The Word 'Jew' in Blood Libel Tales
Take, for instance, the frequency with which the word 'Jew' or a form thereof appears in the tales of William of Norwich and within a collection of folk-songs about the death of 'sweet sir Hugh.'
In both word-clouds, the most common word is 'Jew,' being significantly more common than the names of Hugh and William both. Particularly noteworthy seeing as Hugh's folk-songs are all very short and similar, and each contain at least one mention of the Christian boy's name.
Yet the mentions of 'Jew's' - 69 in total - still significantly outnumbers both that of Hugh's name - 48 total - and the second-most common word, 'sir' - 59 occurrences. If we include all forms of the word 'Jew,' that number jumps up to 79 occurrences throughout the songs.
The overwhelming abundance of 'jew'-root words in the songs is due primarily to the way it is used. Little Hugh is lured to his death by 'the Jew's daughter.' Of the 31 occurrences of the word 'daughter,' it is preceded by 'Jew's' every single time.
The composers' of the song clearly felt it important to note that the only distinguishing aspect of the girl who kills poor little Hugh is that she is a Jew's daughter.
In all other appearances of the word 'Jew's' it is used to signify that a thing is owned by a Jew, such as the 'Jew's garden' or the 'Jew's door.' This correlation harkens back to the association of Jews as the enemies of all Christians, particularly when the songs detail how the Jew's daughter drains Hugh of his blood.
Trachtenberg reports that it was a common belief that the Jews required Christian blood for use in their various satanic rituals, such as Passover (Trachtenberg, 140-143). Thus, noting that it was specifically a 'Jew's' daughter who lured Hugh into a 'Jew's castell,' the composers of the songs called to their audiences' minds the superstitions surrounding Jews and their evil occult uses for Christian blood.