Reynard the Trickster

The trickster is a mythical or fictional archetype found in many cultures around the world. In the Americas there are several tricksters, usually animals, in particular Raven (Pacific northwest) and Coyote (south west and south). African tricksters include Anansi, Tokoloshe and Zomo. In Asian cultures there are Kitsune (Japan), Sang Kancil (Malaysia), and Sun Wukong (China). In Europe Loki is the trickster god of Norse mythology, while many of the "little people" (fairies and others) of folklore can be seen as tricksters. Trickster figures are found in societies both ancient and modern, east and west; they are a common and enduring theme. Tricksters everywhere share several traits: they are fundamentally ambiguous and anomalous; they are deceivers and trick-players; they are often shape-shifters or masters of disguise; they cause inversion of cultural norms; they are sometimes messengers or imitators of the gods; they are known for lewd behavior. - [Hynes and Doty, Mythical Trickster Figures (1997)]

In western Europe, particularly in France, the Netherlands and Germany, the trickster figure was Reynard the Fox, who appears in multiple stories in several languages. Reynard and his friends, enemies and relations are anthropomorphized animals, showing more human attributes than animal ones. Reynard is a fox (an animal notoriously deceptive and tricky) but he acts like a man, speaks to humans (even the Pope), has a political agenda, lives in a castle and attends the royal court. Reynard is a hero to some and a villain to others, but even in that he is not consistent; a friend or ally today may be an enemy tomorrow or vice versa. He is often malicious, harming friend and foe to get what he wants, and no one is safe from his trickery. His promises and declarations of eternal loyalty are worthless, as anyone who gets in the way of his desires is at risk without regard to their status. Even his relatives and most faithful supporters are not safe; Reynard is fundamentally selfish and self-serving, no matter the cost to those around him.

Reynard interacts with several other anthropomorphized animals, such as Noble the lion, ruler of the kingdom; Ysengrin the wolf, Reynard's uncle and sworn enemy; Chanticleer the cock, Brun the bear, Tibert the cat and Tiécelin the crow, all victims of Reynard's trickery. Reynard also encounters (and deceives) several humans, from peasants to religious figure like monks, abbots and even the Pope. See the Extras tab above for a list of characters.

The Reynard the Fox tales are not the first animal fables, nor are the stories always original. Fables where animals act like humans date back centuries before Reynard. Aesop's Fables, originally written in Greece in the sixth century BCE, were well known in the Middle Ages in various forms, both in Latin and in vernacular languages like old French and German. Aesop's fables influenced the Reynard stories, with some taken directly; examples include "The Fox and The Crow" (Perry 124), "The Fox and the Stork" (Perry 426), and "The Wolf and the Crane" (Perry 158). Others, such as "The Lion's Share" (Perry 339), were adapted to feature Reynard. The Ecbasis captivi, an animal fable written in the eleventh century, has the story of the fox, the wolf and the sick king, also found in some of the Reynard versions. The Ysengrimus, written in the middle of the twelfth century, has several fox and wolf stories that appear almost unchanged in the Roman de Renart.

Reynard the fox appears in several story variants, some anonymous and some with known authors. The French Roman de Renart is perhaps the most well-known of these; it is found in multiple twelfth to fifteenth century manuscripts, in early printed books, and in later editions and adaptations. Translated into Dutch it is known as Van den vos Reynaerde, and in German as Reineke Fuchs. Other variants are more allegorical, moralized, political and satirical, using the Reynard themes to promote the views of the authors rather than as entertaining stories; these are titled Renart le Bestourné, Le Couronnement de Renart, Renart le Nouvel, and Le Roman de Renart le Contrefait.

The stories of Reynard the fox in all their variants continued to be popular long after the Middle Ages, and are still popular today. Over the centuries the stories have been adapted, expanded, bowdlerized, moralized, simplified and modernized; they have appeared in comic strips and movies; and there are numerous stories and illustrations of the characters available online.

Ysengrimus : Nivardus Gandavensis (Latin)

Ysengrimus is a Latin poem of 7,083 lines, written by Nivard de Gand (Latinized as Nivardus Gandavensis) around 1148 or 1149. It tells the story of Ysengrimus the wolf and Reinardus the fox; the wolf is the main character, instead of the fox as in Roman de Renart.

Ysengrimus is divided into 12 to 14 episodes in seven books, each a separate (but related) story. The overall theme is of the wolf suffering calamity because of his stupidity and greed; the fox contributes bad advice to ensure that the wolf has little success. The subjects of the episodes are (according to Thomas W. Best, who follows the structure set by Ernst Voigt):

1. The Ham (Book I, verses 1-528). The wolf encounters the fox, who offers him a ham belonging to a peasant. The wolf eats the entire ham, leaving nothing for the fox.
2. Ice fishing (Book I, verses 529-1064; Book II, verses 1-158). The fox says the wolf should eat fish, and teaches him how to catch them. Ysengrimus is told to stick his tail into a pond; the pond freezes and his tail caught in the ice. The trapped wolf is then beaten by peasants.
3. The Surveyor (Book II, verses 159-688). The wolf finds the fox and wants revenge. The fox tells him that there are four rams who want a field divided into quarters; the wolf enters the field and says the rams will be his dinner. The rams attack, nearly killing the wolf.
4. The Sick Lion (Book III, verses 1-1198). The lion is ill, and calls all his vassals to him. The wolf comes; the fox at first does not. When he finally arrives he claims he is late because he was searching for a cure. The "cure" he found required the lion to be wrapped in a wolf's fur; despite his protests Ysengrimus's hide is mostly stripped off to provide the pelt.
5. The Pilgrimage (Book IV, verses 1-810). Reinardus invites himself along when the goat goes on pilgrimage, and brings his friends along. Ysengrimus wants to join the party, but when he catches up with them at an inn the fox has already set out to trick him. He asks the innkeeper for a wolf head for dinner, and declaring the one he is shown to be too small, he repeatedly demands larger ones, which the innkeeper holds up for inspection. Ysengrimus is afraid and faints.
6. Sprotinus (Book IV, verses 811-1044; Book V, verses 1-316). The fox's companions are becoming afraid of him and want to abandon the pilgrimage. Sprotinus the cock leaves on his own, but the fox finds him in a barn and taunts him into closing his eyes. The fox seizes the cock, but later is tricked into letting him go.
7. The Monastery (Book V, verses 317-704; continued verses 821-1128). Reinardus, disguised as a monk, encounters Ysengrimus again, and gives him some cakes from a monastery. The wolf declares he wants to become a monk, so the fox takes him there and tonsures him, but all the wolf can think and talk of is eating sheep. He says the monks should make him bishop because of his covetousness, but instead they attack and severely wound him.
8. The Wolf Den (Book V, verses 705-812). While the wolf is at the monastery, the fox goes to the Ysengrimus's den where the wolf's wife has just given birth. Reinardus urinates and defecates on her cubs, and then rapes her.
9. The Stork (Book V, verses 1129-1166). In a story not involving either the wolf or the fox, a horse and a stork are standing in a swamp. The stork wants to be thought powerful so he sprays mud with his wings and warns the horse of his terrible claws. The horse flees.
10. The Kick (Book V, verses 1167-1322). The wolf meets the horse, and says he would run faster if he were thinner and so should give the wolf some of his meat. Instead the horse tricks the wolf into a position where he gets a kick in the head with the horse's hoof.
11. Swallowing Joseph (Book VI), verses 1-132). Reinardus finds Ysengrin still without his fur (having "donated" it to cure the sick lion), snapping at the flies tormenting him. The fox says the ram Joseph should compensate him for his trouble. Joseph has already been enlisted by the fox, and tells the wolf to open his jaws wide so he can jump in. The wolf does so, but is once again kicked in the head.
12. The Lion's Share (Book VI, verses 133-348). Ysengrimus's fur has grown back, so Reinardus decides to trick him into losing it again. The fox invites the lion to breakfast with the wolf and delivers a calf that the wolf slaughters and cooks. When the wolf offers the king only one third of the calf, the lion angrily rips his fur off again.
13. Perjury (Book VI, verses 349-550). Reinardus tells the wolf that the ass Carcophas owes him a debit, inherited from his father, and will give the wolf his hide in payment. The ass, who is in on the trick, asks the wolf to swear at the grave of a saint that the debt is real, but the supposed grave is actually a trap that catches Ysengrimus's foot. To escape, the wolf has to bite off his own paw.
14. Salaura (Book VII, verses 1-704). Ysengrimus meets the wild pig Salaura in the woods, where she is eating acorns. He asks to kiss her, but she knows his "kiss" would likely mean her death. She insists Mass must be celebrated first, and tells the wolf to bite her ear to summon the other pigs so she can sing the Mass. When the wolf does as she asks, she shrieks and the two are soon surrounded by all the other pigs, who eat the wolf alive as a sort of sacrifice.

Manuscripts

Letter designations by Ernst Voigt (page III-XV). Lowercase letters indicate that the manuscript has incomplete or fragmentary copies of the text.

Editions and Translations

Franz Joseph Mone, ed. Reinhart Fuchs aus dem neunten und zwöflten Jahrhundert [Edition]
Ernst Voigt, ed., Ysengrimus. Herausgegeben und erklärt von Ernst Voigt [Edition]
Jill Mann, ed., Ysengrimus: Text with Translations, Commentary and Introduction [English translation]
Michael Schilling, ed. Ysengrimus : Lateinisch-Deutsch [Latin edition and German translation]
Albert Schönfelder, ed., Isengrimus: das flämische Tierepos aus dem Lateinischen verdeutscht [German translation]
Elisabeth Charbonnier, trans., Le roman d'Ysengrin [French translation]
Thomas W. Best, Reynard the Fox [Summary and commentary]

Le Roman de Renart : Multiple Authors (French)

The Roman de Renart is a collection of stories (called "branches") written by multiple authors during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, in old French rhymed verse. The authors are almost all unknown, though some of the branches (particularly two of the earliest, II and Va) are attributed to the Norman writer Pierre de Saint-Cloud, who was active in the late twelfth century. Roman de Renart, which is often translated as the "Novel of Renart", is not a novel in the modern sense; while the branches all relate to each other, each is a separate story, not part of a unified narrative.

See the Extras tab above for a list of branches with summaries and distribution in the manuscripts.

The animal stories are not overtly moralized like the animals in works like the Physiologus. They instead appear to be intended as satirical entertainments, with the animals acting like badly behaved humans of the twelfth century. They frequently mock the nobility and the clergy, and overturn the supposed religious and moral standards of the time. None of the animal characters can be seen as "good" or heroic; they are are all flawed in many ways. They lie, cheat, steal and kill; they switch sides in conflicts and often betray their friends, allies and relations; many are gullible, falling for schemes that would seem to the reader to be obvious deceptions; they rarely learn from their mistakes, or if they do, they learn the wrong lesson; in short, they are bad examples.

Manuscripts

Main group with uppercase letter designations by Ernest Martin unless otherwise noted.

Fragments or incomplete with lowercase letter designations by Ernest Martin unless otherwise noted.

Manuscript Groups

The Roman de Renart manuscripts are grouped into families of related texts.

• Alpha family : A, D, E, F, G, N
• Beta family: B, K, L
• Gamma family: C, M
• Independent/composite: H, I, O

Editions and Translations

Ernest Martin, Le Roman de Renart [Edition]
M. D. M Méon, Le Roman du Renart. Publié d'après les manuscrits de la Bibliothèque du roi [Edition]
Jean Dufournet, Le Roman de Renart [Edition, modern French translation]
Naoyuki Fukomoto, Le roman de Renart [Edition, modern French translation]
Armand Strubel et al, ed. Le Roman de Renart [Edition, modern French translation]
Patricia Ann Terry, Renard the Fox [partial English translation]

Renart le Bestourné (Reynard Transformed) : Rutebeuf (French)

Renart le Bestourné (Reynard Transformed) is the shortest of the Reynard versions, at only 162 lines. It was written around 1261-1269 by Rutebeuf, a French poet. It is a satirical derivation of the Roman le Renart that uses some of the Reynard characters to represent contemporary political and religious figures, including King Louis IX of France. The poem does not tell any of the Reynard stories. It begins (Nigel Bryant translation, page 60):

Reynard has died. Reynard is risen!
The Fox is foul, the Fox is base,
But Reynard reigns!

Edward Billings Ham says:

...Renart le Bestourné, written probably in 1268 or 1269, stresses a military exploit from which the author anticipates nothing save disaster. It is natural that an adverse critic in the France of the twelve-sixties would not discuss Louis IX and Charles of Anjou with impunity. Thus, if the pope himself feels unable to deter the king from the proposed crusade, how shall a poet of lesser station voice his dissent except by the avenues of parody and symbol? Therefore, to summarize this survey of a poem on inept economy and inept militarism, my interpretation is reviewed in a paraphrase synopsis of Renart le Bestourné, as follows: “Corruption (i.e., Renart) can be put down,” says Rutebeuf, “from time to time, but never for good. In fact, corruption is overrunning France. Like Renart in the old fable, corruption was to have been abolished when the fox was hanged, but actually neither was ever suppressed. I, Rutebeuf, was being naïf when I still thought it could be done."

Rutebeuf ends his poem on a bitter note (Nigel Bryant translation, page 64):

• I have in mind the proverb where it says:
• "Those who want it all lose all they’ve got."
• And quite right, too.
• This is the point it’s got to now:
• Every beast around would be glad to see
• The coming of the Leopard!
• If Lord Noble were left neck-deep in briers
• You would not hear one in a thousand moan,
• And that’s a fact.
• There’s talk of impending war and battle.
• That’s fine by me – as long as it all ends badly.

Manuscripts

There are three manuscript copies of the text, all in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. None are illustrated. Letter designations by Edward Billings Ham.

Editions and Translations

Achille Jubinal, Renart le Bestourné, ou ci encoumence li Diz de Renart le Bestournei [Edition]
Edward Billings Ham, Renart le bestorné [Edition, English prose translation]
Nigel Bryant, The New Reynard: Three Satires [English Translation]

Le Couronnement de Renart (Reynard Crowned) : Anonymous (French)

Le Couronnement de Renart was written in the mid-thirteenth century, probably in Flanders. Nothing is known of the author. He seems to have been well-read, and shows this off in one long passage where he lists all of the animals that Ysengrin recruits to his side in his travels around the world. The list is taken directly from the Liber de natura rerum, an encyclopedia by Thomas of Cantimpré, written around 1230-1245. This suggests the author of Le Couronnement de Renart had access to Thomas's text and could read Latin; possibly he was a cleric.

In this version of the tale, Reynard's wife Hermeline asks him why he is not yet king, since he so obviously deserves it. Reynard declares that he soon will be King Noble's successor. After tricking some of the other animals, the fox visits the Dominican and Franciscan friars, and becomes a member of both orders. Disguised in his monk's robes, he goes to see King Noble the lion. The king is unwell, near death, and wants to name a successor. Reynard (as a monk) praises himself highly and recommends himself as successor to the king. The hedgehog and the ram are appointed to name the next king, and they choose Reynard, who on the death of Noble is duly crowned.

One of the main themes of Le Couronnement de Renart is the medieval concept of social status. A person is born into a specific status in society (noble or commoner, wealthy or poor) and should not try to rise higher; doing so is seen as at best foolish and at worst catastrophic. God has ordained a person's role in life, and that is the role they must play out. This, of course, favors the highborn, who can use the concept to maintain their position and suppress the lowborn. The author makes this clear (Nigel Bryant translation, page 74, 81-82):

...a lowborn man who’s learned nothing of honour can hardly serve an emperor. You must surely realise you can’t turn a kite into a heron. I promise you this: you won’t get much joy from the service of a lowborn; if he had his lord’s favour and was given stewardship of all his land, he’d start a conflict with a neighbour or someone else which, when he’d no understanding of honour, would embroil his lord in awful trouble. You should never get involved with lowborn men – it does no good at all. ...the covetous man makes a big mistake if he has what he needs but enviously craves something that brings him in the end only trouble and shame. That’s the way with many folk who endlessly look for better bread than is their due: wheaten bread is not meant for them – they should stick to oaten stuff. Such folk are not content with being bled from a humble vein – they insist on using an artery!

Though Reynard's rise to king of the land does him no real harm, it causes the corruption and destabilization of his society, to the detriment of everyone. The land under King Reynard is definitely much worse off than it was under King Noble.

Manuscripts

Le Couronnement de Renart text appears in only one known manuscript, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fr. 1446.

Editions and Translations

Alfred Foulet, Le couronnement de Renard, poème du treizième siècle [Edition]
Nigel Bryant, The New Reynard: Three Satires [English Translation]

Renart le Nouvel (The New Reynard) : Jacquemart Gielée (French)

The New Reynard is a long late thirteenth century satirical poem in two books, based on the Roman de Renart but with many differences. It is attributed to the otherwise unknown author Jacquemart Gielée, with his name appearing at the end of the second book. The two books, written at different times, are probably by different authors.

This version of Reynard is unique in that it includes musical lyrics and notation for songs the characters sing to each other at several points in the story.

In manuscript Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fr. 1581 (L), the musical notation is incomplete, with only one refrain finished. The other three manuscripts have musical notation complete for all refrains. The refrains are short, one or two lines.

Renart le Nouvel uses the Reynard stories and themes to warn of a pending apocalypse, caused by the sins of humanity and particularly of the clergy. At the beginning of the second book, the author says (Bryant translation, page 180):

Love and Charity and God are all one thing, and it’s a great sorrow when we pitifully fail to have perfect love. For with it we may have God and charity; but these days we’re keener to have gold and silver: people are afire with Avarice – almost everyone in the world. And those who should be most free of it are the most befouled of all. It’s the clergy I mean: we ought to be cleansed by the example of their good works, but many who open their preaching mouths and instruct us to be good are anything but. No one is improved by them, and the world’is devoid of virtue and full of vice. ... Let’s be strong; then the Lord who did brave battle on the cross will be with us. But we give little thought to His death: our hearts are too consumed by Covetousness and Hate and Envy – and by Reynard, who’s alive and flourishing in this world, and what a grievous pity it is. But to drive Reynard from the realm – that is, our hearts – I’ll tell you another branch of his story. I despise him: that’s why I’m telling it. If it please God it’ll make a good few – cleric and lay alike – mend their ways and cast out Reynard.

As with Roman de Renart, the story begins with Noble the lion summoning all of his animal subjects to court. There follows a long list of the animals who attended. Noble wants to knight his son Pride; the name is significant, being one of the seven deadly sins. The king dresses his son in clothes given allegorical meaning: padding stuffed with disdain and scorn; a shirt made from braggartry, mail of envy, a cuirass of threats, a surcoat of vanity, a shield emblazoned with a lion rampant to signify treachery and discord, a helmet of covetousness and a sword of hate and cruelty. (This allegorizing of objects continues throughout the poem.) After celebrating mass, they all hold a tournament; the king's youngest son, Lionel, does best and receives the prize. Pride is furious that Ysengrin beat him in the tournament; together with Reynard and their allies he conspires against Ysengrin, and at the next tournament, which turns into a full-scale battle, Reynard stabs Ysengrin with a dagger, thinking to kill him. Ysengrin survives, but Reynard kills his son Primaut. The king, hearing of this treachery, declares that whoever is responsible will be executed. Reynard is named as the killer, but escapes before he can be captured, returning to his castle Maupertuis, where he believes he will be safe. Noble orders an attack on the castle, but the walls are too strong to be easily breached. The king's forces set up siege engines and eventually get into the castle, where Reynard's forces kill and wound many of them, showing no mercy. The king's forces retreat in despair. That night Reynard and his allies attack the king's camp and capture Pride, who does not really resist the "capture", as he is Reynard's ally. The fox retreats to his castle with Pride, but Reynard's son Roussel is captured by the king, to the fox's great dismay. In the castle, Pride is honored with visits by six princesses of the house, named Wrath, Envy, Greed, Sloth, Lust and Gluttony. Then Pride is crowned and given a golden scepter, sent to him from Hell by Proserpine as a symbol of how Pride will be emperor of this world. At this the author remarks, "What the Father had the Son redeem on the cross, Pride sends down to Hell" and continues with a speech by Pride where he elaborates the author's moral.

Reynard disguises himself as a Franciscan friar, and goes to Noble's camp to rescue his son Roussel, who is to be executed. The fox as monk convinces the king to allow the captives to give confession before their death. Reynard's trickery and cunning allows all of the captives to escape to Reynard's castle Maupertuis.

Manuscripts

There are four manuscripts containing the text of Renart le Nouvel, all at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Manuscripts C, L and V are illustrated.

Editions and Translations

Henri Roussel, Renart le nouvel, de Jacquemart Giélée [Edition]
Nigel Bryant, The New Reynard: Three Satires [English Translation]
Jules Houdy, Renart Le Nouvel: Roman Satirique par Jacquemart Giélée de Lille [Study]

Le Roman de Renart le Contrefait : "Cleric from Troyes" (French)

Le Roman de Renart le Contrefait ("Renart the counterfeit") was written by an unnamed "cleric from Troyes", who was forced to leave the clergy because he did not remain celibate. He then took up the spice trade but abandoned it to write.

According to Raynaud and Lemaître (page V-VI):

In composing Renart le Contrefait he wanted, not to imitate the Roman de Renart but to imitate Renart, to take on his mask, his character, "To say in covert writing / What he did not dare to say in appearance", and thus to be able, within the framework of animal tales, to scourge the whole of society of which he believed he had cause to complain, and especially the high clergy and the nobility.

Renart le Contrefait was written in two redactions, the first between 1319 and 1322 (manuscript A), the second between 1328 and 1342 (the two B manuscripts). The first redaction follows the Roman de Renart more closely than does the second; it is also shorter and not as well written.

The longer second redaction (over 41,000 lines of verse plus a multi-page prose section) tells some of the Renart stories, but excludes or modifies others. It also includes long passages from other genres, such as the history of Alexander the Great, the biblical story of Joseph and the Pharaoh, the story of the sixth century Frankish king Sigebert, and others. It is divided into eight branches (chapters). The following summary is adapted from Raynaud and Lemaître (page IX-XX).

Branch I: King Noble the lion summons all of his animal subjects to court; on Reynard's advice the assembly decides that the rich can call themselves nobles and will receive all of the wealth and honors, while the poor get nothing. At the home of Ysengrin the wolf, his wife Hersent berates him for being too lazy to hunt for meat or to be amorous with her; Ysengrin leaves and meets Barbue the goat and decides to eat him; Barbue agrees to be eaten if he cannot prove his charter rights to his meadow; Barbue recruits two dogs to help him by quoting passages from Solomon, Cicero, Seneca and others; Ysengrin meets Reynard, who advises the wolf to give up his plan to eat the goat, providing examples of the misfortunes of many notables (Rehoboam, Croesus, the Templars, etc.); Ysengrin is then torn apart by the dogs, to Reynard's pleasure.

Branch II: This branch the by far longest of the eight with over 19,000 lines of verse plus a long prose section. It is similar in outline to Branch I of the Roman de Renart, but there are many digressions from the story. Ysengrin goes to the court of King Noble to complain about Reynard's treatment of Hersent his wife; Noble dismisses the complaint and puts all the blame on Hersent; Tibert the cat is sent to bring Reynard to court, but the fox's trickery causes the cat to be beaten by villagers; Tibert returns to court and Noble sends Grimbert the badger to get Reynard; The fox comes to court, rejects the complaints against him and tells Noble he is a doctor; Noble condemns Reynard to death, but is persuaded to free him. Through the whole episode the characters, particularly Reynard, tell long stories about historical figures and events and give examples from early biblical narratives. The longest section, at over 10,000 lines, has Reynard reciting the history of Alexander the Great. Noble then asks Reynard to provide a history of the world, and in a multi-page prose account the fox does so in great detail.

Branch III: Reynard is old and sick and feels he will soon die; he hears a peasant outside his house complaining that his lord took all his goods as punishment for his disobedience; Reynard warns the peasant about the dangers of pride, telling him of many others who were undone by their pride.

Branch IV: This branch has some of the elements of Branches IV (Reynard in the well) and VIII and (Reynard's pilgrimage) of the Roman de Renart. Reynard, seeing he is old and near death, decides to go to a hermit to confess his sins; he confesses he has lived by theft; the hermit tells Reynard to repent; the fox replies that he cannot repent of his thefts from nobles, clerics and the mendicant orders of monks, because they oppress the poor. The hermit refuses to absolve the fox and says he should go on pilgrimage to Rome. Reynard dresses as a pilgrim and sets off; he is joined by Bellin the sheep and Fromont; the three soon become frightened by the length of the journey they have undertaken, abandon the pilgrimage and return home. Reynard meets Tiécelin the crow who tells him not to eat his young because they are the most beautiful birds; Reynard says he will not, but eats them anyway. The fox is hungry and goes to an abbey to get food, but the monks are poor and have nothing to give him except water from their well; he lowers himself into the well in a bucket, but then cannot get out; Ysengrin the wolf arrives and the fox persuades him to come down in the other bucket, lifting Reynard out and leaving the wolf trapped; the people of the abbey find the wolf and beat him. When Reynard's wife and children complain of hunger, he gives a long speech with many examples of people who have sinned.

Branch V: Reynard takes his eldest son, Percehaie, on an expedition to raid a hen house; Percehaie is caught, and to save himself Reynard leaves his son to be killed. After staying hidden for some time, Reynard goes to a forest where he meets Brichemer the stag, who playfully carries the fox around on his horns before throwing him to the ground, causing the fox to be injured. Returning home, Reynard meets Brun the bear, who in trying to be friendly plays roughly with the fox, leaving him unconscious on the ground.

Branch VI: Reynard hears barking dogs and tries to flee, but is caught by a peasant; the fox escapes by biting the peasant, then complains of his misfortunes and compares them to the misfortunes of historical figures. When the fox approaches a hen house the hens flee, but are calmed by Chantecler the cock; Chantecler dreams of being captured; Pinte his wife disparages him for his fears; Chantecler sees the fox and shouts at him to go away; Reynard says he has converted and has only good intentions, but then tricks the cock and grabs him in his mouth; Chantecler uses Reynard's vanity against him, encouraging the fox to taunt his pursuers; Reynard opens his mouth to do so and Chantecler escapes.

Branch VII: Reynard meets the priest Hubert the kite and asks him to hear his confession. In a long passage that invokes the scientific knowledge of the time (the four elements, the seven planets, the calendar and astrology, the measure of the earth and planets) as well as biblical examples of sin, Reynard confesses to having committed the sins of pride, anger, greed, lust and gluttony; when Hubert asks Reynard if he has done anything to mitigate his sins, the fox recites a list of abuses he innovated, and launches into a satirical account of the corruptions he sees in his society.

Branch VIII: The final branch does not involve Reynard at all. Tibert the cat delivers a sermon about how people think only of the present, not about the fate that awaits them if they continue to sin; he says evil is everywhere, and even the clergy succumbs to it; love is a dangerous thing and women play a harmful role. Tibert then meets a tigress who has not eaten in seven years; she says she is searching for a faithful and obedient woman as her prey, but the women she sees in the market only complain about their husbands and praise their lovers; the tigress says an honest worker would do as prey, but finding only cheats and thieves she declares she will wait for better prey. The poem concludes with praise for patience.

Manuscripts

Letter designations are from Raynaud and Lemaître.

Editions and Translations

Gaston Raynaud, Henri Lemaître, ed., Le roman de Renart le Contrefait [Edition, second redaction]
Corinne Pierreville, ed., Renart le Contrefait, édité d'après le manuscrit BnF fr. 1630 [Edition, first redaction]

Le dit de la queue de Renart (French)

Le dit de la queue de Renart ("What is said of Renart's tail") is a satirical fourteenth century Old French poem of 192 lines. The author is unknown. It is embedded in the Rosarius, a text on symbolism related to the Virgin Mary that also includes the Bestiaire Marial. It seems out of place in its context. The poem uses the Reynard the Fox genre as a basis for social commentary; it does not tell any of the Reynard stories. "Renart's tail" is used as a symbol of Reynard's corrupting influence on the church and society in general. Priests, monks, Jacobins, Cordeliers and the beguines, under their copes all have Renart, says the author; Renart is seen as an abbot or a monk, a dean, a crowned priest; when he wants the alms he takes them; all is at his command, and everything is done by his art; no one has power over Renart. The poem lists multiple professions and encourages them to get their share of "Renart's tail": "Armorers and furbishers, / Gainiers, table-makers, embroiderers, / Go and get your share / Of Renart's tail. ... Messengers and woodcutters / Tavern keepers and candlestick makers, / Run as fast as your fellows / To take your share of Renart". The author ends by saying Renart will stumble because he has climbed too high; Renart will have to fall to the Lion, the lord of beasts.

Le dit de la queue de Renart is found in one manuscript, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fr. 12483 (folio 240r-241r). A transcription of the text of the poem is available in the Digital Text Library.

Van den vos Reynaerde [Reynaert I] and Reynaerts historie [Reynaert II] (Middle Dutch)

The poem Van den vos Reynaerde is written in rhyming Middle Dutch verse. It is relatively short at just over 3460 lines.

The author of the Middle Dutch poem identifies himself in the first line of the prologue: he says he is Willem die Madocke maecte ("Willem who made Madock"). No poem or text titled "Madocke" is known, and little else is known about the author other than what is implied in the text: the language is that of East Flanders, where Willem probably lived; he was well educated and knew something about law; he was familiar with the Old French Roman de Renart, on which his text was based. Willem also "signs" the poem by embedding his name ("Bi Willeme", by Willem) in the first letters of the last nine lines (from André Bouwman and Bart Besamusca, page 244):

Van den vos Reynaerde is not an exact translation of the French Roman de Renart, but it is clearly based on that text. The first part of the text closely follows Branch I of Renart, commonly called Le Plaid, where Reynard is summoned to the court of King Noble the lion to respond to the complaints of several animals about the fox's trickery, deceipt, abuse and murder. As in the Roman de Renart, Reynard refuses the summons, so Bruin the bear is sent to bring him; instead Reynard tricks the bear, resulting in him receiving serious wounds. Tibert the cat is then sent, but is also tricked and nearly killed. Finally Grimbart the badger convinces Reynard to appear at court, where he is convicted and sentenced to hang, but as usual avoids the punishment. Unlike in the French story where King Nobel pardons Reynard out of compassion, in the Dutch story Reynard tricks Noble by promising to show him to a large cache of jewels; the greed of the lion causes him to fall for the trick and Reynard escapes.

The next episode is not found in Roman de Renart, but clearly shows Reynard's cruelty. The fox declares that he will go on pilgrimage to Rome, but to do so he will need a pilgrim's scrip (pouch) and some sturdy shoes. Bruin the bear and Ysengrin the wolf have been arrested by King Noble and are in chains in Reynard's presence; the fox gets the queen to order that a square-foot strip of skin be cut from the bear's back for the scrip, and that the skin of Ysengrin's front paws and his wife Hersent's rear paws be torn off to provide the shoes. This is done, and Reynard mocks his victims as they suffer their bloody wounds (for this episode, see the sample on the Texts page).

Van den vos Reynaerde was used as the basis for Middle English translations/adaptations by Geoffrey Chaucer in The Nun's Priest's Tale (part of the Canterbury Tales) and William Caxton in The Historye of Reynart the Fox.

A quote from André Bouwman (in Of Reynaert the Fox : Text and Facing Translation of the Middle Dutch Beast Epic Van den vos Reynaerde, page19-20) sums up the theme of this Reynard variant:

The action in Van den vos Reynaerde consists mainly of conflict situations in which characters are pitted against one another. The conflicts are caused by Reynaert. In his encounters with Cuwaert, with Canticleer and his children, with Ysingrijn in the priest’s barn and on the roof beam of a house, with Cuwaert and Bellin at Maupertuis, he is always the aggressor. In the confrontation with Bruun and Tybeert as the king’s messengers as well as with King Nobel himself, he responds to the court community that wishes to make him toe the line. Each time the fox manages to exploit the weaknesses of his opponents and to turn the situation to his own advantage by tricking them in an ingenious way.

Manuscripts

There are only two known complete manuscripts, A and F; the others are fragments. None of the manuscripts are illustrated. Uppercase letter designations are from Jan Goossens and/or André Bouwman/Bart Besamusca; lowercase letter designations are from Ernst Martin.

Editions and Translations

F. Buitenrust Hettema, Hermann Degering, Van den Vos Reynaerde [Edition]
Willem Lodewijk van Helten, Van den vos Reynaerde [Diplomatic edition]

Reinhart Fuchs : Heinrich der Glîchezâre (Old High German)

Reinhart Fuchs is a 2268 line poem in Middle High German by Heinrich der Glîchezâre (or Glichesere, Gleißner, Glïchezäre), probably written in the late twelfth century (circa 1180). The original title may have been "Isengrïnes nöt" (Isengrin's trouble), based on the fragmentary Kassel manuscript; the two later manuscripts give the title as Reineke Fuchs or Reinhart Fuchs.

Nothing is known about Heinrich other than his name. "Glîchezâre" is not his last name or the name of the place where he lived; the word means hypocrite or liar, and may have been attached to Heinrich later, based on the character of Reynard.

While Reinhart Fuchs is clearly based on the French Roman de Renart, it is not an exact translation. Heinrich rearranged the episodes to produce a unified story, in contrast to the branches of the French version which are more independent of each other and are often out of order chronologically. According to Hermann Büttner (volume 2, page 33-34):

The form of the Roman de Renart, consisting of individual, independent branches, could not serve the Glichesaere in shaping its satirical tendencies: he therefore, as already mentioned, transformed the French collection into a cohesive whole. We can describe the differences that arise between the two poems more precisely as follows: The Roman de Renart is a collection of individual, unconnected stories (branches), each of which, growing out of tradition, has its premises only in this, and not in any other, branch. The fact that each branch represents a poem in itself makes a multiple repetition of situations and motifs possible. The Reinhart Fuchs is held together by a unified, if often only superficially connected, plot within which each individual story always presupposes what has already been told, whereas outside the poem, just like the poem itself as a whole, it has no presuppositions whatsoever. A repetition of situations and motifs does not occur, except where they are of a very general nature. ... The poet of the Reinhart Fuchs removes what gives the individual stories of the Roman de Renart their independence and completeness; ... he builds each new story on what has gone before; he seeks to differentiate similarities and avoid repetitions of any kind.

The chapters of Reinhart Fuchs are (from Brian Murdoch):

1. The Fox and the Cockerel
2. The Fox and the Bluetit
3. The Fox and the Crow
4. The Fox and the Dogs
5. The Fox and the Tomcat
6. The Fox and the Wolf
7. The Fox and the She-Wolf
8. The Wolf and the Ham
9. The Wolf and the Wine
10. The Fox and the Ass
11. Kunin
12. The Wolf’s Tonsure
13. The Wolf Goes Fishing
14. The Fox, the Wolf, and the Well
15. A Day in Court
16. The Ants and the Lion
17. The Great Assembly and the Saintly Chicken
18. The Bear and the Honey
19. The Tomcat and the Mice
20. The Badger, the Fox, and the Sick Lion
21. The Elephant and the Camel
22. The Murder of the King

Manuscripts

There are three manuscripts of Reinhart Fuchs; one is a fragment.

Editions and Translations

Jacob Grimm, Sendschreiben an Karl Lachmann von Jacob Grimm über Reinhart Fuchs [Edition]
Karl Reissenberger, ed., Reinhart Fuchs [Edition]
Karl-Heinz Göttert, Heinrich der Glîchezâre: Reinhart Fuchs [Edition, modern German translation]
Brian Murdoch, ed. Three Political Tales from Medieval Germany [English translation]

The Vox and the Wolf (Middle English)

The Vox and the Wolf (Middle English Of þe vox and of þe wolf) is a poem of 295 lines of Middle English rhyming verse, written in England in the last quarter of the thirteenth century. The author is unknown. It is one of three Middle English versions of the Reynard the Fox genre; the others are Geoffery Chaucer's The Nun's Priest's Tale (part of the Canterbury Tales) and William Caxton's The Historye of Reynart the Fox.

The story is of the fox and the wolf in a well, which is also told in Aesop's Fables (Perry number 593), the Roman de Renart (branch IV), the Le Roman de Renart le Contrefait (branch IV), and Reinhart Fuchs (chapter 14). The story of Reynard and Chanticleer is told in Branch II of Roman de Renart. The text is not identical to the earlier tellings, but the basic story line is the same. In this text, the fox is named Reneuard and wolf is Sigrim.

The fox Reneuard goes to a monastery where finds the cock Canticleer with his flock of hens. The cock flies to a high place and asks the fox what he is doing, and says he should go home. Reynard tells to cock he should come down, because he means no harm, but then he kills and eats two hens. The fox is thirsty after his meal, so he goes to the monastery well to drink, climbs into a bucket hanging over the well, and falls to the bottom, where he is trapped. When the wolf Sigrim arrives, the fox convinces him the bottom of the well is Paradise and invites him to come down; the wolf climbs into a second bucket, which drops into the well and pulls the bucket Reynard is in to the top of the well. The fox escapes, but the wolf is now trapped. In the morning the monks come to the well for water; finding the wolf there they pull him out and give him a severe beating.

According to George H. McKnight (page 499):

The story as told in our English tale and in the French Roman, has several important features that distinguish it from a pure fable. We may mention the personal relations between fox and wolf, the individual names, Reneuard, or Renard, and Sigrim, or Isengrim, the distinctively human notion of an earthly paradise and the amusing shrift of Sigrim preparatory to entering this paradise, and most distinctive of all, the feature peculiar to the ordinary French version, where Isengrim mistakes the reflection of his face in the water for that of his wife Hersent and suspects her of adulterous relations with Renard.

Manuscripts

The text appears in only one manuscript, Bodleian Library, MS. Digby 86.

Editions and Translations

George H. McKnight, ed., Middle English Humorous Tales in Verse [Transcript]
J.A.W. Bennett, G.V. Smithers, ed. Early Middle English Text and Prose [Transcript]

Nun's Priest's Tale : Geoffrey Chaucer (Middle English)

Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1387–1400) includes an episode called The Nun's Priest's Tale. In it the priest tells the Renardian story of Chanticleer the cock and a marauding fox. The source of this tale is controversial: some say it was Aesop's fable of the cock and the fox; others say it was the French Roman de Renart, either directly or indirectly; and some say it was the German Reineke Fuchs, which it resembles most closely. There are also similarities to Branch VI of Le Roman de Renart le Contrefait. Chaucer modified the story for his own purposes, but it is clearly derived from the Reynard genre.

The priest tells of an old widow woman who lives in a cottage with her two daughters. They have a variety of livestock, including the cock Chanticleer and his seven wives. The cock has a dream where he is attacked by a dog-like beast and killed. His wife Pertelote says that dreams do not mean anything, are caused by indigestion, and should be ignored; she then berates her husband for his fearfulness. Believing dreams to foretell the future, Chanticleer gives a long speech telling of historical figures who had prophetic dreams but ignored them, to their regret. In the end the cock follows his wife's advice and takes no precautions. Later an unnamed fox (clearly Reynard) sneaks into the hen yard and conceals himself in vegetation. Chanticleer sees the fox, but never having seen one before, does not know what it is. Alarmed, he begins to crow and prepares to flee. The fox reassures him that he means no harm, and only came to hear the cock sing, saying that he knew Chanticleer's father, a great singer, though the son is better. Flattered by the fox's praise, Chanticleer stands up high, closes his eyes and begins to crow loudly. The fox immediately seizes the cock by the throat and starts to carry him away, but the hens see this and their outcry rouses the widow, and she and her daughters, the nearby men and their dogs, and even the widow's livestock pursue the fox with a great deal of shouting and blowing of trumpets. The fleeing fox defies his pursuers and declares he will eat the cock. With this distraction the cock escapes the fox's mouth and flies up into a tree; the fox apologizes to the cock, and urges him him to come down so the fox can explain his actions. Chanticleer declines the invitation, saying he will never again allow flattery to sway him. The fox, defeated, says "God give him mischance / Who is so indiscreet in governance / He chatters when he ought to hold his peace".

The Nun's Priest's Tale is one of three Middle English versions of the Reynard the Fox genre; the others are The Vox and the Wolf and William Caxton's The Historye of Reynart the Fox.

Editions and Translations

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Nun's Priest's Tale [Modern English adjacent to Middle English]
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Nun's Priest's Tale [Middle and modern English]

Historye of Reynart the Fox : William Caxton (Middle English)

William Caxton (c. 1422 – c. 1491) was the first printer/publisher in England. He published a Middle English version of the Reynard stories, which he translated from the Dutch Van den vos Reynaerde. The first edition of Caxton’s translation was finished at Westminster in June 1481. There was a second edition in 1489, of which the only known copy is in the Pepys Library at Cambridge. Only 200-300 copies were printed of the first edition, and surviving copies are now very rare. Says Caxton in his colophon to the 1481 edition: "For I haue not added ne mynusshed but haue folowed as nyghe as I can my copye whiche was in dutche and by me william Caxton translated in to this rude and symple englyssh in thabbey of westmestre. Fynysshed the vj daye of Iuyn the yere of our lord M.CCCC.Lxxxj and the XXJ yere of the regne of kynge Edward the iiijth".

While Historye of Reynart the Fox is not an exact translation of the Dutch version, it closely follows the Van den vos Reynaerde story line, only deviating in minor ways, though some of the character names changed in translation to Middle English, and their spelling is inconsistent.

The book is one of three Middle English versions of the Reynard the Fox genre; the others are Geoffery Chaucer's The Nun's Priest's Tale (part of the Canterbury Tales) and The Vox and the Wolf.

Caxton's introduction to the book suggests he saw it as being useful for moral instruction; we are to read of Reynard's depravity and deceits not to emulate them but to better avoid them.

In this historye ben wreton the parables / goode lerynge / and dyuerse poyntes to be merkyd / by whiche poyntes men maye lerne to come to the subtyl knoweleche of suche thynges as dayly ben vsed and had in the counseyllys of lordes and prelates gostly and worldly / and / also emonge marchantes and other comone peple / And this booke is maad for nede and prouffyte of alle god folke / As fer as they in redynge or heeryng of it shal mowe vnderstande and fele the forsayd subtyl deceytes that dayly ben vsed in the worlde / not to thentente that men shold vse them but that euery man shold eschewe and kepe hym from the subtyl false shrewis that they be not deceyuyd / Thenne who that wyll haue the very vnderstandyng of this mater / he muste ofte and many tymes rede in thys boke and ernestly and diligently marke wel that he redeth / ffor it is sette subtylly / lyke as ye shal see in redyng of it / and not ones to rede it ffor a man shal not wyth ones ouer redyng fynde the ryght vnderstandyng ne comprise it wel / but oftymes to rede it shal cause it wel to be vnderstande / And for them that vnderstandeth it / it shall be right Ioyous playsant and prouffitable - [from Edmund Goldsmid]

In this history been written the parables / and diverse points to be marked / by which points men may learn to come to the subtle knowledge of such things as daily be used and had in the councils of lords and prelates ghostly and worldly / and / also among merchants and other common people / And this book is made for need and profit of all good folk / As far as they in reading or hearing of it shall more understand and feel the forsaid subtle deceits that daily been used in the world / not to the intent that men should use them but that every man should eschew and keep him from the subtle false shrews that they not be deceived / Then who will have the very understanding of this matter / he must often and many times read in this book and earnestly and dilligently mark well that he reads / For it is set subtly / like as you shall see in reading of it / and not once to read it for a man shall not with one over reading find the right understanding nor comprehend it well / but often times to read it shall cause it to be understood / And for them that understand it / it shall be right joyous pleasant and profitable

Says Henry Morley:

Caxton’s translation is, as the reader will find, free, vigorous, and lively; but, as printed by himself, it is not only without breaks of paragraph, but there is a punctuation in which the end of one sentence is now and then detached from its own connection and joined to the beginning of another, and in various ways the pleasant features of the story are seen dimly sometimes as through a veil.

Editions and Translations

William Caxton, The Hystorye of Reynard the Fox [First edition, 1481]
Edward Arber, ed., The History of Reynard the Fox, Translated and Printed by William Caxton June 1481 [Transcription]
Edmund Goldsmid, ed., The History of Reynard the Fox. Translated and printed by William Caxton, 1481 [Transcription]
Henry Morley, The History of Reynard the Fox [Corrected edition]

Reynardus Vulpes : Boudewijn de Jonghe (Latin)

Reynardus Vulpes is a translation into Latin of the Dutch Van den vos Reynaerde. It was created by Boudewijn de Jonghe or Balduinus Iuvenis, that is Baldwin the younger. All that is known of him comes from the prologue and epilogue to the poem. He dedicates the work to Jan van Vlaanderen, provost of Bruges. The year in which Jan was born is not known, but he was bishop of Metz in 1280; since Boudewijn calls him the provost of Bruges, he had already finished the poem before 1280, probably around 1278.

The text closely follows the story line of the Van den vos Reynaerde, though Boudewijn added moralizations in some 15 places. The poem is 1851 lines of Latin verse, whereas the Van den vos Reynaerde is over 3400 lines of Dutch verse.

As in the Van den vos Reynaerde and the Roman de Renart, the story starts with King Noble the lion summoning all his animal subjects to court; all come except Reynard. The animals complain to the king of the fox's malicious crimes, with only Grimbert the badger defending him. The king sends Brun the bear to bring Reynard to court, but Reynard tricks the bear by promising him honey, then leads him into a trap that results in severe injury. The king next sends Tibert the cat to summon the fox to court, but Reynard tricks him into believing the fox can show him where he can find many mice, and as with the bear the outcome is injury to the cat. Referring to the fight between Tibert and a priest who loses his genitals to the cat, Boudewijn interjects with a condemnation of clerics (lines 552-561):

• Here are well indicated the manners of priests
• Who are incestuous and cultivate luxury.
• They are rightly said to be naked in virtue, in shame
• When none of these crimes and luxury is ashamed.
• They lose their testicles when they are womanly through evils
• And flee from being men with soft actions.
• Thus they come into the people's derision, they dishonor
• Themselves through luxury and gluttonous evils.

The king finally sends Grimbert the badger to Reynard's castle, where the badger tells the fox the king will destroy him and his family if he does not come. Frightened, Reynard agrees and they set out for court. The fox professes remorse for his sins and asks Grimbert to hear his confession so he can be absolved. Reynard confesses to many crimes against Ysengrin the wolf and the other animals. When they arrive at court Reynard tries to convince the king of his innocence, to no avail; the other animals demand Reynard's death, and the king condemns him to be hanged. A gallows is prepared where the fox is to be executed, but Reynard tells the king that he knows where a great treasure is buried, and offers to to reveal it if the king spares him; out of greed the king agrees. Reynard's trickery continues, and in the end he not only escapes death but causes the king to turn on Ysengrin and Brun.

Reynard announces he will go pilgrimage to Rome, but says a pilgrim needs a scrip (traveler's pouch) and sturdy shoes. He convinces the queen that she should supply these items at the expense of the bear and the fox. With Brun, Ysengrin and his wife in chains, the queen has a square foot of hide to be stripped from the bear to make the scrip, and orders the front paws of Ysengrin and the rear paws of his wife to be skinned to make the shoes. When this is done, Reynard mocks the animals as they lie wounded and bloody.

Manuscripts

No manuscripts of Reynardus Vulpes are known to have survived. The only source for the poem is a printed edition from 1474, where the text is titled Incipit Reynardus vulpes feliciter. Two copies of the book are known. One was discovered in the mid-nineteenth century in the Athenaeum Library, Deventer, Netherlands; the other, an identical copy, was found in 1967 in Mainz (Wissenschaftliche Diözesanbibliothek im Priesterseminar).

Editions and Translations

Balduinus Iuvenis, Reynardus vulpes [Latin text]
Marinus Frederik A.G. Campbell, ed. Reynardus vulpes, poëma ante annum 1280 a quodam Baldwino ea lingua Teutonica [Edition]
R.B.C. Huygens, R.B.C. Huygens, ed. Reynardus Vulpes. De Latijnse Reinaert-vertaling van Balduinus Iuvenis [Edition]