Dictionary.net

A legendary character, who, according to one version, that of Matthew Paris, dating from the thirteenth century, was a servant of Pilate, by name Cartaphilus, and who gave Christ a blow, when he was led out of the palace to execution. According to a later version he was a cobbler named Ahasuerus, who refused Christ permission to sit down and rest when, on his way to Golgotha, he passed his house. Both legends agree in the sentence pronounced by Christ on the offender, Thoushalt wander on the earth till I return. A prey to remorse he has since wandered from land to land without yet being able to find a grave. The story has been turned to account by many poets and novelists, as Shelley, Goethe, Sue, and others.