Pierre de Saint Cloud

This skillful and cultured poet brought the adventures of Renart the Fox, known previously only in Latin, to a wider, French-speaking public. The two earliest branches of the Roman de Renart, II and Va (ca. 1174–77), which relate the love affair of Renart and Hersent the she-wolf, are attributed to him. Though he imitated Ysengrimus for three episodes (“Renart and Chantecler,” “Renart and the Titmouse,” “Renart and Hersent”) and Marie de France for another (“The Fox and the Crow”), “Renart and Tibert the Cat” is his own invention. He pokes fun at the legal system, pontifical legates and certain religious institutions, princes and nobles, through a subtle parody, intended largely to evoke laughter, of the chansons de geste and Arthurian romance. He was read and imitated by French and foreign authors of beast epics, such as Jacquemart Gielée, Heinrich der Glîchezâre, and Chaucer), by fabulists and writers of exempla (Eudes de Cheriton, Nicole Bozon, Jacques de Vitry), and by Philippe de...

9 poezii, 0 proze