''Van den vos Reinaerde'' ( English title: ''Of Reynaert the Fox'') is the

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or , there was no overarching sta ...

version of the story of

Reynard Reynard the Fox is a list of literary cycles, literary cycle of medieval allegorical Folklore of the Low Countries, Dutch, English folklore, English, French folklore, French and German folklore, German fables. The first extant versions of the cy ...

, as written by

Willem die Madoc maecte Willem die Madocke maecte (c. 1200 – c. 1250; "William-who-made-Madoc") is the traditional designation of the author of '' Van den vos Reynaerde'', a Middle Dutch version of the story of '' Reynard the Fox''. Name of the author The name of the au ...

. 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." Joseph T. Shipley, ''Encyclopedia of Literature'', Philosophical Library, New York, 1946, p.693.

Sources

Willem was reliant for the story of ''Van den vos Reinaerde'' on the French epic poem ''Le Plaid'', the first story of a larger collection of fox tales known as the ''Roman de Renard'' - written by Perrout de Saint Cloude in 1160.A.Th. Bouwman , ''Reinaert en Renart. Het dierenepos "Van den vos Reinaerde" vergeleken met de Oudfranse "Roman de Renart"'', 2 dln., Amsterdam, 1991. He freely adapted and developed the original source, doing so "so deftly and with so much freedom and originality that his adaptation is universally conceded to be the best specimen of the genre in any language."Adriaan J. Barnouw, ''The Pageant of Netherlands History'', Longmans Green, New York, 1952, p.62.

Content

Satire about a fox who kills and bullies, and gets away with his deeds. The rest of society isn't much better. The nobility is being portrayed as lazy and often stupid. Clergymen are sexually active. The common population is often violent and cruel. Many women are sexually promiscuous and include prostitutes.

Meaning

André De Vries writes that the work is an allegory of contemporary netherlandish politics at the court of

Philip I of Namur Philip I (1175 – 9 October 1212), called the Noble, was the margrave of Namur from 1195 until his death. He was the second son of Count Baldwin V of Hainault and Countess Margaret I of Flanders. His paternal grandmother was Alice of Nam ...

, known as "Philip the Noble":

It is supposed that Willem wrote ''Van den Vos Reinaerde'' to encourage Siger III, chatelain of the Counts’ Castle in Ghent, who was unjustly deprived of his post around 1210 by Philip the Noble, Count of Namur and Regent of Flanders. The figure of the concupiscent and vacillating Noble the Lion seems to be based on Philip, who slavishly followed the King of France’s orders and handed over two princesses as hostages to his master. Reinaert’s castle is actually Siger III’s country retreat at Destelbergen, which appears on later maps by the same name as Reinaert’s lair, Malpertuus, meaning Hell’s Gate.André De Vries, ''Flanders: A Cultural History'', Oxford University Press, New York, 2007, p.100-101.

De Vries argues that the animal characters represent barons who conspired against the Count of Flanders. He is accused of various crimes, but generally outwits his accusers. Nevertheless, he is in the end sent into exile.

Popularity

Willem's ''Reynard'' was translated into Latin verse by a contemporary. Another, unknown, poet wrote a sequel, expanding the original to a full eight thousand line version. This version, when printed in 1487, proved very popular across Europe. It was the foundation for most later Dutch, German, and English versions, including those of

William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

, and F. S. Ellis.

References

External links