A Tale of Ritual Murder in the Age of Louis XIV : The Trial of Raphaël Lévy, 1669

Pierre Birnbaum

ISBN 10: 0804774048 / ISBN 13: 9780804774048

Editore: Stanford University Press Okt 2012, 2012

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Neuware - In the late seventeenth century, France prided itself for its rationality and scientific achievements. Yet it was then that Raphaël Lévy, a French Jew, was convicted, tortured, and executed for an act he did not commit, a fiction deriving from medieval anti-Jewish myth: the ritual murder of a Christian boy to obtain blood for satanic rituals. When Lévy was accused of the ritual murder, it was the first accusation of blood libel for a century. Lévy's trial, however, became a forum for anti-Jewish accusations, and although the Holy Roman Emperor and a representative of King Louis XIV both tried to intervene, they were ignored by the parliament of Metz. Pierre Birnbaum explores the cultural, political, and personal elements that led to the accusation and shows that the importance of this story goes beyond local history: at a critical moment in the construction of the nation-state, France was unable to impose its conception of law and order on local officials. Birnbaum reveals the echoes of Lévy's trial in the Dreyfus Affair and suggests that, amid the contemporary retreat of the state and the accompanying explosion of prejudice and violence, it is time to remember the tragic fate of Raphaël Lévy.

Codice articolo 9780804774048

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: A Tale of Ritual Murder in the Age of Louis XIV : The Trial of Raphaël Lévy, 1669
• Editore: Stanford University Press Okt 2012
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0804774048
• ISBN 13: 9780804774048
• Rilegatura: Buch
• Condizione: Neu
• Dimensioni: 231 L x 150 A x 28 P (millimetri) 231 millimetri di larghezza per 150 millimetri di altezza per 28 millimetri di profondità
• Peso: 417 grammi

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Riassunto

In the late seventeenth century, France prided itself for its rationality and scientific achievements. Yet it was then that Raphaël Lévy, a French Jew, was convicted, tortured, and executed for an act he did not commit, a fiction deriving from medieval anti-Jewish myth: the ritual murder of a Christian boy to obtain blood for satanic rituals. When Lévy was accused of the ritual murder, it was the first accusation of blood libel for a century. Lévy's trial, however, became a forum for anti-Jewish accusations, and although the Holy Roman Emperor and a representative of King Louis XIV both tried to intervene, they were ignored by the parliament of Metz.

Pierre Birnbaum explores the cultural, political, and personal elements that led to the accusation and shows that the importance of this story goes beyond local history: at a critical moment in the construction of the nation-state, France was unable to impose its conception of law and order on local officials. Birnbaum reveals the echoes of Lévy's trial in the Dreyfus Affair and suggests that, amid the contemporary retreat of the state and the accompanying explosion of prejudice and violence, it is time to remember the tragic fate of Raphaël Lévy.

Informazioni sugli autori

Pierre Birnbaum is a leading French historian and sociologist and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Paris I—Panthéon-Sorbonne. His works available in English include The Jews of the Republic (Stanford, 1996) and Geography of Hope (Stanford, 2008).

Pierre Birnbaum is a leading French historian and sociologist and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Paris I—Panthéon-Sorbonne. His works available in English include The Jews of the Republic (Stanford, 1996) and Geography of Hope (Stanford, 2008).