Italian Prose (V): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:02, 13 November 2025

The Italian Prose (V), the redaction of Version A found in British Library Add. MS. 27429, represents one of the three Italian redactions of the Version A pattern. Like the version titled Storia favolosa di Stefano, the Prose version edited by Varnhagen (and therefore often designated redaction V) also replaces 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 also 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 the Italian Version A redactions.

According to Varnhagen's edition (1881), some elements of this text, including mistranslations, help confirm that a French Version A/L text was the source or this manuscript. One of the more entertaining of those mistranslations changes the boar (sanglier) in Aper to a lord (sengniore) (Ward p. 211).

Other elements that signal the relationship to L as well as A is the fact that the prince does not tell a story in this text; instead, the tale concludes with the trial by combat, in which the Empress's champion is defeated.

Tradition & Lineage

Branch of the tradition

West

Adapted from (version)

French A/L Overlap

Connected Manuscripts

	Has Language	Has Location	Has Date Range Of Production

Language & Composition

Place of composition

Italy

Date of Composition

1300 - 1350

Source for date of composition

Ward (1893)

Modern Scholarship & Editions

Modern research literature

Wikeley (1983), Varnhagen (1881), Ward (1893)

Modern Editions

Varnhagen, Eine Italienische Prosaversion der Sieben Weisen (1881)

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	Cato
Sapientes – The Wise Men	11	Empress
Vidua – The Widow	12	Jesse	Fifth Master
Roma – Rome Besieged	13	Empress

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 {{Version
-|Has Description=The Italian Prose version A, found in British Library Add. MS. 27429, represents one of the three Italian redactions of the Version A pattern. Like the version titled [[Storia favolosa di Stefano]], the Prose version edited by Varnhagen (and therefore often designated redaction V) also replaces 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 also in the anomalous [[Latin Version A: Allegatio / Libellus|Latin]] (and later [[German Version A: Allegatio/Libellus|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 the Italian Version A redactions.
+|Has Description=The Italian Prose (V), the redaction of [[A (Seven Sages)|Version A]] found in British Library Add. MS. 27429, represents one of the three Italian redactions of the Version A pattern. Like the version titled [[Storia favolosa di Stefano]], the Prose version edited by Varnhagen (and therefore often designated redaction V) also replaces 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 also in the anomalous [[Latin Version A: Allegatio / Libellus|Latin]] (and later [[German Version A: Allegatio/Libellus|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 the Italian Version A redactions.
 According to [[Varnhagen (1881)|Varnhagen]]'s edition (1881), some elements of this text, including mistranslations, help confirm that a [[French A/L Overlap|French Version A/L]] text was the source or this manuscript. One of the more entertaining of those mistranslations changes the boar (''sanglier'') in Aper to a lord (''sengniore'') (Ward p. 211).