In a number of recent works on medieval law and literature, the Roman de Renart continues to figure as a favorite example. This essay, while acknowledging the best recent scholarship on legal questions, considers the enduring and inimical influence of Paulin Paris’ 1861 translation and adaptation on the mid-twentieth century legal historian, Graven, whose book is, in turn, still cited as a major source on feudal trial procedures. By looking carefully at three issues presented in Br. Va; two Ms versions of the motivation for going to Noble’s court; the reactions of king and nobles to the camel’s discourse; and the discussion of witnesses, we see that the legal philosophy is quite subtle, multiple laws compete, and the idea of a fixed sequence for the feudal trial is but a projection of nineteenth-century scholarship. - [Abstract]

Language: English

0925-4757; DOI: 10.1075/rein.18.08sch