Prosafassung / Prose Version

The enormously popular prose versions of the Sieben Weise Meister, the German version of the Historia Septem Sapientum, proliferated throughout the fifteenth century. The prose version, or Prosafassung, emerged as translations of multiple different Latin originals, and was embedded within the Gesta Romanorum, though the popularity of the Sieben Weise Meister outlived that of the Gesta (Gerdes 1992).

Udo Gerdes broke down the Prosafassung / Prose Version of the Sieben Weise into seven separate redactions, lettered A-G, each representing distinct textual versions of the narrative (1992). Of these, Redaction G (the 'vulgate') is the most elaborate and detailed, and is also the only redaction to survive into the sixteenth century as a Volksbuch. Redaction B is closely associated with the German Gesta Romanorum, and contains an additional corpus of moralisations in keeping with the Latin Gesta's original form (Gerdes 1992).

General Information
Language within Version
Narrative / Scholarly Group
Parent Versions	German Version H
Child Versions	Redaction A, Redaction B, Redaction C, Redaction D, Redaction E, Redaction F, Redaction G
Author
Title	Sieben Weise Meister
Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages	Prosafassung / Prose Version
Version Number
Branch of the tradition	West

Language & Composition
Original language of version	German (High and Low German)
Translated into (languages)
Place of composition
Date of composition	1401 - 1425
Source for date of composition	Gerdes (1992)

Literature & Editions
Modern research literature	Gerdes (1992), Gerdes (2004), Kunkel (2023), Roth (2008), Roth (2003), Schmitz (1904), Runte, Wikeley, Farrell (1984), Runte, Society of the Seven Sages Portal (2014), Hommers (1968)
Modern Editions

Recorded branch of this secondary version
H (Historia Septem Sapientum) Czech Version H: Kronika sedmi mudrců Danish Version H Dutch Version H English Version H English Prints (H) French Version H German Version H German Prints (H) Prosafassung / Prose Version Redaction A Redaction B Redaction C Redaction D Redaction E Redaction F Redaction G Versfassung / Verse Version Anonymous Verse Version Bühnenfassung / Stage adaptation: Sebastian Wild, Tragedj Hans von Bühel, Dyocletianus Leben Hungarian Version H Icelandic Version H Icelandic Prose: Sjö meistara saga Group A: Sjö meistara saga Group B: Alexander og Lúðvík Icelandic Verse: Sjö meistara saga Group C: Rímur Group D: Vinaspegill Latin Version H Excerpts in Gesta Romanorum Continental Group w Continental Group x Insular Group u Group I Group II Group III Group IV Lost Latin Version H Manuscripts Polish Version H Scots Version H: Rolland, Seuin Seages Spanish Version H: Los Siete Sabios de Roma Spanish Prints (H) Swedish Version H: Sju vise mästare Old Swedish Redaction C Swedish Prints (H)

Connected prints
No connected prints

Adaptations
Adapted from (version)	German Version H
Adapted into (version)	Redaction A, Redaction B, Redaction C, Redaction E, Redaction D, Redaction F, Redaction G
Source for composition and adaptation information	Gerdes (1992)

Languages in Use
Language of text	German (High and Low German)
Regional or specific language of version

Notes
Note
Notes on motifs
Notes on the frame

Pattern of embedded stories in this version

Connected manuscripts