Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17

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

Short Story	Sequence Number	Narrator	Name Variations
Arbor	1	Empress
Canis	2	Bancillas
Aper	3	Empress
Medicus	4	Ancilles
Gaza	5	Empress
Puteus	6	Lentulus
Senescalcus	7	Empress
Tentamina	8	Malquidras	Maladas
Virgilius	9	Empress
Avis	10	Cato	Caton
Sapientes	11	Empress
Vidua	12	Jesse	Iesse
Roma	13	Empress
Inclusa	14	Maxencius	Marcius
Vaticinium	15	Prince