The stories are largely concerned with the main character Reynard, an anthropomorphicred fox, trickster figure. His adventures usually involve his deceiving other anthropomorphic animals for his own advantage, or trying to avoid their retaliatory efforts. His main enemy and victim across the cycle is his uncle, the wolf, Isengrim (or Ysengrim).
While the character of Reynard appears in later works, the core stories were written during the Middle Ages by multiple authors and are often seen as parodies of medieval literature, such as courtly love stories and chansons de geste, as well as a satire of political and religious institutions.[1] The trickster fox, Reynard, lives in a society of other talking animals (lion, bear, wolf, donkey, etc), making the stories a beast epic.[2]
The original copies were written in Old French, and have since been translated into many different languages. However, the tales of Reynard come from all across Europe and each retelling has details that are specific to its area.[3] The tales, no matter where they take place, are designed to represent the society around them and include the structures of society around them, such as a noble court. While the authors take many liberties with the story telling, not all of the satire is meant to be rude or malicious in intent.[3]
Characters
A defaced Reynard preaches to a rooster.
The main characters are anthropomorphic animals. The given names of the animals are of Old High German origin. Most of them were in common use as personal names in medieval Lorraine. The characters of Reynard the Fox were based on the medieval hierarchy, and are treated as human throughout the tales. Since multiple authors wrote the text, characters' personalities often change. Throughout the stories, these characters often switch between human and animal form and often without notice.[4]
The characters who switch between human and animal form are often those of elite status, while the characters who don't change tend to be peasants. Often, the readers will find themselves able to empathize with Reynard. They find that the situations he is in are not often that different from their own lives, and this carries across the decades.[5] The common usage of animals as characters in tales has made it so the stories that touch on morally gray areas are easier to understand and accept.[6]
Reynard the Fox. The given name Reynard is from Reginhard, Raginohardus "strong in counsel". Because of the popularity of the Reynard stories, renard became the standard French word for "fox", replacing the old French word for "fox", which was goupil from Latin vulpēcula. Since Reynard has been written about in many different times and places across the world, it is not uncommon to see changes in his appearance to fit the natural surroundings of his story. His fur is often used as a camouflage, meaning if the story was written in a snowy landscape he will have white fur, or yellow fur for desert areas, in the wooded areas of forest he is depicted in red.[3]
Foxes in general have the reputation of tricksters in traditional European folklore.[10] The specific character of Reynard is thought to have originated in Lorrainefolklore, from where it spread to France, Germany, and the Low Countries.[11][need quotation to verify] Alternatively, a 19th-century edition of a retelling of the Reynard fable states definitively with "no doubt whatever that it is of German origin" and relates a conjecture associating the central character with "a certain Reinard of Lorraine, famous for his vulpine qualities in the ninth century".[12]
Joseph Jacobs, while seeing an origin in Lorraine, traces classical, German, and "ancient northern folk-lore" elements within the Reynard stories.[13]Jacob Grimm in his Reinhart Fuchs (Berlin, 1834) provided evidence for the supposition on etymological grounds that "stories of the Fox and Wolf were known to the Franks as early as the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries".[14]
From the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there are around twenty-six different tales of Reynard the Fox. While there might have been more that were written, these are the ones that survive. Many of these are written by different authors and anonymous authors.[4]
An extensive appearance of the character is in the Old FrenchLe Roman de Renart written by Pierre de Saint-Cloud around 1170, which sets the typical setting. Reynard has been summoned to the court of king Noble (or Leo), the lion, to answer charges brought against him by Isengrim the wolf. Other anthropomorphic animals, including Bruin the bear, Baldwin the ass, and Tibert (Tybalt) the cat, all attempt one stratagem or another. The stories typically involve satire, whose usual butts are the aristocracy and the clergy, making Reynard a peasant-hero character.[11] The Catholic Church used the story of the preaching fox, as found in the Reynard literature, in church art as propaganda against the Lollards.[15]
Reynard's principal castle, Maupertuis, is available to him whenever he needs to hide away from his enemies. Some of the tales feature Reynard's funeral, where his enemies gather to deliver maudlin elegies full of insincere piety, and which feature Reynard's posthumous revenge. Reynard's wife Hermeline appears in the stories, but plays little active role. In some versions she remarries when Reynard is thought dead, thereby becoming one of the people he plans revenge upon. Isengrim, alternate French spelling: Ysengrin, is Reynard's most frequent antagonist and foil, and generally ends up outwitted, though he occasionally gets revenge.
An individual tale might span several genres, which makes classification difficult. Tales often include themes from contemporary society with references to relics, pilgrimage, confession, and the crusades.[4] There is debate over whether or how closely they related to identifiable societal events, but there is a growing camp[who?] that see direct societal connections and even implicit political statements in the tales. The stories are told in a way that makes associations easy to make, but difficult to substantiate.[citation needed]
Reynard stories translate difficult laws and legal concepts into common language, allowing people to both understand them and enjoy the legal predicaments and antics of the characters. The court operates just as those in medieval society. The king heard cases only on one specified date, and all disputes were heard at once.[16]
Many versions follow Reynard's fights with Ysengrin, the fox's regular antagonist throughout the stories.[4] Violence between them and other characters is a common thematic element. It is a matter of debate[by whom?] whether the violence shows animals simply acting as such, or is anthropomorphically meant to reflect the violence in human society, especially the various wars that common folk endured at the time.
Ysengrimus
Reynard appears first in the medieval Latin poem Ysengrimus, a long Latin mock-epic written c. 1148–53 by the medieval poet Nivardus, that collects a great store of Reynard's adventures. He also appears in a number of Latin sequences by the early-13th-century preacher Odo of Cheriton. Both of these early sources seem to draw on a pre-existing store of popular culture featuring the character.
Roman de Renart
The first "branch" (or chapter) of the Roman de Renart appears in 1174, written by Pierre de St. Cloud, although in all French editions it is designated as "Branch II". The same author wrote a sequel in 1179—called "Branch I". From that date onwards, many other French authors composed their own adventures for Renart li goupil ("the fox"). There is also the Middle High German text Reinhard Fuchs by Heinrich der Glïchezäre, dated to c. 1180. Roman de Renart fits into the genre of romance. Roman de Renart gets its start using the history of fables that have been written since the time of Aesop.[6]
The romance genre of the middle ages is not what we think of the romance genre of today. It was a fictional telling of a character's life.[17] The protagonist of the romance genre often has an adventure or a call to action, almost always caused by an outside force.[18] In the 13th century, French was a standard literary language, and many works during the Middle Ages were written in French, including Reynard the Fox. Many popular works from the Middle Ages fall into the romance genre.[17]
Pierre de St. Cloud opens his work on the fox by situating it within the larger tradition of epic poetry, the fabliaux and Arthurian romance:
Seigneurs, oï avez maint conte Que maint conterre vous raconte Conment Paris ravi Elaine, Le mal qu'il en ot et la paine, De Tristan que la Chievre fist Qui assez bellement en dist Et fabliaus et chançons de geste Romanz d'Yvain et de sa beste Maint autre conte par la terre. Mais onques n'oïstes la guerre Qui tant fu dure de gran fin, Entre Renart et Ysengrin.
Lords, you have heard many tales, That many tellers have told to you. How Paris took Helen, The evil and the pain he felt Of Tristan that la Chevre Spoke rather beautifully about; And fabliaux and epics; Of the Romance of Yvain and his beast And many others told in this land But never have you heard about the war That was difficult and lengthy Between Reynard and Isengrim
Van den vos Reynaerde
A mid-13th-century Middle Dutch version of the story by Willem die Madoc maecte (Van den vos Reynaerde, Of Reynaert the Fox), is also made up of rhymed verses (the same AA BB scheme). Van den vos Reinaerde and Reinaert Historie (referred to as R I and R II, respectively) are two poems written by two different authors with R II being a continuation of R I.[19]
With different writers comes different variations. This can best be seen with Reynard. While describing the same character the Reynard from R I has many different character traits of that in R II.[20] While a finished and completed poem by itself, Van den vos Reinaerde does not have a set ending.
Like Pierre, very little is known of the author, other than the description by the copyist in the first sentences:[2]
Willem, die Madocke maecte, daer hi dicken omme waecte, hem vernoyde so haerde dat die avonture van Reynaerde in Dietsche onghemaket bleven – die Arnout niet hevet vulscreven – dat hi die vijte dede soucken ende hise na den Walschen boucken in Dietsche dus hevet begonnen.
Willem who made Madocke, which often kept him awake, was so extremely annoyed that the tales of Reynaert – which Arnout has not finished – remained unwritten in Dutch that he had the life looked for and, following the French books he began it in Dutch as follows.
A 1498 illustration from Hans van Ghetelen, in Reinke de Vos
Madocke or Madoc is thought to be another one of Willem's works that at one point existed but had been lost. The Arnout mentioned was an earlier Reynard poet whose work Willem (the writer) alleges to have finished. However, there are serious objections to this notion of joint authorship, and the only thing deemed likely is that Arnout was French-speaking ("Walschen" in Middle Dutch referred to northern French-speaking people, specifically the Walloons).[21] Willem's work became one of the standard versions of the legend, and was the foundation for most later adaptations in Dutch, German, and English, including those of William Caxton, Goethe, and F. S. Ellis.[2]
In 1481, the English William Caxton printed The Historie of Reynart the Foxe, which was translated from Van den vos Reynaerde.[11] Also in the 1480s, the Scottish poet Robert Henryson devised a highly sophisticated development of Reynardian material as part of his Morall Fabillis in the sections known as The Talking of the Tod. In 1498, Hans van Ghetelen, a printer of Incunabula in Lübeck, printed a Low German version called Reinke de Vos . It was translated to Latin and other languages, which made the tale popular across Europe. Reynard is also referenced in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight during the third hunt.
With the invention of the printing press, the tales of Reynard the fox became more popular and started to be translated and recreated in many different languages.[23] The tales of Reynard don't follow the typical sense of reprinting, as there is no clear chronology to the stories. Many of the original pages to these stories have been lost, so it is difficult to tell what the exact literary changes are, of which there aren't many, with the exception of the typical changes that are seen from the early days of the printing press.[23]
There are also slight changes to the wording that show modernization of the uses and differing orders of the words. While the changes might appear to be mistakes, they are not thought of as such and are often kept in the modernization of the tales.[23] There haven't been many attempts to better the works in during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Changes to the tales during the fifteenth century are not seen as mistakes because of specific roles in the process of printing designed to eliminate mistakes.[23] In the early modern editions of Reynard the Fox, the characteristics of the animals were based on literary topoi, appealing to the middle class reader.[24]
The trickster figure Reynard the Fox as depicted in an 1869 children's book by Michel Rodange
Modern treatment
19th century
Reinecke Fuchs by Goethe is a poem in hexameters, in twelve parts, written 1793 and first published 1794. Goethe adapted the Reynard material from the edition by Johann Christoph Gottsched (1752), based on the 1498 Reynke de vos.
German artist Johann Heinrich Ramberg made a series of thirty drawings, which he also etched and published in 1825.[26]
Renert [full original title: Renert oder de Fuuß am Frack an a Ma'nsgrëßt],[27][28] was published in 1872 by Michel Rodange, a Luxembourgeois author. An epic satirical work—adapted from the 1858 Cotta Edition of Goethe's fox epic Reineke Fuchs to a setting in Luxembourg. It is known to be a satirical mirror image of Luxembourg's social sphere after the turmoils of the Luxembourg Crisis, whereby the author transposed his criticism and social scepticism to the animal society in which his fox 'Renert' lives.[27] Beyond that, it is insightful analysis of the different regional and sub-regional linguistic differences of the country, where distinct dialects are used to depict the fox and his companions.
20th century
Disney's Robin Hood animated film from 1973 is partly based on Reynard the Fox.[29]
↑ "monkey". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
↑ Weekley, Ernest (18 July 2012). "monkey". An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. Courier Corporation. p.945. ISBN9780486122861.
↑ Propp, Vladimir J. (January 2009). "Duping". In Perron, Paul; Debbèche, Jean-Patrick (eds.). On the Comic and Laughter. Toronto Studies in Semiotics and Communication. Translated by Perron, Paul; Debbèche, Jean-Patrick. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (published 2009). p.77. ISBN9780802099266. Retrieved 5 February 2022. The cunning fox is the main character of many European folktales about animals. [...] The plot of Russian folktales about a fox usually boils down to the fox duping everybody.
↑ "Preface". The diverting historie of Renard the fox, newly ed. and done into Engl. Translated by Pardon, George Frederick. London: Willoughby & Co. 1850. p.1-2. Retrieved 27 January 2023. This is about the most renowned of all the German fables [...]. But though the story was [...] conveyed into France [...] there seems no doubt whatever that it is of German origin; and, according to probable conjecture, a certain Reinard of Lorraine, famous for his vulpine qualities in the ninth century, suggested the name to some unknown fabulist of the empire.
↑ Gilder, Jeannette Leonard; Gilder, Joseph Benson, eds. (1896). "The Critic". The Critic. Volumes 101-108 of American periodical series, 1850-1900. 26 (753). New York: The Critic Company (published July–December 1896): 59. Retrieved 27 January 2023. MR. JOSEPH JACOBS, in his learned introduction to The Most Delectable History of Reynard, the Fox, [1895] traces the literary origin of that world-renowned beast fable to the twelfth-century French versions, but, while admitting wholesale borrowing from Esop and other classical sources, points out that many incidents of the tale must have come from ancient northern folk-lore. [...] And, as the names of the characters [...] are of German origin, these folk-lore stories were most likely imported into France by the Germans. Mr. Jacobs would, in fact, localize the origin of the Reynard in Lorraine [...].
↑ Thoms, William J. (1844). "Sketch of the Literary History of the Romance of Reynard the Fox". The History of Reynard the Fox. Volume 12 of Early English poetry, ballads, and popular literature of the Middle ages. London: Percy Societ. p.xix - xx. Retrieved 27 January 2023. We shall content ourselves with extracting one passage from Grimm, important for the etymological grounds which it affords for supposing that stories of the Fox and Wolf were known to the Franks as early as the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries.
↑ Benton, Janetta Rebold (1 April 1997). Holy Terrors: Gargoyles on Medieval Buildings. Abbeville Press. p.83. ISBN978-0-7892-0182-9.
↑ "Reineke Fuchs. In 30 Blattern gezeichnet und radirt von Johann Heinrich Ramberg." Hannover 1826. New edition with colored prints 2016. Waltraud Maierhofer (ed.). Reineke Fuchs - Reynard the Fox. 31 Originalzeichnungen u. neu kolorierte Radierungen m. Auszügen aus d. deutschen Übersetzung des Epos im populären Stil v. Soltau | 31 original drawings and newly colored etchings with excerpts from the English translation of the burlesque poem by Soltau. VDG Weimar, 2016. ISBN978-3-89739-854-2
Avery, Anne Louise, Reynard The Fox (Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2020).
Bonafin, Massimo, Le malizie della volpe: Parola letteraria e motivi etnici nel Roman de Renart (Rome: Carocci editore, 2006) (Biblioteca Medievale Saggi). cf. here an abstract of this book & cf. here a review of this book unfortunately not yet translated in English.
Johann Heinrich Ramberg (artist), Dietrich Wilhelm Soltau (author), Waltraud Maierhofer (editor): "Reineke Fuchs – Reynard the Fox. 31 Originalzeichnungen u. neu kolorierte Radierungen m. Auszügen aus d. deutschen Übersetzung des Epos im populären Stil v. Soltau | 31 original drawings and newly colored etchings with excerpts from the English translation of the burlesque poem by Soltau." VDG Weimar, Weimar 2016. ISBN978-3-89739-854-2.
Reinardus, the journal for the International Reynard Society.
Anne Lair, "The History of Reynard the Fox: How Medieval Literature Reflects Culture," in: Falling into Medievalism, ed. Anne Lair and Richard Utz. Special Issue of UNIversitas: The University of Northern Iowa Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, 2.1 (2006).
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Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages. The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works. Just as in modern literature, it is a complex and rich field of study, from the utterly sacred to the exuberantly profane, touching all points in between. Works of literature are often grouped by place of origin, language, and genre.
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of high medieval and early modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric knight-errant portrayed as having heroic qualities, who goes on a quest. It developed further from the epics as time went on; in particular, "the emphasis on love and courtly manners distinguishes it from the chanson de geste and other kinds of epic, in which masculine military heroism predominates."
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Medieval French literature is, for the purpose of this article, Medieval literature written in Oïl languages during the period from the eleventh century to the end of the fifteenth century.
Flemish literature is literature from Flanders, historically a region comprising parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Until the early 19th century, this literature was regarded as an integral part of Dutch literature. After Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830, the term Flemish literature acquired a narrower meaning and refers to the Dutch-language literature produced in Belgium. It remains a part of Dutch-language literature.
Middle Dutch literature (1150–1500) is the Dutch literature produced in the Low Countries from the 12th century to the 16th century. It is preceded by only a few fragmentary texts existing in Old Dutch, and it was succeeded by Dutch Renaissance and Golden Age literature.
Ysengrimus is a Latin fabliau and mock epic, containing a series of anthropomorphic fables thought to have been written in 1148 or 1149 CE by the poet Nivardus. Its chief character is Isengrim, the Wolf. The plot describes how the trickster figure Reynard, the Fox, overcomes Isengrim's various schemes.
The Tale of the Fox was stop-motion animation pioneer Ladislas Starevich's first fully animated feature film. The film is based on the tales of Renard the Fox. Although the animation was finished in Paris after an 18-month period (1929–1930), there were major problems with adding a soundtrack to the film. Finally, funding was given for a German soundtrack by the UFA—Goethe had written a classic version of the Renard legend—and this version had its premiere in Berlin in April 1937.
The fox appears in the folklore of many cultures, but especially European and East Asian, as a figure of cunning, trickery, or as a familiar animal possessed of magic powers, and sometimes associated with transformation. Literature, film, television, games, music, and other forms of cultural expression may reflect the folklore image and reputation.
Folklore of the Low Countries, often just referred to as Dutch folklore, includes the epics, legends, fairy tales and oral traditions of the people of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Traditionally this folklore is written or spoken in Dutch or in one of the regional languages of these countries.
French folklore encompasses the fables, folklore, fairy tales and legends of the French people.
Chanticleer and the Fox is a fable that dates from the Middle Ages. Though it can be compared to Aesop's fable of The Fox and the Crow, it is of more recent origin. The story became well known in Europe because of its connection with several popular literary works and was eventually recorded in collections of Aesop's Fables from the time of Heinrich Steinhowel and William Caxton onwards. It is numbered 562 in the Perry Index.
Heinrich der Glïchezäre was a Middle High German poet from Alsace, author of a narrative poem, Reinhart Fuchs (Reynard), the oldest surviving German beast epic.
An animal tale or beast fable generally consists of a short story or poem in which animals talk. They may exhibit other anthropomorphic qualities as well, such as living in a human-like society. It is a traditional form of allegorical writing.
"The Moon is made of green cheese" is a statement referring to a fanciful belief that the Moon is composed of cheese. In its original formulation as a proverb and metaphor for credulity with roots in fable, this refers to the perception of a simpleton who sees a reflection of the Moon in water and mistakes it for a round cheese wheel. It is widespread as a folkloric motif among many of the world's cultures, and the notion has also found its way into children's folklore and modern popular culture.
Van den vos Reinaerde is the Middle Dutch version of the story of Reynard, as written by Willem die Madoc maecte. The poem dates from around 1250. It is considered a major work of Middle Dutch literature and has been called "the pinnacle of Gothic literature in the Netherlands."
Guillaume de Dole is an Old French narrative romance by Jean Renart. Composed in the early 13th century, the poem is 5,656 lines long and is especially notable for the large number of chansons it contains, and for its active female protagonist. The romance incorporates forty-six chansons ; it is the first extant example in French literature of a text that combines narrative and lyric. Its form was quickly imitated, by authors such as Gerbert de Montreuil, and by the end of the 13th century had become canonical.
Willem die Madocke maecte is the traditional designation of the author of Van den vos Reynaerde, a Middle Dutch version of the story of Reynard the Fox.
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