Reynard the Fox · Willem, 1260
Where is Reynard the Fox set?
Waasland· East Flanders
“In Waes, int soete lant”: in the Waasland, the sweet land, and round Ghent. The real places are a few hours' to a day's walk apart.
From the bookThe map's guessReal world
Most of the story happens in places the poem doesn't locate: the king's court, Maleperduis, Lamfroit's yard, the priest's barn. But the real names it drops are nearly all in one corner of Flanders: the Waasland, between Ghent, Antwerp and the Westerschelde. Reynaert even calls it “Waes, int soete lant”, the sweet land.
Ifte is Hijfte near Lochristi, where the plot against the king was supposedly hatched. Besele is usually read as Belsele, Absdale is a hamlet near Hulst, Elmare a vanished priory, and Hulsterlo a wood somewhere in the north of the Waasland. Ghent is the big city just to the west.
That's why people think the poet came from round here. Today the region calls itself the Land van Reynaert, with walks past the places in the poem. This map lays the story over the real landscape.
See the Waasland on the map