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Future Publications
A sample of upcoming publications
The Middle English Seven Sages of Rome
Edited by Rory G. Critten and Alison Wiggins
The Middle English Seven Sages of Rome was translated from French ca.1300 by an anonymous writer whom scholarship locates in London. The text relates a tale-telling competition between parties arguing for and against the execution of Florentine, the emperor of Rome’s son. The emperor’s second wife wants Florentine dead because he threatens her position at court; she tells tales of usurping sons and untrustworthy counsellors. In response, the sages tell tales of perfidious wives and the dangers of haste. The emperor vacillates until his son speaks in his own favor and the contest is decided. The frame narrative of the Seven Sages originates in eighth-century Persia; during the Middle Ages it was translated into all the vernaculars and Latin. This edition makes the Middle English poem newly available to students and researchers interested in topics including medieval misogyny, east-to-west cultural transfer, and the history of the exemplum and exemplary writing.
George Ashby’s Active Policy of a Prince and Dicta et Opiniones Diversorum Philosophorum
Edited by Aline Douma
George Ashby’s Active Policy of a Prince and its addendum Dicta et opiniones diversorum philosophorum, a mirror for princes written ca. 1461–1462 for the Lancastrian prince Edward, is a unique witness to the political discourse of the Wars of the Roses. As a clerk of the Signet Office, Ashby had intimate knowledge of both the inner workings of politics at the Lancastrian court as well as its key players. The Active Policy of a Prince is a largely original work of political advice written in Middle English, while the Dicta et opiniones diversorum philosophorum is a macaronic text, combining prose passages taken mostly from the Latin wisdom text Liber philosophorum moralium antiquorum, followed by Ashby’s verse translations in Middle English. This book presents a full edition of The Active Policy and Dicta with extensive glosses, notes and translations of the Latin passages.