A single incunabula leaf from Hartmann Schedel’s book "Weltchronik" (Nuremberg Chronicle). Nuremberg, 1493. German.
Bearing a large woodcut illustration of the supposed ritual murder of the child Simon of Trent by Jews (whose names appear in the illustration). Partly colored, frame emphasized in orange.
On March 23, 1475, a two-and-a-half-year-old Christian child by the name of Simon disappeared from his parents’ home in Trent in northern Italy; three days later, on the eve of Good Friday (a Christian religious holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ), his body was found near the home (or in the cellar or well) of a Jew who was a resident of the city, a moneylender by the name of Samuel. After the body was found, the Bishop announced that all of Trent’s Jewish community, including a number of converted Jews, is guilty of the child’s murder. All of the city’s Jews were arrested, tortured, and some were executed, by fire or beheading. Simon was declared a saint by the Pope, and his memory was commemorated annually in the month of March, until his status as a saint was cancelled in 1965.
The verso is illustrated with three additional woodcuts: a comet; Christian, King of Denmark, Sweden and Norway; and Hercules, Duke of Ferrara.
Sheet approx. 27.5X42.5 cm. Fair-poor condition. Stains, creases and open tears to margins (without damage to text). Tear to woodcut, about 4 cm long. Matted, with two strips of adhesive tape, on upper and lower margins. Additional paper strip (4 cm long) glued to upper left corner on reverse.
Provenance: Collection of Dr. Simon Cohen.