Seven Wise Masters, The

Henry Chettle, John Day, Thomas Dekker, William Haughton (1600)

Historical Records

Payments to Playwrights (Henslowe Diary)

F. 67^v (Greg, I. 118)

Receaved of m^r hinchlowe the 1 march to paye to

harry chettell Thomas decker william hawton & John daye

for a boocke calld the 7 wise m^rs the some of ………. xl^s

W birde.

Lent vnto Samewell Rowly the 8 of march 1599

to paye vnto harey chettell & John daye in fulle

payment of a boocke called the vij wisse masters

the some of ………. l^s

Samuell Rowlye

F. 68 (Greg, I. 119)

Lent vnto hary chettell the 2 of march 1599

in earnest of a Boocke called the 7 wisse

masters the some of ………. xxx^s

Payments, Miscellaneous (Henslowe's Diary)

F. 68 (Greg, I. 119)

Receaued of M^r Henslowe to lay out for the playe of

the 7 wise M^rs in taffataes & sattyns the some of

in behalfe of the …….. by me Robt Shaa

Company ………. xx^ll

Receaued more of m^r Henshlowe to lay out

for the play of the 7 wise Maisters in behalf

of the Company ………. x^li

Receaued more of M^r Henshlowe to lay out

for the play of the 7 wise maisters in behalf

of the Company ……….. viij^li

by me Robt Shaa

Theatrical Provenance

The Admiral's men acquired "The Seven Wise Masters" in the spring of 1600. The company was still at the Rose playhouse, though construction of the new Fortune playhouse had already begun (Edward Alleyn bought the lease on 22 December 1599). The company moved into the Fortune in the fall. The payment of £38 for materials and other things for "The Seven Wise Masters" suggests a relatively sumptuous production.

Probable Genre(s)

Tragi-comedy (Harbage); the story material would indicate a series of generically mixed playlets bound by the frame story of the seven masters and their tales, the stepmother's tales, and the son's tale.

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

The story cycle known variously as The Seven Wise Masters and The Seven Sages of Rome is as ancient as Sanskrit, Persian, and Hebrew, languages in which analogues existed. One story of its origin attributes it to the Indian philosopher Sindibad/Syntipas in the first century CE (Wikipedia).

Printed Sources Michael L. Hays compiled a list of the manuscripts and printings extant for The Seven Sages [Wise Masters] of Rome, which had been written c. 1300-1333. That by Wynkyn de Worde in 1506 appears to have been the seminal English text (Gomme, iii). Those likely to have been available to Chettle, Day, Dekker, and Haughton are the following:

* Purfoot, 1576 (STC 21299.3): Thomas Purfoot's title page, which calls itself the Seven Wise Masters, advertised that it was a new edition of an old printing on the title page: "Now newly corrected with a pleasant stile, &purged from all old and rude wordes and phrases which were lothsome or tedious to the reader". The Purfoot edition was printed again twice in 1602 (STC 21299.5, 21299.7), perhaps evidence of the perennial popularity of the story set.

* Ross, 1578 (STC 21254): The title page of the edition by John Ross or Rolland (for Henry Charteris) called itself the "Seven Sages" and advertised that it was translatit out of prois in Scottis meter; it also advertised the rich compendium of stories available: "ane moralitie efter euerie doctouris tale, and siclike efter the Emprice Tale, togidder with ane louing and laude to euerie doctour efter his awin tale [and] ane exclamation and outcrying vpon the empreouris wife efter hir fals contrusit tale."

* Smith, 1592 (STC 21255): The title page advertisement of the edition by Robert Smith echoes that of Rolland's in using Sages and being in Scots meter; it carries an abbreviated version of Rolland's claims of moral commentary on the doctors' tales (praise) and that of the Emperor's wife (condemnation).

The Frame Story
Poncianus, the emperor of Rome, marries a king's daughter with whom he has a son, Dioclesian. When the child is seven, his mother becomes ill. On her deathbed, she begs the emperor to remarry but to protect their son from the new wife's governance and power. As his mourning ended, Poncianus summoned seven wise masters to undertake the education of his son: Pantyllas, Lentulus, Craton, Malquydrac, Joseph, Cleophas, and a seventh unnamed. The masters agree to take the boy out of Rome so that his education might be undisturbed. Soon after, Poncianus remarries; when the new wife realizes that she might not conceive an heir herself, she plots the death of Dioclesian. Her opportunity arrives when the boy, now a young man, returns home from his schooling. She attempts to seduce him but is unsuccessful. However she tells Poncianus that Dioclesian attempted to rape her. In his fury, Poncianus orders his son to be taken to the gallows and hanged. The wise men, unable to dissuade the emperor, succeed in postponement for a trial. The empress, eager to see Dioclesian executed swiftly and the seven masters discredited (if not also executed), tells the emperor a parable about a great tree that was hewed down to allow a lesser plant to flourish, the result of which was that the lesser plant died also. The emperor vows then to have his son executed without a trial, at which point the masters delay the execution with serial story-telling. The resulting structure of "Seven Wise Masters" is a pairing of stories: the masters illustrate the villainy of women (after which the emperor halts the execution), and the empress illustrates the disloyalty of sons (after which the emperor reissues the order for immediate execution).

The story of the first master, Pantyllas:
A knight had a young son whom he adored, as well as a beloved greyhound and falcon. A lover of tournaments, the knight hosted one that attracted great crowd, including his wife and the baby's nurses, who left the boy in his cradle guarded by the greyhound and the falcon. A serpent, seizing the opportunity, crept out of his hole to attack the child, but the falcon made such a racket that the greyhound awakened and killed the snake, upturning the cradle and bloodying the floor in the fight. Exhausted, he lay down by the child to lick his wounds. The nurses returned from the tournament, saw the cradle and bloodied dog, and told rhe wife (as she returned) that the dog has killed the child. At that moment, the knight returned, and the wife told him what the nurses had said. The dog, hearing his master, came forward to greet him, but the knight in anger struck off his head. Only then does the knight check the cradle, find the child safe, and see the dead snake. Broken-hearted at his error in believing his wife's word, the knight splintered his sword and left for wars in the Holy Land.

The Counter-story of the empress:
An emperor wanted a boar in his forest destroyed, so he offered his daughter's hand in marriage as well as his kingdom to anyone who could kill it. The only taker was a shepherd who saw a chance to advance himself and his family. Armed only with his staff, the shepherd entered the forest, aroused the boar, and scrambled up a tree to avoid being killed. To stop the boar from knocking down the tree, the shepherd dropped fruit from the tree on the boar, who ate so much that he fell asleep. The shepherd then came down from the tree, cut the boar's throat, married the daughter, and took over the kingdom when his father-in-law died.

The story of the second master, Lentulus
The Counter-story of the empress

The story of the third master, Craton
The Counter-story of the empress

The story of the fourth master, Malquydrac
The Counter-story of the empress

The story of the fifth master, Joseph
The Counter-story of the empress

The story of the sixth master, Cleophas
The Counter-story of the empress

The story of the seventh master (name not provided)
The Counter-story of the empress
(story)

The story of Dioclesian

(frame concluded)

References to the Play

Information welcome.

Critical Commentary

Foakes notes (as Greg does not) that the entry on 1 March 1600 (above) is entirely in Birde's hand; that the signature for the entry of 8 March is Rowley's; and the second entry above for £8 is entirely in Shaa's hand (131, 132).

Knutson notes that "The Seven Wise Masters" shared the spring repertory in 1600 with the two-part "Fair Constance of Rome," which has not one but two wicked mothers (mothers-in-law, in Constance's case). She notes other Admiral's plays in the genre of tragedy with the stepmother motif: "Ferrex and Porrex" and "The Stepmother's Tragedy" (29). Linking the "Seven Masters" play further with its repertory mates, Knutson notes that the two-part "Constance" as well as yet another lost play, "The Golden Ass and Cupid and Psyche," are serial or co-joined plots, the latter probably also mixed in generic design. Taking a name commonly associated with the prince in the source stories, Knutson calls the young man 'Diocletian.'

For What It's Worth

In Gomme's 1885 edition of Wynkyn de Worde's seminal version, the ruler's name is Poncianus and his son is Dyoclesian (1). The masters are named Pantyllas, Lentulus, Craton, Malquydrac, Joseph, and Cleophas (the seventh master is unnamed); the stepmother is called "Empress" (5-6).

Gomme (iv) calls attention to the German woodcuts in de Worde's edition and cites an essay by W. M. Conway on the "history of the woodcuts of the Lubeck edition of the Seven Wise Masters" (Bibliographer, vol. 2, p, 70).

Works Cited

Gomme, George Laurence (ed.) The History of The Seven Wise Masters of Rome. London: The Villon Society, 1885.

Hays, Michael L. "A Bibliography of Dramatic Adaptations of Medieval Romances and Renaissance Chivalric Romances First Available in English through 1616," RORD [Records of English Drama], 28 (1985): 87-109, esp. 93.

Knutson, Roslyn L. "Toe to Toe across Maid Lane: Repertorial Competition at the Rose and Globe, 1599-1600." in June Schlueter and Paul Nelsen (eds.) Acts of Criticism: Performance Matters in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries. Madison & Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2005, 21-37.

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 30 October 2009.