Roman de Renart (ca. 1175–1250) satirical
fable
The Roman de Renart (Romance of Reynard) is a
series of French tales composed over a span of sev-
eral years. Altogether the poem covers tens of thou-
sands of lines and has 27 branches, or episodes. The
earliest recorded branches emerged in 1170, and
additions continued until 1250. About 20 different
poets had a hand in writing the stories, and al-
though the names of Pierre de Saint-Cloud,
Richard of Lison, and a priest of Croix-en-Brie are
linked with certain early branches, most of the
writers remain anonymous.
The French tale is stylistically the most sophis-
ticated rendition of the hugely popular tradition of
Reynard the Fox, which appears elsewhere in
Dutch, German, and English literature. The char-
acter of the trickster fox hails back to the fables of
AESOP, but fragments of medieval Latin poems con-
tain some source material, including Ysengrinus,
written at Ghent in 1148. As with many stories
from folklore, the precise origins of the Reynard
characters are obscure. The names are arguably
Germanic; Reynard probably derives from Ragin-
hard, which means “strong in counsel.” The Ger-
man Reinhart manuscript, dated to 1180, and the
Flemish variations of the stories likely draw on
now-lost French originals that first circulated in
the region of Alsace-Lorraine. The 13th-century
English poem Of the Fox and of the Wolf and the
Italian Rainardo also used the Reynard material.
The trouvères (TROUBADOURS) of northern France
developed these popular folktales into a work that
is at once a fabulous epic
BESTIARY and a political
allegory, cultural commentary and verse romance,
fireside story and literary parody.
Critical Analysis
Though a folk hero and an epic figure, Reynard is a
trickster: This is the definitive aspect of his person-
ality. As a fox, he uses trickery to get food, avenge
himself, and defend himself against his enemies.
Other characters in the story are Noble the Lion,
Chanticleer the Rooster, Bruin the Bear, and Isen-
grin the Wolf. Together these figures represent the
main branches of feudal society: royalty, the nobil-
ity, the clergy, and the peasantry, respectively. The
laws and morals that govern them strongly resonate
with the ruling ideology of 12th-century France.
The story of Reynard begins, as do many
ME-
DIEVAL ROMANCEs, with the king—in this case,
Noble the Lion—organizing a feast and calling all
the animals to attend. The animals comply, and all
of them have one complaint or another against
Reynard. Curtois the Hound complains that Rey-
nard has stolen food from him; Chanticleer the
Rooster claims that Reynard has killed a hen. Cor-
bant the Raven says that Reynard murdered his
wife by pretending to be dead; when his wife ap-
proached to lay her ear to the fox’s mouth, Reynard
snapped her up and ate her so quickly that only a
few feathers remained. The king decides that Rey-
nard must come forward to answer the charges.
No one has managed heretofore to convict Rey-
nard of a crime. He is a master of deception, and
with a seemingly reasonable explanation he always
manages to befuddle his accusers. For instance,
Reynard claims that Corbant the Raven’s wife died
from eating too many worms. And when danger
threatens, Reynard resorts to tricks; for instance,
when Bruin is sent to bring him to court, Reynard
bribes him with honey and traps the bear in a tree.
In time Reynard is at last brought to court and
put on trial for his crimes. Despite his smooth talk-
ing, he is condemned to the gallows and only nar-
rowly escapes death. Thereafter Reynard is sent on
a pilgrimage as penance, and more adventures
ensue, during which it becomes clear that he has
not repented at all. When the fox is brought once
more to trial, Isengrin determines to get revenge,
still humiliated from a famous episode wherein
Reynard pretended to teach the wolf how to fish
with his tail and then took him to a frigid lake,
where Isengrin became trapped when his tail froze
in the ice. This battle between Reynard and Isen-
grin crowns the collection.
Scholars have long debated the literary quali-
ties of Renart. Some claim that because he is a fox,
all of Reynard’s activities can be explained by his
motive to survive. Other critics read the animals
262 Roman de Renart