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formed would-be miracles by resorting to “magic” (using either God’s ineffa- ble name or “magical books” imported from Egypt), thus raising an army of gullible disciples. After a series of twists and turns worthy of a fantasy novel (including an aerial battle with Judas Iscariot), he is eventually captured by the rabbis, scourged in public and put to death. The story goes on to tell how his body was then summarily buried in a nearby garden until his disciples declared him resurrected, at which point it was unearthed, dragged through the streets and thrown into a cesspit – while his followers were exiled or massacred. Most versions of the narrative open with an account of Jesus’ conception, narrating how his mother committed adultery with a disreputable neighbour and, worse, while she was menstruating. The episode highlights Jesus’ double infamy: he is both an illegitimate and an impure child (mamzer u-ben ha-niddah) – and by extension, we may assume, so too Christianity is illegitimate and impure. The story often ends with the separation of Jews and Christians through the inter- vention of undercover rabbis whom the Christians know as Peter and Paul. They infiltrated the unruly crowd of Jesus’ disciples and provided them with the new laws and customs that would distinguish them from the Jews – de facto invent- ing a new and separate religion.6 CHRISTIAN READERS AND JEWISH SCRIBES For Christian readers the story was understandably hard to take.7 The first edi- tor of the work, the Altdorf professor of Oriental languages Johann Christoph Wagenseil, called it “the most impious and horrible thing ever committed to writing since the origins of man” and a “diabolical” book “defecated by the Devil”.8 Nevertheless, it also sparked a certain fascination, and as Wagenseil noted, Christian scholars had spared no effort in seeking to uncover this sur- reptitious book, which he himself eventually obtained “with much fatigue and at high cost”. In the previous centuries, Christian converts from Judaism had repeatedly referred to this “secret” booklet containing horrible blasphemies against Jesus and the Virgin; and medieval anti-Jewish polemicists, many of whom gained a second life in the age of print, mentioned this shameful story according to which the miracles of Christ had been performed with the ineffable name.9 By the time Wagenseil published the Tela Ignea Satanae (Fiery Darts of Sa- 6 On this story, see recently Gager/Stökl Ben Ezra 2015. 7 On the Christian reception of Toledot Yeshu, see Deutsch 1997, 2011; Horbury 2016 and forthcoming (a). 8 Wagenseil 1681, vol. 2, “Liber Toldos Jeschu,” 2, “Confutatio Libri Toldos Jeschu,” 1 [25], 8, 9, passim. 9 In particular the Pharetra fidei contra Judeos super Talmuth, which circulated widely in the late Mid- dle Ages, first in manuscript and eventually in print; see Horbury, forthcoming (a), referring to Wolf 1715–1746, vol. 4, 567. I thank Prof. Horbury for having shared this reference with me. On the Pharetra, see Schreckenberger 1995, 335–36; Patschovsky 1992, 18–19; and Dahan 1999, who identifies Thibault Some Remarks on Toledot Yeshu | 31www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1