The very narrative margins of Douce [Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 360] illustrate the main stages of branch I: "The Judgment of Renart". Renart, as usual, is absent from the plenary Court assembled by Noble while everyone accuses him, and in particular the rooster Chantecler. The story is that of his arrival at Court. However, these drawings are not only an image of the text, of one of the major episodes of the Renardian tale. Their presence in the margins also tends to bring them closer to the marginalia, which have become so frequent, particularly in manuscripts of the Gothic period. Alongside the text, they constitute another discourse, more marginal, sometimes disordered. But above all, the margins of manuscript D constitute the metonymy and metaphor of the character, a rebellious, dissident baron, and of the Renardian story, apart from serious or official stories. ... The margins of manuscript D are not comparable to its miniatures which open most of the branches and illuminate them. More naive than the standard miniatures of the manuscripts, these drawings, almost children's drawings, are also of lesser value: the brown wash and ink contrast with the rich vignettes of the manuscript decorated with gold leaf and bursting with color. In the marginal drawings of Douce, the dignity of the protagonists is at the same time clearly attenuated; their animality is regularly privileged. - [Author]

Language: French