Editing Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (section)

===Royal intervention===
A number of circumstances exacerbated the impact of this event.<ref name = "bod">{{harvnb|Bennett|2005}}</ref> Henry III arrived in Lincoln around a month after the initial arrest and confession. He ordered Copin to be executed, and for ninety Jews to be arrested at random in connection with Hugh's disappearance and death and held in the [[Tower of London]]. They were charged with [[human sacrifice|ritual murder]]. Eighteen of the Jews were [[Hanging|hanged]] for refusing to participate in the proceedings, claiming this was a [[show trial]] and refusing to throw themselves on the mercy of a Christian jury.<ref name="Langmuir 1972 459–482"/> [[Gavin I. Langmuir]] says:

<blockquote>What distinguished the Lincoln affair from other accusations of ritual murder was that the king took personal cognizance and had one Jew executed immediately and eighteen others spectacularly executed later. That royal substantiation of the truth of the charge was probably decisive for Hugh's fame, which far outshadowed that of William of Norwich, Harold of Gloucester, Robert of Bury St. Edmunds, and the poor anonymous infant of St. Paul's.<ref>{{harvnb|Langmuir|1972|pp=477–478}}</ref></blockquote>

Garcias Martini, knight of Toledo, interceded for the release of Benedict son of Moses of London, probably the father of Belaset, whose wedding had been taking place. In January a further pardon was extended to a Christian Jew, John, after the intervention of a Dominican friar.<ref>{{harvnb|Langmuir|1972|p=479}}</ref> A trial took place on 3 February at Westminster for the remaining 71 prisoners. They were condemned to death by a jury of 48. After this point either the Dominicans or Franciscans interceded, together with [[Richard of Cornwall]]. By May, the prisoners were released. It may be that doubt as to their guilt had set in, as it is unlikely that the monks or Richard would have interceded without thinking the charge was false, given the severity of the charge.<ref>{{harvnb|Langmuir|1972|p=479}}; see also {{harvnb|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=658}}</ref>

The difficulty remains as to why King Henry and his servant John of Lexington would have believed the accusations in the first place. For Lexington, his motivations may be his personal connections to the clerics of Lincoln, including his brother the Bishop, who stood to benefit from the veneration of the 'martyr' Hugh. He may have believed, or wished to believe, what he heard. While the decision to act belonged to the King, Langmuir believes that he was weak and easily manipulated by Lexington. Langmuir says Henry III has been described as; "a suspicious person who flung charges of treason recklessly, [who] was credulous and poor in judgment, and often appeared like a petulant child. When to these qualities we add his addiction to touring the shrines of England, it becomes easier to understand why he acted as he did, both when he heard Copin's confession and when the friars and cooler heads intervened later."<ref>{{harvnb|Langmuir|1972|pp=480–81}}</ref> Langmuir therefore concludes that Lexington "incited the weakly credulous Henry III to give the ritual murder fantasy the blessing of royal authority".<ref>{{harvnb|Langmuir|1972|p=481}}</ref> Jacobs on the other hand sees the financial benefits that Henry received as a major factor, conscious or unconscious, in his decision to arrest en masse and execute Jews. As noted above, he had mortgaged his income from the Jews to Richard of Cornwall, but was still entitled to the property of any Jew executed, adding that Henry, "like most weak princes, was cruel to the Jews".<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|1893|p=100}}</ref>