800 year old remains - Jewish murder victims

Congresswoman

Wed, Aug 31 2022, 11:42 pm

https://youtu.be/9AgO_DBqMzU

Fascinating discovery:
Jewish remains found in Norwich well were medieval pogrom victims - study

Advances in DNA analysis enabled researchers to identify victims and sequence oldest genomes from Jewish individuals. Bodies found at the bottom of a medieval well were Ashkenazi Jews and victims of 12th Century anti-Semitic violence, DNA evidence has suggested.

They were discovered in 2004 during an excavation of a site in the centre of Norwich.

The well contained the remains of at least 17 people, mostly children, six of whom have had their DNA analysed.

Dr Selina Brace from the Natural History Museum said she was "delighted" with the results of the research.
Scientists from the museum, University College London, Mainz and Cambridge Universities, and the Francis Crick Institute, conducted analysis on the remains.

According to the researchers they have a strong genetic link with modern Ashkenazi Jews, making them the oldest Jewish genomes to have been sequenced.

The findings, published in the Current Biology journal, indicate that four of the probable victims were relatives, including three young sisters, aged five to 10 years old, 10 to 15 years old and a young adult.

Their DNA included variants associated with genetic diseases more commonly found in Ashkenazi Jewish populations - one of two major ancestral Jewish groups - today.

According to the study, the findings were consistent with them being victims of a historically-recorded anti-Semitic massacre by local crusaders and their supporters in Norwich on 6 February 1190 AD.

It was recorded by the chronicler Ralph de Diceto in his Imagines Historiarum II where he wrote: "Accordingly on 6th February [in 1190 AD] all the Jews who were found in their own houses at Norwich were butchered; some had taken refuge in the castle".

Dr Brace, a lead author on the paper, said: "Twelve years after we first started analysing the remains of these individuals, technology has caught up and helped us to understand this historical cold case of who these people were and why we think they were murdered."

boysrock

Wed, Aug 31 2022, 11:57 pm

Chilling, thank you for sharing

etky

Thu, Sep 01 2022, 12:43 am

Norwich is the birthplace of the blood libel: the murder of William of Norwich - later known as St. William of Norwich - which was attributed to the Jewish community of the city, about half a century before the 'pogrom' (forgive the anachronism) during which the people whose bodies were recovered from the well were murdered.

giftedmom

Thu, Sep 01 2022, 12:54 am

So sad

WhatFor

Thu, Sep 01 2022, 1:32 am

It's so disturbing and upsetting to think of all the Jews who've been murdered by antisemites and no one even really knows to remember them. Even this of group of people, there are believed to be many more who were initially buried with them that we just don't know about. Sad

Reality

Thu, Sep 01 2022, 2:16 am

This is really, really sad. I hope they merit a proper Jewish burial after waiting 800 years. I also find using the word "delightful" a very insensitive adjective in a story like this.

etky

Thu, Sep 01 2022, 2:31 am

Reality wrote:

This is really, really sad. I hope they merit a proper Jewish burial after waiting 800 years. I also find using the word "delightful" a very insensitive adjective in a story like this.

Yeah, that was jarring.
Anyway, if anyone is interested in reading more about the history of English Jewry during the medieval period, there is an entire chapter dedicated to this topic in Simon Schama's The Story of the Jews, part one.

Congresswoman

Thu, Sep 01 2022, 9:05 am

Reality wrote:

This is really, really sad. I hope they merit a proper Jewish burial after waiting 800 years. I also find using the word "delightful" a very insensitive adjective in a story like this.

Yes it is kind of odd to use the word delighted in this case.

It shows that the scientists involved viewed this as a project and nothing more. They feel no emotial connection to the plight of the victims.

I found this story quite depressing.