The Reynaert story as a vehicle for intellectual recreation: The case of the Grooten ende nieuwen Reinart de voss*

In the seventeenth century Den grooten ende nieuwen Reinart de voss was written, a Dutch adaptation of the first part of the Low German Reynke de vos that had been published by Ludwig Dietz in Rostock in 1539. The anonymous author transposed the Low German text into Dutch iambic verses and added an enormous commentary, the most learned commentary in the whole European Reynaert tradition. This article studies the relation between Den grooten ende nieuwen Reinart de voss and its source, its properties, and its literary and cultural context. At the end the results are put in a European perspective.