Solomon and Marcolf
literary work
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.
Text and history
Solomon and Marcolf is conventionally dated to the 12th century, although the tale itself is older.
In Polish, in 1521 in Krakow, a book was published, titled "The talks that the king Salomon the clever had with Marchołt [Marcolf, Markolf] fat and bawdy, however, as they say, very eloquent". [2]
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. 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 the printer Matthias Hupfuff in 1499, with woodcut illustrations.
Latin versions of it were often appended to the "Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum". Both Hans Folz and Hans Sachs made use of the legend.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Solomon and Marcolf” as literary work. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as literary work. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q456205. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1521, 1848 and 1499.
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This entry incorporates text from “Solomon and Marcolf” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.