Study of the influence which Peter Alphonse's work exerted on
mediaeval literature, as shown by quotations of individual tales or
by other references to it, can not yet be presented. This point has
been treated briefly by Söderhjelm, as quoted above. It is, however,
worth noting that numerous collections of exempla and sermons,
such as those of Jacques de Vitry[1], Albertano da Brescia,
Odo of Cheriton, Étienne de Bourbon, Nicholas Bozon, Robert Holcot,
Alphabetum Narrationum, Gesta Romanorum, etc., etc., from
the 13-15 centuries, contain adaptations and quotations from Peter
Alphonse in profusion.
Thirteen tales of the collection are included in the 15th century
English version of the 'Alphabet of Tales'[2] and fourteen were
printed by William Caxton in his Book of the Subtyl Historyes and Fables of Esope,
which he himself tells us "were translated out of
Frensshe into Englysshe . . . . . at Westmynstre in the yere
of oure Lorde MCCCCLXXXIII.[3]" This book of Caxton is almost
a literal translation of Jules de Machault's Livre des subtilles Hystoires et Fables de Esope,
translatees de Latin en François, etc.,
in the year 1483[4]. Machault in turn made a comparatively free
translation of Steinhöwels Aesop, and apparently from the Latin
compilation arranged by Steinhowel himself[5], rather than from his
German version. Caxton follows Machault in omitting the last two
of Steinhöwel's fifteen[6] tales of 'Adelfonso' from his translation.
They all three also include one tale—No. xii—which is not in any
- ↑ Ed. Cfane; cf. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in tile British Museum, vol. iii, London, 1910, P. 1 ff.
- ↑ Ed. by Mary. M. Banks for the EETS vols, 126-127 (1904-1905). As the third volume has not jet appeared "a definite attribution of authorship" of the original Alphabetum Narrationum, formerly ascribed to Etienne de Besançon, must continue to wait. Cf. Banks, vol. 127, introductory 'note.'
- ↑ The book is a large folio Black Letter, profusely illustrated, and it contains some 210 pages of the Fables of Aesop, about 30 of the Fables of Auyon, and 18-20 pages of the Fables of "Poge the Florentyn," besides those of Peter Alphonse. In the epilogue to the book (ff. 142-142b) Caxton gives 1484 instead of 1483 as the date of printing: "And here with I fynysshe this book, translated and emprynted by me William Caxton at Westmynstre in thabbey; and fynysshed the xxvi daye of March, the yere of oure Lord MCCCCLXXXIIII, and the fyrst yere of the regne of Kyng Richard the Thyrdde." It is therefore evident that the translation was begun in the year 1483 and finished near the beginning of the following year, 'Old Style' of course. This book was reedited with an interesting 'Introduction' and a 'Glossary' by Joseph Jacobs for David Nutt in 1889; 'The Fables of Aesop, as first printed by William Caxton in 1484, with those of Avian, Alfonso and Poggio, 2 vols., London, 1889.'
- ↑ According to Söderhjelm, op. cit. p. xiv, though Oesterly says (Steinhöwels Aesop, hrsg. von Hermann Oesterley, Bibl. d. litt. Vereins in Stuttgart, Bd. 117, Tübingen 1873, Einleitung, p. 3): "The French translation of Julien Macho appeared first in the year 1484 and was reprinted at least ten times in the next fifty years."
- ↑ Oesterley op. cit. p. 2; "Steinhöwel was not only the translator of it, i. e. the Aesop of Planudes—Rimicius, etc but also the original compiler of the work which immediately on its publication became one of the most popular of the early printed books in the continent; besides the translation of Machault and indirectly, of Caxton, a Dutch translation of Steinhöwel's compilation was published in 1485, an Italian one by Tuppo in 1485 (Söderhjelm p. xiv), a Bohemian one in 1487, and later versions in both Spanish and Catalanian.
- ↑ In reality 16, for he merges the first two tales: (1) 'The Half Friend,' (2) 'The Perfect Friend' into one, in which he is followed by both Machault and Caxton.
