Fauvel, the vice-ridden horse everyone flatters
About the work
Imported from the workbook's Full reassessment sheet, revised 7 October 2026 (record ID 58). The assessment below is the workbook's comparative judgment under its stated criteria; source links and limits are retained.
Workbook assessment: Spread only
Date or witness: Early 14th century; expanded illustrated/musical copy c.1317
Region: Paris, France
Workbook date-sort bounds: 1310 CE to 1317 CE; these bounds are not automatically invention or disappearance dates.
Description
The Roman de Fauvel turns a horse into an embodiment of vice and an attack on powerful people. BnF Français 146 combines text, pictures and musical material in a deliberately satirical remix.
Evidence of adoption or transmission
Fauvel survives in multiple manuscript versions, with substantial musical and pictorial adaptation.
What remains uncertain
Its sophisticated political satire and manuscript transmission do not by themselves establish bottom-up working-class adoption.
Workbook revision note: Reassessed using grassroots criteria