Older Scots Version A: Buke of the Sevyne Sagis

From The Seven Sages of Rome
Revision as of 12:41, 3 December 2025 by Noeth (talk | contribs) (Text replacement - "Has Branch Of Tradition=West" to "Has Branch Of Tradition=Seven Sages of Rome")
  1. Home
  2. Secondary Version
  3. Older Scots Version A: Buke of the Sevyne Sagis

The anonymous Older Scots narrative The Buke of the Sevyne Sagis is preserved in the Asloan manuscript (Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Advocates 16500), which was composed ca. 1515. The manuscript's name comes from its scribe, John Asloan, a copyist and notary public living in and around Edinburgh.

Like the contemporaneous Middle English manuscripts, the Scottish narrative is also part of the Version A branch of the tradition, and also likely had a French Version A text as its primary source, judging by the stories and their order. Also like the English texts, the Buke is in octosyllabic tail-rhymed verse. However, the Buke also diverges from the Version A/English narratives' pattern in a few key ways that suggest narrative proximity to the Historia tradition as well. Catherine van Buuren notes that there are several points when the Buke uses language identical to that found in some of the Latin Version H texts, with narrative details further exemplifying the influence of the Historia tradition (Van Buuren (1982), pp. 136-81). Critically, this includes the revelation and gender-reveal of the empress's lover at the end of the frame story, something that is not found in the Version A narrative pattern. Van Buuren notes that while this could suggest a lost, early A/H source that blends the two traditions, it is perhaps more likely that the author of the Buke was familiar with both the Version A and Version H narratives.

Another anomalous element in the Scots text is found in the rendition of the story of the parrot who reports a wife's adultery, Avis. The redactor of the Asloan text has added in two additional bed-trick motifs/embedded stories into the frame of this tale, something that is not found in any other version of the narrative. The text introduces the wife's mother as a character, and the primary actor plotting these repeated deceptions. The first additional element mirrors the story Gladius, as the lover, nearly caught by the husband, is instructed to stand still, while silently hold a naked sword; the wife and mother explain his presence in the house by saying that he had been chased by men trying to kill him, and that they had hidden him to save his life. The second deception involves the key element in the story Linteum, in which two women - in this case, the wife and her mother - conceal a lover's escape from the room by holding up bedsheets (pretending they need to remake the bed).

It is worth noting that the narrative in its current form contains only thirteen stories. There is a lacuna between Sapientes (the 11th story, told by the Empress) and Inclusa; according to Catherine van Buuren (1982), this likely included the sixth sage's tale, and the Empress's reponse to it.

General Information

Language within Version
Older Scots
Parent Versions
A (Seven Sages)


Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages
Older Scots Version A: Buke of the Sevyne Sagis
Branch of the tradition
Seven Sages of Rome

Language & Composition


Place of composition
Scotland
Date of Composition
1513 - 1542
Source for date of composition
https://digital.nls.uk/235163104

Literature & Editions

Modern research literature
Van Buuren (1982), Cragie (1923), Van Buuren (1978)
Modern Editions
Craigie, Buke of the Sevyne Sagis (1923, 1925), Van Buuren, The Buke of the Sevyne Sagis (1982)

Recorded Branch of This Secondary Version


Adaptations

Adapted from (version)
French Version A, H (Historia Septem Sapientum)
Source for composition and adaptation information
Van Buuren (1982)

Languages in Use

Regional or specific language of version
Middle Scots

Notes

Note
Note: the sage names are variable throughout the text, with some discrepancies between their original introductions, and their introductions prior to telling their tales. For example, the opening frame names the second sage Amipullus, while the introduction to second sage's story names the teller Maxillas - then later refers to him as Ancillas. The sage originally introduced as Malcome is listed as the fifth, but then is the fourth sage to tell a story, and is referred to as Maucundas. The fourth sage, called Cato or Catone, is distinct from the seventh sage, called Cratone, while the sixth sage, named Ampustinus, does not tell a story.

Pattern of Embedded Stories in This Version

Connected Manuscripts

 Has LanguageHas LocationHas Date Range Of Production








Retrieved from "https://db.seven-sages-of-rome.org/index.php?title=Older_Scots_Version_A:_Buke_of_the_Sevyne_Sagis&oldid=13407"
This page was last edited on 3 December 2025, at 12:41.
Privacy policy
About The Seven Sages of Rome
Disclaimers