Линкольн баласы Хью: Қанға батырылған жала және қасиеттілік талпынысы

Child murder victim (died 1255)
the boy who was the subject of a mediaeval blood libel

Hugh of Lincoln (1246 – 27 August 1255) was an English boy whose death in Lincoln was falsely attributed to Jews. He is sometimes known as Little Saint Hugh or Little Sir Hugh to distinguish him from the adult saint, Hugh of Lincoln (died 1200). The boy Hugh was not formally canonised, so "Little Saint Hugh" is a misnomer. Hugh became one of the best known of the blood libel "saints": generally Christian children whose deaths were interpreted as Jewish human sacrifices. It is believed by some historians that the church authorities of Lincoln steered events in order to establish a profitable flow of pilgrims to the shrine of a martyr and saint. Hugh's death is significant because it was the first time that the Crown gave credence to ritual child murder allegations, through the direct intervention of King Henry III. It was further bolstered by Matthew Paris' account of the events, and by Edward I's support for the cult after his ordering of the expulsion of Jews from England, particularly his projection of power through the renovation of the tomb in the style of the Eleanor crosses. As a result, in contrast to other English blood libels, the story entered the historical record, medieval literature and in ballads that circulated until the twentieth century.

After news spread of his death, miracles were attributed to Hugh; and he became one of the youngest individual candidates for sainthood, with 27 July unofficially made his feast day. Many local 'saints' of the medieval period were not canonised but were locally dubbed saints and venerated. 'Little Saint Hugh' was for a while acclaimed as a saint by local people but never officially recognised as one. Over time, the issue of the rush to sainthood was raised, and Hugh was never canonised and was never a part of the official Catholic calendar of saints. The Vatican never included the child Hugh in Catholic martyrology and his traditional English feast day is not celebrated. Lincoln Cathedral benefited from the episode; Hugh was regarded as a Christian martyr, and sites associated with his life became objects of pilgrimage. As Stacey notes: "A more explicit identification of the crown with the ritual crucifixion charge can hardly be imagined." The design included decoration commemorating Edward I's wife Eleanor of Castile, who had been widely disliked for large scale buying and selling of Jewish bonds, with the aim of requisitioning the lands and properties of those indebted; it may have deliberately echoed that of the Eleanor crosses, also commemorating her. This intervention was a major "propaganda coup" rehabilitating Edward and Eleanor's image and claiming credit for the Expulsion. While popular into the 1360s, the cult seems to have declined in the next half century, as it was raising just 10½d. in 1420–21. The shrine was largely destroyed after the English Reformation. During the Cathedral restoration of 1790 a stone coffin, 3 feet 3 inches (1 metre) long, was found containing the skeleton of a boy; this was drawn by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm.