The Dialogue of Solomon and Marcolf

The two texts of the dialogue presented here, a Latin version printed c. 1488 and a Middle English translation printed in 1492, preserve lively, entertaining and revealing exchanges between the Old Testament wisdom figure Solomon and Marcolf, a medieval peasant who is ragged and foul-mouthed but quick-witted and verbally astute.

The Dialogue of Solomon and Marcolf (Dialogus Salomonis et Marcolfi) was a medieval literary bestseller; mentions of the poem begin as early as 1000 and are widespread by the thirteenth century, and various versions dated between 1410 and 1550 survive in some twenty-seven manuscripts, forty-nine early printed editions, and various translations into vernacular languages. Comprising five verbal contests incorporating distinct rhetorical forms and a variety of eclectic materials such as proverbs, riddles, and biblical wisdom literature, this lively and entertaining dialogue pits the wise Old Testament king Solomon, representing clerical authority, against the foulmouthed but quick-witted peasant Marcolf, representing commoners’ rustic wisdom, improvisational wit, and earthy, subversive humor. This edition juxtaposes two texts of the poem: a Latin version printed ca. 1488 and a Middle English translation printed in 1492, supplemented by extensive glosses, explanatory and textual notes, and exchanges omitted from the proverb contest by previous abridged printed versions.

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