The Myth of Ritual Murder: Jews and Magic in Reformation GermanyFrom the mid-fifteenth century to the early seventeenth, German Jews were persecuted and tried for the alleged ritual murders of Christian children, whose blood purportedly played a crucial part in Jewish magical rites. In this engrossing book R. Po-Chia Hsia traces the rise and decline of ritual murder trials during that period. Using sources ranging from Christian and Kabbalistic treatises to judicial records and popular pamphlets, Hsia examines the religious sources of the idea of child sacrifice and blood symbolism and reconstructs the political context of ritual murder trials against the Jews. "This volume combines clarity of thinking, elegance of style, and exemplary scholarly attention to detail with intellectual sobriety and human compassion."--Jerome Friedman, Sixteenth Century Journal "Hsia has... succeeded in turning established knowledge to illuminatingly new purposes."--G.R. Elton, New York Review of Books "This meticulously researched and unusually perceptive book is social and intellectual history at its best."--Library Journal "A fresh perspective on an old problem by a major new talent."--Steven Ozment, Harvard University R. Po-chia Hsia, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is also the author of Society and Religion in Münster, 1535-1618 |
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The Myth of Ritual Murder: Jews and Magic in Reformation Germany R. Po-chia Hsia No preview available - 1988 |
Common terms and phrases
A1 XIIc Abraham accused Ains Judenbüchlins Verlegung anti-Semitism arrested Augsburg Bader bailiff bishop blood libel Breisgau broadsheet charges child murders Christ Chronicle church city council city fathers confessions crime cultural death discourse of ritual Eberlin Elias Endingen Ensisheim Eucharist execution fifteenth folios Frankfurt Freiburg Friedberg German ghetto guldens Gysennbrecht Hapsburg Holy Roman Empire Host desecration Imperial Chamber Court infanticide innocence interrogation Jacob Jewish community Jewish magic Jews Johann Johann Eck Josel of Rosheim Judenspiel judicial torture Kabbalah killed late medieval legends letter Luther Lutheran magistrates Margaritha Maximilian Mercklin Moses murder and Host need Christian blood Nuremberg Osiander Passau Pfefferkorn political popular Protestant Rabbi Reformation Regensburg religion Reuchlin ritual murder discourse ritual murder trials Sappenfeld seltzame kouffmanschatz Simon of Trent sixteenth century sold Speyer StdA Fb StdA Ff Ugb StdA Worms Stern story Strasbourg superstitions testimony tion Urkunden Vlean Waldkirch woman women woodcuts Zasius