Trial of Jews of Trent
Year: 1478
Type: Manuscript, handwritten on paper
Country: Trent, Germany
Repository: Yeshiva University Museum

In 1475, a two-year-old Christian boy named Simon disappeared in Trent, a small town in Germany. He was eventually found dead in the cellar of a local Jewish man, which began a blood libel and a fraudulent, violent investigation. Already brimming with antisemitism from a recent fiery sermon given by the area’s friar, townsfolk became convinced the boy was murdered by Trent’s small Jewish community as a blood ritual. Men and women from all eighteen Jewish families in the town were arrested and tortured into confessing their crimes. The trial finally culminated in six men being burned at the stake and two beheaded.

The Duke of Wurtemberg ordered a trail record to be written, and the only surviving German copy can be viewed here.