The likely origin of the blood libel may be glimpsed within a late twelfth-century text—the hagiography that Thomas of Monmouth composed for a boy named William who was murdered just outside Norwich in 1144. A Benedictine monk at a cathedral that attempted repeatedly to foster a cult around the dead youth, Thomas is notorious for disseminating a narrative that was to cost hundreds of Jews their lives. Rose has carefully re-evaluated Thomas’ story, contextualizing its events in light of East Anglia’s contemporary social and economic perturbations. Combining literary techniques (close reading and persuasive story telling) with history’s demand for diligent archival work, Rose argues that the ritual murder plot was invented by Bishop William Turbe during his legal defense of a knight in his service.
Having murdered a Jewish banker, Simon de Novers hoped to free himself of debt incurred to finance participation in the disastrous Second Crusade. Thomas’ text...