Thomas of Monmouth

Thomas of Monmouth’s only known work is the Vita et Passione Sancti Willelmi Martyris Norwicensis, as it is described in the only extant manuscript, Cambridge University Library MS. Add.

[1] In this book, Thomas of Monmouth claims that a boy, William, who has been found dead in the forest, was in fact murdered by Jews in a re-enactment of the crucifixion, and that he therefore is a saint.

In a seminal article, Gavin Langmuir argued that Thomas of Monmouth himself had made the whole thing up.

[2] Subsequent historians have suggested instead that Thomas heard and elaborated on rumors that were already circulating[3] or that the accusation was created as a fake cover story for the murder by a knight called Simon of Novers of a Jew called Eleazar, to whom Simon was in debt.

Rose's conclusions have been challenged by Eamon Duffy, Royal Books and Holy Bones: Essays in Medieval Christianity.