Chrystostomus Dudulaeus Westphalus. Warhafftige Contrafactur

(Antisemitica)

Wilhelm Peter Zimmerman Kupfferstrecher

Augsburg

1618

Chapbook. On title page, engraving of “Jud Ahasverus” - the eternally Wandering Jew, walking stick in hand. Text in German

Freimann, pp. 316-317; EJ, Vol XVI, col. 261. (Neither has our Augsburg 1618 edition)

Part of the incessant anti-Jewish propaganda in parts of Europe in the Middle Ages - especially Germany, was the dissemination of the legend of the Wandering Jew—in this version named Ahaseuarus—who was doomed to eternally wander the earth for his scorn of Jesus. “Numerous reissues of the chapbook appeared in German in varying versions in the 17th century, nine of which are attributed to the authorship of a (pseudonymous) Chrystostum Dudulaeus Westphalus.” See EJ, Vol. XVI, cols. 259-263. “According to legend while Christ was carrying his cross to Calvary he paused , hoping to rest on a Jew’s doorstep. The man at once drove him away, crying out, “Go hence! Go hence!” Christ then replied: “I go, but ye will roam the earth until I come again.” (Sir Martin Gilbert)