Gesta Romanorum (/ˈdʒɛstəroʊməˈnɔːrəm/; "Deeds of the Romans") is aLatin collection ofanecdotes and tales that was probably compiled about the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th. It still possesses a two-fold literary interest, first as one of the most popular books of the time, and secondly as the source, directly or indirectly, of later literature, inGeoffrey Chaucer,John Gower,Giovanni Boccaccio,Thomas Hoccleve,William Shakespeare, and others.[1]
Of its authorship nothing certain is known. It is conjecture to associate it either with the name ofHelinandus or with that ofPetrus Berchorius (Pierre Bercheure). It is debated whether it originated in England, Germany or France.[1]
The work was evidently intended as a manual for preachers, and was probably written by one of the clerical profession. The name,Deeds of the Romans, is only partially appropriate to the collection in its present form, since, besides the titles from Greek and Latin history and legend, it comprises fragments of different origins, Asian and European. The unifying element of the book is its moral purpose, but the work contains a variety of material.[1] It includes, for example:
Owing to the loose structure of the book, it was easy for a transcriber to insert any additional story into his own copy, and consequently the manuscripts of theGesta Romanorum exhibit considerable variety.Hermann Oesterley recognizes an English group of manuscripts (written always in Latin), a German group (sometimes in Latin and sometimes in German), and a group which is represented by the vulgate or common printed text.[1]
The earliest printed editions are those ofNicolaus Ketelaer andGerardus de Leempt at Utrecht, ofArnold Hoenen at Cologne, and ofUlrich Zell at Cologne; but the exact date is in all three cases uncertain.[6] In his preface to the 1905 revised and corrected edition, Wynnard Hooper writes that "according to Herr Oesterley [...] all three editions [...] appeared between 1472 and 1475."[7]
An English translation, probably based directly on the manuscriptHarl. 5369, was published byWynkyn de Worde about 1510–15, the only copy of which now known to exist is preserved in the library ofSt John's College, Cambridge. In 1577 the London printerRichard Robinson published a revised edition of Wynkyn de Worde, asCertain Selected Histories for Christian Recreations, and the book proved highly popular.[1]
Between 1648 and 1703 at least eight impressions were issued. In 1703 appeared the first vol. of a translation by BP, probablyBartholomew Pratt, from the Latin edition of 1514. A translation by theRev. Charles Swan, first published in 2 vols in 1824, forms part ofBohn's Antiquarian Library, and was re-edited byWynnard Hooper in 1877 (see also the latter's edition in 1894).[7][1]
A Welsh translation was completed by Llywelyn Sion in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century.[8]
The German translation was first printed at Augsburg, 1489. A French version, under the title ofLe Violier des histoires romaines moralisez, appeared in the early part of the 16th century, and went through a number of editions; it has been reprinted byPierre-Gustave Brunet (Paris, 1858).[1]
Critical editions of the Latin text have been produced byAdelbert von Keller (Stuttgart, 1842),[9]Hermann Oesterley (Berlin, 1872),[10] and Philippa Bright (Oxford, 2019, editing the version that circulated in England).[11] See also:
Printed first at Utrecht, then at Cologne, c. 1472–5. First English edition printed byWynkyn de Worde, c. 1510–15. For a full discussion of the differentMSS. used, the sources of the groups, etc., see the indispensable edition ofOesterley, H., Berlin, 1872.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gesta Romanorum".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 910.
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