Thomas of Monmouth

Thomas of Monmouth
Born	twelfth century Monmouth, Wales
Died	after 1172 Norwich, England
Occupation	monk, writer
Known for	The Life and Passion of William of Norwich

Thomas of Monmouth (fl. 1149-1172) was a monk who lived at Norwich Cathedral Priory, a Benedictine monastery in Norwich, in Norfolk, England during the mid-twelfth century. He was the author of The Life and Passion of St William of Norwich, a hagiography of William of Norwich that is commonly considered an antisemitic text.

Thomas was presumably born in Monmouth, since he is identified by the town's name. Historian Gavin I. Langmuir says that he appears to have been "respectably educated". He arrived in Norwich in 1149-50, a few years after the 1144 death of William of Norwich, a child whose unsolved death was blamed on the local Jewish community. Thomas quickly devoted himself to the promotion of William's claims to sainthood, by collecting evidence of his holiness and by arguing that he had been martyred by the Jews in a ritual murder.

Thomas of Monmouth unsuccessfully tried to get William of Norwich canonized as a saint, but did succeed in creating a cult around him in Norwich. He contended that he had received visions from the founding Bishop of Norwich, Herbert de Losinga, who had died in 1119. Losinga told him that William's body should be moved into the chapter house of the monastery. Thomas had to battle the sceptical prior Elias, who was unconvinced of William's sanctity. But the body was moved in 1150, the year in which Elias died, and by then the cult of William was established.

Thomas learned from a converted Jew named Theobald of Cambridge that every year there is an international council of Jews at which they choose the country in which a child will be killed during Easter. This is because a Jewish prophecy says that the killing of a Christian child each year will ensure that the Jews will be restored to the Holy Land. Monmouth claimed that In 1144 England was chosen, and the leaders of the Jewish community delegated the Jews of Norwich to perform the killing. They then abducted and crucified William.

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