With roots stretching back to Aesop's Fables and the oral folk
tradition, the allegorical tales of Reynard the Fox ('Reineke
Fuchs') emerged in the 12th century as a storytelling
convention, becoming conspicuously popular in Germany, France
and Holland. One of the common structural themes around which
the assorted tales frequently revolved has the rogue hero
Reynard outwitting a royal court when he is brought up on
charges laid by other forest animals. Recurring characters
include the wily Reynard, King Noble the lion, Isengrim the
wolf, Bruin the bear, Baldwin the ass and Tibert (Tybalt) the
cat. Always humorous, often in verse form, the assortment of
fables satirised the contemporary societies in which they were
developed, resulting in "the subversion of certain kinds of
serious literature, of political and religious institutions and
practices, of scholarly argument and moralizing, and of popular
beliefs and customs". The shameless and self-serving fox emerges
as the peasant hero with his display of contemp