Reynard the Fox, also known as Renard, Renart, Reinard, Reinecke, Reinhardus, and by many other spelling variations, is a trickster figure whose tale is told in a number of anthropomorphic fables from medieval Europe.
He seems to have originated in French folklore. The earliest extensive treatment of the character is the Old French Le Roman de Renart from around 1175, which sets the typical setting. Reynard has been summoned to the court of king Noble, or Leo, the Lion, to answer charges brought against him by Isengrim the Wolf. Other anthropomorphic animals, including Bruin the Bear, Baldwin the Ass, Tibert (Tybalt) the Cat, and Hirsent the She-wolf, appear to give testimony against him, which Reynard always proves false by one stratagem or another. The stories typically involve satire whose usual butts are the aristocracy and the clergy, making Reynard a peasant-hero character. Some of the tales feature Reynard's funeral, where his enemies gather to deliver maudlin elegies full of insincere piety, and which features Reynard's posthumous revenge.
Geoffrey Chaucer used Reynard material in the Canterbury Tales; in the "Nonne Preestes Tale", Reynard appears as "Rossel" and an ass as "Brunel". In 1485 William Caxton printed The Historie of Reynart the Foxe, which was translated from a Flemish version of the fables. The character of Tybalt in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is named for the character Tibert/Tybalt the "Prince of Cats" in Reynard the Fox. Goethe, also, dealt with Reynard in his fable Reinecke Fuchs. Most improbably at all, Reynard appears in the medieval Latin epic Ysengrimus , a long Latin mock-epic from around 1200 that collects a great store of Reynard's adventures.
See also:
Movie adaptations
The documentary film "The Black Fox " (1962) parallels Hitler's rise to power with the Reynard fable.
Animated series
In 1985, a French animated series, "Moi, Renart" (I, Reynard) was created which was loosely based on Reynard's tales. In it, the original animals are anthropomorphic humanoid animals and the action occurs in modern Paris with other anthropomorphic animals as human roles. Reynard is a young mischievous fox with a little monkey pet called Marmouset (an original creation). He sets into Paris in order to discover the city, get a job and visit his grumpy and stingy uncle, Isengrim, who is a deluxe car salesman, and his reasonable yet dreamy she-wolf aunt, Hirsent. Reynard meets Hermeline, a young and charming motorbike-riding vixen journalist. He immediately falls in love with her and tries to win her heart during several of the episodes. As Reynard establishes himself into Paris, he creates a small company at his name where he offers to do any job for anyone, from impersonating female maids to opera singers. To help with this, he is a master of disguise and is a bit of a kleptomaniac, which gets him trouble from police chief Chantecler (a rooster) who often sends to him police cat inspector Tybalt in order to thwart his plans.
Reynard was also the name of a British racing cars manufacturer, founded by Adrian Reynard, who built successful cars in Formula 3000, Formula 3 and endurance racing. Reynard was bankrupted in 2001.
Last updated: 10-09-2005 22:42:31
