Solomon and Marcolf

Solomon and Marcolf is a medieval narrative describing the adventures and conversations of Solomon and Marcolf, or Marolf. The adventures have some connection with those of Ashmedai, while the conversations consist chiefly of riddles similar to those put to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba. The exact extent of its indebtedness to the Haggadah is somewhat doubtful, though it is practically certain that the various versions are derived from an Eastern original.

"Marcolf" redirects here. For the given name, see Markolf.
Illustration from "Salman und Morolf" by Hans Dirmstein, Frankfurt am Main 1479

Text and history

In Polish, in 1521 in Krakow a book titled "The talks that the king Salomon the clever had with Marchołt [Marcolf, Markolf] fat and bawdy, however, as they say, very eloquent" was published . The earliest known versions of the tale in Old English are the ones commonly referred to as Solomon and Saturn, first published by J. N. Kemble in 1848, for the Ælfric Society.[1] The tale was popular in Germany, where Marcolf, or Marolf, became a sort of type of the "wise fool". It was first printed under the title Dis buch seit von kunig salomon vnd siner huß frouwen Salome wie sy der künig fore nam vnd wie sy Morolff künig salomon brüder wider brocht in Strasbourg by printer Matthias Hupfuff in 1499, with woodcut illustrations.[2][3][lower-alpha 1] Latin versions of it were often appended to the "Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum". Both Hans Folz and Hans Sachs made use of the legend. A French version was made by Pierre Mauclerc, Count of Brittany, in the thirteenth century.

In Italian, Giulio Cesare Croce adopted it in his "Bertoldo", another name for Marcolf. This was developed into a book at Bologna in 1736. Other versions occur in the Bolognese and Venetian dialects, and in Dutch, Greek, Polish, Icelandic, and Welsh. There are two editions in English, one published by Gerard Leeu (Antwerp, 1492), and another, Sayings or Proverbes of King Solomon, with the Answers of Marcolfus, printed by Richard Pynson in 1530, a version of the much shorter French Dictionnaire de Salomon.

Editions and translations
  • Bradbury, Nancy Mason; Bradbury, Scott, eds. (2012). The dialogue of Solomon and Marcolf : a dual-language edition from Latin and Middle English printed editions (TEAMS/Project Camelot). Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications. (in Latin and Middle English)
  • Ziolkowski, Jan M. (tr.), ed. (2008). Solomon and Marcolf. Cambridge, MA: Department of the Classics, Harvard University. (in Latin) (w. trans.)
  • Menner, Robert J., ed. (1941). The poetical dialogues of Solomon and Saturn. New York: The Modern Language Association of America; London, Oxford University Press.
  • Duff, E. Gordon, ed. (1892). The Dialogue or Communing Between the Wise King Solomon and Marcolfus. London.
  • Hagen, Friedrich Heinrich von der; Büsching, Johann Gustav, eds. (1808), "Salomon und Morolf", Deutsche Gedichte des Mittelalters, Berlin: Realschulbuchhandlung, 1(in German)

Studies

Notes
  1. Woodcut illustrations only, of 1555 Strassburg edition printed in: Heitz, Paul (1922). Strassburger Holzschnitte zu Dietrich von Bern, Herzog Ernst, der Hürnen Seyfrid, Marcolphus. J.H. Ed. Heitz.

References
  1. Duff 1892, pp. xiii-xiv
  2. Duff 1892, pp. xvi
  3. Bavarian State Library entry, with link to digitized images of book.
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