The
Ysengrimus draws on earlier traditions of
beast fable in Latin, such as the 11th-century
Ecbasis captivi. In the
Ecbasis, the now traditional opposition of wolf and fox appears. The
Ysengrimus is the most extensive anthropomorphic beast fable extant in Latin, and it marks the first appearance in Latin literature of the traditional names "Reinardus" and "Ysengrimus". The poem runs to 6,574 lines of
elegiac couplets. The
Ysengrimus is divided into seven books, which contain twelve or fourteen tales; opinions differ on how to divide them. Other beast fables were written by other medieval Latin authors, including
Odo of Cheriton; the
Ysengrimus is the most extensive collection of this material either in Latin or in any vernacular. The poem mixes
medieval and
classical Latin imitations and parts of it are written in a curious, difficult style featuring obscure
verb forms such as
deponent imperatives. These stylistic curiosities reflect neither deliberate obscurantism nor lack of poetic talent, rather, they serve as means of
characterization. The poet places them on the lips of the trickster Reinardus, who is intended to be deceptive, and whose statements contain deliberate ambiguity. Ysengrimus is made to speak in a similar style when he is lying. But when he has been deceived into a predicament, he speaks plainly. , Paris, MS fr. 1581f. 6v) from
Renart le Nouvel by
Jacquemart Giélée (1290/1300) In the opening episode of
Ysengrimus, the wolf manages to successfully deceive the fox with one of his schemes; this is Ysengrimus's only triumph, and throughout the remaining episodes Ysengrimus is constantly being tricked or humiliated by Reinardus. The poem contains the well-known story in which Reinardus deceives Ysengrimus to go
ice fishing using his
tail as a net, only to get it frozen into the lake. When Reinardus mockingly urges Ysengrimus to get up quickly, Ysengrimus says: :
Captus ad hec captor: "Nescis quid, perfide, dicas. Clunibus impendet Scotia tota meis." ::(The captured captor responded: "You don't know what you're saying, deceiver. I have all of Scotland hanging from my buttocks.")
Interpretation Ysengrimus is usually held to be an
allegory for the corrupt
monks of the
Roman Catholic Church. His greed is what typically causes him to be led astray. He is given to say that he will absolve the sins of the other characters. Reinardus, by contrast, represents the poor and the lowly; he triumphs over Ysengrimus with his wits. Nivardus deals with a subject that received extensive treatment in European
popular culture during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The characters, Ysengrimus and Reinardus, were clearly well-developed by the time he wrote his epic. Later treatments, however, usually featured Reynardus and relegated Ysengrimus the wolf to the menagerie of
stock characters that served as Reynardus's supporting cast. They went on to appear in most Western European vernaculars, including
French,
Dutch, and
English. A version of the Reynard stories was one of the first English printed books, made by
William Caxton. ==References==