The Gospel according to Aucupre, or Réécriture on the cheap

Previous commentators on the prologue to the gamma version of the Roman de Renart have dealt with it brilliantly but selectively, thereby omitting certain features of interest. After a brief initial look at authorial tone in the other families – alpha, beta and composite – we focus on the author’s effort to “cyclify” the gamma version and, especially, on how we read the gamma version’s two exemplary tales. A diverse set of new problems arises in regard to the prologue: how the pastiche or parody of the chansons de geste in the Renart mock epic may have been received by the medieval public, why Ysengrin keeps coming back for more punishment, why escharsetez ‘stinginess’ receives so much emphasis in the list of sins, and what lies hidden in the mysterious name Aucupre. The focusing device of the present study is tonality.