Jews in Stigmatized Society

   

"The Murder of Simon of Trent by the Jews" From the Chronicarum Mundi, Nuremberg, 1493.

Now, Jews in Medieval society. That was a complicated situation. How a Jew was treated really depended on the connections the Jews in a particular city had. The book Trent 1475 Stories of Ritual Murder Trial by R. Po-chia Hsia opens up to the reader the world of Medieval Europe. As interesting as the book is in describing the upsetting circumstances of three Jewish families who get accused of murder of a christian child. The reader gets a glimpse into the Medieval society. However, the fate of the victimized Jews is frustrating because the reader is aware of their innocence.

The interviews of the accused Jews by the podesta (or the judicial authority in Trent) were never meant to clear the name of the Jews. On the other hand, the podesta already had an opinion on the murder trial, it just wanted to get a full story of the event. So, the podesta tortured the poor men until they gave answers that satisfied judicial authority. It is clear that from the recorded testimonies that the Jews made up a story just so they could avoid torture. You might wonder how did all the men make one consecutive story? Each time the podesta would tell the man in the torture chamber, the story of the men interviewed before him. This way the Jews with major help from the podesta created a colorful story of the murder of the christian child.

My main question about this book and the story presented in it is: was the judicial authority really this ignorant to the fact that the Jewish men were clearly innocent? Or did popular stigma placed on Jews, totally cloud their judgment and justified their actions? I mean, torturing innocent people and putting words in their mouths is wrong. Did the podesta have no conscience? A papal trial was conducted in Rome in regards of the possible misconduct by the podesta in Trent. However, the attention to a murder trial by Jews, only brought on a bad name to the Jewish community.  It spread the feeling of anti-Semitism.