When Did the Wandering Jew Head North?

Abstract

The landscapes of the north are haunted by several wanderers \nwhose existence is marked by a supernatural longevity.1 The \nmost widely described must be Starkaðr, condemned to live the \nlifetimes of three men, and to commit three evil deeds for each of them \n(Lindow 2001, 281–2). So, too, is there Norna-Gestr, who lived for \nthree centuries after his mother defied a malevolent norn (Würth 1993, \n435–6). In Iceland, with staff and walrus-skin belt, the hooded Bárðr \nSnæfellsáss traverses the glacier of Snæfellsjökull, returning whenever \nhis people need him most.2 Elsewhere, Óðinn himself stalks the sagas, \nan incognito rambler testing those whose paths he crosses. This surplus \nof timeless flâneurs makes it hard to follow the northbound footprints \nof medieval Europe’s best-known pedestrian: the Wandering Jew. The \nstory needs little introduction, but it may be useful to highlight briefly \nits most important elements: now known by many names Buttadeus, Cartaphilus3 \n), the Wandering Jew once scorned Christ on \nthe way to Golgotha, and was cursed to walk the earth without rest \nuntil the end of days.

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