Autore
Mampieri, Martina

Titolo
The Curious Case of the Jew Who Married a Buffalo: An Alleged Blood Libel in Hamburg (1687)
Periodico
Cromohs
Anno: 2024 - Volume: No. 27 - Pagina iniziale: 76 - Pagina finale: 95

This article examines an unpublished Italian composition, Morte data ad un Ebreo che si sposò con una bufala, preserved in manuscripts from Italian and European libraries. The text, written in the form of a trial, narrates the case of an alleged blood libel in Hamburg (1687). According to the story, a Jewish merchant, guided by a kabbalist, supposedly married a buffalo as part of a kabbalistic ritual. Their half-human, half-buffalo child born from this unnatural union turned seven, his father killed a Christian boy to use his blood for the ritual. The narrative concludes with the merchant’s execution and the child’s imprisonment. Likely fabricated by detractors with superficial knowledge of Kabbalah and Sabbateanism, the story blends slander and fiction. This paper aims to disentangle fiction from historical fact, analyse the composition’s context, and explore its circulation, paving the way for a critical edition and deeper insights into its unsettling narrative.



SICI: 1123-7023(2024)NO. 27<76:TCCOTJ>2.0.ZU;2-9

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