Anonymous, The Middle English Seven Sages of Rome

Jane Bonsall (University of St Andrews)

Ed. by Rory Critten, Université de Lausanne
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1300 - c. 1500

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Romance

Resources

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Recommended Reading

Though rarely treated in Anglophone scholarship,

The Seven Sages of Rome

was a medieval multilingual bestseller, one of the most popular narratives in premodern literature. Versions of

The Seven Sages

frame story and inset tales appear in almost every European language in the medieval period, variously titled

The Seven Wise Masters,Historia Septem Sapientum, Roman des Sept Sages, The Book of Sindbād, Dolopathos,

and

Syntipas the Philosopher,

among others. Part of the broad tradition of wisdom literature, or “mirror for princes”, the inset stories in

The Seven Sages

are designed to function as moral parables, while the premise of the frame, a storytelling contest used to adjudicate an accusation of rape, works as metatextual “proof” of the power of such narratives. In the frame…

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3825 words

Citation: Bonsall, Jane. "The Middle English Seven Sages of Rome". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 April 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41307, accessed 18 May 2024.]

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