Italian Version A

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The Seven Sages narrative in Italian is often titled Il Libro dei Sette Savi di Roma. There are two different, mostly unrelated branches of the Italian Sette Savi narrative: one, discussed below, is an Italian adaptation of the pattern known as Version A; the other, the Versio Italico or Version I pattern, developed separately, and consists of a handful of different redactions based on a distinct story-order. While the Version I pattern is assumed to have evolved out of a Version A narrative, it is critically understood to be distinct from that family, and to constitute its own branch of the Seven Sages tradition.

The Italian branch of the Version A pattern, on the other hand, is understood to be closely related to other Version A texts. It is sometimes referred to in scholarship as the versione francese-italica (by e.g. Cesari), and it exists in a few different redactions. All of these follow, or nearly follow, the story-order set by the Old French Version A, and are presumed to be (direct or indirect) translations of French iterations of the narrative. The three disctinct redactions are:

• Libro dei Sette Savj (A), edited by d'Ancona (1864)
• Italian Prose (V), edited by Varnhagen (1881)
• Storia favolosa di Stefano (S), edited by Bozzoli (1999); first discussed in Cesari (1896).

All of these redactions have complex inheritances. Of the three versions, the Libro dei Sette Savj (A) is most closely related to its French Version A source-text, and the only one to maintain all fifteen stories. The Italian Prose (V) betrays the influence of Version L (Sept Sages de Rome), perhaps suggesting that a French A/L Overlap text was its source. The Storia favolosa di Stefano has historically been designated part of Version A, but also evidences influences of I (Versio Italico). Some scholarship (D'Agostino, 2022) therefore groups it with other anomalous Version I texts instead of with the A branch.

Both the Prose (V) and the Storia favolosa replace the story Puteus with Mercator, a story that clearly mirrors the frame-tale's structure and concerns. Mercator is found only in these two Italian redactions, and in the anomalous Latin (and later German) translations of Version A known as the Allegatio septem sapientum or Libellus muliebri nequitia plenus. The Latin Allegatio also replaces Puteus with Mercator, and was composed sometime in the 14th century, in Northern Italy - making it roughly contemporary with these Italian Version A redactions.

General Information

Parent Versions

A (Seven Sages)

Title

Il Libro dei Sette Savi

Branch of the tradition

Seven Sages of Rome

Language & Composition

Language of version

Italian

Translated into (languages)

Veneto, Toscano

Place of composition

Italy

Date of Composition

1250 - 1400

Literature & Editions

Modern research literature

Mussafia (1867), D'Ancona (1864), D'Agostino (2022), Giannetti (2012), Giannetti (1996), Bozzoli (1999), Bianchi (2014-2015), Varnhagen (1881), Cesari (1896), Segre (1959), Bozzoli (1997), Comparetti (1869), Cappelli (1865)

Modern Editions

D'Ancona, Il Libro dei Sette Savj (1864), Varnhagen, Eine Italienische Prosaversion der Sieben Weisen (1881), Bianchi, Libro dei sette savi di Roma (2014-2015), Giannetti, Libro dei Sette Savi di Roma (2012), Bozzoli, Storia favolosa di Stefano (1999)

Recorded Branch of This Secondary Version

• A (Seven Sages)
  • Dutch Version A
    • Dutch Verse Version: Van den seven vroeden van binnen Rome
  • French Version A: Roman des Sept Sages
    • Group U
    • Group V
    • Group W
    • Group X
    • Group Y
    • Group Z
  • Gaelic Version A
  • German Version A: Allegatio/Libellus
  • Italian Version A
    • Italian Prose (V)
    • Libro dei Sette Savj (A)
    • Storia favolosa di Stefano (S)
  • Latin Version A
    • Latin Version A: Allegatio / Libellus
  • Middle English Version A
    • Midland Version
    • Y Group
      • Northern English
      • Southern English
  • Old Swedish Version A: Sju vise mästare
    • Old Swedish Redaction A
    • Old Swedish Redaction B
  • Older Scots Version A: Buke of the Sevyne Sagis
  • Welsh Version A: Chwedleu Seith Doethon Rufein
    • Early Modern and Modern Welsh Version A
    • Middle Welsh Version A

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Adaptations

Adapted from (version)

French Version A: Roman des Sept Sages

Adapted into (version)

Italian Prose (V), Libro dei Sette Savj (A), Storia favolosa di Stefano (S)

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	Bencillas
Aper – The Boar and the Fruit	3	Empress
Medicus – The Doctor	4	Anxilles	Auxlex
Gaza – The Treasure	5	Empress
Mercator	6	Lentulus	Litalus
Senescalcus – The Seneschal	7	Empress
Tentamina – The Test	8	Malquidras	Malchidras
Virgilius – Virgil's Marvels	9	Empress
Avis – The Bird	10	Caton	Cato
Sapientes – The Wise Men	11	Empress
Vidua – The Widow	12	Jesse	Fifth Master
Roma – Rome Besieged	13	Empress
Inclusa – The Imprisoned Wife	14	Arcius

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Connected Manuscripts

	Has Language	Has Location	Has Date Range Of Production
Florence Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Gaddiano 166	Italian	Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana	1274 - 1500
Florence Biblioteca nazionale centrale, Palatino 680	Italian	Florence, Biblioteca nazionale centrale	1401 - 1500
London British Library Add. MS. 27429	Italian	London, British Library	1301 - 1325