Senescalcus

The Steward

A king falls ill due to his homosexuality, and is told that the only cure is for him to sleep with a woman. He instructs his steward to find a woman to sleep with him, whom he will pay handsomely. Wishing to keep the reward for himself, the steward convinces his own wife to sleep with the king, and leads her to his chamber in darkness. After the king has slept with the wife, all is revealed and the steward is shamed.

This story is closely related to Balneator, found in the Eastern branch of the tradition.

Critical Literature

No critical literature available

The inset story appears in the following manuscripts

Manuscript	Language	Siglum (Version)	Language Group within Version
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 3354		Overlap of Versions A and L	French A/L Overlap
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 3516	Old French (Picardie)	Overlap of Versions A and L	French A/L Overlap
Bibliothèque nationale de France, français 95	Old French (Nord)	Overlap of Versions A and L	French A/L Overlap
British Library Arundel 140	Middle English	A (Seven Sages)	Middle English Version A
British Library Cotton Galba E IX	Middle English	A (Seven Sages)	Middle English Version A
British Library Egerton 1995	Middle English	A (Seven Sages)	Middle English Version A
Brussel Koninklijke Bibliotheek 9245		Overlap of Versions A and L	French A/L Overlap
Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17	Middle English	A (Seven Sages)	Middle English Version A
Cambridge University Library MS Gg.6.28		Overlap of Versions A and L	French A/L Overlap
Chartres Bibliothèque municipale 620		C (Sept Sages de Rome)	French Version C
Edinburgh National Library of Scotland Advocates MS 19.2.1, Auchinleck Manuscript	Middle English	A (Seven Sages)	Middle English Version A
National Library of Scotland MS. 16500, Asloan Manuscript	Middle Scots	A (Seven Sages)	Older Scots Version A
Oxford Balliol College Library MS 354 (Richard Hill's Commonplace Book)	Middle English	A (Seven Sages)	Middle English Version A
Oxford Bodleian Library Rawlinson poet. 175	Middle English	A (Seven Sages)	Middle English Version A
University of Pennsylvania Library Ms. Codex 931		L (Sept Sages de Rome)	French Version L

The inset story appears in the following versions and secondary versions

Version	Original Language	Branch of Tradition	Adapted from
A (Seven Sages)	Old French	West
D (Sept Sages de Rome)		West
L (Sept Sages de Rome)	Old French	West	A (Seven Sages)
S (Scala Celi)	Latin	West	(Lost) Liber de Septem Sapientibus