Ritual torture and murder has been an accusation following around the chosen folks for quite some time. In light of its re-appearance in our modern day, with all of the relevent evidence, I thought it would be a good idea to explore the past history of this accusation.

The earliest uncontestable reference is a lost book which we know about from Josephus' Contra Apion. Apion's original thesis is lost to the ages but it contained such strong arguments that the rebuttal, dated to ca. 100 AD, was deemed necessary by chosenite interests.

A possible earlier reference is mentioned in the 11th century Byzantine Suda or Suidae Lexicon. This proto-encyclopedia mentions a man named Damocritus who had similar things to say to Apion. Seven year period this time.

I believe this is the earlier reference because there are no other Damocriti in history apart from the author of this one piece. At a time when writing and history were inaccessible to peasants, one would imagine that Damocritus would have had other attributions.

The most likely candidate for identity is Democritus, who's name means "chosen by the people". If it is indeed him, it would make the blood ritual go as far back as the early Hellenic period in 5th century B.C. The first meeting of the West with this group of people.

Next we have Socrates of Constantinople (aka Scholasticus) who has an interesting story about drunken Purim celebrators killing a Syriac Christian child "by accident" in the early 5th century AD

At this point we've entered a period of history where Rome has effectively fallen and the Byzantine empire begins to have it's own problems with the rise of Islam in the East. The spirits of Christ, Rome and the West would not be united again until after Charlemagne and Otto I.

And it's not until the rise of the Holy Roman Empire and order allows for the propulgation of news and events that we see the infamous account of the torture and murder of little William of Norwich

According to a new convert, the reasoning behind these murders is that innocent Christian blood is necessary for them to control Israel again.

That was 1144, and less than a quarter century later in 1168, we have the torture and murder of Harold of Gloucester. Similar circumstances and similar timing (Passover).

In 1188, we have the death of Robert of Bury. This ended up causing one of the 109 expulsions due to the nature of the crime. This one seems to have possibly been facilitated by the use of a Shabbos goyess.

There are further examples in Blois (France), Saragossa (Spain) and Winchester (England) all before 1200 but details are scarce so I cannot cover them. This brings us to Fulda in 1235 where five boys, brothers, were ritually murdered then burnt in their home.

Valréas, France in 1247 had the youngest victim so far. A two year old girl who was found with crucificial wounds floating in a river around Passover.

Around this time, in Bonum Universale de Apibus, Thomas de Cantimpré states:

"It is quite certain that the Jews of every province annually decide by lot which congregation or city is to send Christian blood to the other congregations."

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"A very learned Jew, who in our day has been converted to the faith, informs us that a prophet among them, made the following prediction: 'Be assured that relief from this secret ailment, to which you are exposed, can only be obtained through Christian blood'."

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Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, England was 9 years old in 1255 when he was kidnapped, tortured and killed in a mockery of the crucifixion. This is the first account in which the ritual murder was accepted as truth by a monarch

In Pforzheim, Germany, a 7 year old girl was found tortured and thrown into a river. Not much information on this one unfortunately.

Weissenberg initiated a pogrom in which they burned the perpatrators in 1270. Interestingly, sources don't tie this back to the discovery of another victim in the same year.

This child was hung upside down and bled as in kosher slaughter.

In the two years leading up to the Munich pogrom of 1285 we have occurrences of ritual murder in Mainz, Bacharach and Oberwellel. This culminates in the murder of six boys in Munich, forever immortalized in the Bavaria Sancta

The last straw for England came in 1290 when another ritual murder happened. Combined with the accusations of continued usury, Edward Longshanks finally had enough and issued the Edict of Expulsion. Coincidentally, England will be free of child murder stories for a while.

We've now entered a 100 year period where I am unable to cross-reference any of the examples, so I will not cover them. This was a tumultuous century that includes the break out of the Black Plague, the 100 Years War and the Great Schism that brought about two papacies.

However, before we skip forward to the 15th c. I was surprised to discover that ritual murder was the focus of the Prioress' Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. According to Chaucer, they do this because "[Satan] hath in Jewes' hearts his waspe's nest"

In 1401, Konrad Lory, son of a Councilor in Diessendorf was ritually murdered. This once again incites the rage of the Christian population into another expulsion. Despite claiming to be innocent of the crime, the chosen population would choose to return less than 25 years later.

4 year old Ursula Pöck (or Poeck) was abducted, tortured and exsanguinated in 1442/3. The promise of payment had seduced a traitorous Christian woman into abducting and delivering the child to the perpetrators. Nobles petition King Maximilian I for expulsion of the tribe.

I'm surprised I've never heard of Andreas of Rinn before today. This 4-year old suffered a betrayal by his own family for a hatful of gold and was tortured and killed and hung on a tree. Note the names here, I think there's more to this story than we'll know.

Andreas inspired the brothers Grimm to collect his tale, and a Papal Bull beatifying him two centuries later (which I will cover when we get to the 18th c.) The site of his murder, known as Judenstein has become a shrine to the child. There are many artworks, I can't include all

Which brings us to the martyrdom of Simon of Trent. In 1475, this boy of 2 years old disappeared from his home around Easter/Passover. His body was discovered by a servant in the home of his merchant master, in a barrel in the cellar, according to the documentation of the trial.

Interestingly, the discovery of the body in the home was apparently covered up, and instead recorded as having been discovered by a brook. This could have only benefitted the guilty party, so one wonders why the rewrite of facts was necessary.

The cover-up continues today as the manuscript of the trial proceedings have been in the tribe's hands since the Great Depression necessitated its sale. If they are not guilty, then why aren't the trial records available publicly where they can be scrutinized?

Something else interesting I found during the research. Ariel Toaff, in Israeli medieval historian, brought up this case in his book Passovers of Blood in which he admits to traditions using powdered blood for ritual magic, just not that of children.