Simon of Trent Ritual Murder Medallion

Simon, also known as St. Simon, was an Italian child, who was the victim of an alleged ritual muder by the Jews of Trent. He lived from the years of 1472-1475. He was found drowned by authorities, and they claimed his death was due to violent acts. This declaration lead to a group of Jews to be imprisoned, tortured, and later executed. The Jews were tortured and forced to confess to using Simon’s blood for ritual purposes. Fifteen Jews were ordered to be burned at the stake, including the head of the Jewish community, Samuel. Later, in 1965, Pope Paul VI annulled the convictions and declared that the Jews played no part in his death. 

As seen through John Mandeville's ideologies, there is a common depiction of Jews being monster-like when in reality they were just different from the majority group. Mandeville writes that the monsters he encountered would drink the blood of their sacrifices: “There’s an island where the people drink blood, one where those who are deemed close to death are strangled and eaten, and other where they eat snakes and speak to one another only in hisses”