The previous chapter has examined developments in how medieval Christian theologians perceived Judaism and the Jews. This chapter departs from the discourses of theologians on the status of Jews to focus on the evolving perception of the Jews in medieval Christian society more generally. The Christian notion of a relationship between the Jews and the Devil and of a perpetual curse afflicting Jews and distinguishing them from Gentiles has its origins firmly in the New Testament, namely Matthew 27:24–25 (“His blood is on us and on our children”) and John 8:44 (“You belong to your father, the devil”). The medieval period witnessed what Joshua Trachtenberg accurately described in 1943 as a normalization of the representation of the Jew as an “alien, evil, antisocial, and anti-human creature, essentially subhuman,” a demonic Jew who “was born of a combination of cultural and historical factors peculiar to Christian Europe in the later Middle Ages.”

The rise of an anti-Jewish discourse that demonized Jews in western Christendom occurred gradually and at the same time as Jewish communities were expanding not just in terms of their demographic and geographical distribution but also in terms of their economic significance. Jewish merchants and their families seeking economic opportunities migrated northwards from the Mediterranean area and established themselves across France, Germany, and (after the Norman Conquest in 1066) England. The expanding economy and urban centres of medieval western Europe as well as the Church's prohibition on Christians lending money at interest encouraged Jewish migration and involvement in moneylending and tax farming. It also encouraged Christians to perceive usury and Jewish economic activity as synonymous, entrenching an image of Jews in Christian eyes as parasitical and rapacious moneylenders.

This chapter assesses the way in which Jews were dehumanized and demonized in medieval Europe. It departs from the theological discussions in the treatises and polemics of the previous chapter to focus on what could be described as “popular” anti-Jewish beliefs, prejudices, and stereotypes in the medieval period. The use of the term “popular” is employed to denote various ideas and concepts about Jews that were not officially endorsed by the medieval papacy but which were expressed in popular folklore, medieval iconography, or the writings of some churchmen.