PIERRE DE SAINT-CLOUD
(fl. late 12th c.). This skillful and cultured poet brought the adventures of Renart the Fox,
known previously only in Latin, to a wider, French-speaking public. The two earliest
branches of the Roman de Renart, II and Va (ca. 1174–77), which relate the love affair of
Renart and Hersent the she-wolf, are attributed to him. Though he imitated Ysengrimus
for three episodes (“Renart and Chantecler,” “Renart and the Titmouse,” “Renart and
Hersent”) and Marie de France for another (“The Fox and the Crow”), “Renart and Tibert
the Cat” is his own invention. He pokes fun at the legal system, pontifical legates and
certain religious institutions, princes and nobles, through a subtle parody, intended
largely to evoke laughter, of the chansons de geste and Arthurian romance. He was read
and imitated by French and foreign authors of beast epics, such as Jacquemart Gielée,
Heinrich der Glîchezâre, and Chaucer), by fabulists and writers of exempla (Eudes de
Cheriton, Nicole Bozon, Jacques de Vitry), and by Philippe de Novare. After 1180, he
assisted Alexandre de Paris in reworking the Roman d’Alexandre into dodecasyllabic
laisses.
Jean Dufournet
[See also: RENART, ROMAN DE]
Flinn, John. Le roman de Renart dans la littérature française et dans les littératures étrangères au
moyen âge. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963.
PIERRE MAUCLERC
(ca. 1189/90–1250). Pierre de Dreux (or de Braine), better known as Pierre Mauclerc,
was a member of the distinguished Dreux family, a cadet branch of the Capetian line. He
was a younger son of Louis VII’s nephew Robert II, count of the small fiefs of Dreux and
Braine. Although not a landless baron, Pierre’s original endowment of lands from his
father was small, the villas and manors of Fère-en-Tardenois, Brie-Comte-Robert, Chilly,
and Longjumeau. By his marriage in 1212 to Alix, the heiress of Brittany and claimant to
the English honor of Richmond, however, he became titular earl of Richmond and titular
duke of Brittany (or count, in the view of French authorities unwilling to acknowledge
Brittany’s ducal status).
Pierre immediately set about imposing his will on the fiercely independent Breton
baronage, exacting reliefs and wardships contrary to custom, despoiling or seizing
seigneuries whose lords resisted, and commencing a concerted attack against the
privileges of the episcopate. This last action precipitated his excommunication and, in
retaliation, his expulsion of six of the seven bishops of Brittany. Although his wife died
in 1221, he continued as guard (custos) and effective ruler of Brittany until his son came
of age in late 1237.
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