Compiled from the Latin text (Cologne, 1851) and the English translation by H. von E. Scott & C. C. Swinton Bland (1929)
Introduction
Caesarius of Heisterbach (c. 1180–c. 1240), a Cistercian monk at Heisterbach Abbey in the Rhineland, composed his Dialogus Miraculorum (“Dialogue on Miracles”) between roughly 1220 and 1235. Cast as a conversation between a monk and a novice, the twelve distinctiones of the work collect exempla — edifying or cautionary anecdotes — on conversion, contrition, temptation, demons, visions, the Eucharist, miracles, death, and the fate of souls after death. Jews appear throughout as foils, antagonists, obstacles to conversion, and as the targets of divine punishment. The passages below represent the most significant adversus Judaeos material in the collection, presented in approximate order of their occurrence through the books, with Latin original and English translation.
I. The Vision of Christ in the House of the High Priest, Surrounded by Jews
Book VIII, Chapter IX (Distinctio Octava, De Diversis Visionibus)
Latin (from Vol. 2/3):
[Richmudis] in vastam aulam frigidam in spiritu translata est, in qua Salvatorem stantem vidit, discalceatum, et circa eum multitudine Judaeorum… Stabat ibi vultu demisso, tunica una laxe succinctus, manibusque demissis.
English (Vol. 5, Bk. VIII, Ch. IX):
Once, I think it was during the season of Holy Week, when the aforesaid Richmud was deeply moved while meditating thereupon, she was quickly carried by the Spirit in an ecstasy into a vast, cold hall, where she saw the Saviour standing, bare-footed, and with a multitude of Jews surrounding Him. He stood there, with down-cast countenance, clad in a single tunic loosely girt, and with His hands hanging down. His tunic seemed to be of a yellow colour. And as she told me, there were in the corners of the hall groups of ten or twelve angels, clustering together and whispering, like storks, as they spoke of His death. For this was the house of the high priest, in which these things took place according to history, and were shown spiritually to this handmaid of the Lord.
II. The Clerk Who Debauched a Jewish Maiden: The Jews Struck Dumb in the Cathedral
Book II, Chapter XXIII (Distinctio Secunda, De Contritione)
This is one of the most elaborate Jewish episodes in the whole work. A young clerk, a cathedral canon and the bishop’s kinsman, seduces the daughter of a Jew in England. The Jewish girl tells him the only opportunity is on Good Friday night, because on that night “the Jews are said to labour under a sickness called the bloody flux.” He comes to her on that night, committing sacrilege against Christ’s passion. The next morning her father discovers them. Knowing the youth to be the bishop’s relative, he restrains himself but cries out:
Latin (Vol. 1/2/3, Dist. II, Cap. XXIII):
Quid facis hic, o male Christiane? Ubi est fides tua, ubi est religio tua? Traditus es iusto iudicio in manus meas. Si non timerem dominum meum Episcopum, modo occiderem te.
English (Vol. 4, Ch. XXIII):
“What do you here, you vile Christian? Where is your honour or your religion? You are delivered into my hands by the just judgment of God, and I would kill you now like a dog, if I were not afraid of my lord the bishop.”
The same day, the repentant clerk stands at the altar while the Jew, with a great crowd of his fellows, bursts into the church demanding justice. As the clerk silently prays for deliverance, God turns the impending disgrace against the unbelievers:
Latin:
Creator piissimus, qui odit culpam et diligit naturam, mox ut hominem contritum vidit, confusionem, quam timuit, in caput infidelium convertit. Mirante Episcopo quid quaererent Judaei in ecclesia, maxime tali die, quando Christiani Domini sui repraesentant passionem… statim ut ora ad clerici accusationem aperuerunt, privati suis vocibus, omnes obmutuerunt.
English:
The most merciful Creator, who hateth sin, but loveth the sinner, as soon as He saw his contrition, turned the dreaded confusion on to the heads of the unbelievers. The bishop, wondering what these Jews could want in the church, especially on that day when they were representing the passion of Christ their Lord, signed to them to stand still. They pressed nearer to him, but as soon as they opened their mouths to accuse the clerk, they found their voices gone, and none could utter a single word. The bishop, seeing the mouths of the Jews gaping wide at him and no sound coming from them, thought they had come there simply to mock at the holy mysteries, and indignantly ordered them all to be driven out of the church.
The monk’s summary:
Latin:
Ecce vides, quantum boni operata sit in hoc homine contritio. Lapsum erexit, Judaeos elingues fecit, puellam infidelem ad fidem provexit.
English:
It shows you how much good was wrought by contrition in the case of this man; for by it the lapsed was restored, the Jews were put to silence, and an infidel woman brought to the Faith.
III. The False Annunciation at Worms: Jews Deceived into Expecting the Messiah
Book II, Chapter XXIV (Distinctio Secunda, De Contritione)
A clerk at Worms (or possibly Limoges, manuscripts vary) impregnates a Jewish merchant’s beautiful daughter. To conceal the pregnancy he fashions a hollow reed and speaks through it at night into the parents’ window, pretending to be an angel:
Latin:
Gaudete, ecce filia vestra virgo concepit filium, et ipse erit liberator populi vestri Israel… ipse enim est Messias, quem exspectatis.
English:
“O upright souls, beloved of God, rejoice, for behold, your virgin daughter hath conceived a son, who shall be the deliverer of your people Israel… he is the Messiah, whose coming you have so long expected.”
The Jewish parents, overjoyed, spread the news throughout city and town. Many Jews flock to the house for the birth. But the child is not the Messiah; it is a daughter.
Latin:
Iustus Deus vanam spem iniquorum convertit in fabulam, gaudium in tristitiam, exspectationem in confusionem. Et merito; quia quorum patres olim cum Herode de nativitate salutifera filii Dei turbati sunt, decuit ut istis temporibus tali illuderentur phantasmate.
English:
The justice of God turned the vain hope of the wicked into an idle tale, their joy into sorrow, their expectation into confusion of face. And rightly; for it was fitting that they whose forefathers had been troubled like Herod by the birth of the Son of God, which brought salvation to mankind, should in these times be mocked by such a delusion.
One furious Jew seizes the newborn girl by the foot and dashes her against the wall. Caesarius laments that the girl was not brought to baptism, but draws satisfaction that the bishop of Liège (discussed next) should learn from the contrast.
IV. The Baptized Jewish Maiden at Louvain — The Odour of the Jews
Book II, Chapter XXV (Distinctio Secunda, De Contritione)
A young Jewish girl in Louvain, daughter of a local Jew, is quietly converted and baptized through the efforts of Rener, chaplain to the Duke of Louvain, and placed in the Cistercian convent of Parc-aux-Dames. Her father bribes the bishop of Liège to force her return. When the father arrives at the convent with relatives, the girl — who knows nothing of the visit — begins to sense something:
Latin:
Virgo infra constituta, cum de illorum adventu prorsus nil sciret, sentire coepit foetorem magnum, ita ut palam diceret: Nescio unde sit, foetor Judaicus me gravat.
English:
The maiden, who was established there, though she knew nothing of his coming, began to perceive a very evil odour, so that she said openly, “I do not know whence it comes, but an odour as of Jews is troubling me.”
When the abbess announces that her parents wish to see her:
Latin:
Respondit illa: Ecce iste est foetor quem sensi. Non videbo illos.
English:
She replied, “That explains the odour I perceived; I will not see them;” and she refused to leave the house.
The bishop then summons Katharine (her baptismal name) to Liège under threat of excommunication. When her father’s advocate claims she had been forcibly baptized under age, and tells her that her father says she would willingly return to him if permitted:
Latin:
Tunc illa clara voce tale protulit verbum: Pater meus recte mentitus est per mediam barbam suam.
English:
Then in a clear voice she uttered these words: “My father truly has lied in his beard.”
The monk’s verdict on the bishop of Liège who sided with the Jew:
Latin:
Si agitaretur stimulis iustitiae, nequaquam cogeret puellam baptizatam, virginem Christo consignatam et in religione Christiana ferentem, ad Judaicam redire perfidiam.
English:
If he had been actuated by the motive of justice, he would certainly not have tried to force a baptised girl, a virgin consecrated to Christ and a nun in a Christian convent, to return to Jewish infidelity.
V. The Jewish Mother Attempts to Remove Baptism Through the Latrine
Book II, Chapter XXVI (Distinctio Secunda, De Contritione)
In the nearby village of Linz, another Jewish girl seeks baptism secretly. After she is baptized as Elizabeth, her unbelieving mother encounters her and demands she return:
Latin:
Tunc mater: Ego bene tibi auferam baptismum. Volens puella probare quid mater dicere vellet, respondit: Quomodo hoc faceres? Ego, inquit Judaea, tribus vicibus te sursum traham per foramen latrinae, sicque remanebit ibi virtus baptismi tui. Quod verbum puella audiens et exsecrans, contra matrem spuit, fugiens ab illa.
English:
Then said the mother, “I can easily undo your baptism.” The girl, wishing to find out what her mother meant by this, asked how she would do it. “I would draw you,” said the Jewess, “three times through the opening of the latrine, and thus the virtue of your baptism would be left behind.” When the daughter heard this, she cursed her mother, spat at her, and fled away.
VI. On the Pride of Religious Men — Worse Than the Pride of Jews and Pagans
Book IV, Chapter XIV (Distinctio Quarta, De Daemonibus)
In a discussion of pride among monks, Caesarius warns that the pride of professed religious is a public scandal that confirms unbelievers in their contempt:
Latin (Vol. 1/2/3, Dist. IV, Cap. XIV):
Ut enim taceam de scandalo saecularium in superbia religiosorum, cum Judaei et pagani superbiam vel signa superbiae vident in Christianis, religionem Christianam horrent, et blasphematur nomen Christi per eos.
Translation:
For to say nothing of the scandal given to seculars by the pride of religious men — when Jews and pagans see pride, or the marks of pride, in Christians, they abhor the Christian religion, and the name of Christ is blasphemed through them.
VII. Heretics Burned Beside the Jewish Cemetery at Cologne
Book V, Chapter XIX (Distinctio Quinta, De Daemonibus)
In a passage on heretics at Cologne (the Cathari), Caesarius describes the burning of a group beside the Jewish cemetery, noting the fitting neighbourhood:
Latin:
Ducti sunt extra civitatem, et iuxta cimiterium Judaeorum simul in ignem missi.
English (Vol. 4, Bk. V, Ch. XIX):
They were taken outside the town, and were together put into the fire near the Jewish cemetery.
The heretics are explicitly categorized as worse than Jews and pagans, having cast aside the baptism Jews never received:
Latin:
In his deteriores sunt Judaeis et paganis, quia illacredunt Baptismum abiecerunt; sacramentum corporis et sanguinis Christi blasphemant.
Translation:
In these matters they are worse than Jews and pagans; for they have cast away the baptism which even those believe in; they blaspheme the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ.
VIII. The Book of Scripture First Offered to the Jews, Who Refused It as If Sealed
Book IX (Distinctio Nona, De Sacramento Corporis et Sanguinis Christi)
In a meditation on the sealed Book of Life (Apoc. v. 1) as the passion of Christ, Caesarius writes:
Latin (Vol. 2/3, Dist. IX):
cum primo obtulissent scienti litteras, id est Judaeo, et respuissent quasi sigillatum, postea obtulissent nescientibus, id est Gentilibus.
English (Vol. 5, Bk. IX):
When first they offered it to the wise, that is the Jews, and they rejected it as if sealed, next they offered it to the unlearned, to wit, the Gentiles, and when they could not understand it, they expounded it to them, as Philip expounded it to the Eunuch (Acts viii).
IX. Christ Crucified in His Members: By Jews, Saracens, and False Christians
Book VIII, Chapter XXVII (Distinctio Octava, De Diversis Visionibus)
After a discussion of images of Christ miraculously punishing those who desecrate them:
Latin (Vol. 2/3, Dist. VIII, Cap. XXVII):
usque hodie Christus in suis membris crucifigitur, nunc a Judaeis, nunc a Sarracenis, nunc a falsis Christianis. Unde per Malachiam conqueritur dicens: Si homo configit Deum, quia vos me configitis. Item: Et vos me configitis gens tota. Christianos nostris temporibus a Judaeis esse crucifixos audivi; a Christianis aliquem ad litteram esse crucifixum nondum audivi.
English (Vol. 5, Bk. VIII, Ch. XXVII):
Even to this day Christ is crucified in His members, sometimes by Jews, sometimes by Saracens, and sometimes by false Christians (Mal. iii. 9). I have even heard that in our times, Christians have been crucified by Jews; but I have never yet heard that anyone has been literally crucified by Christians.
X. The Jew Who Testified for the Abbot: “You Have Heard the Very Truth”
Book X, Chapter XIX (Distinctio Decima, De Miraculis)
When Abbot Philip of Otterburg comes to investigate a miraculous bleeding lance — a relic of Christ’s passion — and all testify to the miracle’s truth:
Latin (Vol. 2/3, Dist. X, Cap. XIX):
Judaeus qui tunc casu affuit, Abbatem in partem traxit, dicens: Vere domine, verissimum est quod audistis. Et sicut ipse mihi retulit, multo amplius delectabatur in testimonio inimici.
English (Vol. 5, Bk. X, Ch. XIX):
A Jew who happened to be present, drew the abbot aside and said: “Verily, my lord, you have heard the very truth.” As he told me, he was much more pleased with the testimony of an enemy.
XI. The Usury of a Jew Used to Build a Castle on Holy Ground
Book X, Chapter V (Distinctio Decima, De Miraculis)
In a passage on the archangel Michael’s protection of holy places, Archbishop Theodoric of Cologne builds a castle on a mountain sacred to Michael, using funds expropriated from a Jew:
Latin (Vol. 2/3, Dist. X):
cuius omnia pene aedificia ex usuris cuiusdam Judaei quem praedictus Episcopus ceperat constructa erant.
English (Vol. 5, Bk. X):
Nearly all the buildings had been constructed from the usury of a certain Jew, whom the before-mentioned bishop had taken.
The angelic protection departs as a consequence.
XII. The Toad Found on the Jewish Altar at the Feast of Tabernacles
Book X, Chapter LXIX (Distinctio Decima, De Miraculis)
One of the most vivid anti-Jewish miracle stories in the entire collection. In the nearby village of Wintere, Jews hire a knight’s house to celebrate a feast (identified in the Latin heading as scenophegia, the Feast of Tabernacles):
Latin (Vol. 2/3, Dist. X, Cap. LXIX):
Non est diu quod per huiusmodi vermem Deus Judaeos qui corpore et cultu omnino immundi sunt, miraculose satis confudit. In villa proxima quae Wintere nominatur, tempore quodam Judaei illic commorantes, in domo cuiusdam militis quam conduxerant, quasdam sollemnitates celebrabant. Cumque altare pannis multis ac mundis operuissent, tempore sacrificii vespertini simul intrantes, sacerdos ad altare accedens, postquam pannos revolvit, sub eis circa medium altaris maximum bufonem invenit. Qui cum ex nimio horrore clamasset, accurrere Judaei, accurrere et Christiani; nec potuit latere visio tam monstruosa. Plures enim milites, et eorum uxores ad spectaculum confluxerant, qui in risum resoluti, Judaeorum confusionem augmentaverunt.
English (Vol. 5, Bk. X, Ch. LXIX):
Not long ago God miraculously confounded the Jews who are altogether foul in person and worship, by a reptile of this kind. In the next manor called Wintere, the Jews living there were once celebrating certain solemnities in the house of a knight which they had hired. After they had covered the altar with many fine cloths, they entered together at the time of the evening sacrifice and the priest going up to the altar, on rolling off the cloths, underneath about the middle of the altar found a very great toad. At his sudden loud cry in exceeding great fear, Jews and Christians came running up, and there was the monstrous sight plain for all to see. And many knights and their wives flocked there to see and broke into laughter, increasing the confusion of the Jews.
XIII. The Comet Seen as the Messiah’s Sign — The Jews Deceive Themselves
Book X (Distinctio Decima, De Miraculis)
In a chapter on celestial signs and their meanings:
Latin (Vol. 2/3):
Judaei asserunt eam signum fuisse adventus Messiae sui.
English (Vol. 5, Bk. X):
The Jews declare it was the sign of the coming of their Messiah.
XIV. Jacob the Jew, Bishop of the Jews: A Vision of Hell’s Punishment for Avarice
Book XI, Chapter XLIV (Distinctio Undecima, De Morientibus)
A greedy cathedral official in Cologne is closely associated with a prominent Jew named Jacob, described pointedly as Judaeorum episcopus — the bishop, or leader, of the Jews. After the official’s death without confession, a priest sees a vision:
Latin (Vol. 2/3, Dist. XI, Cap. XLIV):
Vidit eum Coloniae ante monetam incudi impositum; quem Jacobus Judaeus, imo Judaeorum episcopus, cui fuerat familiaris, malleo extendit usque ad denarii tenuitatem. Et bene concordabat poena culpae. Fuerat enim magister monetae, et monetariorum socius; et quia multam ibi congregaverat pecuniam, luere ibidem visus est avaritiae poenam.
English (Vol. 5, Bk. XI, Ch. XLIV):
He saw him placed on an anvil before the Mint at Cologne and Jacob, the Jew, the bishop of the Jews, with whom he was friendly, hammered him with a mallet, until he was as thin as a penny. And the punishment well fitted his crime; for he had been master of the mint and the associate of coiners; and because he had amassed there a great sum of money, in the same place he was seen to pay the penalty for his greed.
The passage identifies Jew–Christian financial intimacy as spiritually damning, and casts the Jew himself as an instrument of Hell’s punishment.
XV. False Messiahs Among the Jews in the Last Days
Book I (Prologue / Early Sections)
In a brief eschatological aside, Caesarius mentions false prophets who will deceive the Jews with false promises of resurrection, fostering their unbelief:
Latin (Vol. 1, Dist. I):
quosdam Judaeos tanquam a mortuis, qui tamen non erunt Judaei, sed falsi nuncii, dicentes se a mortuis resurrexisse, veris Judaeis spem vanam promittentes, et in infidelitate sua et in errore Judaeos foventes, et multos decipientes.
Translation:
Certain persons resembling Jews, though they will not truly be Jews, but false messengers, will say that they have risen from the dead, promising vain hope to the true Jews, fostering them in their unbelief and error, and deceiving many.
Summary Notes
The adversus Judaeos material in the Dialogus Miraculorum does not form a separate treatise but is woven throughout the exempla. Several consistent themes emerge:
- Jews as obstacles to conversion — Jewish fathers, mothers, and communal leaders actively work against the baptism of their own children (Chs. XXIII–XXVI, Dist. II).
- Jewish corporal pollution — The “foetor Judaicus” (the stench of Jews) perceived by the converted girl at Louvain (Dist. II, Ch. XXV) connects to a widespread medieval motif.
- Jewish culpability for Christ’s ongoing passion — Christ continues to be “crucified in his members” by Jews, Saracens, and false Christians (Dist. VIII, Ch. XXVII).
- Jews as instruments of divine punishment — Jacob the Jew hammers the usurious canon in Hell (Dist. XI, Ch. XLIV); God uses a toad to humiliate Jews at their altar (Dist. X, Ch. LXIX).
- Jewish credulity and messianic error — The elaborate Worms hoax (Dist. II, Ch. XXIV) and the eschatological false-Messiah passage both cast Jews as victims of their own unbelieving expectations.
- Heretics and Jews equated — Those who reject baptism are declared deteriores Judaeis et paganis — worse than Jews and pagans (Dist. V).
- The testimony of the enemy — On at least one occasion (Dist. X, Ch. XIX), a Jew‘s unexpected corroboration of a Christian miracle is cited as especially convincing, using the literary trope of the testimonium hostis.
Sources. Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus Miraculorum, ed. Joseph Strange, 2 vols. (Cologne, 1851); English translation by H. von E. Scott and C. C. Swinton Bland, 2 vols. (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1929). Latin text transcribed from the Google-digitized scans included in this archive.