July 31 1255 – 25 Av 5015
An English boy who would become known as Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln disappeared, setting the stage for the one of the more notorious blood libels in English history. This one would follow the all too familiar pattern of a Christian child disappearing, a Jewish witness being forced to confess that he and a coreligionist had sacrificed the child as some sort of bizarre crucifixion ritual, followed by punishment for the Jewish community. This episode had a slightly different twist since King Henry III would intervene and have 18 of the Jews hung – allowing the king to seize their estates. This was the first death sentence resulting from a blood libel. Such accusations became common in England after the first incidence in Norwich in 1144, in which local Jews were accused of murdering a child to use his blood for baking matza for Pesach, spreading to medieval Europe and beyond. Chaucer’s Prioress’ Tale – one of his famous Canterbury Tales – is a similar blood libel, which mentions Hugh of Lincoln as another example of the same phenomenon.