TY  - JOUR
T1  - Medieval Royal Courts and Their Critics: A New Perspective on Courtly Romances and Verse Narratives, with an Emphasis on Heinrich der Glîchezâre’s Reinhart Fuchs
AU  - Classen, Albrecht
PY  - 2023
DA  - June
DO  - 10.26650/sdsl2022-1226511
JF  - Studien zur deutschen Sprache und Literatur
PB  - Istanbul University
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 2619-9890
SP  - 1
EP  - 20
IS  - 49
LA  - en
AB  - The topic of court criticism coupled with severe warnings about the dangers of a royal dictator or tyrant was well represented in medieval and early modern literature. Despite our common assumptions about the harmony and idyllic nature of King Arthur’s court and the knights of the Round Table, a closer analysis quickly reveals the horrendous problems vexing medieval society (and our own, perhaps). However, medieval poets were careful not to take off their masks when they depicted evil rulers because they normally depended on their patrons. Nevertheless, the criticism of the evil ruler, and then especially of the criminally minded royal councilor (such as in the much later case of Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello) finds vivid expression in more medieval texts than we might have assumed. After a survey of dramatic cases from pre-modern literature as a basis for the subsequent analysis, this article focuses on the Middle High German version of the Old French Roman de Renart by Heinrich der Glîchezâre (late twelfth century) where the protagonist, the fox Reinhart, operates with astounding intellectual acumen and sophistication to deceive, betray, hurt, and even get his opponents killed without any bad conscience.
KW  - Court criticism
KW  - tyrant
KW  - Mauritius von Craûn
KW  - Heinrich der Glîchezâre
KW  - Reinhart Fuchs
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UR  - https://doi.org/10.26650/sdsl2022-1226511
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2861810
ER  -