44whiskey wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 9:31 am
Roger, i second what Jeff said, also appreciate nod to hunting gods and toast. keep the tradition alive, also i thought the name Reynard was too masculine for that lovely 20 bore until i found out its origin,turns out it could not have been more appropriate. thanks for pics and post
Well, I don't want to get too academic about it, especially since Steggy names his guns after Strippers, but since Geoffroy Gournet did the engraving, and he is as French as they get, and I've been told I can be a sarcastic SOB of Irish, Dutch, English and French origins, I thought it would be appropriate to pay homage to the gun in the way I chose. Basically, Reynard is French for Fox. But there is more to it than that. In literature "Reynard the Fox" is a character that thumbs its nose at the aristocracy and clergy and makes the common man the hero. By the way, I have an original 16 gauge XE that I have since named Hermeline, which was Reynards' wife in the stories.
Some excerpts from Mr. Google:
Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, as well as throughout the Early Modern period. The given name Reynard is from Reginhard, Raginohardus "strong in counsel".
Because of the popularity of the Reynard stories, renard became the standard French word for "fox", replacing the old French word for "fox", which was goupil from Latin vulpēcula. Since Reynard has been written about in many different times and places across the world, it is not uncommon to see changes in his appearance to fit the natural surroundings of his story. From the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there are around twenty-six different tales of Reynard the Fox.
An extensive appearance of the character is in the Old French Le Roman de Renart written by Pierre de Saint-Cloud around 1170, which sets the typical setting. Reynard has been summoned to the court of king Noble (or Leo), the lion, to answer charges brought against him by Isengrim the wolf. Other anthropomorphic animals, including Bruin the bear, Baldwin the ass, and Tibert (Tybalt) the cat, all attempt one stratagem or another.
The stories typically involve satire, whose usual butts are the aristocracy and the clergy, making Reynard a peasant-hero character.[11] The Catholic Church used the story of the preaching fox, as found in the Reynard literature, in church art as propaganda against the Lollards.[15]
Reynard's principal castle, Maupertuis, is available to him whenever he needs to hide away from his enemies. Some of the tales feature Reynard's funeral, where his enemies gather to deliver maudlin elegies full of insincere piety, and which feature Reynard's posthumous revenge. Reynard's wife Hermeline appears in the stories,but plays little active role. In some versions she remarries when Reynard is thought dead, thereby becoming one of the people he plans revenge upon.
