Italian Version A: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:54, 13 November 2025

The Italian branch of the Version A pattern, sometimes referred to in scholarship as the versione francese-italica (by e.g. Cesari), 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 indirect translations of French iterations of the narrative.

These 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 texts have complex inheritances, and none appear to be a straight translation of an individual text. For example, the Italian Prose (V) betrays the influence of L (Sept Sages de Rome), perhaps suggesting that an French A/L Overlap text was the 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 Version I texts instead of with the A branch.

Tradition & Lineage

Branch of the tradition

West

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

Modern Scholarship & Editions

Modern research literature

Mussafia (1867), D'Ancona (1864), D'Agostino (2022)

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
Inclusa – The Imprisoned Wife	14	Arcius

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Version
-|Has Description=The Italian branch of the Version A pattern, sometimes referred to in scholarship as the ''versione francese-italica'' (by e.g. [[Cesari (1896)|Cesari]]), exists in a few different redactions.
+|Has Description=The Italian branch of the Version A pattern, sometimes referred to in scholarship as the ''versione francese-italica'' (by e.g. [[Cesari (1896)|Cesari]]), exists in a few different redactions. All of these follow, or nearly follow, the story-order set by the [[French Version A: Roman des Sept Sages|Old French Version A,]] and are presumed to be indirect translations of French iterations of the narrative.
-These are:
+These redactions are :
-[[Libro dei Sette Savj (A)]]
+* [[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)]].
-[[Italian Prose (V)]]
-[[Storia favolosa di Stefano (S)]]
+All of these texts have complex inheritances, and none appear to be a straight translation of an individual text. For example, the Italian Prose (V) betrays the influence of [[L (Sept Sages de Rome)]], perhaps suggesting that an [[French A/L Overlap]] text was the 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 Version I texts instead of with the A branch.
 |Has Parent Version=A (Seven Sages)
 |Has Branch Of Tradition=West