Middle English Version A

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The Middle English versions of the Seven Sages of Rome are all part of the Version A tradition. Adapted from one of the Old French A texts sometime in the late 13th or early 14th century, the Middle English Seven Sages texts clearly insular popularity, developing three distinct redactions that survive in eight manuscripts. These iterations of the narrative bear striking similarity to other popular Middle English romances, both in their narrative concerns and in their form (the near-ubiquitous tail-rhymed octosyllabic couplets).

According to Campbell (and also Brunner and Whitelock), the Middle English Seven Sages may be usefully grouped into three regional categories, with dialect differences separating the 'Northern', 'Southern', and 'Midland' redactions. Both Northern and Southern groups are closely related, and are assumed to share a lost parent-text, 'Y'. The Midland redaction, which is not part of the 'Y Group', has notable stylistic distinctions from the other texts, though it follows the same essential pattern. For example, while the emperor is always called Dioclecian and his son named Florentine or Florentin, the Y Group gives the prince's mother the name 'Milicent' while the Midlands text names her 'Helie' or 'Elye'. The sage's names are relatively consistent across all versions, as is the order of the tales themselves, with the notable exception of a single text found in Cambridge University Library MS Ff. 2, 38 (often referred to in scholarship as Text F). This text contains an anomalous version of the narrative, with an atypical story order and the addition of two unique tales ('Parricida' and 'Armiger').

It is also worth noting that despite their proximity, the Middle English Seven Sages is notably distinct from the Older Scots Version A, and also the later English Prints, which are part of the H (Historia Septem Sapientum) tradition.

General Information
Language within Version	Middle English
Narrative / Scholarly Group
Parent Versions	A (Seven Sages)
Child Versions	Midland Version, Y Group
Author
Title
Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages	A (Seven Sages)
Version Number
Branch of the tradition	West

Language & Composition
Original language of version	Middle English
Translated into (languages)
Place of composition	England
Date of composition	1275 - 1320
Source for date of composition	Campbell (1907)

Literature & Editions
Modern research literature	Brunner (1933), Whitelock (2005), Campbell (1907), Bonsall (2024), Runte, Wikeley, Farrell (1984), Runte, Society of the Seven Sages Portal (2014), Epstein (1967), Jaunzems (1978), Bonsall and Piercy (2025)
Modern Editions	Brunner, The Seven Sages of Rome (Southern Version) (1933), Campbell, The Seven Sages of Rome (Northern Version) (1907), Whitelock, The Seven Sages of Rome (Midland Version) (2005)

Recorded branch of this secondary version

A (Seven Sages) French Version A: Roman des Sept Sages Group U Group V Group W Group X Group Y Group Z German Version A: Allegatio/Libellus Latin Version A: Allegatio/Libellus Middle English Version A Midland Version Y Group Northern English Southern English Old Swedish Version A: Sju vise mästare Old Swedish Redaction A Old Swedish Redaction B Older Scots Version A: Buke of the Sevyne Sagis Scots Gaelic Version A Welsh Version A: Chwedleu Seith Doethon Rufein Early Modern and Modern Welsh Version A Middle Welsh Version A

Connected prints
No connected prints

Adaptations
Adapted from (version)	French Version A
Adapted into (version)	Group Y, Midland Version
Source for composition and adaptation information	Campbell (1907)

Languages in Use
Language of text	Middle English
Regional or specific language of version

Notes
Note
Notes on motifs
Notes on the frame

Pattern of embedded stories in this version
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Connected manuscripts

Manuscript Language Location Date of Production Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17 English Cambridge University Library 1350/1400 Cambridge University Library MS Ff. 2, 38 English Cambridge University Library 1400/1500 Edinburgh National Library of Scotland Advocates MS 19.2.1, Auchinleck Manuscript English Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland 1331/1340 London British Library Arundel 140 English London, British Library 1400/1425 London British Library Cotton Galba E IX English London, British Library 1400/1425 London British Library Egerton 1995 English London, British Library 1475/1500 Oxford Balliol College Library MS 354 (Richard Hill's Commonplace Book) English Oxford, Bodleian Library 1501 - 1533 Oxford Bodleian Library Rawlinson poet. 175 English Oxford, Bodleian Library 1350/1400