Puer Adoptatus

AdoptionAge versus youthChildrenDeathDebtDeceptionDeceitful sonPrideFamilial relationshipsFather/son relationshipsFoolish old manLesson: greed

An adopted son wants to live frivolously and also inherit from his father, a French gentleman. To achieve this, he incites the murder of his innocent stepmother and then uses seven other to strangle his father.

Adapted from Wikeley (1983) by Ava Byrne.

Note

Analogous to Italian versions, although Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben sees similarities in the middle Dutch drama Esmoreit.

Critical Literature

Hoffman von Fallersleben (1838)

Puer Adoptatus appears in the following versions and secondary versions

	Has Language Of Version	Has Branch Of Tradition	Is Adapted From
Conyers Version	English	Seven Sages of Rome	English Version H, English Erasto, Francis Kirkman, Prince Erastus
English Erasto	English	Seven Sages of Rome	French Erasto, Italian Erasto
Erasto (Es)	Italian	Seven Sages of Rome	L'Amabile di Continentia (Em)
Francis Kirkman, Prince Erastus	English	Seven Sages of Rome	French Erasto
French Erasto	French	Seven Sages of Rome	Erasto (Es)
L'Amabile di Continentia (Em)	Italian	Seven Sages of Rome
Mario Teluccini, Erasto in verse	Italian	Seven Sages of Rome	Erasto (Es)

Puer Adoptatus is narrated in the following occurrences

Narrator	Pages
Empress	English Erasto, Erasto (Es), Francis Kirkman, Prince Erastus, French Erasto, L'Amabile di Continentia (Em), Mario Teluccini, Erasto in verse, Mario Teluccini, Erasto. Pesaro: Girolamo Concordia, 1566., Parma Biblioteca Palatina Parm. 01391, Spanish Erasto

Puer Adoptatus appears in the following manuscripts

	Has Language	Has Siglum Of The Version Of The Seven Sages	Has Language Group Within Version