Upper margin of the Exchequer Receipt Roll, Hilary and Easter Terms (1233)
The earliest known anti-Jewish caricature is a sketch—actually, an
elaborate doodle—in the upper margin of an English royal tax record from
1233. It shows three bizarre-looking Jews standing inside a schematic
castle, which is being attacked by a host of cartoonish horned,
beak-nosed demons. Another, larger demon in the center of the castle
tweaks the freakishly long noses of two of the Jews, as if to underscore
the resemblance between their profiles and his own.
