Place · Central Europe
Norwich
An English town where, in 1144, what was probably the first ritual murder accusation arose.
52.6304°N 1.3000°E · representative coordinate · approximate · Natural Earth Norwich ↗
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Statements linked to this place
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In 1144 the Jews of Norwich, England, confronted a bizarre charge: when the corpse of a Christian boy named William turned up in the woods, rumor said the town's Jews had kidnapped, tormented and ritually murdered him, as their forebears supposedly did to Jesus. The 1144 accusation was probably the first of its sort and was soon echoed at Blois in 1171. At Norwich the local sheriff looked into it and ruled the charge false.