In 2001, Alison Wiggins completed a semi-diplomatic transcription
of the Seven Sages of Rome. This transcription of the poem was
incorporated into the 2003 digital facsimile edition of the Auchinleck Manuscript that
Wiggins produced collaboratively with David Burnley and the National Library of Scotland.
While the Burnley-Wiggins website continues to be used widely by Auchinleck scholars, it
presents its individual texts with minimal apparatus. In response to burgeoning interest
in the Seven Sages, the current edition aims to make the text more
broadly accessible and to prompt wider discussion of its Middle English versions. We hope
to engage a wide range of student and scholarly readers from across disciplinary fields
who will have varying familiarity with Middle English and the literary tradition to which
the Seven Sages belongs. To this end, we have repunctuated
Wiggins’s base transcription, regularized features of spelling, emended textual lacunae,
added glosses, and produced a critical apparatus of Textual Notes, Explanatory Notes, and
commentaries.
We start this account of our
editorial procedure and policy details by affording special attention to the scribe of our
base text, Auchinleck Scribe 3. Recent work on this scribe’s practices has shaped our
editorial approach.
Auchinleck Scribe 3 and the Auchinleck Manuscript
Auchinleck Scribe 3, the copyist of the Seven
Sages, is one of six scribes who contributed to the production of the Auchinleck
Manuscript (A).
Auchinleck Scribe 3 holds an important place in scholarly understanding of the development
of Middle English. His language has been mapped to London and has, along with the language
of Auchinleck Scribe 1, been described as representative of a distinct stage in the
development of London English. He writes in
a cursive bookhand that has been adduced as an early and idiosyncratic example of
anglicana formata (the more formal version of anglicana). He can be associated with a community of polyglot scribes
employed for their skills by the higher echelons of London society.
Scribe 3 copied almost the entirety of what is now the third section
of the book, Booklet 3, including The Seven Deadly Sins, The Pater Noster, The Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin, Sir Degare, The Seven Sages of
Rome, and Floris and Blauncheflur; Booklet 3 is completed by
the addition of The Sayings of the Four Philosophers and The Battle Abbey Roll, which were copied by Scribes 2 and 4. It has
been suggested that Scribe 3 copied his texts with minimal oversight from Auchinleck
Scribe 1, who is usually credited with organizing the production of the codex, and we know
that A was probably kept unbound as a set of soft-cover booklets for
some time. These factors encourage a view of
Booklet 3 as a reading unit in and of itself, so that we can imagine A’s text of the Seven Sages being encountered in the
immediate context of Booklet 3 as well as in the larger anthology that the Auchinleck
Manuscript constitutes.
The earliest work on Scribe 3 was less appreciative of his role in the
production of the Auchinleck Manuscript and, in particular, puzzled over the language in
which he writes. For example, Brunner incorrectly interpreted features of Scribe 3’s
spelling system as mistakes and hypothesised that he must “obviously” have been “a French
Norman” who was unused to writing Middle English. More recently, access to digital resources including corpora of Middle English
texts and the Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English have
allowed for systematic reassessments of Scribe 3’s language. From these studies there emerges the profile of a
well-trained scribe who was competent at copying across languages. His spelling system was
not odd or anomalous but reflects the spectrum of Middle English variation as a
non-standard language and is comparable with other Middle English scribes. His use of yogh
(ȝ, Ȝ) and thorn (þ, Þ) is systematic and controlled. Indeed, his efficient use of yogh
for a range of defined functions shows him to be meticulous. Scribe 3’s precise handling
of the full range of lexical and syntactic forms found in the Seven
Sages secures the reliability of his copy.
In the places where Auchinleck Scribe 3’s copy of the Middle English
Seven Sages is deficient, we turn to the copy made by the scribe
of E, a London manuscript produced towards the end of the fifteenth
century. The language of the scribe of E has been mapped to
Surrey. In this part of our edition, we
describe how we turned the Middle English scripts of scribes A and
E into the printed text presented in this edition.
Editorial policy
Readers interested in observing Scribe 3’s practices and in
comparing them with those of the scribe of E and the edited text are
invited to consult the transcriptions compiled in Appendix 1. For the purposes of this
edition, we have adapted Scribe 3’s text for the benefit of modern readers of Middle
English. Many of the changes that we make conform with the METS editorial policy. The following account incorporates METS
conventions; documents how they apply to this edition; and records further editorial
decisions.
Emendation
Emendations have been incorporated into the text silently and are recorded in the Textual Notes. They include (i) corrections made by the scribes of A and E as part of their copying process, such as crossings out or letters inserted above the line; and (ii) our editorial changes to identifiable errors to provide a text that is clearer for today’s readers. We have decided not to emend the text in cases where:
- We regard a form to be part of the spelling repertoire of the scribe, rather than an error in need of emendation. These include regular use by Scribe 3 of A of <ht> in words such as <soht, wroht, loht, goht>, where <th> may otherwise be expected. We also retain <ihc> as a legitimate spelling form for the first-person singular pronoun (262; emended by Brunner to “ich”).
- Forms used by the scribe of E vary from those of Scribe 3 of A. These forms include proper names in the inset tale Roma, which is incomplete in A and therefore continued with text supplied from E. In A the disguised sage in Roma is named <Gemes>, whereas in E he is named <Iunyus>, and we preserve this distinction. Examples from the A and E texts of Roma are included in the text samples presented in Appendix 1.
Lineation
The base text A (fols. 85r–99v) is defective due to folios having been cut out. Fol. 84, which would have held the start of the Seven Sages, is now only a stub featuring initial letters, the text having been cut away with a blade at an early stage in the manuscript’s history; and, at the end of A, a gathering is missing that would have contained around 1200 lines. The missing portions of the poem are supplied from E. The numbering of lines runs as follows: E1–E103 (from E); 120–2770 (from A, with 903–07 supplied from E); and E2786–E3580 (from E). The lineation runs from E103 to the next line A120, and from A2770 to the next line E2786. This non-consecutive numbering reflects the slightly different lengths of the A and E texts and is aligned with existing editions (Brunner, Burnley-Wiggins). We preferred this solution to the imposition of a new lineation system, or of double or multiple lineations.
Layout
The layout of this edition includes editorially imposed spatial breaks that serve two purposes. First, they represent visually demarcated points in the manuscripts: both A and E feature enlarged decorated capital letters throughout; our text does not distinguish these letters (e.g., by bolding) but we precede them with a line break. The one paraph in A (a blue paraph at 655) is not transcribed but is indicated by a space above the line that it opens. Both the enlarged capitals and the paraph are described in the Textual Notes. Second, the spatial breaks indicate the poem’s narrative structure. Spatial breaks are added where a new inset tale begins and spatial breaks are added before the start of a new day in the tale-telling contest. In A, the start of a new inset tale usually coincides with an enlarged capital, but the start of a new day is not visually marked. The division of the poem into days as well as the demarcation of its various sections and tales is our own; we give these divisions in square brackets.
Abbreviations
Both scribes abbreviate lightly and conventionally. We silently expand all abbreviations. For example, elaborated <p> is expanded as “per,” “pre,” or “par” according to context as in “precious” and “emperour,” and a macron above a vowel is taken to represent a nasal as in “him” and “hem” (regularly), “contrarious” (1084), and “garnement” (2765). Otiose strokes through the ascenders of certain letter clusters such as <ght> are not transcribed. Where an ampersand is used by Scribe 3 of A, we render it as “and.” The scribe of E uses <w> with superscript <t> (wt), here rendered as “with;” occasionally he uses thorn with a superscript <u> (þu), which we render “thou.”
Spelling
The spelling of this edition largely follows the manuscripts. However, there are the following modernizations and regularizations:
- The obsolete characters yogh (ȝ, Ȝ) and thorn (þ, Þ) are replaced with their modern equivalents, as is described below.
- The letters ff/F, i/j, and u/v have been regularized to align with Present Day English spelling conventions, for example manuscript <haue, vnto, seruyse, saue> have been transcribed as “have,” “unto,” “servyse,” “save.”
- For the purpose of disambiguation, of/off, to/too/two, and the/thee (the definite article and the second-person pronoun) have been regularized to align with Present Day English spelling conventions.
- For words ending in single <e>, where the vowel is long with full syllabic value, it is marked with an acute accent. This affects many words of French origin, for example “prevyté.” In some cases, the rhyme requires a pronunciation not usually found in French (such as the example in the Explanatory Note to lines 2363–64, discussing “queinté”).
Thorn
We replace thorn by “th.” While the scribes of E and A have different practices in their use of thorn, for both scribes it stands for [θ] or [ð]. Thorn is used in E typically only for conventional fixed abbreviations, such as <þu>, rendered here as “thou.” In contrast, thorn is used very regularly by the scribe of A in the word-initial or word-medial position, for example, <þe> rendered here as “the,” <broþer> as “brother.” Where the scribe of A uses double thorn, it is rendered “th,” for example, <seþþe> as “sethe.”
Yogh
The scribe of E does not use yogh (with one exception, <ȝare>, which we transcribe “yare” at E3018). By contrast, Scribe 3 of A uses yogh often and to represent a range of different sounds. According to Scribe 3’s consistent spelling system, the word position of yogh determines the sound that it represents. While Scribe 3 is not anomalous in this respect, his usage of yogh has a wider range of functions than is often found in Middle English. Thus, for the benefit of readers of this edition, we have modernized the spelling by replacement of yogh with a range of characters. We replace yogh variously by g, y, gh, w, s, sh, th, z, or by omission, as follows:
- In the initial or medial position, before a vowel, yogh has been replaced with either g or y. For example <aȝen, ȝiue, ȝate, ȝer, ȝouþe, ȝisterdai, eȝen> are rendered “agen,” “give,” “gate,” “yer,” “youthe,” “yisterdai,” “eyen.” Yogh may stand for the sounds [ɡ] or [j] here.
- In the medial position before <t>, yogh has been replaced with gh. For example <niȝt, miȝt, liȝt, bouȝte, souȝte, þouȝte, eiȝte> are rendered “night,” “might,” “light,” “bought,” “soughte,” “thoughte,” “eighte.” Yogh may stand for the sounds [ʌɪ] or [x] here.
- Where yogh represents a vowel, usually in the terminal position or mid-word, following <ou, w, g, gh, þ>, it has either been omitted or replaced with <w, gh>. For example <feghȝting, deghȝe, seghȝ/seȝgh/seȝ, hegȝ, sloughȝ, thourgȝ, thouȝ> are rendered “feghting,” “deghe,” “segh,” “hegh,” “slough,” “thourgh,” “though.” The combination <þȝ> is rendered <gh>, for example, <iseþȝ> as “isegh.”
- In the initial position, yogh can stand for [ʃ], in which case it has been replaced with <s> or <sh>. For example <ȝhe, ȝe> are rendered “she,” “she.”
- In the terminal position, yogh can stand for [θ] or [ð], in which case it has been replaced by <th>. For example <wiȝ, worȝ, makeȝ, bisschadeweȝ> are rendered “with,” “worth,” “maketh,” “bisschadeweth.”
- In the terminal position, in certain French words and phrases, yogh stands for [s] or [z] and has been replaced with <z>. For example <saunȝ fail, fiȝ a puteyn, faȝoun> are rendered “saunz fail,” “fiz a puteyn,” “fazoun.”
Pronouns and yogh
As a result of Scribe 3’s use of yogh, his spelling system includes instances where a single written form is shared by pronouns with different grammatical functions. Thus, Scribe 3’s form <ȝe> can function as either the third-person singular feminine pronoun, or a second-person pronoun, depending on the context of use. Similarly, Scribe 3’s written form <ȝhe> can function either as the masculine or feminine third-person singular pronoun, or as a second-person pronoun. To aid readers, we render Scribe 3’s pronominal form <ȝe> as either “she” or “ye,” depending on the context, and we render Scribe 3’s pronominal form <ȝhe> variously as “he,” “she,” or “ye.” This merging of written forms does not occur throughout the text. Scribe 3 uses more than one spelling form for each pronoun. So, for example, he often uses <sche-> forms for Present Day English she (e.g., <sche, ssche, scho, sscho> and once <hi>), and <he> for Present Day English he.
Numbers
Arabic and Roman numbers are spelled out in the Middle English equivalent following the scribes’ conventions.
Capitalization
The first letter of the first word of every verse line is capitalized. Elsewhere, modern grammatical conventions are followed, so the first-person singular pronoun is capitalized — manuscript <i> is rendered “I” — and capitals are used for the initial letter of new sentences, for proper names (“Florentin,” “Houngerye”), for names of languages (“Freinch,” “Latin”), and for the deity, “God” or “Gode.” This modification also serves to disambiguate from “god” or “gode” (good).
Punctuation
Both scribes punctuate but have a limited range of marks, as is
typical of Middle English. A’s Scribe 3 punctuates minimally,
occasionally using a virgule </> to mark a rhetorical pause mid line, as in <Þan
wil ich ȝhe said / and tok a ston>, or to mark the end of a verse line; and using
punctus elevatus to mark exclamatory function, as in <allas ˑ
allas ˑ> (fol. 99ra, 2636), and against either side of an
exclamation as in <ˑ O ˑ> and
<ˑ A ˑ> (as illustrated in
Appendix 1, Text Sample 2). The scribe of
E often uses a virgule </> and occasionally a curled
horizontal line <~> to mark the end of verse lines. These punctuation marks from the
original manuscripts are not transcribed. In the process of preparing this edition, we
repunctuated the Burnley-Wiggins transcription with a view to assisting readers to
understand the text’s grammatical structure, bearing in mind that Middle English
conceptions of the sentence differed from those of the present day. Exclamation marks are
used for interjections, exclamations, or imperatives, such as “Lo!,” “A!,” “fi! fi!,”
“Herkenythe . . . !” Double quotation marks are used to indicate direct speech; single
quotation marks are used only within double quotation marks to mark direct speech quoted
there. In a departure from Present Day English standard written usage, possession is not
indicated by use of an apostrophe, for example, “the childes tale,” “stepmoderes tale,”
“wives rede.”
Word division
We largely regularize word division to align with Present Day English conventions. Examples that appear regularly throughout include the manuscript forms <for soht, for ȝiue, hem selve, him self, in dede, in to, to night, there of, there fore, ther while, whar bi>, which we regularize as “forsoht,” “forgive,” “hemselve,” “himself,” “indede,” “into,” “tonight,” “thereof,” “therefore,” “therwhile,” “wharbi.” Further examples are listed in the Textual Notes, such as where we have emended the manuscript forms <redman, souke ȝing, bistore, so do miȝte> to appear as “red man,” “soukeying,” “bi store,” “sodomighte.” Where the first-person pronoun is attached to the following verb, a space is added, so that manuscript <ido> is transcribed “I do.”
We hyphenate compounds where a hyphen is needed for clarification or to align with Present Day English usage. For example “hond-habbing,” “fot-hot,” “als-so tit,” “to-done,” “anon-ryghtys.” The prefixes <a-, i-, y-, on-, to-, for-> are presented with no space and no hyphen as in “tofore,” “tocragged,” “ofsend,” and “iwis.” For metrical reasons, where it is important not to lose a syllable, we retain the separated genitive where it occasionally appears, as in “the emperoure ys masse.” We retain elided forms of the definite article as they appear in the manuscript, as in “themperour.”
Italics
Italics are not used by the scribes. The only time we render text in italics is to indicate the name of a book or work, for example “Catonne” and “Donet.” While some editors use italics to mark code-switching out of the matrix language, we do not italicize French- and Latin-derived words and phrases in this way. This decision reflects our conviction that it is not always easy in a text of this date to determine where English ends and the other languages begin. Where a whole phrase appears that is not in Middle English, it is glossed in full (e.g., “Deu vous doint bonjour,” glossed as God give you good day).
Further editorial apparatus
In accordance with METS practice, we provide glosses and a detailed commentary on the poem and its relationship to the Seven Sages tradition in the Explanatory Notes.
Glosses
Words or phrases that we consider difficult for today’s readers are glossed alongside the text in the margin or, for longer phrases, in a footnote. There are five main criteria upon which a gloss has been judged necessary:
- Words that are obsolete or archaic in Present Day English. For example, “Lo” (look, hey, see), “hoore” (gray, gray-haired), “lemman” (lover, beloved, sweetheart), “soht” (truth).
- Phrases that code-switch into French or words that would now be regarded as French. For example, “par amour” (for love’s sake), “par nostre fai” (by our faith), “saunz faile” (without fail), “bois” (forest).
- Words that have changed their meaning or connotations in Present Day English. For example, “selli” (sorry), “nice” (foolish).
- Words that are the same or very similar in Present Day English, but where the Middle English spelling makes them hard to recognize or ambiguous for today’s readers. For example, “habben” (have), “sone” (son), “schild” (child), “yif” (if or give), “sschal” (shall).
- Phrases, proverbs, or metaphors that are now obsolete or obscure, or where the syntax may be challenging for today’s readers. For example, “So the ax pelt in the helve” (like the axe blade set in the handle of the axe).
Frequently occurring hard words are typically only glossed on their first three or four occurrences. For ease and enjoyment of reading, we suggest learning by heart the frequently occurring Middle English words that we list in Appendix 2.
Explanatory Notes
For the Prologue and Conclusion, and for each inset tale, the Explanatory Notes include (i) an introductory summary of thematic interpretations and rhetorical uses of the tale; (ii) an overview of the main plot variations across the different versions of the Seven Sages, and (iii) suggested further reading. The plot of the poem and its inset narratives is recounted in Appendix 3.
In the Explanatory Notes, following each introduction we give notes keyed to the text that comment on and highlight features including the following:
- Cultural and historical references, such as historical persons and places, literary citations, and mythic figures.
- Relevant historical contexts, such as potential readerships.
- Points of language, which include editorial cruxes that need more explanation or clarification, and notable switches in style or tone.
- Formulaic language and its inversions, such as conventions from the genre of Middle English romance, well-known motifs, proverbs, and aphoristic language.
- Differences between the Middle English Seven Sages in A and other versions of the text in Middle English, French, Welsh, and Scots.
- Differences between the Middle English Seven Sages in A and the Book of Sindbad where the texts share materials.