
How Jews went from defenseless victims to be considered powerful agents of the Devil

Jews were believed to be as likely to desecrate a church’s sacred images in front of a large and hostile audience, to refuse the veracity of Christian miracles, or to publicly express contempt for Christian beliefs, as to despoil the host, murder Christian boys to use their blood in their rituals, spread poison with the wind, and practice depraved sexual acts. These, and many other varied and unreasonable accusations made sense to a medieval mind who understood and accepted as self evident that the nature of the Jews was evil and depraved since they were agents of Satan.