SexViolHist Bib: Representations: Literary Texts: Seven Wise Masters

»The Seven Wise Masters (also called the Seven Sages or Seven Wise Men) is a cycle of stories of Sanskrit, Persian or Hebrew origins.
The Sultan sends his son, the young Prince, to be educated away from the court in the seven liberal arts by Seven Wise Masters. On his return to court, his stepmother, the empress, attempts to seduce him. To avert danger he is bound over to a week's silence by Sindibad, leader of the Seven Wise Masters. During this time, the empress accuses him to her husband, and seeks to bring about his death by seven stories which she relates to the emperor; but her narrative is each time confuted by the Seven Wise Masters led by Sindibad. Finally the prince's lips are unsealed, the truth exposed, and the wicked empress is executed.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

General

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Lundt, Bea, et al. »Misogynes Mittelalter? Gewalt und Geschlecht in transkultureller Perspektive. Das Beispiel der Sieben Weisen Meister.« Gewalt, Krieg und Geschlecht im Mittelalter. Edited by Amalie Fößel. Berlin 2020: 495-531.

II. Speaker Index

Dolopathos (12^th Century)

I n f o r m a t i o n

»John of Alta Silva (French: Jean de Haute-Seille, Latin: Iohannes de Alta Silva) was a Cistercian monk who lived at the abbey of Haute-Seille in the late 12th century. He wrote a version of the story of the Seven Wise Masters in Latin prose entitled De rege et septem sapientibus (On the King and the Seven Sages), but better known by the title it was later given, Dolopathos.
John's version, which he calls an opusculum (little work), is quite different from later Western versions of the Seven Masters. In his version, Sicily is ruled by a king named Dolopathos at the time when Augustus was Roman emperor. Dolopathos sends his son, Lucinius, to be educated by Virgil, both poet and sorcerer in this story. When the fourteen-year-old prince is summoned whom following his mother's death, Virgil orders him not to speak a word until they meet again. His stepmother attempts to seduce him and, when he rejects her advances, falsely accuses him of rape, whereupon Dolopathos condemns his son to death. (This episode is similar to the story of Phaedra or Potiphar's wife.) This is all a frame story for the series of seven stories that follow. The king postpones the execution one day for each day that a sage appears to tell a story. Virgil appears last and attacks the queen. Dolopathos then releases his son and executes the queen.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

K e y w o r d s

Topical Index: Prosecution: Victim Testimonies: False Accusations | Types: Circumstances: Attempted Rape

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Bildhauer, Bettina. »Silencing a Woman's Accusation of Attempted Rape in Johannes de Alta Silva's Dolopathos.« Nottingham Medieval Studies 64 (2020): 117-136.

[Info] Wilson, Alexander, et al. »‘Sa vesteüre ala saisir, | Par tant la cuide retenir’: Clothing and Coercion in the Bathing Scenes of Medieval Romance.« Reconsidering Consent and Coercion: Power, Vulnerability, and Sexual Violence in Medieval Literature. Edited by Jane Bonsall et al. Turnhout 2025: 201-216.

II. Speaker Index

Dutch Manuscript (13^th Century)

I n f o r m a t i o n

K e y w o r d s

Topical Index: Prosecution: Victim Testimonies: False Accusations | Types: General: Rape

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Schlusemann, Rita. »Dat si over minen soen gheen macht en hebbe: Gattung und multimodale Semiotik der 'Historia septem sapientum Romae' am Beispiel der niederländischen Tradition.« Das Mittelalter 28 (2023): 118-136.

II. Speaker Index

The Seven Sages of Rome (14^th Century)

I n f o r m a t i o n

»Another French version, Roman des sept sages, was based on a different Latin original.
The German, English, French and Spanish chapbooks of the cycle are generally based on a Latin original differing from these. Three metrical romances probably based on the French, and dating from the 14th century, exist in English. The most important of these is The Sevyn Sages by John Rolland of Dalkeith edited for the Bannatyne Club (Edinburgh, 1837).« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

K e y w o r d s

I. Chronological Index: Medieval History: 14^th Century

II. Geographical Index: European History: English History

III. Topical Index: Types: General: Rape | Victims: Age and Gender: Male Adults

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Bonsall, Jane, et al. »Comparative Approaches to Men’s Experiences of Sexual Coercion: Reading across Multi-Text Manuscripts.« Reconsidering Consent and Coercion: Power, Vulnerability, and Sexual Violence in Medieval Literature. Edited by Jane Bonsall et al. Turnhout 2025: 111-127.

II. Speaker Index

German Manuscript: Von den sieben Meistern (Of the Seven Masters) (1400–1450)

I n f o r m a t i o n

»The German adaptions of the Seven Sages tradition can be divided into several verse and prose versions, most of which follow the Latin Historia but sometimes change the order or selection of the embedded tales. The oldest known German version of the Seven Sages, Dyopcletianus 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.[9] 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.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

K e y w o r d s

I. Chronological Index: Medieval History: 15^th Century

II. Geographical Index: European History: German History

III. Topical Index: Prosecution: Victim Testimonies: False Accusations | Types: Circumstances: Attempted Rape

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Bildhauer, Bettina. »Sexualised Violence by a Woman against a Boy: Upsetting the Binary Gender Hierarchy in Of the Seven Masters.« Reconsidering Consent and Coercion: Power, Vulnerability, and Sexual Violence in Medieval Literature. Edited by Jane Bonsall et al. Turnhout 2025: 129-146.

II. Speaker Index

Arabic Manuscripts (17^th - 18^th Centuries)

I n f o r m a t i o n

K e y w o r d s

Topical Index: Prosecution: Victim Testimonies: False Accusations | Types: Rape: Rape

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Redwan, Rima. »One against Seven: ariations on the Misogynistic Nature of 'The Seven Sages' in Different Arabic Manuscript Copies (17th - 18th Centuries).« Das Mittelalter 28 (2023): 49-66.

II. Speaker Index