| Manuscript | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Reference Number | Eng8 | ||
| Location | Cambridge University Library | ||
| Siglum/Shelfmark | Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17 | ||
| Page/Folio range | 54r-63r | ||
| Standardised title of narrative | The Seven Sages of Rome | ||
| Incipit or textual title | |||
| Version (siglum) | A (Seven Sages) | ||
| └ Language Group within Version | Middle English Version A | ||
| └ Narrative/Scholarly Group within Version | Midland Version | ||
| └ Further scholarly subgroup (1) | |||
| └ Further scholarly subgroup (2) | Text D | ||
| Translated/adapted from (Version/Text) | |||
| Source for information on textual relationship to broader tradition | Whitelock (2005) | ||
| Scribe | |||
| Author | |||
| Place of Manuscript Production | England | ||
| Date of Manuscript Production | 1350/1400 | ||
| Source of date Manuscript Production | Whitelock (2005) | ||
| Material | Parchment | ||
| Language of Manuscript | English | ||
| Regional or specific Language of Manuscript | Middle English | ||
| Source for regional or specific Language of Manuscript | Whitelock (2005) | ||
| Prose or Verse | Verse | ||
| Other texts in the Manuscript | Manuscript is divided into three volumes. The Seven Sages appears in the third volume (54ra - 63rb). A full list of the 24 other texts that make up the manuscript can be found in the source mentioned above; notably, it includes: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britannie (vol 1, 111-121); a Latin version of Marco Polo's travel account (vol 2, 38-56); texts concerning Islam, including 'Fides Saracenorum' (vol 2, 71), De origine et progressu et fine Machometi et quadruplici reprobatione eius (vol 2, 71-74), William of Tripoli, De statu Saracenorum (vol 2, 74-79), and a Life of Muhammad (vol 2, 79); Langland, Piers Plowman (B text) (Vol 3, 1-31); Mandeville's Travels (32-53). | ||
| Script style/form | |||
| Total pages/folios in Manuscript | Vol. 1: ff. 261, vol. 2: ff. 93, vol. 3: ff. 87 | ||
| Height | 440 | ||
| Width | 305 | ||
| Illustrations | No | ||
| Digitisation | |||
| Modern Editions | Whitelock, The Seven Sages of Rome (Midland Version) (2005) | ||
| Catalogue | |||
| Modern Research Literature | Brunner (1933), Whitelock (2005) | ||
Note
Some sages' names have been normalised; Whitelock's transcription gives the names as Lentulus, Maladas, Caton, Iesse, and Marcius.
The Midlands version, here described, is distinct from the other Middle English texts in a number of notable ways, including minor changes to the frame story (the Prince's mother dies while he is away at school, rather than before he leaves, for example), and small changes throughout. Whitelock (2005) observes that these changes tend to streamline the narrative, but also that, in the inset tales at least, they tend to make 'the fate of the female characters happy, but that of the men more unfortunate' (p. lii). Women get away with their tricks, or escape repudiation (in Vidua and Avis), while men more frequently die (including by suicide) in tales such as Canis, Puteus, and Inclusa. Conversely, this may lend gravity to the overall antifeminist bent of the text: Whitelock suggestions that 'the redactor... resists the temptation to curb these wicked women in the tales themselves', showing women to powerful, manipulative, and cunning, and thereby allowing 'the warning of the Sages [to] gain more weight' (p. liii).
Pattern of embedded stories in this manuscript
