Misogyny, Wisdom, and Legal Practice: On Narrative Flexibility across Different Versions of the Seven Sages of Rome

By comparing several French (K, A, D), Latin (Historia septem sapientum, Allegatio septem sapientum), and German (Historij von Diocleciano, Bämler print) versions of the Seven Sages of Rome, this article aims at developing a better understanding of the modular flexibility that is characteristic of this late medieval narrative tradition. It examines small variations across the texts in regard to the Seven Sages' proclaimed misogyny, its didactic character, and questions of legal practice. A comparison shows how small variations in the narrative motivation of events can have a signifijicant impact on the linkage of narrative events within a given version without changing the basic plot and structure of the Seven Sages.