Book/Printed Material Reynard Cycle. Roman de Renart
About this Item
Title
- Reynard Cycle.
Other Title
- Roman de Renart
Summary
- Roman de Renart (Reynard cycle) is the most famous set of animal stories produced in the Middle Ages. It is not one story but a collection of 26 chapters composed by several clerks and minstrels around the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th. It was inspired by the Fables of the ancient Greek writer, Aesop, and by a mock epic poem in Latin by Nivardus, written in Ghent in around 1150, called Ysengrimus. Under the guise of the endless war between Reynard the Fox and Ysengrimus the Wolf, the work illustrates the animal nature of man and offers a critique of the errant ways of the feudal world. This highly illustrated manuscript, created in the first half of the 14th century, is a rare manuscript copy of the cycle. Naive-style miniatures celebrate the exploits of the fox, most cunning of animals. They also illustrate such stories as the funeral of Lady Coppée, the chicken (f. 4r); Reynard's departure for the Crusades (f. 12v); the attack on the castle of Maupertuis, the hero's lair, by Tibert the Cat, Noble the Lion, Tardif the Snail, and Ysengrimus the Wolf while Reynard and his children have a carefree dinner (f. 14v); and the rape of Hersent, the wife of Ysengrimus (f. 16r).
Created / Published
- France : [publisher not identified], [1301 to 1350]
Headings
- - France
- - 1301 to 1350
- - Animals
- - Illuminations
- - Literature, Medieval
- - Reynard the Fox (Legendary character)
Notes
- - Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
- - Original resource extent: Parchment, 157 pages in two columns; 27.8 x 19.5 centimeters. Several small paintings. Red Moroccan leather binding.
- - Original resource at: National Library of France.
- - Content in Old French (842-ca. 1400).
- - Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
Medium
- 1 online resource.
Source Collection
- Illuminated Manuscripts from Europe
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2021667565
Online Format
- compressed data
- image