流浪的猶太人最早出現在在溫多弗的羅傑（英語：Roger of Wendover）所著的《弗洛爾斯史（英語：Flores Historiarum）》的1228年的手稿中。《弗洛爾斯史》有個子章《Of the Jew Joseph who is still alive awaiting the last coming of Christ》 [2][3][4]，在這個章節中的中心人物約瑟夫，在領受亞拿尼亞的洗禮前名字叫Cartaphilus。Cartaphilus的詞根為kartos和philos，分別有「親愛的」和「所愛的」的意思。換言之，在早期，流浪的猶太人的傳說是被和耶穌所愛的門徒做連結的[5]。
as described in the first chapter of Curious Myths of the Middle Ages where Sabine Baring-Gould attributed the earliest extant mention of the myth of the Wandering Jew to Matthew Paris. The chapter began with a reference to Gustave Doré's series of twelve illustrations to the legend, and ended with a sentence remarking that, while the original legend was so 'noble in its severe simplicity' that few could develop it with success in poetry or otherwise, Doré had produced in this series 'at once a poem, a romance, and a chef-d'oeuvre of art'. First published in two parts in 1866 and 1868, the work was republished in 1877 and in many other editions.[1]
Anderson, George K. The Legend of the Wandering Jew. Providence: Brown University Press, 1965. xi, 489 p.; reprint edition ISBN0-87451-547-5 Collects both literary versions and folk versions.
Hasan-Rokem, Galit and Alan Dundes The Wandering Jew: Essays in the Interpretation of a Christian Legend (Bloomington:Indiana University Press) 1986. 20th-century folkloristic renderings.
Gaer, Joseph (Fishman) The Legend of the Wandering Jew New American Library, 1961 (Dore illustrations) popular account.
Richard I. Cohen, "The "Wandering Jew" from Medieval Legend to Modern Metaphor," in Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and Jonathan Karp (eds), The Art of Being Jewish in Modern Times (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007) (Jewish Culture and Contexts),
David Hoffman, Hon. J.U.D. of Gottegen (1852). Chronicles of the Wandering Jew selected from the originals of Carthaphilus, embracing a period of nearly XIX centuries - detailed description of facts related to Jesus's preaching from a Pharisees coverage.
