William of Norwich and the Expulsion of the Jews.(TOPICS, NOTES AND COMMENTS)

In the last issue of Folklore I examined the legend of "Saint" William of Norwich and attempted to revaluate its place in the blood libel legend (Bennett 2005). In that paper I sought to tackle some of the more folkloric questions, such as, firstly, whether there is any essential difference between the primary source and the legend we now know and, if so, what its significance is, and secondly whether it is really the case that this was the first recognisable instance of the blood libel legend. In this follow-up note, I briefly consider the rather more historical question of…