authors and anonymous authors, so there was not just one person writing the tales. An extensive treatment of the character is 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. The Catholic Church used the story of the preaching fox (as found in the Reynard literature) in church art as propaganda against the Lollards. 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, although in some versions she remarries when Reynard is thought dead, thereby becoming one of the people he plans revenge upon. Isengrim (alternate French spelling: Ysengrin) is Reynard's most frequent antagonist and foil, and generally ends up outwitted, though he occasionally gets revenge. An individual tale might span several genres which makes classification difficult. Tales often include themes from contemporary society with references to relics, pilgrimage, confession, and the crusades. There is debate over whether or how closely they related to identifiable societal events, but there is a growing camp that see direct societal connections and even implicit political statements in the tales. The stories are told in a way that make such associations easy to make but difficult to substantiate. Reynard stories translate difficult laws and legal concepts into common language, allowing people to both understand them and enjoy the legal predicaments and antics of the characters. The court operates just as those in medieval society; the king heard cases only on one specified date and all disputes were heard at once. Many versions follow Raynard's fights with Yesengrin, the fox's regular antagonist throughout the stories. Violence between them and other characters is a common thematic element. It is a matter of debate whether the violence shows animals simply acting as such or is meant to reflect