Midland Version

From The Seven Sages of Rome
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The Midland Version is part of the Middle English Version A tradition and only survived in one manuscript (D), MS Dd.1.17, located at the University Library in Cambridge. According to Whitelock, the Midland Version has either been adapted from an unknown Middle English parent version x or directly from the French prose version A (see Whitelock 2005: xli), although it “consistently diverges from the common Old French original” more than any of the other extant texts (Whitelock 2005: xx). Either way, it is distinct from the Y-Group, to which the other Middle English versions belong. Whitelock calls the Midland Version “the most original of the Middle English versions in terms of narrative strategy” (Whitelock 2005: xix) and the redactor of D seems to be rather inclined to provide the female characters with a happy ending (see Whitelock 2005: lii).


[Added by Elisabeth Böttcher]

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