H (Historia Septem Sapientum)
The Historia Septem Sapientum (or, the History of the Seven Wise Masters) is usually referred to by its Latin title because of the early and broad proliferation of Latin textual transmission of this version. The Latin Historia was translated into many languages, including Armenian, Danish, Dutch, English, French, Hungarian, Icelandic, Polish, Russian, Swedish, and Czech, and with particular popularity into German, and Latin texts continued to circulate well into the late Middle Ages.
The Historia, also known as Version H, likely developed out of the narrative tradition of the Version A redaction of the Seven Sages, and shares most of its stories with the Version A texts. However, the Historia introduces a new story, Amatores, and often combines two otherwise separate narratives (Senescalcus and Roma) which makes space for the new addition. Another variation is found in the prince's story; after relating the narrative Vaticinium with its focus on interpreting animal speech and prophecy, the prince then segues into a continuation of the story that follows the popular medieval narrative of the faithful friend, often called Amicus and Amelius, Ami et Amile, or Amis and Amiloun in Middle English. The resulting story, Vaticinium and Amici, is a long and wide ranging conclusion to the Historia's embedded narrative tradition.
The Historia tradition is set apart from other Seven Sages narratives by its 'unique fullness of detail' (Campbell 1907), and by the extensive, elaborate moralisations apended to the tales in many Version H texts. These moralisations are, in some versions, developed into religious allegories, referred to as reductiones. These reductiones are found primarily in the versions of the Historia that are included within the frame text of the Gesta Romanorum (notably the Latin and German Version H texts); according to Gerdes, as many as four fifths of all manuscript versions of the Historia narrative may be embedded within the Gesta (Gerdes 1992). Gaston Paris suggests that the inclusion of the Historia within the larger Gesta tale collection might account for the emperor's name in Version H: the emperor is called 'Poncianus' rather than 'Diocletianus', perhaps because the Gesta Romanorum already includes the story of an Emperor Diocletian.
It is also worth noting that unlike many of the Version A texts, the Historia usually concludes with further relevations that are intended to prove the empress's villainy. One of the empress's maidens is called forward by the prince, and publicly stripped, revealing male (not female) genitalia. The outing of this character's biological sex is universally read as proof of the empress's adultery, with the assumption being that this 'maid' is really a man cross-dressing in order to conduct an affair with the empress. The supposed-lover is then executed alongside the empress.
| Identification and general Information | |
|---|---|
| Reference Number | |
| Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages | H (Historia Septem Sapientum) |
| Version Number | |
| Title | Historia Septem Sapientum |
| Author | |
| Tradition and Lineage | |
|---|---|
| Branch of the tradition | West |
| Adapted from (version) | A (Seven Sages) |
| Adapted into (version) | Historia Calumniae Novercalis, Pontianus, Latin Version H, English Version H, German Version H, Czech Version H, Old Swedish Version H |
| Source for composition and adaptation information | |
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| Language and Composition | |
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| Original language of version | Latin |
| Language of text | |
| Regional or specific language of version | |
| Translated into (languages) | Armenian, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German (High and Low German), Hungarian, Icelandic, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Czech |
| Place of composition | |
| Date of composition | 1300 - 1342 |
| Islamic date of composition | |
| Hebrew date of composition | |
| Source for date of composition | Campbell (1907), Roth (2004) |
| Modern Scholarship and Editions | |
|---|---|
| Modern research literature | Gerdes (1992), Gerdes (2004), Roth (2003), Roth (2008), Schmitz (1904), Campbell (1907), Runte, Wikeley, Farrell (1984), Runte, Society of the Seven Sages Portal (2014), Roth (2004), Paris (1876) |
| Modern Editions | |
| Notes and Commentary | |
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| Note | |
| Notes on motifs | |
| Notes on the frame | |
| Pattern of embedded stories in this version |
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