In his masterly work of 1914 (Le Roman de Renart, Paris, 574 pp.) Lucien Foulet solved to the satisfaction of nearly every one concerned the problems of origin for the Roman de Renart. He assured us that ‘les trouvéres de Renard ont puisé au latin médiéval. Ce ne sont pas les fables de Phédre qui leur ont servi de modéles, mais le Romulus en prose, peut-étre l’Ecbasis, certainement et surtout l'Ysengrimus.” Elsewhere he adds as sources the Disciplina Clericalis and possibly the fables of Marie de France. Pierre de Saint-Cloud, the founder of the Roman de Renart, a reader of Marie, was doubtless delighted at his perusal of the Ysengrimus. He conceived the idea of putting this material into the vulgar tongue. To heighten the humor of his subject he copied the feudal procedure of his time; and then, with hesitation, Foulet notes that there is some of the Tristan in the oldest branch (Branch II). Is the feudal parody not derived from this? The Ecbasis Captivi (Xth cent.) was the inspiration for Nivard’s Ysengrimus (1152) as well as for some of Marie’s original—the pseudo-Alfred.° The author of the Ecbasis Captivi, in turn, must have been inspired by certain passages in the Bible, notably Matthew VII, 15. This is a family tree of the Roman de Renart from that common origin of much that is great in literature. Is there a possibility of any additional clerical sources? - [Author]

Language: English