Posté : mer. mars 31, 2010 4:43 pm
Anderl of Rinn, the Accusation of Jewish Ritual Murder, and the Historical Memory of Childhood
By Mathew Kuefler
The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Vol. 2: 1 (2009)
Abstract: The legend of Anderl of Rinn is almost unique among the ritual murder accusations lodged against Jews during the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. The story of Anderl provides a glimpse not only of the long and tragic history of anti-Semitism but also of the history of childhood. Due to a lack of sources, and the fact that his story was not recorded until decades later, it is impossible to gauge the accuracy of any elements of his life or death. The documents that exist, however, do shed an interesting light on the treatment of some children in European history since, without much in the way of facts to work with, the authors who crafted the legend of Anderl of Rinn had little choice but to portray him as a typical child, borrowing elements from the treatment of children both in their own day and in what they knew of the medieval past.
Introduction: In July 1462, as is traditionally believed, the body of a small boy, Andreas Oxner, was found dead not far from the village of Rinn in Tyrol, in the Inn River valley near Innsbruck. The events leading up to Anderl’s death—he is usually called Anderl, the diminutive form of Andreas—were recorded as follows: Anderl’s widowed mother, Maria, was too poor not to work in the fields and so left her young son in the care of his godfather, Mayr—also called Johann Mayr—who nonetheless spent the day drinking in the local tavern. Later in the day a group of Jews passed through town. They were said to be the same Jews who had murdered the boy Simon of Trent a few weeks earlier, and they traveled, as others did, through Rinn along an ancient route through the Alps. They bought Anderl from Mayr—he was drunk by then—by promising to raise him with a better life than he could ever hope to receive at Rinn. As soon as they left town, however, they took Anderl to a nearby stone and circumcised him before slaughtering him and hanging him from a nearby tree. Later that day, Anderl’s mother found him, and while she believed straightaway that Jews had killed him, it was not until 1475 that the accusation was made by others and that religious devotion to Anderl as a martyr began.
The legend of Anderl of Rinn is one of scores of similar accusations of ritual murder made against the Jews, accusations—also called the blood libel—that began in the twelfth century and, sadly, have continued to the present day.1 Anderl’s legend is almost unique among the ritual murder accusations for several reasons. First, local Jews were not immediately blamed for the child’s death, as in virtually all other instances of the charge, but rather Jews from another community were blamed years after the fact. Second, it was one of only two such legends (the other was Simon of Trent) given papal support. Third, it was only very recently—in 1985—that the Catholic church officially prohibited devotion to Anderl of Rinn. The modern history of the cult and the local protests over the closure of the shrine—still ongoing—have been well studied by Austrian historians.
By Mathew Kuefler
The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Vol. 2: 1 (2009)
Abstract: The legend of Anderl of Rinn is almost unique among the ritual murder accusations lodged against Jews during the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. The story of Anderl provides a glimpse not only of the long and tragic history of anti-Semitism but also of the history of childhood. Due to a lack of sources, and the fact that his story was not recorded until decades later, it is impossible to gauge the accuracy of any elements of his life or death. The documents that exist, however, do shed an interesting light on the treatment of some children in European history since, without much in the way of facts to work with, the authors who crafted the legend of Anderl of Rinn had little choice but to portray him as a typical child, borrowing elements from the treatment of children both in their own day and in what they knew of the medieval past.
Introduction: In July 1462, as is traditionally believed, the body of a small boy, Andreas Oxner, was found dead not far from the village of Rinn in Tyrol, in the Inn River valley near Innsbruck. The events leading up to Anderl’s death—he is usually called Anderl, the diminutive form of Andreas—were recorded as follows: Anderl’s widowed mother, Maria, was too poor not to work in the fields and so left her young son in the care of his godfather, Mayr—also called Johann Mayr—who nonetheless spent the day drinking in the local tavern. Later in the day a group of Jews passed through town. They were said to be the same Jews who had murdered the boy Simon of Trent a few weeks earlier, and they traveled, as others did, through Rinn along an ancient route through the Alps. They bought Anderl from Mayr—he was drunk by then—by promising to raise him with a better life than he could ever hope to receive at Rinn. As soon as they left town, however, they took Anderl to a nearby stone and circumcised him before slaughtering him and hanging him from a nearby tree. Later that day, Anderl’s mother found him, and while she believed straightaway that Jews had killed him, it was not until 1475 that the accusation was made by others and that religious devotion to Anderl as a martyr began.
The legend of Anderl of Rinn is one of scores of similar accusations of ritual murder made against the Jews, accusations—also called the blood libel—that began in the twelfth century and, sadly, have continued to the present day.1 Anderl’s legend is almost unique among the ritual murder accusations for several reasons. First, local Jews were not immediately blamed for the child’s death, as in virtually all other instances of the charge, but rather Jews from another community were blamed years after the fact. Second, it was one of only two such legends (the other was Simon of Trent) given papal support. Third, it was only very recently—in 1985—that the Catholic church officially prohibited devotion to Anderl of Rinn. The modern history of the cult and the local protests over the closure of the shrine—still ongoing—have been well studied by Austrian historians.