View source for Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17

{{Manuscript
|Has Reference Number=Eng8
|Has Location=Cambridge University Library
|Has Siglum=Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17
|Has Page Range=54r-63r
|Has Content=The Seven Sages of Rome: English 'D' text
|Has Siglum Of The Version Of The Seven Sages=A (Seven Sages)
|Has Language Group Within Version=Middle English Version A
|Has Narrative Or Scholarly Group Within Version=Midland Version
|Has Source For Information On Textual Relationship to Broader Tradition=Whitelock (2005)
|Has Place Of Production=England
|Has Date Of Production=1350-1400
|Has Source For Date Of Production=Whitelock (2005)
|Has Material=Parchment
|Has Language Of Manuscript=English
|Has Language=Middle English
|Has Source For Language=Whitelock (2005)
|Is Prose Or Verse=Verse
|Has Collation=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).
|Has Total Pages In Manuscript=Vol. 1: ff. 261, vol. 2: ff. 93, vol. 3: ff. 87
|Has Height=440
|Has Width=305
|Has Illustrations=No
|Has Modern Edition=Whitelock, The Seven Sages of Rome (Midland Version) (2005)
|Has Modern Research Literature=Brunner (1933); Whitelock (2005)
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Arbor
|Has Sequence Number=1
|Has Narrator=Empress
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Canis
|Has Sequence Number=2
|Has Narrator=Bancillas
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Aper
|Has Sequence Number=3
|Has Narrator=Empress
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Medicus
|Has Sequence Number=4
|Has Narrator=Ancilles
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Gaza
|Has Sequence Number=5
|Has Narrator=Empress
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Puteus
|Has Sequence Number=6
|Has Narrator=Lentulus
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Senescalcus
|Has Sequence Number=7
|Has Narrator=Empress
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Tentamina
|Has Sequence Number=8
|Has Narrator=Malquidras
|Has Name Variation=Maladas
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Virgilius
|Has Sequence Number=9
|Has Narrator=Empress
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Avis
|Has Sequence Number=10
|Has Narrator=Cato
|Has Name Variation=Caton
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Sapientes
|Has Sequence Number=11
|Has Narrator=Empress
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Vidua
|Has Sequence Number=12
|Has Narrator=Jesse
|Has Name Variation=Iesse
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Roma
|Has Sequence Number=13
|Has Narrator=Empress
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Inclusa
|Has Sequence Number=14
|Has Narrator=Maxencius
|Has Name Variation=Marcius
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
|Has Short Title=Vaticinium
|Has Sequence Number=15
|Has Narrator=Prince
}}
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).