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JEW, THE WANDERING

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 363 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JEW, THE WANDERING , a legendary Jew (see See also:JEws) doomed to wander till the second coming of See also:Christ because he had taunted Jesus as he passed bearing the See also:cross, saying, " Go on quicker." Jesus is said to have replied, " I go, but See also:thou shalt wait till I return." The See also:legend in this See also:form first appeared in a pamphlet of four leaves alleged to have been printed at See also:Leiden in 1602. This pamphlet relates that See also:Paulus von Eizen (d. 1598), See also:bishop of See also:Schleswig, had met at See also:Hamburg in 1542 a Jew named See also:Ahasuerus (Ahasverus), who declared he was " eternal " and was the same who had been punished in the above-mentioned manner by Jesus at the See also:time of the crucifixion. The pamphlet is supposed to have been written by Chrysostomus Dudulaeus of See also:Westphalia and printed by one Christoff Crutzer, but as no such author or printer is known at this time—the latter name indeed refers directly to the legend—it has been conjectured that the whole See also:story is a myth invented to support the See also:Protestant contention of a continuous See also:witness to the truth of See also:Holy See also:Writ in the See also:person of this "eternal" Jew; he was to form, in his way, a counterpart to the apostolic tradition of the See also:Catholic See also:Church. The story met with ready See also:acceptance and popularity. Eight See also:editions of the pamphlet appeared in 1602, and the fortieth edition before the end of the following See also:century. It was translated into Dutch and Flemish with almost equal success. The first See also:French edition appeared in 1609, and the story was known in See also:England before 1625, when a See also:parody was produced. See also:Denmark and See also:Sweden followed suit with See also:translations, and the expression " eternal Jew " passed as a current See also:term into See also:Czech. In other words, the story in its usual form spread wherever there was a See also:tincture of Protestantism. In See also:southern See also:Europe little is heard of it in this version, though See also:Rudolph Botoreus, See also:parliamentary See also:advocate of See also:Paris (See also:Comm. histor., 1604), See also:writing in Paris two years after its first See also:appearance, speaks contemptuously of the popular belief in the Wandering Jew in See also:Germany, See also:Spain and See also:Italy. The popularity of the pamphlet and its translations soon led to reports of the appearance of this mysterious being in almost all parts of the civilized See also:world.

Besides the See also:

original See also:meeting of the bishop and Ahasuerus in 1542 and others referred back to 1575 in Spain and 1599 at See also:Vienna, the Wandering Jew was stated to have appeared at See also:Prague (1602), at See also:Lubeck (1603), in See also:Bavaria 1604), at See also:Ypres (1623), See also:Brussels (1640), See also:Leipzig (1642), Paris (1644, by the " See also:Turkish See also:Spy "), See also:Stamford (1658), See also:Astrakhan (1672), and See also:Frankenstein (1678). In the next century the Wandering Jew was seen at See also:Munich (1721), Altbach (1766), Brussels (1774), See also:Newcastle (1790, see See also:Brand, Pop. Antiquities, s.v.), and on the streets of See also:London between 1818 and 1830 (see See also:Athenaeum, 1866, ii. 561). So far as can be ascertained, the latest See also:report of his appearance was in the neighbourhood of See also:Salt See also:Lake See also:City in 1868, when he is said to have made himself known to a Mormon named O'Grady. It is difficult to tell in any one of these cases how far the story is an entire fiction and how far some ingenious impostor took See also:advantage of the existence of the myth. The reiterated reports of the actual existence of a wandering being, who retained in his memory the details of the crucifixion, show how the See also:idea had fixed itself in popular See also:imagination and found its way into the 19th-century collections of See also:German legends. The two ideas combined in the story of the restless fugitive akin to See also:Cain and wandering for ever are separately represented in the current names given to this figure in different countries. In most See also:Teutonic See also:languages the stress is 'laid on the perpetual See also:character of his See also:punishment and he is known as the " See also:everlasting, " or " eternal " Jew (Ger. " Ewige See also:Jude "). In the lands speaking a See also:Romance See also:tongue, the usual form has reference to the wanderings (Fr. " le Juif errant ").

The See also:

English form follows the Romance See also:analogy, possibly because derived directly from See also:France. The actual name given to the mysterious Jew varies in the different versions: the original pamphlet calls him Ahasver, and this has been followed in most of the See also:literary versions, though it is difficult to imagine any Jew being called by the name of the typical See also:anti-Semitic See also:king of the See also:Book of See also:Esther. In one of his appearances at Brussels his name is given as See also:Isaac Laquedem, implying an imperfect knowledge of See also:Hebrew in an See also:attempt to represent Isaac " from of old." See also:Alexandre See also:Dumas also made use of this See also:title. In the Turkish Spy the Wandering Jew is called See also:Paul Marrane and is supposed to have suffered persecution at the hands of the See also:Inquisition, which was mainly occupied in dealing with the Marranos, i.e. the See also:secret Jews of the Iberian See also:peninsula. In the few references to the legend in See also:Spanish writings the Wandering Jew is called Juan Espera en Dios, which gives a more hopeful turn to the legend. Under other names, a story very similar to that given in the pamphlet of 1602 occurs nearly 400 years earlier on English See also:soil. According to See also:Roger of See also:Wendover in his See also:Flores historiarum under the See also:year 1228, an Armenian See also:archbishop, then visiting England, was asked by the monks of St Albans about the well-known See also:Joseph of Arimathaea, who had spoken to Jesus and was said to be still alive. The archbishop claimed to have seen him in See also:Armenia under the name of Carthaphilus or Cartaphilus, who had confessed that he had taunted Jesus in the manner above related. This Carthaphilus had afterwards been baptized by the name of Joseph. See also:Matthew Paris, in repeating the passage from Roger of Wendover, reported that other Armenians had confirmed the story on visiting St Albans in 1252, and regarded it as a See also:great See also:proof of the See also:Christian See also:religion. A similar See also:account is given in the See also:chronicles of Philippe Mouskes (d. 1243).

A variant of the same story was known to Guido Bonati, an astronomer quoted by See also:

Dante, who calls his See also:hero or villain Butta See also:Deus because he struck Jesus. Under this name he is said to have appeared at Mugello in 1413 and at See also:Bologna in 1415 (in the garb of a Franciscan of the third See also:order). The source of all these reports of an ever-living witness of the crucifixion is probably Matthew xvi. 28: " There be some of them that stand here which shall in no See also:wise See also:taste of See also:death till they see the Son of See also:Man coming in his See also:kingdom." As the kingdom had not come, it was assumed that there must be persons living who had been See also:present at the crucifixion; the same reasoning is at the See also:root of the Anglo-See also:Israel belief. These words are indeed quoted in the pamphlet of 1602. Again, a legend was based on See also:John xxi. 20 that the beloved See also:disciple would not See also:die before the second coming; while another legend (current in the 16th century) condemned See also:Malthus, whose See also:ear See also:Peter cut off in the See also:garden of See also:Gethsemane (John xvii. 10), to wander perpetually till the second coming. The legend alleges that he had been so condemned for having scoffed at Jesus. These legends and the utterance of Matt. xvi. 28 became "contaminated " by the legend of St Joseph of Arimathaea and the Holy See also:Grail, and took the form given in Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris. But there is nothing to show the spread of this story among the See also:people before the pamphlet of 1602, and it is difficult to see how this Carthaphilus could have given rise to the legend of the Wandering Jew, since he is not a Jew nor does he wander.

The author of 1602 was probably acquainted either directly or indirectly with the story as given by Matthew Paris, since he gives almost the same account. But he gives a new name to his hero and directly connects his See also:

fate with Matt. xvi. 28. Moncure D. See also:Conway (Ency. Brit., 9th ed., xiii. 673) attempted to connect the legend of the Wandering Jew with a whole See also:series of myths See also:relating to never-dying heroes like King See also:Arthur, See also:Frederick See also:Barbarossa, the Seven Sleepers, and See also:Thomas the Rhymer, not to speak of Rip See also:Van Winkle. He goes even farther and connects our legend with mortals visiting See also:earth, as the Yima in Parsism, and the " See also:Ancient of Days " in the Books of See also:Daniel and See also:Enoch, and further connects the legend with the whole See also:medieval tendency,to regard the Jew as something uncanny and mysterious. But all these mythological explanations are supererogatory, since the actual legend in question can be definitely traced to the pamphlet of 1602. The same remark applies to the See also:identification with the See also:Mahommedan legend of the "eternal" Chadhir proposed by M. Lidzbarski (Zeit. f. Assyr. vii.

116) and I. Friedlander (See also:

Arch. f. Religionswiss. xiii. 1to). This See also:combination of eternal punishment with restless wandering has attracted the imagination of innumerable writers in almost all See also:European See also:tongues. The Wandering Jew has been regarded as a symbolic figure representing the wanderings and sufferings of his See also:race. The Germans have been especially attracted by the legend, which has been made the subject of poems by See also:Schubart, See also:Schreiber, W. See also:Muller, See also:Lenau, See also:Chamisso, See also:Schlegel, See also:Mosen and Koehler, from which enumeration it will be seen that it was a particularly favourite subject with the Romantic school. They were perhaps influenced by the example of See also:Goethe, who in his autobiography describes, at considerable length, the See also:plan of a poem he had designed on the Wandering Jew. More recently poems have been composed on the subject in German by Adolf See also:Wilbrandt, Fritz Lienhard and others; in English by See also:Robert See also:Buchanan, and in Dutch by H. See also:Heijermans. German novels also exist on the subject, by See also:Franz See also:Horn, Oeklers, Laun and See also:Schucking, tragedies by Klinemann, Haushofer and Zedlitz.

See also:

Sigismund See also:Heller wrote three cantos on the wanderings of Ahasuerus, while Hans See also:Andersen made of him an " See also:Angel of Doubt." Robert See also:Hamerling evep identifies See also:Nero with the Wandering Jew. In France, E. See also:Quinet published a See also:prose epic on the subject in 1833, and See also:Eugene See also:Sue, in his best-known See also:work, Le Juif errant (1844), introduces the Wandering Jew in the prologues of its different sections and associates him with the legend of Herodias. In See also:modern times the subject has been made still more popular by Gustave See also:Dore's elaborate designs (1856), containing some of his most striking and imaginative work. Thus, probably, he suggested Grenier's poem on the subject (1857). In England, besides the See also:ballads in See also:Percy's Reliques, See also:William See also:Godwin introduced the idea of an eternal witness of the course of See also:civilization in his St See also:Leon (1799), and his son-in-See also:law See also:Shelley introduces Ahasuerus in his See also:Queen blab. It is doubtful how far See also:Swift derived his idea of the immortal Struldbrugs from the notion of the Wandering Jew. See also:George See also:Croly's Salathiel, which appeared anonymously in 1828, gave a highly elaborate turn to the legend; this has been re-published under the title Tarry Thou Till I Come.

End of Article: JEW, THE WANDERING

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