Spanish Version H: Los Siete Sabios de Roma

The fifteenth- and sixteenth-century prints titled La Historia de los Siete Sabios de Roma represent one of the three distinct Spanish branches of the tradition (along with the Libro de los Engaños and the Spanish Scala Coeli, not to mention the Spanish Erasto). The Siete Sabios prints follow the Version H (Historia Septem Sapientum) pattern of embedded tales, probably drawn from a Latin Version H text, and were frequently illustrated with elaborate woodcuts (Aranda García 2021a; 2023).

The Spanish Siete Sabios prints offer a window into the movements of texts and - critically - printers in the late medieval period. For example, the earliest surviving print comes from the workshop of brothers Juan and Pablo Hurus, German printers working in Zaragoza in the late 15th/early 16th centuries; the brothers, who tailored the narrative to fit the interests of their Zaragoza audience, were reportedly converts to Christianity from Judaism. Later prints (from 1510, 1534, and 1538) were produced in Sevilla by a different German printer, Jacobo Comberger (Aranda García 2021a, Lacarra 2014). The dissemination of the Siete Sabios was part of a boom in the printing of prose fiction - including popular translated texts - in the early part of the sixteenth century; shorter chivalric and sentimental texts were particularly popular (Cañizares Ferriz 2011).

General Information

Parent Versions

H (Historia Septem Sapientum)

Child Versions

Spanish Prints (H)

Title

Libro de los siete sabios de Roma

Branch of the tradition

Seven Sages of Rome

Language & Composition

Language of version

Spanish

Place of composition

Spain

Date of Composition

1475 - 1491

Source for date of composition

Aranda García (2021a)

Literature & Editions

Modern research literature

Aranda García (2021a), Farrell (1980), Lacarra (2014), Lacarra (2015), Lacarra (2016), Aranda García (2023), Cañizares Ferriz (2011), González Palencia (1946), Aranda García (2019), Aranda Garcia (2018), Farrell (1978)

Modern Editions

Aranda García, Libro de los Siete Sabios de Roma (2023), Cañizares Ferriz, Traducción y reescritura (Siete sabios de Roma) (2011), González Palencia, Versiones Castellanas del Sendebar (1946), Rodríguez, Los siete sabios de Roma (1993), Lacarra, Cuentos medievales de Oriente a Occidente (Siete Sabios de Roma) (2016)

Recorded Branch of This Secondary Version

H (Historia Septem Sapientum)

Adaptations

Adapted from (version)

Latin Version H

Notes

Note

See Lacarra and Aranda García's entry in Comedic on the Libro de los Siete Sabios de Roma: https://doi.org//10.26754/uz_comedic/comedic_112

Pattern of Embedded Stories in This Version

Has Short Title	Has Sequence Number	Has Narrator	Has Name Variation
Arbor – The Tree	1	Empress
Canis – The Faithful Dog	2	Bancillas	Pancillas
Aper – The Boar and the Fruit	3	Empress
Puteus – The Well	4	Lentulus	Léntulo
Gaza – The Treasure	5	Empress
Avis – The Bird	6	Cato	Cratón
Sapientes – The Wise Men	7	Empress
Tentamina – The Test	8	Malquidras	Malquidrac
Virgilius – Virgil's Marvels	9	Empress
Medicus – The Doctor	10	Josephas	José
Senescalcus and Roma – The Steward, and Rome Beseiged	11	Empress
Amatores – The Three Lovers	12	Cleophas	Cleophás
Inclusa – The Imprisoned Wife	13	Empress
Vidua – The Widow	14	Joachim	Joachím