Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction: Medieval English and Dutch Literature in its European Context and the Work of David F. Johnson
- 1 Reconstructing a Lost Manuscript of the Old English Gospels
- 2 The Reception of the Old English Version of Gregory the Great’s Dialogues between the Conquest and the Close of the Nineteenth Century
- 3 An Unrecorded Copy of Heinrich Krebs’s An Anglo-Saxon Version of Gregory’s Dialogues, Printer’s Proofs
- 4 The Body as Media in Early Medieval England
- 5 Who Snatched Grendel in Beowulf 852b?
- 6 ‘Mobile as Wishes’: Anchoritism, Intersubjectivity, and Disability in the Liber confortatorius
- 7 The Presence of the Hands: Sculpture and Script in the Eighth to Twelfth Centuries
- 8 Perceval’s Name and the Gifts of the Mother
- 9 A Relaxed Knight and an Impatient Heroine: Ironizing the Love Quest in the Second Part of the Middle Dutch Ferguut
- 10 Multilingualism in Van den vos Reynaerde and its Reception in Reynardus Vulpes
- 11 Three Characters as Narrator in the Roman van Walewein
- 12 As the Chess-Set Flies: Arthurian Marvels in Chaucer’s Squire’s Tale and the Roman van Walewein
- 13 For a Performer’s Personal Use: The Corrector’s Lines in the Lower Margin of the Middle Dutch Lanceloet Manuscript
- 14 ‘Oft leudlez alone’: The Isolation of the Hero and its Consequences in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- 15 Shifting Skin: Passing as Human, Passing as Fay in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- 16 The Lover Caught Between his Mother and his Maiden in Lanseloet van Denemerken
- 17 Afterlives: The Abbey at Amesbury and the ‘Rehabilitation’ of Guinevere in Malory and the Stanzaic Morte Arthur
- 18 The Importance of Being an Arthurian Mother
- Select Bibliography
- Bibliography of David F. Johnson’s Works
- Index
- Tabula Gratulatoria
10 - Multilingualism in Van den vos Reynaerde and its Reception in Reynardus Vulpes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 October 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction: Medieval English and Dutch Literature in its European Context and the Work of David F. Johnson
- 1 Reconstructing a Lost Manuscript of the Old English Gospels
- 2 The Reception of the Old English Version of Gregory the Great’s Dialogues between the Conquest and the Close of the Nineteenth Century
- 3 An Unrecorded Copy of Heinrich Krebs’s An Anglo-Saxon Version of Gregory’s Dialogues, Printer’s Proofs
- 4 The Body as Media in Early Medieval England
- 5 Who Snatched Grendel in Beowulf 852b?
- 6 ‘Mobile as Wishes’: Anchoritism, Intersubjectivity, and Disability in the Liber confortatorius
- 7 The Presence of the Hands: Sculpture and Script in the Eighth to Twelfth Centuries
- 8 Perceval’s Name and the Gifts of the Mother
- 9 A Relaxed Knight and an Impatient Heroine: Ironizing the Love Quest in the Second Part of the Middle Dutch Ferguut
- 10 Multilingualism in Van den vos Reynaerde and its Reception in Reynardus Vulpes
- 11 Three Characters as Narrator in the Roman van Walewein
- 12 As the Chess-Set Flies: Arthurian Marvels in Chaucer’s Squire’s Tale and the Roman van Walewein
- 13 For a Performer’s Personal Use: The Corrector’s Lines in the Lower Margin of the Middle Dutch Lanceloet Manuscript
- 14 ‘Oft leudlez alone’: The Isolation of the Hero and its Consequences in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- 15 Shifting Skin: Passing as Human, Passing as Fay in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- 16 The Lover Caught Between his Mother and his Maiden in Lanseloet van Denemerken
- 17 Afterlives: The Abbey at Amesbury and the ‘Rehabilitation’ of Guinevere in Malory and the Stanzaic Morte Arthur
- 18 The Importance of Being an Arthurian Mother
- Select Bibliography
- Bibliography of David F. Johnson’s Works
- Index
- Tabula Gratulatoria
Summary
IN 2002, THE members of the respectable Maatschappij der nederlandse letterkunde (Society of Dutch literature) were invited to participate in a survey of the most important Dutch authors and texts. Multatuli's novel Max Havelaar, published in 1860, turned out to be their favourite title, followed closely by the Middle Dutch verse text Van den vos Reynaerde (Of Reynaert the Fox). Their high ranking of this thirteenth-century beast epic is understandable. recently, for example, geert Claassens characterised Van den vos Reynaerde as ‘a perfectly composed text, with supple versification, irony, sarcasm and humour effortlessly upholding a story that runs along smoothly according to a perfect plot.’ Multilingualism is one of the textual features that contribute to the beast epic's humour, the author of Van den vos Reynaerde clearly used French and latin elements for comic purposes. This multilingualism was addressed by the author who translated the Middle Dutch beast epic into Latin. His adaptation of the French and Latin passages demonstrates his moralising intentions in writing Reynardus Vulpes.
At the beginning of Van den vos Reynaerde, King Nobel, the lion, holds court. Various animals charge Reynaert with crimes in absentia. Even though Grimbeert the badger defends his nephew Reynaert eloquently, the king decides to summon the fox. His first two messengers, Bruun the bear and Tybeert the cat, fail to bring Reynaert along. Exploiting their weaknesses, the fox tricks them. The third messenger, Grimbeert, persuades Reynaert to accompany him to the court. On their way, the fox confesses his countless crimes to the badger. The court tries Reynaert and sentences him to death. However, due to his public confession, in which he presents an invented story about a hidden treasure and a conspiracy against the king's life, the greedy Nobel pardons him and imprisons Reynaert's opponents. Pretending to go on pilgrimage, the fox is allowed to leave the court in the company of Cuwaert the hare, whom he kills when he arrives at his home. Confronted with this murder, the king realizes that the fox has deceived him. Peace is seemingly restored after Nobel's reconciliation with Reynaert's enemies.
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- Information
- Medieval English and Dutch Literatures: The European ContextEssays in Honour of David F. Johnson, pp. 177 - 192Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2022