Hystorij von Diocleciano
The German text titled the Hystorij von Diocleciano survives in only one manuscript, written c. 1470. Like the other anomalous late medieval German version, the Aventewr von Diocleciano, the source for the Hystorij was a text from the (German) Historia tradition, demonstrated by some of the surviving embedded tales (stories 7-14). Specifically, the Hystorij's final stories bear marked resemblance to German prose version H redaction G. (Gerdes 1992). However, the Hystorij also contains five inset tales that are not found anywhere else in the Seven Sages tradition, and one fewer than usual. The new stories told by the sages (Aristoteles, Samson, and Holofernes) draw on classical narratives, and are designed to illustrate the timelessness of women's perfidy. The Empress's new stories (Regina and Vadium) draw on folk- and fairy-tale structures, and are focused on women who are falsely accused of infidelity - though in his introduction to his 1999 edition, Steinmetz notes that they inadvertently relate a (gender-swapped) version of the frame, with an innocent victim (analoguous to the prince) falsely implicated (Steinmetz 1999). It is also worth noting that in the process of adaptating the Historia text, the author of the Hystorij not only added and changed the stories, but also abbreviated the existing tales, and dramatically reduced the moralisations following each tale.
| Identification and general Information | |
|---|---|
| Reference Number | |
| Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages | Hystorij von Diocleciano |
| Version Number | |
| Title | Die Hystorij von Diocleciano |
| Author | |
| Tradition and Lineage | |
|---|---|
| Branch of the tradition | East |
| Adapted from (version) | H (Historia Septem Sapientum) |
| Adapted into (version) | |
| Source for composition and adaptation information | |
| Recorded secondary versions |
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| Connected manuscripts |
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| Language and Composition | |
|---|---|
| Original language of version | German (High and Low German) |
| Language of text | German (High and Low German) |
| Regional or specific language of version | Bairisch-Österreichisch |
| Translated into (languages) | |
| Place of composition | |
| Date of composition | 1470 |
| Islamic date of composition | |
| Hebrew date of composition | |
| Source for date of composition | Steinmetz (1999) |
| Modern Scholarship and Editions | |
|---|---|
| Modern research literature | Steinmetz (1999), Gerdes (1992), Hommers (1968) |
| Modern Editions | Steinmetz, Die Hystorij von Diocleciano (1999) |
| 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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| Connected prints |
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No connected prints |