Chapter XXII: Appendix: V

Simon of Trent, from an article of Dr. Bloch in the
_Oesterreichische Wochenschrift_, No. 42, October the 20th, 1899.
(Freely translated.)

SIMON OF TRENT

The case of the alleged ritual murder of the child Simon of Trent is the most important example of its kind, and is therefore frequently quoted by anti-Semites. I have given the history of the case in the _Oesterreichische Wochenschrift_. The Vienna _Vaterland_ of the 17th October, and Pastor Deckert in the _Deutsches Volksblatt_ discuss my articles, but carefully avoid mentioning the _Oesterreichische Wochenschrift_. In May, 1893, the Vienna _Vaterland_ was obliged to publish several articles from my pen, contradicting the statements made by Pastor Deckert. In an article of May the 30th, 1893, I called attention to a fact which throws a glaring light upon the history of the case: Some days before the murder of the child, during the Easter week of 1475, Bernardinus de Feltre, whilst preaching in Trent against the Jews, expressed himself to the following effect: “And with these cursed Jews you are on a friendly footing? You say, although without the true faith, they are good people? But I tell you that even before the Easter will have come to an end they will have given you a proof of their kindness.” (_Cf._ Wadding, “Annales Minorum,” XIV. p. 132). Bernardinus thus predicted the murder days before it happened. His prophecy was naturally fulfilled. On Thursday in Passion Week, March the 23d, Simon, the 28-months’-old son of the tanner Andreas, disappeared. Bernardinus accused the Jews, and on Saturday the body of a child was discovered in the house of Samuel. The Jews themselves informed the Bishop Hinderbach, in consequence of which information all of them, including women and children, were imprisoned.

In his article of the 17th of October, Pastor Deckert maintains that: “It is not true that the confessions made by the Jews were obtained by means of torture, and that they had been tortured whilst there were absolutely no indications of their guilt.” Pastor Deckert is right. There were proofs against them, proofs of a very extraordinary nature. As soon as the bishop saw the body of the child he exclaimed: “This is the work of the Jews!” (Acta Sanc., II., March 24, p. 497), and swore to have revenge. He entrusted the prefect of the town, Johann de Salis, with the conduct of the action. The latter put the richest Jews to (an ordeal?) trial, and the wounds having begun to bleed as soon as the Jews approached the body, which is always the case, as experience teaches (experientia compertum est), when a murderer approaches his victim, this fact was a convincing proof of the guilt of the Jews. There was also another “proof” against the Jews. In the prison of Trent a converted Jewish criminal, Johann de Feltre, was detained. By accusing his former coreligionists he could hope for freedom; and he became a witness, ready to say anything and everything against the Jews. Pastor Deckert maintains that “it is not true that the confessions of the Jews were obtained in consequence of tortures only.”

I have refuted his statement with his own words. On p. 21 of his article he himself states: “_only torture could make them confess; without tortures they would have confessed nothing_.” The Jews were submitted for several days to the most inhuman tortures, and only then _confessed_. This is proved by the contents of the letters of the Bishop addressed to the Pope: “The accused Jews have been tortured for several days (per pluries dies torti et interrogati), but have confessed nothing”; and in another place the Bishop writes: “Although much has been done against the Jews, a fortnight has passed without any result.”

Had the prisoners confessed at the first, second, or third application, the official would not have employed so many variations of torture. _All the alleged confessions had therefore been obtained by means of terror and tortures of the most cruel character._

The sufferings of the martyrs are related in the letters of the Bishop addressed to the Pope:

“On the 30th day of March (Vienna Acts, fol. 51) Samuel was ‘examined’ for the first time; he was, however, sent back to prison to ‘recover’ (animum repetendi), which term means in judicial language that he had _fainted_. On the following day (March 31st) he was undressed, and with his feet and hands tied, hoisted up on a rope and kept suspended in the air, his limbs being thus turned out of their joints. As, however, he still persisted in maintaining his innocence, he received ‘una cavaletta’ (a leap), in other words, he was quickly lowered and pulled up again; then the cord on which he was suspended was ‘touched,’ _i. e._, _beaten_, and he was made to ‘leap’ several times. The victim having swooned, the torture ceased. It was continued, with several variations of exquisite cruelty, on the 3d of April.

On the 4th day (April the 7th) the procedure was resumed; and as the victim exclaimed: “If I were to confess my guilt, I would only be telling a lie,” _a wooden peg was attached to his leg, whilst he remained suspended in the air_, thus considerably augmenting the pain. Then a _pan filled with fire and brimstone was held to his nose_.

He still maintained his innocence, until at last, mad with pain and suffering, he _confessed_ that he and Tobias had _strangled_ the boy. This admission, clearly contradicting the blood accusation, was all that could be obtained from him. Samuel was kept imprisoned for two months (up to June the 7th) whilst the other Jews were being “examined.” Evidently Samuel must have retracted his confession of the 8th of April, as the following excerpt from the Acts will show:

WEDNESDAY, June the 7th, in the torture chamber.

Invited to speak the truth and informed that all his companions had confessed their guilt, he replied that if they had done so they had told a lie. The prefect of the town having been informed that the drinking of holy water made criminals confess their guilt, Samuel was made to drink a spoonful of consecrated water.

He persisted, however, in maintaining his innocence. Then two hot boiled eggs were put under his shoulder-blades. Asked to speak the truth, he promised to do so, but in presence of the prefect and the captain of the town only. Left alone with these two gentlemen, he asked them to promise him, “that he would only (!) be burnt and not have to die any other death.” That is the manner in which he was made to _confess_ his guilt. In spite of his mad self-accusations he was asked again to tell “_the truth better still_” (Interrogates, quod melius dicat veritatem, minante eidam Samueli, quod si non dicat veritatem, ponetur ad cordam. Qui Samuel respondit, quod vult dicere veritatem, quia ex quo confessus est mortem pueri, vult confiteri aliqua), and was threatened with new tortures. On the 21st of June he was burnt alive. All the other victims were treated in the same manner, even those who had accepted baptism.

Israel, son of Mohar of Brandenburg, was arrested on the 27th of March, tortured from the 12th to the 21st of April, and having expressed the wish to be baptised was freed. On the 26th of October, however, he was again arrested, tortured several times, and killed on the wheel on the 19th of January. This sentence was due to the fact of his having given evidence before the Papal Legate, the Bishop of Ventimiglia at Roveredo, relating to the “examination” of the accused. In No. 128 of the Vienna _Vaterland_ (May the 10th, 1893) I proved that the Duke and the Council of Venice sent two eminent “jurisconsults” from Padua to Trent to investigate the manner in which the accused were examined. The learned doctors were maltreated by the mob. An “Apostolic note” issued by Pope Sixtus IV., on the 10th of October, 1475, prohibits, under punishment of excommunication, the claim that the child Simon of Trent was a martyr. It is not proved, says the “note” that the child Simon had been murdered by the Jews (nihil adhuc certum compertumve nostro judicio aut approbatum de quodam puero Simone Tridentino per Judæos, ut dicitur, interfecto). The Pope appointed the Legate, Bishop of Ventimiglia, Giovanni dei Giudici, to investigate the case. The investigation took place at Roveredo, in 1476, and the innocence of the Jews was proved. An Zelinus, a citizen of Trent, proved that a certain Swiss, Zanesus, living in Trent, and an enemy of the Jews, was the actual murderer of the child. That the Papal Legate had clearly established the innocence of the Jews is manifest by the acts of the case, dated: October the 20th and 29th, and November 2d, 1475, and April 3d, 1476.

It was natural, therefore, that with regard to this case Pope Paul III., in a Bull of May the 12th, 1540, declared the blood accusations to be nothing but the result of hatred and envy, and of covetousness due to a desire to seize and appropriate the possessions of the Jews. The Bull further prohibits, under the severest punishment of the Church, the revival of such accusations in the future.

INTERPELLATION ADDRESSED BY DR. BYK, DR. RAPPOPORT, AND COLLEAGUES
TO HIS EXCELLENCY, THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, VIENNA.

The false and terrible accusation that the Jews require blood of Christians for their religious rites and ceremonies has been systematically disseminated, for the last few months, all over Austria. The immediate cause of the movement was the Polna case of the murder of Agnes Hruza. A Jew has been accused of the crime, but although his guilt has not yet been proved, the circumstance has been used by a prejudiced party, hostile to the Jews, and ritual murder suggested. At the trial the public prosecutor, representing the government, public morality, and the law, placed himself under the influence of that accusation by the use of the words, “the well-known motives of the crime.” The president of the court found no words of protest against the blood legend, which was made use of, in presence of an excited crowd, for party purposes. Although there was no ground and no corroboration for the accusation, the belief gained popularity, thanks to the attitude of these organs of justice. That the unrestrained spread of such a terrible accusation must bring about disastrous consequences, is self-evident. No law and no power are strong enough to protect those who require the blood of innocent human victims for their religious rites. The whole extent of the danger was perceived centuries ago, and Popes and temporal (non-religious) rulers, especially kings of Poland, strongly prohibited the raising and spread of the false accusation. This was done by the Popes: Innocent IV. (in the “Bulls” of May the 28th, 1247; July the 5th, 1247; and September the 22d, 1258); Gregory X. (October the 7th, 1272); Martin V. (February the 20th, 1422); Michael V. (November the 5th, 1447); Paul III. (May the 12th, 1540); who, availing themselves of their fullest authority, most emphatically, and under pain of the severest punishment of the Church, forbade the Christians to raise blood accusations against the Jews. The example of the Popes was followed by the kings of Poland: Jan Albrecht in his edict of 1496; Zygmunt I., 1514; Zygmunt II., August, 1548; Stephen Batory, 1576 and 1580; Zygmunt III., 1592; Wladystan IV., 1663; Jan Kazimir, 1694; Michael I., 1696; August II., 1763; August III., 1763, and Stanislaus August, 1765; commanded eternal silence (æternum silentium) in regard to the calumny of the blood accusation, under the penalty of “pœna talionis.” In Bohemia, where the case of Huelsner occurred, the Kings Ottokar II. (March 29th, 1254; and August 23d, 1268); Wenzel II. (1300); and Ladislav IV. (May the 15th, 1454), issued similar decrees. In other countries special laws, relating to the blood accusation, have been enacted. The condition of the present Austrian legislation makes the promulgation of special laws unnecessary. Unfortunately, however, the law is powerless against the extravagant excesses of the press; and thus daily, in various languages, the legend of the ritual murder is spread among all classes of society.

In the face of the above facts, we beg to submit the following questions:

(a) Is your Excellency aware of the existing evil?

(b) What measures does your Excellency propose to take, with a view to put an end to it?

Dr. Byk, Dr. Rappoport, Piepes-Poratynski, Dr. Rosenstock, Dr. Trachtenberg, Dr. Kolischer, Yaworski, Bilinski, Dziednszycki, Gorski, David Abrahamovicz, Dielemba, Struszkiewicz, Gizowski, Moysa, Wladimir Gniewosz, Bogdanowicz, Pientak, Milewski, Dr. Walewski, Ratowski, Lewicki, Roszkowski, Henzel, Popowski, Weigel, Kareis, Auspitz, Straucher, Tittinger, Sokolowski.

POPE INNOCENT IV. (5th July, 1247).

_To the Archbishops and Bishops of Germany._

We have received a pitiable complaint from the Jews of Germany. They say that some nobles, lay and ecclesiastical, and other powerful and notable men within your cities and dioceses, designing to seize and usurp their goods unjustly, devise against them impious counsels and invent diverse pretexts. Without considering that testimonies to the Christian Faith have proceeded from their records and that the Sacred Scripture among other precepts of the Law says: “Thou shalt not kill,” and forbids them at their Passover ceremonies to touch any dead flesh, they falsely accuse the Jews of using in these same ceremonies the body of a murdered child, thinking that the said practice is required by their Law, whereas it is clearly contrary to their Law. And they cast upon the Jews, with malicious intent, any corpse that by chance is discovered at any place. Attacking them with these and other inventions, and without formal accusation, confession or conviction, and in despite of the privileges conceded to the Jews by the clemency of the Holy See, they despoil them of their goods (contrary to the law of God and to justice), and they visit them with hunger, imprisonment, and so many calamities and afflictions, punishing them with diverse punishments (even condemning many of them to shameful death) that the Jews, living under the rule of the said princes, notables, and powerful men in worse plight than were their fathers under Pharaoh in Egypt, are compelled to leave places where they and their ancestors have dwelt from time immemorial. Hence, in fear of extermination, they have thought it necessary to have recourse to the protection of the Holy See. Now, therefore, being unwilling that the Jews should be unjustly harassed (for God in his mercy awaits their conversion, seeing that, on the testimony of the Prophet, it is believed that the remnant of them is destined to be saved), we order that you show yourselves favourable and well disposed to them, and whenever you find any violent attempt made against them, with respect to the matters mentioned above, by the prelates, nobles, and powerful men aforesaid, you shall see that the matter is treated according to law, and shall not in future permit the Jews to be improperly molested on these or similar charges by any persons whatever. Those who molest them you shall summarily restrain by your ecclesiastical censure.

POPE INNOCENT IV. (1247).

_To the Archbishop of Vienna._

Divine justice has not cast down the Jewish people without preserving the remnant of them for salvation. Therefore, it is an act of zeal that deserves no commendation, or of cruelty that is worthy of detestation, when Christians, either through greed for wealth or thirst for blood (disregarding the merciful nature of the Christian Church, which allows the Jews to live in its midst and to practise their own rites), plunder, torture, and slay them without trial. Now, the Jews living within your province have lately brought before the Holy See a pitiable complaint. They say that certain prelates and nobles of the province, desirous of having a pretext for cruelty towards them, have accused them of the death of a girl who is said to have been found secretly murdered near Valréas, that they have inhumanly committed some of them to the flames without legal trial or confession, while they have despoiled others of all their possessions and driven them away, and that--against the wont of the Mother who, herself free, brings forth children that they may be children of freedom--they have compelled their children to be baptised against their will. Now, since we are unwilling to tolerate such things--as, indeed, we could not do without transgressing the will of God--we hereby command you to deal according to law with such attacks on the Jews, of the nature that has been described above, as are made by bishops, nobles, and rulers. You shall not permit the Jews to be unjustly ill-treated on these or similar grounds, and you shall restrain the evil-doers by the summary use of ecclesiastical censures.

POPE INNOCENT IV. (25th September, 1253).

Moreover, in order to counteract the wickedness and greed of evil men, we decree that no one shall harm, or trespass on, the cemeteries of the Jews, or shall dig up dead bodies to obtain money, or shall charge them with using human blood in their ceremonies. Though they are ordered in the Old Testament to use no blood at all--not to mention human blood--yet many Jews have been killed at Fulda and in many other places on suspicion of having used human blood. By the authority of these presents we strictly forbid such actions in the future. If any man, having become acquainted with the purport of this decree, contravenes it--we pray that such a thing may not happen--let him be exposed to the danger of losing his office or rank, or let him be punished by excommunication, unless he makes suitable amends for his presumption; but we wish this protection of ours to be given only to those who use no devices for the subversion of the Christian faith.

POPE GREGORY X. (7th October, 1272).

Since Jews cannot bear testimony against Christians, we decree that the testimony of Christians against Jews shall be of no avail unless there is a Jew bearing testimony among them. For it sometimes happens that Christians lose their children, and Jews are charged by their enemies with taking them away and killing them and using their hearts and blood for religious purposes; the fathers of the children, or other Christians, in hatred of the Jews, hide the children away, so that they may cause trouble to the Jews and gain money from them for relieving them from their trouble, and in order that they may most falsely assert that the Jews have secretly stolen and murdered the children and that they use the blood for religious purposes, whereas their law strictly forbids them to use blood for ceremonial purposes, or to taste it, or to eat the flesh of animals with cloven hoofs, as has been many times demonstrated at our court by Jews converted to the Christian faith. On charges of this kind Jews have often been seized and imprisoned unjustly. We decree that in such cases the testimony of Christians against Jews shall not be admitted; that Jews imprisoned on this empty charge shall be liberated; that they be not imprisoned in future on this empty charge unless (which we cannot believe) they are found in the act.

(Signed by the Pope, four cardinals, and two bishops).

POPE MARTIN V. (20th February, 1422).

It sometimes happens that many Christians, in order that they may extort money from the said Jews and deprive them of their goods and substance and cause them to be killed, invent pretexts and assert (at times of plague and other calamities) that the Jews have poisoned the wells and mixed human blood with their unleavened bread: they say that it is in consequence of these crimes, which they unjustly ascribe to the Jews, that the calamities are caused. Hence the population is moved against the Jews and massacres them and persecutes and afflicts them in many ways.

POPE NICHOLAS V. (1447).

Some persons have ventured to make the untruthful assertion that the Jews are unable to celebrate certain of their festivals without using the liver or heart of a Christian.

POPE PAUL III. (12th May, 1550).

_To the Clergy of Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland._

We have heard with displeasure, through the complaints of the Jews in your parts, that various ... towns, nobles, and powerful men among you, being jealous of the Jews and hostile to them, and blinded by hatred and envy, or, as is more probable, by greed, and wishing to have a pretext for depriving them of their goods, falsely charge them with slaying your children and drinking their blood, and committing many other horrible crimes specially directed against our faith. Thus they attempt to arouse the feelings of simple Christians against the Jews, and it often results that the Jews are not only robbed of their property, but are even murdered.

THE END

* * * * *

_A NOTABLE BIOGRAPHY_

RECOLLECTIONS

PERSONAL AND LITERARY

BY

RICHARD HENRY STODDARD

(EDITED BY RIPLEY HITCHCOCK)

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Observation No. 6418, “Code of Laws,” Vol. VIII.

[2] See Appendix

[3] These letters are republished by the willing permission of Mr. W. R. Hearst, for whose papers they were written from Kishineff and elsewhere. They have, of course, undergone a necessary revision.

It is believed that by including these letters as they were originally written, with only such changes as were necessary to a permanent form, a more vivid realisation of the scenes of the tragedy has been afforded than would have been possible if their facts alone had been incorporated with the body of the narrative.

[4] See Appendix.

[5] See M. de Plehve’s version.

[6] _The London Times_, June 26, 1903.

[7] See Letter IV.

[8] See Letter IV.

[9] “Government officials” here would stand for telegraph messengers, or employés of other departments.--M. D.