624 Riurik
1169 by Thomas of Monmouth, the Jews each year
decided which community would be instructed to mimic
and mock Christ’s Passion on the body of a Christian
child. At Blois in 1171, after a similar accusation but no
corpse, a whole community was burned. This accusation
surfaced periodically in several parts of Europe in inci-
dents involving the deaths of Richard of Pontoise in
1179, Hugh of Lincoln in 1255, Werner of Bachrach in
1287, and others at Gloucester in 1168, Fulda in 1236,
and Saragossa in 1250. There were further notorious inci-
dents in the late Middle Ages, such as the murder of
Simon of Trent in 1475, which led to the persecution of
Jewish communities in ITA LY.
These accusations and ensuing events followed a
common pattern. The discovery of a corpse, usually of a
child, was followed by suspicions of a conspiracy among
a local Jewish community. Torture was alleged to have
been inflicted on the victim. There was a quick condem-
nation of that community or individual members of it.
Stories circulated that the victim’s blood was used for
making unleavened bread and then ritually consumed in
derision of Christ and Christianity. MIRACLESsoon fol-
lowed at the tomb and a cult of the victim arose.
Some of these victims were even beatified. These cult
figures were then memorialized in didactic Christian art.
Church authorities only too feebly tried to stop these
events, without much success. The emperor FREDERICKII
gathered experts to denounce these hysterical claims,
which were completely opposite to the tenets of JUDAISM.
They continued long after the Middle Ages and became
part of the stock in trade of vicious adherents of modern
anti-Semitism.
See alsoANTI-JUDAISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM; HOST DESE-
CRATION LIBEL.
Further reading:Mary Désirée Anderson, A Saint at
Stake: The Strange Death of William of Norwich, 1144
(London: Faber and Faber, 1964); R. Po-chia Hsia, Trent
1475: Stories of a Ritual Murder Trial(New Haven, Conn.:
Yale University Press, 1992); Gavin I. Langmuir, Toward a
Definition of Antisemitism(Berkeley: University of Califor-
nia Press, 1990); Miri Rubin, Gentile Tales: The Narrative
Assault on Late Medieval Jews(New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1999).
Riurik SeeRURIK.
Riurikid dynasty(Rurikids) SeeRURIK.
roads and bridges The huge and strategic Roman
road system was maintained in many parts of the empire
until the fifth century. It followed ridges and was straight
wherever possible. Most were not made of the dressed
stone familiar from the Appian Way near ROME, but
rather, usually of gravel or packed sand. They could favor
the movement of invaders as well as the Roman army.
They led between the major towns and cities and con-
verged on Rome or CONSTANTINOPLE. By the early Middle
Ages, there were definite signs of neglect and decay as
communication and transport on them became much
more difficult. However, many remained in use through-
out the Middle Ages and beyond, at least as rights of way.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, there was an effort to
improve the roads and bridges near the towns of LOM-
BARDY, the CHAMPAGNEFAIRS, and FLANDERSas the growth
of commerce and urban development demanded better
and faster transport and movement. Passages through
mountains, especially over the Alps, were improved.
Bridges were built or rebuilt and maintained through tolls.
In the later Middle Ages and RENAISSANCE, kings and
princes began to pay much more attention to roads and
bridges, recognizing their value for promoting and taxing
commerce and for maintaining political control.
Royal roads in England were legally required in the-
ory to be wide enough for two wagons to pass or 16
KNIGHTSto ride abreast. In reality they were well-trodden
paths surrounded by high grass or weeds on each side.
Villages and towns, too, took more interest in the local
situation by clearing and maintaining pathways to and
from rural areas. Causeways through swamps were con-
structed. In the towns the main streets were paved and
town squares for markets were created, paved, and main-
tained. The responsibility for all this was constantly dis-
puted, but roads could be financed by tolls, as bridges
were. Most travel would be done by foot, but certainly,
some were able to travel by horse or donkey. Carriages
and wagons were uncomfortable since they were not yet
very well sprung, so they carried luggage and whatever
was being transported. On a horse one could travel 20 to
30 miles a day under the right conditions. Guides or
locals were often necessary to find one’s way safely orThe medieval road between Siena and Massa Marittima
(Courtesy Edward English)