Little Saint Hugh
In August 1255 the body of an 8-year old boy was found in a well in Lincoln. He had been missing for nearly a month. This incident became the source of a blood libel in the city, with Jews accused of his abduction, torture, and murder. Many Jews were arrested and eighteen were hanged. The boy became named as Little Saint Hugh to distinguish him from Saint Hugh of Lincoln, but he was never officially canonised (made a saint).
The cathedral benefited from these events because Hugh was seen as a martyr, and many devotees came to the city and cathedral to venerate him. Chaucer mentions the case in "The Prioress's Tale" and a ballad was written about it in 1783. In 1955 a plaque was put up near “the remains of the shrine of ‘Little St Hugh’” in the cathedral, that decries the “Trumped up stories of ‘ritual murders’ of Christian boys by Jewish communities.”
Read more about this topic: Lincoln Cathedral
Famous quotes containing the words saint hugh, saint and/or hugh:
“Troll the bowl, the jolly nut-brown bowl,
And here, kind mate, to thee!
Let’s sing a dirge for Saint Hugh’s soul,
And down it merrily.”
—Thomas Dekker (1572?–1632?)
“The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“Thou shalt not kill; but need’st not strive
Officiously to keep alive:
Do not adultery commit;
Advantage rarely comes of it:”
—Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861)