Il Libro dei Sette Savi de Roma (C)

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The Libro dei Sette Savi de Roma, found in the fourteenth-century Modena manuscript (below), was edited by Antonio Cappelli in 1865 and thus takes the siglum 'C' in scholarship. Because the Modena codex is damaged at the start of the Sette Savi narrative, Capelli replaced the opening of the text with an insertion from the edition of Storia d'una Crudele Matrigna (M), as published by Della Lucia (1832).

Il Libro dei Sette Savi (C) is one of the three texts that forms the closely related 'ramo italico antico', the old branch of the Italian Seven Sages texts, alongside the Latin Versio Italica historiae septem sapientum (L), and Italian Storia d'una Crudele Matrigna (M). Like both of these redactions, Libro (C) has fourteen, rather than the expected fifteen, stories. The storytelling contest begins with the sages' first story, Canis, rather than a story told by the empress; her story Senescalcus is omitted entirely, and she tells six rather than seven stories. Some scholarship (Rajna) suggests this omission may have been made out of prudishness (as Senescalcus is the most explicit of the tales usually found in the Version A pattern); whatever the reason, the change necessitated a reordering of the narrative components of the text (see story order, below).

D'Agostino (2022) explores the complex relationship between the three 'ramo antico' redactions at length. Through close analysis of the textual variations across all manuscript witness of the three redactions, D'Agostino suggests that the Latin Versio Italica (or some specific manuscript witnesses of that version) may have been the source for the Storia d'una Crudele Matrigna, as many scholars have suggested (Paris (1876), Rajna (1880), etc.). However, D'Agostino does not concur with Gaston Paris' insistance that the extant Latin text was the source for the Libro (C) as well, instead suggesting that C and L both derived from a shared (lost) source, with intervening textual variation, cross-contamination, and mediation (p. 271-75).

Identification and general Information
Reference Number
Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages
Version Number
Title	Il Libro dei Sette Savi
Author

Tradition and Lineage
Branch of the tradition	West
Adapted from (version)
Adapted into (version)
Source for composition and adaptation information

Recorded secondary versions
I (Versio Italico) Erasto Il Libro dei Sette Savi de Roma (C) L'Amabile di Continentia Storia d'una Crudele Matrigna (M) Storia di Stefano (R) Versio Italica historiae septem sapientum (L)

Connected manuscripts
Manuscript Language Location Date of Production Modena Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Estense It. 95 (α.P.8.20) Italian Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria 1301 - 1400

Language and Composition
Original language of version	Italian
Language of text	Italian
Regional or specific language of version	Toscano
Translated into (languages)
Place of composition	Tuscany, Italy
Date of composition	1301 - 1400
Islamic date of composition
Hebrew date of composition
Source for date of composition

Modern Scholarship and Editions
Modern research literature	Rajna (1880), D'Agostino (2022), Bianchi (2014-2015), Lusiani (2019), Lasagni (2012), Ricci (1982), Marucci (1987), Cappelli (1865)
Modern Editions	Capelli, Il libro de Sette Savi, 1865, Lasagni, Il Libro dei Sette Savi di Roma (2012), Cappelli, Il Libro dei Sette Savi (1865)

Notes and Commentary
Note
Notes on motifs
Notes on the frame

Pattern of embedded stories in this version
Has Short Title Has Sequence Number Has Narrator Has Name Variation Canis 1     Arbor 2 Empress   Medicus 3     Aper 4 Empress   Tentamina 5     Sapientes 6 Empress   Avis 7     Gaza 8 Empress   Inclusa 9     Roma 10 Empress   Vidua 11     Virgilius 12 Empress   Puteus 13     Copy Embedded Stories Copy Embedded Stories × Select Target Page: Close Process

Connected prints
No connected prints