William of Norwich
Encyclopedia
| William of Norwich (Cult suppressed) |
|
|---|---|
| Born | 1132 in Norwich, England |
| Died | 22 March 1144 |
| Venerated by | Roman Catholics |
| Feast | March 26 (Removed from the Universal Calendar) |
William of Norwich (c. 1132 – March 22, 1144) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
boy whose death was, at the time, attributed to the Jewish community of Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
. It is the first known medieval accusation of ritual murder against Jews.
William was an apprentice tanner
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
who regularly came into contact with Jews and visited their homes as part of his trade. His death was unsolved; the local community of Norwich attributed the boy's death to the Jews, though the local court would not convict them for lack of proof. William was shortly thereafter acclaimed as a saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
in Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, with miracle
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
s attributed to him.
William's story was told in The Life and Miracles of William of Norwich, a multi-volume Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
work by Thomas of Monmouth
Thomas of Monmouth
Thomas of Monmouth was a monk who lived in a Benedictine monastery in Norwich, in Norfolk, England during the 12th century.-Career:Thomas of Monmouth was the author of The Life and Miracles of William , an anti-semitic polemic which accused the Jews of murdering a young boy whose body was found on...
, a monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
in the Norwich Benedictine monastery. Thomas started The Life in 1149/50; he completed volume 7 by 1173. Jessop, one of the editors of Thomas' work, describes Thomas as belonging to the class of those who are "deceivers and being deceived."
The background
The Catholic EncyclopediaCatholic Encyclopedia
The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
states the facts of the case, as accounted by Thomas, as follows:
- ...a boy's corpse showing signs of a violent death was found in Thorpe Wood near Norwich. It was not touched until Easter Monday, where it was buried without any ceremony where it lay. In the meantime a number of young men and boys had visited the spot and the Jews were suspected of the murder on account of the nature of the wounds ... The body was recognized as that of William, a tanner's apprentice, who with his master had been in the habit of frequenting the houses of certain Jews. The grave was opened by William's uncle, the priest Godwin Stuart, the body recognized, the burial Office read, and the grave recovered. A few days later the diocesan synod met under the presidence of Bishop Eborard, and Stuart accused the Jews of the murder, and offered to prove his accusation by ordeal. But the Jews of the Norwich Jewry were the king's men and under the protection of the sheriff, who pointed out that the bishop had no jurisdiction in the case. The failure to secure a condemnation against the Jews seems to have been largely due to the presence of this strong official who held the castle of Norwich. The only result of Stuart's action at this time was to secure the translation of the body from Thorpe Wood to the monks' cemetery on 24 April.
The story of a servant woman is presented:
- Next day the messenger and William were seen to enter a Jew's house and from that time William was never again seen alive. On the Wednesday, after a service in the synagogue, the Jews lacerated his head with thorns, crucified him, and pierced his side. For this last scene Thomas produces the evidence of a Christian-serving woman, who, with one eye only, caught sight through a crack in a door of a boy fastened to a post as she was bringing hot water at her master's order, presumably to cleanse the body. She afterwards found a boy's belt in the room and in after years pointed out to Thomas the marks of the martyrdom in the room. When, a month after the martyrdom, the body was washed in the cathedral, thorn points were found in the head and traces of martyrdom in the hands, feet, and sides.
Unlike later tales of ritual murder, the account does not mention the collection of William's blood nor the reason for the alleged ritual murder.
The Jews of medieval Norwich
A Jewish community is thought to have been established in Norwich by 1135, although a man called 'Isaac' is recorded in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086. Most lived in a Jewish quarter or Jewry, located in what is now the Haymarket and White Lion Street. This is very close to Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle is a medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. It was founded in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England when William the Conqueror ordered its construction because he wished to have a fortified place in the important city of...
, a pattern seen in other English towns which may have been for reasons of security. The Norwich community subsequently became one of the most important in England.
In 1144, William's body was found upon Mousehold Heath
Mousehold Heath
Mousehold Heath is an area of heathland and woodland which lies in north east Norwich, England and a designated Local Nature Reserve . It is now mostly covered by broad-leaf semi-natural woodland, although some areas of heath remain and are actively managed....
, an extensive woodland to the north-east of Norwich that still exists. Court records suggest that the boy was tortured before his murder (it was not the custom at the time to perform an autopsy). With no conviction by the court, the local community revolted against the authorities and attempted to form a free-court to hold a trial against the accused. Only the intervention of the local sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
, representing Stephen, King of England
Stephen, King of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
, saved the Jewish suspects from the mob.
The remains of 17 bodies were unearthed at the bottom of a medieval well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
in 2004 as foundations were dug for the Chapelfield shopping centre
Chapelfield
Chapelfield is a large indoor shopping mall located on the edge of Norwich city centre, on the site previously occupied by the Caleys chocolate factory....
. Subsequently, seven skeletons dating back to the 12th or 13th century were successfully tested with five having a DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
sequence suggesting they were likely to be members of a single Jewish family. The findings of the investigation were the subject of the BBC2 documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
History Cold Case: The Bodies in a Well broadcast on July 14 2011.
Canonization
The motive of the clergy – in particular, William de TurbevilleWilliam de Turbeville
William de Turbeville William de Turbeville William de Turbeville (or William Turbe; circa (c. 1095 – January 1174) was a medieval Bishop of Norwich.-Life:Turbeville was educated in the Benedictine cathedral priory of Norwich. Here he also made religious profession, first as a teacher and later as...
(Bishop of Norwich
Bishop of Norwich
The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The see is in the City of Norwich where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided...
1146-1174) – to establish a cultus may have been partly pecuniary. De Turbeville encouraged Thomas of Monmouth
Thomas of Monmouth
Thomas of Monmouth was a monk who lived in a Benedictine monastery in Norwich, in Norfolk, England during the 12th century.-Career:Thomas of Monmouth was the author of The Life and Miracles of William , an anti-semitic polemic which accused the Jews of murdering a young boy whose body was found on...
, a Benedictine monk who lived in Norwich, to write The Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich. Monmouth arrived in Norwich just after the events he describes. There was never any papal canonization of William, his cult always being "popular" rather than official.
Before any attempt at an autopsy as to how the boy met his death, the Prior tried to get the body for Lewes Priory
Lewes Priory
The Priory of St Pancras was the first Cluniac house in England and had one of the largest monastic churches in the country. It was set within an extensive walled and gated precinct laid out in a commanding location fronting the tidal shore-line at the head of the Ouse valley to the south of Lewes...
in Sussex, for he realized that it might become an object ‘of conspicuous veneration and worship.’
There is little evidence of a flourishing cult of William in Norwich, although offerings were made at his tomb until the sixteenth century. There was a scholars' guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
dedicated to St William in the Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
town of Lynn
Lynn
Lynn commonly refers to:* Lynn , a given name* Lynn , a surnameLynn may also refer to- Places :United States* Lynn, Alabama* Lynn, Arkansas* Lynn, California* Lynn, Indiana* Lynn, Massachusetts** Lynn...
.
Conclusion
As a result of the feelings generated by the William ritual murder story and subsequent intervention by the authorities on behalf of the accused, the growing suspicion of collusion between the ruling class and Jews only fueled the general anti-Jewish and anti-King Stephen mood of the population. When Richard obtained power it was felt a new reform of national life would occur. Consequently, with the increase in national opinion in favor of a Crusade, and the conflation of all non-Christian others in the Medieval Christian imagination, the Jewish deputation attending the coronation of Richard the LionheartRichard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
in 1189 was attacked by the crowd.
A widespread attack began on the Jewish population in London and York leading to massacres of Jews at London and York. The attacks were soon followed by others throughout England. As a result of Norwich's local nobility's partisanship on behalf of Crusader King Richard's opponents, the local yeomanry and peasantry revolted against the lords and attacked their supporters especially Norwich's Jewish community. On Feb 6 1190, all Norwich Jews who didn't escape to the support of the local castle were slaughtered in their village. The Jews that did escape to the castle committed mass suicide. Jews were expelled from all of England
Edict of Expulsion
In 1290, King Edward I issued an edict expelling all Jews from England. Lasting for the rest of the Middle Ages, it would be over 350 years until it was formally overturned in 1656...
in 1290 and repatriated to Spain, Italy, Greece and elsewhere. Jews were not officially allowed to settle in England until 1655 when Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
asked Parliament to allow Jews renouncing Papal sovereignty and who were fleeing Catholic persecution in the Low Countries and France to settle under writ of Parliament.