Associations of 'Jew'
As evidenced above, in Chaucer's "The Prioress' Tale," a form of the word 'jew' occurs 16 times in the text. Once, it refers to a 'jewerye among Christian folk' (Chaucer, l. 489). The other 15 occurrences all refer to either a singular Jew or a group of Jews. There are also 4 mentions of the "folk of Herod" or the "folk of new Herodes," clearly meaning Jews. Of these combined 19 references to Jews either directly by name or by a title, 10 times they are called 'cursed.'
They are cursed, it is obvious, by Satan. Trachtenberg recalls a line in the tale in which Chaucer attributes the primary blame for the poor murdered boy on the shoulders of "our firste fo, the Serpent Sathanas, that hath in Iewes herte his waspes nest" (Trachtenberg, 42). As if implying that all Jews are cursed and evil at heart wasn't enough, Chaucer seems to also imply that the Jews are not even capable of making their own decisions. Rather, they are so influenced by Satan's possession of their hearts - his 'waspes nest' - they are incapable of any action but that which is in alignment with their evil, Christ-hating nature.
Perhaps it is good to note that the 9 times a form of 'Jew' occurs in "The Prioress' Tale" and is not immediately preceded with 'cursed,' it is in a sentence either detailing the Jews' evil nature or, towards the end of the tale, the punishment they are receiving at the hands of the Christians for the murder of the young boy. Even when it's not salient for Chaucer to mention that the Jews are 'cursed,' he doesn't fail to cast the Jews in the light of plotting criminals.