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Obres de E.M. Rose

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The blood libel—the false and vile accusation that Jewish people murder Christian children for their blood—originated in the twelfth century in England, and was used thereafter as a pretext to smear and attack Jews. E.M. Rose's study takes a close look at the origins of these ritual murder accusations in their historical context.

I'm of two minds about this book. Rose does a good job of assembling and contextualising some very fragmentary sources and mining them for all they're worth, and at creating as much of a linear narrative as she can from them. However, I'm not sure who the audience for this is. The paperback publication and the careful contexualisation would seem to indicate that the book is aimed at a popular audience, but you need to know so much about how the medieval world worked in order to understand the importance of some of the sources that I could see this being overwhelming to the general reader. The specialist reader may scribble question marks next to some of Rose's more imaginative passages, or to some of the ways she draws on primary sources.

However, this is certainly an important contribution to the study of Christian anti-Semitism, and the study of medieval Europe as a whole.
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Marcat
siriaeve | Hi ha 5 ressenyes més | Jul 13, 2020 |
This book is a full examination of what the author maintains is the first historical example of the 'blood libel" --the claim that Jews as a community would ritually kill a Christian youth, usually around Easter time. What happened in this case was that an apprentice leatherworker named William was found dead in the woods outside Norwich. At the time, there seems to have been no public claim that Jews were involved, but several years later Simon, a knight in debt to a Jewish banker, killed the banker, and at his trial (ultimately before King Stephen) the bishop (who ha not been in office when the youth was killed) claimed the banker had been the leader of a group of Jews who killed William. This was apparently enough to prevent Simon's conviction, though the Jews were also never convicted and Rose maintains that (contrary to later examples of this kind) there was no pogrom against the Jews. A local monk (who also had not been present when William died) wrote up the case attempting to prove William should be regarded as saint and a martyr. According to Rose, Thomas achieved only modest success, but decades later, similar charges resurfaced elsewhere, first in Gloucester, where, as in Norwich, the death of a man named Harold was blamed on Jews to little effect, and then in Blois and elsewhere in northern France, were the results were more serious --over 30 Jews were burned to death by the local count. I do not find Rose's explanation what Rose argues was a very minor event in Norwich could set off a long series of charges against Jews lasting until the 20th century. I caught one clear error in the book --it refers to Stephen and his rival Matilda as "children" of King Henry I. Matilda was his daughter, but Stephen was only his nephew. If Stephen had been Henry I's son, he would have inherited the throne without trouble.… (més)
 
Marcat
antiquary | Hi ha 5 ressenyes més | May 16, 2018 |
In the 12th century Norwich was the second largest city in England but it did not have a patron saint to draw pilgrims to it. Across Europe the ruling classes were in need of money to fund their expeditions on crusade and the only place to borrow money was from the Jews. When the time came to repay the money the nobility looked for a way out and a Europe-wide programme of anti-semiticism began. In Norwich a youth was found dead in the woods and his death was attributed to a ritual murder committed but the jewish population of the city. When a knight, reneging on his debt, murdered a jewish money-lender, his defence was revenge for the murder of the youth William. Seizing upon the opportunity the leaders of Norwich's priesthood began attributing miracles to murdered youth in order to provide themselves with a 'home-grown' saint to rival St Edmund of nearby Bury. The ripples were felt across in France as retribution was taken for similar 'ritual murders'.

Before reading this book I had some knowledge of the anti-semiticism that took place in medieval Europe but this book filled in some of the detail and the motivation. The idea of ritual murder was promulgated to cover for a need to ensure that debts weren't paid in full and money was forfeit to the Crown, the Jews being both rich and ostracised from society. Whilst the murder of William of Norwich is used as a scenario to focus this book the actual details are sketchy and the real details comes from descriptions of atrocities elsewhere. The level of research is meticulous, nearly half the length of the book is taken up with details of source material, and the writing is really engaging. This is a fascinating story.
… (més)
 
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pluckedhighbrow | Hi ha 5 ressenyes més | Jun 26, 2017 |
In 1144 the body of young William of Norwich was found. He had been tortured and then murdered by a person or persons unknown but for a variety of reasons blame was unfairly placed on the entire Jewish community.
This incredibly well researched and well written book details the history of what is the first known accusation of ritual murder attributed to Jews in medieval times. It is an enlightening account of Jewish/Christian relations in this time period. I found it to be a fascinating read although some may find it a bit dry. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning more not only about the origins of the blood libel but also a not so well known part of Jewish/Christian history.… (més)
 
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Veronica.Sparrow | Hi ha 5 ressenyes més | Nov 15, 2015 |

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Obres
6
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ISBN
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