Reynke Vosz de olde (Rostock, 1539) in context of the Middle Low German Reynke de Vos tradition in the 15th–16th century

Abstract

The present article discusses the beast epic Reynke Vosz de olde (Rostock, 1539) in context of the Middle Low German Reynke de Vos tradition in the 15th–16th century. Emphasis falls on the comparison of the two particularly important Middle Low German editions of the widely-known epic against the socio-historical background in Northern Germany in the Late Middle Ages. This paper proposes to make a contribution to the field of research of the Middle Low German Reynke de Vos tradition in general but primarily examines the printed Reynke Vosz de olde edition from 1539. For this latter purpose the Reynke Vosz de olde text is compared with the 1498 pretext from the Poppy Printer, the Mohnkopf printing house, in a number of respects: typography and illustrations, construction of the book, division in books and chapters, versification, different tendencies in the commentary parts etc. The 1539 Reynke Vosz de olde edition is filtered for tendencies in textual innovations and structural changes as distinct to prototype text as well as motivation and intention cues for those. Further questions like the importance of the quotation analysis of the marginal gloss notes and of the critical question on the glossator’s identity will be highlighted and discussed.