One of those works from that famous 12th century is the Ysengrimus. It is generally regarded as a literary masterpiece, full of mockery and bitter irony. The main purpose of the work is to denounce the abuse of clerical power, and this is done by means of the figure of the wolf that symbolizes the monk-bishop. Despite its sharp criticism, the work was so appreciated that an abbreviated version was made over the years: the Ysengrimus Abbreviatus (see Voigt, who recorded both versions in his edition). In our current time, the work has lost its fame, which means that the amount of secondary literature remains rather limited. The Ysengrimus is highly valued by all its readers, offers maximum pleasure, and was written at a time when Latin was experiencing a cultural revival. Reason enough to examine this text in other words and to bring certain aspects of it to the fore. In what follows in this introduction, I will focus on the author and the text itself of the Ysengrimus. This is to be able to situate the work somewhat better, and to try to place the precise intention of the work. Then my attention will turn to a problem that will arise with the name of the work. I already indicated that Ysengrimus will concentrate on the figure of the monk-bishop and this in the figure of the wolf Ysengrimus. An animal plays the main character, which has inevitably earned the work the title "animal epic". But why is this work called an animal epic? Is this justified? What exactly is understood by the word epic and can what is meant by it be related to this brilliant work? By first sketching a brief situation I will try to expose a few sore points in this area. The analysis that follows will then have to provide clarity as to under which category the work can be classified. - [Author]

Language: Dutch