Although medieval Christians didn't know much about the Jews, their existence held an important place in Christian mythology. Jews were important and productive members of European society, yet their existence as a minority in what was an overwhelmingly Christian and superstitious society, made them the perfect scapegoats. the antiquity of their faith gave them a role as holders of wisdom abd arcane knowledge which mde them both powerful and, to the Christian mind, potentially very dangerous.
Christians, encouraged by the Church believed in the Blood Libel legend, which contended that the Jews engaged in ritualistic murder. Knowing little of their religion and practice, Christians suspected Jews used witchcraft and black magic, concluding that they conducted murder of Christians in order to drink their blood in a parody of the Christian mass, or for other magical purposes. the blood, or other substances, was sometimes believed to have been used to poison wells, and these in turn were thought to have brought on the Black Death. The rumours and legends of the Blood Libel resulted in the torture and expulsion or murder of Jews who were blamed for the death of Christians.
Source: Mythology – Myths, Legends, & Fantasies Ed. Parker Janet, Stanton Julie
© Global Book Publishing Pty Ltd, 2003
Read more about the Black Death and the Jews 1348-1349.
P.S. Reading this reminded me of Arthur Miller's The Crucible - the play was powerful scathing indictment of anti-Communist fervour that had swept the nation under Senator McCarthy in the 1950s. The Communist witch-hunt at that time mirrored the Salem witch-hunt several centuries earlier. Read more about the context of the play here. The play was also made into a well-researched and powerful film with some awesome performances by Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis.
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8 comments:
The Jews had the Kabbalah for which there is no equivalent on the Christian side.
Miller is absolutely awesome. Have you read "Death of a Salesman"?
Miller's a jerk. Way to write more "well made plays," like the Earth needs more of those.
was jesus a jew?
senator MCcarthy put more than half the people in hollywood out of work because of their alleged communist connection. my jaw dropped when we were discussing abt the witch-hunting.hey was'nt miller also targeted by this witch-hunting spree that went on back then.
p.s- icant open ur mail will reply asap or perhaps when my comp stops throwin tantrums
The Crucible...a very powerful play [inspite of you-know-who's pathetic to say the LEAST `teaching'...]
The movie...SMASHING! I tend to sound like a gushy teenager while talking about DDL in that movie, instead of being the calm, staid, intellectual Lit. student I SHOULD be pretending to be...so will not ramble on about it...
Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus...all religions mistrust each other, and have throughout history...I SERIOUSLY don't see the POINT of organised religion.
Whenever you want to hit out at another community, first turn them into vile monsters who deserve harsh punishment....and then go ahead and punish them. Make me sick to think about such people!
Daniel day lewis is good looking too. ;) death of a salesman made me cry.
How about Bushism after McCarthyism? Paint the world with a simple brush stroke. Either you are with us or against us. Either you are good or evil. I think it will be difficult to match the size of this witch hunt
Paddy - Yeah I read DoS ard a year back (was prescribed for MA-II) Phenomenal it is, in terms of what it says and how it says, but personally I prefer The Crucible, for it's sheer power of screenplay/script.
Neil - Ummm...A Miller hater are we? Incidentally, what's wrong with "well made plays" ?
Aparna - Ah oui, c'est vrai. McCarthyism had put ALOT of ppl out of their jobs, not just Hollywood guys...
Prachi - LOL! Yeah you guys had it for Amn Lit na? I luckily didn't opt for Amn Lit and was saved the torture of "The Shadow" teaching (or feigning to teach me_ The Crucible...he was supposed to teach us Contemp Brit Poetry but I boycotted the class after 1 lecture watching him lounge back in his stupid chair, with his stupid kurta flapping high on his paunch and his stupid voice reading out his stupid porno poems to us in hopes that we were as stupid as him and would stupidly admire him! OK I abhorr the man! It's out now...
I actually did The Crucible as a part of my SYBA proj for Amn Lit, so what I know abt it, is all self-taught! No stupid profs to ruin it for me! :-)
Boycotted lectures of DoS too, thanks to the other stupid prof we had ;-)
Gulnaz (and PRachi) Yeps your comment abt religion and fanatics is so true...it's sad and quit pathetic too.
DDL - Yeah I agree, quite yummy;-)
Parth - OMG so true! McCarthy was a baby in comparison to Bush! I wonder if anyone has taken him up as a subject for his play/novel? No, s/he'd probably not do it, what with our wonderfully democartic and free world of fatwas and CIAs and silencing of oppostions...
Sreekesh - :-)
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