WANDERING JEW, TIIE. A legendary Jew doomed to wander over the earth until the day of Judgment. According to the usual ver sion of the story, which is probably ultimately Oriental in origin. Christ, while on his way to Calvary, stopped to rest fur an instant before the dour of a man named Joannes Poittadeus. This man drove the Saviour away. striking hint and saying in mockery: "Go, why dust thou tarry?" At these words, Christ, looking sternly on him, replied; "I go, but thou shalt tarry till 1 come." In consequence Buttadeus became un dying, for at the end of each century he suffers a sickness which rejuvenates him to the age of thirty. By the down pronouinNed upon him. his entire character was changed. Not only (lid he become gifted with supernatural wisdom. hut his was tlnued lit repentance. and in journeys through every land he exhorted men to be mindful of their sins, and thus avoid the wrath of God.
The legend of the wandering slew is based ap parently upon the account in John xxi. 21-23. where Christ says of John: "If I will that lie tarry till I conic, what is that to thee?" This passage is then confused with the account of the servant of the high priest. Slalehus. whose ear was cut off by Peter for laying hands upon the Lord on the night of the betrayal (John xviii. 10; Slatt. xxvi. 50-51; Stark xiv. 46-47). Ac cording to the Italian legend of the liftoenth century. however, Malchus was doomed to circle forever beneath the earth about the pillae'to which Christ had been bound when scourged. The legend is a comparatively recent (me. The earliest mention of it is in the English chronicle of Wendover, who died in 1236. According to him, an Armenian archbishop, who visited Saint Albans in 1228, had eaten and conversed many times with a certain man baptized as .Toseph, but once known as Carthaphilus or C.artaphilus. who had been the door-keeper of Pontius Pilate. The same story is toll by Matthew Paris and by the Flemish chronicler l'hilip Slonskes (about 1243). The name of Carthaphilus, however, is practically unknown. the Jew being called almost universally in the Latin versions dualities Plata dens, or John the God-smiler. In Provence he was called Boutedieu, in Brittany Boudedes, in Bel gium Isaac Laqueden). in Saxony Peden,: but in Spain Juan Espera-en-Dios. and in Portugal Joao de Espera-em-Deos, or John III:me-in-God, the latter form of the name indicating a change in the point of view from which the legend was regarded. Here he bears a black fillet and a flaming cross which consumes his brain as fast as it is renewed. Although the wanderings of
the Jew are Vaguely stated to lie world wide. he resided. aceording to the version reported by the chronicler of Wendover. in Armenia. Italy seems. however, to have been his usual place of abode. In 1267 he was at Forli. and in 1400. according to the chronicle of Sigismondo Tizio. he passed through Siena. In 1542 Paul VIII] rho Bishop of Sehleswig„ declared that he had seen the Wandering ,few in the Church at Hamburg. where he said that he had been a shoemaker. In 1602 lie was in Ltibeek. Ile was also in :Catlin and early in the V1211iVi'llth 1.010111: he visited France. Hungary. Holland. and England. In Germany his name is changed to Ahasuerus. and his wanderings are made to symbolize the wanderings of his people for their rejection of Christ. The legend gained wide currency in Ger many through the publication in 1602 at Leyden of a chap-book entitled Besehreibung und run cint•ni .laden mit uhen srcrus. The in the legend has survived until a coniparati‘ely recent time, especially in Germany, Frame, Belgium, Denmark, Swe den, and is doubtless yet held in some of the re moter districts.
The legend of the Wandering Jew has been an attractive theme in literature. In Germany may be mentioned the epic fragment Dcr .1 ado of Goethe in 1774, and des .1luisrerns (also fragmentary) Ity Zedlitz dir/ttc, 5th ed., Stuttgart, 1855). Other poetic versions have been made by Alosen (Dresden, 1838), Giseke (1864), Heller (2d ed.. Leipzig, I 868 , named ing (Abasecru in house, 23d ed., Ilaniburg, 1892). :Ind Carmen Sylvia (.1e horn/n, Leipzig, 1882) ; besides a large number of briefer poems. Dramatic versions are the tragedy .11Inseerus by litingemann I 11111111sWiek. 1827) ,Itrusniew by Ilerrig ( Leipzig. 1874 I : zuld.
etrige '1 nde by IlausInder 1886 ) . I 11 Quinet wrote a remarkable mystery paris, 1833), while the novel of Eu gene Sue. 1.1' .1 Hit (ib., 184.5), has won a world-wide repots t ion.
Consult: Griisse, Der 7'unn1risusrl. und etrige (Dresden, 1861 ) ; Biissler, Lieber die Sage ion/ cielgen. dio/o/ (Berlin, 1870) ; Ileiwig. Die Sufic roar dude?? (ib.. 1874) ; Schoebel.
If'yende du .Inif (Paris, 1877) : Paris, .Inif errant fib., 188(1) ; Conway, The Mol dering Jew (London. 1881); N'ettbaur, bit' rom 'hb u (2(1 ed., Leipzig. 1893) : Cas sel. A husrcrus. Die Nuge rom eirigen -Ind.-ti (Berlin, 1885) ; Alorpurgo, L'Ebreo crrante in Dalin. (Florence, 1890).