1230. French-_Roman de Renard_, with its twenty-seven branches.
1250. Flemish-_Reinaert_, part of which was composed by Willem, near Ghent.
1148. _Ysengrimus_, a Latin poem written at Ghent.
Thirteenth century. _Of the Vox and of the Wolf_, an English poem.
_Reynard the Fox_[5] was first printed in England by Caxton in 1481, translated from a Dutch copy. A copy of Caxton's book is in the British Museum. Caxton's edition was adapted by "Felix Summerley"; and Felix Summerley's edition, with slight changes, was used by Joseph Jacobs in his Cranford edition.
A Dutch prose romance, _Historie von Reynaert de Vos_ was published in 1485. A German copy, written in Lower Saxony was published in 1498. A chap-book, somewhat condensed, but giving a very good account of the romance, was published in London in 1780, printed and sold in Aldermary Churchyard, Bow Lane. This chap-book is very much finer in language than many of the others in Ashton's collection. Its structure is good, arranged in nine chapters. It shows itself a real classic and would be read with pleasure to-day. Goethe's poem, _Reineke Fuchs_, was published in 1794. This version was more refined than previous ones but it lost in simplicity. Monographs have been written on _Reynard_ by Grimm, Voigt, Martin, and Sudre.
Raginhard was a man's name, meaning "strong in counsel," and was common in Germany which bordered on France. This name naturally was given to the beast who lived by his wits. Grimm considered _Reynard_ the result of a Teutonic Beast Epic of primitive origin. Later research has exploded this theory and has decided that all versions are descended from an original French one existing between 1150 and 1170. Modern editions have come from the Flemish version. The literary artist who compiled _Reynard_ took a nucleus of fables and added to it folk-tales which are known to have existed in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and which exist to-day as tradition among some folk. The folk-tales included in _Reynard_ are: _Reynard and Dame Wolf_; _The Iced Wolf's Tail_; _The Fishes in the Car_; _The Bear in the Cleft_; _The Wolf as Bell-Ringer_; and _The Dyed Fox_. The method of giving individual names to the animals such as Reynard, Bruin, and Tibert, was current among the Folk before a literary form was given to _Reynard_. As this was the custom in the province of Lorraine it is supposed that the origin of these names was in Lorraine. Other names, such as Chanticleer, the Cock, and Noble, the Lion, were given because of a quality, and indicate a tendency to allegory. These names increase in the later development of the romance. In the beginning when the beasts had only personal adventures, these were told by the Folk to raise a laugh. Later there was a meaning underneath the laugh and the Beast Epic Comedy of the Folk grew into the world Beast Satire of the literary artist.