William of Norwich

William of Norwich ( 22 March 1144) was an apprentice who lived in the English city of Norwich, and who was murdered during Easter 1144. The city's French-speaking Jewish community was blamed by some for his death, but the crime was never solved. William's case is the first known example of a medieval blood libel.

The story of the boy originates from the writings of Thomas of Monmouth, a Benedictine monk and a member of Norwich Cathedral Priory, who wrote the hagiographical The Life and Miracles of St William of Norwich in 1150 to state the case for William's claim to sainthood. The priory enshrined William's relics within the cathedral. However, he was never formally canonised, and the cult surrounding William had faded into obscurity by the 16th century. His relics have since been lost, and almost nothing remains to be seen of the small isolated chapel dedicated to him on Mousehold Heath, reputedly situated close to where his body had originally been found.

Background

thumb|Map based a map of medieval Norwich (published in 1896). The Jewry is shown in red, positioned close to the 'Castel-land'.

The Jewish community is thought to have been established in Norwich by 1135, although a Jew named Isaac was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. Most of the Jewish community lived in the Jewry, the Jewish quarter of the city, close to the castle. They were closely associated with the ruling Anglo-Norman class, and were under their protection.

Tensions between local Anglo-Saxons and Normans may well have led to the belief that capital crimes by French-speaking Jews were covered up by the French-speaking Normans. Tensions were particularly high during the reign of Stephen.

Accounts of William's murder

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The murder of William of Norwich was mentioned in the Peterborough Chronicle, a version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle written between 1273 and 1295. The annal describing William's fate was recorded in or around 1155:

The Life and Miracles of St William of Norwich

thumb|A page from Thomas of Monmouth's Vita  ([[Cambridge University Library (Add MS 3037))]]

The primary source of information about William of Norwich comes from a single copy of a 12th-century manuscript by Thomas of Monmouth, who arrived in Norwich sometime before 1150 to become a monk at the city's priory, now Norwich Cathedral. The surviving copy may have been made less than 10 years after the original was completed.

In his account of William's life,The Life and Miracles of St William of Norwich (), Thomas used stories provided by observers and witnesses of the events surrounding William's death and information given to him about Norwich's Jewish community. He described how he investigated the case, and visited the scene of the crime. The account is set out in seven books, the first two of which contain details of William's murder, evidence in support of the accusation that the Jews killed him, and that he had suffered as a martyr and was therefore a saint.

The surviving manuscript is most likely to have originated from East Anglia, and it may never have left the region. In it was bequeathed to St Mary's Church, Brent Eleigh; it was sold by the church to Cambridge University Library in 1891. The earliest references to The Life and Miracles of St William of Norwich appeared during the 16th century by the antiquary John Leland and the East Anglian churchman John Bale.

Biography

Life as an apprentice

According to Thomas of Monmouth, William was born on 2 February 1132 to a local couple.

William is said by Thomas to have been apprenticed to a skinner and tanner. His work brought him into contact with members of the city's Jewish population. His mother was approached by a man claiming to work for the Archdeacon of Norwich; he offered William a job in the Archdeacon's kitchens. Agreeing, she was paid three shillings to let her son go. William and the man then visited William's aunt, who told her daughter to follow William and the man. The last time William was seen alive by his family was on Holy Tuesday, when he and the man went into the house of a local Jew.

The Norfolk antiquary John Kirkpatrick produced a plan of the site in about 1720. It shows that at this time, few remains of the chapel existed. He also appears on rood screens in the parish churches at Worstead, Loddon, and in Eye, Suffolk.

Subsequent intolerance towards the Jews of England

thumb|An illustration from the [[Textus Roffensis depicting the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290 (British Library)]]

As a result of the ill-feelings generated by the murder and subsequent intervention by the authorities in Norwich, a growing suspicion of collusion led to the an anti-Jewish and anti-Norman mood in the city. The specific allegation of ritual murder that was made against the Jews of Norwich is the first recorded case of blood libel in the Middle Ages.

Following the death of William, a number of other child murders were at the time attributed to Jews, included the killing of Harold of Gloucester in 1168, Robert of Bury in 1181, and Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln in 1255.

By the reign of Richard the Lionheart attitudes towards English Jews had become less tolerant. This, in conjunction with the increase in national opinion in favour of a Crusade, and the conflation of all non-Christians in the Medieval Christian imagination, led to the Jewish deputation attending the coronation of Richard in 1189 being attacked by the crowd. A widespread attack began on the Jewish population, leading to massacres of Jews at London, Bury, and York, which were followed by others throughout England. When the Norman nobility of Norwich attempted to suppress attacks upon the Jewish population, the yeomanry and peasants revolted against the lords and attacked their supporters, especially Norwich's Jewish community. On 6 February 1190, Jews who were found in their own houses at Norwich were killed; many had taken refuge in the castle.

Hostility against Jews continued until, in 1290, Jews were expelled from England by Edward I. Jews were not officially allowed to resettle in England until after 1655, when Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell commissioned the Whitehall Conference to debate the proposals made by Menasseh ben Israel. While the Conference reached no verdict, it is seen as the beginning of resettlement of the Jews in England.

Later theories relating to the murder

19th century

The first analysis of the murder was written by the British medievalist scholar M. R. James in 1896. Noting Thomas of Monmouth's use of testimonies to construct a consistent account, James argued that these were inventions or were unreliable, or were manipulated to fit the story. James maintained that the murder's ritual nature emerged only after a man named Theobald, keen to ingratiate himself with the Christian community, promoted the idea. James suggested other causes for William's death, including the possibility of it being an accident, or that William was killed and his murderer (or accidental killer) escaped detection by causing blame for the crime to be placed upon the Jews.

The literary critic Joseph Jacobs speculated in 1897 that William's family had held a mock crucifixion over Easter, during which William fell into a cataleptic trance and died as a result of burial. Jacobs pointed out that Jews would have had to carry the body through Norwich to get to the wood.

20th century – present

In 1933, the historian Cecil Roth argued that a different type of mock crucifixion may have led to the accusations against Jews, because of the traditional mock execution of Haman enacted by Medieval Provençal Jews during the festival of Purim. In 1964, Marion Anderson developed this idea, suggesting that William had been told not to associate with Jews following one such masquerade; he died after being tortured by the Jews to find out why they were being ostracised.

Sources

External links

The forgotten chapel – William of Norwich from Invisible Works
St William's Chapel shown on a 25-inch Ordnance Survey map from the National Library of Scotland
St William's Chapel from St Mary Magdalene Norwich's website