Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17: Difference between revisions

From The Seven Sages of Rome
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|Has Location=Cambridge, University Library
|Has Location=Cambridge, University Library
|Has Siglum=Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17, f. 54
|Has Siglum=Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17, f. 54
|Has Content=The Seven Sages of Rome: Midland English 'D' text
|Has Content=The Seven Sages of Rome: English 'D' text
|Has Siglum Of The Version Of The Seven Sages=A*
|Has Siglum Of The Version Of The Seven Sages=A
|Has Language Group Within Version=Middle English Version A
|Has Further Primary Scholarly Subgroup=Midland
|Has Source For Information On Textual Relationship to Broader Tradition=Jill Whitelock, The Seven Sages of Rome (Midland Version), EETS O.S. 324, OUP, 2005
|Has Version Number=VEng2
|Has Version Number=VEng2
|Has Place Of Production=England
|Has Place Of Production=England
|Has Date Of Production=1350-1400
|Has Date Of Production=1350-1400
|Has Source For Date Of Production=Jill Whitelock, The Seven Sages of Rome (Midland Version), OUP, 2005
|Has Source For Date Of Production=Jill Whitelock, The Seven Sages of Rome (Midland Version), EETS O.S. 324, OUP, 2005
|Has Material=Parchment
|Has Material=Parchment
|Has Language Of Manuscript=English
|Has Language Of Manuscript=English
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|Has Width=305
|Has Width=305
|Has Illustrations=No
|Has Illustrations=No
|Has Modern Research Literature=Jill Whitelock, The Seven Sages of Rome (Midland Version), OUP, 2005
|Has Modern Research Literature=Jill Whitelock, The Seven Sages of Rome (Midland Version), EETS O.S. 324, OUP, 2005
}}
}}
{{EmbeddedStory
{{EmbeddedStory

Revision as of 11:50, 9 January 2024

Manuscript Identification

Reference Number
Eng8
Siglum / Shelfmark
Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17, f. 54
Page / Folio range
Vol. 1 (ff. 261), vol. 2 (ff. 93), vol. 3 (ff. 87)

Textual Content & Tradition


Version (siglum)
Language Group within Version
Further scholarly subgroup (1)


Languages



Authorship & Production


Place of Production
Date of Production
1350/1400

Physical Description

Material
Height
440
Width
305


Illustrations
No

Contents & Additional Texts

Other texts in the Manuscript
Manuscript is divided into three volumes. The Seven Sages appears in the third volume (ff. 54^ra - 63^rb). 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, ff 111-121); a Latin version of Marco Polo's travel account (vol 2, ff 38-56); texts concerning Islam, including 'Fides Saracenorum' (vol 2, ff 71), De origine et progressu et fine Machometi et quadruplici reprobatione eius (vol 2 ff 71-74), William of Tripoli, De statu Saracenorum (vol 2 ff 74-79), and a Life of Muhammad (vol 2 f 79); Langland, Piers Plowman (B text) (Vol 3 ff 1-31); Mandeville's Travels (ff. 32-53).

Catalogues & Research Literature

Embedded Stories in This Manuscript

Research Material

Has Research Material TitleHas Research Material LinkHas Research Material Description








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).