(Child ballad #155) Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln died 7/31/1255 (b1245)
See Annals of Waverley for 1255.
In Speculum (1972), Gavin Langmuir quotes historian Joseph Jacobs, 1896:
"...utilizing the evidence of chronicles, ballads, ... Jacobs concluded
that little Hugh, the eight year old son of a widow, Beatrice,
accidentally fell into a cesspool attached to a Jew's house on 31 July
1255. The body putrefied for some 26 days and rose to the surface to
dismay Jews who had assembled from all over England to celebrate a
marriage in an important family. They surreptitiously dropped the body in
a well away from their houses where it was discovered on 29 August. Among
the crowd which collected was a canon of the cathedral, John de Lexinton,
who brought up the rumor that Jews crucified Christian children, and the
body was forthwith buried in the cathedral with the honors due to a
martyr. de Lexinton then extracted a confession from a Jew, Copin or
Jopin, that there had been a ritual murder, and when Henry III arrived in
Lincoln some time later he had Copin and 18 others executed.."
[thanx Norm Cohen]
Note that he was "Little" Saint Hugh because he was named for a prior
Saint Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln. He was certainly a commoner, not a "Sir."
Child notes in 1898: "And these pretended child-murders, with their
horrible consequences, are only a part of a persecution which, with all
moderation, may be rubricated as the most disgraceful chapter in the
history of the human race."
[& see Prioress's Tale]
© Abby Sale - all rights reserved
|
