This article examines the well-known story of the mother and her seven sons (II Macc.) in a unique version from thirteenth-century Northern France as it appears in an Oxford manuscript (Bodleian Library Or. 135). Noting its unique features, we compare this version of the story with a wide range of extant parallels from antiquity to the Middle Ages — particularly those of German, Northern French, and North African provenance — situating it within the Ashkenazic cultural milieu. This article seeks to combine historical and literary methodologies, arguing that context is crucial when examining stories and their tellers, in our case to better understand the ways in which Jews, as part of a minority culture, narrated their tales and the ways in which stories helped shape cultural consciousness. We address the textual choices made by the copyist of our manuscript when he chose to deviate from his models in light of the medieval cultural environment. The first part of the article examines these versions. The three most significant changes are: (i) our manuscript's focus on the mother almost to the total exclusion of the sons; (ii) the expression of deep physical attachment between the mother and her youngest son — who is also the only son to be mentioned in the narrative; and (iii) an expanded epilogue in which some of the burning issues of medieval Jewish life in Christian Europe find unusual expression. The second part of the article discusses these changes in light of both Jewish and Christian medieval culture. The conceptions of motherhood as reflected in Jewish texts are examined, as well as the manner in which this martyrdom story was read in contemporary Christian culture, noting the similarities and differences. In light of our discussion, we suggest that this story can be understood as a bold anti-conversion narrative within Jewish contemporary discussion of exile and conversion.