perform human sacrifices in order to be free, and that the leaders of Jews in Spain meet every year and randomly select somewhere around the world for a Christian to be murdered. There is no evidence that Thomas of Monmouth’s contemporaries believed the claims in his book, but they were to have long-lasting implications for Jews.

Questions to consider:

1. Why might a Benedictine monk have made these claims about Jews in Norwich? 
2. What is significant about the way in which Monmouth refers to the international nature of the alleged Jewish conspiracy?
3. The Blood Libel resurfaced a number of times in the Middle Ages and beyond, always without evidence and often relating to the death of children. Why do you think Jews were blamed for these tragedies?