The reiterated reports of the actual existence of a wandering being, who
retained in his memory the details of the crucifixion, show how the idea
had fixed itself in popular imagination and found its way into the
19th-century collections of German legends. The two ideas combined in
the story of the restless fugitive akin to Cain and wandering for ever
are separately represented in the current names given to this figure in
different countries. In most Teutonic languages the stress is laid on
the perpetual character of his punishment and he is known as the
"everlasting," or "eternal" Jew (Ger. "Ewige Jude"). In the lands
speaking a Romance tongue, the usual form has reference to the
wanderings (Fr. "le Juif errant"). The English form follows the Romance
analogy, possibly because derived directly from 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 literary versions, though it is difficult to imagine any Jew
being called by the name of the typical anti-Semitic king of the Book of
Esther. In one of his appearances at Brussels his name is given as Isaac
Laquedem, implying an imperfect knowledge of Hebrew in an attempt to
represent Isaac "from of old." Alexandre Dumas also made use of this
title. In the _Turkish Spy_ the Wandering Jew is called Paul Marrane and
is supposed to have suffered persecution at the hands of the
Inquisition, which was mainly occupied in dealing with the Marranos,
i.e. the secret Jews of the Iberian peninsula. In the few references to
the legend in 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 soil. According to Roger
of Wendover in his _Flores historiarum_ under the year 1228, an Armenian
archbishop, then visiting England, was asked by the monks of St Albans
about the well-known Joseph of Arimathaea, who had spoken to Jesus and
was said to be still alive. The archbishop claimed to have seen him in
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. 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 great proof of the Christian religion. A similar
account is given in the chronicles of Philippe Mouskès (d. 1243). A
variant of the same story was known to Guido Bonati, an astronomer
quoted by Dante, who calls his hero or villain Butta Deus because he
struck Jesus. Under this name he is said to have appeared at Mugello in
1413 and at Bologna in 1415 (in the garb of a Franciscan of the third
order).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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