In a message dated 97-07-14 04:48:06 EDT, you write:
> I have seen
> > vernacular French poetry from the 13th c. on little Hugh of Lincoln and
> > Prof. Robert Stacey at U. Washington recently found what we both think
is
> > the MS of a play in French (from Bristol!) dealing with ritual murder by
> > Jews of Xian children.
Yes. William of Norwich is about a century before Little Saint Hugh, and
along the same line. Chaucer mentions little Saint Hugh (Prioress' Tale). I
think these stories spread from England to the continent.
There are actually two Saints Hugh of Lincoln, and little Saint Hugh has
virtually no documentation. The original Saint Hugh of Lincoln was a Bishop,
remembered for his kindness and charity, especially to the poor, to lepers,
and to Jews. So here's one possibility on what happened.
Imagine just one disgruntled parishioner of Bishop Hugh who didn't care for
his Jew-loving ways, and who would have been gratified to discover that the
ingrate children of Israel had murdered Bishop Hugh. Naturally, any rumor to
the effect that Jews had murdered the Bishop would not have gotten too far.
Somebody would have pointed out, at some point, that the Bishop had <not>
been murdered by Jews. Maybe the whole thing got papered over by assuming
there must have been a second Hugh of Lincoln (who had been murdered by
Jews).
This is, of course, purely speculative, and I'm not sure we can ever know
exactly how rumors get started. I'm just saying the circumstances are
unusual in this case. Two saints by the same name from the same place. One
has virtually no documentation (may never have existed). One is noted for
his kindness to Jews and the other is murdered by Jews. So I'm asking myself
what kind of misunderstanding about the first Hugh of Lincoln (the Bishop)
could have lead to the erroneous assumption that there was also a second Hugh
of Lincoln (whose story sounds like a recycling of the story of William of
Norwich).
My understanding about Little Saint Hugh is that there is <no> documenttion
for him, except that his name repeatedly turns up in ballads and stories.
He's more or less folklore. But I'm not working with original documents, so
wish somebody would check the Church documentation on both Saints Hugh of
Lincoln.
pat sloane
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