"Lincoln" is the name of an English town that served, for a while, as an important Jewish center and refuge.
"The medieval Jewish community...was probably second in importance in England after London." (C.R., "Lincoln,"
Encyclopaedia Judaica, 11 [1972], p. 256.)
"St. Hugh, the great bishop of Lincoln, protected the Jews..." (
Ibid.). "Hugh ... put down popular violence against [the Jews, great numbers of whom lived in Lincoln] in several places." (
Source) "...Great St. Hugh of Lincoln['s]... death was mourned equally by Jew and Christian." (
Source)
Another, younger resident of Lincoln, England was the boy who came to be called "Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln." "Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (1246 – 27 August 1255)...[was a] child martyr supposedly slain by Jews. ...Hugh is known as Little Saint Hugh to distinguish him from Saint Hugh of Lincoln, an adult saint. The style is often corrupted to Little Sir Hugh. ... St. Hugh was the son of a poor woman of Lincoln named Beatrice; born about 1246; died in 1255. ... The boy disappeared on 31 July... In August 1255 [on the 29th] the body of an 8-year old boy was found in a well in Lincoln...belonging to a Jew named Copin...[or] 'Jopin' or 'Joscefin.' ...Copin was put to a cruel death and eighteen Jews were hanged at Lincoln...some...ninety-two...Jews were arrested and held in the Tower of London... Whether there was any basis of truth in the accusation against the Jews there is now no means of ascertaining. ...Hugh was seen as a martyr, and many devotees came to the city and cathedral to venerate him. ...The feast of "Little Hugh" was held on 27 July... [Geoffrey] Chaucer mentions the case in "The Prioress's Tale" [from his 'The Canterbury Tales' - 'a collection of stories written in Middle English by Chaucer at the end of the 14th century'] and a ballad was written about it in 1783." (The text is a composite from the following sources:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5, &
6.)
Chaucer wrote: "O young Hugh of Lincoln, slain also by cursed Jews, as all men know (for it is only a little while ago), pray also for us, sinful unstable people, that God in His mercy may multiply His grace upon us in reverence of His Mother Mary. Amen." (
The Prioress' Tale) See, also, Michael Hoffman's "Revisionist History
Newsletter No. 13."
The sixteenth U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln is said to have been the "first president to become officially involved in national questions of Jewish equality and anti-Jewish discrimination." (B.W.K., "Lincoln, Abraham,"
Encyclopaedia Judaica, 11 [1972], p. 257.) For example, President Lincoln worked for the passage of a law allowing "rabbis to serve as military chaplains...for the first time in history..." (
Ibid., p. 258). In fact, without Lincoln's sponsorship, the Encyclopaedia Judaica author opines that, "it is unlikely that either house of Congress would have passed the legislation." (
Ibid.). Additionally, when "In December 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant issues an order expelling all Jews from the area of his command...Lincoln...in January 1863...issued instructions for its immediate cancellation" (
Ibid.).
For more information, see:
Ariel Toaff's
Blood Passover.
"
Hue of Lincoln"
More Lincoln
HERE.
