The Life and Passion of William of Norwich

The Life and Passion of William of Norwich gives a remarkable insight into life in a medieval cathedral city, brilliantly capturing the everyday concerns of ordinary people and focussing on the miraculous cures carried out at a shrine. But this was no ordinary shrine; fervent worshippers gathered around the burial-place where they believed that a boy was buried, a boy murdered by the Jews of Norwich. A chilling, highly significant document, The Life and Passion of William of Norwich is, as far as we know, the earliest version of what was to become the 'blood libel' which has haunted Europe ever since. Miri Rubin both superbly translates the book and in her introduction interprets the sequence of events that led to the monk Thomas of Monmouth's appalling narrative. The consequences of his fantasies have been incalculable.

About the author

THOMAS OF MONMOUTH was a monk in Norwich Cathedral Priory in the mid-twelfth century, but little more is known about his life.

MIRI RUBIN is a professor of medieval and early modern history at Queen Mary University of London.

Summary

Gives an insight into life in a medieval cathedral city, capturing the everyday concerns of ordinary people and focussing on the miraculous cures carried out at a shrine.

Report

"The task of the translator is to make the wind not seen but felt. Miri Robinson accomplishes this in her translation...A readable edition rich with scholarship."
-Seth Lere, Times Literary Supplement

Product details

• Authors: Thomas Monmouth, Thomas Of Monmouth, Miri Rubin, Thomas of Monmouth
• Assisted by: Miri Rubin (Editor), Miri Rubin (Translation)
• Publisher: Penguin Books Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 25.09.2014
• EAN: 9780141197487
• ISBN: 978-0-14-119748-7
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 198 mm x 18 mm
• Series: Penguin Classics; Little Black Classics; Penguin Classics; Little Black Classics
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; Mittelalter : Kultur, England : Geschichte, England, Christianity, CE period up to c 1500, History of Religion, Jewish Studies, Relating to Jewish people and groups, Social groups: religious groups and communities