Even though the UK has traditionally had a fairly large percentage of redheads, there's a lot of negative personality and behaviour traits associated to having red hair - gingers don't have souls/bad tempers/ lustful etc. Is there any sort of historical basis for this? When/Why did it become a negative thing to have red hair?
Was there ever a redhead monarch/famous figure/warriors who started the stereotype? I remember reading a quote in a history textbook when I was at school about how Queen Elizabeth I was mocked for her hair being more red than flaxen.
In medieval Europe, the infamous witch-hunting manual, Malleus Maleficarum, instructed that red hair and green eyes were marks of a witch, warewolf or vampire.
In the 19th century the idea that redhead were associated with criminality and promiscuity was given some credibility by Cesare Lombroso who was a criminologist and physician. He concluded that red hair was associated with crimes of lust, and he further claimed that 48% of "criminal women" were redheads, contributing to the negative stereotype.
I don't think anyone in particular began it (I suspect it's simply that unusual features were often viewed with superstition; left-handedness was another one, if memory serves) but there are monarchs who were noted for their ginger hair. William the Conqueror's son and heir, William II of England, is usually referred to by historians as William Rufus to distinguish him from his father in discussion, 'rufus' meaning red in Latin. It's been a while since I read much about William Rufus but I recall that Red William (as it would be now) is thought to be a reference to both his ginger hair and his violent temper. Safe to say you wouldn't have called him Rufus to his face.
David Brion Davis mentions in his book Inhuman Bondage that red hair was associated with slavery during Roman times because a large number of slaves came from Thrace where red hair was common. Apparently slaves were sometimes represented in theatrical productions by actors wearing red headed wigs.
The ancient Egyptian dubious mythical Seth animal was reddish since it came from the desert, and so was the evil god Seth whom in some ways was associated with the animal. For this reason the Egyptians may have disliked anything to do with red, and according to some ancient writers (others disagree) not only were red oxen sacrificed, but also red-haired people. Some speculate that this is the origin of the Christian Devil as red too.
Plutarch, Isis and Osiris
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica
Jeffrey Burton Russell, The Devil: perceptions of evil from antiquity to primitive Christianity.