This concerns the pious people who were burned. The heart grows faint in telling it, and the hands grow weak in writing down all the calamities that befell our people. Who has the strength to record this suffering without his heart breaking?

Even when one person heard the news from another, both his ears rang, his courage fled and his senses failed. How much more difficult is it for us, whose hearts are filled with grief, to relate our sorrow without our lips closing or to write it down without growing weak? Yet we do so at the command of our leader and our teacher Rabbi Jacob, whose instruction we may not disregard.

We, the community of Orléans, should have brought a calf as an offering, but instead we ourselves stood in its place. Because of our transgressions and sins, all this came upon us, and the Lord was sanctified through those who were close to Him. Since the time when He gave His people over to plunder and allowed our sanctuary to burn, no offerings as holy as these have ascended before Him.

Angels of God rose in the flames. Burning, they stood before Him, those who had been led out at the oppressor’s command to be consumed by fire. Their enemies summoned them and urged them to exchange their faith for the Christian religion.

The prisoners answered: “No. We cleave to our God, the God of Israel. Him we worship with all our hearts and all our souls.”

As they were led away, they encouraged one another so that no one would lose courage. One said to another: “Should we shrink back before this fire? Were we not chosen for this day?”

As they walked, they said: “Let us guard ourselves so that our hearts aren’t led astray. Be brave, and let us remain strong in reverence for our Creator. May our death atone for all our sins.”

They became the community’s sin offerings and guilt offerings. Through them, all Israel received atonement. They offered themselves in holiness as a fire offering to the Eternal, and the Eternal received them favorably on Wednesday, the twentieth day of Sivan in the year 4931 from the creation of the world.

This day deserves to be established as a fast for all our people. The importance of this fast should be greater than the Fast of Gedaliah, for it is a day of atonement.

They were beaten and wounded. Yet the more they were tormented with blows and injuries, the stronger their spirits became in their love for the name of the Eternal. They remained consecrated to Him and followed Him with complete devotion.

Woe to us, how hot that day became! The fire was lit in the morning, and when the flames rose, the prisoners began singing together. They lifted their voices in a beautiful melody.

People from the town came and told us: “What is this song of yours, with such a melody? We have never heard so beautiful a melody.”

The song began softly. Then they raised their voices and sang together, “It is our duty to praise the Master of all,” continuing with the Aleinu prayer while the fire blazed around them.

Two kohanim among them were bound to a pillar. They called to the servants of the wicked Theobald: “See how we stand in the fire, and it has no power over us!” The servants answered, “Then come out!”

Rabbi Judah son of Aaron freed his hands and then released the hands of his companions. They said: “Let us leave the fire. If they kill us, we shall die. If they allow us to live, we shall live.”

The three came out. Their enemies fell upon them and struck them so violently that the holy men died there before the Eternal, without having spoken any worthless word. They remained firm in their faith from beginning to end.

Their bodies were then thrown into the fire, and burning coals were heaped over them. Even so, according to the letter, their bodies weren’t consumed.

These events were reported to us by people from our own town and by acquaintances who were present. Even if we had been unwilling to believe their testimony, Baruch son of David ha-Kohen was also there at the time of the burning and saw and heard what happened. He didn’t watch the burning itself, however, because he feared that the crowd gathered outside the city would seize him.

When the commotion had subsided and the burning was over, Baruch fled that same day. He escaped safely to Orléans.

The cause of the disaster was as follows. On Thursday, that unfortunate day, Isaac son of Eleazar of Blois went to the river toward evening to water his horse. He carried a green hide against his chest that he had taken from the home of a townsman.

A corner of the hide, called peau in French, came loose and hung from his outer garment. A servant arrived at the river to water his own master’s horse. When the animal saw the pale hide, it shied away and couldn’t be brought to the water.

The servant remained silent until he returned to his lord. He then said: “Do you know that I encountered a Jew in your territory who threw a dead child into the water? It was dark, and my horse shied and ran away. It carried me off and refused to drink.”

His lord answered: “Keep silent about this. I have been waiting for this day! The Jewess did such and such to me, and now I shall act against her. As she harmed me, I shall harm her.”

The Jewish woman had behaved harshly toward some of the townspeople. Trusting in the ruler’s favor, she dealt severely with those who approached her. The ruler had favored her, which caused the ruler’s wife and her nurse to become hostile toward her.

When the townspeople saw that she no longer enjoyed the ruler’s favor as she once had, they plotted against her. She was seized but wasn’t placed in chains.

She was imprisoned in the tower with the rest of the Jewish community. She could move about freely and present whatever arguments she wished, but she wasn’t allowed to speak directly with the ruler. She had hoped to see him because she couldn’t believe that the ruler who had previously favored her had now turned against her.

The ruler considered what he should do. Then, as the letter describes it, “Satan appeared among them” in the person of an Augustinian canon. He advised that the servant who had accused Isaac be subjected to an ordeal by water.

According to the proposed test, if the servant sank, his accusation would be judged false. If he floated, his testimony against the Jews would be accepted as true and they would be punished. The ruler and his officials accepted this advice.

The canon’s intervention hastened the disaster. At first, Count Theobald intended to impose a monetary penalty. He ordered Baruch son of David ha-Kohen and Rabbi Isaac son of Judah, who had interceded for the prisoners, to ask how much ransom the Jews would pay.

The representatives returned and said: “They will give one hundred pounds. Here are another one hundred and eighty pounds. Is that sufficient for you?”

When the count heard the offer, he became angry and ended the negotiations. He refused to pay further attention to the Jewish representatives. Instead, he followed the canon’s advice.

The servant was brought into the water for the ordeal. The guilty man was declared innocent, while the innocent Jews were declared guilty. The count’s men then burned the pious prisoners.

The letter states that only the prisoners’ breath of life was consumed and that their bodies remained unharmed. It adds that Christians also testified that their bodies hadn’t burned. The writer regards their testimony as credible because it came from people who were hostile to the Jews.

Those burned in Blois weren’t given a proper burial. A hollow was dug at the place of execution, and by the ruler’s command, their remains were covered with earth and stones. We also heard that the ruler became angry with townspeople who had thrown wood and sticks at prisoners attempting to escape the flames, killing them as they emerged.

At the end of our letter, we remember another holy woman whom we had previously forgotten. Blessed are the women whose number was seventeen, although we haven’t found all their individual names recorded. Perhaps two maidens and one boy who refused to submit to baptism were included in this number. Blessed are all those who withstood the trial.