Legend of the Wandering Jew and its Theological Background

This thesis is concerned with the legend of so-called Wandering Jew. The story originated in the Middle Ages and forms an apocryphe to the New Testament, as it relates about a man, who having acted harshly toward Jesus Christ, was condemned to endless life, or wandering. Main question which this thesis deals with is whether and how the story was influenced by Christian theological conceptions of Jewry. The examples of such influence are sought for in a certain German version of the legend, situated to a protestant milieu. This version was published as a so-called "Volksbuch" probably in 1602. I set this version into a context of various older variants from the Middle Ages and while analyzing it, I consider also other possible influences than theological. As possible sources of influence I take into account catholic conceptions as well as protestant. Because the protestant conception is interrelated with social development of the period, I have added illustrative historical excourse about Jewish history in Hamburg to the thesis, for this city is connected also with the Volksbuch. In the concluding part of the thesis I propose many interesting hypotheses about the theological influence, yet none of these I succeed to prove