The Wandering Jew, also known as Ahasverus or Buttadaeus, was given the curse of immortality by Jesus Christ. As Christ was carrying his heavy cross from Pilate's hall and towards his place of crucifixion, Ahasverus, then a porter in Pilate's service, struck Christ, and mocked him for walking so slowly.

The Middle Ages abound with sightings of the Wandering Jew, generally telling his story in turn for meager food and lodging, sometimes even undergoing tests of authenticity by local professors and academic figures. Encounters with the Wandering Jew occurred all throughout Europe - during the Middle Ages, there were sightings in Armenia, Poland, Moscow, and virtually every Western European city including London.

By the 19th century, sightings of the Wandering Jew were largely attributed to imposters and madmen.

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/w/wandering_jew.html

"Ahasverus, the Wandering Jew, represents European prejudices."
from literary work, not the bible, but not sure where precicely. here's where i got the information: http://cf.hum.uva.nl/images/dtory/myth.html

The wandering jew came from a few seperate traditions:
The earlier of the two is the Christian story, Matthew 16:28, of the "disciple (traditionally John) to whom Jesus promised: 'There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom" (Bushnell, pg. 452 of Studies in Philology, vol. 28, published 1931).
The slightly later, but far more influential, parallel to the story is the legend of a Roman man, identified as Malchus, who struck Jesus in John 18:20-22 and thereafter received exactly the same gift, but as a curse.

These two myths fused with numerous other legends, such as the Biblical story of Cain and the Koran's tale of Sameri the Sameritan - Sameri is the one who was cursed by Moses to wander forever because he helped make the golden calf. When all these tales coalesced, a singularly enduring myth, that of the Wandering Jew, was formed.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/1720/wjfaq.htm


----another----
An actual predecessor of the Wandering Jew is recorded in the "Flores Historiarum" by Roger of Wendover in the year 1228. An Armenian archbishop, then visiting England, was asked by the monks of St. Albans about the celebrated Joseph of Arimathea, who had spoken to Jesus, and was still alive. The archbishop answered that he had himself seen him in Armenia, and that his name was Cartaphilus; on passing Jesus carrying the cross he had said: "Go on quicker," Jesus thereupon answering: "I go; but thou shalt wait till I come."