The Reynardus Vulpes occupies a unique place in literary history. ... his choice for a text to translate is remarkable: it was very unusual to translate secular middle-Dutch texts into Latin. ... Balduinus had to have a basic text from the thirteenth century for his translation. When the Reynardus Vulpes was written, the Middle Dutch Reynaert was already generally known ... The Latin edition has almost the same content as the poem that is known as Reynaert I. Language and style characteristics of the Reynardus Vulpes make it very plausible that the incunable was printed from the manuscript of Balduinus from the thirteenth century. We no longer have Reynaert texts that are just as old as the Reynardus Vulpes. That is why Balduinus' poem is an extremely important document for the Reynaert study, especially in attempts to reconstruction of texts that have been lost. - [Author]

Language: Dutch