A study of the Roman de Renart, its origins, its branches (with a focus on Branch II), the relationship to the poem Ysengrimus, and many other topics. Chapters include: Current Theories, The Branches of Renard. - The Archetype of All Our Manuscripts; Chronology of the Branches of Renard; The Judgment of Renard; Reinhart Fuchs; The Death of Renard; Popularity of the Roman de Renard; The Roman de Renard and Folklore.

What appeared to us, from the 12th to the 14th century, was something quite different, a large public of readers and listeners, already compact, repeating the same refrains, ready to receive in literature as in theology the same watchword, prompt to collective enthusiasms. It is all these people, the cardinals and the barons, the weavers and the tanners who made the success of the Fox, but they did not make the Fox. ... Everywhere we found in our authors individuals with precise contours, in their books distinct and independent works. There is not one novel by Renard, there are twenty-eight. Each of these twenty-eight novels was composed in a specific period by a perfectly individual troubadour. And if of these twenty-eight we know only two by their names, it is perhaps not entirely the fault of the other twenty-six. In any case, we have all their works and we can judge their talent and their art. They are not all at the same level, as we have seen. Some are masters, others are very gifted disciples, and there are some who are not gifted at all. ... Let us read Renard's poems. We will find there ancient inventions, medieval customs, a breath of broad humanity, a completely French art. And our astonishment will be that, for so long, one could pass off as an incoherent collection of reworked and patched-up texts one of the most accomplished and most original productions of ancient France. - [Author]

Language: French