Older Scots Version A: Buke of the Sevyne Sagis
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 | |
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| 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 | |
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| 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 |
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Circle detected when trying to insert Latin Version S into the tree. |
| Connected prints |
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No connected prints |
| Adaptations | |
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| Adapted from (version) | French Version A, H (Historia Septem Sapientum) |
| Adapted into (version) | |
| Source for composition and adaptation information | Van Buuren (1982) |
| Languages in Use | |
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| Language of text | Scots |
| Regional or specific language of version | Middle Scots |
| Notes | |
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| Note | |
| Notes on motifs | |
| Notes on the frame | |
| Pattern of embedded stories in this version |
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| Connected manuscripts |
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