The Old French prose Version A is the presumed origin for most other Version A redactions in other languages. The text was composed in the first quarter of the 13th century (Foehr-Janssens 1994, p. 432), and exists in more than twenty manuscripts (see below).
Significant variation occurs across these manuscripts. For example, a sub-group of manuscripts, including BNF fr. 2137, show remnants of versification in the final four stories; these are critically designated Version A2. Other groupings, including the letter groups shown below, were developed by Runte for use in his online edition of the French Version A. These groups signal textual similarity, and all manuscripts within a given group are highly similar (/potentially copies of the same texts).
Version A is also closely related to
Version L; the two traditions are essentially identical for the first 11 stories, before L differs dramatically, omitting several stories and instead including
Filia and
Noverca. However, a significant number of manuscripts that closely follow the text and pattern of Version A, and are designated as such by most contemporary scholarship, also contain one or both of the additional Version L stories, Filia and Noverca. This marked distinction demonstrates the cross-pollenation betweek A and L, and shows how closely and constantly interlinked the manuscript composition of these traditions must have been. Because these manuscripts are so distinct from the other A texts, and because recent pieces of scholarship (Runte, Coco, Foehr-Janssens, Speer, the Arlima database, etc.) soemtimes group them in different ways, they do not appear in the manuscript-list below, and instead have been grouped into the
French A/L Overlap version, together with the anomalous L texts.
Language & Composition
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Original language of version |
Old French
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Translated into (languages) |
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Place of composition |
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Date of composition |
1201 - 1225 (555AH) (999AM)
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Source for date of composition |
Speer (1989), Foehr-Janssens (1994)
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Literature & Editions
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Modern research literature |
Coco (2016), Runte, Society of the Seven Sages Portal (2014), Runte, Wikeley, Farrell (1984), Berne-Aïache (1966), Foehr-Janssens (1994), Le Roux de Lincy (1838), Speer (1981), Speer (1987), Speer & Foehr-Janssens (2017), Speer (1989), Speer (1994), Kelly (1978), Niedzielski (1978)
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Modern Editions |
Runte, Les sept sages de Rome: An On-Line Edition of French Version A (2006), Plomp, De Middelnederlandsche bewerking van het gedicht van den VII Vroeden van binnen Rome (1899), Coco, Il Roman des sept sages (2016), Aïache-Berne, Les Versions françaises en prose du Roman des Sept Sages (1966)
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Recorded branch of this secondary version
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Connected prints
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No connected prints
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Languages in Use
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Language of text |
Old French
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Regional or specific language of version |
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Notes
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Note |
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Notes on motifs |
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Notes on the frame |
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Pattern of embedded stories in this version
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Connected manuscripts
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Manuscript | Language | Location | Date of Production |
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Arras Médiathèque de l'Abbaye Saint-Vaast 657 | Old French | Arras, Médiathèque de l'Abbaye Saint-Vaast | 1278 | Bern Burgerbibliothek Cod. 388 | Old French | Bern, Burgerbibliothek | 1285 - 1315 | Brussel Koninklijke Bibliotheek 10171 | Old French | Brussel, Koninklijke Bibliotheek | 1293 | Brussel Koninklijke Bibliotheek 11190-11191 | Old French | Brussel, Koninklijke Bibliotheek | 1390 - 1400 | Brussel Koninklijke Bibliotheek 9433 | Old French | Brussel, Koninklijke Bibliotheek | c. 1330 | Cambridge Fitzwilliam Museum McClean 179 | Old French | Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum | 1275 - 1300 | Cambridge University Library MS Gg.1.1 | English Latin Old French | Cambridge University Library | 1307 - 1400 | Firenze Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Ashburnham 49 (Libri 122) | Old French | Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana | 1300 - 1400 | Fribourg Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire L 13 | Old French | Fribourg, Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire | 1425 - 1475 | London British Library Harley 3860 | Old French | London, British Library | 1315 - 1350 | Mons Université de Mons Bibliothèque Centrale cod. 330/215 | Old French | Mons, Université de Mons, Bibliothéque Centrale | 1300 - 1325 | Oxford St John's College Library 102 | Old French | Oxford, St John's College | 1375 - 1400 | Paris Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 3152 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal | 1200 - 1300 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, Moreau 1691 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1700 - 1800 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, français 1421 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1275 - 1300 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, français 20040 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1200 - 1300 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, français 2137 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1275 - 1300 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, français 22548-22550 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1300 - 1350 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, français 25545 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | November 1316 - 1317/04/03 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, français 5586 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1477 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, français 93 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1466 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, nouvelles acquisitions françaises, 1263 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1200 - 1300 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, nouvelles acquisitions françaises, 12791 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1300 - 1400 | Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, nouvelles acquisitions françaises, 13521 | Old French | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1275 - 1300 | Saint-Étienne Médiathèque Municipale 109 | Old French | Saint-Étienne, Médiathèque Municipale | 15th century? (See notes) | Turin Biblioteca Nazionale MS L V 32 (lost) | Old French | | 1275 - 1325 |
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