Medieval France
. It was an unnamed priest of Troyes, defrocked for bigamy, who composed this final avatar of the Roman de Renart, in eight branches, of which we have two redactions. The first (A: 32,000 lines) was composed between 1319 and 1322, and the second (B: 41,150 lines) appeared between 1328 and 1342. There is also a prose section. The whole is an incoherent but rich monster, a lively reflection of its age, as well as a conglomeration of tales, incidents, reflections, and commentaries of every sort.
A virulent satire of the monarchy, aristocracy, ecclesiastical abuses, and vices of women, this defense of the weak is above all a compendium of medieval moral and philosophical thought that bears witness to the wide-ranging culture of its author as well as to the influence of Jean de Meun. The poet makes explicit much of what was only hinted at in the earlier Roman de Renart.
Renart is at times the mischievous fox of the early branches, at other times the symbol of evil in all its manifestations, and even the repentent philosopher commenting on human vices under the guise of Reason, Nature, and God.
Jean Dufournet
[See also: RENART, ROMAN DE]
Raynaud, Gaston, and Henri Lemaître, eds. Le roman de Renart le contrefait. 2 vols. Paris: Champion, 1914.
Flinn, John. Le roman de Renart dans la littérature française et dans les littératures étrangères au moyen âge. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963, pp. 364–441.
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