The Romance of Reynard the Fox

The comic and bawdy adventures of arch-trickster Reynard the fox were related by a succession of French poets, mainly anonymous, in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Their individual tales, known as 'branches' , were composed in a variety of styles, but share a mischievous sense of humour. Endowed with human vices and rather fewer virtues, the animals play out a thinly disguished social comedy, in which all the orders from the nobility to the peasantry are lampooned, with hyposcritical churchmen and rapacious farmers providing favourite targets. The Romance , full of shrewd observation of rural life and animal behaviour, is also a valuable source of information on the medieval world, its institutions, and its practices. This new translation conveys the racy wit of the original, and an enlightening Introduction and clear notes involve the reader the social, historical, and literary context. This book is intended for 2nd/3rd year undergraduate and postgraduate students of medieval literature and history. Translated with an introduction and notes by: Owen, D. D. R (Emeritus Professor of French, University of St Andrews);