Older Scots Version A: Buke of the Sevyne Sagis

From The Seven Sages of Rome

The anonymous Older Scots narrative The Buke of the Sevyne Sagis is preserved in the Asloan manuscript (Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Advocates 16500), which was composed ca. 1515. The manuscript's name comes from its scribe, John Asloan, a copyist and notary public living in and around Edinburgh.

Like the contemporaneous Middle English manuscripts, the Scottish narrative is also part of the Version A branch of the tradition, and also likely had a French Version A text as its primary source, judging by the stories and their order. Also like the English texts, the Buke is in octosyllabic tail-rhymed verse. However, the Buke also diverges from the Version A/English narratives' pattern in a few key ways that suggest narrative proximity to the Historia tradition as well. Catherine van Buuren notes that there are several points when the Buke uses language identical to that found in some of the Latin Version H texts, with narrative details further exemplifying the influence of the Historia tradition (Van Buuren (1982), pp. 136-81). Critically, this includes the revelation and gender-reveal of the empress's lover at the end of the frame story, something that is not found in the Version A narrative pattern. Van Buuren notes that while this could suggest a lost, early A/H source that blends the two traditions, it is perhaps more likely that the author of the Buke was familiar with both the Version A and Version H narratives.

It is worth noting that the narrative in its current form contains only thirteen stories. There is a lacuna between Sapientes (the 11th story, told by the Empress) and Inclusa; according to Catherine van Buuren (1982), this likely included the sixth sage's tale, and the Empress's reponse to it.
General Information
Language within Version Older Scots
Narrative / Scholarly Group
Parent Versions A (Seven Sages)
Child Versions
Author
Title
Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages Older Scots Version A: Buke of the Sevyne Sagis
Version Number
Branch of the tradition West
Language & Composition
Original language of version Older Scots
Translated into (languages)
Place of composition Scotland
Date of composition 1513 - 1542
Source for date of composition https://digital.nls.uk/235163104
Literature & Editions
Modern research literature Van Buuren (1982)Cragie (1923)Van Buuren (1978)
Modern Editions Craigie, Buke of the Sevyne Sagis (1923, 1925)Van Buuren, The Buke of the Sevyne Sagis (1982)
Recorded branch of this secondary version

Circle detected when trying to insert Latin Version S into the tree.

Connected prints

No connected prints

Adaptations
Adapted from (version) French Version AH (Historia Septem Sapientum)
Adapted into (version)
Source for composition and adaptation information Van Buuren (1982)
Languages in Use
Language of text Scots
Regional or specific language of version Middle Scots
Notes
Note
Notes on motifs
Notes on the frame
Pattern of embedded stories in this version

Connected manuscripts