Little Sir Hugh of Lincoln

                               
                                             Little Sir Hugh of Lincoln 
           
                                         My original intention was  to write a blogpost about the talk 'Dependence Intolerance and Expulsion; the Story of England's Medieval Jewish Community 1066-1290' by Sean Cunningham, at the National Archives on January 24th 2020. Unfortunately due to the problems on the rail network, I did not manage to attend could not reach Kew. Thought that would write about the Jewish Community during the reign of Henry III instead ...and this is the first part. 

                                         

                                                       The Remains of the shrine to Little Sir Hugh
                                                       available via Creative Licence courtesy of Richard Croft                                                                           . 

                                     There are many different accounts of the death of Little Sir Hugh in 1255. I have drawn heavily  on David Carpenter's research from the 'Fine Rolls of Henry 3 ' website - here  In broader historical terms, the case is often cited as being representative of a growing hostility towards 'minority' groups. In respect of English history, it occupies  a midway point between the death of the Jews at Clifford's Tower in York in 1190 and the final expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290. With regard to further afield, a historical classic work is R.I. More 's 'The Formation of a Persecuting Society- Authority and Deviance in Western Europe in 950-1250.'  

On 31st July  1255, Hugh ( born 1245) was out playing did not return home.His  mother Beatrice, a widow, was told that he had been out  with some Jewish boys. She raised the alarm over her missing son and accused the Jews of kidnapping the boy in order to murder him.   Two days later Hugh's body was found in the well belonging to  the house of a local Jew called called Copin. Beatrice repeated her accusations, alleging that  marks on her son's body were supposedly consistent with an imitation crucifixion ritual.A blind woman claimed to have rubbed some of Hugh's blood in her eyes and found that her sight was restored. Hugh's body was taken to Lincoln cathedral A number of Jews had gathered in the city to celebrate a wedding. at this time,  90 were arrested following Beatrice's accusations, Copin was amongst them.  

On 3rd October 1255, Henry III visited Lincoln to investigate. His steward, John of Lexington who presumably had arrived earlier, maintained that he had obtained a 'confession' from Copin. The prisoners were moved to the Tower a few weeks later then to Westminster  where proceedings opened against them. Beatrice of Lincoln was said to have attended. 

In November 1256 some eighteen were executed for refusing to be tried by an all  Christian jury-quite possibly made up of men from Lincoln .  Copin was tortured and executed. The deaths of all the condemned men  involved being dragged through the streets tied to the back of a horse, then hanged.  Franciscan, or possibly Dominican friars  interceded for the release of the remaining prisoners. They were supported in this by Richard of Cornwall, who had purchased the protectorship of the Jews earlier that year from his brother  the King, . though the possession of any Jews who were convicted of crime would revert to the Crown. In May 1256 the remaining Jews were released. 

  A shrine to Little Sir Hugh of Lincoln - not to be confused with Saint Hugh of Avalon , the bishop of  Lincoln who died in 1200, who was is generally thought of as a protector of the local Jewish community- was established and yielded donations to the cathedral. A year later enough money was raised to extend the cathedral to construct the Angel Choir'.  Little Sir Hugh was never officially recognised by the Church as a saint or a martyr though was sometimes referred to as 'Little Saint Hugh' Neither  are their references to pilgrimages being made to his tomb. Strangely enough his memory survives in ballads  titled 'Little Sir Hugh' , or 'The Jew's Daughter', 'The Jew's Daughter'  or 'The Fatal Flower Garden'. 

The standard folksong  version is that Hugh is playing football with other boys,  kicks his ball high in to a walled garden, and tries to retrieve it .Hugh then  encounters a beautiful girl who entices him into the chamber of a house where men are already waiting,  He is then  stabbed as part of a ritual, slowly bleeding to death, and his body thrown in to a well, His voice is then heard by those finding his body pleading to for a Christian burial .Various artists have covered the song.  Steeleye Span even recorded a version in 1975 on their album 'Commoners Crown' as 'Little Sir Hugh'  , with all the references to Jews removed from the lyrics. 

Ritual murder accusation against both Jewish and Christians were made by Pagans during the Roman Empire. In medieval England the first known  accusation  against the Jews for the supposed ritual murder of a Christian child was the case of  William of Norwich  in 1144. Mathew Paris' chronicle devotes a lot of space to this event. and features a whole macabre account of ritual murder and blasphemy.  The significance of Little Sir Hugh is that the king, this case Henry III, was involved in the proceedings and met the main accuser -Beatrice- a number of times. It is by no means certain that Henry immediately accepted Beatrice's claims yet the end result was that Copin and 18 other Jews were found guilty and underwent a brutal execution. The 13th century arguably saw a shift from outbreaks of anti-Jewish feeling amongst those without power , to a more sinister and systematic repression endorsed by those in position of religious or secular authority.


The cult of Little Sir Hugh survived into the 14th century when it seemed to have faded. By then the Jews had been ordered to leave England.  There is a reference to Sir Little Hugh  at the end of Chaucer's 'Prioress Tale ' , which features another lurid account of a ritual murder of a Christian child at the hands of Jews.  

How Henry III and also the rebel barons , most notably Simon de Montfort, regarded Jewish people, will be covered in the next  post. 



Links 


The Sad Story of Little Sir Hugh of Lincoln    Fascinating article from 'History the Interest Bits' blog

Web page about Lincoln Cathedral and Anglo-Jewish History  Maintained by the National Anglo-Jewish Heritage Trust

Mainly Norfolk page on 'Little Sir Hugh'   A useful analysis about the ballad

Account from Henry III Fine Rolls project   by David Carpenter

Crucifixion and Conversion  relevant article by David Carpenter

UPDATE 

Latest history blog from Michael Bully, 

Bleak Chesney Wold  Charles Dickens/ 'dark' 19th century history