Seven Wise Masters

The Seven Wise Masters (also called the Seven Sages or Seven Wise Men) is a frame narrative with multiple embedded stories, known across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa from the ninth century onwards. It is one of the most widely transmitted tales of premodernity, translated and adapted into at least 32 languages, with each version considerably different from the others.

thumb|Emperor Pontianus, his son Diocletian and the seven wise masters (Cod pal. germ 149 at Heidelberg)

Plot

A king or emperor sends his son, the young prince, to be educated away from the court by seven wise masters. On his return to court, the prince is bound to a week's silence to avert danger foreseen in his horoscope. His stepmother attempts to seduce him but is rejected. The woman accuses the son of attempted rape and seeks to bring about his death. The seven sages each tell a story in his defence, and in many versions the woman reciprocates with her own stories. Finally the prince's lips are unsealed, the truth exposed, and the wicked woman is either pardoned or executed.

Transmission

The transmission of the narrative falls into two main branches: the older branch consists of versions often referred to collectively as the Book of Sindbad, contains a distinctive series of embedded tales. The plot is usually set at a royal court whose king has several wives or sexual partners, and whose most prominent sage is known as Sindbad, Sindibad, Sendebar, Syntipas or similar. The younger branch is usually known as the Seven Sages of Rome, Dolopathos or Diocletian and contains its own relatively consistent series of embedded tales. It is normally set at the court of the Emperor of Rome, who remarries after the death of his son's mother.

The Book of Sindbad

The earliest existing version of the Book of Sindbad that can be relatively secured dated is the Greek Book of Syntipas the Philosopher, composed by Michael Andreopoulos in Anatolia in the late eleventh century. Andreopoulos plausibly claims to have worked from a Syriac translation, which was itself based on an Arabic translation by one Musa, of a Persian text. All these older texts are lost, but there are surviving versions from the twelfth century onwards in Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Greek, Hebrew, and Spanish. No traces of a Sanskrit version have been found.

Syriac: Sindban

The Syriac Sindban is one of the oldest extant versions of the narrative.

Greek: Syntipas

The Byzantine version of the text.

Persian: Sindibad-nameh

There are three versions in Persian, including one in verse, and two in prose, dating from the late twelfth century to the late fourteenth century. Additional references to the narrative are found in Murūj al-Dhahab by al-Masʿūdī’ (d. 956 CE / 345 AH), who claims the popular entertainment book Kitāb al-Sindbād refers to the sage Sindbād who lived during the reign of the Indian king Kush and relates the story of the Seven Viziers, the Prince, and the King's wife; it is also mentioned in al-Fihrist by Ibn al-Nadīm (d. 995 CE / 385 AH), in which Kitāb Sindbād al-Ḥakīm is referenced as a book of entertainment that exists in two forms - long and short - and has either Persian or Indian origins (see Ateş 1948, pp. 12–13). Ibn al-Nadīm identifies the Arabic poet Abān al-Lāhiqī as the author of one version, and also 'transmits the name of the Persian scholar Mūsā b. 'Īsā al-Kisrawī (d. 874/875 CE), one of the leading translators from Persian into Arabic, who has been unanimously identified in modern scholarship as Mousos from Andreopoulos's Preface' in the Greek version (Krönung 2016, p. 370). found in the Ali Paşa Library in Istanbul - contains the 21 stories. Other later versions from the 18th century, including Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 3670 and Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 3639 edited by Basset in 1903, include 24 stories instead. Notably, they include some stories - e.g. Curiositas, Imago, Capsa - that appear infrequently elsewhere in the tradition.

Spanish: Sendebar, or Libro de los Engaños

While there are version of the narrative in Old Spanish that adhere to the narrative patterns found in the Western or European traditions, Libro de Los Engaños is part of the Eastern tradition.

Hebrew: Mischle Sendebar (משלי סנדבר)

The Hebrew translation ‘Mishle Sendebar’, is believed to originate from the 12th Century Mishle Sendebar is of the eastern branch of the seven sages; along with the Arabic, Old Spanish, Syriac, Greek, and Persian versions. These are known collectively as the Book of Sindibad.

The unique nature of the narrative is due to multiple aspects: the queen not telling stories in-between the sages' tales; the omission of certain expected tales; and the specific collection of tales included in Dolopathos, several of which are not found elsewhere in the tradition.

This version is transmitted in 11 manuscripts, and there are 3 modern editions:

Hermann Oesterley (1873) in German, Johannes de Alta Silva: Dolopathos sive de rege et septem sapientibus
Alfons Hilka (1913) in German, Johannes de Alta Silva: Dolopathos sive de rege et septem sapientibus written in German
Brady B. Gilleland (1981) in English, Johannes de Alta Silva: Dolopathos

French: Dolopathos by Herbert

German: Dolopathos

The Seven Sages of Rome

The most widely translated and adapted version of the Seven Sages/Book of Sindbad story matter was the Latin Historia Septem Sapientum (Story of the Seven Sages), composed by an unknown author most likely in Alsace some time between 1325 and 1342. It is itself translated from the French version known in scholarship as 'A'.

French: Sept Sages de Rome

Latin: Historia septem sapientum

The most widely translated and adapted version of the Seven Sages/Book of Sindbad story matter was the Latin Historia Septem Sapientum (Story of the Seven Sages), also referred to as Version H, composed by an unknown author most likely in Alsace some time between 1325 and 1342. It is itself translated from the French version known in scholarship as 'A'. The oldest surviving manuscript was composed in 1342, however it is likely that the text was circulated orally amongst the public from at least 1325, and possibly as early as 1285. This corresponds with the circulation period of the Gesta Romanorum, which itself contains many Seven Sages tales, in both Germany and France.

!Sequence Number

!Inset Story

!Narrator

|Arbor

|Empress

|Canis

|First Master

|Aper

|Empress

|Puteus

|Second Master

|Gaza

|Empress

|Avis

|Third Master

|Sapientes

|Empress

|Tentamina

|Fourth Master

|Virgilius

|Empress

|10

|Medicus

|Fifth Master

|11

|Senescalcus and Roma

|Empress

|12

|Amatores

|Sixth Master

|13

|Inclusa

|Empress

|14

|Vidua

|Seventh Master

|15

|Vaticinium and Amici

|Prince

This version is transmitted in 198 manuscripts and consists of 4 groups, distinguished by small typographic mistakes and edits which indicate they come from similar origins.

The oldest known German version of the Seven Sages, Dyocletianus Leben by Hans von Bühel, dates back to 1412, whereas most of the surviving textual witnesses are from the 16th to the 18th century and often embedded into German adaptions of the Gesta Romanorum. Literary scholars have repeatedly emphasized the popularity of the Sieben weise Meister in the late Middle Ages and early modern period in contrast to its marginalization in modern literary historiography.

English: The Sevyn Sages

The Middle English metrical versions of the Seven Sages were probably based on the Old French prose Version A. The Middle English version survives in eight manuscripts, with the oldest, the Auchinleck Manuscript, currently held by the National Library of Scotland, dating from the early 14th century. The Northern and Southern groups are closely related, with literary scholars assuming the existence of a lost 'parent-text' dubbed 'Y'. The Midlands text is not part of this group, due to notable stylistic deviations, though the same basic pattern is still adhered to.

Examples of deviations among the ‘Y’ group, or Southern and Northern versions, and the Midlands text include the empress’s name. The ‘Y’ group calls her ‘Milicent’, whereas the Midlands text calls her ‘Helie’ or ‘Elye’.

Danish

Dutch

Hungarian

Icelandic

Polish: Poncjan (Historja o siedmiu mędrcach)

The Polish adaptations of the Seven Sages are believed to originate from a lost print by Jan z Koszyczek, from 1528-32. His source text is unclear, however literary scholars agree that the story is related to the Historia text. The Polish editions are believed to be the basis for Russian versions. There were also several early modern prints of the narrative published in Scotland. One of the most important of these is The Sevyn Sages by John Rolland of Dalkeith edited for the Bannatyne Club (Edinburgh, 1837).

Spanish

Swedish

The Old Swedish Historia was edited by Gustav Edward Klemming under the title Sju vise mästare.

Gaelic

Literary legacy

The collection later supplied tales that circulated in both oral and written traditions. Giovanni Boccaccio used many of them for his famous work, the Decameron.

The Latin romance was frequently printed in the 15th century, and Wynkyn de Worde printed an English version about 1515. See:

Gaston Paris, (Paris, Société des anciens textes français, 1876)
Georg Büchner, (Erlangen, 1889)
Killis Campbell, A Study of the Romance of the Seven Sages with special reference to the middle English versions (Baltimore, 1898)
Domenico Comparetti, Researches respecting the Book of Sindibdd (Folk-Lore Soc., 1882).

The Seven Sages Society, founded in 1975, maintained a perpetual scholarly bibliography, with annual updates in its on-line and printed (free of charge) newsletter.

The Seven Sage of Rome Database aims to catalogue manuscripts, prints, and secondary scholarship surrounding the story.

Stories

The tale collection has been thought to contain the origins of the Aarne–Thompson–Uther tale type ATU 671, "The Three Languages". The story tells of a commoner boy who can understand the language of animals, which converse among themselves that the boy will lord over their mother and father in the future. His parents expel him for such affront. After a series of adventures, the boy becomes a king or pope and returns to his family's house. His parents serve him with a water and a towel and he reveals his identity.

References

Sources

Irwin, Bonnie D. "The Seven Sages," in Madieval Folklore: A Guide to Myths, Legends, Beliefs, and Customs, Carl Lindahl, John McNamara and John Lindow, eds. Oxford University Press, 2002.
Runte, Hans R., J. Keith Wikeley and Anthony J. Farrell, The Seven Sages of Rome and the Book of Sindbad: An Analytical Bibliography, New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1984 (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities).

Seven Wise Masters

Plot

Transmission

The Book of Sindbad

Syriac: Sindban

Greek: Syntipas

Persian: Sindibad-nameh

Spanish: Sendebar, or Libro de los Engaños

Hebrew: Mischle Sendebar (משלי סנדבר)

The Seven Sages of Rome

English: The Sevyn Sages

Polish: Poncjan (Historja o siedmiu mędrcach)

Literary legacy

Stories

See also

References

Sources

Further reading